Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Mental Checklist Before Each Match
- Keep Calm and Relax
- Read and React
- Finish and Live
#1 Click-Pause-Adjust to Improve Your Aim:
SEE ALSO: The Biggest Mistakes COD Players Make in Multiplayer
Learning how to improve your aim in Call of Duty Cold War is important and will take time and persistence. What is meant by click-pause-adjust is accuracy, accuracy, accuracy. If you are firing at the enemy and your rounds just do not seem to hit then let go of that trigger, adjust your marker on the enemy, then continue firing. This is a sure-fire method to regain control of your aim. This will take some practice if you are not familiar with this method.
#2 Stim Shots:
Stim shots extend your fighting capabilities by recovering your health back to 100. This is crucial and is probably the most valuable asset when in battle. This can extend your life span and lead to increasing your K/D.
#3 Mini-Map:
Your mini-map is your intelligence to know where the enemy is located. The red dots indicate an enemy and they light up when the enemy fires their weapon off or if you or another teammate has activated the UAV. This will give you the advantage of locating and executing the enemy while also giving you the intel that you are outnumbered.
#4 Perks:
SEE ALSO: Best Way to Upgrade Guns in Call of Duty Cold War
Perks are a good way to give you an advantage on the battlefield. You have three perks to choose from unless you choose “Perk Greed”, which allows you to have an extra three perks.
You want to add the perks that suit your playstyle. What’s going to benefit you the most? You can look up what the best perks are to have but they may not suit you. For example, you may slay enemies or do nothing but spray and pray so the scavenger perk may be detrimental. Make sure to examine what each perk is and know your playstyle so that you can determine what perks suit your needs.
#5 Equipment (Tactical, Lethal, Field Upgrades):
You always want to use your equipment when available to you. For example, a flashbang or grenade is given to you after the start of your new life. If you never use them then it’s a waste. It would be better to throw your grenade in the direction of where you think the enemy may be rather than not using it at all. In other words, you will have more of a chance to kill 1 or more enemies if you throw it than if you keep it.
There is other equipment that takes some time to spawn, such as a proximity mine or field mic. Each one has a placement strategy as well as a playstyle strategy, so everyone should have a field upgrade that matches their playstyle. For example, a proximity mine can be successful or unsuccessful depending on where it is placed. Sometimes the enemy can just outrun the blast radius because it wasn’t placed properly. Let’s say there is a door that leads from the outside to the inside of a room. One proximity mine is placed to the side of the door either on the outside or inside – it doesn’t matter but for this example, we’ll use the inside of the room. The other mine is placed further away from the side of the door to account for the activation time. The mine that is placed directly to the side of the door will only kill an enemy coming inside the room and will not touch them if they’re heading outside of the room because the wall has prevented the blast radius from reaching your target. For the second-placed mine, the blast radius will catch your target coming in the room or exiting the room.
The placement of your field upgrades is important. You need to take into consideration that it must remain in a spot where it cannot be spotted easily as well as having the effect you want on the enemy.
#6 Sliding | Crouching | Prone:
Sliding is great to evade the enemy and their rounds or taking an enemy by surprise to kill them before they can adjust their sights to your level. One thing you should know is sliding makes noise that the enemy can hear even if you have the Ninja perk. Slide only when you need to so that you can evade and disorient the enemy. The last thing you want to do is alert the enemy to your location.
If you do not have the Ninja perk then your footsteps are loud. One way to prevent the noise is crouching. This will give you the ability to sneak up on the enemy without alerting them. Another great thing about crouching is it makes you a tougher opponent to take down. For example, if you crouch then stand (repeat) and move side to side it makes you a much tougher target thus making you a formidable opponent. Practice makes perfect and you will need to adjust your aim accordingly.
Prone is another great method to making you a tougher target to hit. For example, if you are in a firefight you can easily get into prone ASAP while still firing down range. This makes you an extremely tough target to hit while you are laying down every shot as you get down. If you time this correctly and keep in mind the angle your enemy is at in reference to yourself then you will win that fight every time… If you hit your shots that is. It isn’t very common for an opponent to be great at tracking but there is always one.
#7 When to use your Secondary:
Everyone’s secondary weapon is unique to their playstyle. You may have a knife or machete or a shotgun. Whatever the weapon, you need to know when to use it as well as the opposite.
A secondary is for close-quarters combat (CQB). So make sure you are pulling that weapon out when going around corners or in a tight building like the houses in Nuke Town. There are a lot of users out there who do not use their secondary enough in CQB situations, so this will give you an edge over them.
Also, know the range of your secondary. For example, a knife or machete is an up and personal kind of weapon while a shotgun can be used at a further distance.
#8 Stop Checking Your K/D:
Your K/D may or may not matter to you. However, during battle, your K/D is not something you want to keep checking, or even check at all; it is something, however, you want to improve on or get at least over a 1.0.
That being said, checking your K/D during battle can completely change your mindset. It can add stresses, which results in playing worse. Instead, try not worrying about how many kills you have and worry about the battle in front of you. Keep a one-track mindset with the goal of killing as many enemies as possible while you are in a match. No distractions will lead to a successful match!
#9 Pretend Like You’re Down by One:
The human mind is a powerful weapon. People naturally have a competitive mindset. If you go into each match like you’re down by one then you will have the drive to preserver.
#10 Reload When Necessary:
This is one of the most important rules of Call of Duty that so many fail to execute. A person will reload immediately after a successful kill or, even, an unsuccessful one. This is extremely risky because it leaves you completely useless if there is another enemy nearby.
You need to be aware of your surroundings and be patient. You also need to be aware of how many rounds you have in your magazine (mag). If you have made reloading immediately after you finish firing a habit then you need to form this new habit:
- Fire your weapon at the enemy. It does not matter if it results in a successful kill or not.
- Know how many rounds your weapon yields. If you play with a weapon long enough you will have a sense of when your mag is getting close to empty.
- Always assume that another enemy is beyond your line of sight and can pop out at any moment.
- When you are either close to an empty mag or have executed an enemy then head behind cover to reload.
- You now have become a harder target and more strategic player.
Don’t make the mistake of reloading while running out in the open.
Check out out other Call of Duty Cold War content.
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