UserWiki:Saphira/Sandbox VII

For other uses, see Weapon skins. Weapon skins in Halo 5: Guardians allow players to customize the appearance of their SPARTAN-IV's weapons. Weapon skins can be unlocked via the game's Requisition system, which grants the player currency to buy packs of varying tiers, granting skins. Certain skins are locked to real world currency as a result of external tie-ins with the Halo Championship Series, and a few are barred to certain employees and players for being part of 343 Industries or accomplishing certain feats that are noticed by 343.

Overview
Halo 5: Guardians features rudimentary weapon skin customization similar to Halo 4, with the player being able to simply swap preset patterns on their weapon in the player customization menu. However, this will only pertain to personal weapons. Applying a skin to an M395 DMR and then picking up a DMR placed on the map will not result in the newly picked up weapon possessing the player's skin. However, at the same time, picking up a player's DMR which has a skin applied to it will feature the skin chosen by the player who owned it prior.

Launch and DLC skins
Launch and DLC skins refer to those available in the game on launch, and those released through the game's myriad of content updates. All weapon skins on launch were available through the game's REQ system, with common to rare unlocks being tied to Silver packs, and ultra-rare to mythic unlocks being reserved for Gold packs. Skins released through content updates were also tied to this system. A few, such as the white HCS contender variants were able to be unlocked through Guardians' in-game currency, but were tied to specific packs, with fixed unlocks.

Halo Championship Series skins
As part of a tie-in to the ongoing Halo Championship Series, sets of skins were launched for Guardians' esports aspect over its lifespan. A trio of skins, released for the MA5D assault rifle, M6H magnum, and BR85 battle rifle, were launched in a staggered fashion. All featured a red, blue, and white coloration, with HCS branding over the weapon's form, akin to CHALLENGER-class Mjolnir, without specific team branding. As mentioned prior, these were available only in specific packs, but weren't tied to real world currency inherently.

Separate to these skins were those based on the teams participating in the game's Pro League and Halo World Championships. Beginning in 2016, waves of these skins would come out, starting with skins based on Counter Logic Gaming, Evil Geniuses, and OpTic Gaming in the summer of 2016, and ending on Splyce in late 2017. These skins were only purchasable through real world currency in an effort to support the organizations behind them, and each pack came with an assault rifle and magnum skin.

Miscellaneous skins
Certain skins in the game weren't tied to the game's content drops, or real world currency, but were instead given out in a manner akin to Halo 3's RECON-class Mjolnir, pre-Vidmaster Challenge. This included the "Ice Unicorn" skin, granted to players who matched 343 Industries employees on certain announced playdates in either Halo 5 or Halo: The Master Chief Collection. It also included the "Fire Unicorn" skin, which was given to players who managed to be featured on the Halo Community Spotlight.

Additionally, 343 Industries employees possess a full set of skins dubbed "Unicorn Fist", featuring orange and black decals. These were made to replace the then-publicly available 343 Industries assault rifle and magnum skin set, which were released in the Spartan's Armory REQ pack in March of 2016.

A set of skins dubbed "Sticker Shock" was originally exclusive to the Halo Loot Crate promotion. However, in July of 2017, a pack containing the skins was released. The skins were exclusive to this pack, and aren't in the REQ pool.

In late 2018, an additional set of skins, dubbed "Targetmaster" was added to the game. A series of five skins for the magnum exclusively, each skin would unlock upon a certain amount of wins. In order, they would unlock after 75 wins, 175 wins, 300 wins, 450 wins, and 650 wins.

Cut skins
In late 2017, a series of skins based on the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Mexico were announced. Exclusive to the assault rifle and magnum as well, they were made in support of the nationalities present at the Halo World Championship tour. They were intended to be launched in the lead up to 2018's Halo World Championship, however, due to extraneous political circumstances, their release was delayed indefinitely.

Production notes

 * The Master Control skin set's creation was inspired by an edited image of a Halo screenshot that was presented by Halo community member, Vetoed. His post suggesting the skin idea would be posted in February, 2016, while the Master Control skin set wound up being introduced in the Anvil's Legacy update in September of 2016.