EDIT: I added the guide on Steam and it now includes some screenshots for better understanding:
How’s it going gamers?
We all had games where we got stomped the enemy team and games where our team stomped the enemy. Both are very frustrating.
The reason is that the game has a lot of unique mechanics and when you start playing it with the average Call of Duty/Battlefield experience you’re basically missing on half of those mechanics.
I experienced this myself and soI had the idea to spread some knowledge and help the new players (and even some veterans) get better at this game with a few tips and tricks about this game. I am a complete zero at editing videos so I decided to at least write down a few things that would help you guys become better at Enlisted and make the games more balanced and fun.
Just a small disclaimer before we get into the whole topic: I am no guru and I am not the best player there is, but what I do is have more than 2500 games played, 750+ hours of gameplay and about 80% win rate so I believe if you take at least one of my advices you guys would find this game much more enjoyable.
This will be a long read, so feel free to use Chat GPT to summarize the whole thing in a few bullet points or whatever you find best.
Let’s dive into this.
1. Build rally points.
I cannot stress enough how important rally points and APCs are in this game.
Start the game with a rally point and keep building rally points throughout the entire game. Don’t build it too far, don’t build it too close to contested areas.
The closest you can build a rally point next to a contested zone is 40-50 meters but chances are enemies will hear the beeps it makes and would just blow it up.
If, on the other hand, you build it 80-90+ meters away it would take your teammates forever to reach the zone.
The ideal distance is around 70-80 meters away from the contested zone/capture point.
When you build the rally drop an anti-personnel mine on top of it so enemies won’t do it and cause an entire squad to get blown to pieces.
P.s. be creative with your rally point positioning. Place the rally points in places your enemy won’t expect them and make sure they’re placed behind a cover and not just on some open space.
2. Mark enemies.
The “V” key could turn the tide of a battle. Whenever you see a tank, mark it. When you see an APC, mark it. Whenever you see a cluster of enemies coming from the same spot, mark that spot.
If you have a visual on an enemy vehicle, keep it marked so your team’s pilots and tanks can wipe it.
Marking is extremely effective when you’re flying. Once you get at least 2000 m close to the target, start spamming “V”. If you’re accidently hovering over an enemy tank it would mark him and you can deal with him much easier.
It’s good to mark TWICE, a single mark shows up the enemy tank in orange and stays for a shorter time than when you mark him twice and the tank marker turns red.
Here’s a really cool trick to improve your gameplay I saw from ParaDivision (by the way, he makes amazing informational videos so check him out on YouTube). You can bind your mouse left click to also mark so this way whenever you shoot at something it will automatically mark it. That includes vehicles, rally points and built structures.
3. Have the relevant squad.
Always have an Engineer in every squad.
For lower BRs have a Radio operator.
For higher BRs have an AT Gunner.
4. Radio operators are key.
Do NOT make Airstrike calls.
They take forever to arrive and for the timebeing the enemy team will call 2 regular squads which would be 4x more percise and effective. Besides, it’s very likely that an enemy pilot would just gobble them up and grab 1500 experience away for the 5 downed bombers.
If you’re calling an Artillery strike, place it slightly behind the capture zone where enemies are likely to have a rally point.
If you’re trying to capture a zone which is in the open and the enemy team is shredding you call a Smoke artillery strike (if you’re rocking a radio operator squad).
5. Take out enemy tanks ASAP.
Always carry an Explosive pack to blow up tanks. Most tanks blow up when you throw the Explosive pack on the side at the tracks, however, some for some tanks with more armor such as the Tiger II (H) you’d have to crawl and throw the Explosive pack BENEATH the tank, otherwise you’d just scratch the surface.
6. Become a good pilot.
If you’re flying a plane your priority should be other planes, then tanks, then APCs then infantry. Why?
-Other planes would take you down otherwise so get them before they get you.
-A well placed tank could devastate your entire game.
-Destroying an APC would kill an entire squad (or two) in most cases and would prevent other enemies from spawning close to the contested area.
-When you’ve handled the heavy boys, start smacking that poor clueless enemy infantry.
When flying a plane use your flaps to turn faster. Just keep in mind the faster you move, the higher the chance you could end up losing a flap.
-You can always fly with flaps “UP” regardless of your TAS (true air speed).
-Fly fast with “COMBAT” flaps.
-Fly slow with “TAKEOFF” flaps.
-Fly very slow with “LANDING” flaps.
In the order mentioned above, making a turn in the air becomes easier, however, you’d be losing a lot of speed, so use wisely when dog-fighting.
A very good practice to do as a pilot is to use your map for 2 things. First, know where enemy planes are coming from - they always spawn on the opposite site of your spawn area. The same goes for ammo supply zones. When you spawn as a pilot open your map, in your mind draw a straight line towards the contested zone and extend this line with the same lenght. That’s where the enemy planes will spawn from.
The second thing is to know where enemy ground vehicles are. Once an enemy tank is marked, the mark will disappear in a few seconds. So as soon as you get the mark, open your map by pressing “M”, scroll in to that tank, hold Alt so your cursor appears and right click RIGHT NEXT to the enemy vehicle. This will drop a yellow static Pin on the map which will stay for 3x longer than a regular mark. Your allies will be able to see the pin as well in greyish color.
Heads up, if you right click on the vehicle itself and you marked it, the mark will disappear).
7. Learn to control your AI squad.
AI in Enlisted are quite dumb and are just fresh meat for the enemy team. The “X” button on PC is your best friend. It commands your AI to defend the place you were looking at when pressing it. If you get 50+ meters away the command will be disregarded and your AI will start following you again, HOWEVER, you can command your AI to attack/defend a contested zone REGARDLESS of the distance. This is very beneficial if you want them to capture one zone, while you’re building a rally next to another one.
You can also handpick each squad member and command them separately by pressing the “K” key and switching between squad members with the “L” key.
Holding X cancels all commands.
Use different squad formations in the appropriate scenarios - hold “Y” and press “Q” to change between Close, Standard and Wide formation. I suggest going for Wide formation. This way if you get shot, your AI won’t be clusttered right behind you and die as well. This way you would have time to react and find the enemy instead of respawning in your next soldier and getting killed like this 5 times in a row.
8. Run Forrest, Run.
Carry weapons with bayonnets/axes/swords so you can sprint and combine them with flasks. Combine it with at least 1 point in the “stamina” perks for more stamina and faster stamina regeneration.
Swift movement is key in this game. The faster you reach a zone, the faster you’d be manhandling the enemy.
9. Play smart, not hard.
Good tacticians and generals have been using the pincer/cauldron tactic for centuries and they still do.
Avoid rushing the capture zone from the middle like a braindead chimp because the enemy will be expecting you and you’d end up biting bullets and anti-personnel mines. Always try to flank from the left or right side. This way the enemy won’t be able to cover 2 perimeters at once. Even if you get shredded, your teammates on the other side would be able to penetrate the enemy’s defences.
10. Learn from your mistakes.
This goes without saying but still I have to say it. Watch other people play or watch your games. In the main menu when you press “Escape” > Replays > Enlisted replay portal you can either search for your own games (which get uploaded 3-4 minutes after the end of the game) or you can watch how the guy who manhandled you in the last game and bully the next guy who makes your mistakes.
11. Learn how to control the planes.
When dropping bombs with a plane descend at about 45 degrees;
Release the bombs at around 200 meters RIGHT BEFORE the area you’re aiming at gets hidden below the plane’s nose.
Straight away change to the “slowest flaps” and start ascending back into the sky at the same time.
My advise is to bind the “1” and “2” keys to extend and raise between flaps - 1 can raise/close them and 2 can extend/open them.
Also bind another key to turn off/toggle your engine. This way you’d hear if a plane is chasing you and if that is the case you can quickly lose speed and get on their tail with some manouvers.
Use Q and E for rudders to start making sharp turns and continue off with the “W” and “S” keys.
Pitch down your plane with “S” and pitch it up with “W”. I think by default it’s the other way around for some crazy reason.
When turning, turn UP now down. It’s faster.
Always look around with “free look” which is the “C” key.
12. Think like Gordon Ramsay.
Always “Cook” your grenades.
When you pull the pin off a grenade it you have between 4 and 5 seconds before it explodes in your hands. Only throw your grenade when it’s fully cooked so the enemy infantry won’t throw it back or the enemy tank wont move away from it.
13. Dress appropriately for the weather.
Wearing a helmet reduces the headshot damage by 10%. Soviet body armor reduces damage as well. Regardless if an enemy has body armor or a helmet, always aim for the head and torso.
14. Perks.
Everybody plays different but for me the must have perks are:
+35% vitality
+medpack usage speed
+run speed
+firearm vertical recoil
+faster building speed (engineers)
+faster weapon changing
+faster weapon reloading
+speed of extinguishing fire
15. Make sure you’re always in on the action.
Do not stay in the back and camp. Always pressure the enemy and try to overwhelm them with numbers. The same applies for vehicles. This doesn’t mean to rush the zone with a tank or send wave after wave of infantry into the enemy MG nest. Be agressive but cautious.
16. Ctrl, Z and shift. Duck, crawl and hold you breath while shooting.
You won’t always have the best weapon in a stand-off. This is Enlisted, not the Wild West so make sure you are always moving/ducking/crawling and trying to out-smart your enemy.
17. Divide and conquer.
DEFENDING:
The first seconds are vital. When you’re playing as a defender avoid staying directly in the zone because two things would happen. First, you’d get blown by artillery strikes and second, the enemy would know exactly where you are and you won’t.
You can do 3 things:
-Drop a few anti-personnel mines in the zone and charge the enemy to slow down their advance. You would lose your squad almost certainly by charging in the cross-fire but by doing so you would divert the attention of a big chunk of enemies and divide their initial wave.
-If you chose to defend the zone, don’t just stand around. Fortify the zone with barbed wire, sandbags and Czech hedgehogs (to stop enemy tank fire);
-Retreat to about 40-50 meters behind the zone and build a rally point. This is probably the only scenario where building a rally so close is a good idea because otherwise you’d lose too much time and the enemy team will just rush your zone, kill your teammates, kill you when you get back and capture the zone for 1 minute.
ATTACKING:
Nothing much to say. Build a rally point and rush the zone before the defender tanks get in proximity. While doing so make sure there is team cohesion and you’re moving together with your teammates.
18. Attack behind enemy lines.
You’re not the only smart ass with a rally point. Your enemy will have a few as well.
A very wise strategy is to flank far away around the capture zone and head towards the spawn site of the enemy. It is on the oposite site of your spawn zone, at the same distance and it is indicated with a red arrow on your map.
When you get roughly 40-70 meters behind the contested area listen very carefully for the beeping coming from rally points. The closer you get, the louder the beep. When you find it, either destroy it or even better, drop an anti-personnel mine on top of it. This will instantly blow the enemy squad spawning on this rally point, destroy the rally point itself and will ensure you get a one-way ticket to hell.
This is a very risky but very rewarding treasure hunt which requires some practice but in time you’d be able to get there undetected or at least with one living soldier to perform the task.
If you have a paratrooper squad this would make your life easier by a tenfold.
There are more things that could be added but this already became a very long read. Feel free to add anything I missed and upvote those comments so other people could read them.
Feel free to add me In-game: YalokinVeili
I recently started streaming on Youtube (soon on Twitch too). You can check my streams out: https://www.youtube.com/@yalokinveili/streams