Fractures: Firewall

Previous:	Mindfall
Next:	Site Unseen
Fractures: Firewall
Start date:	March 21, 2023 (Week 1); April 11, 2023 (Week 2); May 23, 2023 (Week 3); June 13, 2023 (Week 4)
End date:	March 28, 2023 (Week 1); April 18, 2023 (Week 2); May 30, 2023 (Week 3); June 20, 2023 (Week 4)
Number of tiers:	20
Total unlock cost:	20 challenges
Includes content for:	Halo Infinite

Fractures: Firewall was a recurring multiplayer event held for Halo Infinite. The second event of Season 03: Echoes Within as well as the third Fracture, Firewall focused on the newly added Chimera armor, based on the Firewall Fractures continuity. Unlike Tenrai or Entrenched, Firewall ran for four weeks and featured a 20 tier event pass in contrast to the former two's six week runs with 30 tier passes.^[1]

Overview[edit]

Main article: Firewall

Whereas other Fractures take place in alternate universes, Firewall is set in the canon Halo universe and provides a glimpse of events inside Created-controlled territory in the aftermath of Cortana's defeat at Installation 07 in late 2559.

With Cortana gone, the Created found themselves with an uncertain future and began to splinter into various collectives, called assemblies, each with its own idea about the best path forward for infolife, such as making peace with humans or continuing to wage the Created uprising. Cortana's second-in-command, High Auxiliary Sloan, assumed leadership of one of the larger assemblies and proceeded to enact a contingency plan known as the FIREWALL agendum, which sought to accelerate the merger of organic and digital life through the creation of physical cybernetic vessels that could serve as an avatar for an infomorph's mind: the Executors. Sloan undertook an experiment involving a complex simulation that would be used to shape a captive human into a compliant servant, who would retain a measure of individuality but could also be controlled directly by an infomorph if necessary. This human test subject, an unnamed survivor of the Fall of Reach who also happened to be the discoverer of the original Assembly, was physically and mentally altered into the first Executor, whom Sloan envisioned as the first of many.

The FIREWALL agendum also began designing equipment for the Executors and determining potential applications and protocols. Central to this was Chimera armor, which was a synthesis of Forerunner armiger technology and MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor. Executors were to be tasked with various combat roles, ranging from policing captive human populations, assassinating their masters' rivals, extracting data from guarded datavaults, assaulting rebel human enclaves, waging war against other assemblies, terminating aberrant Executors, and defending Created territory from human incursions. Most roles would have a corresponding Chimera loadout or accessory to maximize the Executor's effectiveness. It was further intended that Executors would have a limited operational lifespan, at the end of which they would be terminated to make way for new iterations; the more effective Executors would have their essences digitally compiled for future Executor generations, but if a particularly valuable one was in danger of falling into hostile hands, it was usually preferable to have it self-destruct.

Firewall content[edit]

Firewall, much like Tenrai or Entrenched, was a recurring event, returning to the game for one week of every month during Season 03. Beginning in March of 2023, players could begin to earn a limited amount of levels within the event's progression path through weekly challenges and the newly implemented Match XP system. Unlike Tenrai or Entrenched, challenges were not tied to a specific playlist.

Helmet options earned through Firewall would be made available on all armor cores during Season 05: Reckoning, with shoulder pad options following with the release of Spirit of Fire in January of 2024. Visor options unlocked through Firewall were naturally available on all armor cores as it followed the August, 2022 drop pod in Season 02: Lone Wolves. All armor and weapon coatings would be made available on all of their respective cores with the release of Fleetcom in July of the same year. Rewards earned through Firewall's event pass would eventually be added to the Exchange during Shadows.

Tiers 1-10[edit]

Content	Event pass tier	Exchange cost
Kindle Probe	1	N/A
Recursive Composition (armor)	2	Shadows, 500
Burnt Chrome (M12 Warthog)	3	Shadows, 5,000
Burnt Chrome (Chimera)	4	Shadows, 5,000
MERROW	5	Shadows, 7,500
Recursive Composition (vehicle)	6	Shadows, 500
Burnt Chrome (M15 Razorback)	7	Shadows, 5,000
Burnt Chrome (M392 DMR)	8	Shadows, 5,000
Violent Darkness	9	Shadows, 1,500
Experiment 21C	10	Shadows, 2,000

Tiers 11-20[edit]

Content	Event pass tier	Exchange cost
Recursive Composition (weapon)	11	Shadows, 500
Burnt Chrome (M12R Rocket Warthog)	12	Shadows, 5,000
Bootstrap Burn (armor)	13	Shadows, 7,500
Karmawall Augmentor (left)	14	Shadows, 10,000
Karmawall Augmentor (right)	15	Shadows, 10,000
Recursive Composition (nameplate)	16	Shadows, 500
Burnt Chrome (AV-49 Wasp)	17	Shadows, 5,000
Set Breakpoint	18	Shadows, 3,750
Tag Plugin	19	Shadows, 3,000
Savior Protocol	20	Shadows, 3,000

Weekly rewards[edit]

Four unique weekly challenges with exclusive rewards were available during Firewall, when completed, all would unlock a Firewall-themed cosmetic option. Like the event pass' content, all four rewards would eventually be added to the Exchange during Anvil and Shadows.

Content	Challenge	Exchange cost
Burnt Chrome (Mark VII)	Complete the Power Moves challenge, which requires killing 10 players with power weapons in PvP.	Shadows, 7,500
PostAmp Utility	Complete the Light & Lightning challenge, which requires killing 20 players with Hardlight or Shock weapons in PvP.	Shadows, 2,250
Redline Interrupt (Chimera)	Complete the Back Attack challenge, which requires killing 3 players from behind with a melee attack in PvP.	Shadows, 7,500
Olive Rad (BR75 battle rifle)	Complete the Pop N Drop challenge, which requires killing 20 players with headshots in PvP.	Anvil, 7,500

Shop bundles[edit]

Firewall saw the addition of an array of unique new store offers themed around Chimera and variations of the armor. These bundles would remain mostly exclusive to the weeks of the event's return. All content within these offers can be found here.

Content	First available	Cost
Synthetic Runtime	March 17, 2023 - March 21, 2023	1,200
Groovy Grendel	March 21, 2023 - March 28, 2023	1,800
Synthetic Dawn	March 21, 2023 - March 28, 2023	1,200
Skinned Reflexes	March 21, 2023 - March 28, 2023	1,500
Facing Firewall	April 11, 2023 - April 14, 2023	800
Peaceweaver	April 11, 2023 - April 14, 2023	1,600
Flenser	May 23, 2023 - May 30, 2023	1,400
Grendel	May 23, 2023 - May 30, 2023	1,400
Chimera Epsilon Spring	June 13, 2023 - June 20, 2023	600

Marketing[edit]

Fractures: Firewall trailers[edit]

Main articles: Fracture: Firewall Launch Trailer, Fracture: Firewall Week 2, Fracture: Firewall Week 3, Fracture: Firewall Week 4

Each week of Firewall received a trailer to promote its launch and subsequent return in the later months of Season 03.

Gallery[edit]

Promotional images[edit]

The official Halo account's avatar updated with the Operation.
The event key art without logos.
A piece of keyart featuring the event's rewards.
A condensed piece of the same art.
A full-body render of an Executor, clad in Chimera, made for the Fracture's first Story Shard entry.
An upper-body render of an Executor, made for the Fracture's second Story Shard entry.
An upper-body render of an Executor, made for the Fracture's third Story Shard entry.