What is bleeding in Halo: Reach

Bleeding in Halo: Reaching is a term that describes how the game deals with excessive damage from melee attacks on shields. In its most basic sense, this means that you don't need to completely remove an opponent's shield before you can kill them with a melee attack.

When loading multiplayer modes, you will often see an on-screen message saying that bleed is on. This means that any excess damage from a melee attack will be reflected in the opponent's health once the shield is broken.

When the bleeding is not active, even a person has only a small amount of shield left and you mingle them, the melee attack will shatter the shield, but any excess damage will be lost and not transmitted to their health bar. This means you can't hit a low-shielded enemy with a melee attack, and then the excess damage is applied to their health and kills them.

This has a direct effect on how people will play the game and what tactics they will use in multiplayer. When the bleeding is over, you'll often see players jostling each other, confident that they can lower the other person's shield enough to kill them in melee. When the bleeding is interrupted, people often wait a little longer, sometimes even waiting to see their opponent's shield go off before rushing to kill the melee.

If you need help with other elements of Halo: Reaching, you can find our guides on Season Points, how to unlock armor, the hidden binary signature, and how to play Invasion.