Medals

Medals are preset rewards exclusive to Halo 2 and Halo 3 Multiplayer that showcase special achievements that a player makes through the game, usually by killing opponents in a special way, a certain number of opponents at a time or in one life, or by achieving some objective.

Halo: Combat Evolved
Medals do not appear in their physical form in Halo: Combat Evolved, but some of their accomplishments are occasionally listed despite this. The Announcer will announce Double Kills, Triple Kills, Killtaculars, as well as Killing Sprees and Running Riots. However, none of these medals have physical representations, and Xbox Live has no way of recording them as the game does not utilize Xbox Live.

Halo 2
Medals make their first real appearance in Halo 2. There are 23 medals available to win, which fit into four general categories; "Consecutive kills" are the streak of medals which acknowledge a number of kills within four second of each other. Double Kills for two, Triple Kills for three, Killtaculars for four, Kill Frenzies for five, Killtrocities for six, and Killmanjaros for seven kills. "Spree" medals are awarded for a number of kills a player achieves without dying. Killing Sprees are given for five kills in one life, Running Riots for ten, Rampages for fifteen, Berserkers for twenty, and Overkills for twenty five. The third Category is "special kills" and these are awarded on the basis of special ways a player kills another player. There is an award for killing players with Sniper Rifles, Plasma Grenades, vehicles, and melee attacks from the front and back. There is also a medal for making Carjackings.

Also, there are objective medals available in special gametypes. The CTF gametype has a medal for taking a flag, killing a person who has a flag, and returning a flag to your base. The Assault gametype has a medal for when a player plants a bomb and when they kill someone holding the bomb.

Most of these medals can be viewed in-game when they are earned, and also after the game in the post-game carnage report. Though Bungie keeps a profile of many recent games, there has been no official record for players to keep track of how many medals they have earned throughout their careers. Because of this, sites such as Halo2junk which keep extensive records of player profiles and medals earned have grown in popularity.

Halo 3
With the release and announcement of Halo 3, medals have been given a significant overhaul, more so than Halo 2. Most of those featured in Halo 2 have reappeared in their original form, while many others have undergone a complete overhaul, and still more have been created. 42 Medals were introduced in the Halo 3 Beta and 56 were included in the final game. Medals were created for new gametypes such as VIP and to acknowledge special forms of kills, such as the kill with an Oddball or a Flag. Others are for scoring a point in an objective based game. Specialized spree kill medals were made to acknowledge kills with certain weapons, such as Sniper Rifles, Shotguns and Energy Swords. In addition, special medals were created to be displayed only on Bungie.net showcasing certain achievements.This video shows the Halo 3 medals with descriptions of each.

A Medal Chest was created on Bungie.net for Xbox LIVE accounts. The chest avidly keeps track of all medals a player has won throughout their matchmaking and campaign career.

Halo 3: ODST
With Halo 3 having multiplayer and campaign medals, medals were put into Halo 3: ODST in both the campaign and Firefight Modes. All medals that were in Halo 3 have been carried over into ODST, and a few Firefight specific medals added. Receiving medals gives a boost in points that one would not receive if they were to just kill the enemy normally.

The Medal Chest available on Bungie.net also has a section for Halo 3: ODST medals. The chest shows all medals the player has won throughout their Firefight and campaign career.