The violence of The Great War was merciless. Soldiers faced bombs, organ-melting gases, rifles, artillery, and a myriad of diseases. Battlefield 1 can never truly be a simulation of the inhumane terror that the war’s victims endured; but it does try and feed gamers a taste of the chaotic bloodshed in the trenches. When you consider the bloody rainbow of deadly instruments that the game supplies your enemies with, it’s a wonder how players survive more than a minute. These essential rules will help bring you out from under tank treads to the top of your lobby’s leader-board.

• Billy Don’t Be a Hero

If you have a vision of yourself in Battlefield 1 as a war hero, solo capping objectives and bayonet charging to break the enemy line, here’s what you do with that thought: You take it out back behind the shed and beat it in with the dull side of an ax. Take it to the river and hold it underwater till it stops squirming. Burn it, bury it and salt the Earth around the grave. If you rush a tank alone you will die. If you try to go head to head with five supports as a sniper you will die. Battlefield 1 is all about team coordination even if you are solo-queuing as a scout, working in conjunction with your front line counterparts will bring victory. The pack is where your strength lies. In the game you aren’t the unstoppable force you may be in single player. Each match is a single battle and you play as a single soldier in an army–a cohesive fighting unit. That’s why the class based system is in place, to encourage cooperation between players. Risky maneuvers are sometimes necessary but if it is the entirety of your play style, prepare for a frustrating count of casualties.

• The Behemoth is a Giant Fighting Shield

If you’re lucky enough to snag a seat in these harbingers of death, don’t let go. A Behemoth spot is to be guarded like it’s a Red Cross blood drive van driving past Dracula’s castle. The top seat in the Zeppelin should be kept empty, because allies can use it for a spawn point, essentially turning your team into the 101^st Airborne. It will naturally vacate due to weak firepower and lack of targets. When you’re in one of these dangerous daddies almost nothing can hurt you. Enemy infantry will fire everything at you and still your cannons will pound away at them like they’re pizza dough. Parts of the Behemoth can be damaged, resulting in the pilot’s death but the targeted area will absorb unthinkable damage before this happens, and even then your kill count will soar. This is especially true when playing in the dreadnought, which is out of the range of most counter weapons. A player in a behemoth seat is near unstoppable, with a good pilot and talented gunners, it can really change the tide of battle, as well as it can protect you.

• Play to your Weapons’ strengths

This may seem like it’s a given, but in many lobbies you’ll find players trying to snipe you with optical submachine guns, firing anti-aircraft rounds at infantry, or getting gunned down as they try to use a revolver for crowd control. This isn’t to discourage unorthodox weapon combos, but acknowledge that the effectiveness of these weapons are primarily reliant on surprise, and will suffer when enemies adapt, after they notice X_slippersticker_X killed them twice, with a syringe. Each weapon can offer you a powerful strategy for breaking through the enemy line, but only if you use them accordingly. If you know your weapon and its limitations, you know best how to support and lean on your team, bringing you much longer lifespans, and a much happier gaming experience. For an in-depth view of Battlefield 1 weapons go here.

• Everything is Cover

This Battlefield is much different than other games in the franchise. Most of the games in the series contain sweeping maps, and gunfights are typically mobile, located in areas that sometimes impact on the outcome of a capture point. WW1 provides the developers with the ability to streamline map focus on the objectives, which is not to say that the maps aren’t massive, but the design seems to encourage firefights around objectives, where most of the cover lies. The weapons seem to be designed for this play style as well, favoring high impact weapons that take seconds to liquify someone. A combination of all of these factors demand the use of environmental shields. Hug the ground like it was your favorite aunt Cathy that you haven’t seen in years. Laying down and crouching will not only narrow your window of vulnerability to enemy fire, but also keep you hidden from vehicles, if you choose a good hiding spot. The Great War was all about digging in and holding off waves of enemies crashing into your position, remember that as you defend and attack strongholds across the map.

• Don’t Be Afraid to Spawn on the Objective

It’s tempting, you were sprinting to get the flame trooper kit. Your allies are following you racing for the same prize, but your way ahead. Your heart beats fat. You smile, and even start bouncing your foot out of excitement, then a sniper takes you out right as your about to hit the pickup button. You may be feeling a lot of emotions, anger, disbelief, an itching feeling that the universe gets off torturing you. You’d like nothing more than to spawn on your squad mate, charge the sniper, and bash his head in with the shovel as he raises a useless hand in terror to defend himself. The position has been swarmed and your allies are dropping. Take a deep breath and spawn on the closest objective. If you spawn anywhere near your allies and they are certainly losing a fight, or if you know they are exposed to fire, don’t spawn. When you die you’re only going to be mad at yourself for the match’s score. It’s safer to just spawn on the objective and try a new strategy, instead of spawning and throwing yourself in fatal droves at a fortification.

Have some tips of your own? Or some amendments to ours? Feel free to let us know in the comments!