Tips and Strategy

Beginners[]

Squad Defence is essentially a practice mode - if you aren't confident or would like to check things out, try Squad Defence.
Hitting Play Now will try to add you to the game with the most players.
Playing with the same people constantly gives you co-op experience points, which give you bonuses, better weapons and late-war uniforms; this is represented by the green numbers next to a players name, and the squad level.
If you have any questions, try asking them on the game's Steam forum, or on the the subreddit r/Verdungame.
If you are having trouble finding people to play with, join the Steam group for your server (EU, NA or AU), as it will then tell you when people are playing Verdun.
If you are still having trouble finding people to play with on your regional server, try another - but be warned that too high a ping (over 500) will see the game automatically kick you.
Try to keep your body behind cover to make it harder for enemies to see you and shoot you. Sprint and drop into craters to cross No Man's Land - drop into prone and wait without moving to recover your stamina and continue. The sides of the map are generally safer.
Look at the scoreboard and see who is doing well. Then watch where those good players go and what they are doing. In every map there are spots that are excellent for killing enemies and other spots that are just OK. Learn from the masters.
You can add time to the timer on offense by killing thirty enemies. You can see how close your team is to that bonus time by watching the counter on the left side of the screen.
When you die, you can watch what your other teammates are doing. You can switch to a different teammate by clicking. This is very useful. You can gain knowledge about the enemy team if your teammates can see them. You can also watch the best players on your team to learn what they do different than most players, or offer advice to newer players.

General Tips[]

Jump across barbed wire safely by jumping where the wooden cross-beams are.
When told to retreat, it can be a good idea to hang back in the enemy's trench for a bit, as they will often sprint to the opposing trench, letting you shoot them in the back. It is up to you whether you want to risk staying and being executed for desertion, or retreat and risk the likelihood of getting shot in exchange for the retreat bonus points.
If you see an enemy approaching in a trench, and think you won't be shot from the sides, climb over the trench wall and flank around them, meleeing them in the back, or shooting them in the top of the head. People expect other people to follow the trench lines, but rarely expect an attack from the trench sides.
Watching the black smoke trails in the sky will tell you when and where an enemy's mortar shot will land.
You can cancel a reload midway through the process by pressing 'v', the bash/stab button.
If you see the dead body of an ally, or hear the whizz of a gunshot, it means that area is dangerous - prone immediately, and think of where you could go where it might be safer. There's nothing more pointless than charging into enemy fire, and the enemy will likely stay still and wait for you.
Defending from inside your own trench is not always the best option - sometimes, sitting just behind it, behind a hill, offers better cover and allows you to shoot from where you are not expected to be - especially good tactic for MGs.
Learn the maps, learn where the best vantage points and most commonly traveled paths are. Further examples of good landmarks to bomb would include near tanks, cannon or plane wreckage.
Since the trenches tend to fill up with bodies, if you go prone inside a cluster of bodies and stay completely still, (this includes moving your mouse), you may be able to surprise an enemy approaching from another part of the trench.

Teamwork[]

The goal is to take trenches, not to have the most kills - don't hang back sniping, as that isn't helpful to the team.
Use the 'M' button to slightly zoom in/out the mini-map
Use the 'U' to type to your team. Good communication is vital for success. Tell your teammates where the enemies are when you are on defense, and where to enter to sneak past enemies when you are on offense.
Working as a single squad works much better than playing as multiple squads with fewer players, so always try to make a full squad - the NCO gives bonuses and spawns more players, and you can each see each other's locations, and there would be enough people to play each of the vital roles of the squad.
Help your NCOs to stay alive, because squad-mates will re-spawn on your NCO if he is in cover, and teammates will have less distance to walk to objectives, and can support each other. The NCO can watch the wave timer in the bottom left of the screen to see when and how many squad mates will spawn.
The squad's main goal should be to get the NCO to the enemy trench, where he can then spawn the rest of the squad. The phases of attack should be (1) cross the field, (2) get the NCO in the enemy trench, (3) protect the NCO and clear out the trench.
If the NCO spawns you near the enemy trench, don't sit there with him shooting at the enemy - they might mortar or grenade the position if there are many people there, which will get you and your NCO killed and lose you your close spawn and command aura advantages.
Recon is of the utmost importance - telling your squad which side to defend or attack is a basic necessity of the game, and may well determine whether you win or lose. When attacking, tell your team where there is an opening in the enemy trench, or an MG, which someone can then snipe, nade or mortar. When defending, tell your team where the enemy has infiltrated your trench, or camping, or an NCO spawning in a nearby crater. If a team-mate types 'left', 'right', or 'mid', chances are it is your best interest to go there immediately.
When defending, spread out along the trench - it gives you more chance of seeing attacking enemies, protects more of the trench and gives you a chance of warning your squad of breaches in the trench. It also protects against a single grenade or mortar shot wiping out your entire defence. The far corner are the most likely places to be hit, and the hardest to clear once taken.
Killing enemies in the target trench helps your team more than shooting enemies outside the target trench. This particularly true on defense, when you want to clear the enemies in the trench you are defending as soon as possible. Those enemies could "secure a foothold" and add time to the attack or easily flank and kill other defenders. The enemies outside the trench still have to walk some distance. On offense, killing enemies in the trench makes it easier for your team to move up since enemies still walking to the target trench usually are less focused on firing.
Just having one guy in the trench when the timer hits zero means your team will have a foothold on offense. Keep an eye on the timer, you might want to make a dash into the enemy trench during the final seconds if no one else on your team is in the target trench. You may also want to hide in the enemy trench to have a foothold rather than risk fighting the enemy team and losing your team's foothold.

Machine gunners work better as snipers than actual snipers - a gunner should set up somewhere with a good view, or a path well traveled by the enemy, and use his machine gun to suppress/annihilate enemies crossing No Man's Land.

Squads[]

There are five squad types.

Mortar squads: these are the Landsers, Tommies, Doughboys and Poilus squads, and all come with an MG, a grenadier, a scope-capable rifleman, and an NCO with mortar capability. Mortar squads spawn on their NCO. They are fairly flexible, are the oldest and most generic of squadtypes, and prior to the 'Horrors of War' were the preferred squads of most players.

Recon squads: these are the Alpenjaeger and Chassuer Alpin, who do not have any explosives, are equipped with pistols, binoculars and bayoneted carbine rifles, and whose NCO has the recon plane ability. Recon squads can spawn on any member of the squad, usually the one closest to the enemy trench, making them incredibly effective in attack phases. These squads are rarely played due to their basic weaponry, but are well-loved by experienced clan players, since their unique features are well-suited to attacking on large maps like Picardie, or increasing visibility in the night-map of Champagne, making them often a smarter tactical choice.

Gas squads: also called 'Assault Squads', these are the Stosstruppen and Canadian squads, and come with one weapon specialist each, and also emphasise melee and carry melee tools and grenades. The NCO has access to the gas ability, which obscures vision and can kill players without gas masks, yet takes an incredibly long time to recharge. The assault squad has a unique command aura in that it allows any squad member within its aura to spawn their team - a feature rarely remembered or taken advantage of, but highly effective for an attacking squad.

These two squad types were added by the Horrors of War expansion.

Defence squads: these are the Belgians and the Schutzen, who both use railway gun mortars, have body armour, MGs and scoped rifles. They are designed to be effective at holding the line, which is the name of their command aura - the body armour aids this by giving the troops more hitpoints, allowing them to take a bullet or two more than regular soldiers. The railway mortar drops a single, devastating blast that has a large area of effect, but takes a significant amount of time to recharge.

Specialist Squads: these are essentially firepower squads, and consist of the US Marines and German Pioneer squads. Their main focus are their specialist weapons, such as trenchguns and flamethrowers, which are devastating when used effectively. Both use smoke artillery, to obscure sight when attacking - it does no damage, and dissipates quickly, but has a quick cooldown.

General Weapons Advice[]

Changing your melee attack from V to the middle mouse button makes it easier to use.
If you find you haven't got the right tool for the job, don't be afraid to change weapon sets - for example, pistols and grenades are better for close range, and rifles better for long range, so it is wise to swap weapons depending on whether you are attacking or defending.
Don't be afraid to throw your grenades - you'll likely die quick enough to get a chance to use them again, and might take an enemy with you when you die.
Like most games, grenades and mortars in this game do not damage your allies, only yourself and your enemies. Lobbing a grenade around each corner is a safe way of clearing trenches, as is mortaring in your own trench - you don't need to worry about killing team-mates.
Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each machine-gun. Any gun you believe to be terrible, most others will happily tell you is great in certain instances.
SMG's, such as the MP18 of the Stosstruppen, are highly mobile, but also highly inaccurate, best used only for close range. They are so inaccurate that it is recommended to take all precautions for accuracy when using it - crouch, hold your breath with shift, and bursts of 3-5 bullets. The magazine sizes are very large and the reload very slow, so try not to spray, but also try not to reload too often.
Gunners should reload their MG's by deploying in prone and reloading, keeping themselves safe from enemy snipers, or tilting their guns as high as possible, to hide their body.
Pistols also have their own stats, which it would be wise to learn, and generally, pistols aren't as good as the rifle for long range targets, but are great for close range combat. Semi-autos are very quick to fire and reload, but take 2-3 bullets to kill. Revolvers are slower but have greater stopping power.
Many bolt action rifles, like the Kar98, can be reloaded using clips to fill the entire magazine at once. This means that reloading 5 bullets would be much faster than reloading 4 bullets individually. Knowing this, if you find some downtime with one or two bullets left in the magazine, it would likely be a quicker reload to just fire those bullets at nothing and empty the magazine completely.

NCOs[]

The NCOs most vital role is not to mortar or gas, but to spawn the team. When you get to a good spawn point close to the enemy trench, hide, and do not draw attention to yourself. You can easily win the game by spawning the team, and letting them take the trench, respawning them when they die.
Prior to the Horrors of War expansion, NCOs were wrecking balls, devastating trench attackers - mainly due to their pistols and many grenades. Now, they have been brought more in line with what an NCO should be, and are underwhelming in terms of firepower, but still vital to tactical squad manouvering.
NCOs have the ability to set command auras, which give small stat boosts and give bonus kills for points. The NCO should put it in places where plenty of kills will be made, and move it as often as possible, and a good tactic is to command aura yourself before a mortar strike or grenade through, giving you bonus points for what is often a multi-kill.
Watch the wave timer in the bottom left of the screen to see when and how many squad mates will spawn. Text telling you people can spawn on you appears at the bottom - when this happens, find cover, otherwise they will not spawn on you.
If your team-mates sit near you after spawning, urge them to move - they will give away your position with their gunfire, leading to your death and loss of strategic advantage.
Mortar strikes and Recon planes are extremely valuable. Use them as often as you can, even if you don't know where you should. After a short cool down, you'll be able to call for another one.
Recon planes show all the enemies as red triangles on the map. Aim with Q to select which zone you want your plane to fly over. It will show all the enemies in that zone. A zone can be a trench or a "no man's land" type area in between trenches.
Use the binoculars or (preferably) aim down your weapon to help you aim mortar shots from a distance. Mortars take a while between when they are called and when they actually hit - you can tell how long by the sound.
Salients are parts of the trench that jut forward into No Man's Land - mortaring just outside of them is a good defensive strategy, as attackers usually enter through salients as they are closer and offer better protection than craters, and often prone outside a few seconds to make sure the coast is clear. Mortaring a salient is also good as an attacker, as defenders are likely to be there, due to the better views offered.
Buildings like the ones in the Flanders map are also good choices for mortar strikes and grenades. Inside the building is usually safe from mortars, but outside is usually full of attackers or defenders who will be crushed. The bunkers on Picardie, Argonne and Artois are also perfect spots to regularly mortar.
With gas: when attacking, gas one side of the enemy trench, and then get everyone to rush into it. The enemy won't be able to see you, and most people avoid the gas rather than wear the masks; when defending, gas a side of No Man's Land, preferrably one which the enemy has been favouring, as this will force them to take another route, or go through the hassle of masks.
When defending against a gas attack, mortar and grenade the gas cloud, as the attackers will hide in it, thinking themselves safe; when attacking, grenade and mortar just outside of the cloud, as enemies will be reluctant to enter and hover around the outside.