This section covers everything from teamwork and communication to formations and infiltration techniques. We’ll get into sniping tips, flanking, camping and assaulting tips, and everything in-between.
Communication
Communication is key in any team-based online game. Make sure everyone knows what they’re doing, not only beforehand but during matches. Hook up with your teammates via messaging services like VOIP or instant messaging before you begin a match, and designate who will be doing what. The last thing you want is a team full of snipers on a close-quarters map. Have some kind of hierarchy and create a chain of command, if even just for one match. You need to know who to listen to, or else everyone will just get in each other’s way. Consider something like a bulletin board system to plan upcoming matches or tournaments. There are plenty of free services on the Internet.
So, you’ve got your external comms down. Now let’s talk about in-game communication. No matter what map or mode you’re playing, keep an open line of communication at all times. Be clear, concise, and detailed. Make sure the intel you’re giving can be understood by everyone on the team. “There are three guys over by me!” is a worthless piece of information. Your teammates don’t know where you are if you don’t tell them, so they can’t come help you. All they know is that there are three guys grouped together somewhere on the map, and that you’ll probably be dead soon.
“I’ve got three on the east side of the crash site.” This is much better intel. Everyone knows which way is east, and everyone knows where the crash site is. Now your teammates can eliminate the threat and help you out. Letting your players know that you’ll be switching classes is good intel as well. If you were the only guy carrying Claymores, your team may have been depending on that and now must adapt.
Don’t abuse in-game communication. You don’t want to ramble on about the crummy used car you just bought when your buddy is getting killed across town. Keep the mics free for important in-game issues, like how you just owned that noob…
Teamwork
You can’t win without teamwork. This includes relaying good intel, like enemy positions or tendencies and who just went down and where, as well as sticking by your buddies and doing the jobs that need to be done. There are many thankless jobs in video games, and we’ve all done them before. You can’t expect to keep a base or a flag if you don’t defend it. Sometimes you’ll have to sit and wait, and that kind of teamwork is just as important as sticking with your buddy. You need to work as a team and do whatever job the team needs you to do. It might mean camping a domination flag. It might mean rushing out to be a distraction. If your efforts help your team win, you’re holding up your end of the bargain.
Don’t always worry about how many kills you get. Someone else might kill twice as many enemies as you did, but you could end up with more points. It’s all about meeting the objectives. Granted, some objectives only consist of killing people, but that takes teamwork too. You’re not a one-man band. You’ll need the help of your team on most occasions.
Work with your teammates to come up with a good range of perks. You may not need to have three guys with Claymores or RPGs. It’s a good idea to have a couple of people specializing in certain tasks for redundancy. You’ll have to swallow your pride from time to time and be the flash grenade guy or the smoke guy, but it’s all for the good of the team.
Working in groups will increase your chances of winning firefights against groups smaller than your own. Make sure everyone is paying attention to the task at hand and focused on the primary objective, whatever it may be. If you have a three-man squad that has a wingman team pinned down, organize a breach and finish them off. You don’t want to go in one at a time. Two players can lock down a building pretty well, and unless you storm in with more targets than they can acquire, you’ll be target practice.
Squadwork
A squad is a small group of players working as a team within a team. If you’re in a 12-player room and have six players per side, you can create two squads of three, three squads of two (wingman teams), or uneven squads like a four-man squad and a wingman team. You’ll have to decide how to divide your team based on the mode and map.
Two three-man squads work great for everything from Team Deathmatch to Search & Destroy and Domination. For instance, in a Domination match, you can send one squad out to take and defend the first flag, while the other squad heads out to capture and defend the central or enemy flag. This will give you a solid force at two flag locations, forcing the enemy to come at you with more players than they may want to.
How about three wingman teams on Headquarters matches? While one team makes for the initial HQ, the other two teams can circle around the back of the map and come up behind the enemy. Keeping three teams mobile on a map like Headquarters will maximize the chance of your team being closer to one of the randomly selected headquarters than the enemy.
Sometimes you only need a little bit of help, so calling in just one wingman team is a great solution. This leaves the third wingman team free to go about their business.
Search & Destroy matches can benefit from a four-man squad and a wingman team. Set it up like this: Send out your wingman team to smoke their way to one bomb-plant area and make noise. Have them load out with LMGs or grenades, Bandolier perks, you name it, but have them make as much noise as possible. At the same time, the bomb carrier is in the squad of four. This “fantastic four” should smoke their way to the other plant area simultaneously, but run silent (UAV Jammers and silencers recommended). The squad of four will provide additional protection to the bomb carrier, and if needed, the distraction wingman team can assist. Hopefully the enemy will fall for your distraction at least once.
Remember that squads are just smaller parts of the big machine. They should come together whenever necessary to overcome any situations that a single squad can’t handle. Flow like water in and out of formations and duties whenever needed. Every squad makeup has its own advantages; you just need to do your research beforehand and decide which configuration will best benefit your team.
Sniping
Hold your breath and be patient. On some maps, selecting a sniper rifle as your primary weapon will give you a good uniform like the ghillie suit, but you’ll want to use some additional items when setting out to snipe.
One big perk is Claymore x2. When you’re sniping, it’s usually from an area where you can’t see everything coming toward you. Whether you’re on a roof or a grassy hill, someone will find a way around you. Set up your Claymores in places like the tops of ladders if you’re sniping from the rooftops, or the entrances to a room if you’re shooting out a window. Place them far enough apart that one grenade doesn’t set them all off.
The Bomb Squad perk is another fun addition to a sniper’s arsenal. Once you get set up in your perch, scan the area for enemy explosives and snipe them to pieces. Combine this with the Deep Impact perk to dispose of any unwanted explosive materials behind cover.
Another great perk for a sniper is Overkill. This allows you to carry two primary weapons. Use this when you want to snipe for a while, and then hit the ground running with your assault rifle to help the team in some building-to-building fighting.
Snipers can also greatly benefit from the UAV Jammer. Don’t you hate when you find that awesome spot, but then the enemy calls in a UAV and you’re caught in a volley of grenades? Use the UAV Jammer to hide from enemy radar scans.
Of course, we can’t leave out the good ol’ Iron Lung perk. This lets you hold your breath for longer periods of time when sniping. This is a great perk after a few cups of coffee.
Your perks should be based on the map and the style of sniper you feel like being: stealthy, mobile, patient, etc. Be patient and aware at all times. Sometimes you’ll sit and wait for what seems like forever, but then you see your target and pow, right in the kisser.
When you find a good spot that the enemy seems to be frequenting, take notes. Watch where they enter and leave, watch how fast they run through, and check where their heads are when they’re running through your scope. Line up your crosshairs with something in the background, so the next time they come through, you can put your crosshairs on their level and wait for them.
Sniping is a bit of an artform, so practice and be patient. Sometimes a sniper needs to wait for that one headshot, but sometimes even a shot in the leg will slow down an enemy enough for your ground-pounding buddies to finish him off.
Ground-Pounding
Ground-pounding, or running-and-gunning, is key to success in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Whether your team is running solo, as a mob, or split up into squads, each member must be proficient in the ground war.
The most efficient ground warriors know their surroundings, their limitations, and their enemy. Learn your surroundings and study your satellite maps of the area. Scout the area, and find out if you’ll be fighting in close-quarters combat or from building to building. This will help you plan your loadout before entering. Don’t select a sniper rifle and Claymores if you expect to be running from building to
building, because they won’t do you much good. Instead, choose an assault rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or even an LMG. Each of these weapons excels in different areas and for different reasons, so be sure you know your role and your location before choosing the best weapon for the job. Submachine guns and shotguns are ideal for close-quarters battles, while LMGs and assault rifles are better suited to open incursions where you may need to take out a few enemies from medium range.
Sniper classes are not out of the question. Sometimes you need them on your team. Just be sure they run with the Overkill perk and can carry a second primary weapon, like an assault rifle or submachine gun.
Almost all of the available perks work great for ground-pounders, but maximize your efficiency by choosing the right combinations of perks and weapons. The Frag x3 perk is a great choice for run-and-gunners. Save these for when you know someone’s camping in a building and you want to blow them out, or heave them in a walking spread to push back an enemy advance.
Consider the Bandolier perk as well. This will give you additional magazines for all of your weapons. Being on the ground, you don’t want to run out of ammo, especially if you get pinned down and need to shoot your way out.
In the second set of perks, you’ll have to make some tough decisions. Stopping Power is better suited to medium-range shooters, to maximize the one-pop shots they take from time to time. It also helps finish off enemies in CQC situations faster than normal, and it conserves ammo. Juggernaut helps keep you alive longer than the enemy. Sleight of Hand minimizes the time you spend reloading, which is key in firefights. Double Tap increases the fire rate of your weapon, and that’s always a good thing. If you decide to run with Frag x3, consider carrying the Sonic Boom perk from set two as well. This increases the explosive damage of your grenades. Since most ground-pounders are looking for kills, try Extreme Conditioning from perk set three to get you from kill to kill faster, or Last Stand or Martyrdom.
We know how you run-and-gunners hate to die without taking someone with you. For you Captain Solos out there, your best chance at killing the most enemies is to be smart and know your map. Study the satellite data provided in this document to locate hot spots and areas of engagement. You also need to practice. It’s the only way to really learn the dynamics of each map. Find out where enemies like to go, how they get there, what they do when they get there, whether they snipe, hide behind the couch, go prone, etc. All of this intel will help you eliminate them more quickly. Play smart and come around behind them. Toss grenades into their camp when they’re not expecting it. Light them up on UAV sweeps and see where everyone’s hiding out or moving. The more you know, the less they’ll like it.
Maneuvers
The following section discusses how to position yourself against the enemy to create an ambush, flank, assault and camp, and more. Consider everything, from the mode, to the map, to how many players you have at your disposal.
Let’s look at how to set up an ambush. The ideal situation is to set up somewhere close to where you begin, so you have time to coordinate your team. Look at your satellite data and find the best place to set up. Look for chokepoints (areas where there’s nowhere else to go but through that point), which are usually streets or buildings, but can be something like a field. You can force the enemy into chokepoints by herding them with explosives and gunfire.
Let’s assume you have two chokepoints to cover. You know the enemy will be advancing through at least one of these points, if not both. Split up your team as necessary to cover each chokepoint. Place a long-range rifleman at each one to get the drop on the enemy advance. Set up Claymores, C-4, or even a light machine gunner lying prone under cover to seal up the chokepoint.
One of the keys to setting up a successful ambush is timing. Wait until the enemy thinks they’ve broken through the chokepoint, and then assault them from every side all at once. Another advantage for your ambush team is to combine the UAV Jammer perk with primary weapon silencers. Your whole team will be invisible. The enemies won’t know where you are, and if they come in one at a time, they’ll never know where the kill shots are coming from. Remember that patience is important.
Flanking is a huge part of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Most battles take place head-on in the center of the map. You could just run right into the fray, but the smart, opportunistic player looks for ways to stay alive the longest and eliminate the most enemies while achieving objectives. There’s almost always a way to get behind your enemy and surprise him with a humiliating knife in the back. Refer to your satellite data and look for ways to navigate through any particular map. Check for building hops, like windows, doors, stairs, etc., that allow you to move from building to building without having to expose yourself in the open. Have your knife ready to cut your way through, because you may encounter an enemy sniping or camping one of the buildings you’re trying to traverse.
Once you’ve successfully navigated your way through the buildings, make your way behind the enemy and go silent. Use your knife, Dead Silence, or UAV Jammer to become the invisible hand of death. Also, look for alternate ways around the main confrontation areas, such as behind buildings, through trenches, bouncing from cover to cover, and especially underground tunnels and even some rooftops. These will all be located on your satellite pics, so take some time to really look at them.
Sometimes you need your entire team to successfully pull off a flanking maneuver. Try sending one player around the left side to flank, while another player moves around the right flank. The remainder of your team should cause a ruckus in the center of the engagement area with smoke and grenades. LMGs are good for this, and the Frag x3 perk as well. If your flankers are running with silencers and UAV Jammers, and your main team is making enough noise to wake the dead, your flank team can thin the herd for the rest of your team.
Camping
You either love camping or you hate it. Either way, it’s part of online life. Learn to do it right, and then decide when and where to use it. You may think it’s silly to camp in a Team Deathmatch game. It’s not. You can frustrate your enemy into doing stupid things, and it’s a great way to build camaraderie among your teammates.
First, find a good place to camp out. Look for buildings or areas that have the fewest number of entrances. Chances are, you’ll have to cover at least two entrances. Always scout the area for windows that enemies can lob grenades through, or holdouts that are made of plywood. The enemy can shoot through plywood, so don’t hide behind it.
Once you have a nice little hideout, split up your team to cover all the entrances. Make sure you put your backs to the walls and your fronts to the entrances. If you have enough manpower, try to set up redundant crossfire on the entrances. Think of an upside-down V, in which you and your buddy are the two ends and the entrance is the point. Both of you should be firing at the entrance. Depending on which weapons you have, you may need to alternate fire.
If you know you have to hold off the other team for a certain amount of time, have one of your crossfire team members fire off his whole clip at the entrance. Then you fire off yours. Keep alternating in this fashion. With a steady stream of lead coming out of that entrance, no one is going to come in.
Watch for grenades, and be ready to relocate or fall back. If you’re in a three-story building and your first-floor team is getting overwhelmed, have them fall back, or in this case, fall up. Don’t forget to use things like C-4 and Claymores. Put them just outside entrances, or just inside, as long as they won’t blow up you and your buddies.
While your first-floor team is holding off the enemy, have your upper-level players peek out the windows or balconies and pick off any enemies who aren’t looking up. Drop grenades on them for fun, but be careful that they don’t accidentally bounce back into your first-floor team.
Watch and learn. You’ve had enemies camp on you before, and you probably didn’t like it. That’s because it worked. Take notes on what they did right, and work that into your own camping tactics.
Formations and Assigned Positions
While formations and positions are used frequently in real-life military situations, they’re not normally used in online gaming. But they can be a great tool in your box. When you’re running in squads, you don’t want to run in a straight line and give enemy snipers an easy target. Practice advancing in a wedge formation. Imagine a V, with the point of it being the tip of your assault spear. While moving, your point man can clear the way ahead, while the two players on either side of him can get a wider field of vision and clear a much wider path in front of your squad.
There are many different formations you can experiment with, and the best configuration will depend on your terrain and number of available players. Remember to always keep your spacing so that a single grenade won’t eliminate your entire team.
Assigned positions are more for sports than video games, right? Nope! You can make them work to your advantage. Think of a hockey or soccer team. You’ve got a forward line, middle linemen, and defensemen, and all of these positions work together to win the game. Depending on the number of players on your side, try to divide everyone up into positions based on their strengths. If someone’s good at camping, put them on defense. If someone’s good at assaulting, put them on offense. If you’ve got a six-man team, put three players on offense (forwards), two players on defense (middle linemen), and one guy as a full-on defenseman. The forwards should set up as a right wing, a left wing, and a center. Their job is to move forward as a line and assault the enemy. The middle linemen should adjust constantly based on what the forwards are doing. If one of the forwards falls, bring up a middle lineman to fill that spot until the fallen forward can respawn and come back. The middle line should move up to assist when needed, or move back to help defend, but should always position themselves between the forward line and defensive line. Your defensive line must tell you if they need help at any time, so your middle linemen can fall back to help. Communication is a must when playing positions, so that you can tell your team you’ve lost someone on your forward line and need a replacement.
Positions can be a formidable force because they’re wave-based. Once your forward line pushes up far enough, your middle line can push up as well, including your defensive line. Now you’ve got your whole team pinning down the enemy in their base, and that’s not fun for them. Experiment with different numbers of players on each line, and see what works best for you on different maps.
Infiltration
Of course, you can infiltrate an area via stealth tactics and perk combinations, such as UAV Jammers and silenced weaponry, but let’s get into tactical breaching of buildings and similar areas.
Let’s say the enemy has taken up residence in a three-story building. You know they’ll have people watching out any available windows and on the rooftop, so you have to watch all of these areas when you’re getting ready to breach. First you’ll need some flash, smoke, or stun grenades, so consider the Special Grenade x3 perk. Additional items to bring along include a grenade launcher, Frag x3, Deep Impact, and even Martyrdom. All of these things will aid you in getting into the building and taking it over.
Stack up your team just outside the building, but clear of any firing lines. Be wary of enemies in windows dropping explosives on your head or jumping off the roof and coming around behind you. If you find a mass of enemies on a roof and you just can’t get a good shot or get your grenades up there, call in an airstrike.
Once you’re stacked up, someone pop flash, and have a buddy follow it up with a stun grenade. If you hit someone with a stun grenade, your crosshairs will change from a + to an x, letting you know they’ve been stunned. This is a very handy tip when breaching. If you don’t see that x, toss another stun. When you’ve deployed both flash and stun grenades, move into the building in teams of two, but stagger them. Don’t run in one after the other, or you could be taken out by Claymores or a steady stream of LMG fire. Nobody wants that.
Okay, that’s the tactical, practical approach. What would Rambo do? He’d just run in there with a knife and a snarl! But you’re not Rambo. Sorry. Try grabbing the Deep Impact perk and a SAW LMG. Grab your Frag x3 or RPG-7 x2 and Sonic Boom, and just unload on the building until you think it’s full of dead people. When you’re tossing grenades in there, line up your toss and try to bank it off windowsills, ceilings, and doorjambs. If you practice and get good at it, people will think you’re cheating.
So you basically have two ways of getting into a building: the tactical blind-and-rush way, or the “blow it all to hell and see who’s left” way. Both are effective if done correctly. Good luck, and remember that once you’ve evicted the building’s tenants, you’re free to move in!