We went hands-on with Modern Warfare 4 early, and while it will feel familiar to many Call of Duty veterans, Infinity Ward has updated some of the movement mechanics and features from recent years. In this guide, we'll provide some of the best tips to help you score wins in multiplayer when Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23.
Practice the new movement
Modern Warfare 4 overhauls the movement from the last two years of Treyarch's Black Ops games. This game strips away the fancy omnimovement, but Infinity Ward has reworked the mantling system, refined the sliding mechanic, and added a way to climb up pipes.
The best way to get practice with Modern Warfare 4's movement system is to play the game's new mobility course, which is found in the multiplayer playlist menu. It includes a series of three difficulties, including tutorials for beginners, intermediate, and experts. There are rewards for completing the mobility course as well.
Without omnimovement, double jumps into windows and other high places are no longer possible. However, you can climb up pipes to reach otherwise inaccessible areas. These specific pipes are copper in color and stand out fairly easily. These are found on standard multiplayer maps, Kill Block, and even Modern Warfare 4's Zodiac map for Warzone.
Hipfire is your friend
Infinity Ward removed bloom from guns this year, which is a mechanic that previously caused bullet spread when firing from the hip, meaning some bullets did not hit their target.
Hipfiring is more accurate in Modern Warfare 4, so you don't always need to aim down sights with your gun. If someone is sliding at you from around a corner, or perhaps you just find yourself in a close-range engagement. Don't waste time aiming. Just hipfire your gun.
Adjust your settings
Modern Warfare 4 has plenty of customization and accessibility settings. These include options to help make the game's movement easier, refine your aiming, and help with issues like Tinnitus or motion sickness. Additionally, Modern Warfare 4 defaults to some cinematic-style visual settings that aren't great for multiplayer. Disabling the settings for motion blur and depth of field will greatly help with the game's visibility.
If you're on console, we have a recommended settings guide for getting the most out of Modern Warfare 4 on PlayStation or Xbox consoles.
Build custom loadouts
The base guns in Call of Duty always feel better to use with a good set of attachments equipped. This year's Gunsmith will let you fully customize your guns, and it will recommend a few builds with the new Gunny bot system. This isn't an AI chat bot, but instead it cycles through preset builds from the developer. These weapon builds are decent, but I find it doesn't always recommend the absolute best attachments. You also don't have Gunny unlocked until you rank up a few levels.
Try your Apex attachments
Modern Warfare 4's adds a new weapon attachment type called Apex attachments. Every primary and secondary weapon in Modern Warfare 4 has one Apex attachment. These are special add-ons you can unlock for each gun, which will drastically change how the weapon is used. Apex attachments are similar to the weapon conversion kits found in the recent Call of Duty games, but in Modern Warfare 4 they don't cost one of your attachment slots. You can have a five-attachment build and still equip an Apex attachment, so there's no reason why you shouldn't test out some of these unique conversions.
Some of these special attachments sound a little outlandish, with one adding the option to fire throwing knives or another that adds a mounted strobe light, but some of them will likely be powerful options in multiplayer. For example, the Oden's Apex attachment turns the assault rifle into a powerful and precise semi-auto sniper rifle.
Apex attachments aren't unlocked until you've reached the maximum weapon level for a specific gun. Leveling up guns can feel slow in the beginning, but Call of Duty often offers double XP weekends, or you can always make use of any double weapon XP tokens you might have saved up.
Navigating Kill Block
Kill Block is a Gunfight map designed as a unique modular battleground where the map's design reconfigures every match, creating hundreds of potential map combinations. It can be harder to give callouts or orientate yourself on a constantly changing map, but the outer edges of Kill Block are labeled as quadrants. Look for the grid's letters and numbers labelled along the outside wall for help with callouts.
Communicate and have awareness
Sound is an important element in Call of Duty's multiplayer You'll want to use a headset when possible to gain precious intel from the game's audio cues. This helps with increasing map awareness, which includes hearing enemy footsteps better and being able to pinpoint their positioning.
Consider using a mic when you can. Multiplayer is a team-based game for almost all game modes, so having a headset with a mic is also recommended. This can feel especially important when you're playing objective-based modes, so you can help provide callouts or talk strategy.
However, we also know Call of Duty lobbies can be toxic. If you don't want to talk to others, Modern Warfare 4 does feature a decent ping system with the D-pad. This lets you ping enemies and important map locations to provide your team with some basic intel.
The duty is better with friends
Partying up with friends can increase your odds of winning. It's good to have reliable teammates watching your back and doing callouts with you, and hopefully they are willing to play the objective or provide intel. Try to party up with at least one or two friends to give yourself better odds of victory.
If you're looking to jump into the story, make sure to check out our Modern Warfare 4 campaign guide to learn how long it will take to beat.