"Welcome, friends, to the Anvil’s Legacy Preview. Today, we’re talking all about Halo 5’s newest upcoming drop, and plenty more. Let us waste no time. Here we go.

Before we dig into the full preview of Anvil’s Legacy (the next free Halo 5 release coming on September 8, alongside Halo 5: Forge for Windows 10), let’s first talk about Halo 5’s newest playlist, Action Sack. In last week’s blog, we promised we’d have an ETA for Action Sack, and I am happy to relay that the playlist is now available. It features a mix of community-created modes, and for the first time in Halo history, offers 4v4, FFA, and Infection modes – all in one playlist. To get a breakdown of the playlist and each mode contained within the launch lineup, head here.

Content Browser
This week, we’ve got the final teaser in the Content Browser series that many of you Forge fanatics have been following. Here’s Tom French to wrap things up:

“Tropical” Tom French, UGC Director:
"And the circle is complete. The idea of allowing the users to create Prefab groups, share them with each other, and stamp them in other maps is one of the biggest concepts we set out to accomplish in H5 Forge. It took a lot of heroes to pull this idea off; most of which are outside the core Forge team. I cannot thank them enough for all of their work and dedication to making the game changing idea of Prefabs a real thing. Excited they’re about to finally land in the hands of the community so we can see the creative things they do with this new tool! September… 8th… almost… here…"



Anvil’s Legacy
Earlier this week, we announced the name and September 8 release date of the next Halo 5 content release – Anvil’s Legacy. We also showed you a sneak peek of a few things that were inside, including new weapons, new skins, an unnamed Magnum, looks at new maps, and more. Today, we’ll take a look at all of the content inside. Let’s start with Mercy.

Have Mercy
As showcased on Wednesday, Mercy is a reimagining of Halo 4’s Haven. To get the details on how the updated Sangheili art style came to be, I caught up with artist Ryan Peterson.

Ryan Peterson, Senior Environment Artist
"Being only one game removed, we wanted the remake of Haven to have a main visual landmark reminiscent of Forerunner themes from the original map and maintain the otherworldliness, yet take the general aesthetic as far away from the previous version as possible. To do this, we switched the palette from futuristic Forerunner to ancient Sangheili. The Skybox Team also had the brilliant idea to relocate the map from the clouds to below ground within a monumental cavern, allowing for a major change in lighting.

The main visual pitch of the map was expressed as “Ancient Sangheili Water Temple”, a nod to a classic game location trope. The idea of water channels replacing the long hallway floor panels from Haven couldn’t be passed up. And the recessed fire chambers providing light to the outer halls made a great counterpart to the water theme.

The main goal for the feel of the level was for a “living” temple - still used by the Sangheili in modern times, reminiscent of real world locations like the Notre Dame Cathedral. This aspect allowed us to bring a lot of movement to the map – running water, roaring fires, flickering shadows, dancing caustics, moving chains, and counter-weight machinery. It also allowed us to find a unique mid-point between the two periods of Sangheili architecture from the Campaign. An ancient temple, still maintained and in use, offered us the chance to create a version of the ruins from Campaign that would have previously existed, before time took its toll on an abandoned place, and much of the valuable metals and stones were stripped from the structure. Additionally, we could “retrofit” the nooks and crannies of the temple with more modern Sangheili technology."

Here’s a look at a few work-in-progress and concept art shots:

Map Geometry


Concept Art


Final Map




Grim has more details on Mercy (as well as Temple, the new Warzone Assault map) in this week’s issue of Canon Fodder - simply keep reading to run into it. You can also catch a look at Mercy during the Anvil’s Legacy live stream, which will take place on Tuesday, 9/6.

REQ Reveal
Next up, I think it is only appropriate that we get into the full reveal. You ready? We’re diving straight in.



There’s a lot to take in here. Brand new Assault Cannons, some new Magnums, new paint jobs for a few armors you might like, new attachments, new skins, and more. Let’s give a few specific items some well-deserved attention.

Salvaged Appendages
The Wicked Grasp and Berserker’s Claw are the badass “redacted” REQs we referred to in last week’s update. To ensure that we leave no blanks unfilled, here’s Jon’s full quote:

“The Hunter Arm (Bravo note: this was the internal name for the Assault Cannons) is by far my favorite weapon in this next update. The Ultra Rare variant is crazy good at taking down Wasps, Banshees and Phaetons. It feels so badass hauling around an appendage salvaged from the remains of your fallen enemies on the battlefield.”

To get more details on the new Assault Cannons, I grabbed some time with Dan Wiksten of Sandbox Team fame.

Dan Wiksten, Senior Systems Designer
Assault Cannon: Wicked Grasp

"Need to protect a base against infantry? The Wicked Grasp should make it easy to hold on and defend. It fires a burst of homing plasma shots that will drop a Spartan really quick. The projectiles have a slower velocity than most UNSC weapons, so effective range is diminished and the weapon is best used at short to mid-range."

Assault Cannon: Berserker’s Claw

"Equally effective against infantry as well as medium vehicles, the Berserker’s Claw requires a short charge up before it can be fired, but does fire projectiles that will explode on impact and possibly take out a cluster of targets with one shot. The projectiles also track flying vehicles, and are a great counter to early vehicle play."

Get Tactical
Last week, we showed off the Gunfighter Magnum – an all new quick draw sidearm with fast-reload magazines. This week, however, you saw a glimpse at a very different Magnum, and one that is also coming with Anvil’s Legacy – the Tactical Magnum. Here’s Dan once again with the details:

Dan Wiksten, Senior Systems Designer
Tactical Magnum

"Want to have your cake and eat it too? The Tactical Magnum allows you to both be effective at distance as well as sneaky up close. Equipped with a silencer as well as a 2x mid-range Smart-Link for maximum flexibility."



New Attachments
As you’ve likely noticed above, there are also a couple of new items you can affix to your favorite tools of destruction. Here’s the quick lowdown on these new attachments:

Sound Dampener
Increases effective range and reduces firing signature.

COG Assault Rifle
Security configuration issued to ONI’s armed-response teams.

COG Battle Rifle
Army SPECWARCOM configuration currently undergoing final evaluation.

COG DMR
Increasingly popular configuration offered for sale in civilian markets on the frontier.

COG SMG
Interdiction configuration used by Marine and Spartan boarding parties.

Master Control
Many moons ago, we spotted a post from Vetoed about neon weapon skin concepts, and this Twitter exchange followed. We sent the idea over to the REQ and progression teams, who went to work on planning the skins for a future update. That update, my dear friends, is nearly here. Vetoed has pledged to never change his weapon skins once he’s unlocked them, and we’re happy to say that we’ll of course be unlocking all of these for you, Vetoed, as soon as the update releases.

Normally, we show off just a few of the weapon skin samples in the Community Update, but would anyone mind if we showcased all of the Master Control skins this week? Anyone? Okay, we’re doing it.






And now, I hand things over to Grim, who’s got the latest on a variety of different Halo-themed fronts. Take it away, good friend.

GRIM TIMES
It would be my extreme pleasure to do so! This past week has seen some pretty awesome action for Halo fans – from a Halo 5 rebirth of Halo 4’s safest Haven and the impending release of Halo 5: Forge, to a brand new Windows 10 Halo app and the triumphant return of Action Sack in Halo 5: Guardians. In case you’ve missed much of this news throughout the week, let’s make sure every Spartan reading this is nice and caught up.

ANVIL'S APPROACH
Earlier in the week, we announced the Sept 8 release date for Halo 5: Forge alongside Halo 5’s latest free content salvo with Anvil’s Legacy. Just today, we pulled the curtain back on the System Requirements that Windows 10 PC players will be shooting for when they boot up Halo 5: Forge.



We also have been keeping a close eye on community questions regarding the upcoming title, and wanted to elucidate on a few of the most prevalent ones.

Q: How do I publish maps from PC to Xbox One? How do I import maps from Xbox One to PC?
A: Creators can simply save their map to Xbox Live, which makes it available for download or editing on Windows 10 PCs using Halo 5: Forge or Xbox One using Halo 5: Guardians.

Q: How do I play against other people in Halo 5: Forge?
A: This works very similarly to the Custom Games multiplayer experience in Halo 5: Guardians. Using Xbox Live on Windows 10 PCs, players can create an Xbox Live party and then invite that party to a Fireteam in Halo 5: Forge. These players can then choose teams, the leader can load a selected map and mode, and they can begin to play together.

Q: How will Spartan Customization Work in Halo 5: Forge?
A: All Spartan customization is handled in Halo 5: Guardians and on HaloWaypoint.com. Halo 5: Forge will reflect any changes made on those platforms.

Q: Will Custom Games in Halo 5: Forge support Xbox Live features like Achievements and Gamerscore?
A: Yes, Halo 5: Forge will have Achievements with Gamerscore! Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to launch."
Click this link for more information.