H4: Ragnarok Tactics

Ragnarok is the only map in Halo 4 that is an obvious remake of fan favorite, Valhalla. The Tactics on this map are very different than on Valhalla however, given Ordnance Drops and weaker vehicles.

 

In Big Team Slayer, both teams start with a Banshee, Chaingun Warthog, Mantis, Ghost and two Mongeese.  There is a laser in the middle that is useful when the game starts, but it's not critical to make a rush for it.  After one week with the game, the vehicles tend to create a lot of havoc on this map, but don't necessarily win the game.  All the vehicles are weak enough now to be taken down with small arms fire, so a team that talks can concentrate fire on an enemy vehicle and kill it quickly with just DMR or BR rounds.  Ordnance Drops also call down lasers and sniper rifles to make short work of vehicles.

DMR rules this map.  It has about the same effective range as the sniper, but holds more rounds, fires faster, and doesn't draw the attention that the sniper gun does.  All players should choose DMR loadouts here, BR disperses too much at the range that battles are fought at on Ragnarok.   Blue players in Woods or Blue Rocks can reach Top Middle easily.  Red players in Red Rocks are Jungle have good sightlines to Top Middle as well.

Really useful Armor Abilities on this map include Regeneration Field, or Active Camouflage.  A fireteam of 2-4 in a Regeneration Field can dominate a region with very little risk of dying.  A sniper with Active Camo is nearly impossible to find given how much other chaos is going on.  Autosentry and Promethean Vision are largely useless.

A good strategy is to use the vehicles to cause chaos with sharp shooters getting DMR kills.

1. Banshee: The Banshee can drop bombs and then zoom off before taking serious damage.  The Banshee can fly circles, dropping bombs on the middle or Turret/Wall area, and then boost back behind the base to recharge shields.  In all vehicles, hit Y to switch guns, and the targeting reticle will generally light up red before you can actually see the targets if you're flying around high enough.  
2. Mantis: The Mantis can hang out near it's home base, using cover to pop in and out.  It is very slow moving, so it requires some protection.  The Mantis can't escape quickly like the Banshee, so you don't want to get caught out in the open taking fire from several directions.
3. Shooters: Have all the team's best shooters equipped with DMRs, hanging around cover.  Shooters should be talking a LOT, calling out enemy targets.  It only takes 5 DMR shots to kill, and a typical team will have 6 players on foot with 2 in vehicles at any given time.  A team that talks can pretty much get instant kills if they can paint the same target.

The higher percentage play is to keep all vehicles and all players on your team's half of the map, never venturing past the middle.  No weapons have range further than half the map.  By keeping the fight on your half of the map, you will always have more guns on target.  For example, both Woods and Blue Rocks can reach Top Middle, meaning Blue Team can hit any target on the Blue side of the map with DMR shooters in those two locations.  Any Red player that dies on the Blue side has a long walk to get back, meaning his team his short handed.  Blue is a quick man cannon or instant spawn at Woods, or a short walk to Blue Rocks.  So soon as people start dying, Blue immediately has the advantage in numbers.  Red is either fully exposed walking over the hill at Top Middle with fire from both sides, or has to walk the cave gauntlets to approach from Wall or Pelican.