Squad Rush tactics, strategy and a look at playing together in Battlefield 3

So you want strategies and tactics for squad rush in battlefield 3? Offering up my clans defence positions and offence strategy is not really an option, the other guys would not appreciate it. Lucky for you, the reader, I believe a much better way to learn 4v4 is to think about a number of factors that influence how the offence and defence game plays.

Also never fear, defence setups and offensive plans will be shared, if only to highlight some ideas. Feel free to use them, but keep in mind if you limit yourself by only using them they will hamper your game.

I played a lot of TDM and CTF around 2000 and skipped counterstrike, call of duty and the like. For me this is the first game that involved round/blowing up bombs/offence defence games. Battlefield 3 squad rush is enjoyable and the BF3 dynamics of spawning on team mates makes its smaller scale game modes interesting and different to the others. As such I have had to learn the basics that may come naturally to old hand CS/COD/etc players. The other members of my team that play regularly are in a similar boat, either playing older FPS or having never gamed in a competitive manner before. Competing with newer players is fun and they bring a freshness and enthusiasm that gave a spring back to my gaming.

One thing that many newer players get hung up on is aim and killing efficiency, this is not bf3, squad rush specific and applies to FPS in general. There are lots of guides, forum threads, blog posts and more about how to improve your aim, game settings and mice to achieve better results. It is possible to play and rely on this, however knowing you and your teams limits and playing accordingly is important. Playing with more brain than aim is not always considered by new teams, or any teams. This is not to say that you can get by with no killing power, I would suggest running 13-15% on your weapon of choice factoring out suppression. Check individual games on similar maps for weapon accuracy, using overall is not really a great idea.

This series of articles is intended to assist teams getting some wins, without relying on awesome aim. If you have aim, then good, but if you don’t you can quite often eek out a win, if only because many players lean on that particular crutch and forget about everything else.

So with that out of the way lets look at a few ideas that apply to 4v4 squad rush. Teamplay, stacking in your favor, time before engagement and coordination are the general topics of this post. Map specifics will follow later.

Teamplay Strategy in BF3 Squad Rush

Battlefield 3 is obviously a team game. If you are planning on being remotely copmetitive you need to play together. This may sound obvious but players often decide to run off and do their own thing – it may even be a good call – but when they do it alone they will quite often fail. On defence this leaves holes in your line and ramboing is simply a waste of tickets when attacking. Keep in mind that even if you achieve your goal by yourself there may be problems going forward. Imagine going top corner -> out of bounds in order to backdoor C building on Seine. You get in and kill the two guys. This is a good outcome but depending on how the round is playing you may have problems being alone or team mates getting to you. In addition there are two enemy player spawning in the not too distant future. Depending on how the round is playing and where your team is located these players spawning in could make it 3v4 for your squad.

Playing in pairs would be the minimum. Running as two pairs in close proximity would be even better. Being close is important for a number of reasons:

• On offence reviving allows you to draw out your tickets as long as possible. On defence it stops gaps forming.
• It allows stacking of firepower and brute forcing your enemies by creating 4v2, this is especially true when attacking.
• Covering of all possible approaches creating a “safe” environment, lowering the chance of being flanked.

These points lead us into the next concept..

More Tactics: Stacking in your favour in 4v4

At all times your team should be aiming to stack players, Firepower, coverage, revives, ticket savings and so on.

An analogy is required to demonstrate.

You have a room with four doors on defence. With four players you can cover one door with four players or each door with one player. As offence you can attack that room the same way. One on each door to four on one door.

In this scenario as offence you should always push one door together or split and push two doors as pair. You have the element of surprise, if one player is covering each door you flood him then play 4v3 in your favor. If they are covering one door you have a 25% chance to die – but who would split like that? Noone, thats who.

A simplistic example to be sure, however it applies well to many situations in squad rush.

Time before no turning back – Squad rush engagement tactics

This is an important concept for 4v4 in battlefield 3 as it is the cornerstone of every attacking round. Ideally your team wants to play to limit ticket loss at all times. There are places and methods on most maps that reduce ticket loss significantly.

Playing close to each other is a good start. The goal is to setup in pairs at specific points on the map and dig in, almost like playing defence. If you are looking for BF3 squad rush tips you are probably not top tier, like my team. By playing defensive, especially at lower skill levels where rushing/uncoordinated attacks are common you can turn many games into wins, just by being less aggressive.

The goal is to play in this way until you can progress forward. Metro mcom 1 is very linear in this way. Firstly as attackers your team should take lockers and the area near lifts. Your team can hang here for quite a while with two players in lockers and two at lifts – you are quite safe even from enemy going downstairs and attacking from behind, both pairs can support each other in the case of this.. Generally pushing from lifts is not overly successful, but going to lifts to get an overview of the enemy setup around backstairs/tickets/couches is a good idea as well as killing anyone hiding at couches. Once couches is dead you can play however you want. Sometimes pushing side door via phones is good. Sometimes the lift pair going downstairs and coming up backstairs closer to tickets is good.

Play safe until you feel confident to commit. Committing in the previous example would be advancing down lockers and possibly pushing side door or tickets.

Coordination in Squad Rush

Use coordination to make stacking work in your favor when playing squad rush. This is a very on the fly thing and requires communication. Using the previous metro example – if you are pushing mcom 1 and one pair is going lockers side door and the other pair is going lockers hallway, there should be talk leading up to the push along the lines of “ready? ok we are going now”. Once the lead pair have indicated they are going the other pair can watch the map, negating the need for the lead pair to communicate that they are now at the top of stairs, now at side door, etc.

Another example would be the pair at lockers on offence. One player can go across the hallway and stay behind the locker in the corner. This pair can peek at the same time, multiplying the firepower on the defender at end of lockers. Again communication is required to line both up at the same time.

Overall squad rush is about team work and communication. This post will have follow ups for more map specific ideas and teamwork examples.

• Operation Metro
• Grand Bazaar
• Noshahr Canals
• Kharg Island
• Seine Crossing
• Damavand Peak
• Caspian Border
• Tehran Highway