Background: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away I was a force to be reckoned with in FPS PvP. Then I grew up, got a career and a girlfriend, had kids, and well... Slowly but surely those skills diminished. Enter Destiny, the game we all love(and some love to complain about). I was terrible at the PvP and after seeing myself with a .44 KD over my first dozen games, I gave it up. Then one fateful day an upstanding member of the community told me to try walking everywhere for 20 or so matches and to take the time to understand what's going on around me and what other people are doing. The impact from this was immediate. My first day following this advice I averaged a 1.07 KD, and boosted my overall KD from .44 to .63. My second day I averaged a 1.25 and brought my overall KD from .63 to .72. I've still had some games where I went between .4 and .6 KD, but overall the improvement was immediate and undeniable. Below is a list of things I've learned as I continue to play PvP, combined with tips and advice from community members who are much, much better at this aspect of the game then I am. Feel free to chime in with your own experiences. The goal here is to bridge the PvE vs PvP gap and get more people to be more active in crucible. Update 5/8/15: Up to a .83. It's going to take a while to get over a 1, but I'm doing it often enough in matches now that it's going to come. These tips do work. Hopefully we can get some folks to talk about actual strategy and get some different strategy sections going that are specific to each game type. Edit 6/11/15: I'm a 1 KD player thanks largely in part to following these tips. Granted I have gotten better at aiming etc over the last month due to playing more and more PvP, but it started with these concepts. Judging by my average score from week to week, it looks like I can expect to max out somewhere around a 1.2, though that will take a few months as I don't often enough score high enough to raise my current average very quickly. 1.) No point in continuing a fire fight you're destined to lose. When you're in critical health and you haven't even taken their shield down, duck and cover. If you don't you're going to die, barring a good bit of luck(Ie. Team mate taking them down before they kill you.) 2.) Rushing from zone to zone hunting for zone captures is a recipe for death. Take your time going where you need to, killing people you can on the way. Scout the area as you approach the zone. If you don't, there's a good chance you will be ambushed upon entering the zone. My teams were down a few times last night, and my instinct was to go zone hunting, and when I did I would inevitably get wrecked. When I took my time and just focused on taking out the enemy on my way to each zone, I had more success in recapturing lost zones and my teams were able to make a significant comeback attempt. 3.) Sliding and shotgunning won't earn you any friends. But it's fun. And effective. 4.)If you use blade dancer, it seems to work best if you activate behind cover, go invis, and attack while the opposition is engaged in a firefight with your team mates. Got a couple double kills, a triple kill, and wrecked a whole fireteam this way. On a few other occasions I was able to get 2-3 kills, but not quickly enough to trigger a double or triple kill. Either way, it was awesome to see and it really helped the team and thus myself get wins. 5.) If you lose track of your opponent, don't stand around trying to locate them because they're going to kill you. Just do your best Forest Gump impression and get the hell out of there. Maybe there's a better strategy than this, but if you're not that great like me, it's safe and it works. 6.)Use the buddy system. There's safety in numbers. If there's three targets you have a 66% chance of being the person not getting shot at when you and your team mates stroll across a lonely guardian from the other team. 7.)Stay calm. Just have fun and know that you might get dealt with. If you let it get to you you start to make impulsive, bad moves and get wrecked even worse. Every time I got frustrated, I died at least 2 more times. 8.) Be decisive. If you're going to make a decision, don't hesitate. When picking up women I've found the phrase of choice to be "Hesitate now, masturbate later". In PvP, you hesitate, you die. 9.) Know the maps. This is great advice. Knowing how to weave in and out of cover on your way from one point to the next or knowing how to sneak around the back of that enemy you just saw crossing your path can make all the difference in the world. 10.) Know your weapons. Know their strengths and their weaknesses. This helps you know when, where and why to use what guns. It helps you know how to attack other players using certain guns, how to counter the strength of those weapons etc. In short, it's just good business. 11.) Know when to be aggressive and when to retreat and look for a flanking opportunity. Sometimes going head on with people just isn't going to work. Do you really think you're going to take down three enemies with a line of sight on you when they're spread out? Chances are you'll be dead before you ever even get one of their shields down. Strategy is paramount to winning fire fights. Be smart about your actions. 12.)Don't use a gun just because you heard it's OP. Some of those "overpowered" guns require a decent bit more skill than so called "lesser guns". And I'll let you in on a secret: Skill and strategy can overcome just about any perceived weapon disadvantages. I'm pretty sure you could give some of the top players sticks and stones and they're still going to wreak havoc. I do just fine using the Oversoul Edict; and in fact I do much, much better with it than I do when I try to use the heralded The Last Word 13.) Sometimes people are just better than you. No matter how good I think I'm doing in any given match there always seems to be that one guy or gal that thinks they're better. And you know what? They're right. They are better and the manner in which they repeatedly kick my butt proves it. There's no shame in not being the best player in a match(though it feels great when you are). Just remember that the important part is that you're doing you're best and doing what needs done to help your team win. 14.)Communicate. Even if you're going into match making solo and only one or two people on a given team seem to be communicating, it helps. Having somebody else that knows what you're doing and what you're seeing and vice versa can be an incredible advantage. It may not translate to wins, but it certainly translates to more kills and less deaths. 15.) Control your distances. Learn how to create or maintain space if your weapon performs better at range. Learn how to flank people and close the gap quickly if you're set up for close quarters combat. Learning how to back-pedal while firing is a good way to deal with shotgun rushers. 16.) Be aware of your surroundings. Know where the openings are in a room. Know where the obstacles are. The less time you spend backing yourself into a corner(literally), the better your chances of escaping a firefight that you're going to lose. 17.) Learn to make in-game adjustments. That sniper that one-shots you every time you walk out of *that* room. Guess what? He's not going anywhere unless he's forced to. Go an alternate route, flank him and take him out. A few times. Chances are one or two deaths won't dissuade him since he knows he'll rack up kills. Make the consequence outweigh the benefit of what your opponent is doing to you when possible. 18.) Leave matchmaking and re-enter when you are constantly getting destroyed. Had a few matches yesterday where the same three guys kept destroying me game after game. After three games I left the queue, got a drink, hit the bathroom, and rejoined. And did much better. No point in banging your head against a wall. Note: I'm not advocating quitting a match. Quitters never win and you screw your team. Not cool. If anybody has revision suggestions or feedback regarding these tips, or even tips of your own, I'd love to incorporate your thoughts into this. The plan is for this to be a living guide that changes as strategies change as the game changes, etc. Thank you all for your support and feedback so far. It's been great!