Spartan abilities

"It's this total destruction machine. When you see Chief coming down of orbit, hitting the ground, and you know, doing all that stuff, we want to bring that to the gameplay itself."

- Tim Longo, creative director for Halo 5: Guardians.

Spartan abilities are gameplay features in Halo 5: Guardians. They serve as a spiritual successor to armor abilities. However, unlike armor abilities, Spartan abilities are available to all players constantly, in order to guarantee fair starts to everyone. Consequently, they are comparable to previously added gameplay mechanics such as boarding or dual wielding in Halo 2 or the sprint function in Halo 4. Some Spartan abilities are the continuation of already existing gameplay features, while others make their appearance for the first time in the Halo franchise. The aim of the Spartan abilities is to portray playable Spartans as real supersoldiers with a range of powers and movement abilities that are more faithful to the Spartans' legendary lethality in the Halo universe. In the Halo sandbox, the weapon, the melee and the grenade constitute the three main layers of gameplay; the Spartan abilities are introduced as a fourth layer.

Thruster pack
The thruster pack allows Spartans to quickly move into a chosen direction. Unlike its Halo 4 counterpart, it is a built-in feature and can be activated at anytime by the player. The acceleration is much weaker and allows limited movement, but it is now omnidirectional. Moreover, the ability is not performed in third person view anymore, but rather in first person view. It facilitates dodging enemy fire and moving in mid-air in ways that were not possible before.