Trick Jumping: An Underrated Edge
Article Written by: Conor "SolidSmoke" McClain


Halo 2 is a game which involves the use of many different skill sets. Becoming a top contender involves raising each of these to peak levels of performance. This article’s focus is on a skill set that is generally neglected by many players—that of jumping and each of its techniques. At first glance jumping is one of the simplest things in H2. Press a button and Chief jumps just like that. Then again, many of the other skills involved in H2 seem just as simple if not looked at in depth. Grenading? Look where you want to throw and press the grenade button. Aiming? Make the reticule red and hit the trigger. Team play? Do not shoot the guys with signs over their heads. The truth is that none of these are nearly so simple, but today the topic is jumping, so let us jump into it (cheesy pun intended).

Most of the time one can jump from place to place in relatively easy fashion by simply hitting the jump button on one’s favorite configuration while running in the desired direction. However, in order to master jumping and start bounding through levels like Mario on crack there are a few techniques that must be learned. Just so one knows what their getting into, they will all be listed with basic descriptions first before listing them all again with flowing, wondrous paragraphs of indispensable information after each.

o Crouch Jump: Press left thumbstick down mid jump

o Long Jump: Jump at the last second from a ledge

o Grenade Jump: Use a grenades blast to gain height

o Quick Jump: Jumping a second time immediately upon landing

Crouch Jump

First the Crouch Jump will be looked at, which is useful for getting height where normally the Chief just smacks the wall and falls. If it isn’t used currently, learn this immediately and like the back of your hand. The best advice is to use it every time a jump is made, it gets one in the habit and will make executing it automatic when its needed. As an example the map Midship will be used, specifically above the plasma pistol spawn starting on the walkway leading to the Sword. The goal is to get up on the roof above when facing the side wall.







This presents a relatively challenging crouch jump as one must attain as much height off the jump as possible while charging as close to the curved wall as possible. If the jump is timed correctly,







hold down the crouch button and the player will slide on top of the roof, a great tactic for the Battle Rifle carrier in any game.







In every map there are places like this to use the crouch jump for much more than just looking cool to all your friends, one just has to go looking for them.

Long Jump

The Long Jump is used to cross normally unreachable distances and is a sometimes frightening move to try because it is so easy to miss. In order to accomplish it one must jump at the very last second before careening off the edge to the point that it sometimes feels like the Chief is already off the ledge when it is executed. Long Jumps are all about timing and a prayer, especially on the map Lockout, which is precisely the location for the next example. On lockout there are a few long jumps which are possible but result in a screaming, arm wind milling Chief 90% of the time, so instead of showing a picture of that often hilarious scenario, this example will reveal a vastly useful long jump that is not too difficult to pull off. On the platform above the elevator, jump onto the left side ledge and face the battle rifle tower which will be sitting just to the left.







Now run forward, but instead of falling off the ledge to watch the funny scene of Chiefs demise as one might the first few tries, jump at the last second and hold crouch. Yes, that is right, combining jump techniques has already begun but do not worry, I have faith in your abilities. If done correctly, Chief will land in the corner of the walkway leading up to the top of the tower.







The advantages of this move are great. It effectively makes the map smaller in terms of getting from one side to the other. The only disadvantage to this, of course, is the possibility of a screaming, arm wind milling chief.

Grenade Jump

Grenade jumping involves lobbing a grenade at the Chiefs feet (no need to worry, at full shields you will survive) and using the explosion to propel the player to hitherto unreachable heights, even with a crouch jump. Grenade jumps are more for fun than anything else, as many leagues and tournaments including MLG and AGP ban them from use, though CAL allows it. Despite that, attempting to use the technique as anyone other than the host of an online match will often leave one cursing and screaming when it fails due to lag and latency issues, though the 3-round burst to the head from an enemy battle rifle because the jump did not connect does not help out much either. Still a useless example is pretty useless, so this one will be taken to Beaver Creek. Stand on the side of the Red base without the easy access to the roof, facing the shortest portion of the wall.







Now toss a grenade at the ground near the opening and time the jump so that the Chief is at the height of his arc when the grenade goes boom (timing takes some getting used to, especially plasmas as they take longer to detonate).







If the grenade jump is done correctly, and crouch is held, he should sail atop the base easily.





Quick Jump


A quick jump involves hitting the jump immediately upon landing on a surface to gain an immediate second jump and speed up a player’s maneuverings. Also useful for when you are about to slide backwards off a ledge after a long jump that just barely makes it. Not as hard as the grenade or some long jumps, it still takes some practice to get correctly and consistently. Quick jumps are almost always involved in a combination of jump techniques. While not all that difficult to perform, they are incredibly useful to make maneuvering through a map more efficient. To illustrate the quickness of a quick jump without combining it with other techniques the map Ascension will be used. Stand on the landing underneath shotgun near the pistol and face directly towards the sniper spawn point (you might want a good running start for this one for timing purposes).







Now run forward and time the jump so that the Chief lands on the little raised tooth looking thing along the barrier of the landing.







As soon as he lands, nail jump again and hold forward and the always-pressed crouch button to make him jump again easily over the rail and right on top of the sniper rifle.







It is amazing how quick you can get up and in using the quick jump, just do not try on your girlfriend and everything will be fine.

Overview

Each of these alone will elevate one’s game if one has not been using them, but it is when their put together in combination that their usefulness really shines. One can make a high jump through the use of crouching, immediately quick jump to another location, take two steps and long jump to a far away ramp and be places the enemy never expected so quickly. When the art of jumping becomes second nature one will almost literally being flying around certain maps making LeBron look like a punk with ease and quickness, positioning for respawning weapons or map control points. For the greatest movies on the net related to jumping and all of its techniques, Jukes Box has everything anyone could need. Despite this, there still exists a ton of jumps no one has ever done before, they simply need to be found by the right dedicated player. So get out there and get jumping!