January Halo 5 Update: What You Need to Know

The January Halo 5 Update that the studio unveiled at the beginning of January doesn’t add any new modes, but does include some new maps and content. Here’s what you need to know about the January Halo 5 Update before it arrives on your Xbox One console.

When is the January Halo 5 Update Coming?

January 25, 2016
We’ll learn about the exact storage requirements when the January Halo 5 Update goes live. The update requires 3.3GBs of additional space to install.

What New Maps are in the January Halo 5 Update?

Halo 5: Guardians is picking up two massive new maps with this update. There’s a single new map for Warzone and Arena.

Riptide is for lovers of Arena, which is Halo 5’s classic multiplayer experience. Made of Forerunner technology and more, terraforming equipment and pods line the walls of the entire map. A large area perfect for enhanced jumps and murdering opponents with long-range rifles is set in the center. 343 Industries is encouraging players to battle over the level’s catwalks.

January Halo 5 Update Changes and Feature Upgrades



Multiplayer:

New Arena map Riptide added
New Warzone Assault map Urban added
Over 50 new REQs including weapons, armor, emblems, and more have been added
Modified color of Blue Team in multiplayer to improve Red vs Blue balance
Increased Warzone REQ Leveling speed
Increased Warzone weapon despawn time from 5 seconds to 20 seconds
Fixed exploits on Overgrowth that allowed players to get out of normal map boundaries
Fixed map holes on Recurve, Basin, and Deadlock
Fixed issues with Trident that allowed players to shoot through certain walls
Added Line of Sight toggle option for use in custom games, such as Octagon
The option to change teams has been added to the pause menu in custom games

Sandbox:

Fixed “fast fall” and “slide boost” exploits
Reduced the zoom time of the SPNKr Rocket Launchers
Increased brightness of the Classic BR scope
Reduced melee damage while boarding Wraiths and Scorpions
Sword of the Faithful Beam Rifle now kills with a headshot
Fixed issue where Maintain Sprint being toggled off didn’t allow players to slide when sprinting

User Interface:

Spartan Rank Progress now appears under all players’ nameplate
Active Roster updated to show whether or not friends are joinable and/or can be spectated
Rarity is displayed for REQs in Spartan HUB Customization
Players can now see equipped customization items from Spartan Appearance, Spartan ID, and Weapon Skins rather than going to each individual menu screen

Forge:

New and Updated Features:

Bounding box preview when navigating through objects in palette menu
“Delete all objects” button added to map properties (Fireteam leader only)
“Reset map properties” button added to map properties (Fireteam leader only)

The New REQ Cards Coming in the January Halo 5 Update

Every Halo 5: Guardians update includes new REQ Cards. These REQ Cards can’t be used in the game’s story, but can be used in Warzone and Warzone Assault. Participating in Warzone unlocks REQ Points that you can spend on REQ Packs. You can also purchase REQ Packs with your own money.

The line-up of new arms in the January Halo 5 Update has some gems. For starters, there’s a new REQ Card that unlocks the Battle Rifle from Halo 2. This new rifle has a 2x scope with targeting so that it’s great for firing quick rounds at a reasonably far distance.