One of 2017’s biggest success story, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has soared to unprecedented heights with over 2 million people on early access. The battle royale behemoth is now on Xbox One and has launched officially this month.
That said, PUBG‘s “tutorial” is nonexistent, choosing to trade more on an active community and word of mouth than anything in-game. What you’re paying for is the prolific, 100-player, scavenge-to-survive last man standing mode. To that end, your first few matches will be spent learning the controls, sense of movement, how to survive in a firefight and just where to head first. Here we’ll cover some potentially overlooked basics.
The Fortnite “Bush Method” Totally Works
Though it’s been in PUBG‘s PC edition for months, Fortnite quickly became synonymous with players hiding inside bushes. Simply because Fortnite‘s devs didn’t physically model the foliage textures, you can literally mesh “inside” certain shapes, becoming completely invisible to everyone else. Brilliantly, this is still very much an effective tactic in PUBG.
Granted, there’s a far wider array of plant life and fauna to keep an eye on, but many tall reeds and grasslands can completely conceal your player model. Providing you’re already inside the zone, just hold tight and wait until someone comes close for a very easy kill.
Playing In Groups Offers A TON Of Benefits
Notice at the top of the lobby menu, you can choose to play solo, in a squad or as a duo. Although the latter two sound like they’d require an invited friend, searching for a match will buddy you up with randoms, who – thanks to PUBG‘s reputation for being very tactics-heavy – means you’ll most likely get talking to like-minded players.
Working in a talkative squad means any number of you can provide covering fire when moving from place to place, set traps by goading players into your own custom kill-box or advance as a four, covering all angles at once.
Un-Equip Your Weapon To Run Faster
Over time, you’ll quickly realise that every tiny facet of what would be “real world rules” applies to PUBG (aside from frying pans deflecting bullets, of course). One of the most useful though is being able to full-on peg it at full sprint if you’re not carrying anything else. Useful for making breakneck sprints between cover or needing to beat the enclosing death-cloud, simply hold your switch weapons button and you’ll holster your weapon completely.
Now you’re obviously far more vulnerable, but simply as a way to traverse the map on-foot, there’s no faster way.
Change Seats In A Car To Avoid Fire
When inside a vehicle switch seats around to help you evade fire as there’s no animation when hopping from one place to the next. It essentially means you’re “warping” around the car, but hey, until they fix this, it totally works. Another use of specific seats is aiming to lean out your nearest window. Many players have used this to skid up to a foe, thereby sending them running for cover, only to pop out and deliver the killing blow. Chances are that in PUBG if you can think it, you can do it.
Crank Up The Camera Sensitivity For Much Better Control
The starting camera sensitivity and map movement is dreadfully slow – especially if you’re trying to whirl around and catch someone firing on you from behind. To fix this, hold Menu, go into the system preferences and you’ll find a number of different sliders that can be tweaked to fit. I’d recommend upping the base camera sensitivity to at least 75%, as you’ll feel a demonstrable difference during firefights.
Remove Your Shoes To Move Quieter
In a moment of genuinely genius sound design, whatever you have equipped foot-wise will be reflected in the game’s sound effects. Though you’ll have to leap into the customisation menu to put some boots on after the default barefoot has run its course, there is an in-game purpose: Stealth. Leave your shoes off, and though it can be a little immersion-breaking running through swamplands and fields without any footwear, indoors, this actually means you move quieter.
Perfect for getting the drop on someone inside the eastern underground bunkers or any location where playing the angles game is a must, be sure to remove your shoes either in the pre-match lobby or the customisation window if you fancy a different approach.
Use Bodies Of Water To Evade Fire
Though it was subject to an amazing bug on PC when the surface of water became bulletproof, now that’s been fixed, water works in PUBG just like it should. Sadly, although you’ll be a sitting duck when making the trek from one side of the main river to the other, any body of water can be dived into. Keep these areas in mind when getting caught in a firefight or even evading a bombing run.
Leap in and dive to avoid pursuers – it’s especially useful when crossing larger bridges as you can leap off one side and disappear during the confusion caused by your opponent having to reorientate their view to search.
Use Your Clothing For Camoflage
In-game cover takes on a whole new level of utilisation when it’s paired with real-world conditions and visuals. With no enemy outlines or hud markers, hiding amongst tall grass simply “works”, as does using shadows, blending into similarly coloured parts of the environment and anything else you can think of.
Speaking of which, once you unlock a darker shirt and jeans combo, use it to alter your path through the environment, going from shadow to shadow. Darker clothing can also help you disappear by leading a pursuer around a corner or into a house and becoming part of the foundations – just be ready to strike if you manage to turn the tables fast enough.
Some Locations Are Guaranteed To Have Loot
Players are continually trying to figure out precisely how PUBG’s loot-generating algorithms work, but we do know this:
- The closer you are to the path of the plane as it crosses over the island, the more likely loot will appear, and,
- Notable labeled areas like the central School or Military Island to the south also have healthy amounts of loot every time.
You’ll find that more out-of-reach places like the latter will benefit you hugely – as it’s, therefore, a much bigger risk getting back to the safe zone. Luckily, these military areas tend to be awash in jeeps and other vehicles too, so nab one and drive like hell back to safety.
You Can Do A High-Damage Flying Punch
Surprisingly, basic punching can actually whittle down a health bar pretty quickly, though you should never bring a fist to a firefight. That said, the game’s version of the Superman punch (done by sprinting, jumping and hitting attack) does an even bigger chunk of damage and will finish off many wounded players, as well as any downed enemies.
Something of a middle finger-way of winning, there are few things as satisfying in life as claiming your chicken dinner with the help of a flying haymaker.