- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Pistol is easily the best overall (most versatile). The pistol is your friend. You almost always want to carry the pistol as one of your guns. BTW, you can't get 1 shot kills if you have full health and shields. It takes 2 shots to take out the shields, and either 1 headshot or 3 body shots after that to kill. If you think you were killed in 1 hit, chances are it was either lag, the sniper rifle, or multiple people shooting you at once.
The trick to the pistol is leading. I'm assuming you're playing HaloPC (not CE). Try to join servers with a ping of less than 100 (preferably close to 33). The lead distance will be pretty constant once you get used to how that particular server feels. When you're learning how to pistol, aim a little ahead of them until you hear the hit beep. That little beep tells you that the server registered the hit. If you shoot right at the person (no leading) and see their shields flash but don't hear the beep, you missed. Learning the lead is the key.
Once you get experienced, you'll start memorizing different lead distances. I.e. with a 33 ping, if he's running sideways, I aim here. If it's a moving warthog, I aim there (lead more for faster targets). If he's running almost in a straight line, I don't lead much at all. Once you memorize the leading for these different situations, you won't have to waste ammo (and time) trying to find the lead. Just aim at the right spot and hit them.
Try to train yourself to always aim for the head. Like I said, the first 2 shots don't matter, since the shields take the same damage no matter which part of them you hit. But once their shields are gone, then it's crucial to aim for the head.
Another good weapon to learn is the sniper rifle. The leading is slightly different than the pistol since the bullets travel faster. But you'll get the hang of it with practice. Again, try to train yourself to get headshots. Usually you'll want to zoom 2x unless they're pretty far away. At point blank range just shoot without the scope or use a different gun. With enough practice you'll be able to snipe vehicle drivers in the head (very satisfying, especially when they say "WTF?"). If you want to practice, most of Gearbox's new maps have sniper roosts where you'll have plenty of ammo to waste (and usually a health pack or overshield nearby too).
With the sniper, a good thing to learn how to do is to put the reticle on them, and strafe back and forth to make yourself a hard target. While keeping your reticle more or less still, learn to time your shots as you strafe back and forth (as the reticle passes over them).
The most important thing to learn, though, is how to not die. The key here is map control. Always put yourself in a place where you'll have an advantage, rather than just duking it out face to face with someone where you're trying to kill them when you have 1 bar of health. Whore the power ups, maintain the uphill advantage, use the terrain to your advantage, be smart, never stand still. If you keep getting killed a lot, try to figure out something to do differently to keep that from happening. It varies from map to map, but I don't have time to explain it all here.
If you get the drop on someone, throw a grenade at their feet to soften them up, and hit them with your pistol right as the grenade goes off. They'll be respawning before they know what hit them. But usually in a straight up pistol fight, grenades aren't worth it unless you're sure you can hit them and you have enough health to survive an extra few seconds until you can shoot again. Grenades are also useful for herding people. If his shields are down and he's hiding behind a rock or something, toss a grenade to force him to either get blown up or run out in your line of fire so you can finish him off.
Just practice a lot, experiment with different strategies until you find something that works for you. Don't get stuck in a rut. Use your brain (I swear, the best players own by playing smart, not just being a good shot). I could write a lot more but I don't feel like it. Watch videos of good players and see what they do. If you want some helpful videos, head over to thegtc.com and grab "Basic Essentials" and "Advanced Essentials".