Black Ops 6 has hit the scene, bringing with it one of the series’ sweatiest multiplayer offerings in recent memory. That’s largely due to an all-new movement system that ups the pacing of this year’s Call of Duty. There’s plenty to get familiarized with in the pursuit of maintaining the top spot on the leaderboard, and we’ll give our tips for where to focus your efforts to keep that K/D at an all-time high.
Here are our top five tips to better your multiplayer prowess.
Movement is More Important Than Ever
Omnimovement is the big, new feature being marketed endlessly for Black Ops 6. Omnimovement enables players to sprint not only forward, but side-to-side and backwards, too. Additionally, diving is empowered by this unshackled 360° freedom. To truly gain ground in your multiplayer prowess, it is imperative that you spend time training with this movement system. Where you do this is ultimately your call, but I’d recommend avoiding the PvP environment for the early hours of training (unless you opt for a private match with friends). The Training Course makes for an ideal, low stakes option to get down the basics and figure out a flow. Zombies is a nice escalation up from that, allowing for testing more refined movement with added risk.
Dive, Dropshot and Slide to Minimize Your Hitbox
Once you have gotten the hang of the new general movement speed, it’s time to work on seamlessly mixing in a few maneuvers. Diving, dropshotting and sliding all work well at minimizing the available hitbox to your enemy. Diving backwards away from an opponent provides all the reduced target area of being prone while also being airborne, making for trickier acquisition. This is especially true if you employ this tactic when emerging from cover or from around a corner, as it will be harder to anticipate your potential head location for quick critical kills. Granted, being airborne can make your aim in turn more harder to maintain, but spend enough time getting a feel for aiming on the move and holding a target will start to become more organic. It will also help you prepare for the types of movement your opponents will likely be leveraging against you as well.
Recon Perks Boost Survivability Through Increased Information
Black Ops 6 boasts a color-coded perk system that categorizes perks under one of three types. The blue Recon perks are great selections for those looking to up their survivability. Ghost will keep you off of the enemy Scout Pulse and UAV, as well as the Prox Alarm. This will ensure you remain concealed as you move about the battlefield by virtually all methods barring AI-controlled targeting systems and general line-of-sight. The Engineer perk makes sure you don’t accidentally stumble across a deadly Scorestreak or piece of equipment by enabling you to see both through walls. Avoiding Neurogas and Spring Mines has never been easier. Vigilance is a helpful perk that pops up a HUD icon in the event that you do appear on an enemy minimap, in addition to gaining immunity from CUAVs, Scramblers and Sleeper Agent.
Selecting three Recon perks awards the Recon Combat Specialty, a fairly strong bundle of enhancements. First, you will be able to briefly see red outlines of enemies through walls at spawn (this includes the initial match spawn), allowing you to plan accordingly based on the directions you see people running. The Combat Specialty also adds a highlight to the edges of the screen when an off-screen enemy takes aim at you. If the screen lights up, move into cover or spin around to turn towards the attacker.
Play Zombies and Complete Daily Challenges
The tip for multiplayer is to play another mode? Hear me out. Playing Zombies is an easy way to move up in rank quickly, especially if you knock out the three Daily Challenges. Leveling up in the PvE mode will help you get to your desired weapon faster. And since Zombies now has a loadout option, you can take your desired weapon immediately into round one to start leveling it; no more waiting for a wall buy or lucky Mystery Box pull. Dive into Zombies and push to whatever wave you feel comfortable. Higher enemy density appears as waves pass, giving you plenty of squishy targets to mow down with the selected firearm. The Daily Challenges in multiplayer are also worth completing, if you feel ready for that particular mayhem.
Body Shields Over Finishing Moves
It can be tempting to show off that flashy finishing move when you get the drop on an enemy, but the body shield option offers more utility. When performing a finishing move, you’re vulnerable during that third-person animation. It’s not uncommon to be gunned down mid-execution, left to watch your once-victim now running off unscathed. The body shield in Black Ops 6 provides a second action tied to the melee button. By holding it when behind the enemy, you can grab them move around while still firing your primary weapon with one hand. Sure, this reduces aiming stability a bit, but it also heavily reduces your available hitbox. Enemies will either have to go for the headshot or kill their ally to get to you. It’s essentially 15-second health boost from forward-facing fire, if you can pull it off.