In Part 2 of my series on Battlefield 4 we'll look at the classes, the tools available to them, and how to capitalize on the strenghts of each class. In Part 3 we'll go over weapons and vehicles and their customisation options.

So to start off, let's have a look at the Assault class - the medic/infantry destroyer. Just like in previous Battlefield games, the Assault has the ability to heal and revive his allies, but he can also dispatch enemy infantry very quickly with the M320 Grenade Launcher and with the help of his Assault Rifle.

Class Main Weapon: Assault Rifle

Class Specialty: Medic/Anti-Infantry

Class Tools:

- First Aid Pack, Medic Bag, Defibrilator;

- M320 GL: HE, Smoke, Dart, Flashbang, LVG (bouncing HE) rounds;

- M26 MASS mini-Shotgun: Buckshot, Dart, Slug, FRAG rounds;

The Assault excels at being right at the frontline - dishing out damage with the precision of his Assault Rifle and preventing losses on his side with healing and reviving. The Assault is a monster at taking down any kind of cover with his M320, but don't overestimate his power. While he is great at taking down soldiers, he has no power against any kind of vehicles. If you see a tank or LAV coming at you - run. Go find an Engineer and keep him alive long enough so he can take down the vehicle coming at you. The Assault is best played as a siege soldier. First take down cover where the enemy is hiding (like a wall), kill the enemy soldiers, while reviving your teammates if possible. After you've captured the desireed location, drop a med bag, heal up your team and continue towards your next objective.

Next up is the Engineer - an essential part of our team's ground forces. The Engineer is all about vehicles - killing them with his massive array of explosive power and also repairing the ones driven by his allies.

Class Main Weapon: SMG, can unlock Carbines for all classes.

Class Specialty: Anti-Vehicle/Friendly Vehicle Repair/Mine laying

Class Tools:

- MANY rocket launchers:

Anti-Ground:

- MBT LAW - if the rocket goes near a ground vehicle, it will track it and attack it from above, has somewhat weak damage.

- RPG-7v2 - fire-and-forget rocket, does the highest damage. Should be aimed at the sides and rear of vehicles for a critical hit.

- MK153 SMAW - similar to the RPG, has no locking ability. This rocket is faster than the RPG and falls to the ground more slowly, but has slightly less damage than the RPG.

- FGM-148 JAVELIN - can lock onto land vehicles by itself or acquire a laser lock on land AND air vehicles. You must keep aiming at your target until it arrives. The rocket deals moderate damage.

- FGM-172 SRAW - wire-guided roket. It follows your reticle while you are in aimed mode. Can acquire a laser lock. Deals moderate damage.

Anti-Air:

- FIM-92 Stinger - once you lock on a target, the missile guides itself to it. Continued lock-on is not required. The missile is capable of a mobility kill at short ranges (vehicle disable from first shot).

- SA-18 IGLA - very similar to the Stinger, but has the ability to do a mobility kill at medium ranges. This comes at the price of a required constant lock on your target. If the lock-on is lost the rocket will continue to fly straight and then may be re-acquired;

- Repair Tool - can repair friendly vehicles and damage enemy ones. After a while it will overheat and will need a few seconds until you are able to use it again.

- Mines:

- M15 AT Mine - very powerful anti-tank mine. Can be put on the ground only.

- M2 SLAM - a less damaging version of the M15 mine, the M2 can be put in a horizontal or vertical position like a pack of C4.

- EOD Bot - a small remote-controlled robot which can repair or damage vehicles, disarm explosives and arm/disarm objectives in Rush mode.

The Engineer is essentially the counter to any kind of enemy vehicle, but as a pure soldier he can be killed easily. When targeting vehicles, try shooting them from and angle where the vehicle driver does not see you and then instantly take cover while you reload. Also, try staying somewhat close to your team - being revived by and Assault and restocking on ammo from a Support soldier is very much needed to be efficient. Be mindful of how many rockets you have left and try to restock from Ammo crates as often as possible, because vehicles mostly are not destroyed with only one or two hits, and even more might be needed depening on the equipment and skill of the driver/pilot you are trying to take down.

Next up, let's look at the Support. The name doesn't really tell you what he does at first glance if you haven't played Battlefield before, but there is a reason why he is called the 'support'. The class doesn't really excel at a niche role like the Engineer or Assault, but complements the other 3 classes. The Support is the guy who sends a lot of bullets flying towards his enemy (and thus 'suppresses' the enemy soldiers) and also restocks the ammo of his teammates.

Class Main Weapon: Light Machine Gun, can unlock Shotguns for all classes.

Class Specialty: Suppressive Fire/Ammo Restock

Class Tools:

- Ammo Pack (restocks only bullets), Ammo Box (restocks every kind of ammunition).

- XM25 semi-auto Grenade Launcher - Airburst, Smoke and Dart rounds are available.

- Claymore - Anti-Infantry Mine. It deploys a tripwire which is broken when an enemy soldier walks through it and activates the mine.

- M224 Mortar - a remotely controlled mortar. Rapid fire makes the mortar inaccurate, while taking time between shots ensures almost pinpoint accuracy.

- MP-APS - Man-Portable Active Protection System that detonates incoming explosive Rockets and Shells from both infantry and vehicles before they can hit their targets. Will not stop normal bullets or hand thrown grenades. Can destroy multiple incoming threats in a 180-degree arc, but must recharge between uses.

- C4 - deployable packs of C4 which are connected to a radio detonator. Unlike the Recon, the Support class doesn't have C4 available right away and it is unlocked through earning score with the Support class.

So, you might be wondering where does the Support fit in. The answer is simple - close to his squad and team. His abundance of ammo ensures that he can always provide covering fire to his team and also restock them with much-needed ammo. You are the one thing that makes sure that after an Engineer takes down an enemy tank, he doesn't run out of rockets and become useless. As a Support, you are also good at destroying cover with the XM25 Grenade Launcher and defending objectives with your Claymore mines and C4 as traps.

And now we've come to the Recon. The Recon class is a bit different from the other 3, because he doesn't need to be at the front line, but he also can be if he wants. There really are two types of Recon players - the lone wolf who snipes targets from a safe distance and the guy who doesn't bet on distance, but instead uses the rest of his kit, which we'll cover below.

Class Main Weapon: Sniper Rifle, can unlock Designated Marksman Rifle for all classes. This is a weapon type that sits between the Assault Rilfe and the Sniper Rifle both in range and damage. All DMRs are semi-auto.

Class Specialty: Taking out high-value targets/Counter-Recon/Specialist

Class Tools:

- PLD - this is an infrared binocular which can give a laser designation on enemy vehicles. It is essential that you use this tool, as it makes the Engineer's task of taking out vehicles much easier, because a 'laser-painted' vehicle can be locked-on from any distance.

- SOFLAM - Special Operations Forces Laser Marker that automatically laser-paints enemy vehicles when deployed in a stationary position. Capable of remote operation, the SOFLAM enables friendlies with missile systems to lock on to the targeted vehicles.

- Motion Sensor - a sensor that can be thrown like a grenade, it detects enemy movement in 25m radius and reports it to your team's minimap for up to 24 seconds after deployment.

- T-UGS - a sensor which is deployed on the ground and detects enemy movement in 25m radius and reports it to your team's minimap, just like the Motion Sensor, but unlike it, it functions until you pick it back up or is destroyed.

- Radio Beacon - Portable Spawn Beacon that creates an additional spawn position for a Squad. Only functional as a member of a Squad. When deployed with a clear view of the sky in open environments it will function as a Paradrop Beacon. This beacon allows your squad to spawn on it instead of you. The beacon is very useful when put in a safe spot close to an objective you need to siege or defend. It will ensure that your squad can spawn near a certain position, even if you have moved away from it.

- MAV - Micro Air Vehicle can be used to remotely fly behind enemy lines to spot incoming threats or destroy deployed enemy gadgets. Includes a motion sensor with a 35m radius; active only when the vehicle is remotely controlled. You can use this little flying drone to spot enemy soldiers and vehicles that prove difficult to be dealt with. This way, your team will have a better idea of their position and will dispatch the threat accordingly.

- C4 - available right away, unlike with the Support class, which needs to unlock C4 as a gadget.

- Claymore - Anti-Infantry Mine. It deploys tripwire which is broken when an enemy soldier walks through it and activates the mine. While this gadget is shared with the Support class like C4, it needs to be unlocked for the Recon as it isn't available right away for that class.

So if you look at what the Recon has at his disposal, the difference in playstyle the class offers is very obvious. You can be a pure sniper, taking out soldiers from a distance. You can also swap out your Sniper Rifle with a shared weapon like a Carbine, Shotgun or DMR and go behind enemy lines and provide recon information on enemy positions and place beacons so you can spawn your squad behide the enemy's back. While those two playstyles differ substantialy, because of the range at which they operate, the battlefield is constantly changing and as a Recon, you'll be most effective if you combine both styles.

You can opt of the more stationary style of play, but it's a bad idea go full camper mode. Observe the map and change your postition accordingly. When playing from a more long-ranged style, you have the perfect opportunity to laser-designate enemy vehicles, especially in the air. Take the time to do it even when playing at a closer range. Helping your team get air, land and/or sea dominance (depending on the map) will be an important part in winning the game. You should never let enemy vehicles run rampant, as you'll lose map control before you even know it. Both stealth and non-stealth styles can cash-in on the fact that you have C4 available to you right from the start. You can sneak up (especially if you've stayed away from the action and you haven't been noticed) on vehicles and destroy them with C4, or use the packs as a trap before moving to another position to engage your enemy safely from a longer range. Overall, the Recon can be played very differently, from a laid-back sniper to a vehicle destroyer that constantly runs around and is not afraid to fight at close range. While the Recon is not a 'hard-counter' to something, like the Engineer to vehicles, it compensates with adaptability. Usee it to your advantage.

Squad Dynamics - having your squad's back.

After we looked at all 4 classes and what they are strong and weak at, it should be obvious to you now that each soldier class needs to be complemented and to complement the other 3. This is where Squads come in. The two opposing teams consist of Squads, which are like sub-teams of 5 players. One of them is a Squad Leader and can give orders to attack or defend objectives to his squadmates. While trying to micromanage your role in unison with 31 players is almost impossible, coordinating what you must do as an individual in a small squad is very easy. In an ideal environment, Squad Leaders will all give orders to their Squad according to the map state, but this happens almost only when playing with a clan. The best way to ensure some level of team play is to coordinate with your squadmates and always stick together, following your Squad Leader's orders.

This is where your class comes in. It is best that in a squad of 5 people, all the classes are represented, or at least 3 out of 4. In some cases, depending on what you want to achieve and what game mode you are playing, you may not need a Recon or an Engineer. For large maps with lots of vehicles in play, a possible configuration is 2 Engineers, 2 Assaults and a Support. This ensures that you can quickly take down vehicles and that most of the time at least one of the two Assault players will be alive and will be able to revive his downed squadmate. If the squad sticks together, when your Support player is alive you're ensured covering fire and ammo resupplying when needed.

Let me give you an example situation with the 5 squad membeers I described above:

You are playing Conquest and you are capturing a point. An enemy tank and a few soldiers on foot are closing in. You are an Engineer. You and the other Engineer engage thee tank with your rocket launchers and after a few shots take it down. While this is happening, your Assault and Support players are firing away at the eenemy infantry so they can't just stand there and shoot at you undisturbed. Before you destroyed that tank, the driver shoots and kills your Support squadmate. Now that you don't have to deal with the tank, you shoot at the remaining enemies and clean up all resistance. Now your Assault revives the Support players and after he is back in play, puts down an ammo crate and the whole squad is restocked and healed from the medic bags provided by the Assault. What ensured you captured the point? Better coordination than what the enemy squad had. Maybe they didn't have an Engineer to repair the tank, or an Assault to revive fallen teammates. Battlefield 4 is a team game, and just like in a MOBA game, no class or role will succeed fully without help from the other classes, as the game is not designed for one-man-army playstyles.

In part 3 of this series of articles, I'll do more in-depth analysis on weapon types, weapon customisation and vehicles.

Good luck on the Battlefield.