Call of Duty: Warzone, the free-to-play battle royale title, has been a smash hit for both Activision and the Call of Duty franchise in general. With the new Season 4 update the game is seeing more and more newcomers entering the fray of competition as the game itself has had a lot of positive word-of-mouth marketing among friends. Starting a new game can be intimidating for newcomers, but that doesn’t mean with some practice and advice they can’t come out on top. Let’s look at 10 beginner tips for Season 4 newcomers in Call of Duty: Warzone.
10 Have Fun
At the end of the day, Warzone is a video game and video games should be fun. Winning is great and brings with it a lot of joy and confidence, but when you’re starting out that shouldn’t be your primary objective. Spend the early days of getting used to the systems and intricacies of the game in a headspace where you’re simply looking to have a good time. If having fun is your priority, the competitive juices will start flowing and you’ll naturally progress to a place where winning is a tangible and realistic goal.
9 Avoid Intimidation
Hopping into a game where many players have been grinding for months can come across as quite intimidating. The thing you have to remember is that just because someone plays a game for more time than you doesn’t necessarily mean they’re any good at it. Everyone starts the game in the same place, but it’s what you do once you land that makes or breaks your success. Hopping in with friends will also likely lessen the fear of feeling outmatched or unskilled as the conversation among friends will distract from hopping in for the first couple of times.
8 Understand Contracts
Contracts are objectives placed around the map that have teams doing specific tasks to receive cash payouts as a reward. Some of them require you to find chests, others will have you capturing a point, and some will have you hunting down specific enemy targets.
Season 5 introduced a new contract in which a member of your team becomes a marked “King” and must survive for a set amount of time. Contracts can increase cash flow exponentially and help your team get equipped enough to seriously challenge for the top spot.
7 Ping, Ping, Ping
Thankfully the excellent implementation of a ping system in Apex Legends has trickled around to almost all other major battle royale titles. Not only is it a great communication tool for teams made of strangers or those with no microphones, but it works with party chat squads as well. Instead of trying to explain where you want to land, or where you saw an enemy, simply ping the location. The system itself even allows you to specify the severity or subject of your ping as well to create clear communication.
6 Learn The Map
How can you expect to be successful if you don’t put the effort in to learn? With Warzone you’ll often find that the teams who see the most constant success will have numerous players that understand the map and their specific surroundings. Not only is knowing the locations concerning one another key, if you can understand building layouts, but it could also be crucial. Remember that it’s a team effort so don’t put it all on your shoulders, but make sure you’re bringing something to the table in terms of understanding the Warzone landscape.
5 Practice Makes Perfect
People at this point hate hearing the cliche that practice makes perfect. The reason things become cliche is that they often hold some amount of truth. As a newcomer, you’re never going to get better in Warzone unless you practice.
Playing by yourself is fine, but the biggest gains will be seen if you’re able to play consistently with the same squad, relatively. You and your friends will quickly learn what works and what doesn’t given the specific set of skills between each of you. With enough time, you’re bound to come out on top.
4 Use Headphones
Many gamers like to sit in front of their television and expensive surround sound and play video games. With Warzone you’re going to want to plug in and put on a pair of headphones. Sound can make or break enemy engagements, especially when you find yourself in buildings around the map. Headphones can give you specific directional feedback and can help you understand where an enemy is in relation to you. Pair this with a heartbeat sensor and you’ll be set to take out any threats in your surrounding area.
3 Play With Friends
This entry can not be stressed enough. You will find the most fun and enjoyment playing with your friends. On top of having a good time, you’ll also see that communication will come most naturally with those you interact with most often. Among friends, you’ll often find you guys have a shorthand with certain things and can often shave off the seconds it takes to explain something to someone you’re less familiar with. Friends are also more likely to want to work as a team towards a single unified goal.
2 Don’t Avoid Conflict
At first, it may feel like the best route to take is to avoid conflict and simply holdout until the conflict is inevitable. The reality of the situation is that you can never expect to win a firefight or engagement with an opponent if you have no combat experience.
The game gives you one free life with the Gulag, so you should take any fights early on to make enemy fights feel natural. You’ll find that the players who avoid conflict will often find themselves sporadic and panicked when forced to get into a spontaneous gunfight.
1 Find Your Loadout
Very rarely will you find teams winning in Warzone using a mixture of picked up items. Almost always to come out on top a team needs to be equipped with their personalized loadout. Some may say that learning to prioritize getting your loadout is enough, but what if your loadout sucks? You need to take the time to find out what type of loadout works for you, as well as what perks and attachments work best for your play style. Also understand that the “it” gun or loadout may work for professionals and top players, but that doesn’t mean they will for you.
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