The Spartan Cores are tools you acquire throughout the campaign that helps you in a variety of ways. You will get each of them through the main missions of the campaign, so you do not have to worry about missing any of these.
However, upgrading this equipment will cost you a chunk of Spartan Cores. Each additional upgrade on the same equipment requires more Spartan Cores as well.
Though the upgrades are inessential to completing the campaign, they are still incredibly useful and, most importantly, fun to use. In this guide, we will show you the best Spartan Core upgrades in Halo Infinite, so you will know which ones to focus on.
While you will be able to get all the upgrades if you focus purely on getting Spartan Cores, not everyone will have the time to get each Spartan Core in the game and be a completionist.
For those with limited Spartan Cores to spare, here are the ones you should be focusing on upgrading. While the upgrades depend on your playstyle, they will be explained thoroughly as we go through each Spartan Core.
Grappleshot
The grappleshot equipment helps you get around areas quicker and makes you harder to hit. The cooldown is already short, but a few upgrades can lower it even more. There are so many uses for the grappling hook, and it should be considered as the most useful Spartan Core.
However, are the upgrades for the grappling hook worth it? The list of each upgrade is as follows.
- Voltaic – grappleshot stuns grappled enemies for several seconds – cost 1 Spartan Core
- Quickshot – reduce grappleshot cooldown by 40% – cost 2 Spartan Cores
- First Strike – delivers a powerful shockwave blast when holding melee while grappling – cost 3 Spartan Cores
- Reachfall – increases damage and radius of the shockwave blast. Enemies within it will be stunned – cost 3 Spartan Cores
The 1st and 2nd upgrades are a no-brainer. You have to get those two, especially for the grappleshot cooldown reduction. You can explore Halo Infinite’s open world more freely with the grappleshot. It even feels as like you are playing a Spiderman game grappling through the trees and have the next grappleshot available before you even land.
If you know how to fast travel and have the points unlocked, that would be much quicker, but you will have to acquire the points, and using the grappleshot or a vehicle is the best way to explore the world without fast travel.
For combat, the stun is powerful as it lets you go into the battle while having one less enemy shoot at you.
With the cooldown reduction, you can literally use this as your main source of damage. On legendary difficulty, it would not work as effectively. Ratting everything out is the safest way to play legendary mode anyway.
The grappleshot stun also works well with Skimmers and Elites. For Jackals (energy shield enemies), you can use the grappleshot directly at their shield to brush it off the side. The Jackals will be opened up for fire without destroying their energy shields.
It is an important tip to remember because there will be a time where you have no plasma weapons to break through the energy shields. Using kinetic weapons against energy shields will only waste your ammo, so use the grappleshot first before shooting Jackals.
The most remarkable thing about the grappleshot is that you can actually grab items with it from a distance. If you grappleshot a weapon on the floor, you will automatically equip that weapon and replace the one you are currently holding.
This mechanic also works for throwables like Plasma Coils, Shock Coils, etc. It adds a lot more utility to an already overpowered Spartan Core.
Shield Core
The shield core is simple. It thickens your Spartan’s shield so you can absorb more damage. Overall, it greatly increases your survivability. Enemies using Shock Rifles will be easier to absorb as some of these are real killers to play against when there are a lot of things going on.
The upgrades for the shield core are also straightforward. Each upgrade increases your shields by a total of 15%. You can upgrade it five times, but it all depends on your playstyle. If you love to go into fights head-on, upgrading the shield core with the reduced grappling hook cooldown will be the best combination of Spartan Core upgrades.
- Fortress – Increase shield capacity by an additional 15% of base shield strength – cost 1 Spartan Core
- Bastille – Increase shield capacity by an additional 15% of base shield strength – cost 2 Spartan Cores
- Redoubt – Increase shield capacity by an additional 15% of base shield strength – cost 3 Spartan Cores
- Citadel – Increase shield capacity by an additional 15% of base shield strength – cost 3 Spartan Cores
Threat Sensor
The threat sensor is arguably the worst equipment on the list. It is just a sensor to detect enemies in the surrounding area. It is still a piece of useful equipment, but definitely not worth the Spartan Cores to upgrade.
You will only use the threat sensors on cooldown when you are used to switching equipment in between fights. Even against cloaked enemies, you can still see their silhouettes when they are near you. Here is the list of the upgrades for the threat sensor.
- Seeker – increases threat sensor detection radius by 50% – cost 1 Spartan Core
- Operative – adds a second charge to the threat sensor – cost 2 Spartan Core
- Clairvoyant – reduces threat sensor cooldown by 40% – cost 3 Spartan Core
- Omniscience – adds uninterrupted enemy visibility to the threat sensor and reveals their health – cost 3 Spartan Core
The only notable one is for the health reveal. However, you will be spending nine Spartan Cores to reach that upgrade level. It is definitely not worth it.
Drop Wall
The drop wall is a piece of tactical equipment to help you find immediate cover during a fight. For long-drawn-out fights, the drop wall is probably the most useful one. Whenever you take significant damage to your shields, you can drop the wall and try to recover it back.
If the wall starts to break, you can grappleshot to safety elsewhere. In this case, this method is much safer than grappling away instantly. Once a stray bullet hits you while grappling away, the reset of your shields will restart again.
Without any immediate cover to grapple to, it is best to drop your wall first and try to recover. Deal with the enemies who can shoot you from the flank.
These are the upgrades for the drop wall.
- Swift Shelter – reduces drop wall cooldown by 20% – cost 1 Spartan Core
- Rampart – increases drop wall strength by 30% – cost 2 Spartan Core
- Blockade – increases drop wall strength by 70% and increases wall size – cost 3 Spartan Core
- Direct Current – adds shock damage to any projectiles fired through the drop wall – cost 3 Spartan Core
Each level is great, but it heavily depends on your playstyle. Personally, I prefer going straight into the middle of the fight and seeing where it goes from there.
For players who would like to recon first, the drop wall will add a lot of utility to your playstyle. You can add additional covers and turtle up while you reduce the enemy’s numbers until it is safe to engage up close.
Since there are a lot of enemies who use weapons like Hydras and Heatwaves, increasing the drop wall strength will be beneficial. When you add Brutes (purely melee enemies without weapons) into the mix, you will have to deal with them fast if you are going to turtle up.
Thruster
The thruster is the ultimate equipment for adding pure mobility to your kit. It does not require any obstacle to grapple to as you use your thruster to propel you in the direction you are facing.
The thruster works well on tight battles. For example, during the fight against Escharum, you will fight against his unique gravity hammer near the end. Every time he closes the distance, you can time the thruster perfectly and avoid every single hit.
For grappleshot, it can still work, but your recovery time to start shooting again will be much slower compared to the thruster. It also gives you fewer things to think about during a fight since you do not have to check where to grapple too.
These are the upgrades for the thrusters.
- Afterburner – adds a second charge to your thruster – cost 1 Spartan Core
- Thermal Control – reduces thruster cooldown by 20% – cost 2 Spartan Core
- Impulse – adds significant power to the thruster, allowing further and faster travel – cost 3 Spartan Core
- Escape Velocity – adds a personal cloak effect to thruster, lasting 4 seconds after activation – cost 3 Spartan Core
The additional charge is already the first upgrade. The cooldown reduction essentially gives you two charges of thrusters in between reloads. The cloak upgrade is costly, but it will save your life countless times to justify the cost.
I still prefer the grappleshot for its offensive utility and faster traveling time (getting around the map without any enemies). Still, the thruster also has great utility for the same reasons with more defensive purposes.