It’s really no surprise the latest Call of Duty is doing great sales-wise: it’s the most requested title since the Modern Warfare trilogy 10 years or so ago. This “reboot” of sorts goes back to basics with its single-player and multiplayer modes while also adding in great feedback and tactical elements to make sure you can’t go into the game guns ablazing.

In short, if you play this like Call of  Duty: Black Ops, you may get a higher losing streak than before. You have to play this Modern Warfare by its rules and feel; the game’s quick kill times can lead to a lot of frustrating deaths on your part. With our guide, you can minimize that.

1. Keep Movement To A Minimum

The series’ run and gunning tactics of yore will not work here thanks to the game’s intentionally sprawling and cluttered maps. First, slow your movements down and take extra care when going around corners or areas with high player traffic.

Running makes a huge amount of noise and your heavy footsteps will often give away your position long before you’ve even been seen. This can prove to be particularly frustrating at first, but once you minimize your use of the sprint button, you’ll find that your games will go a lot smoother. Modern Warfare’s quick time to kill (TTK) favours a more methodical approach to combat. In other  words, use  sprint if:

• you are dashing to cover,
• you are aggressively flanking,
• you have the Dead Silence field upgrade active.

2. Sweep Your Surroundings

Death comes swiftly in Modern Warfare. In fact, the kill times are so fast that you can rack up a pretty hefty number of deaths if you’re not paying close attention to your surroundings.

Unlike the previous games in the series, Modern Warfare throws out the wacky 360 no scopes and replaces them with a more methodical approach to combat. While drop-shotting and corner jumping are still rife in the game’s multiplayer lobbies, there is very little incentive to actually running around the map in search of kills.

After all, the vast majority of maps feature plenty of places that enemy players can use to ambush you when you’re caught out in the open, so it’s often best to ADS and check your surroundings before moving to your next location. Protip:  using the “mount” option at corners help since you’ll be ready to fire at something.

Try to always plan your route and make sure you have plenty of cover when you’re advancing your way through the map. Not only will this give you the edge you need to punish aggressive players, but it will also help keep any frustrating deaths that come from unexpected places to a minimum.

3. Tinker Around With The Gunsmith Menu

There are so many customization options available in Modern Warfare that it can be a little tricky to choose which attachments to use on your gun. So let’s do our best to sort you out.

• You can customize everything from the weapon’s muzzle, barrel, laser, optics, stock, underbarrel, ammunition, rear grip, and even perks.
• You’ll unlock more attachments as you level up your weapon, giving you even greater opportunities to change the way your favourite guns both perform and handle.

However, before you go fitting any old attachment, it’s important to understand each part’s strengths and weaknesses.

For example, the M4A1’s 4.0x Flip Hybrid optic may give you greater accuracy when engaging foes at mid to long-range distances, but it takes a long time to aim down your sights. If you combine this with the Tactical Suppressor the time to ADS will increase even further, making you incredibly vulnerable whenever you go to aim.

Every attachment has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it’s vital that you strike a good balance when customizing each weapon. After all, the wrong combination of attachments can turn a finely tuned gun into an unwieldy beast that will result in far more deaths than kills.

4. Change Your Loadouts  Mid-Game

One of the best quality of life changes in Modern Warfare is the ability to edit your loadouts on the fly. If you happen to grow tired of using certain weapons or want to mix up your playstyle completely, then you can switch out your current guns, attachments and perks during any match.

There’s no need to worry about equipping your new gear and perks before loading into a game, so take your time and adjust your loadout whenever you see fit. This option is particularly useful when you want to try out any loadout combinations you’ve been killed with.

The latest instalment now allows players to copy enemy loadouts from the kill cam feed, giving you the opportunity to see how potent your foe’s particular setup is. Revenge has never been so sweet.

5. Use Field Upgrades

Field Upgrades are the latest addition to Call of Duty’s loadouts and they can be used in combat to give you an edge over your opponents. These game-changing skills are unlocked as you rank up in the game’s multiplayer, giving players plenty of options when it comes to creating numerous playstyles.

There are currently nine Field Upgrades to choose from and each one brings something different to the table. For example, the Munitions Box supplies yourself and your team with ammo, while the Recon Drone spots enemies for your allies. Each one of these Field Upgrades has its own advantages and it’s imperative that you get in the habit of using them when they’re active.

Every skill has differing recharge rates and naturally become available as you play through each match. Certain Field Upgrades like the deadly Stopping Power Rounds can even bolster your weapon’s damage, giving you increased lethality at the cost of lengthy recharge times. In other  words, don’t be afraid to experiment with each skill and interchange them when things aren’t working out.

6. Go  For Headshots

While it only takes a few well-placed body shots to stop an enemy dead in their tracks, it’s often best to try aim for headshots in every engagement. Being able to take out opponents with highly accurate rounds to the head is absolutely massive, especially when you happen to find yourself in 2v1 or 3v1 situations.

Aiming for headshots won’t just increase your overall lethality, it will give you the edge needed to win incredibly close firefights. While certain guns are already dominating the virtual battlefields of Modern Warfare thanks to their overall DPS and ease of use, they won’t give you the power needed to beat those who can actually aim. After all, almost any gun can outclass the very best weapons when you’re aiming for headshots.

To make matters even better, you’ll be able to punish any players that attempt to abuse any pesky head glitches. Just like in  Counter-Strike: GO, try to always keep your sights at headshot level when sweeping corners and checking windows, as this will allow you to instantly zap onto enemies without the need to drastically adjust your aim.

7. Get Used With  Iron Sights

If you want to increase your kills and reduce any deaths, then you’d better be prepared to spend a lot of time staring down your weapon’s sights.

Quick kill times mean that accuracy is more important than ever, especially when using the game’s single-shot rifles and snipers. It can often be tempting to simply burst down enemies with hip fire, but the huge penalty to weapon accuracy makes it completely inefficient unless the enemy runs into the barrel of your gun.

Even the game’s SMGs perform poorly when fired from the hip, often spurting out bullets in all directions before eventually landing the shots needed to down a target. While aiming down the sights may take an extra second, the added increase in accuracy makes it well worth the wait.

The time needed to ADS can also be shortened or lengthened depending on the sights and weapon attachments you use, so try out the different customization options until you find a loadout you’re comfortable with.

8. Pay Attention To Your Objectives

There’s nothing more frustrating than playing objective-based game modes and seeing your teammates running around the map in search of kills.

While racking up high killstreaks and inflating your K/D may be great in Team Deathmatch (TDM) and Ground War, it won’t secure you a win if you’re not prepared to help lock down control points.

When queuing up for games of Domination and Headquarters, your focus should be on controlling the various zones dotted around the map, and supplying your team with as many points as possible without handing the objectives over to your enemy.

Setting up defensive zones is incredibly easy in Modern Warfare and the tactical nature of the game actually favours this approach to combat, allowing you to effectively rack up high amounts of kills by simply playing the objective. Capturing individual positions will also reward you with huge amounts of experience, allowing you to quickly gain access to new weapon and perk unlocks.

 9. Be Tactical With Doors

While this gameplay mechanic may seem rather small at first, it does bring a lot of tactical depth to the multiplayer experience. You can either burst doors down by sprinting at them, peek inside when aiming down sights or simply open them normally with the action button.

Each of these mechanics has its own advantages and you should think carefully before entering a room. For example, bursting through a door may give you the element of surprise needed to shock enemy players inside, but the loud noise will also alert all nearby foes.

Meanwhile, peeking a door allows you to throw in a flashbang or grenade, but is considerably slower, giving your target more than enough time to send a few bullets whizzing your way. You can even bait enemy players into a room by making a ruckus before placing some claymores and watching as they fall into an explosive trap.

10. Get Used To Flanking & Being Flanked

With the added noise from footsteps and overall defensive nature of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, it can be tempting to simply hunker up in a corner or nearby building and wait for your enemies to come to you. However, you can net yourself some pretty easy kills if you’re willing to sneak behind enemy lines.

The current pool of maps favour medium to long-distance firefights, rewarding those that aim their sights on specific choke points or hotly contested areas of the battlefield. As a result, the majority of players simply choose to keep their movements to a minimum, often tunnel visioning one major area.

This camping playstyle may seem annoying at first, but it makes these players easy targets for aggressive flanking. Make sure you equip a loadout with Dead Silence, Cold-Blooded and Ghost to avoid being detected by enemy radars and keep your movements concealed. Once you’ve circled round to the back of the map, it’s time to let the fireworks begin.

Serenade your unaware targets with a deadly cocktail of explosives and gunfire, before slinking back into the shadows. Rinse and repeat until your enemies fall.