Maybe you’re new to the Battlefield franchise, having gotten burned out by Call of Duty. Maybe you got an Xbox One, or PS4, over the holidays and don’t have many friends on either system. Or maybe you’ve been playing Battlefield for a few years now and just need a refresher. Whatever the case may be, Battlefield is a game about teamwork; and there are certain things you do, and certain things you don’t do to be a good teammate. When you help your team, you have a better chance of being successful both individually and collectively. In Part 1 we’ll list what you should be doing in order to be a good teammate. Part 2 will list what not to do. If you follow these etiquette tips you’ll become a better Battlefielder, and a player others will want to team-up with.
1. DO drop ammo if you are Support class, and medic bags if you are Assault class
WHY? One of the hallmarks of the Battlefield franchise is its’ class system. There are generally four classes – Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon. Assault class also serves as the medic class and is equipped with health bags once a player unlocks them. These bags will dramatically decrease the time it takes for health to regenerate for both yourself and your teammates in the immediate vicinity of where you place the bag. The Support class is equipped with an ammo bag, which resupplies teammates.
Both of the functions of these particular classes are critical if your team hopes to win a game. Be the player that helps out teammates; not only is it the right thing to do, but you get points for it as well.
2. DO spot people
WHY? Another cornerstone of the Battlefield franchise is the ability to spot people. Spotting the enemy brings up a red triangle over their head so that all your teammates can see that particular person. It also makes that player appear on the minimap so teammates know who to look out for. It’s especially helpful on large maps – and maps obscured by fog, snow, and heavy vegetation. It’s also a way of leveling the playing field against snipers, and will even help you aim better. Once again, you actually receive points for doing this so there is no reason not do.
3. DO revive teammates when the coast is clear
WHY? The ability to revive a downed teammates can often mean the difference between successfully capturing, or defending, an objective or not. To revive, equip the defibrillator in the loadout menu. And when ready to bring back a teammate from the dead, power up the defib to shock them back to life.
But be warned – it’s bad manners to revive a teammate in the middle of a heated battle without first killing the enemies responsible for your teammate’s death. The reason is because it takes a few seconds for a teammate to accept your revive and get up off the floor to run to safety. Nothing is more frustrating than getting revived and then being killed immediately; it essentially doubles the redeploy time, thus it ends up hurting the team. You do also get points for reviving, but it needs to be used more sparingly than many use it in Battlefield 4.
4. DOset up Spawn Beacon’s behind enemy lines
WHY? So the Assault class has medic bags and defibrillators, while Support has ammo bags – but what can the Recon class do the help their team? They can equip and use a Spawn Beacon. Placing a Spawn Beacon in strategic places on a map can often turn the tide of a battle. This gadget allows squadmates to spawn wherever you place the beacon, even if you yourself have been killed.
These can be especially critical on small infantry-focused maps like Operation Metro and Locker, and in game modes like Capture the Flag and Conquest. These maps are notoriously difficult to navigate freely because there are only 3-5 pathways for 64 players to use. Usually, whichever team controls the central location on the map will end up winning the game. In CTF, whichever team is able to breakthrough the lines first is usually able to win.
In terms of strategy, if you plan on trying to break through enemy lines it’s best to have a spawn beacon equipped so that if you are successful you can find a safe space and give your squadmates a location to regroup and flank the other team. Likewise, if you see that your squadmate has set up a spawn beacon, use it! Better yet, if your squadmate has set up a spawn beacon then equip your own spawn beacon and set it up in another area behind enemy lines. That way if one of your beacon’s is destroyed, you have a back-up.
5. DO repair your team’s vehicles
WHY? There only one more class left to discuss, Engineers. On large, traditional, Battlefield maps the Engineer class is king. They are the most important players on maps with a ton of vehicles. Not only do they have the ability to equip various guided, and unguided, rocket launchers and missiles, they can repair friendly vehicles when they get damaged.
When in a transport, or scout, helicopter it is especially important to repair the vehicle as these take quite a bit of damage quite quickly. Again, you get points for doing this so there is no reason not to if you want to help your team win.
6. DO flank
WHY? On infantry heavy maps especially, your team is not going to win unless you flank the other team. You can be sure that if your team isn’t flanking with numbers, that the other team is. Flanking is necessary both offensively and defensively. If you see your entire team all moving in one direction, taking one route, do the opposite and take the other route – and hopefully your squad will follow you.
And that brings us to…
7. DO stick with your squad
WHY? Squads are also a fundamental aspect of the Battlefield franchise. 64 player games would be unmanageable if teams weren’t split into squads of 4-5 people. The squad system only works when squads work together to accomplish specific in-game goals, and to back each other up. If you’re playing with a squad that heals, revives, resupplies, and repairs each other then that single squad can change the course of an entire battle. Stick with your squad as much as you can. By the way, you also get extra points for squad-focused actions.
8. DO use your mic
WHY? Now listen, not everyone can use their mic all the time, and frankly I don’t use my mic all the time either. But if your aim is to win games and have fun then communicating with your squadmates is pretty vital. After-all, it’s much more effective to just tell a squadmate to heal, revive, or repair you then it is to attempt to use the in-game request functions for these things.
And if you do want to flank with your squad, it’s much easier to just let your squadmates know over your microphone to flank than to try and grab their attention via your in-game character.
