Hostile conditions did not prevent the Covenant from seeking salvage on this buried Forerunner construct. Snowy wastes are a dangerous place to be caught in the open, but the chilly underground vaults, grafted to a buried Forerunner structure, are no safer.
Several rock outcroppings are placed around half of the perimeter of the map, some weapons are strategically placed within the cover that the rocks offer. There are also bunkers protected by energy shields, which stop all weapons, but let players pass through, although Spike Grenades can stick to the shield itself. There are also Automatic Turrets, which shoot players venturing outside the maps boundaries. Below the bases are the spawns for the Spiker and the Plasma Pistol, as well as several grenades. On top of the bases are the Needler and Carbine spawn points. Inside the low base, there is a Spartan Laser and a Power Drainer. Inside the high base, there is a Beam Rifle and a Bubble Shield. Beneath the bases are tunnels that lead to a central room, and onwards to the second base. In this room is the Shotgun spawn, surrounded by fusion cores. Besides going to the bases, there are two ways out of this room: one that leads to the Ghost spawn, and another that leads to a narrow trench linking the two bases on the surface. An important item, the Overshield spawns in one of the caves facing the sun, know as the "Ice Tunnel".
- Since the shield doors provide a barrier between the inside and the outside thus seperating out the combat areas it is handy to have a mid to long ranged weapon such as the beam rifle or battle rifle for catching enemies outside and a short range weapon like the shotgun or mauler for dealing with enemies inside. One of the heavily exploited tricks of the shotgun wielder is to camp in one of the bases and try and draw people close to the shield doors so they can get a kill with the shotgun. The counter to this of course would be to stick the person and usually end up with a mutual kill.
- Although standing on top of the bases can provide a good vantage point for looking out over the map it can put you in a precariously exposed position. The best time to go up there is when your packing heavy firepower such as the beam rifle, even so you will quickly catch the attention of anyone standing outside with a battle rifle who will at worst but pot shots on you to take you out of scope.
- If wielding the sniper rifle one of the most advantegous locations on the map is standing directly behind one of the automatic turrets since they will not shot at you if you are in close proximity to them and they also give you a good deal of cover from enemy fire. Also standing behind the large protruding batteries next each of the bases gives a good vantage point and allows for ducking in and out of cover to take shots.
- Duel wielded Brute Spiker's or mixing with a plasma rifle can be very effective combination in the confines of the tunnels which riddle the map. Hiding behind corners and popping out of shield doors and then peppering a enemy with the spiker's shrapnel bullets can be a quick way to end a fight. However, be weary of grenades as the tunnels are notorious for people bouncing grenades round the corner trying to flush enemies out or take advantage of down shields for a quick kill.
- Unlike other maps, due to the snow, fragmentation grenades to not bounce and will explode where they fall which can provide a large tactical advantage against enemies when being pursued.
- Divide and conquer is a very useful strategy due to all the shield doors. If a team is hiding in either of the bases and needs to be flushed out dividing the team into equal parts and attacking from every entrance can be a overwhelming force that decimates the enemy. This is one tactic that should only be employed at the beginning or middle of the game when position is more important that number of kills due to the high loses involved in this frontal assault style tactic.
- The counter to the divide and conquer strategy is to have close range weapons or sticky grenades and get people as they come threw the shield doors. Any enemies that come through the main door at the back of the base will either have to drop down from above or come round the side leaving them vulnerable to a quick grenade toss and a single headshot to finish them off. However, smart enemies will sit further back and try and flush you out with grenades. Of course since a bubble shield spawns in the base that can be stopped temporarily by placing it.
- If the enemy successfully utilizes divide and conquer and takes out one or two teammates its better for the remaining teammates to make a hasty retreat as they can be quickly overwhelmed.
- If towards the end of the game your team is not in the lead depending on your position you will want to either stick to camping in the tunnels and luring enemies in or stick to the outside and together and try and flush enemies out to pick up a few kills.
- While team BRing can be essential to taking a quick lead in the beginning once the fighting shifts to the tunnels and at some point in the game it always does, team grenading can be one of the most effective weapons in your arsenal because one grenade is not enough to take someone down if you don't get a direct hit but two or three grenades will decimate anyone unfortunate enough to be within their vicinity.
- Boundless is an updated version of the Snowbound map. It is played in every list where Snowbound was played in place of Snowbound, although Snowbound is still found in the Lone Wolves playlist. Boundless has several changes to it.
- Shield doors in both ice tunnels, the vehicle openings in both High and Low base, and the vehicle opening at shotgun no longer have shield doors
- In Low base, the Spartan Laser has been replaced with a Covenant Beam Rifle.
- Invisibility has been replaced with a second Overshield
- The Ghost has been replaced with a Mongoose
- Weapon times have been tweaked slightly
