Gameplay

Halo: The Master Chief Collection skulls

From Halopedia, the Halo wiki

The skull selection menu in The Master Chief Collection

Skulls are gameplay modifiers with the appearance of a human skull featured in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Like in Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach and Halo 4, the skulls are no longer easter eggs in-game, and can also be accessed in the campaign menu without claiming them in campaign levels. A total 38 skulls are included in the collection, including several unique additions to Halo 2: Anniversary.[1]

Skulls in The Master Chief Collection are divided into two categories: Scoring and Non-Scoring. Scoring skulls increase the challenge and reward players with higher score multipliers or bonuses to base enemy values when turned on. Non-Scoring skulls can either be neutral, such as Grunt Birthday Party, or in cases of cheat-like skulls, have a score multiplier of zero. Zero multiplier skulls like Scarab disqualify level times and scores from being recorded on the leaderboard and disable score and time-based achievements.[1]

List of skulls

The games in which the skull is available are listed below each skull. Pre-order skulls are marked with ¹ and were unlocked globally on December 12, 2014. With the exception of these as well as the Swarm skull, all other skulls are unlocked from the start.[1] Skulls marked with ² were not available in the original release of the games, but were implemented via updates in the MCC Insider Program. Skulls marked with ³ are "experimental"; starting a level with one of these skulls activated will result in a pop-up message warning "You have turned on an experimental skull which may produce unexpected scenarios or hinder your ability to complete this mission. Experimental skulls may be disabled to return the game to a normal state." The Acrophobia skull was added into the game for Halo 3 for the release of Halo 3 on PC.[2] The Acrophobia could originally only be unlocked for use by completing a seasonal challenge to kill 343 flying enemies in Halo 3, between July 14 and July 29, 2020.[3] It was unlocked globally after July 29, 2020. New skulls from the collection became available on Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST with the update on 11 April 2022.[4] Acrophobia and Bandanna were added to Halo 4 in the December 2022 update.[5]. Acrophobia was added to Halo Combat Evolved and the Bandana Skull in Halo 2 added Hunter Boarding.[6]

Icon Name Description Multiplier HCEA H2A H3 ODST H4 Reach
HTMCC Skull Acrophobia.png
Acrophobia The Corps: Now issue rifles AND wings... (Press Jump twice to fly.) 0.00x Yes Yes² ³ Yes² Yes² ³ Yes² ³ Yes² ³
HTMCC Skull Anger.png
Anger Enemies fire their weapons faster and more frequently. 1.10x Yes² Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Assassin.png
Assassins All enemies in the game are permanently cloaked. 1.20x No Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull Bandana.png
Bandanna¹ Infinite Ammo. 0.00x Yes Yes Yes² Yes² Yes² ³ Yes² ³
HTMCC Skull Black Eye.png
Black Eye Your shields only recharge when you melee enemies. Bash your way to better health! 1.10x Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Blind.png
Blind HUD and weapon do not display onscreen. 1.10x Yes² Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Bonded Pair.png
Bonded Pair¹ Co-op skull: When one player dies, the other player gets a large damage boost that lasts a while. 0.00x No Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Boom.png
Boom¹ Explosions have twice the damage radius. Light fuse, run away. 1.00x Yes Yes Yes² Yes² ³ No No
HTMCC Skull Catch.png
Catch Enemies throw and drop more grenades. 1.10x Yes² Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Cowbell.png
Cowbell Acceleration from explosions is increased. 1.00x No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Envy.png
Envy Chief trades his flashlight for Active Camo. 0.00x No Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull Eye Patch.png
Eye Patch Auto aim features disabled for all weapons. You'll miss it when it's gone. 1.10x Yes Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Famine.png
Famine Weapons dropped by AI have half the ammo they normally would. You might want to pack an extra magazine. 1.10x Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Feather.png
Feather¹ Player and enemy melee strikes impart more movement physics. 1.00x No Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull Fog.png
Fog The motion tracker is disabled. You'll miss those eyes in the back of your head. 1.10x Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Foreign.png
Foreign Covenant weapons: How do they work? Players cannot pick up or use Covenant weapons. 1.10x Yes No Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Ghost.png
Ghost AI no longer flinch from attacks. 1.00x Yes² Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Grunt Birthday Party.png
Grunt Birthday Party Grunt headshots lead to glorious celebrations. 1.00x Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Grunt Funeral.png
Grunt Funeral¹ Grunts die in a blaze of glory. And plasma. 1.00x Yes Yes² No No No No
HTMCC Skull Iron.png
Iron Death carries a heavy price. Dying in co-op resets you at your last saved checkpoint. Dying solo restarts the level. 1.30x Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull IWHBYD.png
IWHBYD (I Would Have Been Your Daddy) Rare combat dialogue becomes more common. 1.00x No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Jacked.png
Jacked Players can only enter ground vehicles by boarding. 1.20x No Yes Yes² ³ Yes² ³ No No
HTMCC Skull Malfunction.png
Malfunction Every time you respawn, a random element of your HUD is disabled. 1.00x Yes Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Masterblaster.png
Masterblaster Co-op skull: One player's shields recharge to overshield level and can only melee while the second player has no shields but infinite ammo. Roles switch after a number of enemy kills. 1.10x No Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Mythic.png
Mythic Enemies have increased health. 1.20x Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Piñata.png
Piñata¹ Punching enemies makes them drop grenades. Beat them 'til candy comes out! 1.00x Yes Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Prophet Birthday Party.png
Prophet Birthday Party Punch that Prophet up to 11. (Each punch the player lands on the Prophet of Regret on the level Regret or the Prophet of Mercy's Gravity Throne on the level High Charity are accompanied by an electric guitar lick). 1.00x No Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull Recession.png
Recession Every shot is worth twice the ammo. Save those bullets, player. 1.20x Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
HTMCC Skull Scarab.png
Scarab All player-held weapons fire Scarab Gun beams. 0.00x No Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull So Angry.png
SO...ANGRY... Enraged Brutes explode like a frag grenade if not dispatched within seconds. Base Brute score values are increased. 1.00x No Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull Sputnik.png
Sputnik Mass of objects is decreased, making them more easily displaced. 1.00x Yes² Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull Streaking.png
Streaking Player shields constantly decay at a slow pace but recharge some with every enemy kill. 1.20x No Yes No No No No
HTMCC Skull Swarm.png
Swarm Hunters are much stronger. Base Hunter score values are increased. 1.00x No Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull That's Just Wrong.png
That's Just... Wrong Increases enemy awareness of player. 1.10x Yes² Yes Yes² Yes² No No
HTMCC Skull They Come Back.png
They Come Back Flood Combat Forms spawned by Infection Forms reanimating a corpse are much more dangerous. Flood Combat Form score values are increased. 1.00x No Yes Yes² No No No
HTMCC Skull Thunderstorm.png
Thunderstorm Upgrades the rank of most enemies. 1.20x Yes² Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Tilt.png
Tilt Enemy resistances and weaknesses are increased. 1.20x No No Yes Yes Yes Yes
HTMCC Skull Tough Luck.png
Tough Luck Enemies always go berserk, always dive out of the way, never flee. 1.10x Yes² No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Trivia

  • The description of the Acrophobia skull is a reference to The Truth and Reconciliation from Halo: Combat Evolved. where in the opening cutscene a marine says "The Corps issued me a rifle, not wings.".
  • The Jacked skull will also prevent players from using mounted turrets. Unlike vehicles, turrets cannot be hijacked, therefore the skull renders them entirely unusable, though support weapons in Halo 3 and ODST can still be picked up and carried once they have been dislodged from their mounts.

Gallery

Sources