How To Get Halo Infinite’s Sick Samurai Armor

See that kick-ass suit of armor at the top of the post? That’s a prize available for knocking out objectives in Halo Infinite’s first timed event, dubbed “Fracture: Tenrai,” which went live on Xbox and PC this afternoon and runs through November 30. For no other reason than “Ahhhh, look at it,” here’s another angle:

Screenshot: 343 Industries

It’s called the Yoroi “armor core,” and yeah, it’s glorious. The catch is that you won’t be able to unlock everything you see there in one week-long marathon, even if you play literally every hour before the event temporarily goes dark on November 30. Here’s everything you need to know about earning Halo Infinite’s ridiculously sick Yoroi armor and the affiliated rewards.

Do I need the premium battle pass?

Nope. The event is free to all players, per 343 Industries. It’s currently scheduled for three weeks during Halo Infinite’s first season:

That said, players with the paid version of the battle pass will unlock rewards at a faster rate.

What the hell? Why?

Halo Infinite’s Fracture: Tenrai event ties rewards to an event-specific battle pass, which is automatically added to your account at no extra cost. Among your weekly challenges, you’ll see a handful that are marked by an orange banner on the side. For every one of those you complete, you’ll progress another level in the “Fracture: Tenrai” battle pass. (The event-specific challenges also grant typical experience, which goes toward filling out your standard battle pass, so you can progress through both in tandem.) Players who pony up for the premium battle pass are able to juggle, and thus work toward completing, four challenges at once, rather than the baseline three.

Screenshot: 343 Industries / Kotaku

You can only complete the event-specific challenges by playing the mode it’s tied to.

And what mode is that?

At the moment, Fracture: Tenrai plays out on a dedicated playlist for Fiesta, a legacy mode in Halo multiplayer that spawns players with randomized primary and secondary weapons. In Halo Infinite’s take on this mode you also start each life with a randomized piece of limited-use equipment—stuff like the repulsor, drop wall, and so on. And the typical spawn points for weapons and gear on each map are deactivated.

Fans have long enjoyed Fiesta for how unpredictably matches play out, and for how rapidly the tides can change. If someone on the losing team spawns with, say, an energy sword and a grappleshot, that’s more or less a guaranteed game-changing Killing Frenzy (the medal you get for scoring 10 kills without dying). But if two players on the winning team happen to get rocket launchers from the jump, well...

Right now, Fiesta only shows up as slayer (Halo speak for “deathmatch”) and is only playable on the seven close- and closeish-quarters maps: Recharge, Live Fire, Bazaar, Launch Site, Behemoth (the best one), Aquarius, and Streets.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked if objective modes—like oddball and capture-the-flag—will be added over the course of the week, or for clarification about whether or not Fracture: Yoroi will once again play out on Fiesta during its subsequent appearances.

What are the challenges like?

The challenges for Fracture: Tenrai consist of fairly rote tasks like “earn 10 assists in Fiesta PvP” or “get a double kill in Fiesta PvP.” Those I’ve seen don’t seem terribly tough, especially if you’re planning on burning hours of your life playing Halo Infinite over the forthcoming holiday weekend.

Screenshot: 343 Industries

Don’t bet on completing the whole pass in one week, though. The base armor comes at level five—totally doable if you concentrate. But the awesome Yokai helmet (that’s the one with the horns) isn’t available until you hit level 25, and the event’s battle pass has 30 levels total.

I started the event with two Tenrai challenges on my battle pass. My list of upcoming weeklies shows only a further five. It’s unclear whether or not the total number of dedicated challenges is randomized or set at a hard seven, but no matter how you slice it, there’s no way to complete every level of the pass in one week. Even if you make liberal use of challenge swaps, and luck out in getting a Tenrai-affiliated one with every swap, there just aren’t 30 challenges in any given week.

While the event’s returning for a week each in January and February, 343 hasn’t formalized any further dates. But it has said the Tenrai event will occur six times over the course of Halo Infinite’s planned first season, which wraps in May 2022.

Source: Kotaku.