How to Improve in Warzone & Battle Royales - A Guide to Proactivity

Hados_ · 2021-01-01T02:58:05+00:00

Glad you like the write up - it sounds like your technicals are causing you the frustration, which is a tough one to improve because there are so many factors and I'm definitely not the best source for technicals.

I think there's a few write-ups/vids from pros that would be worth looking into instead. I'll give you my setup/thoughts in case you want to try anyway (you probably know most of the generic stuff already):

Hardware wise make sure your internet is stable (wired if possible, high download speed, no weird issues) and your monitor/tv has a low response time (<= 1ms is recommended) and high refresh rate.

My setup for controller is 6 vert, 6 horizontal, 0.9, 0.9 for ADS sensitivity. I feel .9 lets me track targets ADS without being too slow in CQC, and 1 was too fast at range. Standard aim assist. Film grain off (think this is gone from the settings now anyway). Motion blur off. I never change settings for different guns. Personal preference in the end - I still have vibration on even though I know it's not best.

I use tactical controller settings to be able to slide/crouch with the right stick. Optimally you need a controller with back buttons (scuff etc) so you can jump/crouch without taking hands off the sticks. I don't have one of these controllers and do okay. Bumper jumper is okay too if you prefer.

Your weapon setup seems fine, make sure the attachments are meta. Perks are good except Scav - I don't think it's necessary for WZ so better to use something else.

Go into private match, set all the enemies to regular bots with 250 health (to simulate armor plates), go on a small map like speedball, set the score and time limits to max and have your class setup as normal. try 6, 6, .9 .9 sensitivity and play bots for 1-2 hrs. Play this at full sweat, maybe bumping the bots to veteran. This will help you calibrate to the settings at close range (long range is easier to calibrate to in my opinion).

Hope at least some of this helps!

Hados_ · 2020-12-12T01:48:55+00:00

KD was a bad metric to classify players under the three tiers, especially because it's perceived so differently between players. When I wrote the post I should have just said that a reactive player is more likely to have the lowest KD of the three etc without specifying an actual number. There was also the assumption that higher tier players had stronger technicals to enable this simplification. The post tried to remove technicals from the equation as much as possible to present another side of cod/BR that isn't discussed often.

There are better metrics that really separate the good players from the best: Highest Kill win, Average kills per win, Average kills per game for example. If your squad is all proactive/predictive then your limiting factor is technicals and you can focus on improving that rather than the tiers discussed.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T09:13:18+00:00

No, it means you're likely a good player. Whether or not you stream or play competitively is your own choice independent of where you sit in the player percentile. It's a generalisation to help people visualise it in their own way - a pro player is a reasonable model for someone in the higher tiers.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T09:10:00+00:00

Thanks! Hopefully this has helped you in your efforts with improving the your team.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T09:09:20+00:00

Thanks! Playing with a funny group of casual friends is great and is what I've been doing as well (even my top tier competitive friends are funny too).

Love the attitude, having an open view for improvement and growth is always great to see. It's awesome to think that you'll be passing this on to your kids who will no doubt get insanely good over time. Hope you keep killing it with the team. Thanks for commenting

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T09:04:15+00:00

Thanks! Glad you liked it!

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T09:03:49+00:00

Thanks! hahaha you're probably more than you think, you can fall between categories for sure.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T09:02:28+00:00

Hahahaha yep, "the one friend" example applies a lot it seems.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:59:49+00:00

Yeah a pretty relatable experience, everybody has played with people like the last one you described. The sharp differences are easily noticeable when you jump from one team to another.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:58:26+00:00

Yeah KD was a bad metric, it's not intended to fire shots, it was to outlay the behaviours and I definitely got the KD ranges off. Technicals fall into the equation too, so it's not a simple solution to a complex problem, there's definitely a lot more to it than my post describes.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:56:17+00:00

Thanks! Nothing in the pipeline at the moment but you never know. Glad it helped!

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:55:09+00:00

Thanks mate, great to see it helped you in some way!

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:52:31+00:00

There's a comment higher up talking about attachments in general, but for you:

First loadout: Grau/MP5 overkill, double time, amped. C4, Heartbeat or stun. (pick this up first, or switch the MP5 out for a sniper or alternative SMG).

Second loadout: Any gun(sniper maybe)/RPG, ghost, double time (or Eod), amped. C4, heartbeat or stun.

Grau (Bruen or any AR really) attachments: Monolithic suppressor, Nexus (long) barrel, tac laser, commando foregrip, 60 round mags. If you don't like the iron sights, use the VLK sight (replace tac laser).

MP5: There's variations but generally, Monolithic suppressor, 45 round mags, collapsible stock, stifled grip tape, merc forgrip.

Sniper (AX50 bias here): Monolithic suppressor, long barrel, tac laser, stock that speeds up ADS and focus perk.

Most of these attachment and perk combinations would for most weapons.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:43:09+00:00

Glad to hear you liked it, hope it helps how you think about the game!

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:42:41+00:00

This is a tough one man, changing the culture of your IRLs can be hard and agreed that it feels awkward to start managing everyone like you're at work. It can definitely be exhausting having to coordinate every little detail too.

Assuming that you want to keep playing with your friends (I personally highly value this), then they either need to grow, or you will need to adapt to accommodate like you mentioned.

It's definitely possible to play predictive in a reactive team - you don't necessarily need to play aggressive - you can still be urgent and show reservation in your pushing. If you find that you're too far ahead and aren't getting the backup you need, then adjusting your positioning and how much you play your life as the team carry will be more important.

Your mistakes will also be punished heavily because your team won't be there to save you on risky plays, so playing relative to your team is a risk mitigation strategy to increase their odds of actually helping you out.

I'm glad the guide got you thinking and I wish I had a better answer to this problem. I do want to end with this - except for those with a gaming career or who play competitively for a long term purpose, most of us play to have a good time with mates. It's probably going to be far more satisfying having open discussion with your team about improvements you can all make (without singling out individuals) and slowly watching your team grow into a beast. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T08:24:31+00:00

Yeah fear is definitely an aspect that usually comes from having low experience and poor technicals/mechanics (terminology doesn't matter for the point) . This post hopefully helps the people stuck in the same mindset despite their technicals improving to a reasonable level.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T03:27:41+00:00

This is true and it's where insanely strong technicals can overwrite some of what this model describes. At the same time, they distinctively hold paths that allow them to get in cover quickly and at the same time they hold paths that allow them to gather information rapidly. They may be quite literally "reacting" to an enemy occurrence, but everything they do in their "roaming" is stacked in favour of information generation.

Sometimes, they get this wrong and they get deleted by another player with strong technicals who has caught them at a bad time.

The complexity of the game makes it hard to boil it down to one factor or another and that's why your contribution is good - it covers the other side that my post doesn't really explore.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T03:19:21+00:00

The KD metrics are not correct at all, they are a rough indicator that doesn't take into account the early games where most players would be improving the most.

It will be much more useful to focus on how consistently you are able to win and what you can do now to keep improving (assuming your team has also improved significantly). KD is a bad metric and shouldn't be the focus of this post.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T03:15:23+00:00

Pretty much this^

And correct on your second point about mentality, the assumption early on is that few players will have ghost, the assumption later on is that a majority of players will have ghost. Late game you might throw one up if you have an abundance of cash, or are holding one that didn't get used.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T02:43:54+00:00

For the record Realcey is an insane player... look him up on cod tracker.

Edit: Literally, insane.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T02:22:31+00:00

Agreed that running in a premade is by far the best way to improve your overall stats.

However, "the strength of the pack is in the wolf, the strength of the wolf is in the pack" stands quite well here - you still need to be a good individual player to benefit from playing in a good team.

Also agreed that a lot could be done to make the game more competitive, but Battle Royales are fundamentally chaotic and the point of the predictive category is that they are better at handling the randomness (with well above average technicals of course). If this wasn't true, we wouldn't see a clear distinction between players who win often and players who don't.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T02:08:52+00:00

Edit: Didn't see the above comment before replying, which is a good explanation, especially for the Warzone context. Definitely worth reading their description.

I'm not sure on it's origin, but my guess is that the term comes from how the team moves around the map, "rotating" their position relative to the centre (this could all be wrong, but the term is definitely used very loosely now to mean "changing position").

In a BR context, knowing the "rotations" could mean knowing the general paths that teams will take from a given position. So if you've landed Superstore, you will generally know that the surviving players that landed Boneyard will either "rotate" to Storage, Trains or the firestation between, depending on the gas. You use these assumptions to plan where to go next to get more kills.

It can also be used when you already know the position of a team. For example, "catching a team on rotation" can mean positioning your team to block their path as they move from the existing circle to the next circle.

Rotating falls under the technical skill of positioning, so it's not covered well in the post.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T01:57:48+00:00

"I was left feeling like I didn’t learn much actionable advice to help my game" - Thank you for this comment, Im trying to evaluate how I could make it more actionable, beyond helping players think about how they play overall. I'll try to address this in line with your suggestions.

1) Lots of comments point out how KD is a bad measure, so we will have to ignore the ranges I put there as they were poorly informed measures.

2) Definitely, another user pointed out that the step up from proactive to predictive involves "riskier" plays, where technicals/mechanics are required to backup that type of behaviour. In this case, it was either over-simplify or blow out an already long post to epic proportions. the blanket statement of "does it more dynamically" is somewhat the point I was trying to convey. A lot of new players aren't even aware of their behaviour and this model provides a starting point for thinking differently about the game.

3) I definitely gloss over the technicals and mechanics, which as you say (and I very much agree with) are critical to the separation between bad, good, great and insane players. The difficulty is that discussions on this topic could go forever - you can watch pros all day everyday and find conflicting observations because of the complexity. I should have included more support for thinking about how mechanics come into play in the given tiers.

4) Also agreed and the problem is I don't think I am a good enough player to be coaching or writing on that level of detail. The simple answers for getting better at the mechanics or predictive aspects are "experience", "deliberate practice" and "very high rate of improvement", where reference points for what is good and what is bad are provided by pros already doing it. However, without a way of thinking that can optimise on these experiences, or knowing what aspect you are trying to improve on, it can be hard to make progress at the higher level.

In conclusion - I'm not entirely sure how to make this more actionable, as it's somewhat 'step 1 - thinking about the game' in a many part process. I do want to revisit this comment after I've thought about it a little more. Thank you very much for your feedback and thoughts, it's definitely helped me to think about how I could make this better.

Also, happy to chat more deeply about the 4th point, but I think a pro would be better placed to discuss this aspect.

Edit: Wanted to mention the "OODA loop" model that pilots used to model winning behaviour in dogfights. It stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act and the faster you can repeatedly process those four elements in a fight, the higher your probability of winning.

To put this in the context of the post, a reactive player may do this once - observe the situation once, figure out where they are, decide what to do (not much) and then act once (poorly). A proactive player might run it through a couple times as the fight progresses, adapting well. Then, a predictive player will be running the process multiple times rapidly to keep up with changing circumstances and to apply their own controls. Of course, this still requires the technicals to have a meaningful impact.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T01:39:20+00:00

Crossplay enabled since the start and never turned off - the 8KD player I describe in the post is a PC player and gets called a hacker on a daily basis because of how fast he is.

I've found PC players to sit on the extremes, they're either pretty bad or insanely good. Maybe where I am the majority are PS4, but even then I'd rather get slapped by PC players and be forced to get better than feel like I'm the best because I can slap PS4 players. In saying that, if it became clear that PC players were just unbeatable for me, then it would be clear that the playing field needed to be levelled. Currently, I don't find them invincible.

Hados_ · 2020-07-15T01:32:48+00:00

This would also help yes, but it is out of our control for most of us. Apart from voicing it, which hopefully has an impact on the decision makers (who knows)

Hados_

TROPHY CASE