1 Four jobs, not four shooters
Nothing forces a composition, which is exactly why an unspoken one produces four people doing the same thing badly.
| Job | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Anchor | Holds the chokepoint and does not move. Everything else orients around them |
| Sweeper | Watches the flanks and behind, where a horde game kills people |
| Reviver | Stays free of commitments so somebody can always go and pick a teammate up |
| Driver | Knows where the vehicle is and gets to it when the position collapses |
The reviver is the role people always skip and always need. If everyone is committed to shooting, the first person down stays down.
2 Never all reload at once
Against a horde, the danger is not damage output but the gap. Four people reloading simultaneously creates a few seconds where nothing is holding the line, and in a game where enemies arrive continuously that gap is enough.
Stagger deliberately. Reload early while someone else is firing rather than late when everyone is empty, and say so if your squad is talking.
3 One person owns the vehicle
Vehicles are scattered across the map and each has different capabilities. In a four player squad that creates a coordination problem: everyone wants the gun, nobody wants to drive, and the ride ends up parked somewhere useless.
Give it an owner at the start of the mission. Their job is to know where it is, bring it when the squad needs to move, and not abandon it in the middle of a crowd where nobody can reach it again.
4 Playing with strangers
Cross platform multiplayer widens the pool, which means most of your squads will be people you have never met. Two habits make a random group work.
- Take the job nobody took. If three people are pushing forward, be the one who watches behind and picks people up.
- Share ammunition unprompted. It is a listed mechanic, and being the person who does it changes how the rest of the squad behaves.
Subtitle options and adjustable text size are listed, so not everyone will be on a microphone. Play as though nobody is going to call anything out.
5 Playing solo
Single player is listed, so it is supported, but you lose the four things the store names as the squad experience: revives, shared ammunition, mutual cover and the shared reaction to chaos.
6 Difficulty for a mixed squad
Adjustable difficulty is listed, and in a co-op game the correct setting is the one where the least experienced player is still contributing rather than being carried.
A squad on too high a setting stops being cooperative: three people play carefully and one spends the mission on the floor. Lower it until everyone is shooting, then raise it when they are.
7 The 56 achievements
Fifty six is a large list for a mission based co-op game, which usually means a mixture of progression, weapon and vehicle usage, and a tail of specific feats.
Most of it will arrive from playing with a squad that uses everything rather than settling into one loadout. Actively hunting entries is worth leaving until you know the maps, since a player chasing a personal goal in a four person game is usually the one who wipes it.
8 Habits that wipe a squad
| Habit | Why it ends runs |
|---|---|
| Fighting in the open | Every direction becomes a front, and the engine supplies enough enemies to fill them all |
| Everyone reloading together | A gap of a few seconds is all a continuous horde needs |
| Running to a downed teammate | Two down instead of one. Clear the space first |
| Saving grenades and powers | The crowd in front of you is the situation they were designed for |
| Abandoning the vehicle mid crowd | Your escape route is now surrounded and unreachable |
Split four players into an anchor, a sweeper, a reviver and a driver rather than four shooters, and make sure somebody actually owns the reviving job. Stagger reloads so the line never goes quiet, and give the vehicle a single owner. With strangers, take the role nobody took and share ammunition first. Solo, treat the vehicle as your missing teammate. Set difficulty so the weakest player still contributes, and let the achievements arrive rather than chasing them mid mission.
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