Tsuru Reef Field Manual: Islands, Boats, Waves and How to Win Battlefield 6's Biggest Map

Tsuru Reef is the biggest map Battlefield 6 has. EA calls it "the largest Battlefield 6 map yet," and it got bigger mid-season when the carriers showed up. Principal Level Designer Richard Starr said Paracel Storm from Battlefield 4 was the benchmark, and you can feel it. Here's how to play it without spending the whole match swimming.

The layout

Six islands in a Pacific archipelago:

• Kaze Island (the center): Mifune Landing and Tsuru Gate. In Conquest it has land bridges to every other main island. Whoever holds the center controls the map.
• Mist Island (the military core): Tsuru Air Base and Tsuru Port. NATO's base sits closer to the port.
• Dusk Island: Moon Shore and Sunrise Harbor, wrapped around a U-shaped harbor in an evacuated residential area. Pax Armata's base is near here.
• Yumeji Island: the Majestic Ikoi Resort, a nod to Hainan Resort from Battlefield 4.
• Two HQ islands, one per side, with calmer internal waterways for launching boats.
  Other landmarks: Mt. Hoshizora, the dormant volcano (a great viewpoint, not a capture point), Crag Arch, and Hitode Lagoon, which connects several islands. The small unnamed islets make great spots for a Deploy Beacon. Canals and rivers funnel vehicles into chokepoints, and one rocky objective has a natural tunnel right through it.

Since August 18, two carriers sit offshore: the USS Grant for NATO and the PXS Condor for Pax Armata. Aircraft can also land on the Tsuru Air Base runway to reposition.

The boats

RCB-90 Patrol Boat. A two-seat armored boat. The driver runs a 30mm autocannon, and the gunner runs a 120mm mortar that fires directly or indirectly. Update 1.4.3.0 bumped its health from 800 to 1,000 and fixed the oversteer, so it handles a lot better now. Guide sites also report a front ramp that drops near shore for deploying troops, making it a mobile spawn.

7.7m NSW RHIB. A fast four-seat light transport with a mounted machine gun. It's your squad taxi. Get in, get to the beach, get out.

Water physics you need to know

Waves are real cover. EA's dynamic wave system changes movement, visibility and how fights play out. Rolling water breaks line of sight and throws off aim from a moving boat.

Bullets lose damage underwater. Rounds lose damage traveling through water and can do nothing if they travel far enough. Diving under is a legit way to break contact. Spotting is also blocked while you're deep underwater.

Swimming got a full overhaul. New animations and physics, you can drag and revive squadmates in the water, and falling into shallow water hurts less. You can also pop a parachute right above the surface. Heads up: aim assist now works on swimming targets, so don't treat the water as a safe zone.

Some gear doesn't work near water: the EOD Bot Arm, Sledgehammer and MAS 148 Glaive are restricted there.

Boats vs. helicopters

For most of Season 4, the AH-6 Little Bird farmed patrol boats off the coast. Update 1.4.3.0 on September 15 fixed that:

• Little Bird minigun damage to RCB-90s and ATPs cut by 50 percent.
• Minigun overheat up about 33 percent, so it overheats about 1.5 seconds sooner under continuous fire.
• The SLM-93A and 9K38 Igla shoulder-fired launchers no longer tell pilots which direction the lock is coming from.
  For boat crews, that means your AA-carrying teammate on the beach is suddenly scary to pilots. Put one on your squad. Pilots, dive low to break lock and line of sight.

Breakthrough got rebuilt

Breakthrough on Tsuru Reef felt stacked for defenders. Update 1.4.3.0 reworked all four sectors:

• Sector 1: two RHIBs added, attackers get an APC instead of a light transport, capture A expanded, and B moved to the warehouse.
• Sector 2: capture B enlarged, defenders get a quad instead of a light transport, defender spawns pushed back 10 to 15 meters, and attacker beach spawns fixed.
• Sector 3: a new capture point down across the waterway, and A expanded.
• Sector 4: cut from two capture points to one, with A expanded down at the docks.
  It plays much fairer now. Attackers, use those new RHIBs to flank.

Bots learned to swim

If you play with bots, they now swim to shore, use boats, answer pickup requests and leave boats free for players at round start. As of 1.4.3.0, EA says, "after rigorous swimming lessons, AI bots can now navigate through water more reliably."

EA's own top five tips

1. Island hop by boat.
2. Dive under and use the waves as cover.
3. Land aircraft on the air base to reposition.
4. Lock down the central island in Conquest.
5. Spots that aren't objectives still matter.

Our plan of attack

Run a four-stack in a RHIB with one engineer, one support, one assault and one recon carrying AA. Hit Kaze Island first, hold the land bridges, and let the patrol boat crew shell whatever's trying to take it back. Tsuru Reef is also in Portal now, so we can run our own lobbies and practice. Watch the ops board for a CNC naval night.

By CNC Gaming

Sources: EA: Tsuru Reef developer map guide; EA: Season 4 roadmap; EA: Update 1.4.1.0; EA: Update 1.4.2.0; EA: Update 1.4.3.0; EA: Tidal Strike community update; DSOGaming 1.4.3.0 mirror; Insider Gaming: Season 4 patch notes; TheSixthAxis: Tsuru Reef hands-on; EpicCarry: RCB-90 guide.