Play Flood (as if you didn’t know this). Seriously, it’s the easiest way to get the First Strikes needed, due to the quick game times and the three Rounds (each presenting a chance for a First Strike) per game. This mode also tends to have some of the most consistent spawns and sometimes the most predictable movement patterns. At the current time, it seems as though most people are playing it for the game type as opposed to attempting to gain First Strikes.
Be absolutely reckless until someone in the game dies (up until someone gets a First Strike); if First Strike is all you want, throw on Promethean Vision and run straight towards the Flood spawn (if you’re after survivability, I personally prefer AvCam). If you’re the Flood, try to make it to the enemy before your teammate, or set an ambush if your teammate isn’t rushing in. Most of the time you probably won’t get First Strike as the Flood.
After a while you’ll start learning the Flood spawn points on each map, and the ways that most of them tend to proceed into combat, and therein how you can find them.
In my own experiences:
Haven - They always spawn on the “large ramp”; the only one with the ramp leading down from the top center. The vast majority of the time they head up the ramp and into the top middle, try to get there before your own teammates. As a flood, go for an ambush on the corners.
Solace - The only one where there’s a large variance in how they proceed. It seems like the most used path is simply running along one side of the top, you’ll have to take a chance on whether they go left or right. As a Flood, you’ll want to see if you can surprise someone by leaping over something or using the boost-slash.
Abandon - Facing towards the cliff-end of the map, they tend to either come up the ramp into the circular middle structure or the right side. I had some fair success going down the right side.
Complex - Due to the numerous spawns, this one is tricky. They’ll generally head in some form into the courtyard in the middle, or through it. If you spawn near the glitch building, they tend to come from the building with the “sniper silo” (along the cliff) attached to it, either through the right slope under the building, or coming out there through the courtyard.
Adrift - They always spawn at the Blue (I think) Gravlift platform. The majority of the time they will run through the tunnel (T-Junction) towards the Red base. They’ll boost out of the tunnel pretty often. I had the best First Strike progress on this map, and if you spawn at the Red Gravlift platform you can take the lift to Red Base and often still get there in time to get a First Strike. You’ll just want to be closest to the tunnel when they come.
This is Captain Obvious, signing off.
