Halo Infinite Beta's Weapon Drills Will Let You Test Fancy New Toys

343 Industries has shared more details on the upcoming Halo Infinite beta, or test flight, in its latest Inside Infinite post, including more details on the weapons you'll be able to try out in the beta's Weapon Drills mode.

Those chosen for the Halo Infinite beta will have access to the Academy experience, which prepares them for competitive play in a less-punishing setting. This includes Weapon Drills, which put you into a firing range where you'll strafe and run while using a variety of weapons. Some of them are older Halo mainstays, while others are brand-new:

• MA40 AR
• BR75
• MK50 Sidekick (new)
• CQS48 Bulldog (new)
• Needler
• VK78 Commando (new)
• S7 Sniper
• Plasma Pistol
• Pulse Carbine (new)
• Ravager (new)
• Heatwave (new)
• Skewer (new)

If you've ever played Halo before, you surely know how the assault rifle and Needler perform, but the Heatwave and new CQS48 Bulldog shotgun may take some getting used to. The development team is soliciting feedback on this content, as well, to determine if it's doing a good job of teaching players how the weapons operate.

Additionally, 343 shared more insight on the bots that will be your competition in Bot Arena. This mode is also designed to help you learn the game, but in more of a match-like setting, and head of creative--and former Halo lead writer--Joseph Staten explained that there will be Recruit, Marine, ODST, and Spartan bots, each more skilled than the previous one. Which one you face can be determined by the difficulty selection, but you won't see them take any more damage or deal more of it. Instead, they'll just perform better, dodging your grenades and making better decisions. On higher difficulties, they'll even make use of the Grappleshot ability to kill you with a melee strike.

"In the early Halo games, [bots] were a feature that we always wanted to land but that consistently got cut due to limited time and resources," Staten said. "So, I'm very happy we've been able to make them happen this time around."

After a year-long delay, Halo Infinite launches this Holiday for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Thus far, more than 100,000 people have registered for the beta test.