Essential Black Ops 4 Blackout Tips To Know Before Playing

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a bit of a different beast from previous games in the series. The classic Call of Duty multiplayer modes return, but the game is far more focused on multiplayer than ever before, shedding the single-player campaign that previous entries have offered. Not only that, but there's a completely new mode called Blackout. Those familiar with battle royale games such as Fortnite and PUBG will feel right at home in this 100-player mode.

If you spend most of your time with Call of Duty games, chances are that Blackout will be incredibly foreign to you. After all, it's a much slower-paced affair compared to the more frenetic speed of Call of Duty's standard multiplayer modes. If you want to come out on top in Blackout, you need to ditch many of the strategies and behaviors that once earned you victory in previous games. And even if you are a battle royale veteran, Black Ops 4 still has a wealth of its own unique mechanics and systems that you'll need to get accustomed to.

In this feature, we highlight a number of useful tips to know before jumping into Blackout. If you've had a chance to play the beta, you may be familiar with some of what we're about to discuss. Developer Treyarch has added and adjusted a few aspects of the game since, so be sure to read ahead. Changes also continue to roll in, and we're seeing new features like the Black Market and a Halloween event implemented.

If all of this talk about Blackout confuses you, be on the lookout for our article that goes over everything you need to know about the mode. You can also read our informative feature that details Black Ops 4 as a whole in all of its modes. For folks more curious about how Blackout compares to Fortnite and PUBG, check out our in-depth comparison feature. Otherwise, be on the lookout for more Black Ops 4 guides in the coming days.

In the meantime, how do you feel about Blackout? Got any tips concerning the mode that you don't see here? Let your voice be heard in the comments below.

Getting to the ground first is one of the most important things you need to master. You'll start the match in a helicopter that flies across the island. Unlike in other battle royale games, the way to drop down precisely where you want--and quickly--is to trade off between speed and distance. When you exit the helicopter, head straight down. You know you're reaching max speed when your character's arms tuck in. The right side of screen shows both your speed in meters per second and downward facing arrows. You want to hit three down triangles and then start flying up and down in long, wave-shaped movements towards your chosen landing zone.

Landing in remote places is a huge gamble, but doing so in a small unmarked village can be even worse than a larger area. If a team has landed before you, then you have nowhere to run. Larger areas may attract more players but typically have more buildings to explore. It's also easier to get to a separate building where you can gather equipment. A great example of this is landing at Turbine, where there are several large warehouses. However, certain areas, such as Firing Range and Nuketown Island, attract an especially large number of players. Don't go there unless you're confident in your skills.

When you jump out of the helicopter, you'll use your wingsuit to land. You might not know, however, that it can be deployed at any time during a match. It's useful to do so when jumping off tall places, such as the Dam or Lighthouse. This is helpful in making a hasty escape when things go south. You can deploy the wingsuit by running and then holding the jump button.

Going to zombie-infested areas, such as Asylum or any of the beams of light on the map, can get you high-level weapons and armor. There is a chance that a super zombie will show up; killing it yields even better rewards. However, the ensuing gunfire will likely draw a lot of attention in the process. Alternatively, if you'd rather avoid engaging with zombies, you can always ambush teams trying to nab weapons and equipment from zombies and steal their stuff instead.

Don't hide in buildings during the final moments of a match when the battle area is at its smallest; you're likely to get killed by grenades, cluster bombs, or any other explosive throwables. Though, if you have the trusty Trophy System, you can just zap any incoming explosive right out of the air. Regardless, it's a good rule of thumb to avoid camping out in buildings during this moment of the match.

Blackout has a good mix of transportation options. There are helicopters, boats, ATVs, and heavy trucks. But be careful; driving these noisy vehicles can give away your location, especially as the map shrinks over the course of the match.

Helicopters are incredibly useful if you need to get to a safety zone quickly. There several scattered across the map; you can find them are the Construction Site, Estates, Turbine, Factory, Firing Range, Nuketown Island, and Cargo Docks.

If players in vehicles are giving you trouble, then seek out the Hellion Salvo rocket launcher, which can lock onto them with ease. If you find yourself about to be on the receiving end of the Hellion Salvo, try to break line of sight as fast as possible or abandon ship.

When playing in a squad, Blackout has plenty of options available for you to help out your team, such as sharing ammo with teammates from the inventory menu. Some actions in the game can even be performed without fully going into your menus. You can use the D-pad to scroll through a downed enemy's inventory, and with a single button press you can equip a weapon attachment from the ground without going into your inventory.

Despite not having a single-player campaign, Black Ops 4 does have a solo training mode with Specialist videos and a brief cinematic story. Doing this will unlock multiplayer characters for Blackout, as well as teach you how to use many of the gadgets that appear as pickups in battle royale. Black Ops 4's standard multiplayer mode also offers some learning opportunities that can benefit you in Blackout, as you can familiarize yourself with weapons and gadgets that fit your playstyle in a more contained combat space.

As stated, many of the specialist weapons can be found all across the map in Blackout. Here are some pointers on a few that may not easy to understand out the gate.

• Recon's Sensor Dart has a huge vertical cone and is best fired into elevated places where it is hard to spot.
• Battery's Cluster Grenade sticks to surfaces and shoots mini bombs straight out from where it lands, like a shotgun blast. It is intended to be used to reach around corners. It's very dangerous to throw a cluster grenade on a wall or at an enemy right in front of you.
• Torque's Razor Wire is meant to be placed under windows Rainbow Six Siege-style to trap vaulting opponents, as opposed to obvious places out in the open. Torque's Barricade can also be found in Blackout and is helpful cover that can be deployed when caught in the open.