Basic Tips: A Simple Quake Live Guide for Newbies

Hooray, here is my simple and magical strategy guide / walk through / collection of tips for Quake Live beginners and newbies!

Posted this on the Quake Live forums. http://www.quakelive.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21066

Last updated on 5/27/2010 - Fixed some typos, reworded a few things, updated the Force Model info for the new GUI changes, re-wrote / updated the shotgun info and the Clan Arena info, other various small fixes.

My goal here is to be helpful but not overwhelming, as I feel that there are a lot of simple things that people don't understand or realize when they first pick up the game. Please keep in mind that this guide is for beginners!

I encourage and appreciate any comments or help with this. Thanks.

Basics

There are no head shots in Quake Live.
Never. Stop. Moving. If you stop moving, you're sure to be dead.
I highly recommend changing the game's default crosshair to something else, as the stock crosshair makes aiming fairly difficult. I use the plain "+" crosshair.
Bind your weapons to keyboard keys. Stop using the mousewheel to switch weapons. Using the scrollwheel is slow and is a sure way to get killed before you switch to the weapon that you want. My binds are:
- Rocket Launcher: Q
- Railgun: R
- Shotgun: X
- Grenade Launcher: Z
- Plasma Gun: F
- Lightning Gun: E
Always check how much health and armor you have before you fight. However much it is, you probably need more. Try to stay at at least 100 health and 50+ armor at all times.
Memorize where the weapons, armor, and health appear. Once you do this, you can create a sort of path to follow as you run around and fight, this way you will not only keep your gear stocked up, but you will take the gear from the enemy players. Camping powerup and weapon spawns is a good thing.
Line of Sight: The enemy can't shoot you if they can't see you. Be aware of pillars or other obstacles that you can briefly hide behind to avoid enemy fire. The idea is to play ring around the rosie, so to speak, and strafe left and right to avoid enemy shots and fire off your own.

Advanced

Learn how to strafe jump. This increases your movement speed by quite a bit and makes it easier to escape bad situations and makes it harder for the enemy to hit you. Essentially, you jump and then alternate holding the strafe left and strafe right keys when you land. You can also use certain jump pads to increase your momentum as a quick start to strafe jumping.
- You can practice strafe jumping and rocket jumping by clicking "practice" and then "training center" from the main Quake Live site.
Rocket Jumping: With the Rocket Launcher, jump and quickly look at your feet and fire a rocket before you land from the jump. If you time it right, you will fly quite far fairly quickly. Rocket Jumping can help you escape quickly or reach hard to reach spots. This technique is good for avoiding jump pads, but it damages you (with a few exceptions in certain game modes or with certain powerups) so be careful.
Disable Screen Shake on Hit! You must do this from the in-game menu, under "advanced" game settings, you cannot do it from the website. This will stop your screen from bouncing when you get shot, which will make it easier for you to shoot people.
Force Player models. This makes your enemies & team mates all look like a specified character. I.E. making all enemies big, fat, and neon green Keels. Another advantage is that you will only have to listen for one sound to know when the enemy is near, so if you hear Keel's jump sound, you know it's an enemy. This may sound like cheating, but it's actually encouraged by the developers and part of the game. To force player models, follow these steps:
- Thanks to a recent patch, you can now configure this feature in-game:
  - Hit "Escape" to bring up the game menu
  - Click "Game Settings"
  - Click "Advanced"
  - Click "Team Options"
  - From that menu, you can force all of your enemies to be one model and all of your friends to be another. You will want to force the enemy models to be something fat, like Keel, and also be a bright/neon color.
- You can also force models manually:
  - While in the game, hold "CTRL + ALT" and then press "~" (the key to the left of the 1 key and above the Tab key on your keyboard).
  - Type cg_forceenemymodel "keel/bright" and press Enter
  - Type cg_forceteammodel "james" and press Enter
  - Your enemies will now be big, fat, and neon green, and your friends will all be knights wearing plated helmets. You can make the models whatever you want, you don't have to use the ones I listed above, but those are my favorites.

Weapon Tips

Gauntlet: If you find yourself in a position where you have to Gauntlet someone, be sure that you don't just run at them, or after them. You will have to strafe jump in order to get enough speed to catch someone who is backpedaling away from you, otherwise you will never catch them. Your best bet is to try to back them into a wall or surprise them by ambushing them from around a corner.
Machine Gun: Mostly useless except to pick off people who you know are low health. If you shoot someone with 1 or 2 Rail Gun shots and they haven't died, you might try finishing them off with the Machine Gun for an easy kill.
Shotgun: Ridiculous damage up close, but surprisingly effective at range because it's nearly impossible to miss with due to the wide spread. This can nearly one-shot heavily armored people at point blank, but my favorite way to use it is to "widdle people down". While the damage is lower at range, if you avoid the enemy's shots, they will almost certainly not avoid yours, since the shotgun spread is so wide.
Grenade Launcher: Use this when you are being chased, this weapon's main purpose is for retreating offensives and "covering your ass" so to speak. It's extremely good to run down a hall and fire grenades backwards while someone is chasing you. Or fire them around a corner or down a corridor. You don't really have to do much aiming with them, they are basically a pepper-spray type weapon.
Rocket Launcher: This is the most versatile and easy to use all-around weapon in the game. Aim for the enemy's feet. The splash damage from this is an almost guaranteed hit, plus when you hit their feet you will pop them into the air, and you can then predict where they will land and shoot another rocket where they are about to land. Another good thing to do is shoot people in the feet and then knock them into a wall, and you can then shoot at the wall to get splash damage off of it. Trying to actually hit people in the face with rockets is generally a waste of time until you first figure out how to do the basics here.
Lightning Gun: It can seem kind of crappy until you get used to it, but this gun will kill people faster than just about anything else. The idea is that the longer you keep it on someone, the faster the damage builds up. More importantly, the lightning stream has a sort of pushback effect-- which means that you should look for people who are airborn (after hitting jump pads especially) and then shoot them with this, and you can almost hold them up in the air. Being held in the air or against a wall by the lightning stream makes it almost impossible to dodge and they will die VERY quickly. The best way to avoid Lightning Gun fire if someone is shooting you is to line of sight it. There's no jumping or running that will get you away quick enough once you get hit-- the only solution is to GET OUT OF SIGHT as fast as you can.
Rail Gun: The sniper rifle. Practice makes perfect. Don't bother with headshots, a hit is a hit. 1 shot of this takes off just barely less than 100 HP if the enemy has no armor on. The best way to become accurate with this is to wait for people to do things with a set trajectory or movement path (more on this in the Game play tips section). This gun also has pushback, like the Lightning Gun, and is known for knocking enemy players into the abyss when they try to use jump-pads on space levels.
Plasma Gun: Good at any range, but at longer ranges you have to lead the target as the shots are not instant. Once you figure out how to lead, you will connect more and you will notice that it does an absurd amount of damage. It can be extremely difficult to get used to how to fire this, however.
Chain Gun, Nail Gun, Proxy Launcher: These are mostly only available on the "Team Arena" CTF maps, though there are some exceptions. The Chain gun does more damage the longer it is firing. Basically a supped up Machine Gun. The Nail Gun is the illegitimate child of the Rocket Launcher and Shotgun. It has a huge spread and does crazy damage but you have to lead targets. The Proxy Launcher puts mines on the ground that explode when people walk over them. These mines can be blown up by shooting them with a Rocket Launcher or Plasma Gun.

Gameplay Tips

Even in this overly offensive game, defense and patience pays off. Don't be afraid to retreat around a corner and wait for someone to follow you. The best way to increase your chance of hitting someone is to increase your odds of predicting their next movement by limiting their options. The times when it is easiest to predict the enemy's path of movement are when they are:
- Hitting a jump pad <easy>
  - Jump pads put people on a fairly set arc through the air and it makes their movement very easy to calculate and gives you an almost free shot with the Rail Gun when they are in the air, or the Shotgun as they land.
- Going through a teleporter <easy>
  - You can run through a teleporter and, if someone is chasing you, you can then simply turn around and wait for them to exit the portal after you and blast them in the face.
- Trying to get power ups / weapons <easy>
  - Have a Rocket Launcher? Simply aim for the armor they are running at. You know they are going to go for it, so you know exactly where they will be. Sniping? Aim for the weapons. You know people want to pick them up, so consider this a free shot by putting your crosshair on it and waiting for them to pick it up. Just squeeze the trigger as they walk over the weapon.
- Rounding a corner <medium>
  - Get someone to chase you by firing a few rockets at them. Run around a corner and switch to a Shotgun or Rail Gun and wait for them to round the corner and you basically get a free shot. This is obviously a strategy that changes based on the level and who you are playing, but it helps quite a bit.
- In the air for various reasons (after a jump, rocket jump, getting hit by an explosion, etc.) <varies>

Game Type Tips

Free For All (FFA):
- Memorize the respawn locations of items and enemies.
- Get yourself moving in a pattern so that you will constantly be picking up weapons and armor and re-gearing yourself while fighting.
- There is no dishonor in shooting someone who has just spawned and only has a Machine Gun. People who know the spawn points will also try to kill you as soon as you spawn, the best thing to do is hit the ground running and start strafe jumping as soon as you spawn.
Duel:
- The strategic element of the game is arguably the most prevalent in Duels. The powerup hoarding strategy from FFA applies, only more so; since it's just you and the other guy, you will want to make sure that you get all of the power ups so that he cannot. In FFA, other people do this work for you, but in a Duel, you must be meticulous!
- Master the map layout so that you know where the enemy can and can't come to attack you. This is important as you will want to minimize the amount of "surprise" damage that you take from not knowing where the enemy is.
- Don't just accept death! Run away, restock on health, fight again! Do not rush blindly into battle, you will be punished for doing so much more than in the other gametypes.
- Guerrilla Warfare should be employed at all times. Spot the enemy, fire off a few shots, retreat behind a wall or pillar. If they chase you, you have the advantage, if they don't, then you know that they are going to try to go for some of the health or armor, since you just damaged them. This sort of hunt and peck fighting can be stressful, but don't lose patience.
- If there is a Quad Damage or Max Health powerup on the map, make sure to ALWAYS get it, and make sure to check back constantly on whether or not it has respawned. This is not something that you want the enemy to have.
- Momentum is a huge factor.
  - When you kill someone, you have the advantage for a slight second. Grab whatever health / armor / ammo you need from the last fight and go hunting for them so that you can try to get off a kill before they pickup any armor or weapons.
  - Conversely, if you are killed, get moving right away! If you see the enemy, fire off some machine gun bullets at them while you retreat-- but ALWAYS RETREAT. Do not rush headlong back into the fight without regearing yourself, retreating is a better option.
  - However, if you just died and you are sure that the enemy has very low health from after they killed you, it may be to your advantage to rush back in-- this is very rare and can be extremely risky, though.
Team Deathmatch (TDM):
- This is the only game-type with friendly fire ON.
- Be sure not to go off on your own too much, try to stay in groups of 2 or more with your team mates, and use weapons that compliment your friends if you can. A few team mates create choke points with a Shotgun or Rocket Launcher and another can stand back and Rail Gun, for instance.
- Don't forget that you can drop weapons for your team mates if you have excess and the other team is camping the spawns.
Clan Arena (CA):
- The most drastically different mode of all the game-play types.
- Last man standing; when you die, you are dead until the end of the round.
- There are no powerups anywhere in the arena: you spawn with full life, full armor, all weapons and extra ammo.
- All of the TDM basics of staying with your team mates apply, only more so, since you only have one life per round.
- You do not take damage from your own rockets in this game mode. You can rocket-jump to your heart's content.
- The main challenge is learning not to try too hard for kills. It's about "safe damage"; play hit and run and try to setup another opportunity for more "safe damage". Since you don't respawn and can't refill your health/armor, it's all about playing safe.
- CA can be a very unforgiving game-type against more skilled players, as your weaknesses will stand out if you have not mastered playing safe, rocket jumping, or using each weapon in its ideal situation.
Capture the Flag (CTF):
- To score points, steal the enemy flag from their base and bring it back to your base--your flag must also be present on your flag platform in order to score.
- Play defense.
  - There is nothing wrong with camping your own flag to prevent people from taking it. Anyone who complains about camping is just mad that you aren't handing them their victory on a silver platter. Remember the above section on predicting where people are going to go? It's very easy to see where someone who wants to steal your flag is going to go. Take advantage of this!
- The flag capper should be someone who is good at strafe jumping so that they can be as quick and mobile as possible. Help protect the flag carrier, but get out of his path so that you don't run into him when he is trying to strafe jump back to the base.
- Be sure to give your flag carrier first priority access to all health and armor powerups. Don't take health or armor if your flag carrier is near by.
  - You can drop the flag by binding a button to it in the options menu. This way you can give the flag to another teammate with more health and armor than you.
- Many of the CTF maps in Quake Live are actually from Quake 3's expansion, "Team Arena". You will know these maps because they have extra weapons and special "Rune" powerups. On the maps that have them, you should always get one of the rune powerups before going into battle. They are essential to the gameplay on the maps that have them:
  - Scout Rune: This is a very good rune for flag cappers. You run faster, have silent footsteps, fire weapons quicker, and can rocket jump without hurting your health (still hurts armor). Because you move faster, you can also strafe jump and rocket jump much farther and faster from the increased momentum. This is the only rune with a negative effect-- your armor-max is capped at 50. You can go over 50 armor, but it will drain down slowly until it reaches 50 again.
  - Guard Rune: Makes you take far less damage from enemy shots. Coupled with a healthy dose of 100+ armor from the camping of armor spawns, you can be almost impossible to kill at times. When each team has the others' flag, it is ideal to let a team mate who has Guard hold the flag. This rune is primarily defensive, but you'd be surprised what you can pull off using it to capture the enemy flag offensively.
  - Doubler Rune: This makes you do twice as much damage with all weapons. A very good all around rune, but I personally prefer it for Sniping, as it will make you one-shot-kill anyone who doesn't have full heath and a good amount of armor. Any weapon is quite a bit more deadly with this rune, though. Be careful when using the Rocket Launcher, you damage yourself more too! (Yes, the Doubler Rune DOES make proxy mines do more damage)
  - Armor-regen Rune: Also a very good all around rune. You might be thinking "why use this when I could just use Guard?". The main reason is that this will regen armor on its own, so while it doesn't protect you as much as Guard, if you play a hit-and-run game, you will actually be quite a pesk. It keeps you more mobile by removing your need to look for armor powerups, which is quite handy.