Battlefield Hardline has a long way to go before it’s considered a serious contender on the competitive scene, but the Rescue game mode is a good first step. For starters, players get only one life per round, and it’s a squad-based mode, which is to say the maximum player count is five versus five. If you can get your best team together, you never have to worry about random gamers ruining your chance at winning.
Because it’s a squad-based mode, however, expect to go up against some very competitive teams. If you don’t have your business sorted out, you’ll lose five straight and head back to Hotwire to lick your wounds.
How Rescue Works in Battlefield Hardline
To be victorious in Rescue, gamers must win five out of a possible nine rounds. Each round is short, and you only get one life to work with. If you’re the Cops, typically your job will be to locate and rescue one of the two hostages, extracting them at one of the predetermined locations. If you’re the Criminals, your objective is to stop the Cops from extracting even one hostage. Both teams can also win by eliminating all of the shooters on the opposite side, which is often much easier than messing with the extraction.
General Rescue Tips for Battlefield Hardline
The era of respawning made gamers careless. They don’t mind running across a street and getting gunned down, because 10 seconds later they’ll spawn on the other side of the map and return the favor to some other careless player. In Rescue, this behavior means you lose the game, and if you’re playing with friends, you’ll let them down in the process.
The first big benefit you receive going into Rescue is map knowledge and understanding the spawn location of both teams. If you know where the enemy starts and have played on that side before, you are likely to have a good idea of some tactics they might employ. This unfortunately means that our first tip is to tell you that practice makes perfect, or at least better than whatever level you’re at now.
Beyond experience, try to move a little slower and make sure you communicate with every person on your team. Your opposition will be camped out watching high traffic areas, and any careless moves on your part will result in death. Try to move from cover to cover, learning from previous mistakes of which lanes are good and which ones are dangerous. Try to play the odds with your movement choices.
Weapons and Gadgets for Rescue in Battlefield Hardline
To start off, every weapon you use should have a suppressor. Showing up on the mini-map greatly increases your chances of dying. Beyond that, the Zipline and Grappling Hook are solid options, mostly because they allow you to create routes that don’t exist, and are therefore less likely to be covered by the enemy.
When you get into your choice of grenades, this is where non-typical options really shine. For example, the M18 Smoke can help you create distractions, cover your extraction or even buy you a few seconds while under heavy fire. The same goes for the Incendiary Device. It’s not necessarily the most lethal option, but it tends to make opposing players panic, which in turn leads to mistakes.
Advanced Rescue Tactics in Battlefield Hardline
This game mode is more than who has the fastest gun or who is the best shot (although those are some important factors). It’s also about who is the most intelligent, and who can put together a solid plan and then execute it without being predictable.
For example, don’t take the same route every round. Your enemy will get to know this tactic and adjust. Instead, think to yourself, “If I were my enemy, where would I go to stop me?” From there, try to anticipate your foe’s reaction, then surprise him or her. You always want to be on step ahead.
If you’re looking for more specific advice, use the hostages as bait. If you’re the Cops and looking to extract them, you could pick one up just to force your opponent’s hand, then ambush them when they try to respond. If you’re the Criminals, ignore the hostages and head straight for the extraction zone, then ambush the cops when they are trying to complete the rescue. The possibilities are endless.
