Search and destroy has a different feel from the other game modes played at the professional level in Call of Duty esports.
Hardpoint and domination have non-stop gunfights and players flooding into the same areas of the maps to control zones. The quiet moments, and some of the most intense, arrive in search.
The game mode has been a specialty of the Dallas Empire, as they’ve continued to develop into one of the most dominant teams in the league.
Indervir ‘iLLeY” Dhaliwal made a name for himself in the community through being a search and destroy guru. The Dallas Morning News spoke to him and Empire head coach Ray “Rambo” Lussier about the details of quality search and destroy play.
Using some of the Empire’s own gameplay from Call of Duty League play this season, some of iLLeY and Rambo’s insight, tips and knowledge can be seen in action.
Here are some of the helpful clips:
Time stamp: 18:00 to 18:20
Your team has to be on the same page in search and destroy. Each player only gets one life each round in an attempt to plant or defuse the bomb, so one minor mistake can be costly.
Communication and synergy are essential.
“The rounds that are normally successful are rounds where you have a plan and execute that plan with your team so that you can trade out eliminations,” rambo said. “It’s all about position warfare and you want to make the best aggressive play possible around the objectives to put your team in a power position.”
The action in a search round usually arrives in bursts, with all the players crowding sections of the map. Rambo said it’s important for players to put themselves in positions to help each other.
In this first clip, the Empire start the round trading two eliminations with Atlanta.
Dallas lost iLLeY and Anthony “Shotzzy” Cuevas-Castro early, and FaZe lost both of their players in the engagement as well.
The most important action of the round happens around Ian “Crimsix” Porter and James “Clayster” Eubanks though.
Crimsix, who is No. 7 on the mini map in the bottom left of the CDL YouTube stream, is garnering attention from two Atlanta players.
There’s a smoke grenade out in front of Clayster though, who waited for the perfect time to make a mad dash to the bomb site.
Clayster went unnoticed by FaZe player McArthur “Cellium” Jovel, and picked off his counterpart. All of the sudden, through timing, a scapegoat and one usage of equipment, the Empire had a three-on-two advantage.
“A good round of search and destroy has a lot of coordination,” iLLeY said. “You want to use your stuns, grenades and smokes at the same time that your team is making a move and you want to do those things together. That allows for you to trade eliminations.”
The round had a scrappy finish, but Dallas put itself in position to win it by making calculated moves.
Time stamp: 21:05 to 21:45
That last clip was a good round of search and destroy, but this one is an example of perfection. It’s clear by the Empire winning the round against Florida with all five players standing that it was all a well-rehearsed maneuver.
Back to what iLLeY said about coordination and equipment, the Empire assisted their 18-year-old star flank all the way to the other side of the map where the Mutineers spawned.
Gun Runner often sees the majority of fights in search happen on the B flag. The Empire opted for an aggressive push toward A, though.
Shotzzy got the plant off within 15 seconds of the round starting, and the Empire had every angle covered.
While Florida was positioned by the A flag, they were unaware of how much space the Empire already covered. Shotzzy and iLLeY pick up the first two eliminations and all of the sudden the kill feed is filled with the Empire stockpiling eliminations.
“If you are on offense you try to plan the bomb as safely as possible and cover that site. You want to then hold those angles that are pushing the bomb sites,” Rambo said. “A lot of the rounds really start when individuals make aggressive pushes. Each player will fill a route and try to get a kill on that route. If your team is setting up correctly, you shouldn’t have to do anything but trade after a certain point.”
The Empire didn’t need to trade in that case, as they were multiple steps ahead the whole way.
Time stamp: 1:23:00 to 1:24:45
Search and destroy rounds aren’t always smooth, even for a team as good at it as the Empire.
Dallas dominated its way to a 6-1 win over Florida in search of Gun Runner, but the Mutineers came back in the match and forced another search and destroy map on Rammaza in the fifth map of the Minnesota home series semifinal.
Dallas and Florida were trading blows, making for one of the most excited matches of the season during an eventful tournament. Round 11 wasn’t a pleasant one for the Empire though, as their strategy fell apart early.
Shotzzy fell early, and that wasn’t great for Dallas’ chances, but take a look at No. 1 on the minimap.
Mutineers newcomer Joseph “Owakening” Conley went unnoticed under the scaffolding section of the map. He waited there patiently, and the devastating blow to the Empire’s final round in the tournament was when he found Clayster.
This goes back to what Rambo preaches. The Empire didn’t cover all the angles. They certainly were playing as a unit, but they had no sense that there was a Mutineers player below them, and that made a round win nearly impossible.
“It’s a lot of mind games. Just like in sports or anything in life,” Rambo said. “We think they are going to do this, so we will be ready to do that. You want to force your opponents to do something, if you can, because then you can really develop a play from that. A lot of that is early ground control on the map.”
Once the Mutineers figured out where the Empire were going with the bomb, they played knowing where their opponent would cover.
Dallas had a plan, but Florida’s counter was deadly.
