Before you start playing Enlisted on PC, understand this: you aren't choosing a single soldier, you're building and commanding a squad. The fastest route to improvement is learning squad cycling, spawn logic, engineers, weapon handling, and the nation-based research tree before chasing flashy kills. Enlisted rewards players who capture objectives, keep squads alive, and create useful spawns far more consistently than players who simply top the kill feed.
That difference is what makes Enlisted fascinating—and occasionally brutal. A veteran can lose a gunfight, switch to another soldier, and still win the engagement. A new player can land ten kills and contribute almost nothing if their squad is attacking the wrong lane. This guide breaks down the crucial things to know before playing Enlisted on PC, including progression, graphics settings, vehicles, matchmaking, and the habits that prevent the game from feeling like an expensive grind.
Learn the Squad System Before You Learn the Guns
Every squad contains several AI-controlled soldiers, while you directly control one member at a time. When that soldier dies, you can switch to another living squad member with the number keys or the squad interface. That means your effective life count isn't one—it might be six, eight, or more depending on your squad upgrades and roster.
The AI soldiers aren't brilliant tacticians, but they are useful when positioned properly. They can fire at enemies, occupy capture zones, revive downed teammates, and provide extra ammunition. The key is to issue movement commands rather than leaving them scattered behind you. Use the squad command marker to place them behind cover, then take direct control of the soldier best suited to the next problem.
Squad composition matters more than early weapon rarity. A new rifle squad with an Engineer can be more valuable than a fully upgraded squad that lacks a builder. Engineers construct rally points, ammunition boxes, sandbags, barbed wire, and sometimes heavy fortifications. The rally point is the priority: it gives your team a forward spawn and reduces the distance between death and the objective.
| Squad Role | What It Does Best | Beginner Mistake | Useful Habit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rifleman | Flexible mid-range fighting | Taking every fight at sniper distance | Carry ammunition and stay near the objective |
| Assault | Close-range pushes with SMGs | Charging open ground alone | Enter buildings and clear short lanes |
| Engineer | Rally points and battlefield utility | Saving build points for too long | Build a rally point before attacking |
| Machine Gunner | Suppressing lanes and entrances | Firing unsupported from exposed positions | Use bipod-friendly cover and short bursts |
| Anti-Tank Gunner | Destroying enemy armor | Firing at the strongest armor plate | Aim for side armor, tracks, or rear engine areas |
Squad cycling is another essential technique. Don't throw your entire squad into the same doorway. Move one soldier forward, check the angle, and keep the others in cover. If the front soldier dies, switch immediately and continue the push from a different position. This lets you absorb mistakes without losing the entire squad.
Before your first serious session, visit the official Enlisted website and inspect the current squad and progression information. The game changes regularly, and balance updates can alter which squads are worth prioritizing.
Progression Is Nation-Based, So Spend Research Carefully
Enlisted's modern progression is organized around nations rather than forcing you through separate campaign queues. You generally develop the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, Japan, and other available factions through their own research trees. Research points unlock new squads, weapons, vehicles, and aircraft, while silver is used for purchases and upgrades. The exact economy can shift with updates, so check the current in-game tooltips rather than relying on an old YouTube guide.
The important lesson is to avoid spreading your research across every branch at once. Pick one nation and build a functional lineup first. A balanced early roster should include an infantry squad with an Engineer, an assault-oriented squad, and a way to answer vehicles—either an Anti-Tank Gunner, an anti-tank weapon, or an aircraft squad. Unlocking five unrelated squads can leave you with several incomplete lineups and no reliable answer to armor or fortified objectives.
Research is also not the same thing as battlefield readiness. A newly unlocked M1 Garand, PPSh-41, MP 40, or DP-27 still needs soldiers capable of using it, weapon upgrades, and a squad slot. Put your best soldiers into the squads you actually play. Do not waste your strongest perk points on a reserve squad just because its icon looks attractive.
| Early Priority | Why It Matters | What to Avoid | Practical Target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineer squad member | Creates rally points and ammunition | Unlocking only damage upgrades | Get an Engineer into your main infantry squad |
| Reliable bolt-action rifle | Teaches aim and ammunition discipline | Buying every sidegrade immediately | Upgrade one primary weapon first |
| Anti-tank option | Prevents enemy armor from owning lanes | Ignoring vehicle counterplay | Maintain one dedicated anti-armor answer |
| Extra squad slot | Lets you respond to changing objectives | Running one favorite squad repeatedly | Carry infantry, assault, and utility options |
| Soldier upgrades | Improves survivability and handling | Spreading perk points across everyone | Build a dependable core roster first |
Weapon tiers don't automatically determine who wins. A Kar98k can punish a player who exposes their head, while a PPSh-41 dominates a room but struggles across a field. The M1 Garand offers rapid follow-up shots, but its semi-automatic recoil and ammunition management still matter. Learn each weapon's effective range and reload rhythm in the Practice mode before spending silver on upgrades.
The Enlisted Steam page is useful for checking current features, but don't confuse store reviews with a complete progression guide. The best early investment is a lineup that can capture, defend, build, and answer armor—not a single high-level weapon.
Objectives, Rally Points, and Tickets Decide Matches
Enlisted is an objective shooter wearing the clothing of a World War II simulator. Kills matter because they clear a route, but the capture zone is the match's center of gravity. On an attacking team, you need bodies inside the objective. On defense, you need layered positions, crossfire, and a rally point close enough to reinforce the fight without sitting directly on the capture marker.
Rally points are usually built by Engineers and should be placed behind hard cover, inside a building, or around a corner that attackers can't immediately see. Never build one in the open beside the objective. It may feel close, but a tank shell or grenade will erase the spawn and everyone waiting around it. Place it 30 to 80 meters behind the front line when possible, then build a second position if the team is making a long push.
Tickets represent the pressure on the attacking side. Repeatedly losing full squads in open ground drains the attack even if individual kill numbers look good. This is why squad preservation matters. If the objective is lost and your squad is trapped in a bad position, retreat instead of feeding the enemy another wave. A controlled regroup can be worth more than a heroic final stand.
How to attack an objective
- Approach from cover. Use terrain, smoke, buildings, trenches, and walls. Sprinting across a field is an invitation to machine-gun fire.
- Build before you commit. If an Engineer is alive, place a rally point and ammunition box on the route.
- Send AI soldiers to hold space. They can draw fire while you breach with the best-equipped soldier.
- Clear the immediate room. Grenades and SMGs are more valuable inside the capture area than long-range rifles.
- Stay on the zone. Don't chase a retreating enemy halfway across the map while the capture timer stalls.
Defense requires the opposite discipline. Don't stack every soldier on the capture marker. Hold the approaches, watch likely rally routes, and leave one squad near the objective for emergencies. Engineers can reinforce windows and doors, but fortifications should create firing angles—not block your own team's movement.
Vehicle players need the same objective awareness. A tank farming infantry at the rear of the map may look effective, but if it isn't contesting a lane or destroying enemy armor, it's often contributing less than a rifle squad with an Engineer. Battlefield impact beats scoreboard vanity.
Guns, Armor, and Aircraft Have Specific Jobs
Enlisted's weapons are lethal enough that positioning usually matters more than raw damage. Bolt-action rifles such as the Kar98k and Mosin-Nagant reward careful peeking and head-level aim. Semi-automatic rifles including the M1 Garand let you recover from a missed shot faster. Submachine guns like the MP 40, PPSh-41, and M3 Grease Gun are strongest in buildings, trenches, and objective rooms. They are not magic solutions for a 100-meter field.
Machine guns need a stable platform. The MG 34, DP-27, and Browning-style weapons become much easier to control when crouched or mounted behind cover. Fire in bursts rather than holding the trigger until the barrel climbs into the sky. A machine gunner should lock down a lane and relocate after drawing attention; staying in the same window invites grenades, artillery, or a tank shell.
| Weapon Type | Strong Range | Best Situation | Main Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bolt-action rifle | Medium to long | Open lanes and deliberate defense | Slow follow-up shots in close combat |
| Semi-automatic rifle | Medium | Flexible objective approaches | Recoil and ammunition consumption |
| Submachine gun | Short | Buildings, trenches, and breaches | Damage falloff and limited control at range |
| Light machine gun | Medium | Suppressing chokepoints | Reload vulnerability and mobility penalties |
| Anti-tank weapon | Short to medium | Side and rear armor attacks | Limited ammunition and awkward close fights |
Armor has its own learning curve. The Pz IV H and T-34-85 are not simply health bars with cannons; shot placement, angle, armor thickness, crew location, and ammunition type all matter. If your shell fails to penetrate, stop repeating the same shot. Aim for flatter side armor, the turret ring, tracks, or the rear engine compartment. If you're in a light tank such as the M5 Stuart, use mobility and concealment instead of trading shells with a heavier vehicle.
Aircraft demand patience. Bombing runs are most useful against clustered infantry, tanks stuck near objectives, or predictable reinforcement routes. Avoid dropping ordnance directly over your own rally point, and learn the timing of your aircraft's rockets or bombs in the test range. A bad attack run can waste the aircraft and remove one of your team's few answers to enemy armor.
For broader PC shooter performance habits, Steamoz's guide to higher FPS settings in Far Cry 6 covers several useful fundamentals, including frame pacing and the cost of visual effects. The games differ, but the principle is identical: stable performance beats a prettier screenshot during a firefight.
Use These PC Settings for Smoother Large Battles
Large Enlisted matches can stress both your graphics card and CPU because the game renders dense environments, vehicles, effects, and many AI soldiers. Start by targeting a stable 60 frames per second rather than maxing every slider. Competitive players with high-refresh monitors can aim for 90 or 120 FPS, but consistency matters more than occasional peaks.
| Setting | Recommended Starting Value | FPS Impact | Visual Trade-Off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Native monitor resolution | High if reduced | Lower resolution looks softer |
| Texture Quality | High if VRAM allows | Low to medium | Lower textures reduce surface detail |
| Shadows | Medium | Medium to high | Lower settings make lighting flatter |
| Effects Quality | Medium | Medium | Explosions and smoke lose detail |
| View Distance | High | Medium, CPU-dependent | Lower values can hide distant detail |
| Anti-Aliasing | Medium or temporal option | Medium | Lower values create jagged edges |
| V-Sync | Off with VRR; otherwise test On | Variable | Off may reveal tearing |
| Motion Blur | Off | Small | Cleaner target tracking |
Use the game's built-in performance display or an overlay to identify the problem. If the GPU is at 99 percent, lower resolution scaling, shadows, effects, or anti-aliasing. If the GPU has spare capacity but frame time spikes during crowded battles, the CPU or simulation workload may be the bottleneck. Lowering textures won't fix a CPU limit.
Enlisted's published PC requirements can change, so confirm the current minimum and recommended hardware on the official Steam launch information. As a practical baseline, a modern quad-core processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a GTX 1060-class or RX 570-class GPU should be treated as a sensible starting point for 1080p, while 16 GB of RAM gives Windows and the game more breathing room. An SSD also helps reduce loading friction when switching between large maps and the hangar.
Keep your graphics driver current, close browser tabs that consume memory, and don't use an unstable overclock while diagnosing stutters. If Enlisted crashes or behaves strangely after a patch, check file integrity through Steam before reinstalling. Steamoz's PC crash and FPS troubleshooting guide offers a useful checklist for driver conflicts, overlays, and background applications.
Build a First Lineup That Can Handle Anything
Your first lineup should be boringly dependable. Start with an infantry squad containing an Engineer, then add an assault squad for close-range pushes and a squad that can handle vehicles. After that, expand into machine guns, radio operators, snipers, armor, or aircraft based on the maps and objectives you enjoy.
Perks should support the job rather than chase a universal meta. A frontline assault soldier benefits from stamina, weapon handling, and survivability. A machine gunner wants recoil control and a position that supports sustained fire. An Engineer needs enough mobility to reach a build site safely. A sniper should prioritize accuracy and observation rather than pretending to be an assault soldier.
Don't abandon a nation because the first few matches feel rough. Early bolt-action rifles can seem weak next to late-tree automatic weapons, but they teach the fundamentals that remain valuable: cover discipline, head-level crosshair placement, reload timing, and firing from unexpected angles. Once you unlock better equipment, those habits make the upgrade feel powerful instead of merely convenient.
| Lineup Slot | Recommended Function | Why It Belongs There | When to Deploy It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infantry squad | Capture and build | Most reliable objective presence | Most attacks and defenses |
| Assault squad | Close-range breach | Clears rooms and trenches quickly | Urban objectives and final pushes |
| Anti-armor squad | Vehicle counter | Stops tanks from controlling a lane | When enemy armor appears |
| Machine gun squad | Area denial | Suppresses chokepoints and windows | Defending or holding a route |
| Vehicle or aircraft squad | Heavy support | Breaks fortified positions | After identifying a safe attack lane |
Finally, remember that Enlisted is a team game even when matchmaking gives you AI teammates. Mark enemy tanks, aircraft, rally locations, and dangerous windows. Use voice or quick commands when available. A single mark can help a friendly Anti-Tank Gunner react before an enemy Pz IV H reaches the capture point.
For official patch notes and balance changes, follow Enlisted's official news feed and the Gaijin Entertainment website. The details that matter—research costs, squad availability, weapon balance, and matchmaking rules—can move between updates.
The smartest way to begin Enlisted on PC is to think like a squad leader, not a lone-wolf FPS player. Build a rally point, protect your Engineers, choose weapons for the range, preserve tickets, and keep a counter for enemy armor. Once those habits become automatic, the research tree feels less intimidating, every unlock has a purpose, and the game's chaotic battles start revealing a clear tactical rhythm.