Gameplay

Killing Frenzy (achievement)

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

This article is about the achievement. For the medal, see Killing Frenzy.
Killing Frenzy
H3 Achievement Killing Frenzy.png
5 Gamerscore icon taken from Xbox.com. Originally a single block colour (with the two circles both being white and the 'G' a transparent cutout), but modified by myself to display nicely on dark *and* light themes, and to be reminiscent of the pre-Xbox One gamerscore icon.

Killing Frenzy is an achievement in Halo 3. It was awarded to the player for killing 10 enemies without dying in a ranked free for all playlist (i.e. Lone Wolves and the Living Dead playlist). It is worth 5 gamerscore

Following the shutdown of Xbox 360 Halo online services on January 13, 2022, this achievement is no longer attainable.[1][2]

Rewards[edit]

Unlocking this achievement rewards the player with the following;

Tactics[edit]

  • This achievement could be a difficult one. Arguably the easiest way to get was during an objective game, when opponents were primarily concentrating on the objective. King of the Hill, for example, could be a relatively easy gametype to score this achievement in. It was best to use long-range weapons like a Battle Rifle because killing rather than risking close range combat. Also, throwing grenades into the hills could earn combo kills.
  • Another way was to get the Karo'etba-pattern Ghost in Snowbound, and run-over people as they spawn. Players need to be careful to avoid the Spartan Laser as well, ideally by grabbing the Spartan Laser before taking the Ghost. The Shotgun with Active Camo power up works well too. Anskum-pattern plasma grenade sticks could also be particularly dangerous to the player.
  • In Epitaph, the Shotgun-Camo combo worked the same way as on Snowbound.
  • Juggernaut games were also a great place to get this achievement.
  • Oddball matches also provided opportunities to unlock the achievement, either by using the skull as a weapon, or by hanging back and killing other players as they pursued the objective.
  • Becoming a sneaky player with the Needler could yield this Achievement, particularly hiding and waiting tactics. Constant movement after kills was recommended, as to not become a target. The element of surprise is key with this weapon, as few can escape it without knowing what they were up against beforehand.
  • Sniping and/or camping could help as well. It required a good position where opponents are not likely to notice the player.
  • Player skilled with Energy Sword could play Swords on The Pit. The large area would allow the player to avoid the four or five-person fights that tended to occur in the smaller maps, which were more difficult to survive. In a large map like The Pit, the player oculd usually stick to the edge of the map, picking off stragglers in one-on-one duels.
  • Playing any most gametypes on The Pit offered opportunities to unlock the achievement, as the player could camp just inside the door of the Energy Sword room. Players could also unlock the Slice 'N Dice achievement at the same time.

Production notes[edit]

This achievement was intended to unlock the Elite Commando shoulders for use in multiplayer. However, the unlock condition ID for the shoulder pauldrons was entered in the code as _achievement_killing_frenzy, when the actual ID for the achievement was _achievement_kill_frenzy. As a result, unlocking the Killing Frenzy achievement would not cause the pauldrons to unlock, because the pauldrons were keyed to unlock on a different, non-existent achievement.[3] Bungie could not fix this mistake through an update, because it would have required players to re-download every multiplayer map, and the main menu's map file, which would total at approximately 1.11GB in size. An update of this size would not have been allowed at the time, because updates were limited to 4MB at maximum.[3] Instead, the shoulder pauldrons were made available to all players by default in a later update to the game.[4]

In a Bungie Weekly Update posted by Luke Smith, the Steppin' Razor achievement was incorrectly identified as the achievement meant to unlock the pauldrons,[4] when actually it was the Killing Frenzy achievement.[3]

Sources[edit]

  1. ^ Windows Central, Halo Xbox 360 servers have been shut down, ending an era (Retrieved on Jan 23, 2022) [archive]
  2. ^ Halo Waypoint, Sunsetting Halo Xbox 360 Game Services in 2021 (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]
  3. ^ a b c YouTube - Lord Zedd, Halo 3 Bug - Elite Commando Shoulders Explained
  4. ^ a b Bungie.net, Bungie Weekly Update: 02/08/08: "The longstanding “Elite Commando Shoulders aren’t unlocking with the achievement” bug is being resolved in the auto update. The shoulders weren’t unlocking when the Steppin’ Razor achievement was acquired. In the post-auto update era, the Commando shoulders will be unlocked for everyone, regardless of the status of the corresponding achievement." (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]