Recon tips

How to get a Recon Soldier

Once a player reaches Player Level 9, they receive a free recon soldier and unlock the option to buy more with credits or gold.

These Prices apply to ALL of the Factions (United States, Soviet Union and Germany). Their own equivalent of these ranks apply.

- Rank 1 Private (208,000 or 2,500 )

- Rank 12 Lieutenant (592,000 or 5,300 )

- Rank 15 Major (950,000 or 8,000 )

Tips

• Stay Hidden, Stay Alive
• As anti-personnel mines are extremely expensive to maintain, it is recommended to equip a handgun as this should save your skin when you encounter a Close-Quarter Battle. If you do not have any pistols unlocked, a shovel or knife will do.
• Flank the enemy! This can act as a distraction so that your team can slowly move to the next objective.
• When using the Mechanized Recon Vehicles, do your best to stay hidden from enemy armor as these armored vehicles are fairly weak.
• The M8 Greyhound, the Sdkfz 222 and the BA-64B have open-top turrets! Make sure you check regularly for foes trying to kill you from the roof of the vehicle. The only closed-top turret is the BA-6.

Loadout

• Although anti-personnel mines can be useful, if is recommended that you carry a handgun instead, so that you have a mobile way of killing someone, regardless of if they walk over a certain point.

• It is recommended that you mod your rifle to be OHK (one hit kill). This way, if you hit someone, they won't know where you are (except for the killcam) and they won't be able to hide behind cover. However, modifications will only allow your rifle to get 'OHKs' at up to about 300m. Therefore, should you want greater stability, and easier 2-hit-kills at over this distance, it is recommended that the 'heavy bolt' modification (required for 'OHKs') for example, is avoided.

• The Camouflaged badge is by far the best badge for recon, but it can be extremely hard to obtain. Until you have it, you should use Ghillie, Nimble, Marathon Man, Pointer Quick Fire, Quickdraw, Hoarder, or Heavy Set (all of these depend on your playstyle).

• Mechanized Recon Vehicles are a passable substitute for a tank, and can be extremely useful if your team doesn't have any tanks. They can, however, also act as a far more expensive way of pressing the 'f11' key if used in direct and exposed combat with almost ANY real tank.

• You should get a motorcycle as soon as possible, as it provides a fast, semi-discreet method of transportation.

Badge Choices

• The Camouflaged badge removes the killcam, making it almost impossible for the enemy to find you

• The Ghillie badge reduces the time that you stay marked, which can be helpful when facing enemy counter-snipers

• Once you have Nimble gold, you are almost completely silent when walking or crouched (not when sprinting, though). This can help you sneak away from someone who has come to kill you or sneak up on enemy snipers

• Marathon Man increases your sprint duration, which can help you escape from someone who is coming to kill you, or can help you re-position faster and easier

• Pointer Quick Fire increases your hip fire accuracy, which is helpful if you are engaging enemies with your pistol

• Quickdraw lowers the turn-cone fire (moving/turning wont decrease your accuracy as much), which can be extremely helpful when engaging enemy infantry up close with your pistol

• Hoarder allows you to bring a few more clips for your primary weapon, which may be just enough to help you deal with counter-snipers

• Heavy Set decreases the damage you take, which is great when dealing with anyone who wants to kill you (counter-snipers or infantry)
• Driver alows a quick switch between the gunner and driver seat of your recon vehicle if your solo.

Sniping

• While sniping you should crouch or go prone to reduce sway

• Try to pick a spot that will be out of range of most non-sniper rifle weapons

• Try to pick a spot that can offer you cover from the side that the enemies are most likely going to come from when they look for you. Having cover in the front is helpful, but not as important, because only enemy counter-snipers should be able to shoot you at that distance

• Try to pick a spot with a backdrop. If you are perched on top of a hill or a rooftop, you will be silhouetted against the skyline and will be very easy to spot. Try to pick a spot partway down the hill so that you aren't very noticeable. If this isn't possible, try to use cover on your front and peek around it, to show as little of you as possible. On a rooftop, you can do this by crouching on the side opposite the enemy and just peeking your head over.

• Don't forget to lead your targets

• Stay aware of your surroundings, as the enemy may come looking for you or deploy counter-snipers

• Never stay in the same place for too long. After a few kills, the enemy will know where you are (unless you have the Camouflaged badge) and will consider you a problem. So you need to always keep relocating after a few kills in each spot

• Periodically check obvious sniper spots for counter-snipers
• Check your surroundings. You may not know, but there is a chance enemy sniper is near you or even in rare chances they just might be right beside you. So check the sound of gunfire. Where the gunfire is coming from, how close is it, type of sniper rifle depending on factions (Soviet Mosin Nagant has distinctive dull/thump sound when firing. German Kar98K has louder bang that the US version of rifle M1903, which has slightly lighter bang), and whether it is necessary to go after them.
• Never pick a spot that is obvious (as mentioned above, snipers/counter-snipers will be looking in those locations). Pick places that has wide range of views, but keeps you hidden.
• Make sure to look behind you. If you stay on spot that will highlight you (like, Horizon), then they might just see you
• Your location looks like a perfect spot for sniping. Bushes to hide in, perfect view to snipe, oh! But what's this? You seems to spasm out whenever you aim in prone position?? Or maybe the grass is in your way? No problem! Just bring a bicycle or your motorcycle and point your vehicle towards the direction you want to snipe and get on top of it then go into prone position. This will lessen/eliminate your spasm when aiming and it will certainly get those annoying grass out of your face while keeping you hidden!
• Sometimes, the iron sights (AKA Match sight or Field Adjusted sight) can be more useful than the Telescopic sight. You can aim when there is an enemy at very close range and you have no pistol or no other weapons at all. Having binoculars can be more help too when you need that extra distance view to confirm the enemy locations.

Dealing With Counter-Snipers and Hunters

• Counter-snipers are enemy snipers whose goal is to kill you and any other sniper on your team. Hunters are infantry that search for you to kill you (you have most likely killed them several times and they are angry)

• It is recommended that you wear good headphones so you can hear someone trying to sneak up on you and can prepare to engage them or flee and hide

• When you hear someone coming to kill you, take out your pistol and do one of two things: first, you can hide behind the cover that protects from the way they are most likely coming, then shoot them as they walk by, or, your second option is to wait until they get close-ish, then jump out and surprise them (with good headphones, you should be able to figure out, within a meter, where they are)

• When fighting someone up-close with your pistol, you should try the side-step technique. You walk a little bit to the right, then a little bit to the left, then a little bit to the right, then a little bit to the left, and so on. While doing this, you need to aim your pistol the opposite way you are walking as you fire (if you are walking left, aim right to compensate)

• If you empty a pistol clip and the enemy still has not gone down, pull out your rifle and hipfire one shot before you reload your pistol. If your rifle is a one hit kill, you may get lucky and land the shot, killing the enemy

• If someone starts shooting at you before you hear them, and they are out of effective pistol range (about 20m-25m), hide behind cover, wait a few second, then try the "tree-trick". Although it doesn't need to be used with trees, the "tree-trick" is easiest and most effective when you are taking cover behind a tree. In order to do the "tree-trick", you must be behind cover and know approximately where the enemy is. Then, position yourself so that the tree is exactly in between you and the enemy, face almost exactly the same way as the enemy, and run straight. If done properly, you should remain hidden from them until you reach different cover (this works best with trees because they are tall and will block sight of you for a long distance). From this new cover peak out at the cover you were just at, and wait for the enemy to check behind it, then kill them

• When dealing with counter-snipers, it is best to remain hidden after you hear their first shot (they may have a OHK rifle). Try to figure out the general area that he is in, and ask your teammates to check that area for him. Then, instead of doing the "tree-trick", you should serpentine away until you can escape. Serpentine is when you zig-zag while running away from the enemy. Try to make the zigs and zags different lengths, because if they are too uniform, they will be easy to predict and you will get shot

• Do not go to new cover and try to shoot the counter-sniper, as they will have probably seen where you went. If there is a hill, try to go on the other side of it, as that will provide you cover that you can walk along to get to somewhere safer

Counter-Sniping

• When counter-sniping, ask your teammates where the sniper that is harassing them is. If they do not know, check the most used and most obvious places, like the church towers on the Town and Forward Airfield maps, or the Air Control Tower on the Airfield map

• If the sniper isn't there, watch your teammates that are getting sniped, and try to figure out possible angles that they could be sniping from, and check those areas

• If you still have not found the sniper, go back to killing enemy infantry until someone has a better idea of where the sniper is or until he has killed you

• Once the sniper has been found and you have him in your sights, do not rush to take the shot. Make sure to adjust your sights to the right distance (pressing the space bar auto-adjusts your sights to the distance that you are looking), and make sure that you center your reticule on them so that you do not miss, because when they hear the shot, they will most likely duck behind cover and your opportunity will be gone

• After killing a sniper, you need to move as soon as possible, because the sniper you just killed will most likely try to snipe you back, and unlike infantry, he has the range to do it. So move to cover that is quite a distance away, and continue sniping

Capturing Points

• Although not meant to capture points, sometimes recon are the only ones there to take the point

• Capturing points in the beginning of the game is good for recon, because it earns you experience on your recon ribbon, so you are closer to getting the Camouflaged badge

• During the middle of the game, if you need to capture a point, scout the area first and make sure that there are no enemies and you have eliminated the ones that you can

• When going into a point, have your pistol out and ready

• While capturing the point, do not stay in one place; keep moving throughout the point so that enemies will have a harder time finding you

• If an enemy enters the point, hunt them down. You should try to get the jump on them to greatly increase your chance of survival. This will in most cases grant you a weapon better suited for capturing.

• Once you capture the point, kill any enemy that is still in the point, then leave the point and go to a sniping position nearby so that you can snipe any enemies that come to recapture the point