Halo 4 Rank Progression: Spartan Points, Specializations, Stances & Loadouts

The ranking system in Halo 4 will be different than previous Halo games. Previously, your rank would go up and down depending on how well you are doing in Halo multiplayer at the time. This was called the TrueSkill system. Now, however, the ranking progression system 343 industries has created in Halo 4 will be much more straight forward. It is the earn XP and rank up system like first-person-shooters such as Call of Duty or Battlefield have implemented. The more experience points you earn each match will dictate how quickly you rank up. In order to help prevent players from quitting matches, 343 industries has made it so players will not gain game completion XP if they did not complete a match in Halo 4. This will hopefully be a good thing because it can be very unfortunate when you get outnumbered in a Halo multiplayer game or do not have enough enemy players to fight. There will still be players who quit, though (whether it was done on purpose or due to disconnection issues).

Halo 4's multiplayer is called infinity -- named after the vessel UNSC infinity. There will be a total of 50 ranks in Halo 4 (SR-1 to SR-50). You are a Spartan-IV soldier and the UNSC infinity is basically where you have access to your Halo 4 multiplayer career. There are a couple types of multiplayer; War Games and Spartan Ops. War Games is the traditional multiplayer and Spartan Ops is cooperative episodic content. You will gain more experience on higher difficulties in Spartan Ops.

As a Spartan-IV soldier (SR-1), you will have limited to access to items until you rank up. However, every Spartan will first start off with a primary weapon, secondary weapon, grenade type, and armor abilities. As you rank up in your Halo 4 multiplayer career, new items will be made available to you. There will be items that you can choose to unlock at that specific rank. You'll be able to tailor your Halo 4 experience as you see fit. As you get higher in rank, more choices will be offered to you. You'll be able to unlock all the gameplay items before SR-50 rank, but will not be able to purchase them all until SR-50.

Spartan points are basically the currency in Halo 4 multiplayer. You earn Spartan Points whenever you rank up and use them to purchase items for your personal loadouts. As you get higher in rank, you will unlock more custom loadouts.

Each Spartan solider starts out with a basic loadout

• Assault Rifle
• Magnum
• Frag Grenade
• Recruit Armor, Emblem, Visor and Stance

As mentioned earlier in this article, you will be able to unlock all gameplay items before the SR-50 rank, but will not be able to purchase everything as you will not have enough Spartan Points. At SR-26, everything can be purchased, it's just up to you to decide what you want to unlock in your Halo 4 multiplayer career. Every player's experience will be completely their own because of the choices they make at each rank.

Also, new to Halo 4, are Stances that is a customizable option that allows you to set a pose for your Spartan soldier. This pose can be seen by other players that view your player card in multiplayer lobby's. It is how you will appear outside of multiplayer gameplay.

There are several ways that you can rank up in Halo 4. The more skill a player has, the faster the player will rank up.

These are the following ways experience (XP) is earned

• Playing War Games like Slayer. More XP will earned if the player wins the match and/or gets a high score.
• Completing Spartan Ops missions. Playing on higher difficulties in Spartan Ops will earn you more XP which will help you rank up faster
• Completing Challenges and Commendations.
• Using the forge in Halo 4

Specializations in Halo 4 allow you unlock armor sets, emblems, visor colors, armor & weapon skins and armor mods. It should be noted, however, that once you commit to a specialization you will not be able to switch to another. Not all specializations will be available at Halo 4's launch, except for limited edition versions. But specializations will gradually be released following the launch.

You will be able to enlist in a new specialization whenever you reach SR-50. Each of them are made up of 10 ranks. Every specialization will provide unique benefits to the player. For example, the "Wetworks" specialization has some stealth benefits. The armor mod of Wetworks allows you to perform assassinations faster and sprint more quickly.