First, this guide was written just after the first major patch on beta. As time progresses, more maps will be will added, guns will be added, and operatives will be added. This isn't totally comprehensive, as I think a community wiki should be written for that purpose. The substance of this guide is mainly overall strategy, philosophy, and reasoning that I have found that has helped me become a much better player very quickly. I am not a top fragger consistantly, I have never gotten the pacifier badge, and I am continually in the middle or at least top three. I don't play a lot of FPS shooters anymore. I have over 4k hours clocked in on 1.6 (I played a lot before steam) and I think GO ruined CS. This is the first COD like game that I have enjoyed ever. Now, onto the good stuff.

Before we get into specific weapons and mods, there is a procedure I have found that I think optimizes what mods to get for that specific gun. Even if I had all the GP in the world, if I were to unlock a new weapon, I would play with it stock for many games, to get a feel for it. Then I would ask, "What can be done to it to make it better?" and, "What is the design or purpose of this gun?"

So as an example, and I will talk about it again later in the guide, let's take the AK47. When playing it stock, I couldn't believe the power. I would 2 shot, maybe even 1 shot, and the enemy would definately go down in 3. The accuracy and range is phenominal. The kicker, (pun intended) is it has a kick, meaning it's stability is low. Now there are two approaches to this problem. Either:

• Increase stability.
  
• Increase the strengths, which is damage and accuracy.

It is in my view, that the purpose and play style of the AK is supposed to be different and that is what makes it fun. You are supposed to burst, stay to medium to long range, and if you go close, go really close so stability isn't an issue. AND, if you do have to spray, ride the mouse down very quickly. You'll feel it if you play with it enough. Spraying is doable. Therefore, I added damage and accuracy, and ignored stability. What made the gun better was even more damage and accuracy, and the point of the gun was to be medium to long range burster. This procedure was performed on all the weapons I will be talking about so far. Not all weapons are covered, I am not a sniper so no sniper rifles will be covered, but the overall reasoning will be discussed.

Now to the first weapon. The good old M4A1.

The overall mod design, can be described in two words: accuracy and stability. When playing it stock, the damage was fine, it is just I wasn't hitting anything on my sight. So I know accuracy and stability were the way to go. And believe it or not, for my playstyle at least, the first assault rifle in the game, when fully modded, is the best assault rifle in the game so far that I have tried. It is my go to assault rifle. You can do ALL ranges very effectively. You can burst very accurately, the damage is good, and you can spray very accurately. It's a really really good assault rifle.

MP5-V5

After using the gun stock, I realized it's strength is its spray, and its weakness is damage. Unfortunately, I bit the bullet with damage, and decided to increase accuracy and stability without affecting affective range. It is in my opinion you reduce the range of the gun, you are hindering it quite substantially.

MP5SK-S3

As you can see, I increased damage, accuracy, and stability while hindering affective range, making it a more close quarters gun. Personally I prefer this SMG over the MP5-V5. I felt the range was better than its counterpart, to the point that I felt okay adding a suppresser. To me, this configuration feels very good.

SC-AR45

The best way I can describe this gun, is it is inbetween the AK and the M4 in functionality. Meaning, it's got great damage, great accuracy, but in my opinion more of a kick. Really though it isn't a bad kick, it is completely playable. I didn't put a sight on it simply because I think the stock sight is the best one. In general, I think zoom sights are very bad in this game. It messes with sensitivity, but it takes out your prepherial vision which is very important in this game. I have seen a player's profile that had a 2.5 KDA and had over 2k kills with the SCAR. Even though I don't prefer it over the M4, I even acknowledge it is a very good gun, and some people would prefer it in their play styles. It's good. On the suppressor side on the SCAR, I put it on simply because it was cheaper at the time and I wanted to try it. I think it is very strong, but I haven't tried the other muzzles.

K22

Out of all the AR's, this has got to be the worst. I tailored the mods to the uncontrollable kick and brutal accuracy, and I still can't hit anything in my sights. The kick and spray field are just too much. I don't even think it is good long range. I was pretty pissed because I put a good amount of GP's into that weapon and I am never going to use it. It would be my suggestion to unlock this gun if you want something to do because you've unlocked all the others.

AK47

Damage and accuracy basically. I discussed why earlier. If you notice, all of my sights don't zoom at all. I think zoomed sights, besides sniper rifles, shouldn't be used in this game. With the deminsions of the maps that this game runs so far, and the fact that hip firing is pretty bad, zoom sights are just handicapping you.

S25-R

I just got this gun, and I think with it's purpose and design, it is by far the best gun in the game. It is designed for short to medium range encounters, and it has more accuracy for far range combat, than the SMG's, however it still does not even come close to the typical AR's when it comes to long range. Damage doesn't matter because it's fire rate is insane. Think of it as the P90 in Ghost (from CS GO). To explain the mods, I didn't want to increase stability all that much because it was stable as it was! So I focused more on accuracy, for that longer range encounters that you will have to make with this gun from time to time. Even though it is considered an AR, maybe because of its damage, it functions like that of a SMG.


Since I don't snipe, my "SMG" is the S25-R and my AR is the M4. The F3 slot is for new weapons, but honestly right now I think I have kind of broken the game for myself. At least for me, and you maybe different, I have found the best guns for their roles. I can say this, because if guns are better, they aren't that much better. So why spend the GP's, or take the time to mod different guns? It is fun, but it isn't as fun if I am not really going to use them. So unfortunately for myself, some of the fun got sucked right out of me during the process of determining these two guns as my main two guns.

What I mean by weapon strategy is pick the gun that fits the situation. In TC, there are certain points and routes that would be beneficial to a high rate smg vs. a longer range rifle, while other points are more long distance. In demolition, there are certain routes that you take and you change them up. Change your load out to coincide with the route you are taking. Finally, if you are learning a gun or unlocking its mods, then by all means, play that gun all the time. Playing certain guns extensively allows you to see a true gem when you fire one. That is what happens when I use the m4 and the S25.

And of course, everyone has their own play styles. I am comfortable to say the m4 is probably the best at being pretty good at all ranges. And I really feel the S2 out performs the MP5 and even the EVO at short distance. The fire rate and power is insane.

*I'm really bad with names. So for times sake, I'm going to refer to the abilities. I know I should be more thorough and look up names when appropiate, but I kind of don't want to.*



First I will start off with the most common ability people got when they first got this game - cloak. I would say this is a fundemental ability to have on your team on any mode, making it versitile, but there are better abilities out there. There are great combos out there, like cloak and snipers. Honestly that one really pisses me off. :)

In team death match, it's about encounters, and being cloaked sometimes gives you the first shot. So if your aim is true, the element of surprise will more than likely give you the kill, even if there is a health descrepency, but even then you maybe out of luck. The true question, when do you use tier 1 and tier 2?

Well if you are close to tier 2, wait for it. If you are fragging people left and right, you will only be using tier two for the most part. But I think tier one should always be used, in pretty much every mode, at the very start. You want a good momentum to be established, and there is a snowball effect, so using your ability to start I think is very advantageous. Also, if you are in a situation where you could really use it, I would use tier 1 knowing that tier 2 can come in the future. In essence, I think the philosophy of using all abilities at tier 2 all the time is wrong. You can rack those kills up if you use the tier 1. Especially more of the intel extensive abilities.

Demolition, again, tier 1 should be used on first round. Find a route, typically based upon spawn, and rush it. Spam nades at appropiate spots, to give you the angle for the kill. Plus, if you are cloaked, and rack up assists and kills, you have added intel towards tier 2. In objective based modes however, tier 2 abilities are much stronger. Usually I wait for tier 2 after round 1, and if it is getting too long to get to tier 2, I will use it to try and get more kills for the team. But a cloaked squad going into a bombsite is scary!

Terminal Conquest is a little different. You can use tier 1 situational, but tier 2 on terminal conquest is huge. Especially if you save it for capturing the terminals. I still think you can use tier 1 abilities on terminal conquest, and you should on the initial rush, but for the most part I save for tier 2 on TC with cloak.


This ability is expensive. When the game first came out, this was my first ability. I pressed q, and everyone would die all the time. They didn't know what to do. Now people shoot them down. Not all the time though. Therefore tier 2 is very optimal, also considering that drones attack other structures like thermo walls and sentries. However, you can't, once again, say tier 2 in all situations. If you see a group of guys cluttered, you have no nades, use tier 1. And if you are fragging like crazy, you can even use tier 1 knowing tier 2 is coming owning all of those noobs. :)

Again, use this ability first round or initial rush. It won't kill, but it will substantially weaken somebody. That helps the team. Seeker drones are very good tools to hang to later to end rounds when the body count is low during demolition.


I am going to start with TC with this guy. First, there should always be an arm launcher on your team when playing TC. Hands down. His rockets one shot the mech. If you play him enough, you know when to use your ability and when not to. It takes time to get used to it. I will say, his ability recharges at an insane rate, it is really fast. So don't be too afraid to use it on people in terminal, but always have it ready for the mech.

In demolition and TDM, just use it when you can. One rocket is nuts, and you might frag enough so when the cooldown is back up, you are at tier 2. So just use it.


I don't know what it is called in game, could look it up, but yeah. This ability maybe helpful to snipers, I'm not really sure. I would say it is "helpful" but weak. I kind of think it needs to be buffed a bit. You get one brief picture of where they are at, and people move, so it is sometimes useless. It's kind of like the cherry on a sundae. The cherry makes it better, but the sundae is still kick ass without it.

In demolition it would be great to proc that initially and see what direction the enemy is going, and then go the other way assuming they aren't sniping, or at least try to find a way to flank. TC, I would try to use it only on tier 2. Demolition this ability would be really really good, especially if you are trying to clutch. So I will give credit where it is due.


This is fundementally a defensive ability. When the current beta was first released, these sentries were really weak, simply because people didn't really understand them and know where to put them. Now players are much better at putting them in strategic positions. I would say the strength of the sentry is a deterrent, and damage aid. If some bad guys invade a sentry heavy terminal, I rarely see sentry kills, however they are definately firing and taking off health during the fight. Also, sentries force people to take different angles, and ultimely, to expel resources. This fundementally shows you where the enemies are coming from. If you place a sentry at a choke point, you can focus your attention at other entrances in TC.

From my perspective, sentries are really just a terminal conquest ability. It could be used in demolition, but it takes a lot of intel to be used and they are used very briefly. Kind of cuts the incentive. You would be better off in demolition to use an ability you can use and get more value out of it.

I have seen people use turrets to hold down main choke points in TDM as well. But again, for the most part, it is a defensive ability.

Speed

I think hands down, the value of this ability is magnified so much on tier 2. For example, demolition, proc it at the very beginning, and your team rushes and totally catches the enemy by surprise. Teriminal conquest proc it, and the people that just died are rushing to the terminal for back up. The knife combo is pretty strong. I would say, if you download a skill sync cloak, I would proc the speed boost no matter the level, and just start kniving people. That combo is really hard to deal with. Again, I think this ability especially, if proced at the right moment, is hugely beneficial to the team.


Another very defensive ability. It is a great ability, and people are still learning exactly where to put them on the map. I think honestly tier 1 of this ability is just about as good as tier 2. The only difference is you have to crouch, and crouching gives you better stability anyways for the first shot. It's very useful in demo in defending bombsites for both sides, and it is extremely useful in TC. There are certain points on the map where you can set up the angle with the wall, and have amazing cover during dog fights. I have even set up walls for my snipers, so they can get more kills. The best use for it is to put it at a choke point, the enemy has no idea where to aim, to spray or not to spray. You pretty much mowe them down. They are subseptible to grenades however, so you don't want to expose them too much.

This ability is camping based, which makes it very inefficient in TDM. There is constant rotations of each team, you would be mauled in the back before you knew it.

And I have saved the best for last, and my favorite....


I have basically single handedly won games on all modes because of this ability. In my view, this is the strongest ability.

Fundementally, if your goal is to win and not exactly unlock slots for your characters, it's important to note the balance of abilities on your team. So for example, I think you only need one speed. Having multiple speeds greatly hinders the power of your team. Cloak on the fundemental level is good, multiple ones is doable. If it is TC, you MUST have an arm launcher. Ideally, for every mode, you should always have nano-gel. I ran into a character limit on my last section, so I couldn't elaborate more on nano-gel. Just know it's really really good. The wall hax honestly I could do without, but I'll take it sort of mentality. Sentries and walls are good supports in objective based combat.

I suppose what I am saying, is you want to diversify as much as you can. I think ultimately every ability has a good use and is useful, and if you have more tools at your disposal as a team you are better off. I understand that some people need to unlock sockets on their operatives when they first get them. I'm currently doing that with the new character, so I am totally disregarding this myself. But once that is accomplished, I play to win. And part of winning, is looking at your team composition, and thinking, what could make it better/more diverse?


I hope you all enjoyed this guide and you find it helpful. I would appreciate thoughts on this guide, what could make it better etc. There is a character limit, so there was only so much I could get into. Constructive criticism is welcome! This is my first guide, so I am nervous. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you learned something, and ultimately I hope you use this knowledge. Thank you.