Seven tips to be better at Call of Duty Black Ops 6 – from professional players

Let me guess: you recently bought Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 , strayed into the multiplayer mode and now you're being mercilessly pummelled by hundreds of teenagers with suggestive usernames? Don't worry, that's perfectly normal. Call of Duty has always been the arcade twitchfest of the online shooter scene, but Black Ops 6 has a whole new feel thanks to its omni-movement system, which lets you dive, roll and sprint in every direction. And the weapons have all been completely redesigned. It is, as Olivia Rodrigo put it, brutal out there.

So I asked two excellent pro players – Ethan "Fifakill" Pink and Liam "Jukeyz" James – for their tips. Instead of laughing and pointing at me, they agreed.

Use the right gun If you're just getting into CoD, stick with the assault rifles or submachine guns [SMGs] – they suit the smaller maps and intense engagement speed in Black Ops 6. "My favourite assault rifle [AR] is probably the Model L, although it's so good professionals have agreed not to use it – they've moved to the AMES," says Jukeyz. "The SMG would be the Jackal which feels fun to use, or the KSV which is harder, but pretty over-powered".

Meanwhile Fifakill recommends the Kompakt 92. "It has a super high fire rate and very good movement speed, you can absolutely destroy with it. But if you're more of a mid-range player, I'd say the Model L assault rifle is a really good option. It will take a while to unlock, but it's worth the effort – super TTK [time to kill] and very low recoil."

Become a Gunsmith tinkerer Gunsmith is where you can add modifications to your weapon, and it's vital for giving you the edge in encounters. "For the majority of players, it's best to start by reducing recoil," says Fifakill. "Focus on attachments that reduce horizontal recoil – if the gun is bouncing up or down it's pretty simple to correct. But with left and right, while you're trying to track an enemy player, that's more difficult." Jukeyz prioritises aim-down sight speed (how quickly you can get the gun into an aiming position), but also suggests attaching a vertical foregrip to counter recoil. "I'd also suggest the Gunfighter wildcard," adds Fifakill. "It gives you eight attachments per gun, so you can have it all: better movement, a bigger mag and less recoil."

Perk yourself up Black Ops 6 allows you to choose from 20 perks which give you buffs in specific areas. They're split into three categories – Enforcer (red), Recon (blue) and Strategist (green) – and if you pick three from the same type you get a bonus speciality perk. "I've been running the red perks because that gives you a super speed bonus and you get extra health re-gen after you make a kill – it really benefits you if you're trying to run and gun," says Fifakill.

"If you're trying to push for kills run three red perks: I like Gung Ho, Assassin and Double Time. If you're a slower player I'd go for blue perks and the speciality for that is useful. And if you're an objective player then run the three green perks."

Jukeyz favours Dexterity, Assassin and then Double Time: "And because they're all red, it gives you the Enforcer speciality, which means killing enemies gets you a temp buff to movement speed and health re-gen. It's perfect for ARs or SMGs."

Maximise your XP Earning experience points [XP] unlocks new items and scorestreaks so levelling up fast is a good idea. "Use BankRoll as perk three," suggests Jukeyz. "Once you're getting double or triple kills, you'll unlock UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), Counter UAV and HARP (High-Altitude Reconnaissance Plane) a lot quicker. If you have all three activated at once, you get so much Assist XP from teammates using them all over the map. It's constant XP."

Use a monitor and headphones Stop playing on the giant OLED television in your living room: the response time will be slower than a dedicated monitor and it's hard to see everything on the screen while also checking your minimap and ammo count. Both our pros use a 27-inch monitor, with a 1440p resolution and at least 144Hz refresh rate. Also, switch from speakers to a headset. "I use JBLs," says Fifakill. "But as long as you have a headset that has decent spatial audio you should be fine, and there are in-game settings you can tweak, for example, enabling Dolby Atmos which will help you to hear where footsteps are coming from."

Be a team player Call of Duty multiplayer is a team game, so you need to think tactically even when you're with a bunch of strangers. "If you really want to win an Objective mode (a multiplayer mode such as Control or Hardpoint which has a specific goal) on a public server, focus on spawn points," says Fifakill. "It's about going ahead to a new area where you know an objective is going to be and try to lock down the spawn point at that position for your team. It's not the most glamorous role, but it's useful. It means when the objective arrives, your team is going to be spawning close by, so you can get reinforcements a lot faster."

Jukeyz recommends a more social approach. "A bit of communication is a good start," he says. "Who's watching what, who's taking the hard point. Get friends to play with you, or start chatting to people you meet in public servers who you think are good. Get a bit of structure with your gameplay – even shouting 'left' or 'right' (to indicate threats or where to run), is a start."

Use the minimap Fifakill reckons he spends 70% of a match watching the minimap, which becomes a lot more viable once you've learned the maps inside out. Watch for red markers which show the position of rival players and enemy fire; watch where your teammates are running, listen out for anything they 'ping' (mark on the map). Or as Jukeyz puts it: "pay attention to everything".