[GameSpot] - CoD: Warzone 2.0 Best Tips For Beginners

[343iBot]

Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 is live with the new Al Mazrah map. Sometimes scoring a win in battle royale can be a real struggle, but here we provide twelve tips to help you find success and work towards achieving a victory on Al Mazrah.

Adjust your game settings

One of the quickest and easiest things you can do to help better your odds on Al Mazrah is to make sure you're using the best settings. This includes changing the "Apply All" setting that lets you equip all armor plates, which saves you precious time instead of just pressing to equip one plate at a time. There are also additional movement settings to help you, and you can find our full settings guide for Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 here.

Build custom weapon loadouts

Custom RPK light machine gun weapon build

Warzone 2.0 gives you a few different ways to score your custom weapons during a match with loadout drops and the ability to purchase your custom primary weapons from Buy Stations. With tons of weapons and attachments to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know what to choose. Make sure to check out our recommended Warzone 2.0 loadout guide for a few powerful weapon builds to try.

Unlock weapons faster

Modern Warfare 2 has a complex weapon unlock system, so DMZ can be a fast way to get more weapons unlocked if you're just getting started with the games or if you only have the free-to-play Warzone 2 app. Any weapon you extract in DMZ mode will automatically unlock for Warzone 2 and bypass the normal weapon unlock progression.

Communicate and use Ping system

Communication is key. If you're playing in duos, trios, or quads, it's important to communicate with your teammates. This can be done with using a mic for voice chat, or you can make use of the game's Ping system. This lets you ping nearby enemies, vehicles, points of interest, and such by tapping Up on the D-pad. Holding Up on the D-Pad will bring up a communication wheel. This lets you further communicate like asking your teammates for help or suggesting to regroup together.

Keep an eye on the map

General map awareness is always good to have, but it's even more important with Warzone 2.0's revised circle mechanics. As the map shrinks, the circle splits into up to three smaller circles before merging back into one final circle. So, you'll want to always be mindful of where the circles are splitting and where they're moving to avoid getting yourself stuck in the gas.

Visit Strongholds

Warzone and DMZ Stronghold location

If you're not afraid of a challenge and a few gunfights, make sure to visit Stronghold locations, which are AI-protected buildings that offer high-tier loot and a loadout drop reward. This can be a great way to get some of the best loot in the game. Here is our full guide for Warzone 2.0's Strongholds and Black Sites features.

Pick up Contracts

Contracts are another great way to score some cash and loot for your match. These are marked on the map as green phone icons, and there are a few types to choose from: Bounty, Safecracker, Secure Intel, and Most Wanted. It's important to understand the risks and benefits of each to know which is best for you to grab.

Bounties are a popular choice. The Contract marks out one player on the map, giving you a set amount of time to locate and eliminate them, and rewarding you if they die either by you or someone else in the match. The radius of the Bounty circle gets smaller as you get closer to them, which is useful in both letting you know where a nearby player is, and also giving decent cash and XP for completing it.

Safecracker is another good option, but it is a high-risk and high-reward Contract. The Contract marks three safes for you to find and blast open, and the loot haul you'll get here is usually really good stuff, such as cash, self-revives, and killstreaks. Of course, blasting open three safes is going to make a bit of noise, so it can potentially draw people to your location.

Secure Intel will mark intel for you to pick up and transport somewhere else. These Contracts require you to stay in the location while data uploads, so this can put you in a vulnerable spot. The benefit for this Contract is that completing it will tell you where the circle will next close, so you get valuable intel here.

Most Wanted is the riskiest of the Contracts. You're marked on the map for every player, painting you as a target for three minutes, but surviving your time as Most Wanted will reward cash and return any dead teammates to the match. This is best saved for those desperate situations, when you don't have enough cash to buy your squad back, so you risk marking yourself to get them back in the game.

Find high ground

Al Mazrah is a pretty diverse place, but verticality can be key with all the buildings and mountain tops. Getting somewhere high up gives you a better visual of your surroundings, and you'll also have an advantage aiming down at your enemies.

Make smart backpack choices

Backpacks are great for carrying extra ammo, UAVs, and equipment. Communicate with teammates so you know what everyone else is carrying around. Everyone doesn't need to lug around a backpack filled with just self-revives or gas cans. Try to give yourself and your team a variety of ammo and equipment.

Additionally, Warzone 2.0 lets you carry around three weapons instead of limiting you to just two. You'll need to loot either a medium or large backpack, but these bigger packs will allow you to stow one additional weapon. This means you can carry a weapon for almost any range or situation. You can have an assault rifle, submachine gun, and a sniper, or you can tote around a rocket launcher as a third weapon. This can also be an extra primary for a teammate who is just getting back into the match.

Make use of killstreaks and equipment

Intel is everything in battle royale, and killstreaks can be about more than just getting kills. Make use of UAVs, recon drones, or portable radars to help you locate nearby enemies. It's always good when killstreaks can earn you kills, but if you have enemies nearby or on high ground applying pressure, use something like a mortar strike or precision airstrike even if you don't think you'll score a kill. Often this will cause the enemies to back off a bit, and give you enough time to flee or reach additional cover for a better fight.

If safe, interrogate

Warzone 2.0 interrogation feature

Warzone 2.0 adds the new interrogation feature, which allows you to interact with a downed opponent and interrogate them for intel that temporarily marks their teammates on the map. This can be risky and takes a few seconds to complete the action, so don't attempt this in the heat of action. However, if one player has wandered away from their squad, this can provide valuable information.

Refuel and repair

Another feature this year is the ability to refuel and repair vehicles. Warzone 2.0's selection of land, air, and water vehicles don't have unlimited fuel, but you can refuel and repair them at gas stations. An easy way to do this for helicopters and aircrafts is to land on top of the gas stations. You don't have to park next to the pumps.

Additionally, you can also carry gas cans to refuel vehicles on the fly. These can be looted and stored in your backpack. It's worth noting here that the only vehicle you can't use gas cans on is the Hummer EV, but it can still be refueled and repaired at the gas stations.

These tips should help make your looting and gunfights a bit easier on Al Mazrah, and hopefully you'll be able to score a victory royale.

If you're looking to jump into Warzone's new extraction mode, we have a beginners guide for DMZ. A new weapon can be unlocked for use across Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0, and here's our guide to unlocking the M13B assault rifle in DMZ mode.

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