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<\/figure>\n That sound you hear? That low hum, that ceaseless wailing? It\u2019s an elegy of Halo Infinite<\/em> fans around the world. Developer 343 Industries will soon nerf the best weapon in its multiplayer shooter, fulfilling a longtime request of top-flight players\u2014and thumbing its nose at the desires of the hoi polloi.<\/p>\n The mangler, which is new to the series for Infinite<\/em><\/span>, is debatably one of the game\u2019s best PvP weapons. It\u2019s not just that the mangler is a powerful firearm (two body shots plus a headshot gets a kill). It\u2019s that it has a small blade affixed to the barrel, seriously increasing its melee damage; shoot someone right before smacking them, and you\u2019ll get a kill, turning the thing into a bona fide shotgun in close range. Plus, the mangler shares a respawn point with the comparatively weaker plasma pistol, popping back on the map every 30 seconds or so, ensuring that it\u2019s basically always in play.<\/p>\n In the wake of Halo Infinite<\/em>\u2019s surprise release, the mangler sparked heated debate<\/span>. Pros hated it with a vengeance, with some players and teams calling for an outright nerf, or at the very least an increase to its cooldown time. Regular players, however, pushed back. The mangler, they said, was fun as hell to use, and isn\u2019t that the point? Cue the memes (and the mean tweets).<\/p>\n \u201cI might be in the minority here when I say I like the mangler. However, in its current state, it is quite overpowered,\u201d Jennifer \u201cEchidna\u201d Hal<\/span>, a pro Halo<\/em> player and content creator for eUnited<\/span>, told Kotaku<\/em>. \u201cIt promotes camping and easy trades with the one-shot beatdown mechanic, has a generous amount of ammunition, and respawns too frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomething\u2019s gotta give,\u201d said Alexander \u201cShyway\u201d Hope<\/span>, a Halo<\/em> esports host and content creator. \u201cEither they raise it up to mid-tier level to make it more of a power weapon, or reduce its ammo and availability, or they nerf it.\u201d<\/p>\n G\/O Media may get a commission<\/p>\n Stay on top of your health with high and low heart rate, and irregular heart rhythm notifications.<\/strong> The developers went with the latter\u2014kind of. For Halo Infinite<\/em>\u2019s second season, which will add new maps and gameplay tweaks early next month, 343 plans on reducing melee damage by 10 percent across the board, a change that was detailed in a lengthy blog post<\/span> released at the exact hour banks and government agencies tend to publish press releases whenever they want to bury a major oopsies (6 p.m. on a Friday). Effectively, this nullifies the mangler\u2019s best perk. Right now, you can grab a mangler and score a kill with a shot and a punch, or what\u2019s known among Halo<\/em> players as a \u201cone-shot beatdown.\u201d (The bulldog shotgun, which takes way longer to respawn than the mangler, also has a one-shot beatdown.) Following the season two overhaul, though, you\u2019ll need two shots and a punch\u2014a \u201ctwo-shot beatdown.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest gripe with the mangler is the one-shot beatdown. With 343 tuning it so it\u2019s a two-shot beatdown instead, I am much more content with it being on the map,\u201d Hal said, and pointed to Halo Infinite<\/em>\u2019s quick-drop tactic as a reason the mangler\u2019s impending Marie Antoinette-ing won\u2019t be as much of a shellshock as it seems.<\/p>\n In Halo Infinite<\/em>, it\u2019s marginally, almost imperceptibly faster to drop a weapon than it is to swap between both equipped weapons. You can pop an opponent\u2019s shields with two body shots from your mangler, then drop it and instantly switch to your battle rifle for a quick headshot, for which you\u2019ll earn the \u201chold this\u201d medal. Right now, among high-level play, \u201chold this\u201d is the meta. The forthcoming changes shouldn\u2019t upend that strategy, Hal said. (As someone who\u2019s recently become fond of the move: Hell yeah.)<\/p>\n![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_center,h_80,pg_1,q_80,w_80\/06eac308e07009db3034eca48982464a.png)
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