This DayZ guide has been designed to help you get to grips with the basics of the game.
Way back in 2010, a shooter named ARMA 2 was released. The game wasn’t the most popular shooter on the market, but it was a commercial success and kept a cult following for the next few years. In 2013, a mod was released that shuttled ARMA 2 into the spotlight and started a gaming journey that spawned one of the most successful survival games ever made.
In 2013 Dean Hall released a mod called DayZ. This was a complete overhaul of the game. The mod placed players in a post-soviet world ravaged by a plague that turned people into zombies. It’s not precisely a new premise by any means. But the plot wasn’t the point.
The DayZ mod was an open-world survival horror mode that put players not only against hordes of zombies but against each other as well. The mod was so popular that it eventually was turned into its own game. Officially released in 2018, DayZ is still incredibly popular. But it is also one of the more difficult survival games out there. This DayZ guide has been designed to help you get to grips with the basics of the game.
Learn The Map
The draw of DayZ is its open-world nature. Players have a huge landscape to explore, find loot, find good locations to build a base and hunt other players. If you want to survive, you need to know the lay of the land.
We suggest finding some quieter servers or even a private one so that you can spend some time finding the best loot locations on the maps. Resources in DayZ are scarce and in demand. Knowing the best spots will save you valuable time and allow you to get your hands on the things you need before your opponents.
As a tie-in to this bit of advice, we suggest you avoid military bases. At least until you have a lot more experience with the game, these areas are filled with some of the best weapons and building materials. As well as where the best snipers like to hide. No other area on the map will be as PvP-heavy as these areas.
Master Building
One of the core mechanics of DayZ is Building. You will need to build yourself a base to survive the onslaught of both zombies and other players. As well as being a place to store all your loot. Inventory space is limited in DayZ. Any large construction project will need a lot of storage to store the components. And you will want to keep a good store of ammo, medical supplies, and fuel.
You don’t need to worry about making your bases flashy looking. While the more experienced players have definitely built some beautiful-looking structures throughout the history of DayZ, sometimes function over form is preferred. An ugly-looking base with solid defenses is always preferable to a pretty one that can be breached easily.
Trial All The Weapons
DayZ has a lot of weapons to choose from. A varied selection of both guns and melee weapons. Our first tip is that melee weapons are generally not that good. In any situation, you will want to avoid getting close to zombies. And when facing other players, by the time you’ve gotten close enough to them to use your melee weapon, they will have unloaded a lot of bullets into you.
To that end, we suggest finding and trying out all the different guns on offer. You will need to know their firing speed and recoil so that you are prepared for any fight you end up in. If you aren’t great at aiming, we recommend practicing with an aimbot for DayZ. Load up a private map and practice on the hordes of zombies.
Stealth Is Your Friend
The biggest threat in DayZ is not the zombies but other players. One of the best ways of acquiring resources is to scavenge them from other players. But you don’t want to become someone else’s loot. To that end, you need to become a master of stealth. Stick to the shadows and the trees. And, most importantly, avoid the roads. Snipers will often watch the road, looking for players to take out.
