Halo 4 skulls

This article is about the gameplay modifiers in Halo 4. For other uses, see Skull.

The skull selection in the main menu of Halo 4.

Skulls are game modifiers featured in Halo 4 with the appearance of a human skull. The skulls are the same as those featured in Halo: Reach. In addition, just like in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach, skulls are no longer Easter egg collectibles that must be found hidden in-game, and are instead accessed in the campaign menu immediately. Similarly, due to Halo 4's lack of campaign scoring, they do not provide any score multipliers or bonuses, and there are no achievements related to their use. Skulls can not be used in Spartan Ops, though select playlist rotations when the game launched did enable combinations of skulls selected by 343 Industries.

List of skulls

Original Halo 4

The following skulls were available in Halo 4 as it launched on the Xbox 360 in 2012. For information on the skulls present in the Halo 4 component of Halo: The Master Chief Collection (and their campaign scoring multipliers), see here.

Icon	Skull Name	Short Description
	Iron	On campaign solo, player death results in the mission restarting. In cooperative play, player death results in reversion to previous checkpoint.
	Black Eye	Energy shields don't recharge unless the player melees enemies. The following actions also recharge energy shields: The primary attacks of the Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword An enemy being in the Gravity Hammer's shockwave area of effect Boarding/hijacking an enemy vehicle Punching (not boarding/hijacking) an enemy vehicle (including Lich) , manned turret, or Shade Turret Punching the Lich's core, in any levels that feature Liches Deploying a Regeneration Field Killing allies after they turn on the player The following missions feature scripted events that recharge the player's shields regardless: Forerunner - When John-117 kicks the Promethean Knight away, and the latter teleports out of the scene, the player's shields will recharge. However, this is negated on higher difficulties with the Tough Luck skull active, which causes the Knight to shoot once. Infinity - When the player reaches the checkpoint "THE GUN SHOW", their shields will be fully restored. Shutdown - When the player goes to the left tower and enters the energy field, their shields will be drained and recharged seconds after, even with the Black Eye skull on. This is missable, however, if the player chooses to skip the two main towers and fly to the final tower. Shields do not recharge in any other scripted shield breaks, for example the last Cortana terminal in Midnight. Unlike past Halo games, the low shield beep and shield down beep sound effects are removed when the Black Eye skull is active.
	Tough Luck	Enemies always go berserk, always dive out of the way, and never flee.
	Catch	Enemies throw grenades more often.
	Cloud	Motion tracker is disabled.
	Famine	Weapons drop much less ammo. While ammo from AI held weapons are halved, weapons already on the map are unaffected.
	Thunderstorm	Major upgrade to the capabilities of enemies. Elites will always appear as Elite Warriors (Very rarely, a few Commander) are not affected). Grunts will always appear as Grunt Heavies. Jackals will always appear as Jackal Heavies. Promethean Crawlers will always appear as Alpha Crawlers. As with previous games, specialists, such as Rangers and Zealots, are not affected. Promethean Knights and Promethean Watchers are also not affected by Thunderstorm.
	Tilt	Enemy resistances and weaknesses are increased. This also affects the player.
	Mythic	All NPCs have doubled health. This includes their shields.
	Blind	The HUD and the first person arms and weapon are hidden.
	Grunt Birthday Party	Headshotting a Grunt results in an explosion and sounds of cheering people. The following weapons can trigger this effect: Magnum Battle Rifle DMR Sniper Rifle Carbine Beam Rifle Boltshot Light Rifle Binary Rifle
	Cowbell	Acceleration from explosions is increased. Melee attacks also increase knockback.
	IWHBYD	Rare combat dialogue becomes more common.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection-exclusive skulls

Main article: MCC:Skulls

The Halo 4 component of Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes all of the skull functionality from the game's original release. Unlike the original Halo 4, the collection features campaign scoring, and as a result, skulls in Halo 4 now affect scoring and certain achievements. However, skulls are still automatically unlocked from the game start. The Master Chief Collection additionally features the ability to enable and disable skulls in Spartan Ops, unlike the original game.

Several skulls were added to Halo 4 in Halo: The Master Chief Collection in the December 2022 update. These include the following:

Icon	Skull Name	Short Description
	Acrophobia	Allows the ability to fly.
	Bandanna	Grants the player unlimited ammunition.

Gallery

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  A blank skull icon.

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  All the skulls featured in Halo 4.