Medals

Medals are preset awards in multiplayer that showcase special achievements that a player makes through the game, usually by killing opponents in a special way, a certain number of opponents at a time or in one life, or by achieving some objective. Medals have appeared in some form or other in all Halo games, but in Halo: Combat Evolved they have no visual representation and in Halo Wars they simply denote the quality of the player's victory.
==Halo: Combat Evolved==
Medals do not appear in their physical form in Halo: Combat Evolved, but some of their accomplishments are occasionally listed despite this. The Announcer will announce Double Kills, Triple Kills, Killtaculars, as well as Killing Sprees and Running Riots. However, none of these medals have physical representations, and Xbox Live has no way of recording them as the game does not utilize Xbox Live.
==Halo 2==
Medals make their first real appearance in Halo 2. There are 23 medals available to win, which fit into four general categories; "Consecutive kills" are the streak of medals which acknowledge a number of kills within four second of each other. Double Kills for two, Triple Kills for three, Killtaculars for four, Kill Frenzies for five, Killtrocities for six, and Killmanjaros for seven kills. "Spree" medals are awarded for a number of kills a player achieves without dying. Killing Sprees are given for five kills in one life, Running Riots for ten, Rampages for fifteen, Berserkers for twenty, and Overkills for twenty-five. The third Category is "special kills" and these are awarded on the basis of special ways a player kills another player. There is an award for killing players with Sniper Rifles, Plasma Grenades, vehicles, and melee attacks from the front and back. There is also a medal for making Carjackings.
Also, there are objective medals available in special gametypes. The CTF gametype has a medal for taking a flag, killing a person who has a flag, and returning a flag to your base. The Assault gametype has a medal for when a player plants a bomb and when they kill someone holding the bomb.
Most of these medals can be viewed in-game when they are earned, and also after the game in the post-game carnage report. Though Bungie keeps a profile of many recent games, there has been no official record for players to keep track of how many medals they have earned throughout their careers. Because of this, sites such as Halo2junk which keep extensive records of player profiles and medals earned have grown in popularity.
==Halo 3==
With the release and announcement of Halo 3, medals have been given a significant overhaul, more so than Halo 2. Most of those featured in Halo 2 have reappeared in their original form, while many others have undergone a complete overhaul, and still more have been created. 42 Medals were introduced in the Halo 3 Beta, and 56 were included in the final game. Medals were created for new gametypes such as VIP and to acknowledge special forms of kills, such as the kill with an Oddball or a Flag. Others are for scoring a point in an objective based game. Specialized spree kill medals were made to acknowledge kills with certain weapons, such as sniper rifles, shotguns and energy swords. In addition, special medals were created to be displayed only on Bungie.net, showcasing certain achievements. This video shows the Halo 3 medals with descriptions of each.
A Medal Chest was created on Bungie.net for Xbox Live accounts. The chest avidly keeps track of all medals a player has won throughout their matchmaking and campaign career.
==Halo Wars==
In Halo Wars, medals do not appear in their usual form, but rather as accomplishments in campaign. When a player completes a level, he or she will be given a gold, silver, bronze or tin medal depending on their performance. This medal will have on it the symbol of the difficulty upon which they have completed the mission. The player's best medal in the respective level will appear on the level select screen.
==Halo 3: ODST==
With Halo 3 having multiplayer and campaign medals, medals were put into Halo 3: ODST in both the campaign and Firefight Modes. All medals that were in Halo 3, except the wheelman medal have been carried over into ODST, and a few Firefight specific medals added. Receiving medals gives a boost in points that one would not receive if they were to just kill the enemy normally.
The Medal Chest available on Bungie.net also has a section for Halo 3: ODST medals. The chest shows all medals the player has won throughout their Firefight and campaign career.
==Halo: Reach==
Halo: Reach saw the return of the majority of medals from Halo 3, but with many more added. There are a total of 120 medals, however some are exclusive to Bungie.net. Some of the new medals include "Headcase," "Close Call," "Opportunist," and "First Strike."
Weapon spree medals have been given a significant overhaul in Halo: Reach. While in previous games they were only awarded for consecutive kills with the same weapon, in Halo: Reach, the player needs only to accumulate the number of kills without dying.
==Halo 4==
Halo 4 both added and removed many medals. Most of the weapon spree medals are not present in Halo 4, however dozens of gametype-specific medals were added, for completing objectives in gametypes such as Regicide, Dominion and Flood. Other medals have been added such as Comeback Kill and Distraction have been added across all gametypes.
==Halo 5: Guardians==
==Halo: Spartan Assault==
HSA Star GASO.png|The GASO star.
HSA Star Gold.png|The Gold star.
HSA Star Silver.png|The Silver star.
HSA Star Bronze.png|The Bronze star.
HSA Star None.png|The symbol if the player fails to achieve star.
Halo: Spartan Assault brings back many weapon spree medals, albeit with different names. The achievements Distinguished Service and Overachiever are awarded for earning all the medals in campaign and co-op, respectively.
A medal ranking system also returns, similar to Halo Wars in the form of stars. The player must beat certain score thresholds to earn either a gold, silver or bronze star. These thresholds vary per level. Beating the gold threshold with the skulls Black Eye and Thunderstorm on unlocks a star dubbed the 'GASO' (Gold All Skulls On) star, which is only visible on Halo Waypoint. In the game, the GASO star will simply appear as gold.
Category:Multiplayer Lexicon
Category:Medals