Titanfall, released today, is a gun-based, online-only game that uses a level progression system to expand your available weapons and skills as you play. This means that when you start playing, everyone else online will be tens of levels ahead of you and have every conceivable tool at their disposal while you're relegated to noob gear. But have no fear; you can use that noob gear to get plenty of kills.

Accept Your Gruesome Fate

You're going to die during your first few games. Get used to being at the bottom of the list. This isn't because of your equipment, but because you're new. Don't get frustrated. Just accept that your K/D ratio is going to suck until you get a feel for the game. You won't learn anything getting mad at people who have been playing longer.

Learn to Suck, Suck to Learn

You're not going to be single-handedly winning any matches. In fact, early on you're probably not going to make much of a difference at all besides being dead weight. Your teammates will yell at you for being a noob. You are. Revel in it. Take advantage of the low expectations to fall back and watch more experienced people play. See how they move, where they go, and what they do. That goes double for the people who kill you.

Run Around Like a Lunatic

Once you've accepted that you will die and you won't win, you can start exploring the maps. Your teammates might get pissed at you, but they'll get pissed at you no matter how you play because you're low level and you don't have a feel for the game yet. That's fine. Run around the maps like a lunatic and learn where the different points are. Figure out the best routes between different parts on the map, and note good hiding and sniping spots. 

Jump Around Like a Lunatic
Unless your only experience in shooters is playing a Scout in Team Fortress 2, you won't be used to moving in Titanfall. Every pilot has jump boots that let you double jump and wall run, and that opens up maps in new, vertical ways.

Meet Your Murderer

Every time you die, you're shown a clip of the person who killed you actually killing you, through their own eyes. Watch these carefully. Learn the blind spots and what they look like from the first person.

Love the Smart Pistol

The Smart Pistol the Assassin carries is an incredibly useful weapon. It locks on any enemy within range and in your sights so you can fire anywhere near it and bullets will hit. It's great for clearing out grunts and specters. Practice running at groups of enemies, tagging them with the pistol and killing them easily.

Hate the Smart Pistol

You better learn how to switch weapons quickly, because the Smart Pistol is pretty much useless against actual players. Weaker, AI-controlled grunts and specters are easy to take out, but it takes at least a full stack of target locks to kill a player, and if they see you first, you'll be dead before you can fire.

Punch, Kick, It's All In Your Mind

Right stick (for the Xbox One version) melee attacks. The other players might have more functional weapons and more advanced titans, but everyone has the same melee attacks, and they're really useful when you find yourself face-to-face and outgunned. If you can sneak up from behind someone and melee them, they're dead. If you can get close to an enemy titan in your own titan and his shields are down, punch him and he's dead. If you're close enough that a player can rodeo your titan, don't bother firing your weapon because if you just look down and punch him he's dead. Most strategies in Titanfall and most shooters involve maneuvering and reaching the optimal distance for your weapon. When you're up close, just keep hitting.

Ignore All Class

You can choose from a small selection of pilot and titan classes when you start. These classes mean nothing in the long term. Once you hit level 5, you can make your own pilot classes, and once you hit level 10 you can do the same with your titans. The classes should be treated as a sampler based on different play styles. Assault is basic run-and-gun with a conventional rifle and a really useful anti-titan rocket. Assassin is stealthier (and less useful against players), with a Smart Pistol and a machine pistol backup. CQB has a shotgun, which would be nice if you weren't fighting in big, open spaces most of the time. Don't learn how the classes play. Learn how the equipment plays, and decide which weapons and traits you want for each slot when you can make your own class. 

For more, check out PCMag's hands on with the Titanfall beta for Xbox One (slideshow above), as well as 10 Tips That'll Make You a Titanfall God.

Also watch PCMag Live in the video below, which discusses the Titanfall launch.

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