Man Cannon

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The Man Cannon is an object introduced in Halo 3 that launches a player through the air to another part of the map. It works quite the same as a gravity lift, present in maps such as Colossus and Lockout, although it is optimized to act more as a catapulting device then an elevating one.

Function

While the name specifies a man, the cannon will launch anything that enters it. However, its strength will be diminished when heavy objects such as the Warthog or Chopper drives through it, and the cannon will not launch them as far.

As shown in the Halo 3 Vidoc, Is Quisnam Protero Damno, Bungie created the Man Cannon to replace the teleporters because it adds far greater challenge and risk to the gameplay.

“Although it was a great way to get around quickly, it didn't provide as much inherent danger as the man cannon does.”

— David Candland, interface designer at Bungie

Maps Featuring Man Cannons

Integrated into Map

• Valhalla
• Guardian
• Avalanche
• Narrows
• Haven

Placeable Via Forge

• Rat's Nest
• Foundry
• Standoff
• Avalanche
• Cold Storage
• Sandbox
• Longshore
• Citadel
• Tempest
• Forge World
• Monolith
• Ragnarok
• Forge Island

Gameplay

• Using a man cannon can give players a quick overview of the location of enemies, teammates, vehicles, and other objects.
• A Trip Mine placed in a Man Cannon could be a devastating tool, as players would not notice what they are stepping on in the heat of battle and you could just get one or more easy kills.

• The main man cannon on Valhalla has a 'landing zone' roughly the size of an Elephant, but a good player will quickly see where his opponent is about to land. This makes it harder to pinpoint where the player will land, although on some maps such as Narrows, the LZ is considerably smaller to the point that you can place a Trip Mine to much effect.
• Throwing a grenade (Plasma Grenades work best) or Power Drain into the Man Cannon can sometimes be effective against opponents within range.
• You can improve the distance of your Man Cannon jump by pressing the jump button as you land.  Some of the momentum left from your launch will transfer and allow you to leap farther. This is best accomplished by walking directly into the center of the Man Cannon you are using and mashing the jump button as you land.  This will give you several smaller jumps until you return to normal speed.  Jumping into the man cannon usually does not give you as much forward momentum, so it will not work.  This trick is useful on Valhalla when getting the Spartan Laser. You can jump all the way across the river on the Lake Base side, or past the large rock on the Waterfall Base side.
• Almost anything can be launched through Man Cannons. It's an effective way for supplying teammates across the map with guns, throwing equipment to use on friends or enemies.
• Dropping Flares into the Man Cannons on Avalanche in Custom Games is an effective way of using optical cover to invade a base.
• Throwing Bubble Shields into the Man Cannons is an effective way to protect your flag carrier in the air, and while waiting for a Hornet or other transport to arrive.
• Explosive objects, such as Fusion coils, will almost always explode upon impact of landing after being launched from a Man Cannon. Doing this can basically give your team a sort of improvised mortar (particularly in Valhalla in Custom games).
• In Valhalla, it is useful to fly a Ghost into a Man Cannon while simultaneously activating the boost. This will send the Ghost completely across the map, albeit somewhat beat up or completely destroyed upon impact of landing.
• Though it requires amazing timing and a degree of luck, it is possible to hijack an incoming enemy Banshee or Hornet, preferably from the side of the vehicle. This action can easily turn the tide of a game. But note that this is nearly impossible if you attempt to hijack head-on, as the speed which you are moving can easily get you splattered.
• In Capture the Flag games on Valhalla, the man-cannon is an essential tool, that can get your player with the flag almost halfway across the map.
• It is possible to launch a mongoose through the man cannon and get the "Mongoose Mowdown" achievement by doing this, particularly on Valhalla and Avalanche.
• The danger of using the man cannon is that your trajectory is set when you enter. Since you don't have a lot of air control, an enemy sniper will be given a good amount of time (the main man cannon on Valhalla takes around 2.5 seconds from 'takeoff' to 'landing') to estimate where your head will meet his crosshairs.

Trivia

• The man cannon was first introduced in Halo 2 on the maps Ascension, Lockout, Gemini, Colossus, and Desolation. The "human grav lift" or "air vents" were on Ivory Tower, Headlong, and Foundation
• Almost anything can be sent through a Man Cannon. This includes the flag in a game of Capture the Flag.
• The Man Cannons placed in Valhalla and Narrows can be shut down if you use the map Overload Glitch. This makes it a lot easier to place objects such as spawn points, grenades and teleporters close to or even on the Man Cannon.
• In Valhalla, it is common for players to drive a Mongoose into the Man Cannon to quickly get to the middle of the battlefield with a vehicle.
• Using the Man Cannon to throw large objects can be fatal to opponents. Doing ten straight kills this way without dying, strangely, will get you the Vehicular Manslaughter medal.
• In Halo 3, one can create a crude Man Cannon on almost any map on Forge by spawning a weapon holder and a placeable Grav Lift. The lift will be held like a weapon in the holder: at a sideways angle. However, it will give you no upwards lift like other Man Cannons and will have less power. The floating objects glitch may be used to tilt the lift at any angle to give you the upwards momentum.
• In Forge throughout the Halo series, man cannons have been available in Forerunner, Covenant, and UNSC styles.
• In Halo 5: Guardians, editing a man cannon's settings and setting all parameters to zero will cause a strange "black hole" glitch. Any object that enters the man cannon will be deleted, and it can delete forge objects. Players who enter it will immediately respawn, however.
• In Halo 5: Guardians Forge, players are able to see a direction line and are able to modify the cannon's launch trajectory.

Gallery

A Man Cannon on Guardian, in Halo 3.

A Man Cannon on Valhalla, in Halo 3.

A Halo 4 Man Cannon on Forge Island.