Halo Infinite’s returning classic mode is Firefight Classic, a cooperative wave-survival match in which up to four players fight through increasingly difficult rounds, share a pool of lives and can choose to evacuate between sets. Halo Waypoint announced the mode with Operation: Blue Team and said it would enter matchmaking on March 11; the announcement does not establish whether it remains in the playlist today.
What is Firefight Classic?
Firefight began in Halo 3: ODST in 2009. Firefight Classic brings that cooperative PvE format to Halo Infinite: a squad of up to four players faces waves of enemies, with the match continuing as long as the team survives. Halo Waypoint described it as the return of the classic Firefight experience, alongside the King of the Hill variant. Halo Waypoint’s announcement said the mode would be available in matchmaking.
How a Firefight Classic match works
Waves, rounds and sets
Each round has five enemy waves. The first wave is easy; waves two through four are mid-tier difficulty. Three rounds and a bonus round make up one set. The mode is endless in principle: after each set, the squad can continue into the next so long as it has lives left.
Shared lives and rising difficulty
The team starts with seven shared lives, rather than each player receiving a separate pool. At the end of each set, the team gains one life. It can also earn an additional life for every 1,000 points scored during that set’s bonus round. Skulls activate over later rounds to add difficulty, while players receive an ammunition resupply between rounds.
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The bonus round
The bonus round is a lower-stakes scoring window: all Skulls are active, enemies are set to Easy, and deaths do not cost the team lives. A strong score can help replenish the shared pool through the life threshold.
How to end a match by evacuating
At the end of a set, the squad can either continue or extract. To leave, at least two players must enter the “Complete the mission” zone before the next round begins. If they do not, the next round starts and the team must keep playing until it reaches another set’s end or runs out of lives.
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Maps announced for Firefight Classic
Halo Waypoint listed these five maps for the mode:
- Alpha Site
- Courtyard
- Forest Firefight
- House of Reckoning
- Security Zone
Firefight Classic vs. Firefight: King of the Hill
The announcement describes two distinct Firefight approaches. Classic is about surviving enemy waves and managing shared lives, with an optional extraction point between sets. King of the Hill instead centers on capturing and defending hills against Banished forces.
| Variant | Primary objective | Match structure | Voluntary exit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefight Classic | Survive enemy waves | Five waves per round; three rounds and a bonus round per set | Yes. At least two players can enter the extraction zone at a set’s end. |
| Firefight: King of the Hill | Capture and defend hills against Banished forces | Not stated in the announcement | Not stated in the announcement |
What “fans are stoked” does—and doesn’t—tell you
The phrase “Fans Are Stoked” appeared in HotHardware’s March 12, 2025 coverage headline. That story reports the mode’s return and evacuation feature, but neither it nor the Halo Waypoint announcement provides survey results or direct fan quotations that measure how broadly players welcomed it. Treat the phrase as headline framing, not as a quantified claim about the community.
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