Increasing your kill-to-death ratio in Battlefield Hardline is a lot like trying to gain 25 pounds of muscle. It’s a huge goal to set for yourself, and nothing short of a complete lifestyle (gaming style) change will make it happen. It doesn’t matter if your kill-to-death ratio is 1 to 1 or 2 to 1, it is what it is for a reason, and that’s because your current skill level led you to it. If you want to change this ratio in a positive way, you need to make positive changes to your game.
For example, our current kill-to-death ratio is 1.5 to 1 in Battlefield Hardline, and it was 1.4 to 1 in Battlefield 4 and slightly lower in Battlefield 3. That’s what finally got us to understand there was no quick fix for this. You can’t pick up the best gun in Battlefield Hardline and all of a sudden play better. Your play is based on you, not the equipment that you load out with. In order to get better, you need to make smarter decisions and learn from your mistakes.
In our case, we get bored easily and liked to rush into the middle. Sure, we scored a lot more kills than deaths, and we have some monster rounds that we’re proud of, but in general this habit prevents us from hitting that prestigious 2 to 1 KDR. The thing is, we’re OK with that. A 2.0 kill-to-death ratio is not the end game for our Battlefield career. It’s being a good player, having fun and playing the objective more often than not. In other words, it’s about balance. Now, if our kill-to-death ratio was .50 to 1, we might not be so relaxed about the matter. It’s also fair to say that we wouldn’t write about how to become a better Battlefield Player. People in glass houses and all.
Never Stop Learning
LevelCap takes a lot of crap from people who are, quite frankly, jealous of how he managed to turn playing Battlefield into a full-time job, but there’s no denying the dude is a good player. Is he the best player? No, but he’s far above average, and because of that he’s a good person to watch if you want to get better. Sure, the weapon spotlights are cool and you will learn a lot, but watching his play-style is what you really want to focus on.
Just to be clear, we’re not saying watch LevelCap to raise your KDR, we’re saying watch those who are better than you. Watch lots of YouTube videos and live streams, learning what elite level players do. Are they patient? Do they use one particular optic over another (you should only use the Kobra RDS unless you’re sniping)? What makes them different from you?
Avoid the Middle of the Map
By now you are starting to figure out that raising your kill-to-death ratio is not about an optic or a gun, but rather the overall picture and changing how you view the game. For us, staying out of the middle is absolutely key. Why is it important? If you’re in the middle of the map, you can be attacked from a 360 degree angle. If you are on the perimeter, working clockwise or counter-clockwise, you have then eliminated 180 degrees that threats can approach from. By staying to the outside (but stay busy and don’t camp), you can cut down 50 percent of the danger you’d face in the center.
Choosing Your Gear
It’s not about the M16A3 or M416 like everyone thinks it is. Sure, they’re good weapons, but they are not going to be the make or break it factor in raising your KDR. The guns and gadgets that make sense to you will do that. For us, we are in love with the MP5K. It’s not statistically the best gun in the game, but it is a monster up close, and that’s where we like to fight. Our gun compliments our play-style. If we went with the M16A3 and tried to run-and-gun, we’d get torn to bits by people who use the SMG. Understand what type of player you are, then choose the gear that compliments that. There is no such thing as the best gun in the game, since fans play it in different ways.
The Cold Hard Truth
The fact of the matter is that your ability to improve your KDR depends on two factors, each of which will have an impact on how drastically you can expect to improve.
- How badly do you want to improve?
- How much time do you put into the game?
For example, if improving your KDR is your biggest goal in Battlefield Hardline, you need to make the conscious decision to play a responsible game every time the round begins. If you don’t play that often (couple of hours a week), you might see a big jump, and by that we mean about .1 to .3 overall. If you play a lot, it will take a huge commitment to change this stat, as even 100 kills is not likely have a big impact on someone who logged 100 hours.
Although is seems rather silly to suggest this is an article specifically about raising your kill-to-death ratio, you might want to consider making your goal about becoming a better player. Not merely to see a slight bump in a single and rather insignificant number, but because you want to improve every time you log on. The cool part is these topics are related, and by doing one you’ll accomplish the other.
