What to Expect in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Sticks and Stones Mode
Sticks and Stones, the classic party game mode from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, recently made its welcome return to Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The mode comes to the game as part of the ongoing Operation Apocalypse Z content release phase. If you’ve never played Sticks and Stones, there’s a few things to know about how it works.
Sticks and Stones Returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
As a Free-for-All party game mode, Sticks and Stones has a somewhat unusual setup and premise. Effectively, rather than selecting a class when you spawn in, you spawn with a preset loadout. This consists of a Reaver 86 Crossbow, a Ballistic Knife, and a Combat Axe. Unlike a standard Free-for-All, you’re not competing for the most kills in Sticks and Stones. Instead, you’re competing for the most points. Any kill with the Ballistic Knife or Crossbow will net you 100 points. Kills with the Axe only grant you 50. However, here lies the twist; if you are killed by another player using the Combat Axe, you will lose ALL your points.
As a result, the mode requires you to rack up points with kills at range with the crossbow and knife, while also using the axe to bankrupt players who are ahead of you. Of course, the closer-range nature of the axe makes using it risky, especially if another player catches you with their own. To make it even harder to avoid your opponents, a UAV will reveal the locations of all players every now and then. When a sweep like this occurs, the player in the lead will be marked in gold instead of red.
Activision recommends that players carefully account for physics when playing the mode, due to the number of throwing weapons; “The first aspect of the game that needs to be accounted for is physics,” they explain; “This is usually something to consider in Blackout, as bullet drop becomes a factor at the longer distances. But when it comes to firing a Ballistic Knife and throwing a Combat Axe, both will travel in an arc to the target. In addition, gravity bears on all three weapons, so take in account drop-off when aiming, particularly at targets further away.”