Avalanche

Avalanche is a large, symmetrical multiplayer map featured in Halo 3. It is featured as one of the three maps in the Legendary Map Pack that was made available on April 15th, 2008.

Design
Avalanche is a re-imagination, and, some would say, the successor of the map Sidewinder, from Halo: Combat Evolved. Because the original Sidewinder had elements that created slower gameplay, Avalanche was Bungie's chance to start over again. Certain obvious design elements have been removed due to their slowing effect on multiplayer, such as the tunnel in between the two bases, while at the same time adding new ones, such as the many Man Cannons. The Man Cannons located in Avalanche are much more powerful than those located in other Halo maps, being able to launch players halfway across this huge map. Avalanche is a large Forerunner power station set on the front of a huge glacial shelf on the new Installation 04. The structure pulls its power out of the densely compacted glacial ice that constantly builds up behind the station before it cascades into the ocean below it.

New Forge objects have been created just for this map and can seriously alter gameplay. These objects include energy blockers to block entrances and exits, large watchtower bases, and Forerunner ramps and such like that can be used to make an entirely new base if you are creative enough to do so. Map effects have been added to the Forge palette, called Forge Filters. These items are found in the other two Legendary Map Pack, Cold Storage and the Mythic Map Pack.

The map itself is centered around two bases at each end of a U-shaped snowy valley. One side is noticeably lighter than the other with trees and bare rocky walls, and the other is much darker with more shadows, no trees, and icy walls. To add an interesting dynamic in one-sided objective games, there's an asymmetry in vehicles; the assaulting team has exclusive snow-camo UNSC vehicles at their disposal, while the defending team has ordinary Covenant vehicles to begin with. The map is set to prefer objective gametypes, but works well with BTB slayer and snipers as well.

Gameplay Features And Changes

 * A number of man cannons and a large cavern area have been added to the original Sidewinder.
 * The Forerunner structures serves as giant man cannons, and can launch players halfway across the map.
 * In one-sided objective gametypes, the attacking team has UNSC Vehicles, while the defenders have Covenant and Loyalist vehicles.
 * All UNSC vehicles, now features snow camouflage colors instead of the traditional green UNSC color scheme.
 * The Scorpion Tank, is only available to the assaulting team on one-sided objective based games; during team slayer, neutral and multi objective games both sides will have the Wraith Tank.
 * A bottomless pit is located in the center infantry area of the map. Using the man cannons there can get you across this pit.
 * Energy doors can now be placed in Forge to cover up exits.
 * Forge Filters can be placed on Forge games to change the visual feel of the map.

Avalanche is an almost symmetrical map, with the only differences being the placement of rocks, and a small bridge leading to a small shelf in the canyon, minus the bridge the shelf is almost identical on the other side. There is a mountain that separates the two bases, but there is a path though the mountain creating a T-shape in the U, about mid way though the map there is a tunnel in the upper part of the map that connects the two sides, from that cavern there is a man cannon leading to a lower level that has an exit at the crest of the U. There are Man Cannons placed about the map in such a way that a foot soldier can move throughout the map at a fast pace, though vehicles are still the main choice of transport.

Vehicular Balance
As seen in a recent overview of the map released by Bungie, one-sided objective games have a Human vs. Covenant vehicular setup, while symmetrical game-types will have all UNSC vehicles. Here are the lists of the vehicles that are included:

Asymmetric game-types:
 * Defenders - Wraith, Ghost, two Choppers, and a Banshee.
 * Attackers - Scorpion, two Mongoose, two Warthogs, and a Hornet (A downgraded variant with no missiles and less effective chain-guns, but with a slight speed boost to make up for the weapons removal).

Symmetric game-types:
 * Both teams have a Wraith, Mongoose, two Warthogs and a Hornet. A Ghost can also be found in the middle of the map, near where the Spartan Laser and Trip Mine spawn.

(Note: As of November 2008, the Matchmaking version of the default Avalanche no longer spawns a Wraith at each base. The reason may probably be due to consistent map balance issues.)

Forge

 * If you add teleporters in the main bases, with the receive node in the middle of the map, it allows objective games to move at a faster pace than normal.
 * This map aside from Foundry and Sandbox is one of the most popular maps for making large bases or vehicles out of objects.
 * Avalanche is extremely popular for making sky bases, mainly because of the large open sky and extensive amounts of forge items for creating large structures.

Avalanche Heavy

 * The entire map is covered with more scenery objects like Bridges and boxes.
 * A Scorpion spawns in front of each base.
 * Wraiths are re-added in this map variant.
 * A Prowler spawns at each base, replacing a Warthog spawn.
 * A Chopper spawns in front of each base.
 * The Spartan Laser at the center of the original default Avalanche is removed, but an additional Laser spawns near the entrance of each base instead.
 * Two more Brute Shots are added in the map.
 * A few more Teleporters are added in the map.

Avalanche Heavy can be downloaded Here.

(Note: Not all additional information on Avalanche Heavy is stated here.)

Getting Out Of Avalanche
To get out of Avalanche, go into Forge mode and spawn a set of teleporters. Place the receiving end on one of the far ledges that is near the giant sea of ice. Place another on an easy place to reach. Go through the teleporter and place a respawn point. But be careful, if you go too far, you'll die instantly. Also, if you go into Edit Mode and head upwards you can reach another part of the map but you will die if you venture too far out. Another way to get out from there is to go back to where you first placed the teleporter. Face the wall and push against it whilst rising up in Forge mode. Then, head towards the right and you should be able to go further up to a snowy area. Go any further than the snowy area and you will die.

Another simple way is to go inside of one of the bases, to the back where the glowing cylinders are located behind the glass wall. You can either spawn a new teleporter, or use the one readily available near the wall. Simply spawn a two-way or a receiver node while against the wall, and it should spawn behind it. Drop it and hurriedly get into the teleporter as a Monitor before it falls, as it will disappear. From there you can make floating objects so that one may walk around in these areas.

An even simpler way is to spawn a machine gun turret close to the wall at the back of the bases, and then climb onto the turret. After that you look upwards, and go into monitor mode. You should be behind the wall, and can move about, looking at the blue generators.

Strategies

 * The best possible defense strategy is to grab both the Rocket Launcher and Turret and bring it back to the base, however no man can defend on his own.
 * If you are on the assaulting team, grab the Shotgun, a BR or a Sniper Rifle and take out those with the heavy weapons attempting to gun down your team's vehicles. You can close in with the Shotgun or snipe from afar with your scoped weapon. Be careful to remember to watch out for incoming rockets, lasers and, counter-sniper fire!
 * Take the Laser and stay around the other side's camo area (pick it up if it's there) and try to take out the opposing teams vehicles. Any viable target. Once those are gone, take the Ghost and enjoy the fact that there's close to nothing on the map for the next minute and a half that will be able to destroy you.
 * If you have the flag and have enemies chasing you, go through the teleporter and stay to one side, when your enemies come through, it is an easy flag kill. Do this until someone can pick you up.
 * In any objective gametype that involves the Scorpion Tank it is imperative to remember that the best way to keep it from being destroyed is to stay as far away from an enemy stronghold as possible, this will lessen the chance of the tank being hijacked or destroyed by anti-armor weapons.
 * When on a CTF game, try stealing a Hornet or warthog and meet the carrier at the teleporter
 * A good way to capture the flag or plant a bomb, is to grab a Warthog or a Hornet with two other friends. Make sure someone has a shotgun. Drive or fly to the invisibility an have one grab it too, then head for the enemies teleporter to there base. Park the Warthog or Hornet inside the small teleporter room for a quick getaway latter and grab the Rocket Launcher. With these weapons grabbing the flag or bombing the base should be easy. Go back though the portal with the flag, get into the getaway vehicle, and go to your base's teleporter room to score quickly (or to grab the bomb again), repeat for as may times as you can get away with it.
 * The toned-down Hornet is not a very good offensive platform on its own, quickly being dealt with by other vehicles like Banshee or Warthog turrets. Use it to quickly transport team-mates or quickly defend your base. If you do want to assault the opposing team's base, have a team-mate use the Wraith for ground control. Your enemy will have to decide which target to focus on first, allowing the other to effectively take the threat out. A Scorpion can make short work of a Hornet.
 * Although the Hornet has been toned-down, it can still be invaluable in CTF and Assault games as the transport for the Objective carriers, because it is actually faster than the Standard Hornet. As such, use the Hornet as a Support vehicle; Provide some firepower support on enemies and try to keep the vehicle alive.
 * Because of how the Hornet moves, it is very easy to force a Hornet pilot to bump into a tree or wall, causing the Hornet to lose control temporarily. This is a great time to strike, as the guns on a Hornet do not rotate.
 * When going through the central cave, watch out for anyone opposite the Man Cannon pathway, as many players like to jump up the sloped wall and camp there with a Shotgun to quickly eliminate anyone who passes by.
 * The Spartan Laser can also be positioned here to help take out large vehicles, controlling this area with Sniper and Laser can contribute dramatically to your team's efforts in objective games, damage-wise, or just warnings for your team-mates.
 * The Hornet is extremely vulnerable to the Spartan Laser. Control of the air is determined by control of the laser.
 * When on the Attacking team in One-sided objective games, have the Scorpion go ahead of the team and attack first to eliminate the bulk of the enemies' defenses. Then it is safe for other vehicles to take care of any stragglers.
 * If you get the flag and your team is nowhere to be found, you will have to score it on foot. The best way to do this is to take the teleporter out of the base, go off the Man cannon beside the rockets, go into the ice cave entrance, go off the man cannon in the cave, and go to the direction of your base, go on the little walkway to your base and score.
 * A good tactic for assaulting a base is to use "Paratroopers". To do this, pilot a Hornet, and get some passengers that have close ranged weapons (most preferably a shotgun), then fly them overhead of the base and drop them down. They will be very unexpected unless any enemies spot the Hornet. Also, try getting a Paratrooper to use an active camo for increased effectiveness.
 * If you don't want any enemies to sneak in your base through the teleporter, drive a Mongoose into your base and block the teleporter with it.
 * Although it is very enjoyable to take all of the vehicles on a frontal charge, especially on Avalanche Heavy, This leaves your base dangerously open to attackers coming through the middle section of the map.
 * You can slip a Trip Mine under enemy vehicles. In objective-based games such as Capture The Flag and Assault the enemy will no doubt grab a vehicle. You can take advantage of this to wipe out multiple players. Another tactic is when you see enemies charging towards your base to grab the Flag or plant a bomb, plant the Trip Mine at that spot. The Mine will either wipe out an enemy or two's shields entirely or may kill them.

Trivia

 * If you look at some of the ice pillars around the map you can notice steam leaving leading many to believe that there is something beneath Avalanche that needed the cold around it to keep it hidden, such as a factory.
 * The remains of the cliffs walls, from the original Sidewinder can be seen at the bottom of the cliffs in the water below.
 * Avalanche is the first Halo 3 map to feature Teleporters by default.
 * Avalanche is the first Multiplayer Map in the entire Halo series in which any vehicles get an appearance makeover without modding.
 * A structure in the background is identical to the shield towers on The Covenant.
 * The map was actually rebuilt from the original Sidewinder map and includes the same overall shape, a mid-section joining the bases and near-parallel bases separated by rock.
 * Avalanche contains the most vehicles of any Halo 3 multiplayer level, even more than the number on Sandtrap (excluding Elephants). It is also slightly larger than Sandtrap.
 * The vehicles with snow camouflage are the Hornet, the Warthog, the Mongoose, and the Scorpion.
 * Many design elements of the map seem to have been drawn from the Halo 2 map Containment, such as the new design of the bases.
 * Avalanche is the second map to ever have Brute Choppers by default. (Though only in One-sided Objective gametypes like the Scorpion) The others are Sandtrap and Sandbox.
 * A glitch, can sometimes occur and cause one of the Wraiths to become invisible and over powered. This has been fixed by Bungie in Matchmaking but may still occur in custom games off line.
 * The power of the Hornet's chain-guns in this map was reduced so it can act as more of a support vehicle. The missiles were also removed due to the maps' vehicles.
 * Avalanche is currently the map with the most Man Cannons.
 * It is one of three maps, along with Sandtrap and Rat's Nest, to feature the Trip Mine by default.
 * The one-way glass in the Red and Blue bases has some resemblances to the Forerunner Terminals.
 * G4-TV held a promotional contest named the Sarkatholon on this map for the Winner to receive the Recon armor permutation.
 * During production, Avalanche's code-name was Cottonball. Most likely because it is a snowy, winter-type map.

Related Pages

 * Legendary Map Pack
 * Sidewinder