I’ve been playing a lot of Battlefield 1 of late. Part of that is due to my excitement for Battlefield V. But with that excitement comes the frustration that the promise of some of Battlefield V’s better features are what feels like a long way off when playing Battlefield 1. Still, given there’s no early or easy access to Battlefield V right now—not until the beta lands in a couple of weeks, at least—I’ve compiled a list of 10 ways to treat Battlefield 1 as a training ground to help hit the ground running when Battlefield V launches this October.
In no particular order…
Popping heads like Zaitsev
The sweet-spot mechanic is gone in Battlefield V. Good riddance, I say, but I’ll also concede that the sweet-spot mechanic did make playing Recon more appealing than it normally is in a Battlefield game (at least for this run-and-gunner). Now that you’ll need a headshot to kill with a single shot from a sniper rifle in Battlefield V, though, it’s time to start practicing popping noggins. Find a sniper rifle that feels right for you—or just use the SMLE, because it’s still amazing—maybe even one with a faster bullet trajectory, then aim high.
I’d advise aiming for the top of the helmet initially, until you get a feel for the associated range and bullet drop of your sniper rifle. Adjust accordingly. The more comfortable you get with aiming for headshots in BF1, the readier you’ll be for BFV.
Smoke before reviving
Battlefield V promises a squad-based buddy revive system and the ability to drag friendly DBNO players to a safe place before reviving them. The main thing to bear in mind is, even if you plan on maining Medic in BFV, it takes time to revive friendly players. This means it’s worth getting in the habit of running with smoke grenades as a Medic in Battlefield 1.
I recently made the switch, and it ends up resulting in what amounts to a no-risk revive. What used to always be a risk (you don’t know who’s using a body as bait, or who’s lining you up), is now only risky if the enemy team is gren spamming or randomly firing through the smoke. While you will be able to drag players in Battlefield V, if the smoke is as fast to propagate as it is in Battlefield 1, it’s worth getting into the habit of smoking a DBNO player before bringing them back to life. Good habits, and all that jazz.
Don’t tap out
As a Medic main, it’s infuriating to see players who are clearly holding spacebar to tap out as soon as they die in Battlefield 1. Not only does it cost your team a ticket when you respawn, it’s likely putting a nearby Medic’s digital life at risk for trying to save you. Besides, there are really only two legitimate reasons for tapping out in BF1 anyway: changing classes/loadout or because there are enemies very close to your body.
Unless DICE caves and changes it, you won’t be able to tap out in BFV, so it’s worth getting used to not tapping out in BF1. Besides, tapping out doesn’t make respawning any faster: you still have to wait for the death penalty timer to hit zero before you can respawn, so you might as well wait until the ‘Skip’ button appears in full before forcing it in BF1.
Play around with penetration
Bullet penetration is a thing in Battlefield 1, it’s just not terribly well explained or flagged in terms of its feedback. Basically, any thin bit of wood can be shot through. If you know an enemy’s behind this sort of soft cover—whether you saw them run there, you see their gun, or you can see them on the minimap—practice getting used to putting rounds through it to score cheeky kills. There will be a lot more of an emphasis on bullet penetration in Battlefield V, especially for larger-calibre weapons.
Tap fire at mid-to-long ranges
If you’ve seen footage of the Battlefield V alpha, you’ll likely have noticed the sheer domination of the STG-44. Some people argue it’s OP but, from what I’ve seen, it operates how an assault rifle should. Namely, it’s deadly in full auto up close and a contender at mid to longer ranges when tap fired. It’s worth getting used to tap firing in Battlefield 1 in preparation of this. Granted, you have random recoil (and the so-called ‘visual recoil’ is frustrating) to contend with in BF1, but that won’t be the case in BFV.
Break line of sight
The cynical side of me wanted to say that you should stop tagging people in Battlefield 1 to get used to the watering-down of the 3D spotting system in Battlefield V. But if you’re on the servers I’m playing on, you’re likely not tagging anyway, so you’re set on that front (yeah, I’m dirty about that). Still, it’s worth getting used to breaking line of sight after you run into a group of enemies, or a longer-range threat starts taking shots at you. It’ll be easier to remove tags in Battlefield V by breaking line of sight, so assume you’ve been tagged and get away from those enemy eyes.
Longer flight paths
Planes are still OP in Battlefield 1. That is, until you get a communicating squad of people comboing AA rocket guns and the incendiary ammo of the Burton LMR. Then you can melt planes. Anti-ace BF1 PSAs aside, pilots, it’s worth getting used to practicing longer flight runs because you’re going to have to rearm at fixed points on the map in Battlefield V. Plus, you’ll also avoid my anti-air squad that’s waiting for your tight-circle return bombing run.
Hit-and-run tanktics
Like planes, tanks are also set to be a whole lot less threatening in Battlefield V when stacked next to Battlefield 1. The current tank meta is to sit back and play a sniper role, but when the World War II era of Battlefield V facilitates the use of launchers, armour (and planes, for that matter) will be in trouble again from coordinated anti-tank squads. Because of this, it’s worth getting used to moving between cover and, generally, being harder to hit the next time you pilot a tank in Battlefield 1.
Make it rain meds and bullets
Really, this should go without saying—plus, Medics and Support players should already be doing this—but you should be mashing whichever button disperses bullets and meds. For Medic, I prefer the tossable pouches (you can heal people across alleys, for instance), but I like the ammo box for Support. The point is, I often receive accolades for best Medic or best Support simply because I throw out meds/bullets like they’re going out of fashion. This’ll be more important in Battlefield V because health will only replenish to a fixed point without a medpack and you’ll spawn with way less ammunition. Being a good Support or Medic player in Battlefield V will likely greatly impact your team’s chances of winning.
PTFO, soldier
Again, you should already be doing this—I’ve won far too many games because the other team had too many off-site campers and my squad was capping points—but playing the objective in Battlefield V will be as important as it always is in a Battlefield game. A few games ago, DICE tweaked the scoring system to reflect this and, more importantly, the more you work with your squad, the more abilities you’ll unlock to support your squad. On top of this, there’s a bit of Doom 2016’s patented push-forward combat approach in BFV, in that you can collect precious ammo from the bodies of enemy soldiers.
