So you know how to time the items and weapons in quake live, and you have a good idea of which weapon to use in what situations, but do you know how to combine these skills and add a sense of map control to your arsenal to dominate your opponent? Godlike aim aided with an inhuman sense of timing won't help you win battles unless you can control the map like a pro.
As mentioned earlier, your first priority should be to maintain control of the major items and the weapons. By major items, I mean the Red Armor and the Mega Health, and by major weapons I mean the Rail Gun and perhaps the Rocket Launcher. Never get greedy enough to rush in for 1-2 frags if that means you have to give up one of the items. If your opponent is low on health, let him run; try to finish him off with Lightning Gun or the Machine Gun, or perhaps the Rail Gun. If you can't, then let him rush to his health. You should get back to timing your items, picking them up, and then going in for the kill.
But to do this, you need to know the maps of quake live by heart. You need to know each route in the map just like you know the back of your hand. You need to develop a sense of length and height, and the amount of time it takes to go from one position of the map to the other. This might seem intimidating, but there is no complex calculation to do here; this comes with practice and becomes second nature.
If you have the cognitive mapping of an arena thoroughly in your mind, this will help you ambush enemies and track them down. For instance, if they are low on health, they have most likely gone to pick up some yellow or orange health spheres. So your idea should be to take a different route and make a prediction shot at the yellow or orange health spheres. Majority of the time, your prediction will hit a bull's eye. Of course, this also requires you to master strafe jumping (more on this later) so that you can go from point A to point B fast.
Another great advantage of knowing a map well is that you can respawn kill your opponents. All the maps have certain spawn points, and with time you will figure out where enemies will spawn next after getting killed. This type of prediction is very important as this will get you more than half of the kills in a round. If you know where the enemy might be spawning next, your job will be to strafe jump your way towards that place and frag your opponent before he can acquire weapons or armor. Lots of skilled players abuse their inhuman knowledge of the map to make you their play toy. So practice a lot and learn the different spawn points.
If you have a sense of time, then your predictions will get even better. If you know an opponent is going around a map, then you will be able to go ahead of him to ambush him with some prediction shots. You should also utilize rocket jumps to cut ahead of your enemies and surprise them. Rocket jumping also helps against enemies who might be chipping at you from a platform with a Rail Gun. After he takes a shot, rocket jump up and fire away before he can switch his weapon.
Taking long distance shots at the enemy with the rail gun is one of the most useful ways of making sure that your enemy is always on the run looking for health. This is also a great way to keep them off the armors and mega health or the Rail Gun. So abuse the Rail Gun and the settings of most map to the fullest and make your enemy's life a living hell.
If sometimes you have to confront your enemy Rail vs Rail, then do so if you are on the RA side of the map. You know that after getting a shot or two you can always run back and pick up the RA. Likewise, you know that your enemy will be heading towards the YA or some health spheres. So as soon as you pick up the RA, head towards somewhere near the YA and make a few prediction shots. But of course, a clever opponent will be expecting the same from you, so turn corners carefully to avoid prediction shots from your opponents. Listen for rocket sounds so that you can avoid them.
When engaging in combat, choose your position. Most often a higher ground will give you a greater advantage. At other times, utilize pillars and walls to hide behind while your Rail Gun is reloading. Whenever you can, try to attain the higher ground so that you can rain down rockets on your opponents or take Rail shots at him with more precision.
Nothing beats practice. So practice as much as you can and the map will become like an open book to you. Only when you truly know every route of a map, including rocket jumping and strafe jumping routes, will you be able to call yourself a truly skilled quake live player.
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