How to Win in Hot Pursuit – New Blackout Mode Tips
Learn everything there is about the new Hot Pursuit Blackout mode!
On 19 February, Treyarch kicked off the latest season of Black Ops 4 with Operation Grand Heist. Three days later, they dropped the main attraction, Hot Pursuit, an all new mode for Blackout. The in-game text describes this mode as such:
Play in squads of up to 4 players. Find police vehicles to help track down the baddies or find a muscle car to find valuable gear. All players who have an alive teammate will reinsert into the map when the next collapse starts. It doesn’t matter how your get there, it’s who’s still standing at the end!
With new vehicles and different rules, there’s a lot to wrap your head around in Hot Pursuit, so let’s just jump right into it.
Vehicles
For starters, while the marketing pushes a very Cops vs. Robbers vibe, that’s not really the case. There’s no distinct “sides” or teams outside of the standard four person squad. While it’s up to you if you want to roleplay as a Cop or Robber, there’s nothing stopping your team from having two players in cop cars while the other two are in muscle cars.
However, there is a big difference between all the vehicles. New to this mode are three new vehicle types, the SUV, Muscle Car, and PBR. Old vehicles such as the ATV and Helicopter are also here and have received a fresh coat of paint.
The SUV feels like a mix between the ARAV and Cargo Truck, with four seats and the ability to peak out the windows. The Muscle Car is a two seater and controls more like the ATV but actually allows two additional players to jump on the front and back of the car without fear of falling off. Lastly, the PBR is a two passenger boat with a mounted turret on the front.
All these vehicles have one of two features. Police vehicles (PBR, SUV, Helicopter, and ATV) all have a built in sensor dart when the siren is on. The risk reward here is that you gain knowledge of who’s around you but risk them hearing where you’re coming from. When in these vehicles, you will also see a red light in the sky letting you know of any occupied vehicles in your area.
The Muscle cars lack the sensor dart functionality, yet while you’re in them, green beams of light will emit from supply drops and supply stashes.
If you’re looking to chase down enemies for tons of kills, the Police vehicles will suit you well, whereas if your into that loot, Muscle cars will be more your speed. Either way, I’d recommend finding a muscle car early in the game. Looting up the nearest supply stash and then either ditching the car or keep looting to your hearts content.
Remember, with the latest patch to Black Ops 4, LMG’s have received a huge buff to their vehicle damage. Be sure to keep an LMG on you at all times as their will be plenty of vehicles to shoot at and it barely takes two clips to take one down.
Game Rules
A match of Hot Pursuit shares the same structure as a recent limited time Blackout Mode, Down, But Not Out. The game starts with a huge circle and gets smaller in five waves. When a teammate dies, they can still redeploy the next time the circle shrinks and will spawn with a little bit of loot depending on which wave it is. In the early waves, players drop with a Strife with no armor, whereas in the later waves, redeployed players will drop with an MX9 and Level 2 armor.
The number in the top left next to the dropship tells you which wave it is, while the number below that tells you how many players will redeploy the next wave.
The last circle starts bigger than a normal final circle in Solo’s, however this one is constantly shrinking and normally has about 30-40 players still alive inside of it. The best advice here is to play offensively as you’ll most likely get shot in the back if your just trying to hide out by tree.
How Hot Pursuit differs slightly from Down, But Not Out is that Supply Drops will rain from the sky every 30 seconds so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
Loot up early, keep an LMG on you to take down vehicles, and play offensively. Those are just some of my key tips, let us know what strategies you’ve found effective in Hot Pursuit in the comments below!