Halo Infinite Attrition game mode explained

Halo Infinite ranks in order — (Image credit: Microsoft)

The Halo Infinite Attrition game mode is the newest addition to the Halo multiplayer roster, a high-stakes take on team slayer that makes every death - and every kill - count more than ever before. Halo Infinite has never been so deadly, but if you want cool visors and mohawks, you're going to have to brace yourself.

That's because Attrition was introduced as part of the Halo Infinite Cyber Showdown event, and all the event's challenges are tied to it in some way, including some about getting kills, victories and more. For that reason, we've explained the Halo Infinite Attrition game mode below, as well as some tips and tricks on how to win.

Halo Infinite Attrition rules and gameplay explained

Attrition is a team-slayer variation that's not particularly well-explained in Halo Infinite and may take a few games to work out, but we've explained the rules below for you to check out. Here's a basic explanation of how to play Attrition:

Attrition starts off like a standard 4v4 game of Team Slayer. However, there's a limited pool of lives for each team (8 lives for one, 8 for the other).
The objective of the game is to deplete the other team's pool of lives by killing them, then kill the whole team once they've run out and can't respawn. At that point, you win the round.
However, once a team's pool of lives has run out, they get the option to respawn their teammates. When a player dies and can't come back, they leave behind a glowing orb with their name and AI on it. A living player can run up to that orb and hold down the reload button to respawn that player. This means that a single survivor can bring back their whole team, if they're careful.
However, there's a built in timer set in to prevent infinite play - once all lives are depleted, if the game hasn't been finished within a certain amount of time, a red circle of energy appears around the map and slowly shrinks, forcing confrontations between the players and bringing the game, one way or another, to an end.
Like Oddball, this all happens in a best-of-three-rounds structure, rather than one long match.

Halo Infinite Attrition tips and how to win

The shared pool of lives in Halo Infinite Attrition means that caution and calculation are very important, along with teamwork - you need to preserve everybody, not just yourself. With that in mind, here's some useful strategic elements to consider when going into Attrition.

Stay together! Well, not so close together that one grenade can kill you all, but we noticed that those who did well tended to coordinate and move together as a group. Two players have half the chance of getting killed and double the chance of killing an enemy as one player - it's just basic maths.
Seek power weapons. Yeah, you know this one applies to all game modes, but especially here - with only eight lives to a team, a well-applied rocket launcher can be a game changer. Likewise, if somebody on the enemy team has one, back up and try and bring them down with friends ASAP.
Mark opponents! This is an obvious thing that people always forget, but simply tagging your foes so everybody knows about them can make a big difference.
Camp respawn orbs. This is a slightly cheap strategy, but it's nonetheless effective - if an opposing team is down to just one or two players, it's in their best interests to respawn teammates. But they have to go to the orbs to do that, so keep an eye on those and open fire on anybody who shows up to resurrect their friends.
Protect your healers. Respawning an ally prevents you from moving while it happens, so leaves you very vulnerable. It's smart to have a teammate to watch your back while you're doing it and divert attention.
Don't bother respawning in combat. Players who have just been brought back to life are pretty vulnerable - they can't move for a second when they appear, giving enemies a perfect chance to ready a shot or stand behind them for a melee kill. As a result, trying to respawn them in plain site rarely goes well. Respawn people in secret or while under cover, and certainly don't sacrifice yourself for the restoration.

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.