Team Strategies

Warzone & Execution

Deliberation is necessary to stay alive on Blood Drive, particularly when playing Warzone. The alternating Torque Bow and Longshot pickup is the lone power-weapon drop on the map. Use cover to approach the weapon and toss a smoke grenade to cover your approach as you grab it. Immediately retreat up the steps on your team’s side of the map, at least to the middle landing, where you can use the weapon from cover. Another great place to use the Torque Bow or Longshot is from within the closet-like room near the spawn point. This area has a small window that looks out onto the map and provides tremendous cover.

Grenades gain value on this map due to the scarcity of power weapons, not to mention the three available grenade pickup locations. Set up as many traps as possible on your side of the map and lure the opposing team into your area, perhaps by securing the Torque Bow and retreating up the steps. Grab grenades on the middle level and plant them near the entrance to the room with the hospital beds. To add an extra layer of protection, use the Ink Grenade under the train tracks opposite the power weapon spawn point. Another deadly tactic, especially in Execution matches, is to instruct your sniper to quickly down as many enemies as possible and then lob an Ink Grenade at them as they crawl. This will likely finish off several of them, but will also damage any of their teammates who come to revive them.

Because most of the action ends up taking place in the street and on the lower halves of each staircase, the interior passage through the hospital lobby is often forgotten. Use it to surprise the enemy! However, in order to pull this off, send at least three of your teammates down the stairs toward the street to trick the enemy into thinking you’re making a standard frontal assault. These teammates create a distraction while the other two squad members rush through the hospital rooms and flank the opposition from the middle level of their staircase. Using this strategy too often defeats its purpose, but it can be effective if you employ it sporadically. Not only does this tactic stand to win you the round, but it can also make securing the premium weapon easier in the next round, as the opposing team proceeds with extra caution, wary of another flanking move.

Submission

There’s no way around it: those playing Submission on Blood Drive should prepare themselves for a blood bath. The capture points are the two grenade rooms and the Torque Bow and Scorcher weapon spawns. The Stranded always originates somewhere in the street beneath the dilapidated train tracks. This mode almost always results in a very messy tug-of-war between the two teams, with little opportunity to employ a thorough strategy. Nevertheless, some approaches work better than others. Try out some of the following recommendations the next time you’re in an endless struggle to capture the Stranded.

Thanks to the frequent respawns you will experience, you might occasionally exit your team’s spawn point mere steps away from their capture point at the pistol location. Plant your Smoke Grenade at a hidden location near that area’s entrance. Then run to the second level to grab the Ink Grenade and do the same with it. Using two different types of grenades next to one another might sound redundant, but the effects are priceless. The Smoke Grenade will knock the Stranded free, and the Ink Grenade will likely poison your opponent before he can crawl to safety or retrieve the Stranded. This is an excellent way to “play goalie” on this map and keep the enemy from winning.

There is almost always strength in numbers (unless a Frag Grenade is rolled at your feet), and it’s particularly important to keep your team together and move in unison on Blood Drive. Eliminate at least a couple opponents before you down the Stranded and attempt to move him to the capture location. One team member should acquire the Torque Bow (or Longshot) and provide covering fire from the second-level terrace on your team’s side of the map while the other four move the target.

Opponents will be knocked off of the Stranded near you almost constantly. Take advantage of the moment before the Stranded stands back up to grab the downed opponent and use him as a shield. This will protect you from almost certain death at the hands of the newly freed Stranded. And it will give you a chance to knock him back down. Once the Stranded has been knocked down (pistol whip him while you’re using a shield), break your hostage’s neck and grab the Stranded.

Wingman

The scarcity of power weapons and the high level of carnage on this map make it more important than ever to use downed opponents as meat shields for as long as possible. Advance in a back-to-back formation with your teammate, and punish your enemies from behind your mobile cover.

Another practical tack, especially if you spawn under the train tracks, is to grab the Torque Bow (or Longshot) and quickly relocate to the top level on one end of the map. Place proximity grenades on the stairwell for warning and protection, and pick off enemies on the ground level from the window inside the team spawn room. Your teammate can cover you from the second level and continually grab the grenades that spawn there, tossing them into the bedlam on the streets.

Guardian

The spawn points on this map make for an ideal defensive position from which to defend the team leader, thanks to its position on the map’s top level and its lone entrance. While the entire team attacks the opposition’s leader, your team leader should grab the Ink Grenade from the second level. He can use it and his initial Smoke Grenade as proximity mines on the entryway to the spawn. Replenishas necessary.

The team leader can contribute yet remain largely out of the fray from the small room with a window off the spawn point. This vantage point overlooks a portion of the street, and one can fire upon the exit from the second floor interior from here. Take care to avoid exposing yourself too much to enemy fire, particularly if the Longshot is in play.

Assuming your enemy will employ similar tactics, mix up your approach by occasionally rushing through the hospital rooms straight to the opposing leader’s spawn. This allows your team to slip past any enemies defending near the street, and it keeps them safe from the enemy leader’s fire. Send two or three players (leave one for defense) and Roadie Run the entire distance without stopping, if possible. If you can, grab a downed enemy to use as a shield.

Annex & King of the Hill

The ample grenade supply spreads throughout the level, particularly near the capture locations. This makes defending a captured point easier than on most maps, especially if friendly fire is off. To counter this, after you respawn, grab grenades from the opposite side of the map and toss them ahead of your attack. Doing so can damage enemy units and harmlessly detonate any proximity mines while you’re still out of range. This allows your team to rush in, secure the capture point, and place one or two of your own proximity mines.

To avoid getting caught up in any battles in the street, use the hospital rooms as a quick way to travel between capture points in Annex matches. All weapon drops are potential capture points with the lone exception being the pistol spawns, so keep players well spaced to begin capping these locations as quickly as possible. Once they’re captured, move to the perimeter and instruct your team to fan out to the other capture points, keeping their guns aimed at the active location.

King of the Hill matches take place exclusively on the street and inside the hospital at the grenade locations—neither of the upper pistol rooms is used. One team gets a relative advantage when the capture location is at the grenade area on their side of the map. Break their hold on it by sending two players up the stairs as decoys while the other three rush from within the hospital. Use the hospital gurneys and other apparatus on the elevated floor as cover to clear out the enemy before capturing the point.

Horde

The multi-level staircase, plethora of grenades, and the chance to force enemies to originate from two chokepoints makes this one of the easier maps for playing Horde. The singular long-range weapon pickup does make things a bit trickier, but much of the combat on this map takes place at short and medium range, so it’s not a tremendous disadvantage. And players can more than compensate for the lack of a Mortar or Hammer of Dawn (which would be devastating on this map) by deploying numerous proximity mines across the base of the stairs and inside the hospital.

It should go without saying that teams must avoid congregating on the street beneath the tracks. Doing so opens them to attacks from enemies spawning on both stairs and inside both hospital rooms. Teams that stay under the train tracks will quickly find themselves outnumbered, surrounded, and taking bullets from every direction. Fortunately, thereare alternatives.

Taking up positions at the top of either staircase forces enemies to spawn from far across the map or down below in the street. Some teams may want to try splitting their forces between the upper level of each opposing staircase, but we recommend keeping all five members close together. Purposely dividing your forces between two spots that each have two approaches may work in the short-term, but not in the later waves. Instead, by entrenching at the top of the stairs and making forays to the street only to replenish ammo and grenades, the team can force the Horde to funnel through the hospital and the stairs near the street. A team of five people committed to the roles described in the following section can easily cover both of these positions.

Know Your Role

The following tactics correspond to the numbered positions marked on the accompanying map. Follow these tips carefully for maximum survivability. These tips assume a five-person team.

The team’s best sniper should rush for the Longshot and retreat to the window near the upper team spawn point. Place the Smoke Grenade at the entrance to the team spawn. Then duck inside the alcove with the window and use the Lancer and Longshot to take out enemies on the street below. This vantage point doesn’t provide a complete view of the battlefield, but it does offer a tremendous line of sight into the hospital’s hallway. Because this person is likely to be the first to spot Locust approaching from within the hospital interior, he or she should call them out to players 4 and 5 and, when possible, snipe them from afar. Although there is only one approach to this room and the Horde must get past your entire team to eliminate this player, he isn’t completely safe. Theron Guards and Boomers will no doubt attempt to take him out. So, using cover, even in this elevated sniper’s nest, is critical.

The team’s best close-range combatant should assume this role and take position outside the team spawn location, atop the stairs. This player’s charge is to maintain the proximity mines on the stairs leading down to the street and to cut down as many enemies as possible making their way across the street. This person’s role is important because many of the enemies come his or her way. Other players can lend support, but aside from a grenade or two that may be inside the spawn area, this player is the last line of defense. Although all players should try to revive one another, player 2 should not stray to the other half of the staircase to revive players 3, 4, or 5 unless all of them are downed. Vacating this position, even for a few seconds, risks allowing the Horde to advance too far up the stairs.

The player in this position is allowed to freelance around the upper half of the stairs and lend a hand wherever the fighting heats up. His primary role should be to revive fallen comrades and to use his Lancer and the nearby pistol pickups (perhaps with a meat shield) to soften up as many enemies as he can. Securing ammo or additional grenades is not this player’s responsibility. Instead, he is there to assist wherever he’s needed and ensure that the other team members are alive and that the sniper is not under duress.

Player 4 has the important frontline job of patrolling the lower half of the staircase, assisting players 2 and 5 with approaching enemies, and making sure that any Locust trying to cross the street is immediately put down. This person also serves as a scout and must call out enemy locations so the other players can respond accordingly. Player 4 can stray down into the street when necessary to plant proximity mines and to collect ammunition, but he shouldn’t stay down there too long. Lastly, this player should collect dropped weaponry from the street and lower stairs, delivering them to players 2 and 3. Drop them in favor of more common weapons that might be further up the stairs so the players at the top can use powerful, long-range weapons without running all the way down to the street.

In many of our Horde strategies, the fifth player is a luxury, free to roam the map and lend support wherever it’s needed. That is not the case here. The fifth player in this formation has the heavy responsibility of continually replacing tripped proximity mines at the street-level hospital entrance and inside the interior hallway. As much as possible, he should try to remain outside the hospital and on the stairs’ middle landing, but this player is indeed the primary defense against Horde units making their way through the lobby. Most of the enemies attack from the street, so the burden isn’t terribly great, but some attack waves have the capacity to overrun the interior space. Should this happen, player 5 must immediately retreat to the exterior, where players 3 and 4 can assist him. Lastly, it’s important that player 5 avoid obstructing the sniper’s view of the hospital corridor.