Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Multiplayer Guide

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 has placed a big focus on momentum and movement this year. With an emphasis on keeping the player rushing forward and attacking the enemy, you now have infinite sprint, the ability to wall run and new thrusters which give additional double jumps in any direction.

For both veterans and newcomers, Black Ops 3 will offer a steep learning curve that'll require patience and perseverance. Luckily, VideoGamer has put together a selection of quick tips to help your kill/death ratio climb into a more positive reading. We'll help you get to grips with the new movement mechanics, perks and specialists to own your friends.

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You have unlimited sprint, but don't go crazy

You now have unlimited sprint in Black Ops 3, but that doesn't mean you should go rushing into every room and around every corner like a crazy person. You still need to be mindful of enemies lying in wait or chance encounters with a stray foe, especially when you stray into their half of the map.

Sprint should be used as it always has been: to quickly get out of open space or to catch up with the action from a spawn point. When you're in tight spaces, it's best to stick to the regular walking speed to keep yourself as accurate as you can.

The Gung-Ho perk allows you to hip fire, throw grenades and use equipment while sprinting, and this is a good starting perk to use. But thanks to the pace of the game, coupled with the way your character moves during a sprint, the accuracy of shooting takes a massive hit, and any kills you do make with your gun will have to be in very close quarters.

For instances when you know there's at least one enemy lurking around a corner, be aiming down your sights before you move. This gives you a greater accuracy advantage when the fight kicks off, and gives you a greater chance of getting a quick kill. It'll help if you increase the horizontal and vertical sensitivity settings in the options menu in order for this strategy to be more effective.

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Look around while wall-running

While your Specialist is running along a wall, you're supposed to look around and see if there's anyone to kill. The game will keep your player wall-running, so don't worry about falling to a needless suicide. Just make sure you're ready to jump off before reaching the end. Also, only use the right stick while on the wall. Pressing the left stick away from the direction your character is running will cause them to fall off.

The point of having walls to run around is to get kills from behind, so look for these exploits as much as possible and get the jump on your enemy.

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How to use the Power Slide

Power sliding sends your character much further than in previous Call of Duty's. Plus, if you slide under an obstacle, your character will keep sliding until they are able to stand back up, rather than be stuck crouching beneath (for example, on the Combine map, it's possible to slide all the way across the centre of the map by moving under the burning jeep).

Rather than trying to slide into buildings to make a grand entrance against enemies - which simply makes you an easy target, as it's very tricky to slide in one direction and aim in another - use the slide to either escape danger or more quickly reach your destination.

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Keep an eye on your thruster meter

Your characters are able to boost jump now thanks to thrusters. However, this is reliant on a new meter, visible below your aiming reticule which depletes very quickly.

If you're running and jumping between walls, make sure you have enough power left in the thrusters for the next jump, otherwise you'll end up falling to your death, with many of Black Ops 3's wall jump areas hanging over dangerous precipices.

Power sliding (crouching while running) uses half the meter, while jumps gradually deplete the bar the higher you try to go. Unlike Titanfall, traversing up walls also uses thrust, so keep this in mind if you try to reach windows or ledges.

The Afterburner perk gives Thrusters a faster recharge rate, and is a great starting point to get used to the new movement systems, so keep this until you feel familiar with each map.

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Go for a swim

Using the new underwater sections in Black Ops 3's maps serves a great tactical advantage for ambushes. It's also a great way to escape heavy fire and try to survive just a little bit longer after taking damage.

Hunted is a map which has plenty of underwater sections, some leading into buildings to help pull off sneak attacks. But be careful, enemies can sneak up on you just as much as you can them. You can also shoot underwater, so if you see anybody while you're down there, take them out!

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Pick a Specialist to suit the game mode

Each Specialist has a unique weapon and ability, some of these are more suited to particular game modes than others. Ruin, for example, has a set of Gravity Spikes as his unique weapon, which can be slammed to the ground to cause huge area-of-effect damage, killing groups of enemies in close proximity. This is great in objective-based modes like Domination, as there's a higher probability that multiple opponents will be in the same place.

Alternatively, Outrider's Vision Pulse sends out a sonar in the nearby area so you can see where exactly foes are. This is good in Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed, where kills can be found all over the map at any time.

Make sure you know which mode you're going to be playing, then choose a Specialist that best suits it.

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Don't keep changing guns and game modes

Following on from the above point, once you find a gun and game mode that suits you, stick with it and learn them.

Maps behave differently according to the mode, with choke points and shortcuts often not being ubiquitous across the whole of multiplayer. Strategies devised in Team Deathmatch won't prove effective in Search and Destroy, for instance. New players should stick to Team Deathmatch and Kill Confirmed, two simple modes that give you a chance to explore the whole map and also get a feel for which guns you're most efficient with.

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Don't reload after every kill

This is a common mistake that many players make in first person shooters, but you don't have to reload your gun after every kill. If you have a 30-round clip, and only used 10 to kill someone, it's better to keep running round ready to shoot than risk reloading and leaving yourself vulnerable to anybody that spots you.

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Choose easy Scorestreaks

Scorestreaks are one of the most enjoyable parts of multiplayer, and Black Ops 3 has made them slightly harder to obtain, which is why you should go with the low-scoring rewards in the early-going to get a feel for them.

HC-XDs, UAVs, Care Packages and all perks up to Hellstorm are reachable for new players consistently. But don't worry if you go several rounds without ever earning a Scorestreak, it's still possible to have a successful match without them.