Titanfall Guide: Weapons, Titans, loadouts, tips and tricks

Titanfall is an online-only FPS exclusive to the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC and is possibly the most highly anticipated games for the Xbox One so far.

It was released on March 14 in the UK and has already seen insane consumer interest following the beta that was made available in February.

No doubt thousands of gamers will descend upon the game over the next few months, but how can you get ahead of the game and be man of the match?

Our Titanfall Guide aims to offer some tips, tricks and explanations that will assist you in your Titanfall experience. If you can think of any more, feel free to add in them in the comments below and we’ll add them to the guide.

Titanfall Review

We have to say we’re quite addicted to Titanfall already on the TrustedReviews team, both on PC and Xbox One. In our full Titanfall review, we note that it might be a transformative FPS rather than a truly revolutionary one, but we loved it nonetheless.

“Everything from the weapons to the abilities to the maps to the Titans themselves is perfectly balanced. It’s tighter than the strings in a concert grand piano, and just as beautiful to play.”

Read the full Titanfall Review

Pilots

The Pilots are the free-running and extremely agile soldiers that control the Titans of Titanfall. They are automatically equipped with a jetpack that lets you perform double jumps in mid-air.

You can only do a double jump if your feet touch a surface though, so it does require some skill to perfect.

Wall running is your greatest ability though, and all you’ll need to do is sprint at a wall and jump at it. You can move much faster than when you’re on foot and combining wall-running with double jumps means you can bound around the map at speed or reach inaccessible areas.

When attacking a Titan, you don’t need to resort to the anti-Titan weapons outlined below straight away. If you’re close enough you can actually jump on it’s back and Rodeo it.

Just jump towards a Titan to Rodeo it, as long as the Titan doesn’t attack you mid-air you clamber on its back and be able to bypass its shield, doing direct damage to the Titan itself. The pilot will expose part of the Titan so you can blast it with your primary weapon.

We advise trying to Rodeo the Titan from behind, by jumping on them from a tall building or equip the Pilot’s Cloak to make sure you’re invisible so the titan doesn’t spot you getting close.

However, once you jump on a Titan, the enemy Pilot will be warned and you’ll need to do as much damage as you can before jumping off and getting away. 

Combating a Rodeo pilot from a Titan

There are a few tactics to use if you’re in a Titan and have a pesky pilot on your back. The most obvious is to inform your team and have them pick off the pilot for you. There are a few things you can do yourself though. 

You can jump out of your Titan and engage the other pilot directly. Your Titan is smart and will engage autopilot when you eject meaning it won’t be a sitting duck. Once you’ve taken out the attacking pilot you simply hop back into your Titan.

The third way of getting a pilot off your back is to use the The Electric Smoke tactical ability. If you have it equipped you will damage, and eventually kill, any pilot foolhardy enough to stick around. As an added bonus it hides you in a puff of smoke making lock-ons harder.  

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Pilot Tactical Abilities

The Pilots have three Tactical Abilities that can be equipped in your Pilot Loadout and can give you an advantage when used correctly.

Cloak
Available from level 5, Cloak can make you a near-invisible predator to Titans and Minions in Titanfall. It isn’t that effective against other Pilots though, especially when you are on the move.

Remember, when you fire your weapon, Clock is automatically disengaged.

Stim
Stim is available at Level 8 and boosts both your movement speed and your health regeneration for a short period of time.

Active Radar Pulse
The final and possibly most useful Tactical Ability is only available once you reach level 19. It triggers a scan of the local area that makes it possible to spot approaching enemies through walls and other obstacles for a short period.

Titans

The Titans are military exoskeletons that you control as a Pilot. Unless you’re playing Last Titan Standing or using select Burn Cards, you won’t have access to the Titans at the very start of a match.

You’ll have to wait four minutes from the start of the game until you can call in a Titan, with a Build Time clock ticking down in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

If you complete objectives or kill enemy Pilots and Titans in Titanfall, you’ll see the Build Time decrease by a few seconds.

When the Build Time is up, you can call in your Titan or spawn inside one if you happen to be on the Respawn screen. You can also choose where your Titan drops in the game, as long as you pick a spot with solid ground and enough space. If you drop your Titan on enemy Pilots or Titans, they will be killed or severely damaged so check your surroundings and see where a fall can cause maximum carnage.

Each Titan has a Core Ability, particular strengths and weaknesses and can be set to either Follow or Guard you in AI mode when you’re not inside them. Regardless of the mode, the Titan will defend itself when you’re out of it.

Core Abilities require an additional 3 minutes 20 seconds to become available after your Titan is dropped in. Again, this time can be shortened with Burn Cards or by completing objectives or kills.

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There are three Titan classes:

Atlas
This multi-role Titan has skills that make it the jack of all trades, but also master of none. We recommend starting with this Titan to get a feel for how it works in matches.

In terms of speed, the Atlas is faster than the Ogre, but slower than the Stryder and has a two dash unit maximum. The Atlas is also in the middle when it comes to armour, in that it has less than the Ogre, but more than the speedy Stryder.

 Its core ability is the Damage Core, which increases the damage output for 15 seconds.

The Atlas’ special execution move sees it punch through the enemy’s Titan armour, grab the pilot from within and throw him away.

Ogre
The Ogre is your battle tank Titan, with the strongest armour of the three Titan classes. However, that does come at the expensive of speed and agility. It only has one Dash unit on offer, but its defences more than make up for its lumbering gait.

Its Core Ability is the Shield Core, which increases the shield capacity for 15 seconds. The Ogre execution finish rips off the arm of the enemy Titan and then beats him to death with it.

Stryder
The most agile and swift of the Titan classes, the Stryder has a maximum three Dash units and is extremely maneuverable. Due to its speed, it has the least amount of armour compared to the other two classes and therefore is quite susceptible to enemy attack.

Taking advantage of its speed, the Stryder’s Core Ability is Dash Core, which enables it to use infinite Dash for 15 seconds.

The Stryder’s execution finishing move sees it rip the pilot through the enemy Titan’s armour and then squashing it to death in its hands.

Minions

In addition to the maximum 12 players for each match, Titanfall adds AI bots known as Minions, which often look like normal players but are considerably less intelligent and aggressive.

Grunts
As the name suggests, Grunts are just run of the mill solders that use weapons like the R-101C Carbine or potentially an anti-Titan weapon like the Archer Heavy Rocket. They can’t wall-run, double jump and have less health than a Pilot too, making them great gun fodder.

Spectres
Slight steps up from the Grunts, the Spectres are robotic soldiers that have a little more health than Grunts, but still less than a Pilot.

They use similar weaponry to the Grunts, but as they are robots they can be hacked. Just walk up to a Spectre and follow the button prompts to hack it. You can then have them on your team until they’re killed.

Tips and Tricks

Make use of your Pilot abilities
It sounds ridiculous, but don’t spend all your time in the Titan. They may be heavily armoured war machines, but they’re also massive and extremely visible.

The fact you can set your Titan to Guard or Follow is a very handy trick that could win you the match. When playing Hardpoint, it’s handy to have your Titan guard the node, or use it to follow you in Attrition and take out minions while you focus on the Pilots.

Know your loadouts
If you’ve followed our advice from the previous tip, next you’ll need to address your Pilot load-out. Cloak is great if you’re darting about on the attacking side, but if you’re lying in wait to take out those who come to attack your hardpoint it isn’t the best thing to use.

Instead, rock the Active Radar Pulse, which shows your enemies locations even through walls with a quick press of LB. It’s very useful for offering real-time updates on their movements with each press as well, making sure you use strategy as well as speed to win.   

Drive yourself up the walls
As a Pilot it’s much more beneficial to take to the rooftops in a match. This will stop you getting squished by Titans, but also give you access to the mazes of running routes in each map. You’ll get a clearer view of the battlefield and lets you work out which players are bots and therefore quickly take them out.

Take advantage of Burn Cards
We’ve all done it, hammer the respawn button, trying to get back into the match as quickly as possible, but in Titanfall it can pay to be patient.

Burn Cards are single-life perks that you can collect from Level 9. They can affect you gameplay in terms of speed, weapon power all the way though to decreasing the Titan Build Time. The amount you can take into a game is limited, and you can only have a certain amount in your deck at any one time.

You’ll need to use them in order to make sure you have the right variations for future games. Using the correct Burn Cards in battle can swing the match in your favour so make sure you choose wisely.

Wall-running skills are essential
The most skilled Pilots will be those who can execute double jumps and know all the wall-running routes on each maps. You are actually faster running along a wall than you are on the ground, and therefore a harder target to hit.

Hunt down the best running routes, master your jetpack and make sure you’ve got the Parkour skills to be jealous of.

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Take time to hang out
Yes, we realise we just said free-running is the way to victory, but taking a bit of time to hang out can also be advantageous. Stick to walls or other surfaces using the left trigger, and use this skill to drop on unsuspecting victims in narrow alleys.

Use this tactic sparingly and you’ll be able to get the jump on other players at crucial match moments.

The devil always uses the window
Don’t always look for the obvious entry points into a building. Jump through the window and surprise that guy trying to camp out with an LMG.

Don’t go solo
Take advantage of your teammates a la Left for Dead in Titanfall. Don’t just run off on your tod, stay in range of your team buddies and take out enemies en masse to give you an advantage.

Aim for the AI first
Before you start hunting down the human players, look for the easier AI targets and take them out first. It might sound like a waste of time, but the more damage you deal and the more kills you achieve, the faster your Titan Build Time will run out and the quicker you can get your Titan on the field.

Take out the Dropship
If the enemy dropship lands to pick up players, take it out. If you destroy it, you’ll take out the entire enemy team and stop them from escaping.

When on foot, take out your anti-Titan weapon and aim at the dropship. The missile launcher will lock onto it, while the machine gun will deal out a lot more damage than your average weapon.

Pull out your Electric Smoke
Electric Smoke is a secondary tactile ability for a Titan that produces an electrically charged cloud that surrounds your Titan. It prevents enemies from locking on targets, does damage over time to enemies and can act as a smokescreen.

Make sure you use it when another player has jumped on your Titan for a potentially easy kill if he doesn’t jump off in time, or when your health is low and someone has locked onto you. You can also use it when you are in close combat with another Titan. Electric Smoke will obscure his vision and cause damage, giving you the advantage.

Weapons

Titanfall gives you a full range of weapons to utilise whether you’re playing as a Pilot, Titan or are preparing to take on an enemy Titan. Weapons have their own unlocks which you get by making kills with them. Here’s the full list of weapons you can unlock as you level up in the game.

Pilot Weapons
R-101C Carbine
This is your standard workout, all-rounder assault rifle that is capable of both long and short range attacks.

R-97 Compact SMG
The first weapon you unlock in Titanfall is this sub machine gun that lets you take out enemy pilots pretty much without stopping to aim.

C.A.R SMG
You’ll unlock the C.A.R as your second sub machine gun and straight away notice its increased accuracy and power. It does have a lower rate of fire, but this won’t stop you ridding the map of enemies.

Hemlok BF-R
The Hemlok is a bit like Marmite. Love it or hate it, it has a three-shot burst rather than letting you continuously rip into foes, but it’s a powerful weapon for those who can cope with it. There’s also the added bonus of limited recoil, which could mean you make the all important shot.

G2A4 Rifle
You’ll need to have some skill to use the G2A4, as it’s definitely one of the more challenging weapons. It’s a single-shot, semi-automatic rife that will excel if you can put some distance between yourself and the enemy.  

REVA-8 Shotgun
Of course, there always has to be a short range beast of a shotgun in any FPS, and Titanfall has the REVA-8. We tend to opt for the shotgun when playing Capture the Flag or Hardpoint, as you’ll need to fend off enemies at close quarters to protect and attack.

Smart Pistol MK5
You’ll probably be too busy running along walls and leaping about to fully appreciate the Smart Pistol MK5, but it’s still worth considering. It lets you lock onto any nearby enemy and take them down with three shots.

However, you’ll need to stand still for those few crucial moments while the MK5 locks on, and you could be taken down in that time by a speedier Pilot. It’s perfect if you’re cloaked as you can get a kill-shot ready without breaking cover.

Spitfire LMG
You’re probably only going to equip the Spitfire light machine gun when there’s the potential to lay in wait and defend your territory in Capture the Flag games. If you have the chance though, it is one of the best for mowing down enemies from afar.

Longbow-DMR Sniper
You won’t get access to either sniper rifle until you reach level 9, but you could make better use of the Longbow than the Kraber. The Longbow has a faster rate of fire that means you can take down your target with a second shot if you happen to miss the first. Use only on the largest maps though.

Kraber-AP Sniper
You’ll need to be able to make the kill with the first shot if you want to use the Kraber effectively. It has a low fire rate, which makes taking second chance shots quite challenging. If you want to unlock all its features for a full set of Titanfall gamer points though, it’s possible to do so within a few rounds if you can take out Grunts and Spectres.

Anti-Titan Weapons
The anti-Titan weapons are obviously the beefiest available in the game, seeing as they have to take down those whole metal mech hulks.

Sidewinder
If you suddenly come face to face with a Titan, you’ll be very thankful to have the Sidewinder in your arsenal. It releases a swarm of mini-missiles to pelt the foe Titan, and the closer you are to them the better.

Charge Rifle
You’ll need to hold down the trigger with the Charge Rifle in order to fully charge your shot before it auto-fires. You may need to perfect your duck and cover while it charges, then pop out and release the fireball.

Mag Launcher
Giant metal Titan plus magnetic grenades equals devastation. Fire a few in the Titan’s direction and you’ll be able to sit back and watch the sparks fly.

Archer Heavy Rocket
If you’ve got time to lock on to a Titan, the Archer Heavy Rocket is the best weapon to equip. It releases a powerful homing rocket that deals quite some damage on impact. We advise you equip your Pilot Cloak first though, as if the Titan spots you while you lock on, you’re done for.

Titan Weapons
40mm Cannon
Possibly the best for the closing rounds of Last Titan Standing, it blasts out high-explosive rounds and is exceedingly accurate for medium- to long-range combat.

Quad Rocket
Perfect for close quarters or narrow alleys, the Quad Rocket (unsurprisingly) fires four rockets at once to take out enemies.

XO-16 Chaingun
The XO-16 is the Titan equivalent of the R101C that is your battlefield workhorse and can let you attack either at close- or long-range. It can be fitted with the Accelerator mod too, making it fire faster the longer you hold down the trigger.  

Plasma Railgun
The Plasma Railgun slings deadly plasma out long range that is capable of knocking down a Titan’s shields. It takes quite a while to build up the plasma, but it can be kitted out with an Instant Shot mod to fire more quickly with a slight damage decrease.

Arc Cannon
You might feel like you’re playing a bit of inFamous with the Arc Cannon. It blasts out a single lightening chain that can connect multiple enemies for a rather devastating effect, especially on smaller maps.

Triple Threat
Firing three grenades in one shot, you’ll be able to wipe out an area in one go. Helpfully, all grenades explode when they hit metal, so we suggest you go close quarters.

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