CoD4 GuidesCoD4 Advanced Tactics and Techniques Guide
Guide by Jester -
This part one of my advanced tactics and techniques guide. Part one will
cover the advanced techniques in Call Of Duty four that have regular
success. These are usually easy to practice in a private match using a
second controler signed in as a dummy.
Here is
a list of all the techniques i will be going over:
Pre Aim.
Cover selection
Movement
Belly flop
Grenade
launcher
Route selection
Retreating
Advanced firing
techniques
Pre aim: Pre aiming is the technique of aiming down the sites before an
enemy appears, where you expect them to show up. I use this consistently in
buildings when i am unsure of enemy numbers or location. This saves you that
split second it takes to aim down your sites to bring down a target,
allowing you that ever precious second to get in the first few shots. The
only guns i don't recommend this for are the shotguns and ,when up
close, snipers. Never pre aim a shotgun for two reasons. 1: The range is so
crappy you shouldn't need the sights at all, they will be close enough
for the hip every time. 2: Because the shots scatter, they never go where
you aim with the iron sights anyway. When using a shotgun always aim from
the hip. A sniper should be pre aimed most of the time at long range,
especialy if waiting for a hostile to poke out his head. It should not,
however, be pre aimed in close quarters. Just spray and pray no scope, trust
me. The main weaknesses to pre aiming down the sights are that in open areas
you move so slowly that a rookie sniper will drop you, fast, and that the
enemy can circle around the other way and surprise you. More on how to fix
these problems in my advanced firing techniques section.
Cover selection: Not every wall in Call of Duty 4 will stop a
bullet. In fact, half of them won't. Therefore, you need to be careful
about cover selection. Since most players online use assault rifles, i am
using thier penetration capabilities to provide you with a list of generally
safe cover. The most safe cover pieces i've found are the blocks made
of concrete bricks. The only thing that might shoot through this is a deep
impacted .50 Cal, and i doubt that will. Keep in mind that if a chopper is
present, avoid these blocks unless you have a roof over your head. Other
generally safe pieces of cover are trees, wrecked cars (the normal ones work
two, but they can blow up, and trust me you don't want to be the idiot
on your team who died from an exploding car), dumpsters, and double barrels.
Normal lone barrels are alright, but a deep impacted AK will tear right
through it. The quad barrels are your best bet. The most common places for
bullet penetration to be used is near doorways, or anywhere in sight of a
fixed heavy mg. If you get shot through a wall randomly, and survive, go
prone and pray that they don't keep spraying. Usually when this happens
it means there is a LMGer spamming a wall, or a fixed turret spamming a
wall. As a rule, i personally try to never use cover that is thinner than i
am. This means thin walls, those wierd fences on bog, that sort of thing.
Movement: Movement appears to be one of the most basic
things in Call of Duty 4. It is, in some ways, but isn't in others.
When do you crouch? when do you go prone? sprint or normal run? This
is how i feel movement should be. I believe the most combat effective way to
move in Call of Duty 4 is slow and methodical, but not too slow. Basically,
you should sprint to a nearby cover spot, then crouch/go prone (whichever
will keep you protected from fire behind that cover spot) Peek above the
cover spot, engage enemies seen, then get safe again. Now, search for
another good, solid, spot of cover (like the ones i listed in the cover
selection technique part of this guide). Take crash, for instance. I usually
take cover, prone, behind a pillar, with my AK pre aimed for my first kill
or two, then i sprint up to the chopper, take cover there, get a couple
kills, cross to the other sie with pillars, take cover there, etc. When
advancing on enemies, make quick, short bursts of sprinting to cover, fire
off a few rounds, then sprint forward to the nearest piece of cover. When in
a building, it is usually a good idea to crouch. This makes you very quiet,
and 80% of the time will mess up an opponents pre aim(80% of pre aim will be
geared at head level in hope for a head shot). When attacked by a sniper, if
you survive, rush the closest piece piece of cover between you and the
sniper, go prone, and pray. If you have smoke, use it. While you are behind
the cover, start searching for an escape route, out of the snipers field of
vision. Once you've found the route, use my stick and move technique
from cover to cover until you are out of the snipers vision range. Remember
to warn your allies.
Belly Flop: A highly
effective technique that disrupts enemies aim, and half the time confuses
them or makes them think you dropped into last stand. This is a technique
that requires you to sprint, jump while sprinting, then hold the crouch
button so that you land prone. The movement your enemy see's is
erratic, nearly impossible to track, and even harder to hit. When entering a
fire fight, i always use this technique to land behind some cover (i aim my
belly flop for the corner) and begin to fire as soon as my feet leave the
ground. Once i land, i aim higher up and copntinue firing, usually getting a
kill or two. Once i've entered the engagement like this, i usually get
up into a crouch for mobility purposes, but this technique almost ensures
that i at least get to my cover spot safely. Also works in open areas if
engaged from the same or a lower elevation as a quick fix for lack of cover,
it'll make you a small target and the enemy most likely won't be
able to kill you until you land. This technique is also great for avoiding
grenades, and rushing to a cover spot. DO NOT use this in the open with no
cover against enemies with a higher elevation, it actually makes you an even
bigger target. The opposite applies, however, when you have the height
advantage this is a very good idea. Belly flop to the edge of some elevated
surface (upper part of buildings, crest of a hill, etc.) and watch your kill
count go up as you are an incredibly small target, and the enemy is bigger
do to the height advantage.
Grenade
Launcher: Now i know what most of you thought the second you saw the
'n00b tube' in my guide. You thought i was probably the n00b
running around on shipment with overkill, two AR's, both n00b tubed,
blowing the crap out of everybody before they have time to aim down the
sights. I'm not. I am the person with a grenade launcher mounted on my
AK for the purpose of what i like to call, a mini airstrike. Now keep in
mind, this technique takes A LOT of practice, and in my opinion is the most
difficult thing in Call of Duty 4 to master. Trust me on this, go to a
private match (crossfire is best for getting used to grenade arc i believe,
but overgrown is pretty good too). Now get out your grenade launcher, and
start practicing the arc of the grenades. Get used to hitting long distance
targets. Do it from different elevations. Now, picture this, on crossfire
there is a persistent sniper hiding in one of the buildings that have a full
view of the main street. Your sniper is not skilled enough to take him out.
He's shredding your team to pieces. None of you can last long enough to
get a Chopper, and an airstrike won't do any good because he has a
solid roof over his head. He has two bodyguards, so even your ghost
can't seem to touch him. What do you do? Use your finely tuned grenade
launcher skills to call a small airstrike inside the building. Try to launch
the two round inside the building next to each other (fire one, then adjust
to one side a bit and fire again). You just saved the entire game using a
weapon that everybody thinks requires no skill, because you knew that from
long range and with some skill, it could do anything. Try doing this
completely concealed. Have a pretend spotter in a private match give you a
direction, now have him give you about where on the map the enemies are.
From crouched behind a piece of low cover, attempt to hit your target, using
one shot, adjusting slightly, then rapidly firing off the second shot. Like
i said this technique is incredibly hard to master, but absolutely deadly in
the hands of a pro.
Route selection: Choosing what
routes to take in Call of Duty 4 seems like it should be common sense, but i
constantly see people making the same mistakes over and over again. When
choosing routes, remember your class! A sniper should NOT rush up the
middle! A ghost should NOT use high traffic routes! A guy with a shotty
should ALWAYS avoid the open! If you are a basic every day class (an example
would be stopping power, deep impact, fragx3, and an automatic AR) Us high
traffic routes, but instead of just rushing up them use my stick and move
technique described in the movent section! A sniper should use very low
traffic routes, away from the action, to get from spot to spot, and when
moving should have his backup out (unless he is steady aimed and can
confidently no scope). If an enemy sniper has killed you three times in a
row while you are using the same route, CHANGE YOUR ROUTE! Don't keep
getting mowed down by the same sniper, find a different way to wherever you
are trying to get to. Use your map! On a map you are slightly unfamiliar
with, or when desperate for a safe route, get to a safe spot and press
start, this will bring up a full version of the map you are on, and will
show all possible routes. Remember, use routes that will keep you safe, and
get you there fast. Different routes work for different classes, find what
works for you.
Retreating: Retreating is a tactic
that, throughout history, has been used repeatedly. They have been used to
lure into ambushes, to save lives, to trick opponents, to get to high
ground, or simply to get away from the enemy. Remember, A retreat is not
running away. A retreat can be luring into a trap. Place a claymore at a
door, fire at an opponent, let him spot you, then duck behind said door, he
will most likely rush after you, right into the claymore. BOOM! one more
kill for you, and you barely used any ammo. Use retreats like this to lure
enemy forces into a snipers sights, into a bottleneck so your guy with the
RPD can mow them all down, or simply to get to a more defensible position. A
good idea when trying to get to a more defensible position is to go into a
nearby, enemy free building. Move backwards so you can fire at your enemy,
get some high ground, then wait for them. Now, there will be times when you
truly do need to escape from enemies up close. This goes double for snipers
and ghosts. For this there are several techniques. Number one is stun
grenades, they slow down the enemy and have a fast timer. While the enemy is
stunned you will have a chance to make a hasty escape. Number two is
throwing an uncooked grenade in thier path. Why uncooked, you ask? Because
they will almost always assume it is cooked, and therefore will not cross
it's path until it has exploded. You now have a six second wall between
you and your pursuer. Keep in mind this doesn't always work, because
some people will ignore the grenade indicator and pray that they get lucky
and make it out of range. Also, this will only work if it is between you and
your pursuer, try to place it at least a few meters in front of where he
will be in a couple seconds. Also, this rarely works in the open. Smoke
grenades are one of your best options in the open, but you have to make sure
the screen covers your escape, and its usually a good idea to get cover
before popping it. If retreating from a sniper, try popping the smoke on
them, they will be completely blind and unable to leave that area easily
until the smoke goes down. The last technique for retreating is used when
rounding corners. Turn around and fire at the corner of the wall as you keep
moving away from the pursuer, usually the wall will be thin at the very tip,
and the bullets will deter enemies. Keep in mind that this doesn't
usually work with shotguns, pistols, smg's, or snipers (snipers because
of the small clip cant keep the fire up long enough to deter enemies for an
effective amount of time) Also note that you can fire away from the corner,
but the reason i shoot into the corner is because it confuses the hell out
of people. Psychology, dear Wattson
Advanced Firing Techniques:
Firing and aiming a weapon is very simple, however there are a few special
tricks i've picked up that work wonders, some obvious, some not. First
is Pop shooting. This is when you hide behind cover, pop up, fire a few
rounds, and get back behind cover again. Works AMAZING with snipers, and has
helped me bring down a three man team with just an AK47 when i got ambushed.
Pre aiming before you pop up can help too. Another technique is leading
shots. Most people seem to forget about this very basic principle. At long
range, it takes time for your bullets to conect with your target. Therefore
if your enemy is moving, you need to aim at where he will be, not at where
he is. Think the last few levels of space invaders people. This is very
important for snipers to master, it will allow them to hit sprinting
opponents regularly. This technique does require some practice, however.
Another technique is burst firing. This is when, with an automatic weapon at
long ranges, you fire in short bursts to help control recoil and accuracy.
This is especially helpful when trying to engage at long range with an AK47,
RPD, M60E4, G36C, or any other high recoil automatic gun. Using this
technique i have been able to consistently counter sniper with a red dot
sighted AK47. The last technique is recoil manipulation. This is when trying
to headshot with a high recoil gun, you aim around the chest, just below the
neck, and the shots will walk themselves up to the head. Works wonders for
me, every time.
That's all in part1 folks,
stay tuned for Part two: How to Develop a deadly class
-Jester
CoD: WaW
