Battlefield 6 is a fast-paced modern military shooter with a single-player story that casts you as a NATO soldier fighting the terror group Pax Armata. You’ll step into the boots of several characters as you travel the globe trying to save the day. After players finish that, there are endless hours of combat to enjoy in the game’s multiplayer modes.

But like any competitive shooter, there’s a lot of complexity and mechanics to understand if you want to survive — and thrive. From playing different classes in multiplayer to finding secrets in the single-player campaign, there’s a lot to learn. Here is a collection of tips for the various multiplayer modes and the campaign to help you step up your game and emerge victorious.

Tips for Battlefield 6 multiplayer

Move with your squad

Battlefield 6’s quick time-to-kill means you can get mowed down in a second, or even less if you run into multiple enemies. Counter this by sticking with groups of teammates, who can focus fire on enemies and split their attention so they aren’t all fixated on you. Better still, a nearby ally can (and should) revive you if you’re downed, since any class can bring a player back from death (a mechanic introduced in Battlefield 5).

Time your reloads well

Battlefield 6’s extremely quick time-to-kill goes hand in hand with firing speed — it’s really easy to see an enemy and, in the heat of the moment, spray-and-pray until you empty your magazine. That leaves you in an agonizing two- to three-second window of being unable to return fire. In our review period playing ahead of release, this reloading window proved to be a significant period of vulnerability — even if you downed one enemy, another might come around to finish you off while you can’t shoot back. 

To counter this, don’t stay in the open — find cover or go prone to make yourself less of a target. You can also pull out your secondary weapon until you find cover, as sometimes just shooting back at enemies will pause their barrage, as will tossing a grenade their way. As you use your weapons more and level them up, you’ll get access to magazines with more capacity or that can reload faster, so opt for those. Lastly, some class gadgets can give you a breather to reload, like Support’s deployable cover, so remember your options. 

Be a good teammate and revive, revive, revive

In Battlefield 6, every class can revive downed teammates — just approach them and then press-and-hold the button that pops up (by default, it’s «E» on PC). It takes under two seconds to revive (or shorter with the Support class), though you can drag your teammate backward to get out of fields of fire.

Reviving teammates has a tactical advantage, bringing more of your team’s guns back into the fight. It’s also good etiquette, and you’ll effectively be doling out morale boosts to strangers online, who are likely to return the favor if and when you get downed. The Support class revives fastest, though they also have a defibrillator gadget that can instantly bring teammates back, arguably their best contribution to a match. Their second-best is dropping a supply bag to heal and refill teammates’ ammo — and since revived players come back with half their health (in most modes), it’s good practice to drop a bag after bringing someone back.

Someone has to switch to Engineer — it might as well be you

Three of the four classes scatter when enemy tanks roll in, as their kits are nearly useless against vehicle armor. That’s where the Engineer comes in. By default, they pack a pair of gadgets that can effectively neutralize anything with treads or wheels with anti-vehicle missiles or anti-tank mines. The former is far more user-friendly — just aim and fire — while the mines take some planning to lay in the path of an incoming tank, though you can try to bait them into driving down a pathway you’ve riddled with the explosives.

The trouble with any shooter with classes that counter specific threats is that players assumes other players will switch. Don’t wait for someone else, as every moment hostile tanks have on the battlefield is another opportunity to mow down teammates and clear out zones for enemy infantry. More Engineer playtime is beneficial anyway, as you’ll eventually unlock other, better anti-vehicle gadgets. (Anything is better than the basic mines, honestly.) 

No, don’t just switch to Support and go to the frontline

Thanks to EA DICE’s decision to allow any class to use any weapon in default playlists (there are Closed Weapon modes if you want to play old-school Battlefield rules), it’s tempting to choose the Support class for its ammo-replenishing supply bag and pick an assault rifle to go tearing into the enemy’s frontline. But there are several reasons to pick a class and stick to its strengths — notably, gadgets.

The Assault class does tend to run out of ammo quickly and rely on nearby Support to drop ammo bags, but it also unlocks some of the best gadgets — the explosive launchers — to clear out groups of enemies and wreck structures. Support lacks any sort of detonating gadget, with its more defense-oriented kit. And Assault also grants more attack-oriented bonuses in its skill path over the course of a match (as well as its class item). In short, using Support with an Assault weapon isn’t the great game hack you think it is.

Understand your loadout, from gun attachments to vehicle setups

There’s a lot you can tinker with in your loadouts (which makes it baffling for Battlefield 6 to not let you tweak them while queuing between matches, but I digress). Each class has a primary weapon and pistol, two gadgets, a grenade, a melee weapon and a skill path. While you don’t have much to choose from at the start, as you keep progressing, leveling up weapons and completing challenges, you’ll get access to more of your kit.

Using weapons levels them up, so if you like one, keep using it — the attachments can drastically change how they function, from scopes that zoom in further to magazines that pack in more rounds. Keep in mind that some attachments — and even guns — unlock from completing specific class-based challenges, so take a thorough look at each to see if you can make progress beyond just getting experience points to advance your player level.

Lastly, you can switch out the kit of any vehicle you enter, too — it’s on the far right side of the loadout screen. From switching the type of round (anti-personnel or anti-vehicle) fired by a vehicle’s gun to its special abilities, these also have options that unlock over time. You can check out all their options to tweak vehicles to your play style, but it’s a good idea to read up on them to understand the differences between the handful of similar-looking vehicles in the game.

Tips for Battlefield 6’s single player campaign

Stealth takedowns

You can eliminate enemies without breaking stealth by sneaking up (crouch with Circle) and pressing R3. Several missions allow you to choose whether to go loud or quiet. If at any point you’re tired of the slow, stealth approach, pressing L1 will command your team to engage and the firefight is on.

Targeting enemies

That engage enemies button (L1) tells your team to open fire and highlights nearby enemies. It doesn’t work for your entire area, though; the opponents must be close. The enemies button is extra helpful if your vision is obscured due to a lack of light or smoke. Pressing L1 will highlight the enemies with a red target icon so you can still pinpoint them without actually seeing them.

Challenges

You can tackle several bonus objectives in the campaign that the game doesn’t point out to you. In the pause menu, hit R1 to move to the Challenges panel. Here you’ll see several different tasks you can perform for various unlockables, such as weapon skins or player titles. 

Some of these will be as simple as finishing the current level you’re on. Others, specifically in the Challenge Expert row, will require you to play differently. These can include tasks such as completing a mission without needing to be revived, not using guns (only melee and grenades), etc. If you’re looking for some additional objectives to work toward, you can find them here.

Dinosaur toy

In the very first level, as soon as you’ve gained control of your character for the first time, make sure to explore instead of exiting the structure. Right behind you is a dinosaur toy that you can interact with. Doing so will earn you a trophy.

With these tips and game secrets, you should have a better understanding of some of the Battlefield’s less-explained mechanics. We hope these tips help you get a leg up on the competition and make Battlefield 6 even more enjoyable. And be sure to check out our review if you want a deeper look at how Battlefield 6 stacks up on gameplay, graphics and overall fun.

Battlefield 6 is out now on Xbox Series, PS5 and PC.