With the HCS 2023 Season at its half waypoint and Season 4 of Halo Infinite having just released, we’re making some adjustments to the gameplay meta and map rotation.

Equipment

As seen in matchmaking since Season 4 released, the new equipment Quantum Translocator and Threat Seeker have entered the scene on various maps. These were not utilized at the HCS Major Arlington but are now in effect and will be used at all upcoming tournaments including the next event on August 4-6 at the HCS Global Invitational hosted by Spacestation Gaming.

Solitude

Additionally, Season 4 has brought Solitude, the remake of the fan-favorite Halo 5 map, Plaza. Effective immediately Solitude is in the Official HCS map rotation for tournament play with the following modes:

• Slayer
• Strongholds
• King of the Hill

Removals

For the map rotation, it’s important that we’re not just adding but removing at the same time in order to maintain a healthy number of map and mode combinations in the rotation. If there are too many, then the overall quality of play decreases as teams struggle to practice and master all of them. If there are too few then tournaments become stale and uninteresting.

Effective immediately, the following map and mode combinations have been removed from the rotation:

• Slayer on Empyrean
• Strongholds on Streets
• King of the Hill on Streets

In the Spring, HCS conducted a survey with the league’s pro players as well as amateur players who’d competed on the Faceit platform this year to gather feedback on the gameplay meta including map and mode combinations. These three were, by a wide margin, the lowest rated out of all map and mode combinations in the rotation. That is the information we used to make this decision, in addition to in-game telemetry based on balance, and we thank the competitors for their time in filling out the survey.

These will remain in the Ranked Arena matchmaking playlist for a short period longer.

Recharge

For the HCS Major Arlington, we removed Recharge from the map rotation for Pool Play and Championship bracket due to an issue that was causing instability for the map Recharge. We believe we have resolved this issue and our internal testing has been resulting in a restoration of stability for the map for observers. Recharge will be used as originally planned for the remainder of the season.

Unless due to bug fixes or emergent and severe issues that require quick addressal, these will be the last major changes to the gameplay meta until after the Halo World Championship on October 13-15.

If the first half of the season was any indication, we’re in for a very exciting second half and we can’t wait to see this new equipment as well as Solitude make its way to the main stage.

Best of luck to all teams!