While the basic battle royale gameplay elements remain the same, there are some key differences you need to know ahead of time – like how to avoid zombies and properly utilize Perks.
Here’s what you need to know before jumping into the biggest mode in Black Ops 4.
Blackout Survival Tip #1: Pick a Better Landing Spot
Blackout’s convoy travels a random direction each time you start a new match, and the circle shrinks in a random direction, too. That means you need to quickly find the best landing spots and have several of them in your back pocket if things don’t go as planned.
You can view the convoy path before the match starts by pulling up the map while you are in the lobby waiting area. Furthermore, the map lets you zoom in to see specific landscape features, which is critical to finding the right location.
In general, avoid the big named areas when landing, especially early in the convoy’s flight path, as that’s where everyone else is going.
Instead, look for clusters of buildings slightly away from the convoy path that aren’t next to main roads. If they have clear sight lines on elevated terrain, even better.
Don’t discount the dense forest area in the upper center section of the Blackout map. A helicopter spawns on a tarp there. You’ll also have plenty of room to hide and snipe while waiting for other players who are sprinting to avoid the closing circle.
We’ve got a full run down of the five best specific spots to land right here. Those locations are guaranteed to be filled with loot and feature sneaky places to hide and snipe without being seen.
Blackout Survival Tip #2: Look For Broken Windows, Not Open Doors
It’s currently standard battle royale practice to play mind games with your opponents. Closing doors so other players don’t know an area has already been looted is one of the better ways to do that.
In Blackout, however, jumping through a window automatically breaks that window. Most of the time, players have to break through windows to make a quick escape.
In other words: don’t look at doorways to determine if a building has been looted or not. Look at windows instead.
Blackout Survival Tip #3: Change Your Loadout For the Situation
Except for in the very beginning of a match, you are going to be flush with weapons pretty quickly. To stay alive, switch your equipment, attachments, and perks based on the terrain.
Specifically, switch to a shotgun when you are clearing an interior location for loot, such as a house or factory. Spraying and praying with an assault rifle isn’t as effective here as a wide range shotgun blast with high damage at short range.
When you head up to the building’s roof or go back into the open, switch to a weapon with a higher rate of fire (and preferably a scope as well). In the open, you want to be able to zoom in and pop off quicker shots at longer range.
Blackout Survival Tip #4: Avoid The Zombies… Most Of The Time (Because Ray Guns)
In most cases, tangling with Blackout’s randomly spawning zombies just isn’t worth the effort. All it will do is draw attention to your location due to the sound of your gunfire.
There is one very clear exception to this rule, however. A horde of zombies protects a special wooden box that can randomly spawn once during a match.
The box location is marked by a blue pillar of light and is most often found in the graveyard near the Asylum, but it can spawn on any of the five red circled locations on the map above.
The area around the box will be swarming with zombies, but if you fight your way through, you get a random item from the box that is usually Level 3 armor or a high power weapon.
If you keep killing zombies after opening the box, they have a small chance to randomly drop the special ray gun! This is a big gamble, since everyone will know where you are, but getting the ray gun can be worth it.
The Best Blackout Perks + Equipment
In Blackout mode, Perks are random just like weapons, ammo, and equipment. Perks have to be equipped in the inventory screen and offer bonuses for a set amount of time.
While everyone has their favorites, some Perks stand head and shoulders above the rest for their usefulness or versatility. In particular, we recommend making use of these Blackout Perks:
Skulker: This Perk lets you move at full speed while crouched, or only slightly reduced speed while prone. Use this to stay hidden in tall grass near the edge of the shrinking circle so you can snipe enemies sprinting to safety, then quietly stay low and move to a new location. Stimulant: This Perk raises your maximum health by 100. Load yourself up with health packs and use your extra capacity to draw enemies out into a firefight you are more equipped to win. Paranoia: This Perk lets you hear a tone whenever another player is aiming at you. For those with fast reflexes who like to hang out in the open, this may be the best Perk in the game. Iron Lungs: This Perk lets you hold your breath longer while swimming or while sniping. If the circle is shrinking near the river areas, this is a fantastic way to hide out of sight and then pop up and kill sprinting enemies who don’t even know you are there.
Besides the limited-time Perks, there are a host of items to pick up that spawn randomly across the map and can offer you an edge in combat.
Like with Perks, nearly any of them can be useful in specific situations, but these are the items we recommend using most often if you can find them:
Sensor Dart: Easily the most useful item in the game, this thrown object reveals enemies in a short radius on the map. If you’ve got these, always throw them into large buildings before heading inside. This completely removes the advantage of anyone lying in wait to snipe you. Smoke Screen: When you aren’t sure where the enemy is, or you think one is potentially waiting to snipe as you break into the open, this thrown grenade item is perfect. It will either protect you from fire or flush the enemy out into the open. Combat Axe: This item doesn’t change your melee attack, but rather is thrown like a grenade. If you practice your aim, this can be a silent one-hit kill in close quarters. Mesh Mine: If you are a patient player, these are awesome to set at the base of staircase or near doors leading into rooms filled with loot. Lie in wait, prone in the corner, and open fire when an opponent trips the mine.
Finally, there’s one piece of equipment everyone has that they forget about – you don’t ever actually lose the wingsuit after your initial landing.
Why does that matter? If you jump from a sufficiently high location (like the buildings at Construction Site), you can re-deploy the wingsuit by holding down the jump button and quickly glide long distances.
This is also great for escaping when you when you’re cornered on a precipice or tall building.
Those are all the basics you need to know to survive a match of Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 Blackout mode. Have any other tips we should try out to get to that #1 spot?
Leave your best Blackout strategy in the comments below, and stay tuned for a full guide on every Blackout weapon (and which are the best to use) coming soon.
