Looking for some Black Ops 4 Blackout tips? While a certain other Call of Duty battle royale has taken centre stage in the last year or so, Black Ops 4 is free with PS+ for July which means players will be flocking back to the mode. It's a vastly different experience from the more popular edition on the market, but the basics are the same; a huge, open map with guns to find on the floor and a fight to be the last player or team standing. Here are our top Black Ops 4 Blackout tips.
1. Dive down as soon as you jump out of the chinook
The start of the game is the same as most battle royale titles: you fly over the map, jump out when you’re closest to your chosen destination, then skydive as close as possible. With Blackout though, players are equipped with wingsuits that allow you to glide through the air. It’s possible to fly to any corner of the map no matter where you jump from, as long as you know how.
As soon as you leap off the back of the chinook helicopter, angle yourself downwards and dive for a few seconds at around 70m/s. When you’re about two-thirds of the way through the gauge on the right side of the screen, tilt upwards and glide through the air like a majestic eagle. You can fly for ages if you get it right and as long as you don’t get too close to the ground, your parachute won’t deploy. As long as you pay attention to the indicator in the gauge and make sure you tilt upwards over hills and vertical terrain, you can perfect your landing spot every time.
2. Ignore everything on the ground till you find a gun
The Blackout map isn’t very big, which means each place of interest usually has a number of players at the start of each game. This means that finding a gun right at the start is more important than ever to ensure you can fight back against whoever you land with.
Thankfully, guns aren’t as scarce as they can be in something like PUBG, so you won’t struggle too much. Just ignore all the tempting med-kits and weapon attachments until you grab something you can shoot back with.
3. Look for the blue beam of light in the sky
Veterans to the Call of Duty franchise will recognise the blue beam of light that ascends to the heavens as the marker for the mystery box, previously exclusive to the Zombies gamemode. For the first time ever, it’s left the undead realm and can be found in Blackout, though it works slightly differently.
It still offers fantastic loot, guaranteeing a decent weapon and some level three armour, but you don’t have to pay for it. Instead, it’s guarded by a small horde of zombies. You will need to use a lot of your ammo to get rid of the brain hungry buggers but it’s worth it in exchange for the high-end gear straight away. It can be found in five specific locations and there can only be two on the map at any one time. The five potential locations are: Inside the Asylum courtyard, the graveyard south-east of the Asylum, bottom of the Lighthouse, at a gas station west of Array, and in the small river village between Turbine and Fracking Tower, south of Rivertown.
4. Use consumable perks as you find them
Something unique to Blackout is the consumable perks you can find lying on the floor. You’ll recognise a lot of them as perks from previous games like Iron Lung, Awareness and Dead Silence, but there’s a few new ones thrown in too. The thing is, even with a backpack, you’re limited to 10 inventory slots and using these perks in the middle of a fight isn’t particularly intuitive or quick.
When you find them, most of the time you’re better off using them right away, especially as they last for a good few minutes each. There’s never opportune time to use them in a fight as they’re purely passive bonuses, so popping them as you find them allows you to get the most out of them. Especially at the start of games with perks like Dead Silence and Paranoia.
5. Always aim for the head
Unlike PUBG, there’s no helmets in Blackout. All you can find is the three stages of armour for protection. This means that unless someone has the stage three armour, headshots are going to deal far more damage than just spraying at their well-protected body.
It’s especially important when it comes to snipers. Hitting someone in the body from long range is going to deal serious damage, but you’ll never get a one-hit-kill unless they’re already weak. If you’ve got a sniper like the Koshka or the Paladin, make sure you’re aiming for their head otherwise they’ll just heal up and know exactly where you are from a body shot.
6. Use Trauma Kits often
Trauma Kits are the best healing item in the game. They instantly take you to full health, then give you an extra boost of 50 health to take your total to 200. They’re not that rare either, so you’ll often find yourself with two or three in your inventory. If that’s the case and you’re still at 150 health, use one to boost yourself up to 200.
It’ll give you a great advantage in a fight, especially if you’ve got stage two or three armour. Whoever you kill will undoubtedly be carrying healing too, so after the fight you can pop another Trauma Kit, then loot them and likely find another one, or some med-kits.
7. In the end-game, stick to buildings
If you’re jumping into Blackout after playing a lot of Fortnite, it’s tempting to run into the open in search of enemies. That’s fine in Fortnite since you can build your own cover but in Blackout, you’re going to want to stick to buildings and behind cover as much as possible.
End-games tend to play a lot slower than you may be used to, so corner camping and peering through windows as you try to get a visual on someone is often the better play. On that same note, make sure you’re checking every corner whenever you run in a building because there’s nothing worse than being sprayed in the back by someone sat behind a desk.
Of course, Black Ops 4 has only just released so these tips will help in earning your first ever victory. Make sure you’re following our Blackout Map Guide too, so you learn the lay of the land and get the best start possible in each game.
