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Prone position

Two soldiers in prone position.

Prone is a stance where one lies on the ground belly-down. While prone, a person can crawl underneath certain obstacles that they could not when either crouching or standing. This stance may as well be used to deploy a bipod. Proning is featured many installments of the Battlefield Series, most notably excluding Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

Battlefield 1942[]

In Battlefield 1942 prone minimizes one's profile, and decreases movement speed. However, prone also changes the in-game ballistics so that headshots more accurate when engaging enemies at the front.

Battlefield Vietnam[]

In Battlefield Vietnam, prone drastically increases light machinegun effectiveness. It also minimizes one's profile. However, while prone, one must crawl at a very slow rate.

Battlefield 2[]

Prone

A soldier in the Prone position in Battlefield 2.

In Battlefield 2, prone still increases the accuracy of LMGs. Like previous iterations, prone decreases movement speed and minimizes profile. Unlike other installments, however, there is an added penalty inflicted upon players who change from prone to standing, in that there is a delay during which the player cannot fire.

Battlefield 2142[]

Proning in Battlefield 2142 still increases LMG accuracy and reduces profile and movement.

Players dropping into prone position take a temporary accuracy penalty, but recover their aim after a few seconds. This was added to minimize dropshotting or dolphin diving, where players immediately gained an accuracy bonus for going prone even after leaping.

Battlefield 3[]

In Battlefield 3, Prone minimizes player profile and additionally increases hip accuracy for all weapons by a small degree. Additionally, one can crawl through certain obstacles and into certain areas that other players cannot. Players can also use the prone position to make use of a weapon's bipod if they do not wish to use it on cover.

Rotation while prone is confined to a roughly 90° arc, beyond which the player character repositions himself. Like Battlefield 2, a players need additional time to rise to a crouch or stand.

Battlefield 4[]

The prone stance appears in Battlefield 4 and functions almost identically to Battlefield 3. Players can no longer prone backed up closely against a wall causing their legs to clip through, however. When attempting to do so, the player's character will move forward on his own until he is far enough away from the wall that no clipping will occur.

Proning also allows players to dive beneath the water's surface while swimming. While they cannot be easily spotted, diving players can still be attacked with gunfire, explosives, and roadkills, and can be easily seen using thermal imaging.

Prone players cannot defend themselves against knife takedowns, although front takedowns still take longer to perform.

Battlefield 1[]

In Battlefield 1, the prone stance now allows players some defense against grenades in the open. Damage from fragmenting grenade types and other explosives is reduced against prone targets. Players caught aflame can decrease afterburn damage and duration by going prone on safe ground.

Prone players can be immediately taken down with any melee weapon, no matter how much health they have.

Battlefield V[]

The prone stance returns in Battlefield V as a means of evading enemy fire, possibly reducing damage from explosives, and increasing stability with certain weapons (especially machine guns).

Supine[]

Battlefield V introduces a supine (lying belly-up) stance available alongside the prone stance, to which it is functionally similar.

Players can enter the supine stance by diving backwards; or from prone stance by aiming past either side. (In prior titles, the player would turn the rest of their prone body.) Both stances can also be forced if the player is knocked down by a nearby explosion. Players can continue moving in any direction, at the same slow pace as while prone.

Trivia[]

ProneQuirks

An example of the quirky prone mechanics of Battlefield 1942. Note: The angle of the clouds and hills

  • In Battlefield 1942, the hitbox and camera view of a prone character conforms to the surface underneath, unless it is too steep. Due to the quirky prone mechanic, many humorous angles can be achieved.
  • Slopes still prove problematic in later games, as the player model in third-person view may appear to burrow into the ground or lean away as if a board used for a ramp, while the prone player's first-person view appears level and normal.
    • In Battlefield 3, 4, and Hardline, prone players on slopes that enter a vehicle may have their third-person model rotated abnormally forward or backward.
  • Clipping may occur if a player goes prone near a thin wall, allowing someone on the other side to attack feet and legs through the wall, even if it should normally prevent the players from seeing each other. This was fixed in Battlefield 4 by preventing turning into such a position, or pushing away from the wall where possible.
  • Players that are revived in games that feature the prone position will recover into the position, facing the same direction they were facing before. This may cause the revived player's model to flip hard if they fell backwards when shot down.
    Diving Dolphin Dog Tag

    Diving Dolphin dogtag

  • The popularity of the "Dolphin Dive" tactic in Battlefield 2 was referenced in Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand with the "Diving Dolphin" dogtag.
  • In Battlefield V, wounded players may be found in supine stance, but will always be turned prone by anyone attempting to revive them.
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