How to find all the Skulls in Halo Infinite

In total, there are 12 Halo Infinite skulls to find. As collectibles go, this doesn't seem like many, until you take two aspects into consideration. Firstly, the skulls in Halo Infinite (and previous Halo games for that matter) are incredibly difficult to find, often requiring some serious thinking outside of the box.

Secondly, the Halo Infinite replay missions feature isn't in the game at the time of writing, so you need to find all of the Halo Infinite skull locations the first time around. Here's all you need to know about Halo Infinite skulls including what skulls are, the full list of skulls, and where to find each one.

• Wondering how to unlock new weapons and vehicles during the campaign? You'll want our Halo Infinite Valor guide

Boom Skull Effect: Doubles explosion radius.
Boom Skull Description: Behold, the Temple of Boom.

Kicking things off is the Boom Skull in the very first level, Warship Gbraakon. Play through until you have the objective to reach the bridge and you reach a long room with plenty of Grunts, Brutes, and some moving blocks on the right-hand side by an upper level.

Go to the back of the room, before you go up the slope on your left, and grapple on top of one of the blocks. Ride it all the way to the top and jump off to find the Boom Skull.

Cowbell Skull Effect: Acceleration from explosions is increased.
Cowbell Skull Description: Because we needed more Cowbell.

In the second mission, you'll eventually experience a flashback during a lengthy elevator ride. Keep moving forward until you enter a huge atrium with a few enemies and some Sentinels flying in the distance. Your objective should be "follow the signal".

The Cowbell Skull is essentially in the rafters, so you want to use your Grappleshot to ascend as high as you can. You may need to take a risky running jump to reach the spot right at the top with the skull, but it's doable if you time it right.

IWHBYD Skull Effect: Rare combat dialogue becomes more common.
IWHBYD Skull Description: Did they really just say that?

This one is tied to the mission "The Tower", but you can access it at any point during the open world. The basic gist of it is that you want to reach the very top of the tower, and this can be done with a Grappleshot, though it's easier once you've unlocked a Banshee or Wasp.

If you do have a vehicle, simply fly to the top and you'll find it atop a crate. Not got one? You'll need to carefully propel yourself up the exterior of the tower and aim at the outer ring to fling Master Chief around the outside. Easy-peasy.

Blind Skull Effect: HUD and weapon do not display onscreen.
Blind Skull Description: Great for shooting photos, bad for shooting enemies.

Like the IWHBYD one, the Blind Skull can also be found out in the open world so you can grab it at any point. You'll first be able to access it during the Recovery stage of the campaign, at the location pictured above.

This is essentially in the middle of the huge chasm, where boulders form a bridge. You'll find some dead Marines here, but follow the blue glowsticks to find the Blind Skull on the metal hexagonal section right near the bottom - you may need to jump and Grappleshot to make the jumps.

Catch Skull Effect: Enemies throw and drop more grenades.
Catch Skull Description: Hold these for us.

The Catch Skull is also in the open world but rather than being in a hard-to-reach location, it's simply defended by two Hunters. Those are the big buggers with massive shields, if you're not caught up with your Halo enemies.

The map above shows the exact location - at the top of the map to the north-west of Outpost Tremonius - and if you don't fancy taking on both Hunters, you can Grappleshot in and find the skull inside a tree stump on the other side of the lake after drawing the pair of foes away.

Fog Skull Effect: Diables motion tracker radar.
Fog Skull Description: They could be anywhere.

South from the last skull and very close to the Warship Gbraakon map marker, the Fog Skull is directly west of FOB Alpha. Follow the cliffside underneath and you'll find a weird-looking doll. Jump over the gap, and use the Grappleshot to ascend the circumference of the pillar.

Keep doing this until you reach two especially muddy hexagonal platforms with rocks atop. Head inside the entrance behind them to find a dead Marine with a sniper and the Fog skull on a raised section.

• How're you finding the single player? Read our Halo Infinite campaign review to see our thoughts

Famine Skull Effect: Weapons dropped by enemies have half the ammo they normally would.
Famine Skull Description: I'm out!

Over to the south-eastern part of the map now and you'll find the Famine Skull on a huge cluster of rocks south of the easternmost beacon. Unfortunately, you can't sprint, jump, and then grapple to get this one because trust us, we've tried.

Instead, you'll want to hijack a Banshee (there should be plenty around so don't worry) and then fly over to it. Near the top, the Famine Skull is next to a dead Elite.

Black Eye Skull Effect: Your shields only recharge when you melee enemies.
Black Eye Skull Description: Better get punchy.

Would you believe it? There's something behind the waterfall! Find the waterfall between FOB Kilo and Riven Gate then use the Grappleshot to ascend. You're looking for a tiny square hole you can crouch and waddle inside.

The skull is perched atop a wooden post in this incredibly red room, with some corpses inside. Grab it and bob's your uncle.

Thunderstorm Skull Effect: Upgrades the rank of most enemies.
Thunderstorm Skull Description: Promotions for everybody.

Very close to the northern beacon is where you'll find the Thunderstorm Skull, atop a tall pillar. You have a few ways to approach this; you can climb the cliff nearby and jump onto the pillar, you can Grappleshot all the way up the side, or you can hijack a Banshee and land halfway down before grappling the rest of the way.

No matter which method you choose, the skull is fairly easy to spot. If you do choose the cliff option, you'll know you're in the right spot because there'll be a dead Marine with an audio log and sniper rifle to loot.

Mythic Skull Effect: Enemies have increased health.
Mythic Skull Description: Because it wasn't hard enough.

Back to mission-specific skulls now and the Mythic skull is found in the mission "The Command Spire". When your objective is to reach the observation platform, keep an eye out for the biggest pillar processing room yet. Kill all the enemies then grapple onto one of the pillars making a 90° turn. Jump immediately off it and grapple through the open ceiling though, rather than following the pillar.

Now you're in the dark room with the moving pillars below you, look up for a ledge with a blue doorway. Grapple onto here, go through the corridor, and round the corner, then you'll find the Mythic Skull in the next room.

Grunt Birthday Party Skull Effect: Grunt headshots lead to glorious celebrations of confetti and cheers.
Grunt Birthday Party Skull Description: Maybe it's the methane?

Now we're onto the harder Halo Infinite skulls because this one is a challenge. Taking place in the Repository mission, you want your objective to be "reach the surface of the ring". At some point during this objective, you'll find a terminal in the middle of a huge room with two doorways on either side of you, but no light bridge will spawn to cross to them. Kill the enemies then Grappleshot across to the door on the right-hand side - use the wall or support beam if you can't make it in one go.

Through the door will be a Power Seed. Kill any Sentinels that spawn then head back to the terminal in the middle of the previous room. Enter the left-hand door this time, again using any surface you need to if you can't make the jump in one go. Enter the Power Seed into the Crucible in the middle of this room, then head back the way you came.

Continue with the level until you reach a room with symmetrical golden walls. Clear all the enemies then grapple above the two support beams in the middle of the room to enter a doorway that wouldn't be open had you not used the Power Seed earlier on. The skull is on the floor in the middle of the room. Before you charge in and grab it though...

There are also four invisible Elites in here with Energy Swords. If you stay on the outskirts of the room, you can lure them out one by one, but it's strongly recommended that you fire a Threat Sensor and have some grenades to hand so you can eliminate them as quickly as possible. When they're all down, you can finally grab the skull.

Bandana Skull Effect: Grants unlimited weapon ammo, and grenades and removes equipment cooldown.
Bandana Skull Description: We did say Infinite.

Finally, there's the Bandana skull in the final mission of the game, Silent Auditorium. This is simpler than Grunt Birthday Party, but definitely not much easier. The process for this starts at the very beginning of the mission; do not kill a single Sentinel! Make it to the end of the level without killing any Sentinels and before you ascend the final elevator, cross the light bridge and go through the door off to the side.

Through this door will be the skull. Like we said... simple, but definitely not easy.

Before we get onto all of the individual skull locations and what each one does in Halo Infinite, let's start with an explainer of what skulls actually are. These gameplay modifiers have been part of the Halo franchise since the second game, and have since been added into the re-released versions of the first title. None of the Halo Infinite skulls are necessary for your playthrough but if you want to find everything there is to 100% complete the game, the skulls need to be on your checklist.

Some skulls have comedic effects, like the one that makes rare combat dialogue more common or causes grunts to explode into confetti when you headshot them. Then on the other hand, there are skulls in Halo Infinite that make the game much harder, like the one that only makes your shield recharge after you melee enemies or by simply giving foes more health. No matter which of the Halo Infinite skulls you're looking for, we've got all of the skull locations right here.

• Before you get stuck into all of the skulls and where to find them, make sure you read up on the best Halo Infinite upgrades

What about how to activate skulls in Halo Infinite? Thankfully, it's pretty simple. Return to the main menu then select "Load Game" instead of "Continue". Select your save file and you can activate as many skulls as you like... out of the ones you've found so far, of course.

It's worth noting that the game has a message stating skulls being enabled will disable achievements. This is a change from previous games in the franchise, which only disabled achievements if the enabled skulls made the game easier.

However, it does seem to be bugged, because players are reporting they're still getting achievements with skulls enabled. To be safe, we'd recommend not playing through with any skulls enabled if you want to earn achievements.

Now you know where to find every single one of the Halo Infinite skulls, why not read up on exactly what the Halo Infinite Propaganda Towers do?