Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s beta is in full swing, and whether this is your first time checking out Call of Duty or you’re coming back to the franchise after a long hiatus, these tips may help you start building a better game sense and flag some helpful features newer to the series. These tips are intended for beginners and players looking to sharpen their skills beyond the basics.
advertisement
Play a lot of Call of Duty and learn something cool? Share your tips in the comments below!
Choose Between Killstreaks and Scorestreaks
If you’re not a fan of Killstreaks, you can change to Scorestreaks whenever you’re outside of a match in the Weapons menu. Select the Killstreaks menu then look at the bottom left of the screen for the button prompt to toggle between earning your bonus through kills or scored points. On PlayStation, press R2.
- 4 Kills = 500 Points
- 5 Kills = 625 Points
- 7 Kills = 875 Points
- 8 Kills = 1000 Points
advertisement
Once you reach level 10 you’ll unlock the Mission Control Comlink gear. This reduces your Kilstreak cost by 1, or Scorestreak cost by 125 if you want to unlock these faster.
Completing Daily Challenges More Efficiently
Some of the more potentially obnoxious daily challenges, like getting kills while Holding Breath can be cleared easier in Ground War. More targets, more space, and way more time.
Sure, you’re maybe not explicitly helping with the objective, but aside from the special rewards unlocked during the beta, nothing else will carry over to the final game anyway. Use this as an opportunity to learn.
Take a Minute to Adjust Your Behavior Settings
As Call of Duty has aged, the number of settings available for players to adjust to best customize the shooting experience has changed significantly. Though this once was most important for PC players, it’s also valuable for console players.
advertisement
The beta is the perfect opportunity to test out more than just vertical and horizontal sensitivity; the Controller menu specifically has interesting options to alter gameplay, like adjusting sprint/tactical sprint behavior and how you climb objects or how you enter weapon mounting. Ultimately a lot of these choices come down to how you play Call of Duty. No shame if hiding in corners is your thing, but if it is, what you’ll need is drastically different than a player learning how to swoop around corners and move at optimal speed around a map.
Automatic weapon mounting can be helpful in Ground War if you plan on posting up at a point and using most of your time on defense. The additional stability will help with accuracy, but the automatic movement will slow you down significantly in other modes, leaving you vulnerable.
Under the Controller menu, you’ll specifically want to check out the Gameplay submenu to alter movement behaviors (options for ground mantling, door bash, tactical sprint, etc) and combat behaviors (ADS behavior, weapon mount activation, etc).
advertisement
Then you’ll also want to visit the Interface menu. This is where you can alter your in-game HUD (mini map shape, crosshair settings, etc) and turn on telemetry, including packet loss, server latency, a clock, and a connection meter.
If you find yourself wanting to tweak a setting frequently, favorite the setting in its original menu by pressing triangle on PlayStation to add it to your Quick Settings menu. This special menu can host up to 15 settings of your choosing, making them faster to access if you need to fix something.
General Tips
- Corners are the most dangerous. Highly skilled players have all sorts of techniques to get the advantage while turning them. Before you move past or around a corner, especially in the final moments of a match when you’re team is barely a few kills ahead, ask yourself: do you really need to peek around that corner? The answer is almost always “probably not.”
- Call of Duty games have always been known for their quick TTK (time to kill). That’s true in Modern Warfare 3. Standing still is a death sentence. Keep moving, or at least make sure you’re behind cover if you want to slow down for a bit.
- If you’ve been alive in a Mosh Pit match for a while (more than a minute or two) be sure to watch where your team spawns on the minimap. That’ll help you identify the flow of battle so you can ensure you’re not waltzing into the area just outside the enemy spawn.
- Like most FPS these days, Call of Duty also has a ping system. Press Up on the D-Pad to access the Ping Wheel, or tap the button once to place a general location marker. Callout those enemies without even getting on mic and help your team, even if they’re not helping you.
- Leveling too slow for your liking and want weapons with more attachments? You can ditch the custom classes and use the pre-made loadouts by pressing R1 while in the Loadout menu in a match.
- Don’t forget to use ammo and munitions boxes for not only resupplying your weapon ammo but also your lethal and tactical gear. On Ground War, you’ll find big stacks of ammo boxes like the one shown below at each of the capture points.
- Some of the most popular weapons right now are the MTZ-556 Assault Rifle (sort of the default weapon that is actually pretty good), the MCW Assault Rifle, the SVA 545 Assault Rifle, and the Striker SMG. It’s in your best interest to spend time with the weapon you find most effective to level it up and unlock attachments that you can add with the Gunsmith feature. Base weapons have no modifications, so be sure to keep an eye on your favorite weapon’s Weapon Level and modify it as you unlock new attachments.
Specific Map Tips
The Modern Warfare 3 beta has only a few maps available, but you can check out the list of confirmed maps for the full game here.
advertisement
- Survival on a map like Favela means constant movement and attention to windows and rooftops. There are lots of hiding spots that make it easy for skilled players to take advantage of paths only made by climbing through windows and ascending staircases. If you’re learning the map, try sticking to the outer edges of the map and watch where the action breaks out most.
- Also on Favela, power comes in knowing how to get to the roofs. You’ll have an easier time looking down through the alleys than looking up, looking for a crouched target. Just be sure to keep an eye out for others looking for the high-ground advantage.
- One of the most fun ways to play Rust, regardless of the mode, is extreme run and gun. Equip the SMG of you’re choosing (Striker is preferable for having decent range, too) and run around the outside of the map, sliding constantly and using tactical sprint when you’re not actively engaging someone. You can take early rights or lefts and slide under the smaller spaces in the central structure too to change it up a bit. Enjoy the chaos.
- Other popular Rust tactics include someone scaling the center structure to try to snipe and others going prone and trying to catch people running by surprise. If the latter get you, just be ready for them the next time.
- Since Rust is an exceptionally small map, it gets hectic fast, especially on a mode like Hardpoint. Be ready to spawn right in front of an enemy at any given moment. You might catch them by surprise, but you could also find yourself immediately dead again if you’re not ready to spring into the action.
advertisement
Get more information on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s beta in these guides: