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- "Your foes cower and fall before your unstoppable onslaught, yet final victory will leave you wanting more."
- — Description from Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2.
- "Laugh as helpless victims flee in terror from their inevitable slaughter. The game basically plays itself."
- — Description from Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST.
Easy is the least challenging difficulty setting on Halo: Combat Evolved, 2, 3, Halo 3: ODST and Halo Wars. The enemies are few, target inaccurately, and are overall far weaker than on higher difficulty levels. Many players use it to learn the story. After they accomplish it on easy, they will often play again on harder difficulties.
Summary
The icon for the Easy difficulty setting is represented with a shield that has the Marathon Logo encrusted into the center. This is for people just beginning to enter the Halo Universe and the first person shooter genre.
Among the features the player enjoys in easy mode are:
- A tougher health meter.
- Shields being at 200% their "Normal" capacity.
- Lower health and shield levels for enemies.
- Elites or Brutes being less common, and there are very few Major Elites or Brute Captains. Minor Elites or Brute Minors are almost exclusively seen.
- Less intelligence for enemies and tactical action. Enemies are far more reckless and easy to kill.
- Marines and other allies being tougher, more accurate, and doing more damage.
Enemies
The only main problem any player should encounter when playing is being hit on the back of the head, being stuck by a Plasma Grenade, or a charged Plasma Pistol shot fired at them with no cover available.
Grunts are by far the easiest to kill in all Halo games. If they so much as spot you, they begin to panic. If they are in groups, they can be killed in a matter of seconds. The biggest threat they present is setting up and firing at you with a Plasma Cannon, but even then, they are no serious concern.
Jackals are, like Grunts, very easy to kill. The main problem is the shield that, with the exception to the Rocket Launcher, cannot be destroyed by UNSC weapons. In Halo: Combat Evolved, this is very easy to counter, a simple melee attack will send them flying, also killing them. This method can be used in Halo 2, but will usually require more than one melee attack to kill them, despite it being on Easy. The other main way of dispatching shielded Jackals is by using any Plasma weapon and firing at them, which will deplete the shield. Jackal Snipers are no problem, despite having a Beam Rifle. The damage inflicted on you is usually very small.
Drones are the physically weakest members of the Covenant. This is especially the case on Easy. Usually one shot or melee attack is enough to kill one. The only problem is their ability to fly. This, though, is still not a threat, especially considering the fact that they need to frequently rest; however, they are still irritating.
Elites, even the higher ranking ones, are fairly easy to defeat. Despite their intelligence, they seem to lack it considerably on the Easy difficulty. As aforementioned, Minor Elites are almost always the ranks encountered. Even when higher ranking Elites are faced, such as the Zealot, it is fairly easy to kill them. The only main problems are having to fight large numbers of Elites at once, being hit over the back of the head by one, or facing an Elite holding an Energy Sword. Only being hit over the back of the head, though, can kill you with one hit. This can easily be avoided altogether if you keep your distance.
Brutes, like Elites with their intelligence, seem to lack the strength that they are supposed to possess on Easy. They are quite easy to kill, even when berserking. The only problem with them berserking is not being able to get out of the way in time. The other problem facing Brutes is if you face a large number at a time. Both of these, however, are not serious and can be dealt with easily.
Hunters are not any threat usually, especially in Halo: Combat Evolved. Despite the armor that covers most of their body, ways to get to their exposed flesh are simple. On Halo: Combat Evolved, one shot with a Pistol to the back can kill a Hunter. All other weapons directed to their backs are effective as well. They can even be run over by a Warthog and even takes few melee attacks to kill one. The only threat on Halo: Combat Evolved is facing them in confined spaces. However, this is no major threat, as that hardly ever happens. On Halo 2, Hunters are a little harder to kill, but still present no major threat. The only major problem is facing them in tight space, and in Regret they may knock you out of the level, both of these are worse when used with the Sputnik skull, which, again, hardly ever happens.
Sentinels are very easy to destroy. A few shots from any weapon will destroy them. They never really present a threat. Enforcers are tougher than Sentinels but still do not present any threat. However, they can still crush vehicles, which can be fatal.
The Flood are easy to kill, but can present a threat if they are underestimated. The Infection Forms are easy to kill and give out a little damage when they explode on you. The only problem they present is finding and reanimating a dead body. The Combat Forms can be killed with a few simple shots, sometimes one. The main threat from them is attacking in large groups and wielding weapons like the Rocket Launcher. Carrier Forms are also easy to kill, but the explosions can be deadly if you get caught in them. Apart from that, they are no real threat.
Trivia
- Many Achievements unlockable in the Halo series don't unlock when played on Easy as most need to be on Normal or higher though there are exceptions.
- In Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, the player will not get any Achievements for beating levels of the Campaign on Easy.
- Every difficulty shield icon has the Marathon logo on it.
- Developers have referred to Easy in Halo: CE as "grandma mode", according to the official guidebook.
- 343 Guilty Spark will suggest that you switch to "Easy" if you team kill in Halo 3 with the IWHBYD Skull on.
- You cannot find or claim any Skulls in Halo 3 on Easy difficulty apart from the skull known as Mythic; however, you can not get the Achievement.
- In Halo: CE co-op mode, it is easier to team kill than in higher difficulty levels (11 Plasma Rifle shots needed on Easy; 20 needed on Legendary)
- You will have less quotes, and even those will be inferior to quotes of the higher difficulties.
- In the beginning of each of the Halo games, you will have to do the basic procedure to check the Player's control scheme for Easy and Normal, whilst in Heroic and Legendary, you will skip them due to the assumption that you will be already familiar with them.
- In Halo: Combat Evolved, three grenades can destroy a single Wraith.
- Some people use the Easy difficulty for "fooling around", having fun and exploring at their own pace.
- In Halo 2 and 3, you can survive a plasma grenade stuck to you by an enemy when playing. Sometimes, in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST, the grenades will bounce off you.Template:Fact
- In Halo: Combat Evolved, Marines can survive a direct strike from an Energy Sword.
- In Halo 2, there are no Elite Zealots spawned.
- In Halo 2, you cannot acquire any Skulls with the exception of the "Unnamed Skull".