ADVANCED

If you’ve made it this far, you have done well. I’m assuming you have already gone through the beginners and intermediate sections. If so, carry on. This is where the boys are separated from the men. These are the tactics that will decide if you are merely “good” or a born pro. So let’s get into it shall we?

1).           Listen. Use sound in every way possible. This means listening for more than just footsteps. Every weapon has distinct noise when fired. This should be something you use to your advantage. For instance, you hear a sniper rifle in the distance. This should automatically tell you a number of things, one, this guy has a powerful weapon which will kill you in one shot. Two, he is probably waiting for you to come out of cover. Three, he is probably not going to be prepared for a close combat situation. This should all automatically register. In newer games, the surface you walk or run on will make different sounds. That means you can predict where your opponent is headed.

2).           Use other weapons. I know this is in direct conflict with what I said in the beginners section but, hear me out. You don’t have to master each and every weapon, but you do need to know them well enough to be aware of what their capabilities and limitations are. So if you hear a person fire off 5 rapid rounds with a deagle, you should realize that this guy can only fire 3 more before he has to reload. Or if you can see someone with a shotgun, you know all you have to do is keep him from getting close. Adjust your moves accordingly.

3).           Switch games occasionally. By which I mean other shooters. Not only will this give you a short break, but it’s a good way to develop your skills in general. Some games like Unreal lay a lot of emphasis on jumping and acrobatics, not only is it fun, but you might just learn a trick or two. Don’t overdo it though.

4).           Know your strengths, improve on your weaknesses. This one is important. It’s no use if you can snipe the wings off a fly from a mile away but can’t fire a pistol for shit. You are only valuable if you are alive. Keep improving the weak spots in your technique.

5).           Learn to play as a part of a fire team. I can totally understand if the clan scene isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but, at the very least you should team up with one guy. Not only does this make learning more fun, a good fire team is devastating to the opposition. The down side is that it’s not easy to master. The biggest hurdle would be that you are forced to play much more slowly than usual (at least till you start getting used to your buddy). I might actually end up writing a separate guide on fire teams at some point as this is a huge topic in itself.

6).           Use the environment. Every map has certain advantages and disadvantages. The point I’m trying to make is this: you must force the enemy to react to you. Not the other way around. This is why fire teams are so important. Its damn near impossible to hold a busy corridor on your own. But if 2 of you can hold a certain area of cover, you will now force the opposition to use open ground where your snipers and machine gunners can pick them off at their leisure.

7).           Mix it up. Be unpredictable. How many times have you caught yourself repeating the same pattern in a map over and over again? It’s very tempting to take the EXACT same route in a map every time. Don’t. Even though you know that a particular set of double doors sees a lot of traffic, it’s stupid to wait for the enemy to use them all the time. That might work with newbies or average players but against anyone who knows what he’s doing, it will get you killed. Going back to my previous point, the enemy must react to you. So do something they do not expect to keep them guessing. The more nervous they get, the easier your job will be.

8).          Keep your cool. Swearing and screaming like a stuck pig will only tell everyone around you that you basically have no self control and that it’s easy to make you lose focus. Don’t let anyone get to you with their trash talk. Ignore it. You MUST learn to control your emotions or they will control you instead. The importance of this is better explained in the next point.

9).           Study body language. Watch some you tube videos to see how the pros look like when they play. From their expressions you would think they are working on an important project. They don’t scream, they don’t jump out of their seats. They are ice cold. Is it any surprise they are so good? On the other hand, closely watch the body language of your average gamer when they get into a pressure situation. Watch how they jump around like monkeys on cocaine. Notice yourself. How are you breathing? Are you breathing at all? The more excited you get, the more adrenaline is pumped into your system. This will make your breathing shallow, your muscles tense and your hands will most likely shake a little. That is a biological fact. What do you think that does to your aim?

10).        Invest in some gear. Let’s get one thing straight, if your skills are crap, buying the best mouse in the world won’t change that. However, if you are fairly confident in your own abilities as a gamer, getting good equipment will certainly give you a significant advantage. A decent mouse and mouse pad is the minimum. I won’t be recommending anything specific (not yet anyway) but I will suggest you read a lot of reviews on anything you are thinking of purchasing.

Have fun! You wont get better at something you hate. Enjoy the game, that’s what it was created for.

So thats pretty much it. Above all, remember to practice! In the end, there is no substitute for plain hard work. I hope this primer helped you in some way.

Good luck!

INTERMEDIATE

Alright, you’ve got the basics down; you are no longer in the bottom three. Well done! But wipe that smile off your face because this is where the real work begins. The following tips will only be of use if you have paid attention to the Beginners section so don’t skip ahead.

1)      Circle strafe. Fancy term for “shoot while you move sideways”. You can always tell a new player by looking at how they move. Basically because they hardly ever move and shoot AT THE SAME TIME. Many gamers would consider this a basic tactic (and it is) but the reason I’ve put this in the intermediate section is because in my experience, circle strafing is much more effective when you have practiced enough with  a weapon to be familiar with its recoil, range etc. Regardless, unless you learn to do this right, there’s no point continuing. Everything hinges on this one tactic. To practice, just start a server on your own, pick an object you can aim at (or a spot on a wall) and try shooting while you move from side to side. Most people are a little surprised when they do this the first time because in most games you will have to move your aiming reticule in the direction OPPOSITE to your movement. So, if you are moving right, you will have to move your mouse to he left in order to actually hit the target. Practice the hell out of this.

2)      Reload frequently. Again, very basic, the thing to remember is not to do this while you are exposed. Find some cover, crouch or go prone, reload, shoot. Rinse repeat. Also, remind yourself that in many games, it’s quicker to switch to your secondary weapon than reload.

3)      Check those corners. Most new shooters have the Q and E keys for “leaning”. Use them. Use them a lot. This will allow you to scope out an area without exposing anything more than your head which is a much smaller and therefore harder target to hit.

4)      Use your grenades. Ask yourself how often you tend to die before you threw any of your grenades. Think about what a waste that is. It’s better to waste your nades without actually hitting anything rather than dying with them. Obviously use your head; killing a team mate with one is unforgivable. By now you should have enough knowledge about the map to decide where to use them anyway.

5)      Decide what your role is going to be. I cannot stress how important this is. You need to decide what exactly it is you are going to do in a map. Are you going to snipe? Are you going to sneak up like a ninja and assault the enemy where they least expect it?  Sometimes this decision may not be up to you, I mean if 4 teammates out of 5 decide they will do nothing but assault, then maybe you have no choice but to provide machine gun/sniper support. But by and large, you need to go with what you are comfortable. If you are naturally aggressive and like rushing, go with that. If you don’t like being in the thick of things, choose a supporting role like sniper or medic etc. Take your natural tendency and refine your methods accordingly.

Coming up next, the ADVANCED section.

I’ve seen a lot of first time gamers struggle getting their skills upto speed with shooters. Most of them (around 95 %) of newbies end up switching to Counter Strike Source because, according to them, something like CoD4 is “just too hard”.

Although I can appreciate where they are coming from, it’s hard to be sympathetic when the fact is that it’s not the game, but poor FPS habits that make it “difficult”. The truth of the matter is, although not really “difficult”, new age shooters like CoD4 are VERY unforgiving to players that don’t have the basics right. If you happen to be one the enlightened ones that have realized that newer titles have a lot more to offer than the standard “Ts vs CTs” scenario, this post is for you. The majority of what I’m going to discuss holds true for almost every shooter in the market today although a few will be CoD specific. Master these skills; use these techniques and I guarantee that your game will be taken to a level you did not think was possible.

Be warned however, this is a long post so there will be a lot of reading to do. I will be dividing it into 3 parts (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) to make it a little more accessible though.

So step up and pay attention soldier!

BEGINNERS

1)      Learn the map. This one is obvious but, it boggles my mind to see how newbies rush headlong into an area they do not know and then complain about how they got shot. Of course you got shot moron! You don’t know where you are going, you have no idea of where your opponents are going to be, where the most popular camp spots are, where the spawns are or where the most crucial choke points exist. Basically it’s like driving around full speed in a city you don’t know only to complain that you got lost. So yeah, learn the map. The best way to do this is to start you own server and just run around for about 5-10 mins depending on how big the map is. Don’t let anyone else join you, this is not you looking for a match, this is just you trying to figure out the routes. Also, even while playing; try sticking to just one map. Once you have a good idea about that one, move over to the next.

2)      Follow, do not lead. Watch what others are doing. Chances are that you will be in a team with at least one experienced player. This is the guy who basically knows the map well and is well alert to danger. Follow him; don’t stick to him like glue (that’s just annoying), but stay within visual distance. Notice where he runs, where he slows down, where he throws his grenades, the routes he takes etc. another bonus is this: if he gets killed, chances are his opponents are injured and low on health, you can go in and finish the job.

3)      Did you just get fragged? Great! That means you made a mistake and now you can learn from it. In CoD4 you should take a good look at the “killcam”. See who shot you and how. What did you do wrong? Was the opponent camping somewhere you did not know existed? Did you get sniped? What happened? Even in CS you can use the few minutes you have till the end of the round to cycle through different player perspectives. Use that time to see what the high scorers are doing.

4)      Forget about the scoreboard. Seriously, stop looking at your score; in the beginning this is only going to depress you. Do not worry about how many you killed or what your death count is. There is only one person you are competing against. You. Your primary goal at this stage is to SURVIVE. Survive and learn, nothing more.

5)      SLOW DOWN. Remind yourself that you are new to this. Resist the urge to run around like Rambo on speed. You may as well hold up a sign saying “Shoot me please”.  Not only will you learn nothing, you would have given the enemy team a huge advantage as they now have one less opponent to worry about.

6)      Choose a weapon and stick to it. When you are just starting out, by all means, try every weapon out. Get a feel of their weight, accuracy, recoil etc. But, you will soon have to pick a favorite and master it. Now, this does not mean you head into every match with the same weapon of course; there will be weapons that work great in some situations but will fail in others. Use commonsense.

Stay tuned for INTERMEDIATE tactics next.