Where HL2DM departs from previous DM gameplay is in the use of the gravity gun. The gravity gun can be used to pick all kinds of items from around the arena and fire them at your enemies. Whether the item is a metal barrel or a toilet in need of a clean, it will normally kill an enemy with one well-timed hit. However, often it will be difficult to find something good enough to fire, and if you miss, it takes time to find something new to throw. It might be good for you that you can kill enemies in one stroke, but you also have the problem of dealing with someone who's getting ready turn the tide, and fire a piece of the scenery at you.

Apart from simply dodging your adversary's attack, there is another technique for dealing with other people with gravity guns: catching. This involves catching the object thrown at you by someone else before it takes you out. Not only does this avert your own death but you can then throw the object straight back at them. The common use of this tactic sometimes leads to catching matches between players trying to outsmart the other's defences. To avoid this, bouncing the object off a floor or wall on its way to your enemy can often avoid his attempts to catch. If all goes well, the projectile will rebound into your opponent with enough speed to take him down.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=31756 caption: 'Catch' the object by holding down the right mouse button while facing the incoming object.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=31755 caption: Then fire the object straight back at your opponent but beware of the enemy re-catching the object themselves.

Another good use of the gravity gun is to deal with grenades. Many players instinctively flee from a lobbed grenade, but often you may cornered or simply too close to escape. A good alternative method is to pick up the armed grenade with the grav gun and hurl it back at its owner. However this takes precious seconds and the grenade very well go off in your face. A safer technique is simply to use your primary fire to jolt it away from you. This is very effective against clusters of enemies huddled together.

Other things that can be caught by the gravity gun include the orbs fired by the Overwatch Pulse Rifle. If an orb hits you, you will die instantly, so it is always a wise move to have your grav gun at the ready when coming up against pulse rifle-wielding enemies.

The 9mm Pistol

You are also automatically equipped with this basic pistol. It's the poorest gun in the game, and almost always shouldn't be picked over the SMG. It does limited damage and it has a measly rate of fire. The only time it should typically be used is when you run out of SMG ammo and you have no other weapon, and when the Gravity Gun can't be used (due to lack of projectiles to throw). Additionally, it is more effective than the SMG at hitting far-away targets with its slightly improved accuracy.

The Submachine Gun

This is your primary source of gun fire in the game. It's the best gun you get give to you by default, and with enemies never far away, it's one of the only weapons available for dispatching them very early on. Although it has 45 bullets in a clip, it fires 13 bullets a second meaning reloading is a very real problem in extended firefights. This means it is extra important you make your shots count, always going for your opponents' heads and chests as this is where the most damage is done.

You can also pick up grenades for the attached Grenade launcher on the SMG. Shoot them at enemies as soon as you get them. Keep in mind the trajectory of these grenades if you plan to lob them at distant targets.

Fragmentation Grenades

You also get two fragmentation grenades after every spawn. They are simple run of the mill grenades but can used in two different ways. You can throw them normally by holding down the left mouse button until you get your desired distance, or you can roll them along the ground by holding down the right mouse button. You should generally throw grenades towards enemies, as opposed to rolling. Rolling is only useful for throwing down vents, or for rolling grenades into rooms where distance isn't required. An effective (but perhaps cheap) tactic is throwing grenades into spawning areas. People will be killed as they spawn by the grenade exploding if someone is unlucky enough to be appearing in the area.

Pick-Up Weapons: Get Them While They're Hot
To get the decent weapons in HLDM, you'll have to pick up superior weapons from around the arena. You are never too far away from a weapons pick-up location dotted around the levels, and getting them swiftly can be the difference between death and survival. The significant weapon-pickup locations in the two official maps is covered in the level section (http://www.hlfallout.net/articles.php/58/3/) later on.

The Magnum
The Magnum has a very slow rate of fire, but can do a lot of damage if you hit someone with it. This is practically the weapon of choice in HL2DM. It's especially useful when you are going through corridors where an enemy has little space to manoeuvre to 'dodge bullets', or from range. Its slow firing reduces its usefulness against multiple enemies.


The Shotgun

This is another one of the best weapons to have in deathmatch. You can hit multiple enemies to great effect, taking advantage of the pump action on the gun and the amount of shrapnel it can fire out in one shot. It normally takes 3 shotgun hits to take out someone from reasonable range, but a shot to the head from close range will take down an enemy. The shotgun is, however, pretty useless for long range attacks. Use the magnum, crossbow or the Pulse Rifle in these instances.

Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifle
This is essentially a deadlier version of the regular SMG. The Pulse Rifle combines its damaging automatic shots with its lethal alternate fire Pulse Orbs. With the primary automatic fire, try to hit the enemy wherever you can. Head and upper body hits do the most damage, but with the power of the Pulse Rifle you can do a lot of damage wherever you hit them.

The fun factor of the Pulse Rifle comes with the Energy Orbs you can fire. These large balls of energy can be fired by pressing the right mouse button and whoever you hit will instantly fry your opposition. These are good for firing down corridors at enemies, and groups of enemies huddled together. While you can't be hurt by your own orb normally, beware of an enemy catching your orb and returning the favour. An orb continues to ricochet for 3 seconds after being shot before it breaks up.

The Crossbow

The Crossbow is a one shot kill weapon, and is armed with a sniping scope. It should be used for long range shots against stationary targets or ultra-close range shots where you can't possibly miss. You shouldn't use it in close range fire fights, as its slow reloading time will leave you vulnerable. The slow speed of the actual arrow means that the crossbow becomes nearly useless in laggy games or against fast moving long-range targets.




The Rocket Launcher

This is by far the most powerful piece of weaponry in Deathmatch. It does exactly what it says on the tin - it fires rockets to great effect at anything that moves in the arena. You don't want to fire a rocket at an enemy too close to you though, as you will be injured or killed yourself. The Rocket Launcher is best used against enemies bunching together or for a long range strike. You can hold a maximum of 3 rockets at a time and the Rockets will home towards where you aim the laser pointer.

The Levels
Deathmatch currently comes with only two official levels, both created by Valve. Firstly there is dm_lockdown, which is based on the Half-Life 2 chapter Nova Prospekt, and dm_overwatch, based on a later City 17 level.

They are both quite different levels in their own right, and so both require different approaches. And of course there are different weapon stash locations.

dm_overwatch

Overwatch, is set in one large and fairly damaged building with the immediate outsides of the building also included. The two lower floors of the building are home to many fire fights due to the tightly packed spawn locations. The outside on the other hand is home to flying cars (thanks to the grav gun) and long-range firefights. More radiators also make appearances, ready to cause headaches.

The bottom floor of the large building is almost always filled with people fighting, especially in Team Deathmatch. Throwing in grenades sometimes scores you some risk-free kills. However, you should watch out for people firing the crossbow at you from the small office across the street (where the crossbow spawns). It only takes one hit from the crossbow to be killed, but dodging quickly will often keep you out of trouble. You also need to watch out for people going over the rubble and shooting you from behind. The alternate fire with the SMG also works well in this area.

Fighting in the room itself is typically left to gravity gun battles and it's no surprise looking at all the goodies stashed in there ready to slam your enemies with. It still sometimes can be prone to gun battles though, so if you aren't armed with a decent weapon, it's never a bad idea to grab the Overwatch Pulse Rifle. Be sure to also grab a couple of orbs lying in the corner of the room. Firing a few at an enemy will either kill them or force them to take cover, allowing you to follow up with the primary fire if necessary.

The middle floor of the building is another important battleground. You can access it from the stairs at the end of the lower floors hall, outside using the aid of the demolished wall and from the stairs going up to the top floor. The hole in the roof also means that you can shoot people at the top of the building and vice versa. If you need some decent firepower there is more than one shotgun placed next to the wall (adjacent to the stairs leading up to the top floor). It's a wise idea to use the cover of the desks lying around in the room but not the flammable barrels as you will be taken out almost immediately if someone sets it off.

If you can, you should frequently try and get up to the top level of the building. Sometimes it can be difficult due to other players blocking off the stairs up to it, with objects, but it's well worth getting up there if you can. At the opposite end of the top of the building to the stairs, there is a Rocket Launcher in a prime position where you can fire at some of the streets below as well as through the hole in the roof. Beware though, as they will be annoyed at you standing there shooting them with rockets, and will try coming up the far stairs to take your stronghold, and teach you a lesson! Standing on the top level will also make you a prime target for crossbow and magnum snipers.

The last area of this level is the outside. Outside, there is normally a bunch of foes fighting in the streets with SMGs, because so many of the good weapons are indoors. In addition, gravity gun battles frequently cause mayhem, with people taking advantage of the cars and filing cabinets that litter the street. Firing cars at people is always a good tactic to use, if you see some people fighting in the corner of the streets with some SMG's. Alternatively, shooting people with bursts of the SMG or the Pulse Rifle from a distance may well score you some more kills.

dm_lockdown

Deathmatch Lockdown, couldn't be more different than Overwatch. Set inside the certainly non-picturesque Nova Prospekt prison, it's the home to the Combine's hideous experimentations. There is also rubble in various locations and large amounts of objects ready to be thrown at your face by absolutely anybody. Apart from that it's a really nice place to take the family.

The main area of affairs is the central point of the map in what only can be described as a very large toilet block. The room itself and an attached room nearly always is occupied and pretty much all of the fighting here is with the grav gun. There is a seemingly limitless amount of sinks and toilets to get a hold of to take out the opposition. That said, watch out for people shooting you through the cage in the corridor above. They are shielded from being hit by objects, and so can be a big nuisance, as you have to put away your Gravity Gun to dispatch them leaving you vulnerable to people in the hall itself.

The attached room can in comparison be mostly always in the midst of a gun battle. You can get hold of the Pulse Rifle and some Orbs in here, as well as increasing suit charge using the HEV Suit Recharger on the wall. It's best not to save the Orbs, as you can easily die at any point and lose them anyway. If you fire them down the corridor adjacent to the room when an enemy is coming down it, you are almost guaranteed a kill.

Another important area in this map is the area around the Control Room down the corridor from the toilet area. The Control Room itself houses a Combine Recharger which is very useful for increasing health and suit power. You shouldn't hang around it too long as people fire crossbows in through the open windows, and throw grenades through the open doors. A quick entrance to grab the shotgun and some suit energy is the suggested course of action.

The area below the control room, with several more corridors has several important areas to get ammo and weapons.

Entering the vent in the wall (which if you remember you had to go through in the Half-Life 2 level Nova Prospekt (http://www.hlfallout.net/articles.php/novaprospekt_36/)), leads to a massive weapons cache armed with a Rocket Launcher, Frag Grenades, SMG Grenades, a Pulse Rifle and a Shotgun. It's well worth going into the vent if the coast is clear but be careful of people already in there. Roll a grenade down the vent to kill anyone in it first, just to be sure. It won't be a waste as you can't pick up all the grenades in the room anyway.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=31827 caption: Firstly, go through the vent near the chain-link fence.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=31828 caption: Then collect the goodies including the Rocket Launcher on the other side

Along the small corridor from that, a magnum can be found with some handy Health Packs, if you need to patch yourself up. Another hidden cache is not too far away from here, underneath the stairs, which lead up to the control room. Here you can find a Shotgun, more SMG Grenades and some Health Vials.


Some General Tactics
If you're a regular Counter-Strike player, it's a good idea to avoid many of the shooting tactics you're used to. Typically in Counter-Strike you will crouch down and fire short bursts at the heads of your enemies. This is done to increase accuracy and crippling recoil found in CS guns. Conversely, this really isn't an issue in Half-Life 2 Deathmatch as recoil effects are minimal. Instead, keeping mobile is the key. The only thing that will happen if you stay in one place taking pot shots at enemies is a quick death at the hands of a magnum or an old toilet.

Grenades can be a problem in Deathmatch too, but not if you know how to deal with them. Pressing the G button quickly to whip out your Gravity Gun, and picking it up, means you can use it to fire it at other enemies, exploding on impact. Be careful not to hold the grenade too long, though.

Improving Latency and Reducing Lag
Lag and latency problems are unfortunately fairly common in large HL2DM games (12+ players). Below are a few tips, some which are quite basic, to help you on your way to a lag-free game.

• Connect to a decent server with low latency (low ping), with 60fps being the maximum. Latencies are based on your location in the relation to a server and the speed of your connection. So, for example, do not go for a server based in Australia if you live in the UK or Germany.
  
• Don't Download while playing Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. Do not let Steam update games while you're playing, and don't download mp3s for your iPod. In addition, if you share a connection on a network, make sure that other people aren't downloading either.
  
• Get a decent connection. If you're really a fan of online gaming, you really need a decent connection to the internet. A 56kbps modem will not give you a good gaming experience with HL2DM. Broadband or at least ISDN is a must-have for any larger game of HL2DM online.
  
• Check drivers are up to date regularly. This may help with "client lag" — i.e. if your computer isn't keeping up with the action. Graphics card manufacturers often release updated drivers that work better with new games so it's always best to have the most to date drivers for optimal peformance. You can find popular card drivers by visiting ATi (http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html) and nVIDIA (http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp) and going to their respective driver pages.
  
• Hardware and Reducing Graphical Settings for Performance.
  If client-side "lag" is still a problem, you will need to tone down a bit of the eye candy for the sake of performance. Turning Anti-Aliasing (AA) and Anisotropic Filtering (AF) down, will boost your FPS markedly. Turning other options down in the graphics menu will help to an extent, but turning down Water Complexity isn't worth changing as there aren't any official HL2DM maps with water in at this point. Stay tuned for our comprehensive HL2 tweak guide for an in-depth discussion of how to get the most performance out of HL2.