MeinMMO summarizes the 5 most important tips that beginners should consider when starting with CoD Vanguard. The high game speed and low time-to-kill even make seasoned CoD veterans sweat. With our tips, you’ll do better.
Who are these tips for? The following tips are primarily aimed at players for whom Vanguard may be their first Call of Duty, maybe even their first shooter. However, advanced players could also find information that helps them adapt more easily to the specific nuances of Vanguard.
1. Keep Moving!
The “Call of Duty” games have always been among the fastest shooters on the market. With the launch of Vanguard, it is clear that it is among the fastest ‘Call of Duty’ games ever.
What does that mean? In CoD Vanguard, you are not rewarded for camping in a corner. Not only are the maps too open and offer many routes suitable for flanking – players are quick and often move silently. So it’s hard to even know when an opponent stumbles into your camping spot.
Camping players might occasionally kill an inattentive enemy, but they rarely help their team. Moreover, opponents move around the corner faster than a camper can kill them due to high mobility. The starting loadouts also provide strong opportunities to track down campers.
But the opposite is also true: Aggressive players are quick and often move silently, and can use fast gameplay to exploit the many flanking routes to surprise opponents. Especially on maps like Hotel Royale, where many smaller routes intersect, aggressive gameplay can lead to great success. It’s also a lot of fun.
Aggressive players also benefit from the peekers’ advantage. It works in such a way that the running player sees the camper first. Thus, the aggressive player benefits from a different representation of the game figures and the field of vision. More information on this can be found here:
This is what you need to do: Keep moving, help your team, and stay in the action! This makes the gaming experience much more enjoyable, and your teammates will thank you as well.
This is what you need to keep in mind: After sprinting, it always takes a few moments before you can shoot again. This so-called sprint-to-fire time varies depending on the weapon and its attachments. This time is even longer with the faster tactical sprint, which you activate by double-pressing the sprint button. So try to stop your sprint just before a suspected firefight (by aiming your weapon) to be able to shoot as quickly as possible.
2. Mobile Loadouts are Strong
This tip is a logical conclusion from the first one, but in the first hours of the game, it became clear: Mobile loadouts are strong.
Based on the first hours of gameplay, assault rifles are simply too slow to handle aggressive and nimble opponents and loadouts. By the time a player can aim after sprinting with an StG44, they have already been gunned down by a submachine gun.
Our recommendation: Focus primarily on submachine guns and loadouts that make you mobile, especially at the beginning.
Even the MP-40, the first submachine gun available, is a beast in close combat. Thus, it is the perfect complement to the aggressive gameplay that is required. With the right weapon attachments, which all unlock quickly, the MP-40 also proves to be a real all-rounder. With the right barrel, it’s even deadly at longer ranges, while other ammunition types can turn you into an agile close-combat monster.
Utilize the many options the gunsmith offers and the high flexibility it provides. You can fit up to 10 attachments on your weapons without compromise, equipping them however you like. But don’t forget to always keep an eye on the drawbacks of the attachments.
3. Use the Minimap, but not too much
The minimap is one of your most important tools in CoD Vanguard, but you have to be careful not to get distracted by it. The minimap not only tells you where your teammates are and where to find your mission objectives, it tells you under certain circumstances where the enemies are.
How do I see enemies on the map? With killstreaks (also called Killstreaks), you can make enemies visible on the map. If you have equipped the kill streak ‘Location’, you can use it after making 3 kills without dying. Then, enemies in your vicinity will be displayed on your minimap for a short time.
The killstreak “Spy Plane”, which is unlocked at level 21, requires 4 kills in a row and briefly shows the enemies for the entire team on the minimap.
The perk Radar also allows you to see enemies on the minimap who shoot without suppressors or subsonic ammunition.
Use this information to your advantage, but try not to become dependent on the minimap. If you play Vanguard and stare too much at the map, you might overlook enemies and be surprised by counters from reveal abilities.
How do I prevent appearing on the minimap? To avoid appearing on the enemy’s map, there are several things you can use. There’s the killstreak “Counter Spy Plane”, which makes the map unusable for enemy players for a limited time.
The perk Ghost always hides you from detections and spy planes as long as you keep moving. With suppressors and subsonic ammunition, you prevent being spotted by enemies using the perk Radar. And the Field Equipment Dead Silence gives you the effect of Ghost and makes your movements quieter. These means are therefore very powerful and should be a high priority in your loadout composition.
4. Pay attention to enemy sounds – and your own
Audio is immensely important: As in every shooter, it is important to pay attention to the sounds in Vanguard. Listening carefully can help determine whether opponents are nearby and where they are. Even if you can’t see them at all. Therefore, we recommend that when playing you use headphones and turn down the in-game music a bit.
These “audio wallhacks” give you huge advantages. They set you even further apart from those many CoD players who listen to loud music while gaming and thus miss all of your movements.
The opposite is also true: Always be aware of how much a potentially present enemy could hear from you when you want to flank. In Vanguard, there are several ways to completely or almost completely suppress your own sounds. These are:
- Crouching while running
- Moving while aiming down sights
- The perk Ninja
- The field equipment Dead Silence
- With the weapon proficiency Unmarked after a kill
Use these tips to remain undetected and surprise your opponents repeatedly. If you want to improve in the audio area, check out our headset recommendations:
5. Nobody cares about your stats
The perhaps most important tip that the least people listen to. If you are not a streamer or pro-gamer, nobody in the world cares about your stats. Whether it’s your K/D (Kill-Death Ratio, your average kills per life), your longest killstreak, or your best weapon. Even your friends’ numbers are not visible to you in Vanguard.
As long as you do not flaunt your stats unsolicited, only you know about them.
Why is this important? Not every player performs best or has the most fun with meta loadouts. So don’t hesitate to try new things or use suboptimal weapons. You can change your settings and try a crazy loadout without any real consequences if it doesn’t work. Maybe you’ll discover your new favorite weapon or improve your gameplay because you found a better mouse sensitivity.
The worst negative consequence of a failed experiment is poor performance in individual matches. In contrast, such experiments can lead to long-term success and longer gaming enjoyment.
Would you add anything to these tips? Did you encounter any major difficulties at the start of Vanguard with something specific? And how do you find the game shortly after release? Let us know in the comments.
The most important settings you should keep in mind for the release of Vanguard can be found in our article “11 settings that will make you better at CoD Vanguard right from the start“.
