With the world being urged to stay indoors, now is the perfect time to try Call of Duty: Warzone with these tips. Warzone is the latest twist on the battle royale genre. The 150-player games take place in Verdansk, a vaguely Eastern European region filled with guns and explosives. There’s a ring of death, and the only escape from this hell is death. Pretty standard battle royale things, really.

What isn’t standard about Warzone is the fact that it plays like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. This means each flashpoint is intense and quick. If you’re not ready, it’s easy to be caught out. That being said, being prepared for a game of Warzone isn’t impossible when you know what to look out for and what you need to be keeping in mind. Here are some Warzone tips to help anyone struggling to make an impact without the need to drastically improve your hard-skill:

The Basics are still important in Warzone…

In battle royale games, there are unspoken rules that everyone should follow if they want to win. Warzone is no different. Making sure you drop together, have enough armor, and avoid the gas are just three of the basics you’ll need to follow in Warzone.

Co-operation is key in Warzone: don’t drop alone.

Dropping together is vital for winning any firefight in Warzone. With third-partying increasingly common in battle royales, it is important that you don’t get stuck between two squads. While this is out of your control, dropping with your squadmates and staying together will undoubtedly give you the best possible chance of survival. In Modern Warfare’s multiplayer, three against one might not sound impossible, but Warzone is a different beast. It takes longer to kill someone, simply put, so numbers matter. Drop together, loot together, and win together.

Unlike Fortnite and Apex Legends, Warzone operates on an armor system. Each player has three slots of armor they can fill, with space for another five in their inventory. Even one of these slots can make the difference in a firefight where seconds matter. It is also vital when you and your squad are out in the open. With some sniper hits being able to do more damage than the max health, having armor equipped provides an important buffer that may end up keeping you alive. Thankfully, health regenerates much like in multiplayer, so that’s one thing you don’t have to worry about. But armor is an easy way to give yourself an advantage in a firefight. Armor pick-ups can be found in equipment crates and given as rewards when completing the in-game contracts.

Always ALWAYS have armour ready.

The inevitable doom in Warzone comes in the form of rolling gas. It operates similarly to any other battle royale circle, but this does not mean it is as easily dealt with. Warzone’s gas is straight-up brutal. There’s no other way to put it. Even at the start of the game, you don’t have long when you get stuck in it. This is why Gas Masks are so vital. They are a hard item to find, but always make sure you have one if you can. They only afford a matter of seconds extra when in the storm, but this could be the difference.

It’s Important to Loot Smart to Win Smart…

Although you start with a pistol equipped, you won’t get far in Warzone without making sure you’re looted up and equipped with the best you can find. But this doesn’t mean that you should be risking your life for loot when you don’t have to.

Unless you are very co-ordinated with your squadmates, I would advise you to avoid LMGs at all costs. Particularly, the ones most commonly found in Verdansk. The MG34 is slow, simple as that. They may have a lot of ammo and pack more of a punch than an MP7, but reloading is tedious without the aid of perks. It is important to always be ready for a fight with one or more squads on Warzone. The MG34 does not help with this. It’s slow to switch to, slow to start shooting, and slow to reload. In a game as fast-paced as Warzone, slow is what gets you killed.

Along with making sure you are looting the right weapons, it is important to make sure you are looting the highest quality weapons you can. Many of Warzone’s basic weapons found about the map come in two qualities: Common and uncommon. Although it doesn’t appear this way, weapon quality matters, and it can be easy to overlook an uncommon M13 when you’re carrying a common M13 which is identical. As weapons go up in quality, they also begin to gain attachments. You will never appreciate attachments more than when you play Warzone. They really do make the difference.

If you can see, you can fight!

If you favor a more aggressive approach to Warzone, there are two things you will need to be successful alongside the basics discussed. Having vision, much like in any competitive gaming scenario, is half the battle. Thankfully, Warzone has several ways you can do this.

For close-range visuals, there is a Heartbeat Sensor. Unlike previous titles, the Heartbeat Sensor is not a weapon attachment anymore but a piece of tactical equipment. It has unlimited uses while it is equipped to your loadout and is beyond helpful when navigating the more built-up areas of Verdansk. If you lose your opponent in a firefight, the Heartbeat Sensor can be helpful in making sure you stay on top of things.

Make sure that it’s only the gas making enemies hard to spot with UAV’s, Recon Drones, and more.

Recon Drones are great for mid-range visuals and are arguably the most helpful piece of equipment you can pick up in Warzone. Equipped with a thermal camera, spotting and marking enemies with the Recon Drone is easy. The downside is that it has a battery, and once it’s dead, it’s dead. This isn’t to say that you can’t find another; they’re not the most uncommon thing. It just means you need to make sure you’re using them at the right times. Also, you actually get to control them, and that is fun.

For the best approach to any fight visually, a UAV dominates. Much like in the multiplayer, it provides you with a constantly-updating scan of the area and shows you everyone around you. They are beyond helpful in Warzone. If anything, they can help warn you if a fight you’re about to get in might leave you outnumbered by other squads. These don’t always need to be used in an offensive capacity.

The only downside to a UAV is that they are expensive and very rare. Finding one out and about is incredible, but more-often-than-not you’ll need to purchase one from a Buy Station. They cost $4000, only $500 cheaper than a squad revives or a self-revive kit, so buying one is a big decision. It can be one that will win you a firefight, and maybe the game, but it is also important to always be ready to bring your squad back into the fight if needed.

Bring your own guns to the party…

Loadout Drops are perhaps the most important bit of equipment you can find (or buy) in Warzone. Now costing $8,500, they are the most expensive item currently in the Buy Station. But if you can afford it, they are beyond worth it. They also drop periodically around Verdansk, but they are hotspots for conflict, so you have to make sure you are ready to get in and get out if you’re planning on going for one.

Be ready for a fight if you’re going for a Loadout Drop!

Loadout Drops allow you to equip one loadout from your multiplayer classes, so make sure you have one geared up to Warzone ready. While Overkill may not be used much in multiplayer, in Warzone it is a handy perk. It means you can equip an Assault Rifle and a Sniper Rifle simultaneously; this keeps you prepared for any combat scenario. Loadout Drops also give you stocked-up lethal and tactical equipment, so make sure you’ve picked these with this in mind.

These are only basic Warzone tips to help you get started. There is much more for everyone to learn through playing and there is always something to learn through defeat. For example, Thermal scopes aren’t the worst thing to have equipped to your sniper, as they paint enemies clearly from a distance. Similarly, practice with the rotation of weapons you get in the Gulag will only improve your chances of survival.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone have both received an update in the last few hours. Be sure to check out articles from VG247 and Infinity Ward for information on those. If Warzone isn’t violent enough for you, DOOM Eternal might be the way to go. You can check out the Gamezo review of that here.