Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta

A promotional image for the beta

The Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta also known as the Halo 5: Guardians Arena Multiplayer Beta was a phase in the development of Halo 5: Guardians, produced by 343 Industries and organized by Microsoft. Purchasing Halo: The Master Chief Collection gave players access to the beta,^[1] which was made available on December 29, 2014^[2] and ended on January 18, 2015.^[3] It was first revealed with a teaser trailer shown at Microsoft's E3 2014 media briefing.

The focus of the beta was on small maps with 4v4 arena gameplay. A notable difference to Halo 4 was the absence of custom loadouts; every player started with identical equipment.^[3] A notable addition in the beta were the new Spartan abilities, which will replace the armor abilities from the previous games in Halo 5: Guardians. 343 Industries described the beta as traditional in that it would be used for the intended purpose of beta testing and gathering feedback for a game still in progress, as opposed to merely showcasing a largely finished product for marketing reasons.^[4]

Included features

The beta featured eight maps, three game modes, eleven weapons and thirteen sets of armor.^[3] The beta also allowed users to offer feedback on things like power weapons, maps, and game modes in the Halo Channel.^[5]

Weapons

Armor

MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor
- MJOLNIR [GEN1]
  - Mark VI
    - Original
    - Scarred
- MJOLNIR [GEN2]
  - Air Assault variant
  - Athlon variant
  - Aviator variant
  - Centurion variant
  - Defender variant
  - Helioskrill variant
  - Nightfall variant
  - Recon variant
  - Recruit variant
  - Scout variant (Helmet only)
  - Soldier variant
  - Warrior variant

Maps

Game modes

Armory Unlocks

During the Beta the player could unlock armor. The armor unlocked was not transferable to the final version.

Armor unlocks

Recruit: Unlocked by default.
Air Assault: Reach SR2 (helmet) and SR3 (armor)
Recon: Reach SR4 (helmet) and SR5 (armor)
Aviator: Reach SR9 (helmet) and SR10 (armor)
Recruit BRN: Reach SR14 (helmet) and SR15 (armor)
Athlon: Reach SR19 (helmet) and SR20 (armor)
Warrior: Reach SR23 (helmet) and SR24 (armor)
Scout: Reach SR25 (helmet only)
Defender: Reach SR26 (helmet) and SR27 (armor)
Air Assault DPT: Reach SR29 (helmet) and SR30 (armor)
Soldier: Reach SR33 (helmet) and SR34 (armor)
Centurion: Reach SR37 (helmet) and SR38 (armor)
Mark VI: Get the "Your Journey Begins" achievement in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Mark-VI Scarred: Get the "Cairo Station" achievement in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Nightfall: Watch the Halo: Nightfall series (the helmet unlocks after Episode 1, the rest unlocks after watch all 5 episodes)
Helioskrill: Get the "Legend" achievement in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Visor unlocks

Recruit: Unlocked by default
Cyan: Reach SR7
Frost: Reach SR12
Blindside: Reach SR17
Sunspot: Reach SR22
Solar: Reach SR28
Verdant: Reach SR32
Midnight: Reach SR35

Trivia

Despite appearing in multiple promotional images and screenshots for the beta, the Technician armor was not available in the beta.
Between the Beta and final game some descriptions got changed.
- The VISRs changed from having their VISR numbers in the description. Being replaced with their name.
- The Armor skins lost their descriptions, opting to use the base armors description.