*20 minute read*

I've been playing Battlefield for many years and have thousands of hours logged in the franchise on Console/PC as well as comparable amounts in Call of Duty. Hopefully my experiences can help some of you new folks joining in the excitement for Battlefield 2042 and fall in love with this game like I did. While some things will probably change for 2042, here are some basic tips and things to expect as well as some do’s and don’ts to get you started (typing this as I have the Battlefield 1 Soundtrack blasting in the background):

Tip #1 -- Be Helpful/Provide Value (Make your teammates fall in love with you)

The large-scale nature of Battlefield and the freedom of these bigger maps and game modes might be intimidating at first so if you find yourself confused and running around wondering what you should be doing, always ask yourself, "Am I helping my team right now?" Generally, if you are doing something that is earning yourself XP you are probably helping your team.

• Capturing/defending objective points (the most important)
• Throwing out ammo/health
• Reviving downed teammates
• Spotting enemy soldiers/vehicles
• Repairing vehicles/equipment
• Giving/following squad orders
• Hunting tanks and air threats like a pack of wolves that haven’t eaten in weeks

Just try to play the objective, fill a role, rack up those points, and don’t be afraid to change that role and ADAPT as the battle progresses and inevitably changes. I can assure you that being helpful/providing value and helping secure your team a close victory in a hard-fought 20-40 minute battle will provide a much more rewarding experience for everyone than playing the random lone-wolf. Teamwork makes the Battlefield dream work!

Tip #2 -- Don't Worry About Your K/D Ratio (It’s Battlefield. No one cares.)

You will die. Often. From land, air, sea, and every angle you can imagine. It's part of the chaos and most Battlefield players aren't at all concerned with their K/D or how it compares to others since the core of the game is objective-based play. An obvious exception where K/D would actually matter would be in non-objective-based modes like Team Deathmatch or a Battle Royale mode where you want to die as little as possible. Your K/D simply boils down to what type of role you usually play. Aggressive players on the front lines will generally have lower K/Ds than snipers that sit back farther away from danger and even less than players who prefer to always use a high-powered armored vehicle every spawn. Just worry about racking up points in every way possible and your kills will naturally happen.

One of the hardest things to do is taking out an enemy tank in a strong position being supported by the enemy, but dying several times in the process of finally destroying that tank and tipping the balance of power back to your team is always worth those deaths. I regularly see medics at the top of the leaderboard that are like 0-27 or something but still got 1st place because of how much value they added to their team. We all love those types of teammates. Don’t be afraid to get yourself dirty and right up in the action. There’s always the weirdo gassing themselves up for going 30-1, but they’re still in the bottom half of the scoreboard because they weren’t doing anything to help their team.

Tip #3 -- Vehicles (Offense vs Defense)

Vehicles play a big part in the combined arms aspect of Battlefield. While some are easy for anyone to operate like basic transport vehicles, others will require lots of practice to become proficient and effective. Here are some tips to get started:

Offense:

• Always die with your tank. Jumping out when it has low health gives the enemy the opportunity to jump in, repair it, and gives their team another powerful weapon in their arsenal
• Pick up teammates that are running in the open and give them a ride to the next objective so they can skip leg day
• If you are an inexperienced tanker/pilot, consider riding as the secondary gunner seat for a while and learn from the more experienced players if you can. You will still gain XP with all of their kills too and level up that vehicle for when you’re ready to be the primary operator. Vehicles are very powerful for your team in Battlefield but only in the right hands so please do not waste the limited ones our team has.
• Practice operating all the vehicles in the test range or Portal matches to become more proficient and confident
• Please don’t sit towards the back of the map and farm kills in a vehicle. We really need you to push with our infantry at the right times to capture and cover objectives and our troops. Your insanely high K/D isn’t impressing anyone but yourself because it’s usually just a dead giveaway of how selfishly you played in a team-oriented game mode
• If a friendly tank operator jumps out of their vehicle to quickly repair with their repair tool, don’t jump in it and steal it from them. This casts a terrible spell onto you and your family for the rest of eternity which cannot be undone.
• ***BONUS Intermediate Tip: Learn the art of toggling between 1st and 3rd person views frequently for situational awareness and firing accuracy. Also toggling back and forth between your primary and secondary weapons quickly, as well as seat swapping if necessary. These skills will take you from an average vehicle operator to striking fear into your enemy’s soul.

Defense:

• Enemy tanks and air threats should always be kept in check and prioritized so they don’t wreak havoc on your infantry. Keeping a constant barrage of rockets and lock-on warnings will continually annoy them to get to cover and/or repair. Even if you didn’t destroy them, you are keeping them out of the fight for a bit. Don’t let up!
• If you notice multiple enemy vehicles lit up in red near an objective point on your spawn-in map, switch to an anti-vehicle loadout on your next spawn and switch your focus to them until they have been neutralized. Your team won’t be taking that objective point anytime soon until they’re gone.
• Put down anti-vehicle mines at bottlenecks like bridges, tunnels, and narrow roads where vehicles are more likely to drive through
• If you see enemy mines somewhere, destroy them so your team doesn’t run over them
• Squad with your friends and make a Tank/Chopper Hunting squad dedicated to making their lives absolute hell. It’s very satisfying and much easier to coordinate an attack when teamwork and communication is involved.
• Jeep Stuff

Tip #4 -- Sniping (The Love/Hate Relationship)

*sigh* I'll probably get some flack for this one.

I don’t want to discourage anyone from sniping because Battlefield has some of the absolute best sniping mechanics in modern FPS games these days and it really is satisfying cracking domes with that class on these large and open maps. With that being said, nothing is more frustrating than being on an attacking team where seemingly half of your team is hanging back sniping (poorly) and not helping your team advance in any way. It feels like you’re playing tug-of-war and you look around at half of your team not even holding onto the rope. Nothing unbalances a match and kills a server faster than when people don’t play the objective and one team gets steamrolled and it’s frequently due to the bottom half of the team trying to snipe hundreds of meters away from the action providing no value. Nobody in the history of Battlefield has ever said, “Hey, can we get some more snipers on our team?”

Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to become friends with and squad up with some of the top snipers on the worldwide leaderboards. Those guys are hitting headshot after headshot, constantly pushing forward to encroach on the enemy, and keeping a steady flow of enemy spotting and friendly spawn beacons going for our team. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Also, they readily switch loadouts as things change and aren't sticking with the same sniper rifle the entire match no matter what happens. They’re also watching over their squadmates in front of them and not just going off on their own to snipe. They're providing the utmost value as the Recon role and we love them for it. If that's not what you're trying to do, then more than likely you should be playing one of the more helpful roles like medic/support/anti-vehicle. You can always utilize the test range and bots to become more proficient and confident at sniping in the meantime or set up something in Portal now it looks like.

Tip #5 -- Coming over from Call of Duty/Warzone? (Some key differences)

Welcome! The Battlefield community is happy to have you here! There’s definitely going to be some differences though and there's a little bit more of a learning curve for beginners so you’re going to have to ‘think’ a bit more. I’ve played almost all the CoD’s and enjoy them for what they are and have over 100,000 kills in MW2019. Battlefield lies somewhere between the arcadeyness of CoD and the realism of a military simulator but definitely skews a little more towards the casual side of things. While they have many similarities, here are some key differences that come to mind:

Maps:

CoD maps are all basically the same (Left, Middle, Right lanes). It’s a very casual, linear, and hand-held experience. Battlefield maps are obviously much larger with more players and less predictable with many things to do (and more ways to die) in that giant sandbox and your hand isn’t held as much. They will require you to think about your positioning and tactics much more than just relying on quick reaction time around every corner. I will say though that I think the fast and close-quarters play of CoD has greatly improved my gun skill in those situations over in Battlefield.

Guns:

I think MW2019 really set the new standard in gun mechanics and animations for FPS games but they are definitely geared for anyone to pick up those guns and be able to use them effectively right from the start. Generally, Battlefield has required a little more skill and discipline with gunplay but certainly nothing an average CoD player can’t get the hang of quickly. For starters, BF is less arcadeish with no quickscoping, bunny hopping (mostly), or drop-shotting and aim-assist on controller doesn't feel quite as strong.

As for assault rifles, you generally won’t be able to hold down the trigger and empty that entire clip with no recoil like a Grau, Kilo, or Krig. Medium to long-distance engagements in Battlefield usually require burst-firing to some degree to combat recoil. Same goes for LMGs as you won’t be emptying an entire Bruen or PKM magazine with no recoil. LMGs in Battlefield 2042 will again most likely have more recoil, eventually overheat, and sometimes require bipod’ing like in the past.

Nothing crazy, but some things to keep in mind and possibly prepare for. I would argue that better positioning wins most gunfights in BF over reaction time given the TTK is a little longer so you have more time to finesse and get to cover to reset the gunfight instead of being instantly deleted if someone sees you first. Hence, why it’s important to have good situational awareness and to always try and position yourself near cover and play your angles!

Game Flow:

Due to the scale of the game, the pacing will probably feel a tad slower at first without that arcade-style action around every corner, but I think you will find pretty quickly that you can play very aggressively and surround yourself in chaos and frequent gunfights along the frontlines, especially now in these 128-player matches and more linear-focused modes like Breakthrough.

• Be mindful of where you spawn in at to minimize having to run hundreds of meters to the nearest action. Battlefield can easily turn into a running simulator on Conquest if you aren’t paying attention.
• Respawning will take longer than you’re used to. You can call out and wait for a medic to revive you, or just skip to your spawn-in map and wait the 10 seconds or whatever. Use this time to see where the action is at, where you should be spawning in to, and if you need to switch your loadout if things are changing
• If you are the last squad member alive, chill safely for a few seconds out of harm’s way to allow your squadmates to spawn on you and not potentially hundreds of meters away.
• Use nearby vehicles for quickly getting up to the frontlines or running a long flank to get behind enemy lines.
• Try to run from cover to cover to your next objective instead of the quickest and most direct route out in the open

Destruction:

Isn’t it always annoying when CoD campers hide in a building and wait for footsteps to come around the corner and shoot you? Yeah, you just blow the whole f*cking side of the building off now and expose them. Or that little tree or fence that stopped your vehicle dead in its tracks on Verdansk? Yeah, you just run over those now. There’s also this little thing we do where we stick C4 to our vehicle and…….well….. you’ll figure it out.

Customization:

Battlefield has much more customization in the menus which you should definitely go through and experiment with. FOV sliders on consoles is the first that comes to mind. And I always make my minimap bigger for more intel as well as minimal HUD elements while ADS. Tons of fine tuning for sensitivities, colors, HUD elements, and just about anything you can think of and always wished you could change in Call of Duty. Be sure to spend some time in your options menus!

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Final Thots:

I could keep going on and on, but hopefully this was helpful enough for those starting out and gives you a better idea of what to expect so you can hit the ground running and feel more up to speed. The beauty of Battlefield is that you have the freedom to play pretty much how you want and you obviously don’t have to play exactly as I’ve typed out here, but I still think this gives you a general feel for how most people seem to play in a rewarding way and a nice reference point to start at.

As a new Battlefield player, you have the luxury of having zero comfort zones and I recommend trying out as many different classes, vehicles, and ways to play. Most people don’t have the time to invest in becoming proficient in all aspects of the game but you will likely find a few roles that you enjoy more than others and that you find rewarding, fun, and feel add value to your team when you play them.

Just remember that all those little things you do to help your team really do add up over the course of a match and I can’t stress enough how much more enjoyable it is to play as a cohesive squad/team with the objectives in mind. I'm very much looking forward to 2042 and I'll see you all on the Battlefield!

*cue “Dun dun dun dun dun dun…..Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnn”

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