Guide:Combat Arms for Beginner

Introductory Guide
(Guide by Unscrupulous)

This guide is aimed at new players who have NO previous combat arms experience and does not provide any advance tips or such which would help you to hold your own against strong veteran players.

Learning The Maps

Knowing a map is essential to playing combat arms well. Knowing a map enables you to set up ambushes, counter enemy ambushes, move around more freely and to make use of kill cam, which shows you what the person who killed you is doing.

It is strongly advised that you play maps in Melee Only Mode with few players. (You'll see a knife with the word "only" below it in the arms rating of a room) Playing with only Melee weapons means that, you'll die a lot slower, giving you more time to scout out the whole map and notice small details. Watch other players and see how they move and get from place. Scouting the map while in melee only mode does not give you a full picture of what the map is capable of, and what spots are actually used when you can shoot people, but it's a start.

After you know the outlay of the map reasonably well, you can move on to Pistol Only mode. (You'll see a pistol with the word "only" below it in the arms rating of a room) Pistols have a lot less caliber than standard Primary Weapons and although you'll die a little bit quicker, you'll now be able to see what the game is like when ranged weapons come into play. Camping, sniping and rushing tactics will begin to appear, some of which can be readily applied to when you have more capable weapons so learn carefully. Needless to say, make sure kill cam is on.

Finally, when you've learnt the maps relatively well, you can try playing them with some proper weapons enabled. You may typically alternate between "no explosives"(You'll see a grenade with a red slashed circle below it in the arms rating of a room) on small maps like Junk Flea and Deathroom and "no snipers"(You'll see a crosshairs with a red slashed circle below it in the arms rating of a room) on large maps like snow valley and waverider, giving you a slightly better chance of survival and allowing you to experience the various firefight machanics in the game.

Even though you still won't be able to hold a candle to the older, blooded veterans, at least you're a lot closer to doing so. You can also return to exploring the map in melee-only and pistol-only mode if you want to test out new ways of traveling and the like, such as climbing crates instead of stairs, jumping down into previously unknown platforms (The pillars in Two Towers)

NOTE: Playing maps in Quaruntine won't work. While you can survive better, the maps are different from the ones used in actual games

Learning To Shoot

Alongside learning the maps, it is also very important to learn to shoot, duck and move properly. If you find yourself outgunned often in a front on confrontation, chances are, it's because the other guy can put more lead into you. Playing Fireteam in normal mode lets you shoot bullets and throw grenades at people who don't move around as much and who don't fight back as hard (They're NPCs).Other players will do things like bunnyhop, crouch behind crates and stand behind pillars. Observe and learn.Completing Fireteam is probably out of the question but you can learn many things by fighting with NPCs. When you feel you're ready, you can challenge the NPCs on a higher difficulty rating. When you can survive the first two stages of Fireteam on extremely mode and get your fair share of kills in as well, you're ready to try taking on actual players.

Picking Up Tips

Look for other guides and frequet the forums. You'll pick up hints and tips as you go along.