Do you Have Class? Part One: Assault

"Do You Have Class?" is a new blog series from the Battlefield America Competition Battalion (BF 7) that is a way for us to give tips and tricks to the general public on each of the character classes you can play in Battlefield 4 (BF4). While there are a ton of videos on YouTube on how to be a better BF4 player, we feel there isn't enough written discussion about it.

The content below is a compilation of an actual discussion the BF 7 members had in an e-mail thread about how to play the assault class better.

Spending time as a PL for Battlefield 3, I can tell you that these offline discussions are one of the reasons for a team to be successful.

Without further adieu, here are our discussions points:

• As we have found out, the AEK is a great go-to gun. High rate of fire is great, but the recoil is something you need to get used to. For CQ battles, a silencer or compensator, stubby grip and laser is recommended. For longer engagements, the muzzle break and angled grip provide you with good first-shot and aiming-down-sight (ADS) accuracy.

• But, the AEK has its limitations. The ACE is a good choice: high rate of fire and very manageable recoil. The key is to experiment to see what works for you. Don't be afraid to use carbines, too.

• With the new charging feature of the defibrillator, people need to be aware of the time a person has been down. If it takes you a fewmore seconds to clear the area, maybe try a quick revive to ensure you get it in time.

• I also tend to run with the Combat Medic field upgrade set. Better med packs and faster defibs are an assault's best friends (along with an ammo box from a support class).

• Once a person has been revived, they have 10 seconds to be eligible for another revive. In other words, if that person dies before 10 seconds after being revived, they cannot get revived a second time.

• One technique with the defibrillators is to make sure you're not looking down at the body. Try to keep your line of sight as far up as possible. Less angle the better. Also, you don't need to be right next to a dead body to revive them. The threshold is pretty forgiving. Experiment.

• Something about the guns to consider when firing is the rounds per second (RPS) and rounds per minute (RPM). Battlelog gives everything to you in RPM. If you know how many rounds are flying off per second, it's easier to think about the length of your bursts (which is probably something like 4-6 rounds). A gun like the AEK at 900 RPM, fires at 15 RPS (900 / 60). So if you're aiming for 4-6 rounds per burst, you need to be on trigger for ~0.3 seconds at a time. You'll empty the magazine out in literally 2 seconds if you full auto it. High pressure situations will make it harder to keep this fire discipline, so keep practicing.

• The impact grenade doesn'tgive the enemy a chance to scramble out of the way.It works great in close quarters, like Lockers. Throw one or two through a choke point and justcount the bodies. The down side as we know is that they do not blow up the terrain and they only do 60 damage.

• The AUG-23 is an all-around good weapon people seem to forget. I would turn to that before I would give up on assault rifles or use the AEK in a bad round. The AEK is nice but unless you have the time put into it, the recoil can be hard to get used to.

• Always run with a laser. The green or tri-laser, as they both seem equally efficient. Many of our kills are via hip fire. It's much faster, even if we are talking .5 seconds to aim that laser and shoot in that general direction in an emergency around the corner or up a stairwell.

• If you are not much of a pistol guy you should start. It is super important to have that fast sidearm to switch to in case you just sucked at aiming for a magazine or there are multiple enemies, and you emptied your main weapon. The G18 is fast-paced and a sure death for an enemy in close range but a little difficult in a multiple enemy situation. The M9 with tri-laser is preferred for most cases.

• Spot, and spot some more. It takes nothing for you to slide that ring finger over on the Q and not only help your entire team, but score some points while you are at it.

So, that's it for now. This is just a minutia of what we take into consideration when practicing, scrimming or in a match with another clan. We will continue to refine our thoughts and analysis on the assault class we time goes on. Stay tuned for the next edition, which will probably be about the support class.