Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – a pro-gamer's guide to multiplayer
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Version 0 of 1. Another autumn, another instalment in the world’s biggest game series. And while some analysts are forecasting a downturn in sales after last year’s lacklustre Ghosts (certainly pre-orders have dropped significantly this time), Advanced Warfare isn’t just another factory line addition to Activision’s billion-dollar franchise. For a start, San Francisco-based studio Sledgehammer Games is leading development for the first time, after helping out on Modern Warfare 3. The team has been given an unprecedented three-year dev cycle, providing enough time to radically rethink the multiplayer experience. This has resulted in some of the biggest changes to the game’s dynamics since Perks were introduced back in 2007’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Here, I’ve picked out the five key new features from the point of view of a professional player, providing pointers on how to use these changes to gain a tactical advantage over your competitors. Dawn of the exosuit Providing your character with a range of bionic abilities, the new exosuits could radically change how you approach multiplayer. The major impact is on movement. Boost dash, boost dodge, boost jump, boost slam and boost slide all offer new ways to engage and disengage gunfights, while potentially making you a more difficult target. They can also provide an element of surprise, allowing you to ambush other players from unexpected angles. The new abilities need to be used with caution, however. Players are unable to shoot a weapon straight after using a boost – a seemingly minor penalty that could cost you your life. Weapons and loot Advanced Warfare has a completely new arsenal, ranging from the futuristic Em1 laser rifle to the IMR, a four burst assault rifle that’s even able to print additional ammunition throughout a game. On top of this, the game adds a new feature, Weapon Loot, provided via supply drops received throughout play. Every time something lands, there’s a chance of gaining a brand new weapon with modified stats such as the ASM1 Speakeasy, which has reduced damage but a higher fire rate. For pro-gamers it’s an exciting addition as it opens up far more class creation options, allowing thoughtful players to get a rich set of tactical advantages over enemies. There are around 35 base weapons in the game, but with weapon loot, the count rises to around 350, making millions of different weapon combinations to select from. In one supply drop, I came across a rare elite Bal-27 called the Obsidian Steed which has increased damage but reduced accuracy – however, I used a foregrip attachment and a red dot sight to counter this and make it a far more destructive weapon. As ever, the two most important things to look at while trying to decide on a weapon are accuracy and TTK (Time To Kill). So far, I have been using the Ak-12 which is a very consistent assault rifle available to use right from the start of Advanced Warfare multiplayer. Most professional players who use submachine guns have been experimenting with the MP11, a very mobile weapon with a high fire rate which works perfectly with the added pace of Advanced Warfare. Maps: verticality and dynamism The maps in Advanced Warfare are structured completely differently to those in previous titles, providing numerous routes of navigation around the map rather than the traditional three-lane blueprint, and much increased verticality. Taking full advantage of the new exosuit mechanics, players have the choice of using rooftops and ledges that were just not as easily accessible in other Call of Duty titles. Newcomers will have to adapt to this quickly, or spend their entire time being shot by the opposition from a range of lofty perches. Indeed, the key to success in Advanced Warfare is to dominate the high ground. Sure, this tends to provide less overall cover compared to being on the ground level, which is where you will tend to stick if you are playing an objective such as trying to capture an opponent’s flag or planting the bomb in Search & Destroy. However, the rooftops will allow you to get a much wider field of view – especially effective if you decide to run an Assault Rifle or a Sniper – which will help your team control the map and overall win the game. Similarly to other recent Call of Duty and Battlefield titles, Advanced Warfare has its own range of dynamic map events, which can change the environment and kill players caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, the Tidal Wave on the Defender map fills part of the environment with water, cutting your access and forcing tactical adjustments. It will be important to know what to expect and how to change your play style when these features come into effect. For example in Riot, when the Prison Defence System is activated, the location of all of the opposing team members outside of the prison building is revealed. In response, you need to slow down your play and focus on holding off areas inside of the jail where the opposition will not be able to find you as easily. Scorestreak customisation: personalisation and bonuses This is the feature I was most excited about when I attended the multiplayer reveal back in August. For so long we’ve had a very minimal choice when it comes to selecting scorestreaks, the system that rewards players with special weapons and items when they make kills, play the objectives and assist teammates. In Advanced Warfare, however, we can alter scorestreaks to our own personal preferences. Each streak starts out as a base version: the XS1 Vulcan for example, will fire a single laser strike from the satellite. However, you can then add extra options, such as the ability to fire two laser strikes, or increase the width of the beam. This does increase the cost of the scorestreak, making it harder to achieve, but it provides the opportunity to rack up more kills. You also gain a bonus score if you kill an enemy while playing an objective, which, for me, is a key tactic. On the game mode Domination for example, a kill will reward you a 100 score, but a kill while capturing a flag will give 200. Playing those objectives and getting to scorestreaks as quickly as possible could win you the game. Perk management: class warfare As in previous Call of Duty titles, managing perks will be one of the fundamental elements behind failure or success in multiplayer. Many people completely overlook perks, or choose perks which don’t compliment their weapon choice or don’t work efficiently with other perks, putting them at an instant disadvantage to a well-equipped player. Advanced Warfare’s class creation set-up operates as a “pick 13” system, providing 13 slots to be filled with a combination of weapons, attachments, exosuit abilities and perks. Its the latter that should dominate – I would advise using around a total of four perks. In Perk Slot 1, I run “Low Profile”, which keeps you off the radar to UAVs making it more difficult for the opposing team to find you. In Perk slot 2, I opt for “Peripherals”, which gives you a larger mini map (you should always spend a large amount of your time checking the map while playing; it will make it easier to find the other team). For Perk 3 I use a “Wildcard” enabling the selection of two perks instead of just one. Now, run “Toughness” so you are able to win more gunfights, and “Blast Suppressor”, which keeps you off the radar when using your exosuit. This set-up works with any weapon and gives you a very strong chance of succeeding at Advanced Warfare while your friends are still struggling with the basics. Ben Perkin is a professional Call of Duty player with the Lightning Pandas team. His Call of Duty tactics videos are available via his YouTube channel. |