Warfare Attack and Defend Strategy: Tempo and Flanks

Attack & Defend rounds are won by tempo, not by aim duels. Attackers win by arriving together with smoke and never stopping for long enough to be counter-pushed; defenders win by layering positions so the first line lost is not the last line held. This page covers both roles; the mode overview explains the underlying objective structure.

Attacking: the wave rhythm

An attack is a sequence of waves, not one long push. Each wave has three parts:

1. Preparation — smoke thrown, grenades ready, squad assembled at the last cover. Attacks that skip preparation trade badly at the first corner.
2. Commit — the whole squad crosses the exposed ground together, using the smoke. Partial waves die; a squad of five moving as one trades five-for-two or better.
3. Consolidate — take the ground, set one player watching back, then decide: hold and push again, or reset.

The mistake that loses most attacks is continuing to trickle players into a held position after the first wave dies. That is not persistence; it is feeding.

Flanking as an attacker

Frontal attacks into a prepared defense lose. Every attack plan needs a flank:

• Send one or two players through interiors, alleys, or the map’s edge routes while the main wave fixes the defenders’ attention.
• The flank does not need to reach the objective — it needs to force defenders to split their attention.
• On maps with vehicles, armor can serve as the “main wave” while infantry flanks the alleys.

Resetting

A reset is a deliberate group withdrawal to the last controlled position. Reset when:

• Two or more players die at the same angle.
• The defenders’ crossfire is confirmed and you have no smoke left.
• The objective’s capture progress has stalled with the enemy holding both flanks.

After a reset, re-enter through a different route. Re-entering the same way into the same pre-aimed angle is the most common wasted life in Warfare.

Defending: layers, not a line

A single forward line collapses the moment it is breached. Build three:

1. Forward post — a listening position that spots the attack early and falls back when pressured.
2. Main position — your firing position with crossfire on the approach.
3. Fallback — the structure or ground around the objective you can still hold if the main position burns.

Crossfire beats cover: two players shooting one approach from different angles kill faster than two players behind the same rock. Spread along the approach so grenades cannot cluster you.

Defensive tempo

• Do not overextend. A defender who pushes past the forward post leaves the main position thin.
• Rotate before the point moves, not after.
• Use the respawn cycle: if your squad dies together, you return together — re-enter as a wave, exactly like attackers.

Map-specific applications: Shafted shows junction-based defense, Knife Edge shows depth-based defense on narrow ground, and the King of the Hill guide covers the rotating-point variant.