Complete Squad Leader Guide | Intro to Squad Leading, Infantry Strategy and Game Mechanics

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My Rig:
CPU: i9-9900K
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Mic: AKG D5 Dynamic Microphone + Behringer U-Phoria UMC22 Audio Interface
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Monitor: ASUS VG248QE 24” 144hz

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Disclaimer:
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#squad #moidawg #milsim

[hedgeearthridge]

Only been playing Squad for 2 days. I got stuck with SL twice in a row. The guys were really supportive, and helped me figure it out. It's so overwhelming and stressful, yet somewhat addictive. I want to build up my leadership skills and get really good at it. Especially for cases where the only other SL option is a 10 year old who barely speaks english. LOL

[aureliomedina]

500 hours on the game yet I'm still learning new things from your videos

[Mrcool]

Edit: October 2020. Added a few more tips.

I've been squads leading for 600+ hours now and here is some advice I have:

1. Make sure every person in your squad has a microphone and uses it. Name your squad mic required always. There is no point to a squad if you can't communicate with each other. It makes your life a billion times easier and your squad much more effective.

2. Following off the first point, I ALWAYS do mic checks on the way out of spawn once all the comms are cleared. I also sometimes get my fire team leader to do them if I'm busy with command chat.

3. Personally I find that assigning fireteam leaders to people who are competent, communicating and giving orders is much more effective than automatically giving the role to a marksman or AT. Again, it makes your life easier if your ftls can round up their fireteams and move on your orders while you are doing other things on the map or command.

4. Don't be afraid to kick people from the squad. It is your discretion. Of course use your own judgement and give them a few chances. Kicking people who don't listen or are disruptive or defiant will make your life easier. It will also ensure that people aren't questioning your orders excessively

5. On that last point, don't be afraid to ask your squad for their thoughts on a situation. I often ask if people know a good hidden radio spot or a nice angle of attack. Just make sure when you give a final order, people do not rebel.

6. When making fire teams I usually split my groups into fire support and AT/assault. Direct your fire teams as a unit, but split them when assaulting or defending in order to cover more ground or put the enemy in a crossfire.

7. When moving across open ground, keep your fire support back and let the assault push. Then keep bunny hopping.

8. Every ticket and life counts. If you are unsure of a situation. Keep your squads heads down and only YOU peak so your whole squad does not get wiped by an mg on a Ridgeline.

9. Use your binoculars

10. Communicate with helicopter pilots (direct comms). In the beginning of the match you should be using helis to move an attack or defend fob up the map FAST. Don't just use them for logi runs. A good pilot and good squad leader communication can easily win the game. When asking for a pickup, find a good spot based on the pilots skill and create a perimeter. Pop smoke to help the pilot land and provide cover when you are mounting. Mount up fast and make sure your squad is ready to get on the moment the Helo lands.

11. Have fun and be confident. No one will listen to a squad leader who says: "um so maybe we can do But I don't really know. Ha ha" even if your proposal and orders are absolutely dogshit, say it with confidence and authority and people will listen.

12. Don't forget to have fun as well. Usually when it's a clear loss and <5 tickets I host a friendly knife fight tournament to end the round with a laugh.

13. Use transport time (logis or Helo) to relay INTENT and orders. For example when getting a Helo drop I tell my fire support group to dismount, move for example north west off LZ and set a perimeter with bipods facing west while my AT fireteam helps with shovels on the Hab.

14. As above, intent is important. People will follow orders if they know WHY we are doing something. E.g "squad 5 is losing the northwest flank, bravo move wear and support them from the south side of the town." As opposed to "bravo go to the west"

15. Remeber, even though you are splitting your fitrteams up, you are still ONE squad. Each fireteam should be able to support each other and work on the same major objective. In the example above, I could ask my alpha and Charlie squad to do a wide flank on the enemy position and catch the enemy push in a crossfire with bravo and squad 5

Additional tips added October 2020

16. Make sure you communicate with command and other squad leaders. Use your direct comms (num pad) as much as possible, but relay important information to all squads. For example I will relay the location of an enemy tank to all squads (G) As that can help anti tank infantry engage and notifies helicopter pilots to stay away. However, I will direct comm our tank squad to tell them what direction the gun is facing, or how many crew members are alive etc. So they can engage effectively. Another example is when organizing an assault. You can direct comms another infantry squad and get them to attack from the north while you sneak into the cap and FOB from the south.

17. Keep command chat clear of unnecessary information. This comes with practice

18. Make sure your team has a commander!! And listen to their orders. They are looking at the map and are usually Squad vets who know what needs to happen, when it needs to be done by, and by who. If he/she asks you to build a fob on a point two points away from the active ones, it means he thinks our defense is not sustainable and is preparing to fall back to a defensible position.

19. Make sure you resupply your rally point off if riflebags and ammo crates. Recent updates have made rallies harder to spam. Start placing then further back from the enemy. You can also pick your rally point back up and move it to try a different angle of attack.

Hope this helps :) say hi in game. Ign: Baad

[TeamPill]

Honestly, it's a lot of practice to get to a good space with squad leading. At the beginning of my squad career, I didn't like squad leading for more than one game every once in a while because it was so exhausting worrying if people were following my orders, creating good strats, and all the while fighting well in a game that's very punishing combat wise. Over time though, I figured out the perfect things to do, say, etc to ease that stress. When I create my squad I give it a name that implies teamwork, and I brief my squad at the beginning with expectations about how they will fight and play in my squad. This right away gives me some charisma for my ethos, and makes it so people are that much more likely to follow my orders. Then I made enough mistakes to learn what strats are good and what are bad. Now I rarely don't squad lead, as it's more of a macro strat game for me that's really fun just because I can experience the fights as well.

[redgames]

Here’s another very important tip: assign a hot key to your observe marker in settings; this way you can show other members in your squad exactly where the enemy is without having to guess based off the command map. Also, when you do this an icon appears for all members of your squad exactly where the enemy is for ease of engagement.

[Tired_Sloth]

"But how do you talk to Squad number 10 and above?"

"You don't."

[arsnakehert]

What I love about Squad is how being squad leader takes some real leadership skills, including keeping your cool with the responsibility of not getting you squad killed at the very least

Like, it's one thing to study tactics in field manuals and whatnot, but it's a whole other thing to act and speak in a manner that gets other players to follow you and trust you enough to follow your orders

I haven't played as SL much because it's so overwhelming, but after 100+ hours in the game I might as well try to start learning

[polecat]

Best advice I got starting out in squad was to play medic, learn to hang back and keep your squad up. At this point I have a few thousand hours as SL and I feel like this guide touches on two problems I am seeing in game now. 1- SL awareness of the flow of battle, where your squad is most needed for your team to win, and getting them in that position in time. Often less experienced SL's will get side tracked on magical motrar fobs, fighting off the point trying to, "get kills", etc etc. 2- Communication both between other SLs and your squad, relay info well and often, be clear, but NOT silent.
Lastly, i agree, Logi is THE most powerful weapon in the game, IF it is used wisely. Great guide MoiDawg, keep it up bro.

5:12 "..your squad is going to be out of luck"
the highlighted HAT guy's name is literally "Lucky".

[FrankieTheHomie]

The most important advice for Squad Leaders is to use numpad as much as possible instead of always pressing "G".

[chrissale]

I have 2000 + hours as a squad lead and also an admin on a server. This video was informative and fun. Thank you for educating me and also reminding how fun this game can be!

[moritzwolle]

I played SL the first time during the new version of squad when so many new players started to play - we had a complete unexperienced squad and it was incredible difficult to keep them together. But after some time it worked out and they started to play together really nice. Was a sweaty time for me and i made some big mistakes, but we manage to win and had fun.

[Picolnir]

I love how clear and concise you are when giving the juicy details about being a SL. The best way for anyone to become a SL or wants to be an SL is to simply try it in a game. The only way you're going to get experience of being a SL is by taking that role hahaha. Like MoiDawg said, you're going to fuck up, but if you simply take a breather and adjust on the fly, you're going to be fine in the end. Losing a match just means you gained knowledge of what you need to work on next game and so on.
My first REAL taste at being a SL in the Army was when I was a measly little Specialist TL and my SL had to leave for a few days and I was left in charge... Boy did I fuck up badly hahahaha, but I knew the basics of being a SL by watching him, and observing what he was doing and why he was doing it so I could use that knowledge for myself. The same applies here, if you listen in game to what the SL are doing and saying, you'll also get an idea of what you need to do during certain situations in order to take the fight to the enemy and claim victory.
This was just my little rant. Hahah

[landown]

You are a legend. I come from other kind of shooters (Rainbow Six Siege, Insurgency Sandstorm (though it's different from R6)...) and had always wanted to try this kind of game but didn't know if I'd really like it. I have to say, I've been playing Squad for less than a week and I love it.

There's a lot of new people right now, and I've already found myself twice in the situation of being SL because all the other squadmates were even newer than me. So basically, I squad leaded at my third game or so without having absolutely any idea hahah but I tried to do my best, giving orders, putting marks, etc. and following the example of my previous Squad Leaders.

However, I really liked those two times as a SL and wanted to really know how to get better at it and use the role at its full potential, so thanks for the video, it helped a lotttt. I'll probably watch your streams too. I will inform myself about your squadleading sessions, cuz I'd love to be in one of those and learn from you :) Cheers!

[bitzs]

great vid. This will help so many new players wanting to start squad leading.

[daviswebb]

Hey man if you haven’t already can you do a automatic rifle men/heavy rifleman tutorial, I feel that people don’t understand how important it is

[GhostZ]

Can we please get a Team Commander Guide next? I love all your guides and always learn something new despite already playing over 500 hours in Squad!

[MudMeat]

Had the game for 4 days and just got forced into SL tonight by the whole squad so they could teach me, safe to say people will help especially if you tell them you’re new😂

[TheTakumiBrennen]

Thank you MoiDawg, this will help with the practise I've been putting in, I always hate disappointing my squad mates so any info is always helpful!!

[Fluxy]

Got this game like 3 or 4 days ago and I’m already looking into squad leader, thanks for reaching me even more!