Valhalla


 * Weapons: Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Spartan Laser, Sniper Rifle, Spiker.
 * Vehicles: Mongoose, Scorpion, Wraith, Banshee, Warthog.
 * Size & Shape: Very Large, Canyon with hills, lots of trees, cliffs, a very large wall on one side, and a river running through.

Valhalla is a multiplayer map in Halo 3. A from-the-ground-up level, it is said to be 'the new Blood Gulch'. It is a forested valley with mountains in the distance, a creek running through the middle, and a large number of small hills and large outcroppings of rocks. Bungie added the new land features to help balance the action between snipers and on-foot travellers, whereas in Blood Gulch and Coagulation, those players were to easy pray for snipers. Another fact is that none of the screenshots of the map contain a Halo in the distance. This leads us to beleive that Valhalla is possibly on Earth.

The map is similar in shape to BloodGulch and Coagulation, but has unique elements. The most obvious is the river. The river starts in the mountains behind Blue Base, and comes out at a waterfall near the base. The river then flows infront of the base, then into a cave. The river continues to flow out of the cave and between the two prominant hills on which players find the Spartan Laser, and the Gun Turret. Next the river goes down to red base, and makes a turn to run along infront of the base. After another turn, the river empties out into a lake. There is also another cave in the map, in the cliff behind the pelican, allowing players to sneak through into the small clearing to the side of red base.

The "beam emitter" bases are Forerunner technology. They are almost identical to the structures seen in the Halo 1 campaign level Halo. The bases are remniscient of the ones in Blood Gulch, they are multi-leveled and have protective walls on the top level. There are 3 entrances to the inside of the base, two on the sides of the base, and one in the back. We can only see two of these entrances in the screenshots, but some concept art shows us a hallway leading down into the base. Replacing the teleporters are the Man Cannons. The largest one, on the front of the base, sends you out into the main battle (They are said to land you in very defensible spots). The smaller one, on the side of the base will send you along a more stealthy path along the edge of the map; Red Base sends you into some rocks (much like the rockslide in Coagulation), while Blue Base sends you into a group of trees (also much like Coagulation).

Not much is yet known for spawns. As previously stated, there are two similar hills on either side of the river. On one spawns the Spartan Laser, while the other holds a gun turret. The Sniper Rifle and several of all grenade types spawn within the bases, along with the flag. Numerous Battle Rifles are said to spawn around the map, and spikers spawn on top of the bases. The current vehicle set per base is a Banshee, Scorpion, Warthog, Wraith and two Mongooses.

Trivia

 * Valhalla (Old Norse Valhöll, "Hall of the slain") is Odin's hall in Norse mythology, for those slain gloriously in battle.
 * Many are confused to the new name. Though it has no connection to blood, like it's predacessors, it seems that this name is related to the word MJOLNIR, because they're both from the same mythology.
 * Additionally, a D-77 TC Pelican Dropship can be seen to have crashed along the shadowed cliff between the bases. Players can salvage supplies from the dropship, like ammo, and possibly heath packs, since pelicans have 2 health packs on their interior walls. Furthermore, weapons canisters from the dropship appear to be scattered across the battlefield.