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 and Halo 3 playlist based around "free-for-all" action. It is one of the trickiest and most prestigious matchmaking playlists. Playing 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.

Halo 2 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.

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.

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 always ill-advised in a Rumble Pit as it can help the leaders get easy points with better weaponry.