Weapon skins (Halo 4)

For other uses, see Weapon skins. Weapon skins in Halo 4 allow players to customize the appearance of their SPARTAN-IV's loadout weapons. Weapon skins can be unlocked via progression in Specializations, purchasing specific editions of the game and DLC, and finally, by buying specific figures from Series 2 of the McFarlane line of figures.

Overview
Halo 4 features rudimentary weapon skin customization, with the player being able to simply swap preset patterns on their weapon in the loadout modification menu. However, this will only pertain to personal loadouts. 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.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
With Halo 4's flighting and release on PC, the weapon skin system was tuned. The game now allows the player to select a base skin for every weapon, independent of loadout. This selection will override default skins in gametypes like SWAT or Legendary Slayer. Should the player choose to, an override function exists in each loadout to make the skin of that specific loadout operate as it did in Halo 4.

Launch skins
Launch skins refer to the weapon skins that were in the game at launch. These include skins that were unlockable though Specializations, pre-ordering the game, or though special editions. These skins were able to be used in Spartan Ops.

Weapon skins can be unlocked in a multitude of ways, with the most common method of unlocking them being through the grinding of Specializations. For example, upon reaching Spartan Rank 5 within the Wetwork's Specialization, the "Noble" DMR skin tied to it will unlock for the player. Each specialization has one weapon skin tied to it.

Specific editions of the game, such as the Halo 4 Limited Edition also include special weapon skins for buyers. The Limited Edition includes the "Prime" assault rifle skin, specifically. These skins were later made available for buyers of the Halo 4 Game of the Year Edition. The Halo 4 Xbox 360 console includes the "Imprint" lightrifle skin, though this was not made available for buyers of the Halo 4 Game of the Year Edition.

DLC skins
DLC skins refer to skins that were available through the Champions Bundle, or though McFarlane Toys figures. These skins were not programmed into Spartan Ops, so they can not be used in it.

Finally, unlocking skins can also be done by purchasing specially marked figures from Series 2 of the McFarlane toy line launched in 2013. For example, purchasing the Elite Ranger figure will unlock the "Chill" skin for the storm rifle.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection skins
With Halo 4 on the Xbox 360, there were two cut weapon skins which could not be unlocked legitimately, but still exist in the game files. These skins can be used in custom games, through a glitch. Renders of these weapon skins were later discovered in the game files of the "FireFlight", a public test of Halo: Reachs Firefight in the lead-up to Halo: The Master Chief Collections PC release.

During the initial flight for Halo 4's release on PC, the "Blast" battle rifle skin was available as an option. Likewise, a wholly new skin dubbed the "Blood" DMR skin was revealed, featuring a pattern akin to the "Trauma" skin of Halo 4's assault rifle.

Cut skins
Originally meant to be included in Halo 4, alongside the "Blast" battle rifle skin, the "Concrete" DMR skin remains unaccounted for in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Launch skins
Note: All skins in this section are unlocked by default in Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Champions Bundle skins
These skins were included in the various components of the Champions Bundle; the Steel Skin Pack and Bullseye Map Pack could be purchased separately though buying the whole bundle included their contents and some exclusive skins. They were not available at launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, but have since been made available for use in the collection as of the launch of Season 4: Reclaimer.

Figure exclusive skins
These skins were made exclusive to purchases of the Halo 4 Series 2 McFarlane figures in the original Xbox 360 release of Halo 4. They are not presently useable in The Master Chief Collection, though they do remain within the game's files.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection-exclusive skins
These skins are only available in the Halo 4 component of Halo: The Master Chief Collection as of the launch of Season 4. As they were never available in the original Halo 4 release, it is likely they were cut from the original game.