5 Tips For Anyone Joining The CoD: Vanguard Beta This Weekend

Good Vanguard Pic
Make Polina proud comrade! | © Activision Blizzard

This weekend, September 18 through 20, you'll be able to play Call of Duty: Vanguard for free on any platform. To help our readers prepare for the beta we've put together five tips specific to Vanguard. These are tips we wish we had known going into the earlier rounds of playtesting.

If you're on Xbox or PC, or if you haven't pre-ordered the game, then you missed out on the PlayStation-exclusive early beta weekend. It ran from September 10 to September 13, and then they closed the servers. Luckily we played a ton in that time.

From September 18 you can try Call of Duty: Vanguard for free on any platform, and even if you haven't pre-ordered. Here's how to not get embarrassed as soon as you join.

Note: These are gameplay tips but for weapon advice, we've done a complete tier-ranking of the weapons in Call of Duty: Vanguard.

Tips For CoD: Vanguard

5. Don't Rely On Grenades

These are maybe the weakest grenades I've played with in a Call of Duty game. They do very little damage, have a small area of effect, and take ages to throw. That might sound silly but you'll notice it instantly. And for that reason, we found that we couldn't rely on them. Don't get me wrong they have a place, but only use them when very safe and aiming directly at an objective or target.

4. Play Like You've Got An LMG

Aim-down-sight and sprint-our-times are awful in Call of Duty: Vanguard. So adjust your play with every weapon (except SMGs) to be closer to how you would play with an LMG.

By that we mean play patiently - let other people walk into your shots, and hold angles. But if you really do hate this playstyle then use an M1928 until you can use the MP40 and just go pure SMG, the only weapon class with decent speed.

3. Camping Is Rewarded In Tactician

You can play Blitz if you don't like this kind of Call of Duty, but if you do play Tactician, then we have to admit playing campy is rewarded. Holding power positions is very strong in Vanguard, and especially when mounting. If you fall into this playstyle then you might want to consider Bipod attachment which boosts recoil control when mounting, and the perk Frangible which reduced damage taken while mounting.

Like keeping up to speed with all things Call of Duty? Then you've come to the right place, here are some of our recent articles:

2. Run Counter UAV

For just four kills and lasting far, far longer than anything else, we found we got more bang for our buck with the Counter UAV than with any other killstreak. It was taking only 4 or 5 Counter-UAVs in early access to disable the minimap for an entire match.

1. The Map Is Destructible - Treat The Game Like Siege

This is still very much a CoD game but what we mean is that you need to adjust your thinking about cover. In Rainbow Six: Siege if someone you're firing at runs into another room or behind some cover then keep firing at where you predict them to be. A lot of the time the area will be penetrable enough for you to get them. The same holds true of Vanguard.

Those were five tips that we hope can help you out this weekend, but most importantly, have a blast - we loved the beta and we hope you do too!

Are you excited to jump in? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter, and remember, you should consider joining MyEarlyGame today for exclusive tourneys and loads of great giveaways!

Jon Ramuz

Jon has a BA and an MA in English Literature, and as Content Lead for EarlyGame has written over 1,500 articles. He focuses on shooters, but also writes about entertainment and gaming in general....