Armor Ability

Armor Abilities are exclusive gameplay enhancements featured in Halo: Reach. It is a refined version of Halo 3's Equipment feature where instead of being used once, each ability will be reusable, with a cooldown time between uses. These can be accessed through each Loadout before a match is starting or during your respawn time. it has also been confirmed that in custom games and forge, you can pick them up just like a weapon. All Armor Abilities are rendered useless to players when transporting objects such as Flags and Skulls. If players attempt to use an Ability, the object simply drops out of their hands. In custom games the cooldown time can be altered and the ability to use armor abilities while holding objectives can be added. There are seven Armor Abilities currently revealed.

Active Camo
The Active Camo provides players the ability to have Active Camouflage for a period of time, similar to Thel 'Vadam's active camo from Halo 2. The Camo depletes faster if you run, so crouching and slowly walking is ideal for a prolonged period of time. Also, when the player moves faster, the Camo will not entirely camouflage the player, but when moving slowly or immobile, the Camo will cover the player completely. It also serves as a Radar Jammer. However, this not only jams enemy radars but the player's one as well. Allies will not be affected. When the player uses the Camo, all sound is heavily muffled, so it is not as easy to notice a grenade or an opponent shooting. Yet because so many people believed that this was a glitch and that it should have sound, it is unknown if the sound will still be muffled for the final game.

Armor Lock
Armor Lock is an ability that provides the player a small shield which protects the user from any harm, acting similar to Halo 3's Invincibility, and sends out an EMP blast to nearby enemies, pushing them away from the player before emerging. Any Plasma Grenade sticking to the user is removed upon activation. There are two versions of this power, one for Elites (red) and one for Spartans (blue-white). The human version of Armor Lock is enabled through an external shielding attachment.

This ability also varies with how long the button is pressed: the longer the button is held, the farther the final blast radius will be. This ability not only works against other players, but also against incoming vehicles.

Drop Shield
The Drop Shield is a spherical energy shield that functions similarly to a Bubble Shield, but it also heals the players inside it similar to the Regenerator and will deactivate if it takes too much damage. The damage is represented in color stages similar to the Deployable Cover in Halo 3. When deploying the Drop Shield, the player crouches into a stance similar to a Armor Lock. The player can then move and walk through the shield. The Drop Shield expires and deactivates once the Armor Ability meter has fully emptied.

Evade
The Evade ability allows the player to roll in any direction to avoid danger, breaking enemy lock-ons and tracking in the process. You can evade two times before having to recharge. This was a Sangheili exclusive ability in the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta but now can be used by both Spartans and Elites.

Hologram
Hologram is an armor ability that produces an identical holographic copy of the user. It functions by pointing your cursor at a destination and deploying it like other armor abilities. When activated, the hologram will head to the destination and stop if it reaches it. If one points the cursor directly beneath themselves, the hologram will stand perfectly still. This can be used to trick opponents into thinking the player is the hologram. The hologram will flicker away if it is either damaged enough or if it reaches its lifespan limit (10 seconds).

Jet Pack
The Jet Pack ability allows players (regardless of their multiplayer biped) to maneuver in mid-air, with the use of Jet Pack propulsion equipment (UNSC) or an Antigravity Pack (Covenant). The ability varies with how long the button pressed. If the button is held without releasing, it will deplete continuously, but the player can also use it in bursts which deplete it less than a sustained flight. It is useful for evading vehicles, grenades, and navigating maps.

The Jet Pack ability is rendered useless to players when transporting objects such as Flags and Skulls (this can be changed in custom games settings). If players attempt to use it, the object simply drops out of their hands. Fall damage still applies to Jet Pack users should they fall from the air.

Sprint
Sprint allows the player to lower their weapon and move at an increased speed for a certain length of time. The player can still throw grenades while sprinting. Although Sprint was a Spartan-exclusive ability during the Halo: Reach Beta during the 2010 Comic-con it was revealed in the tour of Forge World that all Armor Abilities are able to be used by both species, including Sprint.

Trivia

 * Armor Abilities function similarly to the Arbiter's Active Camouflage from Halo 2, because the HUD indicators are both circles and must be charged before activating the ability.
 * When activating Armor Lock and Drop Shield, players enter a pose similar to that of the Master Chief when activating the Bubble Shield in the Starry Night commercial.
 * Even though in the Multiplayer Beta Armor Lock and Sprint were Spartan exclusive armor abilities and Evade was Elite exclusive, it was recently confirmed that all Armor Abilities will be able to be used by both Spartans and Elites.
 * In the Comic-Con panel when demonstrating Forge World, it showed the Armor Abilities that can be spawned, as it only showed the revealed 7, it is believed that either there are no more armor abilities or they just had made it so we couldn't see the ones they haven't revealed, but this is still unknown.