Overkill (achievement)

Overkill is a Halo 3 multiplayer achievement. It is awarded when the player gets an Overkill in a ranked free for all playlist. This Achievement gives 5 Gamerpoints to the player. Overkill also unlocks the helmet piece for the Elite Commando Armor and shoulders for the Elite Ascetic armor.

It is represented by a bronze medal with four green stars.

Background
This Achievement has been antagonized for its difficulty to earn. Currently, there is only one permanent playlist that falls within the conditions. Since the playlist, Lone Wolves, originally only supported 5 players per match a player had to kill every other player in the game within four seconds of each kill. This was proven very difficult, and many players instead opted to get this achievement simply in an achievement match. This was rectified and made slightly easier in a recent update, where the amount of people allowed per match was increased to 6.

Tactics

 * An easy way to do get the achievment will be to man the turrets on The Pit in a Crazy King match. People in the hill area can be too preoccupied to worry about you and you can mow them down with ease. Another popular way to gain the achievement in a Crazy King match is to grab a shotgun or gravity hammer near the hill area. The rushing players will probably be caught unaware which will make the achievement a bit easier. If, however, a another player is near the player you just killed it will be more difficult.


 * Another way to achieve this is to take a sniper rifle on King of the Hill games, stay far away from the hill, and pick off the people in the hill area.


 * You can also do this with an energy sword on a small map like Epitaph. Since Epitaph has a "Main Battle area" (inside on the 1st floor) where all the carnage occurs, go there and try to sneak up on people. Sword clashing is the negative side to this, though. Sword clash battles can take more than 4 seconds to finish, which violates a requirement for this achievement. You can also try tossing in grenades while your enemies sword clash each other. If the grenade is thrown right and their shields are down (from sword clashing each other), It should land you at least a double kill.


 * A tricky, but certainly possible, way to get the achievement is to get both a shotgun and a bubble shield. First activate the bubble shield, which will act as a magnet, attracting other players. As soon as they come give them a nice shot in the face with your shotgun. If enough players come within a few seconds, you could at least get a Triple Kill. This is especially effective on Epitaph and Guardian, even more on a Swords match.


 * A fairly easy way to gain this achievement is in a Crazy King match on Epitaph. Grab the rocket launcher and battle rifle, position yourself above the hill, and wait until the hill area is populated. When you see enough players in the hill area, fire off two rockets. Most likely no one is paying attention to you, so you could take the battle rifle and any remaining rockets to go for the Killing Frenzy achievement by picking them off from a distance with the battle rifle.


 * Another way to get it is to go downstairs on a guardian map. Wait till it is an oddball match. Grab the ball and run half way up one of the small ramps overlooking the small fighting circle. Drop the skull and hide behind the door. People come running up and you give them a nice whack to the face. Usually players will travel in groups. This is also a good way to get a killing frenzy.


 * Another way to get this, is if the game is Swords, and it is on a small map like Snowbound, and/or Guardian. Just go right into the battlefield and let people come to you. They will usually gravitate towards the same spot (Guardian, the middle) (Snowbound, right next to the cave entrance in the ground, or underground) The only hard part about this is that sometimes the "sword-battles" will take a little long, causing you to lose the "under 4 seconds part."


 * Of course, perhaps the simplest way to achieve this would be to ask all other participants if they require this achievement the same as you do (for any given game, it's fairly good odds that enough people will), and then agree for everyone to meet up at a predesignated spot whereby everyone takes turns assassinating each other quickly to earn the achievement. And unlike with attempts at arranging other high difficulty achievements, because Overkill requires almost everyone in the match to participate, then dealing with interference coming from people trying to play normally is almost a non-issue.


 * It was easily obtained in the Legendary Brawl Double EXP weekend Playlist, due to it supporting many more players than lone wolves.

Trivia

 * It was briefly possible to earn this achievement relatively easily during the Halloween zombie special. If you started as the alpha zombie on a "creeping death" match, it was possible to have four or more opponents clustered together and to easily sneak up and eliminate them all with a single gravity hammer stroke.
 * Bungie employee Luke Smith AKA Lukems was often picked on because of his inability to gain the achievement until he earned it in the last Legendary Brawl Double EXP weekend.