“Something big is going to happen that could shift the balance of the Cold War.” – Russell Adler, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War

You know how to start the game and what each game mode is all about – now it’s time for Boot Camp, a crash course of the Campaign, Multiplayer, and Zombies through a collection of tips and strategies for success. No matter where you start your Black Ops Cold War journey, you can go in with confidence knowing these tips centered around the first few hours of gameplay.

Whether it’s driven by Perseus, fellow elite Operators, or unexplained phenomena that involve the undead... the fate of the world is at stake, and you may be the only one to save it. Here are 30 tips for saving the world and dominating the opposition… both the living and the undead.

Campaign

1. Work Your Way Up to Veteran. The single-player experience offers five difficulty modes. Especially if this is your first time playing a Call of Duty game, it might not be wise to start on Veteran or Realism difficulty. If you’re unsure where to start, begin on Recruit or Regular, and feel free to change the difficulty in the pause menu.

2. A Note on Realism. Realism, the difficulty above Veteran, removes part of the heads-up display along with tuning enemy soldiers to have phenomenal accuracy. Although this is an incredible way to experience the Campaign visually, you’ll want to brush up on your skills before choosing this setting.

3. Nowhere Left to Run. This first mission acts as a great way to learn in-game mechanics, such as aiming, firing, equipment usage, taking cover, and movement. Use this opportunity to tune your difficulty and learn your individual strengths and weaknesses with Alex Mason before you create an operative for the rest of the Campaign.

4. Psych Up for Character Creation. From damage buffs to being able to carry additional equipment and more, the Psych Profile is the most important part of creating your own operative. Be sure to spend a few minutes here and explore every option to fit how you want to experience your current playthrough.

5. Recommended New Player Psych Profile. If you find yourself losing health often, or want a bit of a buffer from an untimely death, make one of your Psych Profiles Survivor, which increases your health by 25%, and the other Dependable, which reduces damage taken while stationary by 30%.

6. Explore the Safehouse. The Safehouse is more than just a mission hub; it gives you the opportunity to talk to your fellow team members and look at all the intel the gathered so far. Whenever you take a break from the Campaign, take a few minutes to settle in with the Safehouse to get the context you need to jump back into the story.

7. Red Means Dead. When your screen starts turning red, it means your health is getting dangerously low. Whenever this happens, it’s best to get out of an enemy’s sights and wait a few seconds to regain health... otherwise, prepare to resume the mission from the last checkpoint.

8. Take Cover Early and Often. On harder difficulty settings, a guns-blazing approach to a lopsided fight can be a recipe for disaster. Try finding and crouching behind cover, peeking out only when the enemy reloads to retaliate with return fire or a well-placed piece of equipment.

9. Don’t Turn Down a Chance to Takedown. Holding the command to melee triggers a Takedown, which is where you grab an enemy and use them as a shield before finishing them off or throwing them toward an enemy group with an explosive surprise. Use this whenever possible, as it can be extremely effective against large groups of enemies and when cover is limited.

10. Leave No Corner Unchecked. Along with protecting yourself from enemy soldiers, use this adage in exploring the Campaign, especially when it comes to dialogue options. Don’t hesitate to replay the Campaign and explore different ways to gather enemy information, even if it means breaking a few of their bones along the way…

Multiplayer

1. Create-a-Class Insights from Default Loadouts. The five pre-built loadouts offer great examples of how to build a solid custom loadout. If you’re unsure about where to start with a new custom loadout, feel free to borrow directly from the Default ones before further fine-tuning one to your personal playstyle.

2. Study Up Those Stats. Those who want to be elite players should dig deep into the Gunsmith, where they can see a breakdown of advanced statistics that detail a weapon’s damage output, effective range and overall feel. Before trying out a new weapon or attachment set-up, check it in the Gunsmith to see how it compares to a weapon configuration you’re more familiar with.

3. Combined Arms: A Vehicle for Victory. Given the size of 12v12 Combined Arms maps, consider taking smaller vehicles, such as a Dirt Bike or Wakerunner, to advance to the next objective quicker. Alternatively, if there is an overwhelming number of enemies, take a larger vehicle, such as a Tank or Gunboat, to bust open their position and help your squad advance forward.

4. Fireteam Dirty Bomb: Exploration Leads to Domination. Take time to check buildings and other notable areas for caches, which will contain Uranium, Armor, and even Self-Revive Kits and Scorestreaks. Although it may be tempting to jump into the fight right away, a bit of exploration can load your squad up with tools that can easily turn the tide of multi-team fights, not to mention grant enough Uranium to get a dirty bomb primed and detonated.

5. Heads-Up Objective Play. If a game mode includes an objective, it will appear as an icon on the mini-map, as well as a waypoint in-game with its distance from you marked. If you play Hardpoint, you’ll even see where the next objective location is 10 seconds before it is activated. Base your combat around these objectives, and you’ll not only help your team win, but also get a slight score boost for each capture.

6. Low Scorestreaks are Better than No Scorestreaks. If you have trouble earning high-cost Scorestreaks, there is no shame in equipping those that require less score to earn. Some of them, such as the Spy Plane, provide benefits for the whole team and give you additional XP for each teammate assisted, and even a well-placed RC-XD can wipe out an enemy squad huddled around an objective.

7. Weapon Scorestreaks Can Be Saved for Later. After activating a weapon Scorestreak, such as a Combat Bow or War Machine, it stays with you until you die or run out of ammo. That means you can switch to your Primary or Secondary weapon if the situation calls for it (e.g. a Shotgun for a close-quarters battle), or to conserve ammo for a bigger fight ahead.

8. How to Earn High-End Scorestreaks. Stringing together kills – eliminations where you deal the fatal blow – in a single life is a necessity when trying to earn Scorestreaks like the Chopper Gunner and Gunship. Score earned from kills will multiply gradually with each kill in a life, and every five kills offers a large Score bonus. Be cautious in maintaining enough health and advantageous positions to rack up kills, but don’t stay stagnant and wait for the fight to come to you.

9. Stack Those Challenges. Level up faster and unlock loadout items by completing Challenges, found in the menu tab next to the Operator section. Try your best to complete multiple Challenges at once by building your loadout around several objectives – e.g. specific weapons, Perks, equipment and Wildcards – and playing specific game modes to maximize XP earning potential.

10. Seasonal Prestige: Your Key to Bragging Rights. Earned all the loadout items? Good. Keep levelling up to unlock the Season’s designated Weapon Blueprint and legacy profile items through Seasonal Prestige. Getting into this progression path also unlocks new Season Challenges, which offer additional Calling Card rewards for completing some of the toughest objectives in the game.

Zombies

1. Remember: Progression Carries Over. Levelling up in Multiplayer offers loadout items in Zombies, and all weapon experience and attachments are kept between modes. The more you play either mode, the more game-changing armaments and abilities you’ll unlock to help reach those high rounds.

2. A Sandbox for Weapon Experimentation. Without any upgrades, the weapons you bring into Zombies act exactly as they do in Multiplayer. Come here for the opportunity to experiment with new weapons and different attachments, stay for the pulse-pounding fight against the undead.

3. The Mystery Box: Risk vs. Reward. While spending points on a random weapon may seem risky, the Mystery Box has a chance at giving you powerful new weapons, including the iconic Ray Gun and higher-rarity weapons than the ones you’re currently wielding. If you have the points to spare in later rounds, find that light in the sky and let it lead you toward the Mystery Box for a potentially massive step up in firepower. Keep in mind that for the first time, the odds of the Mystery Box providing higher-rarity weapons increases as the rounds get higher.

4. Don’t Count Out the Melee Option. Yes, you can put a Combat Knife in your loadout, and yes, bringing a knife to an undead fight is a great idea. Because it is an unbreakable tool, a Combat Knife can be super-effective in early rounds to conserve points for a Wall Buy or Mystery Box run. Just don’t let those zombies swipe back when you go in for the kill.

5. Scrap Together Resources. After killing a zombie, you’ll notice that they may drop pieces of Salvage. Don’t treat them as junk; pick them up when the coast is clear and visit the crafting table to build tactical equipment and other useful items that can all help in later rounds.

6. A Real Boss Move: Using Armaments Efficiently. It may be tempting to use a big Scorestreak or Field Upgrade frequently, but conserving those for a larger threat is often a better strategy than wasting them on a few stragglers. Whether it’s a maxed-out wave of shambling zombies or a deadly elite undead force, you’re going to want those Chopper Gunners, Sentry Guns, and fully-charged Field Upgrades handy if you want to survive.

7. Follow the Steps, Achieve Salvation. “Die Maschine” includes a handy step-by-step guide on-screen to help you and your squad turn on the power – which activates all machines around the map – and unlock the Pack-a-Punch machine, a powerful device that upgrades weapons to make them fit to fight increasingly tougher undead waves. In other words, completing these initial objectives are crucial to your success and are key to setting up a high-round run.

8. Kills Aren’t the Only Way to Earn Score. After turning on the power in “Die Maschine,” you may have the opportunity to complete in-game Challenges for additional score. Although these Challenges may require killing zombies with certain weapons or staying in an area, these are highly effective ways to rack up score and other rewards.

9. You Don’t Have to Go Down with the Fight. Completing an Exfil rewards you and the whole squad for surviving one last horde and escaping the map. After calling an Exfil, rush to safety and fight back the undead horde one last time, and you’ll be given bonus XP and the chance to earn Raw Aetherium Crystals to help you upgrade your Skills.

10. Squads Rule Requiem’s Ranks. Zombies is built on co-operative play; grab some friends or communicate often with your random squadmates using the new locational Ping system to ensure everyone can handle the higher rounds and help to crack open those intricate Easter eggs.

Execute the Mission.

Stay Connected to Additional Intel

Be sure to check back here at the Activision Games Blog daily for the latest information on Black Ops Cold War. Also, be sure to visit Treyarch’s Blog for more Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War announcements and content.

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