Summary of expert gameplay analysis on the Throwback map
What can we learn from watching one of Call of Duty's best players? Our expert, in this case, goes by the name MarkOfJ. Check out his video below. There are many other similar videos on his YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe. He's a very talented player and fun to watch. It's not uncommon for him to get 60+ kills in a game of Team Deathmatch. First of all, at the beginning of the video take note of his loadout. You'll notice that he uses no tacticals and no lethals. He also skips secondary weapons and optics. His entire class setup consists of a primary weapon (with attachments) and perks. If you check out the post on class setups you'll see that we recommend doing something similar. Tacticals and lethals sacrifice valuable loadout points that could be better used. Especially in Team Deathmatch when the only goal is to rack up kills.
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At 1:07 he catches two opponents on their flank right after rushing along the edge of the map. They're camped and looking for his teammates. He catches them by surprise.
At the 1:47 mark he gets shot at by a sniper. It seems like the shot goes through him. But, if you watch it in slow motion, you see that it misses to the left. Another thing to note is that he doesn't shoot back. A lot of people's instinct would be to look for where the shot came from and fire back. But, he's smart and decides to back off and attack from another angle. He knows that he's at a disadvantage. So he retreats with the hopes of re-engaging on his terms.
Now we jump to 1:51 where he dies for the first time. This is mostly a case of bad luck. He catches the enemy running out of the building with his payload weapon (Claw) drawn. J gets off the first shot, but it's no match for the fire rate of the payload weapon. Circumstances like this were discussed in the improve your K/D ratio post. Though he was unlucky, he could have done something better. If you rewind a couple of seconds you'll notice that the same guy shows up on his radar to the right. J was most likely too distracted by the sniper to notice. Had he realized that the enemy was up there he might have looked for him when he turned the corner. He could have pre-aimed through the window towards the stairs. This would have given him a better chance of winning the gunfight.
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He respawns at the baseball field. You'll notice that his teammates are looking in one direction and he covers the other. Some might consider this camping. But, it's smart playing. Running headfirst into a 5 on 1 gun fight is not something that a good player makes a habit of.
What's interesting about this clip is that he seems to know that an enemy will appear. If you look close though you'll, notice that you can see the enemy's shadow moving near the statue. There's a valuable lesson here. That lesson is to be completely aware of your surroundings. If you're expecting enemies to approach, keep your eye out for anything that moves.
What's interesting about this clip is that he seems to know that an enemy will appear. If you look close though you'll, notice that you can see the enemy's shadow moving near the statue. There's a valuable lesson here. That lesson is to be completely aware of your surroundings. If you're expecting enemies to approach, keep your eye out for anything that moves.
If you watch MarkOfJ play for a while, you'll notice that he jumps around every corner. I don't do it myself, but it's something you'll see a lot of good players do. There are several ways to make jumping and shooting easier. The first involves your button layout. There are two, in particular, you might try. The first is Bumper Jumper. The second is Stick and Move. Both of these are more conducive to jumping and shooting than the Default. I've tried both of these for a while. They do make it easier to jump and shoot but hampered me in other areas of my game. I decided that I would stick to playing on the ground. Jumping and shooting is an effective tactic. If you can master it you will win more gunfights. But I can't get comfortable with any other layout besides Default Flipped. I suggest you try them both yourself. Play a couple of custom games and see if you can get used to them. If so start trying it in multiplayer matches. If not, no worries Stick with whatever button layout works best for you.
Another tool that the pros will use is something called a Scuf controller. Full disclaimer - I've never used one myself. So, take my opinion with a grain of salt. My understanding is that they have paddles on the back which can be set up to act as the L2 and R2 buttons. It would seem you press these buttons with your ring fingers. For some, using your middle finger to press L2 and R2 on a traditional controller is awkward. You can see then, how using a Scuf controller might make it easier to jump and shoot. They're pretty expensive. But, like Kontrol Freeks, pros seem to like them and claim that they help.
Let's start back with the analysis at the 2:15 mark. You'll see that he rushes around the outside of the map without his teammates. I'm not sure what inspired him to do so exactly. but he paid the price at 2:36. He might have hoped to spawn trap the other team. Instead, he makes a rare mistake and gets caught looking at one enemy while getting killed by another.
Another tool that the pros will use is something called a Scuf controller. Full disclaimer - I've never used one myself. So, take my opinion with a grain of salt. My understanding is that they have paddles on the back which can be set up to act as the L2 and R2 buttons. It would seem you press these buttons with your ring fingers. For some, using your middle finger to press L2 and R2 on a traditional controller is awkward. You can see then, how using a Scuf controller might make it easier to jump and shoot. They're pretty expensive. But, like Kontrol Freeks, pros seem to like them and claim that they help.
Let's start back with the analysis at the 2:15 mark. You'll see that he rushes around the outside of the map without his teammates. I'm not sure what inspired him to do so exactly. but he paid the price at 2:36. He might have hoped to spawn trap the other team. Instead, he makes a rare mistake and gets caught looking at one enemy while getting killed by another.
MarkOfJ doesn't make many mistakes. In this case, he makes two in a row. He might have let his desire for revenge get the best of him. He goes back upstairs to the restaurants. The same place he was just killed. And...the result is the same. He has no teammates to draw fire or cover for him. He shoots one enemy and gets flanked by another.
After making some mistakes, MarkOfJ starts on his epic run. Based on where he spawns, he knows that the that the platform area is safe. He knows that most of the enemies must be across the map. This time he decides to forgo going back up to the restaurant where he died the previous two times. That wasn't working so he decided to stop doing it. He assumed that the enemies were going to come through the train tunnel. This assumption was right. He puts himself in a position to shoot them as they come through the tunnel. A quick 5 kill streak is the result. At one point he gets hit shot and doesn't know where it's coming from. This is another instance of him getting to cover, instead of an unbalanced gun fight.
Once he starts earning his scorestreaks he makes sure it's safe before he calls them in. At the 3:28 point he calls in his Bombardment. He's behind cover and surrounded by teammates. Also, he doesn't overthink the placement. He's more valuable aiming down sight than trying to maximize Bombardment kills. At 3:53 he calls in his Warden. Like XclusiveAce, this is one of his preferred scorestreaks. They like the Warden because it is hands-off. With the Warden in the air, he starts pushing hard into enemy territory. The rest of his team follows suit.
Once he starts earning his scorestreaks he makes sure it's safe before he calls them in. At the 3:28 point he calls in his Bombardment. He's behind cover and surrounded by teammates. Also, he doesn't overthink the placement. He's more valuable aiming down sight than trying to maximize Bombardment kills. At 3:53 he calls in his Warden. Like XclusiveAce, this is one of his preferred scorestreaks. They like the Warden because it is hands-off. With the Warden in the air, he starts pushing hard into enemy territory. The rest of his team follows suit.
At 4:52 his best run of the game comes to the end. Looks like he got hung up on something on the ground. It's good to know this happens to some of the best players too. I'm always getting caught up on something, that makes me move awkwardly and gets me killed. What might he have done differently? In this case jumping around the corner is what got him into trouble. He could have stayed on the ground and anticipated those enemies. If he would have done that, he might have been all right. He got a little too excited and made an unnecessary jump. Bottom line is - it was a hell of a run.
A second later he respawns. Pre-aims around the corner, knowing an enemy will likely be there. Gets the final kill. He admits that he made some mistakes. It was his first of the day. I can safely speak for any of us average paid players when I say that we would love to have what he considers a "bad" game.
This was a small sample of MarkOf J's gameplay. I enjoyed putting this together and hope that you can learn some lessons from one of the best. It's kind of a time-consuming process so I don't know how many of these I'll be able to do. But I'd like to analyze more MarkOfJ videos. Analyzing other pros would be beneficial too. It would give exposure to other types of gameplay.
One of the biggest takeaways from MarkOf J's gameplay analysis is the keep having fun. This guy has a YouTube channel that consists solely of him playing Call of Duty. So he has to keep it interesting. He has a great personality and that comes easy for him. Sure, you might say "it's easy to have fun when you're that good." That's true, getting beat down isn't fun. Attitude plays a huge role in life, though. So, try lightening up a little when you play. Talk to yourself. Joke around. You'll find that you have more fun and you'll play better.
J also seems to use the same push-pull philosophy that XclusiveAce recommended. When he thinks that it makes sense he'll stay within one area and cover it from one side to the other. When he knows his team has the upper hand, he'll push hard into their territory. Catching enemies on their flank, or at least by themselves.
Finally, one of the things that make MarkOfJ so good is his great intuition. Specifically with the minimap and spawn locations. He seems to know exactly where to go every time he plays to put himself at an advantage. Couple this with his ability to win one-on-one gunfights and you get games with 60+ kills. Oh, and deaths in the single digits. I encourage you to watch more of his videos. Scrutinize what he does well and what happened when he made a mistake. Watch the videos in slow motion. Ask yourself why he made the decisions he did. Doing so will get the gears turning in your head. You'll start to see yourself mirroring him subconsciously when you play.
A little bit of homework will pay off!
This was a small sample of MarkOf J's gameplay. I enjoyed putting this together and hope that you can learn some lessons from one of the best. It's kind of a time-consuming process so I don't know how many of these I'll be able to do. But I'd like to analyze more MarkOfJ videos. Analyzing other pros would be beneficial too. It would give exposure to other types of gameplay.
One of the biggest takeaways from MarkOf J's gameplay analysis is the keep having fun. This guy has a YouTube channel that consists solely of him playing Call of Duty. So he has to keep it interesting. He has a great personality and that comes easy for him. Sure, you might say "it's easy to have fun when you're that good." That's true, getting beat down isn't fun. Attitude plays a huge role in life, though. So, try lightening up a little when you play. Talk to yourself. Joke around. You'll find that you have more fun and you'll play better.
J also seems to use the same push-pull philosophy that XclusiveAce recommended. When he thinks that it makes sense he'll stay within one area and cover it from one side to the other. When he knows his team has the upper hand, he'll push hard into their territory. Catching enemies on their flank, or at least by themselves.
Finally, one of the things that make MarkOfJ so good is his great intuition. Specifically with the minimap and spawn locations. He seems to know exactly where to go every time he plays to put himself at an advantage. Couple this with his ability to win one-on-one gunfights and you get games with 60+ kills. Oh, and deaths in the single digits. I encourage you to watch more of his videos. Scrutinize what he does well and what happened when he made a mistake. Watch the videos in slow motion. Ask yourself why he made the decisions he did. Doing so will get the gears turning in your head. You'll start to see yourself mirroring him subconsciously when you play.
A little bit of homework will pay off!