Battlefield 1 beta tips – elite class locations, best loadouts, combat tips and more

Battlefield 1 beta: Top tips for multiplayer battling
While it's only in open beta and won't be out until October, shooter nuts are still getting properly stuck into Battlefield 1, developing strategies that they'll then probably continue to use to stomp people in the final release.

We've been playing too, however, and we've got a few key tips of our own that'll be especially useful for beginners – but one or two might even be helpful for a seasoned Battlefield pro.

This guide covers a little about the new and significantly changed of Battlefield 1's mechanics as featured in the beta, plus some of our subjective advice of what some of the best guns, gear and strategies in the game are. We'll try to update it over time. Disagree? Have some strategies of your own? Let us know in the comments.

Weapon Unlocks are determined by your class rank, not your overall rank

This is a key thing that's a little bit easy to miss – weapon unlocks are tied to each individual class, not to your overall player level.

Your player level is the rank displayed on the main menu of the game in the top right. Pretty much every action you do levels this side of your account up.

More immediately important to you however is the rank in each individual class. You'll want to ensure you level up your favourite class of choice as a priority by putting time into playing that specific class. In the beta you'll be able to find this level when you're in a match.

To see your class level you simply need to go to the customisation menu by hitting that option in the bottom left hand side of the screen while you're picking a class or waiting to spawn. Hit your class of choice; the various weapon unlocks will be shown there, and your class level will be shown in the top right. New gear is unlocked either by ranking up your standing with that class or by spending Warbonds. Simple!

Learn the location of the elite classes and use them correctly

Elite Classes are the Battlefield 1 replacement for the pick-ups that featured in both Battlefield 4 and Battlefield Hardline – and they're powerful, tide-changing stuff.

There's three Elite Classes in the game: The Sentry, the Tank Hunter, and the Flame Trooper. We have a whole other guide page all about this, but here's the important bit:

The Sentry Elite Class is near the F capture point. Its spawn point will be marked on your map. He has a massive machine gun and very heavy armour plating. He can spray death quicker than anybody else, but can't aim down sights and can't equip a gas mask.
The Tank Hunter Elite Class is out in the middle of the desert near the E capture point. He uses the anti-tank rifle. This is slow firing and can be used on weaker vehicles or infantry but is really for taking down heavy armour from a distance. The lighter the vehicle, the easier they are to take down. The gun can only be fired when mounted behind cover or when in prone, meaning this is a more static class.
The Flame Trooper Elite Class is found near the B capture point near a half-destroyed building. This class has a flamethrower and incendiary grenades, making him lethal against infantry. However, his vision is impaired by a gas mask but is also more potentially vulnerable. He's bloody deadly up close, though.

We happen to think the Flame Trooper is the best of the bunch – though it's a more vulnerable class, the stopping power it has with its flamethrower is really quite something. The Tank Hunter is the one we've had the least luck with.

Keep in mind that only one of each Elite Class can be on the map at any given time, and also keep in mind that while these classes are very powerful, they're highly specialised – using them incorrectly will only lead to a swift death. Used right, they can change your team's fortunes.

Flying? Get the Bomber Killer load-out for the fighter plane

Battlefield 1's beta features 3 types of airborne attack vehicle – the Attack Plane, the Fighter, and the Bomber. Our favourite by far is the Fighter.

The fighter is the fastest and lightest of the planes, but you also need to keep in mind that it's the least survivable of the bunch. If you run into some strong anti-air or an accurate Tank Hunter elite class player you might run into some serious trouble.

If you pick the fighter we have a further recommendation – hit up the ‘Bomber Killer' load-out for the vehicle. The bomber killer features manually aim-able rockets that have a large hitbox. They're bloody good. You can lay some serious waste with this thing.

Use gas grenades to deal with snipers
While gas grenades won't help you to clear out snipers from a long, long distance, once you're within the range of a good throw or if you've managed to sneak up on them they can prove vital.

Gas can easily be avoided in Battlefield 1 because soldiers typically carry gas masks. Gas masks have a little catch, however – you can't aim down the sights when you've got one on. A well-placed gas grenade will force a sniper to either make a hasty move, outing themselves, or force them to put on their gas mask.

If a gassed sniper moves, this forces them from a good position and is an ideal shot to take them down. If they stay put with a gas mask on they can no longer raise their unwieldy one-shot weapon to aim, which is basically a death sentence – that'll let you get in close and finish them off. Damn snipers.

Fighting a mounted solider? Focus on the rider, not the horse

One of Battlefield 1's most significant new additions thanks to its time period is that of mounted combat – many players will spend a lot of time on horseback trying to ride up on the enemy to slice them with their sabres.

Horses are actually pretty hard to use, and we've got an an entire page detailing how best to use them, but if you come across somebody with some decent skills you're in for a nasty surprise. If you're fighting somebody on horseback there's one key tip to remember: aim for the rider, not for the horse.

Horses are of course vulnerable, but they've got significantly more HP than your average soldier, even those who are more heavily armoured. The rider will die more quickly, so aim for them.

Even if the rider is dead, if you see a horse running at you get the hell out of the way – if you get trampled, it'll hurt. It'll kill.

Playing Assault? Prioritise unlocking the Automatico M1918 submachine gun

This is more of a personal preference, but of all the weapons we've used so far in Battlefield 1 the Beretta Model 1918 – aka the Automatico M1918 – is one of the most striking and fun to use.

There's three different variations of it available in the beta. The trench variation with reduced accuracy and control but a ludicrous hip fire rating unlocks at class level 1. A factory variant is also available for 40 warbonds from the very start of the game.

The best and most balanced variant is the Light Infantry version. This is available once you hit class level 3 with assault.

Don't forget Smoke Grenades when you play Rush – they're really useful

Battlefield is such a wide open game that often the likes of smoke grenades are forgotten by players in favour of grenades that can do some killing or destroy cover. That's not entirely the right approach to take, as in the right situation smoke grenades can actually be pretty useful.

The Battlefield 1 beta features the tighter and more directed game mode of Rush as a major component. In Rush in particular smoke grenades can end up being pretty useful, so try taking them along with you once or twice to see how they help you.

Any class can equip smoke grenades in place of normal grenades via the customisation screen, and the medic will unlock a rifle-mounted variant later on if you keep levelling that class up.

Defenders can now call in artillery in Rush mode

One of the changes made to more accurately represent the nature of the first world war is in the objectives of rush mode, the 24-player objective-driven battle. The defenders must protect telegraph poles, which are in turn used to call in artillery strikes.

If you're defending, don't forget this! Make sure to actually use the artillery strikes throughout the game. Keep in mind you can't aim these attacks – you order them and then the game decides.

If you're attacking, your job is to destroy the poles, but keep in mind that once you've placed the explosives they can be disarmed if you don't protect them.

Don't run away from capture points as soon as you take them – you might miss something

This is a tip that more seasoned Battlefield players may well be familiar with, but it's still a little tidbit that bears repeating with new players joining the fold. Don't run off from capture points as soon as you take them!

Why, you ask? Well, a freshly-captured point will often spawn in some vehicles for the team that just captured it. Keep an eye open after hoisting your flag to see if a jeep or tank has appeared in the base after you took it over – if it did, it's going to make your journey to the next capture point a whole lot easier.