Raid Map

Knowing particular areas in the map can help you get better more quickly.

 

If there was any advice I could give myself before I began playing Black Ops II it would be found in the suggestions that follow. Although I am still very much green to this game, I’ve improved a bit by following these guidelines.

1. Map Knowledge – You won’t master every map from day one, but before you go out and play I suggest running through one or two by yourself without any enemies. It’s boring but a good use of your time since it will pay off in dividends once you start playing live. To make a test run simply host your own game without any players and select the map of your choosing.  A smaller map such as Hijacked, Plaza, or Express are recommended to initially start. Map knowledge is important because you don’t want to run aimlessly in a live game as you will soon find yourself dead. In addition, knowing the lay out of the map will help you avoid vulnerable areas and also assist you in navigating quickly to certain points which are essential to games like Domination, Hardpoint, and Headquarters. Finally, a face off in an open area is a coin flip, but as a beginner the odds are against you. The more coverage you have, the greater the chance you will end up a winner, which is something you can only figure out once you’ve mastered the map.

2. Hip Shots – A hip shot is simply firing the gun without aiming it up. A bad habit that I formed when I first started was to aim every time I shoot. Although aiming the gun is crucial for long distance shots, it is unnecessary at close range because the time you will spend bringing up the gun is all your opponent needs to take you out. Once you are comfortable with hip shots practice moving back and forth or in an arc while you fire. It will be much harder for your enemy to hit you this way and should result in higher scores.

3. Sub Machines – I actually like playing the machine gun and shotgun over sub machine guns but they require a certain skill to master. If you want to rank up fast and improve your game play then start with sub machine guns. Test out the one you like the best by creating your own match or create different classes of them.

4. Grenades and Tacticals – One good habit to form as a beginner is to try to use your grenades and shock charges every time before you die. I make this suggestion because plain old grenades require very little time to throw and if you’ve mastered a few maps you’ll know of places you can toss them that should lead to easy kills. Shock charges are especially helpful in alerting you of incoming enemies and also help your team. You get 50 points for a shock assist and it requires nothing more than dropping it and moving on. For a newbie this can both benefit your team and help you rank up without needing to be a wizard from day one. As you get better though, you probably don’t need them as much, however, to begin I think they will help your team out more.

5. Study – Experience is good but take the time to bookmark your best and worst matches. Try to figure out what you did well and what you didn’t. There are many Youtube channels where you can watch experts completely destroy a map. Each time you’ll learn a few things. Personally, I like Woody’s Gamertag the best: http://www.youtube.com/user/woodysgamertag