Rumble Pit

"A mix of Slayer and other Free For All games. Go it alone, or join as a group and throw down against each other."

- In-game description for Halo 3's social Rumble Pit playlist

Rumble Pit is a Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo: Reach playlist based around "free-for-all" action. It is one of the trickiest and most prestigious matchmaking playlists. It plays Slayer in many variants (though most often it's regular Slayer).


 * This playlist is unranked, meaning you are matched against people whose skill level varies and guests can play.

It allows up to 8 players in Halo 2, 8 players in Halo 3, and rotates through a selection of maps and gametypes, most notably the "slayer", (Including variants like swords, and shotguns) "fiesta" rules.

The Rumble Pit matchmaking playlist was ranked in Halo 2 on Xbox Live from its release (in 2004) until early 2007, and is now unranked in Halo 3. Halo 3's ranked version of Rumble Pit is called Lone Wolves.

Rules and Maps
Bungie changes the exact list of maps and rules periodically; the list as of 5/26/06 is:

Maps played in Rumble Pit
Note: All maps have equal chance of being selected
 * Construct
 * Guardian
 * Epitaph
 * Epilogue - Epitaph with shield doors removed and weapon layout tweaked.
 * Isolation
 * Narrows
 * Snowbound (FFA) - Default layout tweaked for Free For All.
 * Boundless - Snowbound with shield doors removed.
 * The Pit
 * Pit Stop - The Pit with inaccessible spawn hives.
 * Foundry – Required. Part of the Heroic Map Pack.
 * Rat's Nest - Required. Part of the Heroic Map Pack.
 * Standoff - Required. Part of the Heroic Map Pack.
 * Blackout – Required. Part of the Legendary Map Pack.
 * Ghost Town - Required. Part of the Legendary Map Pack.
 * Cold Storage - Required. Free download from Xbox Live Marketplace.
 * Assembly - Required. Part of the Mythic Map Pack.
 * Andromeda - Custom variant of Orbital. Orbital is part of the Mythic Map Pack.
 * Sandbox - Required. Part of the Mythic Map Pack.

Maps played in Rumble Pit

 * Anchor 9
 * Arena Zealot
 * Asylum
 * Boardwalk
 * Cliffhanger
 * Countdown
 * Pinnacle
 * Powerhouse
 * Reflection
 * Sword Base
 * Tempest
 * The Cage
 * Unanchored
 * Zealot
 * Uplink

Gametypes played in Rumble Pit
All percentages are rounded.
 * Slayer (32% chance of being selected) - 25 kills to win. Assault Rifle starts, no secondary weapons. 12 minute match time limit.
 * Slayer BRs (24%) - 25 kills to win. Battle Rifle starts, Magnum secondaries. 10 minute match time limit.
 * Swords (11%) - Slayer, 25 kills to win. Energy Sword spawns, no secondary weapons. Player traits: Cannot pick up weapons, cannot drive vehicles. Map traits: No vehicles or weapons on the map. 12 minute match time limit.
 * Juggernaut (4%) - Kill the Juggernaut to become the Juggernaut. Juggernaut earns points for kills (10 points to win). Juggernaut traits: 2x Overshield, 50% Shield Recharge Rate, 125% Damage. 12 minute match time limit.
 * Oddball (11%) - Hold the skull to earn points (50 points to win). 12 minute match time limit.
 * Crazy King (4%) - Stand in the hill to gain points (100 points to win). Hill traits: Moving Hill (30 second intervals), random moving order. 12 minute match time limit.
 * Ninjaball (4%) - Hold the skull to earn points (100 points to win). Ball carrier traits: 90% Damage Resistance, 50% Shield Recharge Rate, 150% Walking Speed, 50% Personal Gravity, Passenger only in vehicles. 12 minute match time limit.
 * Mosh Pit (3%) - Stand in the hill to gain points (100 points to win). Hill traits: Stationary Hill. Player in hill traits: 150% Damage Resistance, 200% Shield Recharge Rate, 25% Shield Vampirism. 12 minute match time limit.
 * Braaains (8%) - Get points by killing survivors as a zombie, or by killing zombies as a Survivor. Survivors start with Shotguns and Magnums. Zombies have energy swords, are colored black, and have no energy shields. Player with the most points after 4 rounds wins. Three minute round time limit.
 * Save One Bullet (4%) - Get points by killing survivors as a zombie, or by killing zombies as a Survivor. Survivors start with Shotguns and Magnums. Zombies have Energy Swords, and are colored black. Player with the highest score after 4 rounds wins. Three minute round time limit.
 * Slayer Pro
 * Crazy King Pro
 * Slayer DMRs
 * Elite Slayer
 * Headhunter

Tips and Tricks
A Rumble Pit is evenly comparable to a Lone Wolves match, save that it is not ranked but social. A good stratagem to work with on any given Free-for-All match is to step back, watch, wait, and charge. To bluntly hurtle towards foes is a guaranteed lose. For example if it is a Guardian Slayer match, you can primarily see hordes of Spartans and Elites having at it in the main arena in the center. Grab a Battle Rifle and a handful of grenades, hurl them in the arena and pick off your rivals.

Close-combat is almost always ill-advised in a Rumble Pit as it can help the leaders get easy points with better weaponry. However, using a 'standard' melee with an Energy Sword (as opposed to the 'lunge' performed by using the fire button) can be extremely effective, as the fast cooldown allows multiple kills in succession, especially if - as usual - opponents are grouped together closely. Although this strategy is almost guaranteed to result in death, the potential score gain often makes it a worthwhile tactic.