Needler

Needler
Gameplay role
Faction:	Covenant
Weapon tier (?):	Loadout weapon
Weapon class (?):	Pistol
Firing mode:	Automatic
Effective range:	Close to medium
Counterparts:	Human (UNSC) Assault Rifle; SMG Covenant (Brute) Plasma Rifle; Spiker Forerunner Sentinel Beam
Weapon stats
Magazine size:	24 needles
Reserve ammo capacity:	96

"WE'VE GOT A NEW CONTACT, UNKNOWN CLASSIFICATION!"

This article may contain information based upon upcoming, unreleased, or recently-released content from Halo: Campaign Evolved, and may not be fully complete. Additionally, the information may be subject to change if it is based on pre-release material. Please update it as soon as any relevant and accurate material is available.

The Needler is a weapon featured in Halo: Campaign Evolved. It is one of the most common weapons throughout the game. Information on the Needler found in the original Halo: Combat Evolved and its Anniversary remaster can be found here.

Universe and lore

Main article: Posu'gelka-pattern needler

In Campaign Evolved, the Needler featured within gameplay is the Posu'gelka-pattern needler, a single-handed, fully-automatic infantry specialized weapon utilized by the Covenant. It is the successor to the Nahle'hax-pattern needler featured in Halo: Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 4, and the Type-56D needler featured in Halo 5: Guardians.

Gameplay

Counterparts

Campaign

The Needler is a common weapon within the Campaign Evolved sandbox, utilized by every species within the Covenant other than the Lekgolo. A fully automatic weapon, when fired, the Needler unleashes a hail of pink, homing needles at targets. When seven needles embed in an unshielded enemy's armor, they will violently detonate in a supercombine explosion, killing most targets immediately and potentially wounding or staggering others within the vicinity.

Unlike its original incarnation, the projectiles of the Needler travel relatively quickly, and despite their ability to track any target, this lock can be broken if the enemy sidesteps or evades quickly. Likewise, they will bounce off of the shields of Jackals and Hunters , ricocheting in random directions. While chaining multiple supercombines on Hunters is still possible, it's only viable if the player successfully strikes the exposed worms underneath the Hunter's armor. Elites must also have their shields broken in order for a supercombine to occur, whereas the original Needler of Combat Evolved was able to supercombine through them. Despite the Needler possessing a melee animation that has the player striking an enemy with the needles of the weapon, this will not result in a supercombine.

Like all other weapons within Campaign Evolved, the Needler possesses a newly added scope. This scope is a 1.4x magnification zoom that increases the player's range, and also features no descope upon taking damage. It also features an ammo counter similar to the Assault Rifle, showing the remaining available needles within the weapon on its stock. The player can only restock the Needler through picking up another Needler to gain its ammo, or by obtaining unique ammo pickups; these ammo pickups specifically are also able to be utilized by the Needle Rifle.

Production notes

In the 2025 reveal demo for Campaign Evolved, the Needler had a maximum of 72 spare rounds. For the summer 2026 build this was bumped up to 96 spare rounds, with a slight rate-of-fire penalty.^[1]