Equipment

In Halo 3, Spartans, Elites and Brutes can carry one extra item of equipment (deployed using the “X” button on the default setting of the Xbox 360 controller). The type of equipment varies dramatically in its purpose, functionality, and appearance, but all can be used with deadly or strategic force. Click on the links below to find out what each one does, and where each could be found. There may be more to find and their availability is subject in matchmaking rules.

Overview
The philosophy of equipment is simple: to add a variety to the combat in Halo 3 without unbalancing the game. The simple fact is that equipment items, once deployed, can be used by both attackers and defenders. Someone on your team might accidentally activate your Trip Mine, and a Bubble Shield, which is a geometric spherical shield – while they can’t shoot in, you can’t shoot out either. Suffice to say that equipment can turn the tide of battle if used correctly.

To make it more balanced, it takes longer to deploy equipment than in the Halo 3 Beta, but you can throw it further. It is not entirely clear which faction Human or Covenant manufactures each piece of equipment in the first place without doing research on the specific equipment, as both are seen utilizing it in the single player Campaign.

List of Equipment

 * Bubble Shield
 * Power Drain
 * Radar Jammer (No longer usable in Matchmaking)
 * Gravity Lift
 * Trip Mine
 * Flare (No longer usable in Matchmaking)
 * Regenerator
 * Deployable Cover (Never usable in Matchmaking)
 * Automated Turret (Campaign Only)
 * Cloaking (Campaign Only)
 * Invincibility (Campaign Only)

List of Equipment that is only usable in Campaign.

 * Automated Turret
 * Cloaking
 * Invincibility

List of Equipment that is no longer usable in Matchmaking.

 * Radar Jammer
 * Flare

List of Equipment that is never usable in Matchmaking.

 * Deployable Cover

Equipment Abilities

 * Bubble Shield - The Bubble Shield releases a spherical shield around a center point. No bullets or grenades can pass through the shield either way, but vehicles and players (ally AND enemy) can pass through. However a clever soldier can place a Bubble Shield and position a Sniper Rifle so only the end protrudes, therefore you can snipe people without getting hurt.
 * Power Drain - When deployed, the Power Drain will generally drain everyone's shields within range and if thrown near a vehicle in motion an EMP effect occurs (same as the EMP effect of a charged Plasma Pistol shot) which causes the vehicle to stop. The vehicles weapons systems are still functional. However, if you stay too close to the power source, the explosion can come close to killing you.


 * Radar Jammer - When deployed, ghost contacts will appear on the motion sensors of anyone within the area of it, causing confusion. When moving away from the Radar Jammer, the contacts will begin to slowly disappear and eventually completely disappear.


 * Flare - This creates a blinding light, which results in players losing their sight for a matter of seconds. Turning away from the power source or blocking it out some way lessens the effect.


 * Deployable Cover - Once deployed, this creates a large shield, which can temporarily protect those hiding behind it. In Custom Games and Forge, it will disable itself after approximately 30 seconds, where as in Campaign, it can last indefinitely, although it can be easily destroyed by shooting the base unit. Hitting the shield itself three or so times will work too; saves ammo.


 * Regenerator - This creates a large green field, which regenerates the shields of anyone within it's radius. It differentiates from the Bubble Shield as, unlike the Bubble Shield, it just creates a field of energy, where as the Bubble Shield can protect you. Its effect can be described as the exact opposite of the Power Drain. However, if a Power Drain is placed next to a Regenerator, the Power Drain will overcome the Regenerator.
 * Gravity Lift - Once deployed, the grav-lift projects a bluish-purple anti-gravity beam which can propel players or light vehicles into the air, much like The Covenant's Ghost, Banshee and Wraith lifts but on a much smaller scale. Useful for getting to higher places you couldn't reach. It dissipates after about 45 seconds.


 * Trip Mine - Once deployed, as said in name, it is an explosive charge which reacts and explodes to movement near itself or if it is shot, effectively taking out your shields, even killing you if you stand directly on it or run over a vehicle or other object vulnerable to explosion. Luckily, when deployed, it lets out a beeping warning signal and an orange light to let you know if you are near one of these, and the signal gets louder as you get closer (but don't get too close or you'll hear another sound!).

Tips

 * Try not to activate an Auto Turret while or after activating the replacement Installation 04 in Halo 3. It will fire at you instead of your enemies. This could be because of the absence of the Monitor as without it, the Constructs within the installation would go rampant.
 * You should deploy a Trip Mine in a close quarters area, or near explosive items/vehicles, for these both increase the chance of killing your foe and/or seriously hurting multiple players. Be sure to warn your team when and where you have deployed a Trip Mine to prevent a possible needless betrayal. Also deploy the Trip Mine in an area that is hard to see as the trip mine has lights on it making it easy to avoid. Trip mines also make a ticking noise the closer you are to them.
 * You can use a Deployable Cover to help you get to higher places, like for getting skulls in Campaign.

Trivia

 * Though many of these are available in Multiplayer, the Automated Turret, Cloaking and Invincibility are exclusive to the Campaign for balancing reasons.
 * In splitscreen mode, if you throw a Flare, you and your enemy will be blinded. However, your Motion Tracker is still viewable and if you manage to use it you can still kill your enemy, because the crosshairs still turn red if you have an opponent on target.
 * In the January 2008 issue of EGM, in an interview with Brian Jarrard and Tyson Green, it was revealed that there was a piece of equipment cut from the final game known as The Vortex. It was said to be deployed the same as a Power Drain, but would instead create a mini black hole that would "suck" in any object within range, and diverting its course into the black hole, and away from your face. It was even able to affect nearby objects such as the Fusion Coil and even other players. The design was cut due to the fact that it was too "expensive" from a networking and performance standpoint.
 * When you try to drop a piece of equipment on a vehicle or an object (like a crate on Forge), the equipment will go through the object and end up underneath it. This happens to prevent players from driving around in vehicles with bubble shields and/or other equipment mounted on them.
 * Drivers of vehicles cannot use equipment (with the exception of the Invincibility and Cloaking); however, passengers can, which can be useful to certain and peculiar situations.
 * Although covered by the Active Camouflage, an Auto-Aim Turret can still detect you, possibly locking to the heat signature of the Equipment.
 * While using Active Camouflage and mounted on a Warthog turret, you can shoot and your Camouflage is not disturbed at all, unlike firing normal weapons in Campaign and Multiplayer.
 * In Campaign, the Deployable Cover lasts forever until it is destroyed. In Multiplayer, it lasts for around 30 seconds before self-destructing. A Deployable Cover can be destroyed by putting enough damage to its source, which is located in the center on the ground. This can be done easily with a grenade.
 * There are pieces of equipment that appear before they are said to first appear in the Halo 3 Official Guide, such as the two Cloakings in Crow's Nest.
 * All equipment can be destroyed by destroying the source, including Regenerators, Bubble Shields and Grav lifts. (Regenerators spin, and if stuck with spike grenade, it will spin on it.)
 * A grav lift can be Forge-spawned as deployable or as already activated.
 * You can jump on top of the barrier emitted by the Deployable Cover. It also works to make a single or double box float is spawned inside one.
 * After you have deployed a Trip Mine, it is immediately activated and any motion near its vicinity will set it off, be it from you, your team members, or your foe, and this does not exclude moving vehicles
 * You should deploy a Trip Mine in a close quarters area, or near explosive items/vehicles, for these both increase the chance of killing your foe and/or seriously hurting multiple players. Be sure to warn your team when and where you have deployed a Trip Mine to prevent a possible needless betrayal.
 * The Halo 3 Manual does not provide information for all the equipment, only for the Bubble Shield, Trip Mine, and Grav Lift.
 * Shooting anything Plasma-related through a Deployable Cover will drain the cover's energy.
 * Some human weapons such as the Assault Rifle can be fired through the Deployable Cover.
 * The Trip Mine and the Power Drain are the only equipment with the potential to kill a person.
 * In the Halo 3 Beta, the Trip Mine could "latch" to the bottom of any ground based vehicles, this was cut in the final game.