Prepare to get splattered as Operators deploy to Rush, the iconic paintball course first seen in Black Ops II. Joining the 6v6 Multiplayer map rotation for free as part of Season Four Reloaded in Black Ops Cold War, Rush promises a fast and highly tactical combat experience.

Whether you’ve painted the floors red in the past or you’re jumping into Rush for the first time, here’s what you need to outsmart the competition:

Lay of the Land

Set in the foothills of Georgia, Rush takes place on a medium-sized paintball course featuring interior and exterior arenas. Teams begin either in the parking lot to the east or deep inside the course by Warehouse No. 5 to the west. Players can either fight out in the open or move south to the gift shop and interior arena.

Outside, the wide center lane is filled with a mix of vehicles, containers, and other obstacles that provide plenty of cover opportunities and the chance to evade and ambush enemy Operators. Take either of the side ramps or climb to the top elevated path to gain access to one of two windows facing down onto center map, or just book it down the elevated walkway to traverse the length of the outer course with minimal exposure.

The interior arena and gift shop force Operators into a tighter space than outside, with close-quarter battles dominating the shop and playing a key role in the arena. Featuring longer sight lines and waist-height cover, the arena sees a lot of mid-range combat, too, with even the occasional sniper taking aim from the outer edges.

Wherever you are on the map, there’s nearly always cover at hand, so learn the various obstacles and routes to outsmart your opponents play after play.

Fundamentals

First things first, you’ve got to get a handle on the map layout. Running blindly toward the middle, inside or out, is a recipe for death. Take your time learning the perimeter and discovering which objects are purely cover and which ones can be mantled for a height advantage over your enemies.

Once you’ve got a basic handle on the layout, try your luck with different weapon classes. In general, assault rifles and SMGs do very well on Rush, considering its primary mixture of short- to medium-range sight lines. With an SMG, focus on rapid movement between and around the various cover points, ambushing enemies along the way. With an assault rifle, consider focusing more on the big pieces of cover, balancing offense with defense. 

Long-range players like snipers can set up some nasty long shots. Situate yourself in the TV room just north of the gift shop for a killer view down the length of the interior arena, or press back in either of the initial spawn areas to guard against enemies moving away from the center.

Whatever your tactic, don’t be predictable. The action on Rush is fast and fluid, so stationary players are likely to invite a whole lot of unwanted attention. Instead, be light on your feet and become one with the course.

Scorestreak Field Guide

Bright blue skies welcome our Operators as they deploy to Rush, meaning that aerial streaks are good to go. Even the interior arena sports a mostly-open roof, leaving only the gift shop along with various nooks and crannies as a means to avoid fire from above. Try dropping a Napalm Strike over the B flag in Domination, or send an Attack Helicopter to work all over the field.

The handheld Death Machine and War Machine can both do wonders here, too. The Death Machine is perfectly suited for taking down multiple enemies as you move from cover to cover, while the War Machine is great for clearing out the middle exterior and interior arenas.

When first learning Rush, consider taking a launcher along with Engineer and Cold Blooded to act as support for your team as needed, knocking aerial threats out of the sky. With so much of the action focused on the middle sections of the map, there’s a good chance you can find some space on the outside from which to launch your attacks.

Objective Play

In Domination, the coveted B flag sits right in the center of the outdoor course, partially enclosed by cover that offers solid resistance to enemy bullets but seems to be a veritable catch for incoming grenades. A Trophy System is highly recommended when taking this objective. It may be worth pushing with multiple teammates as well to increase your chances of taking this critical point.

Hardpoint requires a bit more versatility, with hills staged in the middle exterior course, the gift shop, the top elevated walkway, and the interior arena. Close-quarter weapons become especially useful as Operators scramble for these positions, and an understanding of the entry points and lines of sight surrounding each hill is crucial to improving your tactical play.

Kill Confirmed is great for learning how to best move around the many cover obstacles in Rush, as players must often enter the fray in a bid to grab tags. The better you navigate the course, the better your chances of collecting them before getting eliminated. Also keep in mind that the most direct route isn’t always the best one to take. In Rush, there’s always another path to your destination.

10 Tips

10. Break the Law. Can’t decide if you prefer the short-range power of an SMG or the flexibility of an assault rifle? Feel like taking a sniper rifle without hindering your ability to fight up close? Use the Law Breaker Wildcard and solve the problem by equipping two primary weapons.

9. Burn It Down. Used well, the Molotov can be an invaluable piece of Equipment on Rush. Toss one in the elevated walkway or the arena TV room to momentarily shut down access. When the fighting gets hectic, you can even use it to visually obstruct the enemy’s line of sight.

8. Serve It with a Shotgun. Consider taking a shotgun along as your secondary weapon so you always have a short-range blaster on hand when encountering enemy Operators around a corner or obstacle. Pair it with an assault rifle for a highly-versatile Loadout.

7. B Flag Lockers Flank. The Domination B flag is especially tricky to turn on Rush, with so much action going on around that point at any given time. If you can’t break the enemy’s hold, try attacking from the interior locker room. Just outside the lockers sits a midsize piece of cover with a great view into the middle of B.

6. Decoy Out. Especially when fighting inside, the Decoy Grenade can do wonders for confusing your opponents and sending them down the wrong path. Toss it away from your location and then hunt down anyone gullible enough to chase after it.

5. Keep Cool with Spycraft. Rush offers all kinds of spots for enemies to place pesky Field Upgrades like the Jammer, Field Mic, Proximity Mine, and Gas Mine, not to mention Operators on the hunt using the Paranoia and/or Tracker Perks. Negate it all with one handy Perk: Spycraft.

4. Hit ’em with Gas. Equip the Gas Mine Field Upgrade and Gearhead Perk to set multiple traps throughout the match. Set your mines up around key objective pathways to damage and disorient enemies before they have the chance to cause major damage.

3. Up and Over. When traversing the elevated walkway at the top of the map, you’re trading one risk for another. While you may be protected from the middle, you’re in for a fierce fight if an enemy meets you head-on coming from the other side. If the mini-map indicates that might happen, set up by the large overturned tires in the middle of the walkway. They offer reliable cover with a clear shot at incoming Operators.

2. Equip the OTs 9. Newly released with Season Four Reloaded, the OTs 9 SMG offers a big punch at close-quarters and is perfectly suited to Rush. Check out our OTs 9 guide, coming tomorrow, for tips on completing the in-game challenge required to unlock the little beast.

1. Redeploy and Redeploy Again. Rush very much sits in the category of easy to learn, difficult to master. If at first you don’t succeed — and even if you do! — get back in there and sign up for the next match. The more you play, the more its myriad tactical possibilities will come into view.

Execute the mission.

For more information on Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War, check out: www.callofduty.com and www.youtube.com/callofduty and follow @Treyarch, @RavenSoftware, and @CallofDuty on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

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