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How to turn on automatic tactical sprint in Call of Duty: Vanguard

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Soldiers running in Call of Duty: Vanguard promo.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Sprinting is not an optional mechanic if you want to survive in Call of Duty: Vanguard. Being able to quickly move around the map, even at the cost of a short delay between slowing down and being able to open fire, is key to winning a match. Whether it’s a pure deathmatch-style game or an objective-focused match, getting into the action and the correct position as fast as possible is the only way to have a fighting chance. That said, pressing in on a thumbstick to start up your sprint can be cumbersome or downright uncomfortable, especially with how frequently you’ll want to start and stop sprinting during a match.

Call of Duty: Vanguard recognized the need to include more accessibility options in the game. There are a ton of options to go through, so you may not even think that they offer a solution to make sprinting much more comfortable. Called Automatic Tactical Sprint, this option can save your thumbs a ton of stress by making sprinting just a little bit easier. What this feature does, and how to access it, is slightly different between platforms, however. Here’s how you can turn on Automatic Tactical Sprint in Call of Duty: Vanguard to spare your fingers that extra bit of straining.

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What is Automatic Tactical Sprint?

First introduced in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Automatic Tactical Sprint allowed for much easier and fluid transitions from normal running into a full-on sprint. Before this feature, which was noticeably absent from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, you were forced to either press in on your controller’s joystick or double-tap W on your keyboard in order to make your character go full speed. With this option turned on, your character will automatically transition from normal running into a full tactical sprint so long as you continue moving in a given direction.

How to turn on Automatic Tactical Sprint on consoles

Turning on tactical sprint.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re playing on either a PlayStation or Xbox console, you will find the Automatic Tactical Sprint toggle in the game’s settings, and it’s turned off by default. Simply open the Settings and tab over to the Controller settings. Scroll down to the Gameplay header, and find Automatic Sprint. Here, you can choose to have it off, in which case you need to press the thumbsticks as normal; Automatic Sprint, which allows you to go into a normal sprint automatically but still requires a press of the thumbstick to enter a Tactical Sprint; and finally Automatic Tactical Sprint.

How to turn on Automatic Tactical Sprint on PC

Turning on tactical sprint.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re playing on a PC using keyboard and mouse controls, you will find this setting in a slightly different part of the settings menu. Instead of Controller, navigate over to Keyboard & Mouse and look under the Movement settings. Automatic Sprint is just below Automatic Ground Mantle and has the same three settings as it does for controller players.

Jesse Lennox
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jesse Lennox covers all things gaming but has a specific interest in all things PlayStation, JRPGs, and experimental indies…
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