Enlisted, a squad-based first-person shooter by Gaijin Entertainment, is an easy game to get started with: it’s even free to play. However, after a couple of matches, most players start to realize there is an immense amount of depth to this game.

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Many players have been trying to find various ways to get an edge on their opponents in the game. Fortunately, there are some surefire ways for anyone to improve their win rate in Enlisted.

Updated on August 10th, 2022, by Patrick Armstrong: Whether a player is looking for a grand strategy game that lets them conduct a war from the highest level, coordinating the movements of entire nations, or take command of a single soldier, fretting over the minutia of their breathing and recoil, there’s a game out there. As a squad-based shooter, Enlisted mixes a need for personal skill with the tactical decision-making to command others. That’s a lot to ask, and some will find the game difficult because of it. A few quick tips can make the game much easier, however.

15 Use Vehicles Sparingly

enlisted tank and airplane

Vehicles can be a lot of different things in FPSs. In some games they’re absolutely essential, the only thing standing between the enemy and annihilation. In others, they’re worse than useless: slow, clunky, and prone to glitching through terrain and the worst possible time. Vehicles have their place in Enlisted, but they must be used wisely.

Unless one is a pilot or a member of a tank group, using vehicles is usually a bad idea. They aren’t useful for much other than transporting troops, and they’re also extremely loud. In a game where it’s a terrible idea to give away one’s position without good reason, crashing across the map in an armored vehicle is a sure way to get shot. Vehicles with mounted weapons can be worthwhile, but even then the player should beware if the enemy has anti-vehicle weapons.

14 Know When To Reload

enlisted mark enemies

Many longtime FPS players have a habit of constantly reloading. It doesn’t matter if they’re only fired a single shot from a 30-round clip: they still hit the reload button while coming around a corner or transitioning from one battle to the next. Most games don’t punish players for this. Enlisted does.

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Don’t reload randomly. Non-scoped rifles should only be reloaded after the entire internal magazine has been expended. Doing so causes the character to reload the entire clip at once. If the player reloads early instead, the character will reload one round at a time, causing the animation to take much longer. In the middle of a tense battle, that wasted time can be enough to lose the objective or die.

13 Prioritize Objectives

enlisted soldiers use flamethrower

Every soldier has their mission. In Enlisted, the mission is the completion of objectives. These objectives should be prioritized above everything else. When it comes to winning, nothing makes more of a difference than the completion of objectives. Enlisted is a tactical FPS and needs to be played like one.

To facilitate this process, the player should be choosing their spawn points based on their proximity to the next objective. Spawning far away and having to run halfway across the battlefield to get to the objective site is a waste of time. Set up and use Rally Points when possible, as doing so will make getting to objectives even quicker.

12 Keep Up With Upgrades

Enlisted Tank and Castle

To survive war in Enlisted takes everything one has. Even if one’s aim and tactics are top-notch, battles will be lost if the player neglects opportunities to upgrade their squad with better perks and better gear. Running headlong into the fray with a subpar loadout is asking for trouble.

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The player will have ample opportunities to upgrade their perks and equipment, and it’s vital that they do so every time they can. Upgrading characters with newer weapons provides them substantial bonuses that can make a huge difference in a firefight. Losing a battle because one didn’t bring the absolute best equipment they could is a bad feeling and an avoidable one. Perks and squad bonuses modify gameplay in important ways and can easily turn the tide of battle in the player’s favor, so they shouldn’t be ignored.

11 Hold Your Breath

soldier takes aim with sub machine gun

The gameplay mechanic of having the soldier hold their breath for tough shots is not a new one and is heavily utilized in sniper games like Ghost Warrior. In Enlisted, using the “hold breath” mechanic is absolutely essential if a player is hoping to make even a medium-range accurate shot.

Sure it is possible to hit shots without it, but remembering to use the hold breath function (“shift” on PC) will increase the probability of taking out the opponent.

10 Go Prone Or Crouch, Then Brace

first person view of soldier investigating village for signs of enemy

If hitting tough shots is the goal of someone looking for tips to get better at Enlisted, then managing recoil has got to be on the top of the list. Combat games inject realism and difficulty with recoil and Call of Duty uses it as a major balancing factor - Enlisted is no different.

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If a player wants laser-like accuracy, especially with rapid-fire weapons, going prone or crouching is a must. The pro tip here is that most players don’t know is the brace mechanic. In certain situations when a player is laying down or crouching next to a ledge or other hard surface, an option to brace will pop up - then, let the destruction ensue.

9 Use Real Cover

Soldier uses a stone wall as cover from enemy fire

Enlisted is not a game with an active cover mechanic like Outriders or Gears of War, so players attempt to use anything they can find. Unfortunately, bushes, grass, and other obstacles that are not wood or stone will not provide adequate protection from small arms fire.

Remember that tracer rounds are a dead giveaway. Many kills come from shooting approximately where tracers are coming from and those bushes will not prevent the player from taking critical damage. Also, some enemies will purposely lower graphic settings to reduce the visual cover of foliage, making it even easier to spot would-be hidden players.

8 Gain Extra Lives By Ordering The Squad To Stay Out Of Danger

soldiers follow tank into battle

Until Gaijin makes investments in seriously improving squad AI, playing Enlisted with any level of success requires an understanding of how to command the (often dumb-as-bricks) AI to be an asset rather than a liability. Among all the commands, one of the most important is the “hold position” command.

Because the AI has a tendency to put itself into danger and get killed, the player can find a safe place behind cover or in a building and command the squad to stay put. That enables the player to run into danger and switch back to their living squadmates if they die or get downed - it’s like gaining extra lives.

7 If Downed, Switch To Another Squad Member Or Call For Healing

allies soldiers storm normandy beach on D-day

One of the handiest uses for the squadron mechanic is the ability to switch to a different trooper and let the AI apply a medkit (automatically) while the player wards off enemies. Switch soldiers as quickly as possible if critical damage is taken.

On the other hand, if in a reasonably safe location it can be beneficial to take a different approach and order the squad to provide healing instead of switching. This will save the medkit (which aren’t consumed when reviving teammates like this) and also is performed in 2 or 3 seconds rather than 8-10.

6 Use Strategic Fields of Vision

enlisted soldiers take aim with anti-tank weaponry

The mini-map shows the field of view for the soldier currently under control of the player. It also shows the location of other players and the direction they’re facing.

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For a true Enlisted pro tip, use the mini-map to get a feel for where teammates are focusing attention and try to avoid allowing large blindspots where enemies can sneak through and ambush the group (like using this crazy vehicle-based strategy in Warzone). This is a team game and it is impossible to win without looking out for the team.

5 Learn Where To Get More Ammunition

enlisted russian attack plane establishes air superiority

It is not immediately obvious how to deal with the common occurrence of running low on ammo. A soldier can easily use their ammo in just a few minutes. The first way to get more ammo is to check around for the ammo stack near a rally point.

The second most common way to get ammo is to request it from squadmates. Move close to other members of the squadron, point at them, and a prompt will appear saying “request ammunition.” Third, note that engineers can create ammo stockpiles, so keep an eye out for additional locations that engineer teammates may have created.

4 Shoot Mounted Machine Guns To Take Them Out Of The Battle

enlisted deadly mg-42 mounted in a bunker

The D-Day invasion of Normandy is one of the most famous and dramatic battles in history. With new tech, it seems several game studios have their eyes on immersing players into the battle. Fortunately for fans of Enlisted, there is already a fantastic D-day map to play. Well, until the allies meet the MG-42 nests on the beachhead.

What many players fail to realize is that those machine guns can actually be destroyed with a few well-placed shots. The pro tip here is to destroy mounted machine guns on any map where they are present to help win the fight.

3 Use Off-Angles To Defend Objectives

enlisted sniper keeps watch over objective

There is a concept used in competitive shooters like CS:GO called “off-angles”. As players become more familiar with maps, they’ll begin looking out for common hiding spots and sniper nests. They’ll begin pre-aiming and pre-shooting so that the other player doesn’t have a chance to react.

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To play Enlisted like a pro, find locations where there is a clear shot to an objective, but it is not an obvious location - this is an off-angle. Instead of setting up at a well-placed window inside the objective, try setting up in the woods off to the side of the objective and taking out enemies on their way in.

2 Mark, Mark, Mark The Enemy

enlisted attack aircraft targets marked enemies

Between tanks, planes, and massive numbers of enemy opponents, there is a ton happening at any given time in a game of Enlisted. To make matters worse, camouflage actually works pretty well, especially when enemies aren’t moving.

These reasons and more are why Enlisted pros always mark enemies. Not only does marking an enemy trigger the AI squad members to take notice and fire, but anyone on the team can see those marks which help to coordinate offensive and defensive efforts.

1 Finish Off Downed Enemies With Melee

enlisted solider sneaks up on enemy

An enemy is not dead unless there is a skull icon and a kill indicator. That means quite a bit of extra ammunition is expended on double-tapping bad guys. In a game where having enough bullets is a constant issue, especially with bolt-action rifles, a pro Enlisted player needs to find ways to conserve those shots for when they matter.

Happily, a quick melee swing will dispatch a downed enemy just as well as a shot to the dome. When in close range, whack them instead of shooting them.

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