Achievements
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition has 75 achievements worth 1,500 Gamerscore. The same 75-achievement design ships on both Xbox Play Anywhere and Steam, but the two are separate unsynced tracks and not one shared list, so unlocking on Steam earns you nothing on Xbox Live. The list combines the original Xbox 360 achievements with the Strategic Options and Historic Battles DLC, plus new unlocks for each level and the skirmish win ladder.
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition has 75 achievements worth a total of 1,500 Gamerscore. It integrates most of the original Xbox 360 achievements, which numbered 50 for 1,000 Gamerscore before its DLC packs added 8 more, and layers on new ones for beating each individual level and for the skirmish win ladder up to 100 matches.
Platform Tracking and Bug Warnings
Before you start hunting, be aware of two things:
- Steam and Xbox achievements do not sync. The Steam version is not tied into Xbox Play Anywhere, so it carries its own achievement set that unlocks the same way but tracks entirely separately. Unlocking on Steam earns you nothing on Xbox Live and the reverse is also true. This is not a delay, so waiting will not make an Xbox unlock appear from a Steam session. Only the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions share a list with each other.
- Mr. Punctual progress tracking: This achievement (Complete all missions under par time on Heroic) has a well-reported history of its progress tracker sticking below 100%. The bug is real. The commonly circulated fix of deleting local save data and hard resetting is not documented by any source that could be verified, so treat it as folklore and not a known remedy.
Campaign: Level Completion
These progression achievements are universally classified as "Secret" to prevent narrative spoilers.
| Achievement Name | Description | Gamerscore | Secret |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meet Sergeant Forge | Complete Mission 1 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Build for Success | Complete Mission 2 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Smash and Grab | Complete Mission 3 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| High Class Escort | Complete Mission 4 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Patience IS a Virtue | Complete Mission 5 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Great Form! | Complete Mission 6 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Dancing with the Beam Queen | Complete Mission 7 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Saving the Parade | Complete Mission 8 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Staving Off the Infection | Complete Mission 9 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Evacuation of the Fittest | Complete Mission 10 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Most Valuable Deck Hand | Complete Mission 11 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| She's my Fixer Upper | Complete Mission 12 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| A Means to an End | Complete Mission 13 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Signed, Sealed, Delivered | Complete Mission 14 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Forging a Way to History | Complete Mission 15 on any difficulty. | 10 | Yes |
| Adjudicate The Arbiter | Complete the Campaign on Heroic difficulty. | 30 | No |
| Detour The Great Journey | Complete the Campaign on Legendary. This also unlocks the Heroic achievement if you have not already earned it. | 50 | No |
| Backscratcher | Complete any Campaign Mission in Co-Op mode. | 5 | Yes |
Campaign: Medals, Par Times, and Constraints
These require specific feats of skill, rapid completion times, or strict constraints executed during campaign missions.
| Achievement Name | Description | Gamerscore |
|---|---|---|
| Momma's Boy | Earn a Gold medal on any Campaign mission. | 5 |
| Wall of Recognition | Earn a Gold medal on every Campaign mission. | 30 |
| Crushed Colors | Improve your score on any Campaign mission. | 10 |
| Own Worst Enemy | Earn a Gold medal with all Debuff Skulls active. | 20 |
| Epic Grinder | Earn a lifetime Campaign score of over 1 million. | 40 |
| Racing the Clock | Complete one mission under par time on Heroic difficulty. | 5 |
| Hardly Tardy | Complete five missions under par time on Heroic difficulty. | 10 |
| Mr. Punctual | Complete all missions under par time on Heroic. | 15 |
| Everything's Better With Bacon | Mission 1: Ram 50 Grunts. | 5 |
| Endless Fun | Mission 2: Destroy every methane tank. | 5 |
| Covenant "Hot Drop" | Mission 3: Kill 5 Covenant units with the Energy Bridge. | 5 |
| The Real Winner | Mission 4: Save Adam. | 5 |
| He's Got The Jack | Mission 5: Hijack 6 enemy vehicles. | 5 |
| Rhino Hugger | Mission 6: Protect every Rhino. | 5 |
| Micro Manager | Mission 7: Don't destroy any Power Nodes. | 5 |
| Ramblin' Man | Mission 8: Train 100 Infantry squads from Elephants. | 5 |
| Sweet Naptime | Mission 9: Have all Colonies dormant at the same time. | 5 |
| The Procrastinator | Mission 10: Disrupt all Tractor Beams. | 5 |
| Battened Down the Hatches | Mission 11: Save every hatch. | 5 |
| Handy With Tools | Mission 12: Repair the Power Core in less than 4 minutes. | 5 |
| Beaming With Pride | Mission 13: Kill 25 enemy units with the Scarab. | 5 |
| Didn't Get To Second Base | Mission 14: Don't claim a second base. | 5 |
| Thinkin' About My Doorbell | Mission 15: Open the doors in the correct order. | 5 |
Skirmish and Multiplayer Mastery
These achievements encompass victory milestones, specific game mode requirements, and feats against Legendary AI.
| Achievement Name | Description | Gamerscore | Secret |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basically Naive | Win 10 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 10 | No |
| Officer On Deck | Win 20 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 30 | No |
| Running The Show | Win 30 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 50 | No |
| Don't Stop Me Now | Win 40 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 70 | No |
| Maximum Effort | Win 50 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 90 | No |
| Soldier of Ares | Win 75 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 110 | No |
| Weapon of Zeus | Win 100 Skirmish or Multiplayer Matches. | 130 | No |
| Playin' The Field | Win a Skirmish game with every leader. | 15 | No |
| Gallivant Around The Galaxy | Win a Skirmish game on every map. | 25 | No |
| Empire Builder | Win on every Skirmish mode. | 5 | No |
| Titan | Score 20,000 points on any Skirmish game. | 15 | No |
| Big Al's Scooter | Win a match in under 10 minutes against the Heroic A.I. | 10 | No |
| My Virtual Friends Love Me | Win a 3v3 match with 2 A.I allies. | 10 | No |
| 2 Bugs Are Better Than 1 | Win a Skirmish game with 2 Scarabs. | 10 | No |
| Penny Pincher | Get a winning high score with 10 or less squads against the Heroic A.I. | 15 | No |
| One and Done | Score the winning point in a game of Keepaway against Legendary A.I.s. | 30 | No |
| Pull Hard, Pull Deep | Win and never trail in a Tug of War game. | 20 | No |
| Freak on a Streak | Gain at least 15 population from a single wave in a Reinforcement game. | 20 | No |
| Living Loving Bug | Obtain a Scarab in a Reinforcement game. | 30 | No |
| Tour Coming Through | "Hot Drop" 50 units to your leader in a single game on Barrens. | 30 | No |
| Never Leave a Man Behind | Tribute 5000 Resources to allies on Memorial Basin. | 15 | No |
| Drain Cleaner | Kill 20 enemy squads with a Covenant leader power on Memorial Basin. | 30 | No |
| Killjoy | Disrupt 5 active leader powers on Blood River. | 25 | No |
| N00b n0 M0r3 | Win a Public game. | 10 | Yes |
| So Lonely At The Top | Win and have the highest score in a public game. | 20 | Yes |
Collectibles and Overall Completion
| Achievement Name | Description | Gamerscore |
|---|---|---|
| Alas, Poor Andrew Thomas | Collect your first Skull. | 5 |
| Lovely Bunch of Coconuts | Collect 8 Skulls. | 15 |
| Graverobber | Collect all 15 Skulls. | 30 |
| Halo Undergraduate | Unlock a Timeline event. | 5 |
| Halo Academic | Unlock 20 Timeline events. | 15 |
| Halo Historian | Unlock all Timeline events. | 40 |
| Walk-Off Winner | Use 1 of the 6 major leader powers to destroy an enemy's last unit. | 30 |
| Ready For The Sequel | Achieve 100% completion. | 75 |
| 24 Hours of Quality | Play Halo Wars for a total of 24 hours. | 20 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many achievements are in Halo Wars: Definitive Edition?
There are 75 achievements worth a total of 1,500 Gamerscore. The same 75-achievement design ships on Xbox Play Anywhere and on Steam, and it folds in the Strategic Options and Historic Battles DLC.
Do Steam and Xbox achievements sync in Halo Wars?
No. The Steam version is not tied into Xbox Play Anywhere, so it has its own separate achievement set that unlocks the same way but tracks independently. Progress on Steam does not appear on Xbox Live or the reverse. Only the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions share a list with each other.
Is the Mr. Punctual achievement bugged?
Its progress tracker has a well-reported history of sticking below 100 percent, so the bug itself is real. The widely repeated fix of deleting local save data and hard resetting could not be verified against any documented source, so treat it as folklore and not a reliable remedy.
How many Skulls do I need for the Halo Wars achievements?
Your first Skull unlocks Alas, Poor Andrew Thomas for 5 Gamerscore. Collecting 8 Skulls unlocks Lovely Bunch of Coconuts for 15, and all 15 Skulls unlock Graverobber for 30.
Which Halo Wars achievement is worth the most Gamerscore?
Weapon of Zeus is the largest single award at 130 Gamerscore for winning 100 Skirmish or Multiplayer matches. The win ladder builds up to it through Maximum Effort at 50 wins for 90 and Soldier of Ares at 75 wins for 110.
What to Read Next
- Campaign and Missions. Par times and collectibles behind most unlocks.
- Multiplayer and Skirmish. The skirmish mastery achievements.
- Combat and Units. Unit-specific achievement requirements.
- Getting Started. Basics that speed up the cumulative grinds.