The world of Halo Infinite is vast, detailed, and most of all- dialed in. Halo has been being refined for over two decades now. I mentioned in my "Two Styles of Storytelling" article how somehow even the same development crew moved Halo in two extremely different directions- aka not Bungie vs 343 which is the go-to "great vs terrible" argument, but a more complex internal vision vs internal vision perspective.
Either way, both development teams have overall steered the Halo franchise in a positive direction over the years, and neither entity can pin the blame on the other. Bungie being responsible for Halo 2, 3 and ODST took the Halo train off the rails at 200mph and careening into a wall of obsidian rock... but somehow the soul of the guys who created the original Halo CE came back in full force for Reach and unbelievably steered it right back onto its original track, even improving the remaining train and rail in the process.
343 may have gotten flak for Halo 4, but aside from "change is bad" default anger humans instinctively go to whenever someone 'new' comes along during the lifetime of a franchise, and the rough edges a first iteration of a team newly introduced to a franchise have, there was understandable hate. Halo 5 wasn't a masterpiece, but absolutely deserves a place in the Halo canon regardless of haters, and Halo 4 is a prerequisite to 5 meaning it is at least, at minimum, grandfathered in. 343 is not the source of any 'downfall' in my opinion, I just want to make that clear.
So Halo Infinite is a culmination of this somewhat rocky but overall exceptionally resilient franchise, and forgetting the hate-for-the-sake-of-hate from entitled players, Infinite is an extremely worthy title in the series. Not only does it convey a beautiful story continuing from the Halo 5 timeline, but the multiplayer is the best I've seen since Reach and really just a dictionary reference example of "evolving". It keeps things fresh, refines the graphics and gameplay, while capitalizing on all the things that made Halo multiplayer so accessible and playable yet fair and skill-demanding (EXCLUDING H2/3/ODST for the 'GTA3 easy driving physics cheat' and nonsensically simple 'point in enemy direction and pull R trigger first to win gunbattle' almost homing-mode weapon mechanics) to the fanbase.
I couldn't care less about the whiney, entitled masses hating on Halo Infinite for not giving them everything they want for free. I understand development timelines, pressures, and quality control that needs to be conducted as a lifelong IT professional myself. Being a dev for a videogame seems similar to being a politician, in the public eye you are a black sheep, you're the punching bag for every customer's (or voter's) personal complaints regardless of if it is even relevant to what you have control over yourself. Halo Infinite is not without its quirks, but it is a beautiful concentration and culmination of everything that makes Halo great to begin with in the year 2022.
So after getting that out of the way, I want to give you a rundown of how I believe the weapons all stack up in Infinite's multiplayer modes. There are of course tweaks that must be done, but currently mid April 2022, this is how the guns currently stack up against each other and consequently how I recommend you should prioritize your weapon switchouts during multiplayer matches personally as a 20+ year Halo lover (even if I'm outspoken against the H2/3/ODST lovers) and veteran. They are as follows:
And here's the same list with a text explanation for more info on my opinions in the modern tier list style:
