Blog: How I, a non-gamer, aced Call of Duty Mobile with flawed tactics, skills

I missed the PUBG Mobile bus. I tried, but failed. And never liked it. Not because it was not good – millions of people love it and play it every day – I was simply not good at it. Before I hold forth, a small disclaimer – neither do I consider myself gamer nor am I a gaming enthusiast. My gaming resume has Max Payne from yesteryears, GTA (don’t recall which version it was), and a bit of Unreal Tournament.

Then came, Call of Duty Mobile. And boy, I was hooked!

My tryst with Call of Duty Mobile began when we started covering a "possible PUBG Mobile rival". For the heck of it, I started playing it. I tried battle royale and didn’t like it – possibly the reason why I don’t like PUBG Mobile so much. What intrigued me is the multiplayer mode – where random players are grouped together and they compete for one objective.

After the tutorials and AI game modes, I aspired to ace the Ranked matches – where you are grouped with real players from both sides. As expected, I was bad, but the team victory allowed me to move from one rank to another. I also began taking Ranked matches more seriously as there is a penalty on losing a game. Cut to May 2020, I have reached Master II stage, a personal best. If and when I complete the Master IV stage, I'll be entering the coveted Legendary rank – the highest in CoD Mobile.

After months of playing of CoD Mobile, I am still not great at it, I'll admit. I am usually right at the bottom in terms of points in my team, whether it wins or loses. I am still relying on AI to kill my enemies.

Pros use the manual mode for better killing ratio. They’re agile and quicker with aiming and shooting. I am slow and can barely move to one place from another. However, when I take a quick look at my performance as compared to my friends, I am behind them in terms of win ratio and kills ratio, but as far as my Ranking is concerned, it's better than theirs.

How did I manage to get here?

Memorise the maps

As I played a lot of matches in CoD Mobile (multiplayer), I started to memorise the maps. Some maps such as Crash, Nuketown and Crossfire have been constant. Learning the maps, like you would for your neighbourhood, allowed me to find spots where I can hide and shoot at enemies instead of being caught running from one place to another. Learning the maps also helped me anticipate where enemies will launch their attack. They have a pattern. For instance, Crash has an open terrace that allows you to shoot right at the “B” spot in Domination mode. As enemies try to capture it, they come straight in the shooting line.

Domination mode

Unlike the quick game modes like Deathmatch, Domination mode has higher duration with maximum points pegged at 150. Since the objective isn’t the highest kills but to capture the A, B, and C spots, I began finding areas that allowed me to easily shoot at enemies. Not trying to capture these spots cost my team some matches initially. But I improved on this front as well. My performance is much better in the Domination mode than it is on the Deathmatch.

Learning the weapons

It’s important to know the limit of your weapon. For instance, sniper guns may give you better and closer view, but it’s not really handy for the close combat. Since I use the AI mode for firing, I began sorting my weapons depending upon the kind of matches or map. For instance, Crossfire map suits snipers. But if it’s a Domination or Search and Destroy game, you may want to re-consider. My arsenal has RPD Hearts (good for long-range shot and definite shooting) for most of the matches. For quicker matches such as Hardpoint, I rely on the Industrial Revolution and M4 Jade. S36 Evil Clown is also there, but I rarely use it. Apart from knowing the limits of your weapons, you should always upgrade them to enable additional elements such as faster reload and additional magazine.

Volume vs quality

I have played a lot of Call of Duty Mobile matches, more than 1,500. I have been MVP (a Chicken Dinner equivalent) 105 times so far. Most of these aren’t from the Ranked matches. I have been in the top three just 273 times. My average accuracy is a dismal 30.82%.

In order to keep up my rankings, I just played more matches. It’s a hit and miss method. My teams have done better. I’d admit my gameplay has improved but still nowhere close to that of others. Surprisingly, I have been the lead scorer in several losing causes.

Conclusion,

As I’ve already told you, I am not good at the game, but I have gradually improved. Despite my limited abilities as a gamer, I relied on a few workarounds (no cheating or hacking) to stay in the fray. Next is battle royale. Probably, it may take a few more months to figure that out. Hopefully, all this Call of Duty Mobile experience will come in handy.