Rank (Halo 3)

This page lists the ranks that are used in Halo 3 ' s Matchmaking.

Overview
Multiplayer ranking in Halo 3 consists of two components; Skill and EXP. Skill employs a 1-50 ranking system for ranked playlists similar to the ranks included in Halo 2 multiplayer, while EXP ranks are military-style ranks designed to show a player's experience in playing Halo 3.

Skill (1-50) ranks
A player's 1-50 rank shows in ranked but not social playlists. An in-depth analysis of the skill ranks and its relation with TrueSkill is available here.

EXP ranks
EXP is awarded to players who emerge victorious in multiplayer matches of Halo 3. In team games, this requires being on the winning team while in Free-For-All this requires being in the top half of the leaderboard. Wins award 1EXP, losses award 0EXP, while quitting matches will take away 1EXP. EXP ranks in of themselves consist of two components; global rank and playlist rank. Global ranks are the player's overall Halo 3 multiplayer rank, based off a combination of the player's skill and EXP level while playlist rank are per-playlist indicators of a player's experience in that mode.


 * Global ranks are the sum total of the player's EXP awarded from all playlists, and additionally require the player to hit certain skill rank thresholds in any playlist (the highest available value is used) to unlock. Global ranks are displayed on the player's service record in-game and on Bungie.net. As such, a player can have 5,000 EXP overall but may not be awarded the rank of General unless they also have 50EXP in at least one playlist. If a player's EXP and skill values are right, players are able to "skip" global ranks; this may occur due to a player having the necessary EXP to level up, but not having the skill requirement.
 * Playlist ranks are a system introduced in Title Update 2, that allow for players to track their individual progression within a playlist. Playlist ranks are the sum total of the EXP awarded to the player in a given playlist, and are unique to that playlist. As such, a player can be a Sergeant in one playlist and a General in another; playlist ratings do not have any skill requirements, and are available for both social and ranked playlists.

The EXP ranks are military ranks awarded to players as they hit new EXP thresholds. There are thirteen ranks total, each divided into 1-4 "Grades" - with all ranks after Gunnery Sergeant having 4 grades. Each rank's fourth grade has a unique name. For global ratings, EXP ranks are divided into two classes; Enlisted and Officer. Enlisted ranks do not have any skill threshold required to achieve them, while Officer (starting with Lieutenant) require a player to have skill and the necessary EXP value to achieve; as such, the Enlisted and Officer difference does not have any practical bearing on playlist ratings.

Achievements
Several achievements in Halo 3 are tied to a player unlocking a given rank. At launch, this was dependant on the player having the appropriate global rank, though as of the launch of Title Update 2 required ranks are now in the playlist ratings system; global ranks no longer apply. As such, their specific EXP and skill requirements depend on whether the circumstance in question is pre or post-Title Update.

Armor permutations
Several armor permutations in Halo 3 are tied to a player unlocking some of the above achievements, and thus are tied to rank. Their unlock triggers are tied to the achievement unlocks and not the rank itself, though are listed here for comprehensiveness. These include the following;
 * ODST helmet - Unlocking the Graduate achievement by reaching the rank of Private.
 * Mark V helmet - Unlocking the UNSC Spartan achievement by reaching the rank of Sergeant.
 * Rogue helmet - Unlocking the Spartan Officer achievement by reaching the rank of Lieutenant.
 * Recon armor - Prior to March 2012, unlocking Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch was one of seven achievements required to be unlocked to acquire the Recon armor. As of the shutdown of Bungie.net online services, this is no longer possible.

Trivia

 * The 2009 edition of the Halo Encyclopedia erroneously described the in-universe UNSC rank structure to be identical to that seen in Halo 3 multiplayer and described on this page. In the book's 2011 reprint, the page was updated to also-erroneously describe the UNSC rank structure as identical to that of the multiplayer ranks of Halo: Reach. Neither of these facts are true or considered canon.
 * The rank structure for Halo Wars' multiplayer uses identical icons to those found in Halo 3.
 * The in-game VISR database found in Halo 3: ODST uses Halo 3 multiplayer rank icons to represent each of the members of the ODST unit Alpha-Nine, though the ranks and icons do not match up 1:1. See the gallery section for a full comparison.