Our reader DevilRon1989 has the honor of calling the currently best PS4 – Blackout player in Germany his friend. We are talking about “Buschlabe”, who can claim the record for the most kills and wins in the Blackout mode of Black Ops 4 .
In an interview with DevilRon1989, the record holder reveals his secrets to success, shares possible tips, and explains why Fortnite has become boring for him.
Hello Buschlabe! Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Please introduce yourself briefly. Who are you and what are you currently doing?
Hi Ron, I have to thank you. My real name is Manuel, I am 22 years old and I’m from NRW. Currently, I am passionately playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, especially the Blackout mode has really caught my interest, as I have always enjoyed Battle Royale games.
On which systems do you play Blackout?
I currently only play Blackout on my Playstation 4 Pro. This also applies to almost all the other games I play. So mostly, I am on the PS4 Pro.
Let’s get to the point: You are currently the best Blackout player in Germany, at least on PS4. Can you give us some numbers regarding this?
I currently have 196 wins in Blackout. At the moment, this is also the record. The second-placed player named “Neo3n3my” has 125 wins. Accordingly, I have still managed to gain a slight lead and hope to maintain it for a while.
Furthermore, I also hold the record for the highest total number of kills in Blackout with a total of 4016. Here too, the player “Neo3n3my” is second with a total of 2117.
(As of: 20.11.2018)
How about your international performance?
Of course, I am not at the top internationally. Regarding wins, I am in 93rd place on the global leaderboard and in kills, I am in 40th place. The competition at the international level is extremely strong!
Those are certainly strong numbers. Congratulations on that! Now, you cannot view a leaderboard in the game itself. How do you get these numbers?
Yes, that’s correct. At the moment, unfortunately, the game cannot provide official numbers. Only comparison among friends is visible in the game. Like many other games, there is also a so-called “Tracker” page for Black Ops 4, as most probably know from Destiny.
At cod.tracker.gg, you can access all information and make comparisons using your player ID. The site is updated approximately every 30 minutes and is used by many players.
Do these statistics refer to Solo, Duo, or Squad matches? Is there a difference in the presentation? What modes do you play?
No, at the moment this site can only list the overall results of all modes. There is no distinction between Solo or Squad here. Mainly, I play solo, but I also enjoy playing with friends.
I suspected as much, as we also often play together. Explain your play style to us. What makes you so successful in Blackout?
I prefer a very aggressive play style. I believe that is also necessary to keep up in the top ranks. This means that I land where many players are likely to be and where I can find enough loot.
Of course, such a play style is also very risky, as you often fall victim to other players, but there’s no way around it. For example, if you land in smaller or even abandoned places, you may survive longer at the beginning, but at the end of a round, you may not have the right equipment.
Moreover, the time factor plays a decisive role here: Without armor, it is extremely difficult to achieve a victory, and the smaller the area gets over the course of the game, the lower the chances of getting good equipment.
Eventually, you might end up in the final with empty hands, get shot, and have basically played for about 20 minutes for nothing, since only first place counts as a victory and thus the round does not count as a win in the tracker.
What drives you? Why do you put so much effort into Blackout?
I am generally a big fan of first-person shooters. I have been playing Call of Duty since Modern Warfare 2, and I have always enjoyed other shooters like Destiny and Doom.
I gained my enthusiasm for Blackout or Battle Royale through Fortnite. When the “hype” around PUBG started, it significantly sparked my interest in Battle Royale games, but I didn’t have a computer to play that game.
So, my friends and I were left with Fortnite as an alternative. When the fourth season of Fortnite started, a friend wrote to me saying he saw that I was in eighth place in the global leaderboard. I was able to stay among the top 100 for several weeks.
That really spurred my ambition, but after a while, I lost some of the fun in Fortnite because you really had to invest a lot of time to keep up with all the pros and streamers.
I also didn’t really like the building system of Fortnite and the camera perspective, as I prefer classic first-person shooters. Accordingly, the announcement of Blackout was a blessing for me. I knew immediately: This will be my game; I want to measure myself against others!
You just said that you like to land in places where many players gather. What places do you recommend for this?
Clearly the construction site! It has the advantage of being a very large area with plenty of loot, while opponents can land on different levels of the building. So you have many enemies, plenty of equipment, but also avoid direct confrontation with all the others in the first seconds.
You can already see well in flight which floors some players want to land on. If, for example, you encounter several players at the very top and don’t have a weapon, you can always glide down and try your luck there.
The construction site is indeed unique here, as such an escape option is not available at other locations in Blackout. Furthermore, I can also recommend the shooting range as many players gather there as well.
However, your chances of survival at this location are significantly lower, as you are practically boxed in by walls, and there are open areas around without cover.
How much time do you spend in Blackout? It must take a lot of time to maintain such records.
I play a few hours daily after work. However, I usually decide this based on my mood. Right now, I have three weeks off, so it can easily be a few more hours, but you also have to maintain some balance.
Of course, I want to defend my titles for as long as possible, but I also don’t want to lose the fun in gaming. So I try not to put myself under pressure. That happened to me with Fortnite, and eventually, I realized that I was only playing to secure my ranks.
That was clearly the wrong way, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to go this route either.
Okay, now to the weapons. Which weapons do you like to play with, which do you recommend, and which should one best leave behind?
In general, you can’t go wrong with most assault rifles. The KN-57 and the Maddox RFB are personally too imprecise for me, especially at long distances. However, the ABR 223 and the SDM are my favorites among all weapons.
The ABR 223 is perfect for mid-range, and where the ABR 223 fails, the SDM comes into play, which is deadly with few shots even at the furthest distance.
I would leave the large machine guns behind, as I believe they have too low a fire rate and do not match my play style. You also shouldn’t be running around with pistols, as they fulfill hardly any purpose.
And the perks? Which do you particularly like?
Dead Silence, Vigilance, and Paranoia are super useful. Especially Vigilance and Paranoia can be played very well with a headset, as they amplify acoustic signals from enemies and thus reveal their positions.
Speaking of headsets: What equipment do you use for your PS4 Pro?
I use the official “Playstation 4 Gold Wireless Headset” from Sony. As a controller, I now use a “Nacon PS4 Revolution Pro Controller 2”, which is a licensed controller from Sony that has additional buttons on the back that can be configured to personal preferences.
Are you active on Twitch or other social media? Do you stream your games?
I recently started uploading my videos on YouTube. Here you can find me under the name “Mr. Buschlabe”. Occasionally, I also upload to Instagram under “buschlabe” or announce livestreams there, usually on weekends. I also want to set up a Twitch channel, but that will follow in the near future.
Any final words? Any tips you would like to share with the readers or new players in Blackout?
Unfortunately, I can’t think of anything specific right now. However, I would recommend everyone to trust their own play style. You can find numerous tips on YouTube, but they are often quite contradictory.
Some swear by weapon X, others by weapon Y. I wouldn’t pay much attention to that, as everyone has different opinions. If anyone is still unsure or has just started with Blackout, they might first focus on the regular PVP mode like Team Deathmatch.
Here you can quickly see which weapon suits you, which attachments make sense, and so on. For example, if you do very well with tactical rifles in regular PVP, there is a good chance you can use them effectively in Blackout as well. Otherwise, just play and have fun! The rest will come in time.
Manuel or Buschlabe, thank you for this interview. Maybe with your help, I can make the construction site a little less secure tonight, what do you think?
Sounds good! I also thank you for this interview and send my best regards to all readers of Mein-MMO.
