Welcome to the official unofficial Entry Point Loud Guide.
This is the first video of a three-part series covering the basics of the loud gamemode,
starting with defense, movement, and cover
Anyway, let's get started.
Loud missions primarily consist of encounters with enemy units, which normally end with
the players killing the units.
One major thing that distinguishes beginners from pros is how much damage they take in
encounters.
Beginners tend to take lots of damage, primarily because they don't take cover properly and
they tend to run past units while getting shot at.
On the other hand, pros use several strategies to minimize how much damage they take.
This allows them to complete difficult challenges that most players could only dream of doing.
Many missions have some sort of waiting objective, where there isn't much to do other than wait
and stay alive.
Instead of roaming around the map, it's a good idea to take cover.
The idea of cover is that it allows you to kill enemies before they can even shoot at
you, but some cover spots are better than others.
Speaking of bad cover, hiding behind doors is a horrible idea because units can go straight
through them, so, do not hide behind doors.
Anyway, I would say there are three main factors that determine how good a cover spot is.
The first factor is the number of directions you have to defend
For example, this spot in the Financier is really good because enemies can only approach
from one direction, which makes it easy to defend.
You don't have to worry about watching your back and you can focus all your attention
on one spot.
Meanwhile, this spot in the Deposit isn't as good because enemies can come from both
sides.
If you only defend one side, then eventually you're going to be ambushed from the other
side.
This forces you to keep shifting your attention from one side to the other, which overall
makes the position harder to defend.
And then this spot is just a disaster.
Enemies can approach from the back, the left, the right, and even from the top.
This makes it a lot harder to defend yourself, as there's just too many directions to worry
about.
However, although it's true that having to defend more directions makes the cover less
safe, this can be compensated for by having more players.
In my SCRS loud guide, I take cover in the really difficult spot I mentioned.
Meanwhile, Hunty takes cover in this position, which allows him to cover my back and kill
some other units as well.
By dividing the enemy entrances between us, we each have less to worry about, which makes
defending a lot easier.
Overall, loud is significantly easier with multiple players.
The second factor is how easy it is to avoid getting overwhelmed.
Whenever you're fighting from cover, you always want to protect as much of your body as possible.
This means that instead of standing like normal at the corner, you should always lean and
peek out just enough to be able to shoot the units.
However, you don't always need to be peeking out.
If you need to heal or reload, then you should retreat a bit farther behind cover to ensure
you don't get shot.
However, it is not a good idea to reload when an enemy is getting really close, because
you can't fight while reloading.
Thus, you should be on the lookout for units and avoid reloading when they're close to
shooting at you.
Conversely, when it's safe, you should always reload, even if your magazine is mostly full.
Having a full magazine reduces the chances of having to reload in the middle of a fight,
which makes it harder to get overwhelmed.
The distance that units have to travel to bypass your cover also makes a difference.
This spot in the Killhouse is safe because units have to travel quite a long distance
to get to you, which gives you plenty of time to take them out and makes it hard to get
overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, in this spot in the SCRS, there isn't a lot of time between when a unit comes
into view and when it bypasses your cover, which means you have a shorter time window
to kill units before they start damaging you.
The third factor is the relationship to mission objectives.
If a cover spot doesn't make sense within the context of the mission, then it's worthless.
For example, the elevator in the SCRS may be a really good defensive spot, but it's
totally useless because it's really far away from any of the objectives.
Some missions require you to defend a certain objective from enemy units, such a network
box, a helicopter, or a blast door.
If an enemy gets to one of these objectives, then they're going to disable it, which forces
you to go back and re-enable it for the mission to continue progressing.
This not only makes the mission slower, but it forces you to get out of cover, which puts
you at risk.
Thus, if possible, whenever you get one of these objectives, you want to choose a cover
spot that allows you to kill units before they can disable the objective.
In some missions, instead of staring at the thing you're defending, it's better to prevent
enemies from getting close in the first place.
For example, in the Black Dusk, there's a blast door you need to defend, but there's
no need to cover it directly.
The better strategy is to cover the two directions enemies can come from.
If you're able to kill the enemies in time, then there's no chance they can disable the
blast door.
I know this video so far has primarily been about defensive positions, but cover is also
important when you're moving.
Some missions will require you to travel long distances, and if you just walk around like
normal, then you're probably going to get ambushed and take a lot of damage.
Thus, you need to be more careful when you're moving.
Whenever you reach some sort of corner or doorframe, instead of rushing forward, you
should stop, lean, and peek out to see if there's any units ahead.
If there are several enemies, then you should stay behind cover and kill the enemies until
there's an opening instead of rushing as soon as you kill one or two.
To be clear, I'm not saying that you should never move when there's units ahead.
If you encounter units individually while you're moving, then you should be able to
kill them before they damage you, especially if you can shoot while sprinting.
But if you run into a swarm, then you're probably in trouble.
In these situations, it may be better to go back behind cover and fight the units from
there instead of fighting them head on.
Finally, I want to talk about risks.
Although being careful and taking cover is definitely a good thing, that doesn't mean
you shouldn't take any risks.
If you're playing a mission that's really easy for you, then you don't have to play
it safe because you'll be fine either way.
Even in more challenging missions, it's OK to just make a run for it sometimes as a calculated
risk to speed things up.
However, risks should be the exception, not the rule.
I think one of the main reasons that so many beginners struggle with loud is that they
tend to be careless, often taking cover in bad spots or no cover at all, and running
straight into swarms of units.
When you play carelessly, you're going to take a lot of damage, which forces you to
wear heavier armor than you probably need to.
This is why there's a stereotype that noobs always use Aegis Armor.
The solution is to stop relying on armor and start relying more on cover.
If you're used to playing with Aegis armor, then consider playing more with Frontline
armor.
When you reduce your armor, your mistakes become more pronounced, and you're forced
to find better strategies to be able to survive.
Ultimately, you get better at the game by making things harder for yourself, not easier.
I know I didn't really give a lot of details or examples, but the ideas expressed in this
video can be applied to any loud mission.
Cover is just one aspect of loud, though, so don't worry, I'm planning on making more
loud guides covering all the other stuff.
If you want to be notified when the second part of this guide comes out, then make sure
to subscribe and hit the notification bell.
Also, if you're thirteen or older, then you should consider joining the Unofficial Entry
Point Server, which is linked in the description below.
It's the largest Entry Point community server, and the overall best place to hang out with
the community.
Anyway, I'll see you guys next time.