Yes, I’m talking about the RIOT shield. This thing is beautiful, and for several reasons. One, it deflects just about ANYTHING in the game if you’re aiming it right including Air Support. Acting as a target for the enemy harrier will frustrate them to no end, if they know what is happening. Two, it usually surprises enemies if they come blitzing around the corner and see you there. And third, if you’re playing right, it will take several of them to take you down.

But there are some drawbacks too. Unless you’re running lightweight and marathon, you’re PAINFULLY slow, and even with those perks it’ll take you awhile to get to the fight. Enemies can also just hit you in the side if you’re not using terrain properly, and can also sneak some bullets to your feet if they’re smart. Lag will also let some of the more aggressive opponents “Slide-stab” you, where they run to your side and hit melee, which will auto-target you and you’ll be unable to defend due to unavoidable internet latency. Sometimes they seem to just be able to shoot through your shield. Some people roll with semtex on all of their builds, and will try and stick you. Some people get their grenade launchers/AT4/RPG out and shoot behind you negating your defensive bonus.

These drawbacks aside, nothing brings me more pleasure than hearing a lobby full of opponents complaining about how big of a noob you are for using a short-range blunt object to kill them. Also, its a different way to play than the standard “Shoot enemies” way of playing, and it isn’t like the Stabbing epidemic that seems to be running around right now. Here are some general Do’s and Don’ts, and I’ll get into specific tricks of the trade in the next section.

Do’s

Do: Crouch when you encounter an enemy from ANY distance.
Do: Face your enemy and have him in the center of your screen at all times.
Do: Be patient when engaging multiple foes.
Do: Avoid sprinting when in enemy territory.

Don’ts

Don’t: Get too aggressive and lower your shield with an enemy in your direct line of sight with a gun pointed at you
Don’t: Stay in one spot for too long
Don’t: Stand in the open. Use terrain to your advantage.
Don’t: Use smoke or Flash grenades. These take too long to use and your shield will be down during this time.

Very simple to follow! This will allow you to survive for a little longer than an unshielded opponent. Now I’ll get into some tricks that will actually allow you to go positive in K/D while Rioting.

The throwing knife is a very quick weapon, allowing you a ranged attack that will minimize the down-time of your shield, and not to mention pretty humiliating when you nail someone from a decent range with it! Also handy for hitting people that aren’t moving but you can’t get to them without exposing yourself too much. The trick is to absorb some of their fire until they get confused as to what to do about it, all the while you’re lining up your throwing knife with the center of the screen from behind your shield. When they stop to throw a semtex, or aim at your feet, you chuck the knife, then go pick it up off their body and repeat the cycle.

Semtex: Slower than the throwing knife, but more likely to net you a kill with good placement. The tradeoff is shield downtime, which is why I prefer the shield.

Stun grenades are quick. Slightly longer down-time than the knife, but the benefits are awesome. One, the enemy is slowed to a crawl, two their aim is dropped, three they can be blinded temporarily with a direct hit. A well placed stun grenade beneath the feet of a charging opponent will make them bait for anything you may want to do to them. My personal favorite is shield bashing, as they can’t get away, and they can’t lag-slide you with their knife. Flashbangs and smoke are useless as the idea is for them to see you coming, and they take too long to use anyway. Plus flashbangs will hit you through your shield, while stuns do not.

C4: I haven’t personally messed with this, but planting it on the wall and using your shield to get them to rush you and blowing it could work. Problem is having the controller out for it means no shield. An ALLIES C4 would work wonders though, they can have it planted and you could pull them into the explosion. Or you can sit on the C4 pack and just back up a bit when its time to blow it up.

Claymores: These are trickier to use alone. To pull them in and set it off, you almost have to put it where they can see it at an odd angle. This requires a stationary position, and would work better defending objectives. Make sure you are somewhat facing your claymore to protect you from as much of the explosion as possible. Pulling an enemy into a teammates claymore is better as you’re not going to take damage, and you get extra points if they shot you before they ’sploded.

Now, onto perks and builds. I’ll list my favorites then some alternatives. First is Scavenger. With the Riot, once you’re in the combat zone you’re not gonna be moving alot, so Marathon isn’t necessary unless you’re impatient and want to be in the fight quicker. Scavenger gives you full ammo for your secondary weapon (non launcher) and allows replacement of lost throwing knives, used semtex and stun grenades, and the like. VERY handy and ups your killing power quite a bit.

For the Red perks, I prefer Cold Blooded and Lightweight, depending on the map. Lightweight with Marathon for the biggest maps to get into position, and Scavenger and Cold blooded for maps where you’re in the action quickly. You can use other perks to enhance your secondary weapon if you wish, they’re not my preference however. Having the shield on your back is very unreliable.

Yellow perks, there is only one you need: Commando. As slow as you are, if you’re gonna bash them to death you need range, and commando provides. The Pro level also has the handy ability of being immune to fall damage, so you get some great shortcuts opened to you. Nothing else really compares to the benefits you see for the shield.

Section 3: Its not all about you.

Ever notice how you get “Good distraction” points when the enemy shoots your shield, then is killed by an ally? The shield was put in to help support the “Team game” concept.

Get in front, your ally does the work while you act as a bullet/grenade/everything they have magnet. Playing as a team player helps cement your victory over your opponents. When acting as a bullet sponge, make sure to keep the enemy attention, and to let your ally know to hang back a bit and watch for flankers that would hit you in the side. Have them wait behind you, and when an enemy shows up and puts lead to your shield, they should pop up and blast them while the enemy is figuring out what to do about you. This is the simplest way to deal with enemies. Getting your shot in with the melee is good too, as dealing with multiple opponents is often too much for people to deal with, much less the complication of dealing with one wielding a riot shield. This will weaken the enemy, and make their demise that much easier for your ally. Beware of stray explosives, this is what people will try to throw before they die when confronted with multiple opponents.

Defending objectives is made easier with your riot shield in hand. When the enemy is trying to rush an objective point, such as in domination, they’re planning on swinging in, grabbing it, then running off before your team can react. You not only prevent an easy capture, you delay them until you can ultimately kill them, or an ally can more efficiently put them down. Make sure you’re crouched in a common path to the objective point, avoid easily flanked locations, and wait. Your enemies will be along shortly. Then its just applying above skills to the encounter.

I hope you enjoyed this short guide to RIOT shielding for fun and profit. Good luck, and have fun pissing off your enemies!

Now that the KAA have been identified it is time to designate three Areas of Responsibility (ARs).

The three ARs have been designated AR Elevator, AR Middle, and AR Helipad.  Because all three AR are long and narrow on this map it makes sense that the AR owners should be snipers or other long range builds.  Long range builds are recommended for each AR but there are enough nooks and crannies that a camping shorter range build could do the job.  Remember, I don’t care how each man takes care of his AR so long as it is taken care of.

The major vulnerability that is not addressed by the three ARs is the Red Pit tunnel.

This is marked as a SAA but anyone who takes that route could get behind all of the AR owners if they are sniping from the building.  This weakness can be mitigated by using claymores or having the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) or the Mobile Forces (MFs) covering the tunnel.  The QRF is not a very reliable defense because the QRF will probably be called out to help one of the AR owners.  As we all know, claymores are a decent defense but they can be circumvented.  This means that it falls to everyone to keep a loose eye on that area and if the MFs want to cover that area then more power to them.

Provision to the 50/50TACDOC for Highrise or any other map:

If any AR owner is getting taken out regularly they can request that someone take their area from them.  The AR owner must watch their area until someone relieves them and then the AR owner must assume the duties of the person replacing them.  The same goes for anyone that wants to change their duty position for any reason.  If a MF wants to take an AR position he must have an AR owner agree and then go relieve the AR owner.  Changing positions is a two way street.  If the QRF wants to switch role he must wait for the person to relieve him as well.  This way is someone is having a bad game in any role they can change roles.

Applying the 50/50TACDOC to any MW2 map is a four step process.

1.      Key Avenues of Approach (KAA) must be identified.

2.     Areas of Responsibility (ARs) must be assigned along KAAs to deny OPFOR the use of KAAs to outmaneuver our forces.

3.      A Quick Reaction Force (QRF) will be created to assist any AR that is under attack

4.      Maneuver Forces (MFs) will be assigned to harass OPFOR and destroy any massed OPFOR attacks.

Now the 50/50TACDOC will be applied to the Estate Map to give you an idea of the KAAs.  Once KAAs are identified three ARs will be identified to control OPFOR movement on Estate.  After the ARs are identified the duties and responsibilities of the QRF and MF will be more fully explained as they apply to the 50/50TACDOC.

The KAAs are marked by black lines.  Teal lines mark the Secondary Avenues of Approach (SAA).  The KAAs and SAAs are not intended to mark all possible avenues of approach; only the most important or frequently used avenues of approach are marked.  Also, the KAAs and SAAs are only my opinion at the moment and are open to debate and refinement.  Here is the map with KAAs and SAAs marked.

The KAAs have been identified now the ARs need to be identified.  Before the ARs are identified the role of the ARs and how they apply to the 50/50TACDOC need to be explained further.  The AR is simply and important piece of real estate that one person is assigned to control.  The person assigned to the ARs can defend it in any way that they see fit so long as they effectively deny the area to the OPFOR.  The person assigned to the AR owns the AR and it is their baby.  If the person assigned to the AR want to sit behind the AR in an over watch position that is all good.  If the person assigned to the AR wants to camp in some nook of the AR it is all good.  The idea of assigning AR instead of a specific position is that each person plays differently and with different weapons.  As long as they can keep the OPFOR from using the AR as a maneuver route then the person controlling the AR is doing their job.

Of course, each AR is not set in stone.  Those are the ARs that I think are most important.  The particulars of each map are open to debate and refinement.  Each AR is not defensible against a massed OPFOR assault.  The person responsible for each AR is only expected to deal with one or two OPFOR at a time by himself.  The main job of the AR owner is to keep the OPFOR from getting one or two men behind the lines and into a position to flank everyone else.  It is inevitable that the OPFOR will eventually mass four or more guys to push through an AR.  If the owner of an AR gets attacked by more than he can handle he puts out a call to the QRF.  There will be one guy assigned to the QRF and it is his main job to quickly help any AR owner that needs help.  Ideally, the QRF will be enough help to take care of the OPFOR but if the OPFOR show up with their whole team two guys will not be able to hold an area.  This is where the Mobile Forces (MFs) come into play.

Ideally, the MFs will be operating in the OPFOR area and keep the OPFOR from massing to attack any one AR, but if the OPFOR can get enough of their guys together then it is the MFs job to be the cavalry and come to the rescue.  The MFs should try to attack any AR that the OPFOR have taken from the flanks or the rear because the AR owner and the QRF will be fighting to take the AR back.  The way the spawns will probably work means that the AR owner and the QRF will probably be approaching the OPFOR from the front.  This will allow the AR owner and the QRF to delay the OPFOR until the MFs can flank and catch the OPFOR in a cross fire.   Also, the AR owner and the QRF should press the attack on a lost AR so the OPFOR cannot consolidate and control the lost AR.  The one caveat to this plan is that the MFs are given carte blanche to do as they please.

The only job that the MFs have is to defeat the OPFOR in the most effective way they can.  This means that the MFs are never required to help an AR owner.  If a MF is effectively taking the OPFOR out on the other part of the map then they are free to keep doing what they are doing.  However, if all or most of the OPFOR is identified as being on one part of the map then it is expected that the MFs will head over there and kick a little ass.  The MFs are not tied to any particular part of the map and are free to camp, sneak, and outmaneuver as they see fit.  As long as the MFs are racking up the kills then they are doing their job.  Of course, the MFs are encouraged to be team players and not a bunch of mother fuckers.

That is the 50/50TACDOC in a nutshell.  Of course, there are a lot of individual Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) that we already like to use and those can be codified and added to the 50/50TACDOC.  The idea is that the 50/50TACDOC can be used to effectively unify our efforts and keep us from being flanked while allowing each of us to apply the TTPs that each individual favors.  As always, this tactical doctrine is intended to be refined over time.

With this guide, you should be equipped to handle most matches you’ll find online.

Survivor Commandments

Commandment I: Stick Together

There is NOTHING more important to surviving any given level than sticking together. Nobody breaks off from the formation. Lone players are EASY pickings; not even the BEST player will be able to shoot off EVERY smoker, punt EVERY hunter, and most DEFINITELY won’t be able to solo every VS tank. Sticking close has many benefits: Hunters will be removed from pounces very quickly minimizing damage, Smokers won’t be able to separate you as easily, and boomers will have low effect as a close group will swat around normal infected reducing their attacks. The only situation where you break this rule is for Witch cr0wning. In this case,  everyone moves to cover the cr0wner in case they fail so that the witch won’t kill them, and to cover from opportunistic infected players.

Commandment II: Move Fast

Infected respawn on a timer. Usually this is about 30 seconds. If you stay in one location for more than that, you’ve effectively given them a pass on their previous death and a free attempt to kill you. Do not let this happen. You hunker down while you’re boomed to handle the normals that swarm you, then you get moving immediately. The fewer respawns you give your infected opponents, the more life you will retain at the end increasing your score. Fewer attacks also mean fewer chances for group splits, and even better: fewer team wipes. Keep moving.

Commandment III: Kill the Special Infected

When an ally has a hunter on them, KILL THEM. Don’t punch them off unless they’re about to be incapped. If the pounced person has plenty of health, take the extra second and kill the hunter. By punching him, you make him mobile and give yourself a more difficult shot to land so take advantage of the enemy being stationary. Likewise, unless a smoker is about to pull your ally off a ledge/cliff/out a window, kill the smoker. He has to reveal himself to attack, so he should be an easy target. Only exception: be careful where you kill the boomer as to avoid unnecessary bile-ings. The reason for making sure the enemy is dead is that they have 30 seconds before they can even SPAWN to plan to attack you again. If you let them live, you give them a free attack. In the case of smokers, their tongue takes 15 seconds to recharge: two free attacks. The Hunter can just pounce around and then nail a big 25 damage pounce if you let them escape. Boomers take about as long to recharge their vomit as they do to respawn, but they can position themselves far in advance, giving them an advantage you shouldn’t allow the enemy.

Commandment IV: Protect Weakend Players

Low health players move slower than players in the green. They won’t be able to keep up. So stick with them until you can get them healed. Incapped survivors can only use their pistols, and have a very large scatter pattern and slowed fire rate. They need protection more than anyone. When a survivor is healing themselves, healing an ally, or reviving a teammate, EVERYONE should fall in to protect them until the situation improves and the march can resume. Never leave a survivor alone that is currently incapable of defending themselves. The whole team must protect each other to make it to the goal with maximum score. If a player is covered in vomit, but the others are ok, surround him and deal with the infected. Do your best to not allow any damage through.

Commandment V: Communicate

Call out important things. You see a boomer? Say where he is. Hunter pounce you? Announce it. Not everyone will know about every event in a round of Left 4 Dead, and a hunter pounce that has gone unnoticed will result in an incap. Hunters do heavy damage so they need to be removed as fast as possible. Smokers can be a huge pain if not dealt with, dragging you down to an area you were at previously while doing light damage. If left alone, they are just as capable of killing you as anything else in the game. If you get incapped, call it out. Not everyone has their eyes on the whole screen. Make sure everyone knows what is going on, and you’ll have a much better chance at succeeding.

Commandment VI: Know the Map

If you don’t know where to go or where important items are likely to spawn, then you are going to be a major drag on your team. Make a couple of runs through a single player easy campaign: You’ll be familiar with the levels in no time. You might not memorize health/weapon/grenade locations, but you’ll have the necessary knowledge of the level’s layout to not be a hinderance to your team. This rolls into Commandment V: Communicate. Teammates can let you know where helpful items are likely to be.

Commandment VII: Skip Unneeded Healthkits

This might seem like it should go into the “Move Fast” commandment, but I felt it necessary to be its own commandment. In a given round of Left 4 Dead, you’re bound to run across several health kits at all parts of the level (Unless you’ve just been DOMINATING and the director feels to cut your opponents a lot of slack.) If everyone is above 80 health, skip the health-packs if everyone has them. Why? The Health bonus at the end is negligible if that health kit you just HAD to use ends with a team-wipe. If you can put pressure on the infected they will make mistakes. Stopping for unnecessary health kits can, and often does, result in much LESS health than when you stopped for it. If you don’t need it, don’t stop for it.

Advanced Techniques and Tips

Section I: Blinded

When a boomer hits you with its puke attack (or gets killed in close proximity to you) you’ll be covered in bile and your ability to see will be greatly hindered temporarily. During this time, you’re especially vulnerable. There are some useful strategies for dealing with this predicament. First: If possible, back into a corner. This will alow your melees to push away the majority of infected coming your way. Also, when your allies need help (Hunter pounce, other infected) try to get close while continually meleeing. Infected can’t attack when they’re reeling from a survivor melee. If they have a hunter on them, trying to obey Commandment III: Kill the Special Infected can be rather difficult. You will see your ally’s name: Aim below it and start firing in between melees. This should at least remove the hunter from your ally and in the process stop the rapid damage they deal.

Section II: Smokers

Smokers can be a real pain in the ass. They attack from rooftops where it is difficult to get a good shot.  Obeying Commandment III can be difficult at times. If the smoker will have to do a lot of running to attack again, and will be forced to attack from a predictable area (The train tunnel in Blood Harvest is a good example) then you can get away with just freeing your ally and moving forward.

Section III: Witches

Witches are extremely dangerous if startled, otherwise they will not actively attack you. They are somewhat difficult to kill, but can be one-shotted by “cr0wning” her with a shotgun. You close to point blank and shoot her in her face, about where her head meets her neck. This should result in a one shot kill, removing the danger. The enemy is known for attempting to force you next to her, which wakes her up and sets her off, by either dragging you over with the Smoker, or attempting to blind you so that you stumble upon her. They sometimes sit behind her trying to force you to fire at them, which could accidentally hit the witch sending her into an auto-incap frenzy. In the event a witch downs someone, KILL HER IMMEDIATELY. She will let out a scream and immediately shred your downed teammate until they are dead, or she is. This is a very fast attack. If possible, the witch should be avoided. If she is very far off the beaten path, you can cruise right on by with almost no risk. First, make sure the enemy smoker has been killed in the past 10 seconds, then have everyone rush by. If she is in the way, then you’ll need to send your most reliable person ahead to try and cr0wn her. In the event nobody is particularly skilled at cr0wning, send the person with the least amount of health.

Remember: The enemy will really push their attack (if they’re smart) while there is a live witch just waiting to be alerted to you. Be very very wary of ALL infected around a witch while your person moves forward to cr0wn. Do your best to not fire upon the witch or get too close, as this can disrupt the crowning process. Use a range weapon (your pistol if lacking) to pick off common infected.

Alternately, if one of your team is equipped with a Hunting Rifle, landing a headshot on the with will stun her for a few seconds. Hit her from range, then have the entire team unload their weapons into her. This is effective in open areas where the witch is blocking the route and you can mitigate threat from infected players.

Section IV: Tanks

Tanks are very tough, and can easily incapacitate two survivors in the BEST scenario. Your best bet is to attempt to catch them on fire, which steadily depletes their health and makes killing them take much less time. Keep your distance and fill it with as much lead as possible. If it corners a survivor, put as much fire in his back as you can. Most likely he’ll pound the individual until that person is incapped, and then move on. When their health goes red, start backing away while keeping the fire going. You’re likely to suffer at least one casualty. Level 1 weapons (Shotgun and Uzi, single pistol) make it very very tough to take down a tank. Keeping a molotov handy will drain its health, but you need to overall keep together as a group to put the maximum hurt on the tank. If it is still alive, it will find and kill you. A tank is all it takes to end most survivor runs. Focus fire and kill it!

Section V: Random hints and tips

Subtitles: If you play with subtitles on, you will get cues that you might not normally catch. If you play with a high-quality sound system or headset, you can probably get away with not turning them on. They will alert you to a wide variety of events in game. When a special infected is around, explosions, special infected pain, witch/tank noise, and the like. Its a personal preference, but if you need to keep the sound way down, consider flipping this option on for the same ques the audio normally gives.

Playing the Infected: General Rules

The Infected don’t run by the same rigid rules the survivors do. They have infinite lives (at least until the survivors finish the level) so living through an attack is not as important as it is to a survivor. As such, general guidelines and specific tactics are outlined below.

Rule 1: Never attack head on

This one is important. If a survivor sees you coming from a mile away, they’re going to alert their teammates and then that can lead to several fewer hits, and that much less damage. They might also be able to kill you before you even attack. This is USUALLY the case. This is why, as a boomer, its important to get them from around a corner as they run by, or to get them from above. If you attack, try to get in between several of them so that in their rush to kill you, your explosion covers several in bile. Vision impaired survivors have a much more difficult time fighting off common infected, and CAN’T see if an ally is being attacked by a hunter (No red outline) or dragged off by a smoker (no yellow outline.) Which leads us to the next rule:

Rule 2: Never attack alone

If you pounce one of 4 healthy survivors in a tight cluster by yourself, you’re going to die after only having dealt 5 paltry damage, and now you’re going to be waiting 25+ seconds to respawn. Attacking with at LEAST 2 people at once vastly improves the damage you’re going to put out. Always try to cut off survivors going to rescue a friend: It slows them down from doing so increasing the overall damage output of an attack. If you see a boomer ally attack, grab survivors WITHOUT the purple outline: Their allies will have a much tougher time noticing their friend has been dragged off by a smoker, or has a hunter on them. Not to mention the horde of common infected slowing them down twofold: Being in the way and actually slow-down from their hits. If your smoker friend drags off a survivor, pounce the ally returning for him. Cover the dragged survivor in bile. Team up on the survivors. You ARE on the infected “team.” If four special infected attack at about the same time, chances are 3 survivors are going to be unable to protect themselves/each other AND the several will be covered in Bile. This is a heavily damaging assault, and if you land an incap, your attack can be considered a success. Incaps SEVERELY slow down the survivor advance, meaning more chances to attack. And, at the very least, they’re going to need to heal. This still means they’re not moving. So 5 seconds to revive, 5 seconds to heal, or they plod off with low health and speed. Incap=opportunity.

Rule 3: Attack the weakest survivor

The sooner you incapacitate a survivor, the better your chance at killing ALL of them by means of “more spawns, more damage” as infected. Incapped survivors can’t move, and have VERY poor damage output with slow-firing, wildly inaccurate dual pistols. They have to be revived, which means only 2 survivors are capable of fighting unless the third drops their downed ally, which restarts the revive timer. So, do your best as a pack to try and down one survivor. The less progress survivors make, the longer it takes, the more spawns, and better chance at a wipeout attack. Also, hitting the downed survivor resets the revive timer, so “shanking” the downed survivor lands bonus points for style.

Rule 4: Abuse Tank/Witch

To abuse a witch, get a smoker and grab a passing survivor and drag them to her. She’ll wake up and provide you a free incap. Otherwise, boom the enemy and try to draw them to her. They’ll have a very tough time seeing her while blinded, so waking her up while trying to shoot you is a possibility. In odd situations, you can run up and smack her and the survivor if they’re trying to cr0wn, meaning the witch wakes up. Also, the boomer can melee the witch and “wake her up” meaning that the slightest provocation will set her off. Careful when you do this, as survivors that can see the witch can see you.
To abuse the tank, when you roll one, evaluate your situation: Are you outside in an open area, or inside close quarters where survivors cannot maneuver effectively? If you’re outside, keep your distance and throw as much concrete at them as you can. Wait for them to corner themselves and move in. Let your allies whittle them down while you can. If you’re inside, rush them. They’re bound to get caught on a corner while backing up, and you can incap them easily once they do. As a tank, AVOID CATCHING FIRE. This will drain your health rapidly, and kill you long before your time. If there is deep water (Death Toll Finale) jump in: It will douse the flames. Don’t be afraid to use concrete at a long distance. Just aim up like you would with a hunter pounce, and have at it. You might get lucky and knock one down and do heavy damage. Better opportunites for your allies!

Tactics

1. Sharking

What this entails is the dedicated assault of, at minimum, 3 of the 4 infected in attacking a single survivor with the objective of incapacitation. The term “Sharking” comes from the feeding frenzy that sharks are driven into upon smelling blood… well imagine seeing the red survivor outline meaning they’re weak as a magnet for your attacks. Follow the above rules, and attempt to do as much damage as possible to one survivor. Even if they’re not incapped, they’re going to slow the rest down quite a bit.

2. Frog Slash from the TOP ROPE

Smoker grabs victim. Hunter is in place well above the smoker and the victim. Hunter has an easy, immobile target to nail for a high-damage pounce. Max is 25. See if you can break 20! Not only that, but the smoker will be dealing damage while you are pretending to be a WWII bomber.

3. Boomerkazi

This one is simple. Get above the survivors as the boomer (Easiest to execute on NM1, in the alleyway, but there are other places this is possible.) Simply drop down and attack with your bile, and cover as many as you can. If you’re lucky, a survivor will panic and shoot you, causing you to explode and definitely cover several of them. You can also do this after vomiting on a survivor or two, then running past them and attacking them, trying to get them to kill you and further coat their allies.

4. The Tankstraction

Tanks are powerhouses. They can incap in 4 hits or so, and can take a ton of damage. However, this is not their only purpose. Good survivor teams will be huddled together to protect them from you. The tank can EASILY divide a pack of survivors making them easy pickings for your allies. Simply maneuver to try and separate them, and let your friends attack. If you can land a hit, focus on downing that person. Stay close to them while your allies work the enemy. This way, they can’t sneak around and revive their ally and get away.

5. Tankwalling

This is an alternative to the above. A hunter or smoker is attacking a survivor, so the tank positions himself in between the trapped survivor and his would-be rescuers. They will not get close enough to free him, so chuck concrete when an opportunity presents itself. Once that survivor is incapped, rush to help the next infected get a down.

6. Multipounce

Occasionally you’ll have 3 hunters spawned. You’re limited to 1 smoker and 1 boomer, but I suppose Hunters can two or 3. Multipouncing is gathering a group of hunters to lay in ambush, then when the survivors come through jumping them at once. If your fourth can distract the only one not getting pounced (Blinded by boomer) then you will do heavy damage.

7. Overhang Pulls

Grabbing people with the Smoker and pulling them over a ledge, and sometimes you get a “Fall down” which they’re hanging on to the edge of a fall. A good spot is right before the rope bridge in Blood Harvest 1. Grab them from across the gorge (You’ll have to jump the wire-fence to get in position) and grab them if they wander too close. You’ll pull them down and they’ll effectively be incapped. Have hunters jump whoever goes to help, and you’ll have a high-damage assault and huge delay.

8. Save the boom

This involves having used your bile attack, covered some survivors, and you didn’t get killed in the process. Take your first opportunity to run ahead in the level, where the survivors need to go next. This way, your bile attack recharges, and you can use it again. Of course, if the survivors haven’t progressed at all since your previous attack, feel free to move back and set up another ambush. Chances are you won’t get to do this more than once, but generally being annoying as possible as the boomer is highly beneficial. Dragging an infected mob in to attack as well as all the pre-spawned infected means they keep getting slowed, are blinded for a good deal of time, and most of all: bait for your allies.

9. Concrete Rain

Some stay dry while others… wait, not what we’re talking about. This, of course, will involve the Tank. Should you get him a fair distance away on an open level (Huge disadvantage for a tank) you should take this opportunity to rain concrete on survivors. Aim high, in their general direction, and hope you score a few hits so your frustration meter doesn’t empty. For enhanced teamwork, an ally that has yet to spawn can stand near where survivors are and tell you whether your shots are short or far, so you can adjust and hopefully deal some good damage while being relatively immune to return fire. In an open level, attacking survivors is suicide. They can run circles around you and can fill you with fire from all angles. Closing to melee range is only an option indoors. Of course, if you see several purple outlines, your boomer friend took advantage of the distraction you provided, now you must do the same. It takes about 6 seconds for the bile to start clearing from their vision, and during that time are not very likely to see you in their face until its too late. They’ll feel their controller rumbling, see their screen shaking, but won’t know you’re nailing them until its too late. Also, as a rule: If a survivor has a hunter on them, DO NOT ATTACK. Hit the others. The survivor with the hunter will be dying shortly.

With this groundwork in place, you’ll be well on your way to destroying the opposition. Alter things so they fit for you, but don’t ever forget the big rules: Never separate as the survivors, and take advantage of the heightened mobility of the special infected to attack from unexpected angles.

Cross Posted at Cheesecake’s Rage

Probably the most hated form of camping is spawn camping.  This is where players have figured out where their opponents spawn (come into the game after dying) and set themselves up in that area so as to ambush their opponents when they do spawn.  This type of camping is hated almost universally.  It is clearly using an unfair advantage that is unable to be countered easily.  If you happen to be the one being spawn camped, most people really wouldn’t blame you for quitting the game.  In fact, for many spawn campers, this is exactly what they are trying to get you to do.

Spawn Camping in Team Fortress 2

Another form of camping that is almost instinctual is what I’ll call rookie camping.  This is where a player that is new to the game limits themselves to just a small area.  Mostly this is done out of a sense of survival and not wanting to have the biggest death count on your team.  Players do this because they are unfamiliar with their surroundings and just want to stay alive.  I can’t really blame them here because after all, the objective is for your team to win the game.  I can also see though how their teammates could be annoyed by this because it makes them feel as if their playing the game with one less teammate because the rookie has effectively taken themselves out of the game.

Sometimes when a team gets the lead in the game they change their strategy in order to preserve that lead.  When a team goes into hiding in order to minimize the chances their opponents have of catching up, that’s what I’ll call defensive camping.  Usually teams only implement this near the end of a match when time is running out.  This strategy of switching tactics is prevalent not just in video gaming but in real life sports as well.  Many times sports teams will try and run the clock out in order to preserve a win.  While this may be frustrating to the team losing, it really is a part of the game that I personally don’t feel is inappropriate.   After all, it’s basically the winning team using the game clock to their advantage.

Every now and then you can find a team that works well together, so well they know each other’s style of play and each plays their own role in the game.  When teams that work well together try, they can effectively position themselves to play defense instead of offense.  Game maps are designed with natural choke points that players have to pass through in order to navigate the map.  When I play games such as Call of Duty 4 with a group of my friends, we are able to do this.  Outside the game we’ll discuss strategies and map layouts in order to maximize our kills and minimize our deaths in the game.  This type of camping is simply an example of good teamwork.  This is only effective when the whole team is working together and everyone is on the same page.  At the same time, if opponents are able to break through our defensive setup it literally falls apart.  While some may complain when we do this, we’ve seen plenty of examples of our opponents working well together to counter it.

I think that about covers the different types of camping that happen in video game play.  Some are pretty universally hated (spawn camping) while others are just another strategy to implement.  When it comes to whether or not camping is a legitimate strategy, I have to then ask: “What makes a strategy legitimate?”  So long as people are not using glitches in the game code to gain an unfair advantage I really don’t see any strategy as not qualifying as legitimate.  In most games (shooters) the whole point of the game is to score more points than the other team in the allotted time.  It’s not necessarily a race to see who can get to the score limit the fastest.  If one team prefers to use the game clock as their ally, then so be it.  Most games give teams a weapon set that allows them to counter this type of camping strategy, whether it be with long range weapons (sniper rifles), explosives (grenades) or stealth to sneak up on the campers (radar jammers, silenced weapons, etc).  If another team employs this strategy against me when I’m playing, instead of getting frustrated that they’re not running around in the open emptying their ammo clips as fast as possible, I view it as a challenge to try and outsmart their strategy.

What’s your take on the different camping styles?  How is the best way to combat them in games?

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