Guide to DayZ describes ten the most important notions which should be known for every beginner, but also more advanced players can find something for them here. Two first chapters let you know the environment of DayZ: Standalone. From chapter four and five you'll get to know how to survive first hours and then where to find weapons and what to avoid. Fifth chapter will give you more information about moving around. Sixth chapter is about available firearms. And in the seventh chapter you can read about how to behave when you notice another player. Eighth chapter describes various tactics of attack and defence. Ninth chapter will teach you something about medicaments and sicknesses. The last part of this guide will help you choose the place and your role in the game. As you can see, some chapters will be useful mostly for the beginners, while the others can be read also by players with many hours played. But remember that even the best guide won't replace your own experience. DayZ: Standalone combines elements of online shooter with survival game. It's the continuation of very popular mode to ARMA 2. It takes place in Chernarus where most of the people have changed into zombie. Servers for max. 40 people present you with a map of over 225 square kilometers of space to walk around! Game allows you also to interact with other players. As a result of which, it may provide you with hundreds hours of playing.
This guide for DayZ was based on alpha version of the game.
Small introduction to DayZ: Standalone, controls, a little about physics and game engine.
Chapter dedicated to the general description of what awaits you in this game.
Here you'll learn what to do to not die at the beginning.
This chapter will tell you useful things about precious items and weapons. Also a small analysis of Chernarus in here.
Here you can find several information about how to move around.
Detailed description of firearms. With information how to use and control them and about available add-ons.
After reading this chapter, you'll know when become friends or kill somebody.
Chapter about various tactics of getting at cities and buildings.
This part of guide is dedicated to sicknesses and medicaments.
This part of the guide describes possible scenarios, where you play a bad guy or a hero and places where you should go.
Grzegorz "Cyrk0n" Niedziela, Norbert "sQubanny" Ropiak ()
This chapter will introduce you to the Day: Standalone. You'll learn about game modes and differences between them. You'll also learn where your characters are stored. You'll also get to know about controls and equipment.
Sunrise questBefore I get to explaining how DayZ: Standalone works, I'll talk a bit about the game in general: what are your goals etc. It's the continuation of very popular mode to ARMA 2. It combines features of shooter and survival game. It's mainly about defending against bloodthirsty zombie and survival. But the biggest threat is represented by other players, who can also be your greatest allies.
Begin with the mechanism of saving your character (saving the game). All data is kept on the main server. It means that independently on the chosen server, your character will be in the same place, with the same equipment. On each account you can have two characters, one for each mode. More about it later on.
In DayZ: Standalone you have two game modes. Hardcore and Regular. The first one sounds more scary, but the only difference is the work of the camera. In regular you can switch between FPP and TPP. While in hardcore you can only choose FPP. Mode is determined on the level of server, so players with different modes won't encounter.
Below you can find the most important controls described (in options you can find much more, but lot of them is not active yet):
Controls
Hold:
Press twice to block.
lean out
crouch
lay down
get up
equipment
Press twice
sprint
Hold:
Press twice to block.
slow walk
jump or walk over a small obstacle
change the status of the item in your hand, e.g. shake hand, prepare weapon.
zero the rifle
Hold:
Press twice to block.
look around freely
keys from 0 to 9
choose the item from the quick access bar.
switching between views
rise your hand, as a sign of no bad intentions
rise both hands, as a sign of surrender
shifting to a posture position
show middle finger
clasp
point something with your finger
show OK sign
Display a list of players on the server
Hold:
activate the microphone
local chat
action, e.g. drink, eat, reload
Switching between available actions, if there is more than one
Magnifying with a sight and without
fire
equipment in DayZ: Standalone.Vicinity - brown- window with nearby items you can pick up,
Player - orange - window in which you see your character. Next to it you can see information about his desires and other factors, more about them in Chapter 3.
Hands - green - window in which you see a thing you have in your hands.
Inventory - blue - window with all your items. At the very top (not enough place on the screenshot) there are clothes under which you can't hide anything. Below there is a main weapon with clips and add-ons. Below the weapon you see parts of your clothes, into which you can put something. At the bottom you can see a backpack. On right side of each bag you can see number of slots and which are taken.
At the bottom you have a quick access bar, to which you can assign items, from 0 to 9. But there are not the additional slots.
You can pick up an item by:
Clicking on the mousewheel when you look at. The item goes to the inventory,
Moving it from the Vicinity to Player. The item goes to the inventory,
Moving it from Vicinity to Inventory exactly where you want it,
Moving it from Vicinity to Hands. The item is in your hands at will, not in the inventory.
Rifles and items used in battle (hatchet, club, bat etc) may be on your back, without taking an inventory slot. But you can have only one rifle at once. However, you can have one rifle on your back and the other one in hands, without taking an inventory slot. But in that situation, you need to drop rifle every time you want to do something else.
Using items
To use an item, you have to click on it. Pop-up menu appears, from which you choose your action. To do something with one item onto another, you have to drag one onto another.
Pay an attention to:
first aid kit - it consumes 4 slots and has 6 slots in which you can put medicaments.
ammo box - it consumes 4 slots in your inventory and has 10 slots in which you can put ammo.
small protector case - it consumes 4 slots and has 6 slots.
You know where your character is stored. But you should know that after logging out, your character sits and stays in place for 30 seconds. It's a solution against logging out when you get into trouble.
Sometimes you have to wait to enter on the server. It may take even 600 seconds. It's defence by so called ghosting. Ghosting is a unpopular way to attack enemy. It works in such a way: player A knows where player B is. He logs out, changes server and goes to the place from which he can attack player A. Then he logs out again and returns onto server with player A. In such a case he has to wait what gives an additional time for player A. I strongly discourage ghosting. It's not honest way of playing. But you should know it, in case it touches you.
In DayZ: Standalone many dangers, with zombies amongst them, is waiting for you. This chapter will tell you how to deal with them. You'll also learn about how food is working in this game. You'll read also about in-game night, And moreover you'll learn everything about meaning of weather.
player window during nightCitizens of Chernarus have been infected and changed into zombie. They feed on blood. They can hear and see you.
Zombies are very vigilant and it's hard to sneak around them. The big mistake is to make them notice you by firing (it makes a loud noise). When you fire from not silenced weapon, zombies respawn around it. You can also get their attention with a flashlight at night.
As I mentioned, don't fire at zombie from a noisy weapon, if you can avoid it. So what should you do? Use hatchet or silenced pistol. With hatchet, you have to aim for head. Hit eliminates the enemy for good. Hitting the body to eliminate takes too much time. But if zombies have number advantage, don't play and fire. Admittedly, it may lure another player, but you can't underestimate zombies. It's a bit harder to kill zombies in military clothes.
If you have no weapon, run, run! But there is a way to defeat zombies. It's walking onto elevations. It may be even something small, like stairs. Sometimes, when walking over such an obstacle, zombie slows down so you can run away. So if you're being chased, run through a small elevation or use stairs, and you'll probably get free of them.
Zombie always directly attacks you. It may cause bleeding. Bleeding may cause a lost of consciousness. More about bandaging and losing consciousness in chapters 3 and 9.
Food is rather developed, although it's alpha version. There are three counters concerning food. But you can't see them directly. Those are: energy, water and stomach. They are shown in the Player window in equipment.
Energy comes from food and energizers. There are five different status of your energy. Those are: energized - green background, energized - green background, no comment, hungry - yellow-green background, hungry - orange background, starving - red background.
No comment means that you should start looking for food.
If a yellow-green hungry status appears, it means that you seriously should start looking for food.
If an orange hungry status appears, you have to find food quickly.
Starving status means that you're losing blood and soon you'll lose consciousness. If you can't find food, log out and ask someone to find you and give you food.
Energized status mean that your character has enough energy. But appearance of the green background isn't the highest level of energy. This limit is very high, so don't worry about it. So the only one limitation is a stomach capacity, about which later on.
Energy should be kept on a high level, because it speeds up blood regeneration after you lose it. It also let you keep your character healthy.
Water can be gained not only from drinks. It comes also from most of the food. Of course, it's not as much, as you'd have gained from drinking pure water. Water is easy to find, as you can drink well water, rain water and water from the lake. There are five different status of water in your body. Those are: hydrated- green background, hydrated- green background, no comment, thirsty- yellow-green background, thirsty- orange background, thirsty- red background.
If a yellow-green thirsty status appears, it means that you seriously should start looking for food.
If an orange thirsty status appears, you have to find water very quickly.
Thirsty status on the red background means that you're losing blood and soon you'll lose consciousness. If you can't find water, log out and ask someone to find you and give you food.
No comment and hydrated on the green background means that your character has enough water, but you can look for it.
Hydrated status onto light-green background means that you have enough water and it's no sense in drinking more, as it'll waste. After crossing the upper limit, the water is wasted.
Water should be kept on a high level, because it speeds up blood regeneration after you lose it. It also let you keep your character healthy.
All you eat goes to your stomach. It's capacity is limited. There are four status about your stomach's capacity. Those are: no comment, stuffed - light-green background, stuffed - orange background, stuffed - red background.
If you don't see any of those comments, it means that there is a plenty space in your stomach and you can eat.
If stuffed status has light-green background, you should (but you don't have to) stop eating/drinking.
If stuffed status has orange background, you have to stop eating/drinking.
If you don't stop, stuffed gets a red background. Then it quickly goes to sick and your character starts vomiting, losing both energy and water, what makes your stomach more empty. But you have to avoid this status.
Doesn't matter if your stomach is full or empty. Blood regeneration doesn't depend on that.
There is not a single working street lamp in the Chernarus. That's why the visibility during nights is very limited. So you should carry a torchlight with you. But be careful, as using it makes you more visible for others. Travelling at night is also very troublesome, so if you're not good at navigating, try to avoid servers where the night is at the given moment. At the server browser you can see the current time. If there is "x" mark, e.g. 12:08x it means that night and day shifts dynamically, so the nights are coming very quickly. Way of navigation are shown in Chapter 5.
When your clothes get wet, you get an information every now and then that you're soaked. But it doesn't affect your character. Nonetheless, rain has its role in game. For example, enemy may not hear a shot in a loud rain. You can also collect the rain water to drink.
DayZ is a survival game. The most difficult is to live through the first moments in-game, as you don't have any weapons. This chapter will give you advice about what to do to survive first several hours of playing. You'll learn how to deal with zombies. Then you'll be told where you can find basic items to make your life more stable.
Zombies feed on blood.In 0.44 version, respawn points are nearby following cities: Svietlojarsk, Berezino, Solnichniy, Orlovets, Klen, Chernaya Polana. Those cities are mainly on the northern-east of the map. Very important is to recognize where you've respawned. At the beginning it may be troublesome, but it gets easier. You just need to remember something characteristic for each particular city. It may be a building, shape of the shore or some building. Recognizing in-game locations is something that can't be learn from a guide. You have to just learn it by heart when visiting cities. At the beginning, you can also read the city name from the table at the city's border. It wouldn't be difficult if they weren't written in cyrillic alphabet. Below you can find spelling of mentioned above cities:
Spelling of all in-game cities is in Chapter 5.
In DayZ: Standalone, the most difficult is to endure first several dozens of minutes after respawn. You have nothing to defend against zombies. Look below to find what you have to do to survive those hard moments.
1. After respawning, look around. If you see anyone, you can talk with him. More about communication in Chapter 6.
2. Start running to the city you see. If you don't see anything, run forward until you find civilization.
3. Search through buildings. The most important items are: food, hatchet, backpack, something to open cans with food and bandages or clothes, which you can tear and stop bleeding. They can be everywhere - under the table, on the cupboard on the fridge. But be careful not to eat rotten fruits. Eating them will make you sick and, eventually, you'll die.
4. If you're in the city, you'll surely see a group of zombies behind you. Don't fight until you find a hatchet. Run away and use hints from Chapter 2. It's very probable, that you'll avoid being bitten by zombie and bleeding out. But if it happens, you have to hide, take out your shirt and use the tear into rags option. Then, use rags to stop bleeding.
5. Buildings which you should search at first: sheds, schools, medical points, hospitals, supermarkets and tenement houses. You have the biggest chance to find a hatchet and other weapon there. You'll learn how to recognize those buildings from Chapter 4. Food may be found in almost every building. Try to find also a well or a lake. If all buildings are open and there is nothing to collect, it means that somebody was there before you. The best thing you can do now is to log out in the safe building and change server before you starve to death.
6. Log in once again and search buildings. If they are also empty, change server once again.
7. If you find a hatchet, some food, drinks and several bandages, you can relax a bit. Now you shouldn't worry about zombies any more. The time has come for concrete rearmament.
Surviving the first in-game hour is an half of the success. When it's done, you need to arm yourself better. This chapter will tell you where to look for weapons, backpacks and other military items. You'll read also about places which you should avoid. At the end of this chapter, you can find a brief analysis of Chernarus.
bodies in the prisonWhat we are interested in?
A backpack, food and hatchet are necessity for surviving in Chernarus. But you should find something more to stand against other players. Needed items:
- weapons, ammo and add-ons (more in Chapter 6),
- medicaments (more in Chapter 9),
- food reserves - the most valuable is rice and powder milk,
- can opener.
It's good to have also:
- hunting backpack. This one is big.
- military clothes; they are good to have, as you're not visible from distance,
- military helm and bulletproof vest; they may save your life,
- handcuffs with keys; if you want to disable someone.
Items status
Items you find, aren't always perfectly good. Their status is shown. There five different status in the game Those are:
pristine, worn, damaged, badly damaged, ruined
Pristine is ideal, ruined is the worst. There isn't rule about how the item works in particular state. Some items lose their features, the other ones only looks worse. In general, only ruined items can't be used. With only exception for clothes and backpacks, which look worse and give worse protection. Item state gets worse with falls. Some items also break as the time goes or if you use them a lot. When you get shot e.g. in backs, probably all your items in the backpack get ruined. But when you are hit in head, the items in backpack are intact.
Where to find items?
In regular houses you won't find weapons or other military items. The most often you find there food, clothes and other small things. Those really previous ones should be searched for in following buildings:
Shed - first place where you should search for a hatchet. You can also find here weapon and ammo.
Barracks - you can find here often weapon, military clothes and hunting backpack.
Medical point - here you can find, first of all, food and clothes.
Hospital - here you find medicaments and sometimes food.
School - you can find here weapon, ammo and other useful items.
Supermarket - food on shelves and backpack.
Prison - weapons and ammo. Sometimes also medicaments.
Garages - there won't be weapon, but a lot of food and other things.
Military and Medical Tents - they often hide weapon and add-ons.
Control tower - you can find here weapon, ammo and add-ons.
Police station - weapon, handcuffs with keys.
Cars - in their trunks you often find ammo and weapon add-ons.
Besides the buildings listed above, you can also search through tenements, administration buildings, hangars, halls or farm buildings. You can find there a lot of items, but rather not weapons.
Things listed above aren't the only ones you can find. But they are the most probable findings. Of course, when you can find weapon, there can be also ammo and add-ons. Items like food or less significant equipment can be found almost everywhere.
Where not to look
While searching through, you have to be very careful. You can run into other players searching the same place. Before entering the building, look around if there is anyone nearby. Remember that open door shows that someone was here or still is, and you probably won't find anything. If you find to rearm on full server, avoid prisons and airports. Very often groups of players are waiting there just to kill a wanderer. You'll learn more about it in Chapter 8. To find equipment, you can visit less crowded servers. There is lesser chance that you'll die and begin searching once again.
Chernarus - the most important places
Respawn points are located mostly on the northern-east part of the map. It makes cities like Berezino, Charnya Polana, Svietlojarsk, Krasnostav, or Solnichniy the most crowded ones. Especially Berezino is full of people. It means, that you have be very cautious as it's easy to die there. Other places where you can meet someone: Big Airport, airport in Krasnostav, airport in Balot, Charnogorsk, Elektrozavodsk and Kamyshowo. That's why you always have to look around while entering building in this areas. And while inside, search all corners, as someone may be waiting for you with M4A1.
Lack of vehicles and big area of action force players to spend a lot of time for walking behind cities. It's easy to get lost in this game, there is no minimap. That's why navigation is so important. In this chapter, you'll learn some ways to make it a bit easier.
"if only I knew the cyrillic alphabet..."DayZ is a survival game, so there is no minimap. But you can outfox the producers by opening it in the browser when you press SHIFT + TAB. If the tab doesn't show up, configure it: Steam>Settings>In-game If you still can't open the tab, you can open the map in browser but you'll need to minimize the game each time. Map address is: dayzdb.com/map. If you can, open the map on the other screen or mobile device. On mobile device you can use izurvive map.
From Chapter 3 you learn about cities' tables. Full list of cities:
As time passes, you'll learn to live without it. Map seems to be big, but you'll learn the crucial locations quickly. But you need several advices for starters.
Characteristic points
The best way to find way is to look for characteristic points. Notice them while looking at the map. Travel from city to city. Running through fields may seem tempting, but it's much easier to get lost. Keep up with road. Notice shape of each turn and check it on the map. Do the same when you see any houses. When you see one, stop and check if you have to pass them according to your route. High voltage lines are great reference points. And when you want to travel along the coast, keep up with railway. Even when you're in the forest and can't see anything, look around and get to know the border of the forest.
Orientation
If you don't want to depend on your intuition, you can help yourself with the directions. One way to find them is to define the cloud movement. In DayZ clouds always move from west to east. If you can't see clouds, set the clouds setting at least onto very low.
The other natural factor helpful in defining direction is the sun. Notice the current time of the server when you enter it. If it's seven am, the sun will be rising. If it's seven pm, the sun will be setting. If there is a noon, wait a while to see in which way sun will go. Of course, it always travel from east to west.
Orientation at night
But most of those ways of navigating are useless during the night. For night there are others. One of them is to find the Pole Star. In DayZ the most recognizable stars are represented as at the real sky. To find the Pole Star, you need to find the Big Dipper and then elongate one of its sides. About five lengths further Ursa Minor ends. And that's where you find Pole Star. Look at this screenshot.
part of sky from DayZ
Big Dipper is marked with blue.
Ursa Minor is marked with green.
Pole Star marked with red points at the north.
With orange marked an elongation of the Big Dipper.
Is it simple? Look at this part of the sky without any markings and try to point the proper constellations.
Part of the sky without markings
If you succeeded, try this in the game. The whole sky is much bigger than on this picture.
This chapter contains the detailed description of all firearms in DayZ Standalone. Besides the detailed description of rifles, pistols and shotguns, you'll learn about ammo and modifications.
player firing from M4A1Short weapon, pistols mainly, ale used often to eliminate zombies and other players. They take 4 slots in your equipment. You can find them mostly in: shed, police station and military facilities. Each of them has proper ammo, so before using a particular one, try to get at least 2 clips of ammo.
Icon
Name
Type of ammo
Description
Clips
1911.
.45 ACP
Semi-automatic pistol with medium damage and short range. You can add a torchlight and silencer.
Clip contains 7 .45ACP bullets
Magnum
.357
Revolver with huge damage and short range.
It contains 6 .357 bullets.
Amphibia S
.22
Semi-automatic pistol with small damage and short range. It has built-in silencer.
Clip contains 10 .22 bullets
FNX45
.45 ACP
Semi-automatic pistol with small damage and short range. You can add a torchlight and silencer and laser collimator.
Clip contains 15 .45ACP bullets
CR75
9mm
Semi-automatic pistol with small damage and short range. You can add a silencer and torchlight.
Clip contains 15 9mm bullets
After examining this table, you can say that balance of short weapon in DayZ: Standalone is good. If so, the choice of the best one isn't obvious. A player who needs pistol with big clip and not too high damage, should choose FNX45, as you can find it in various places. But sometimes you want to not make a fire noise. In such a case, it's best to choose Amphibia S with silencer. It's worth noticing that clips to this pistol are rarely found, so you'll have to spend some time searching them. Some players may prefer Magnum revolver, which deals huge damage at a short range. In such a case, remember to have 3-4 sets of bullets, as each contains 6 bullets.
Adding a torchlight is a personal preference. As it doesn't take any additional slots in the equipment, it's worth considering. You never know when you may need it.
Finding a proper main weapon is a crucial part of DayZ: Standalone. Each of it has characteristic features, pros and cons. When you find one of them, collect also a proper amount of bullets and clips. You can carry only one main weapon, so think it through.
Icon
Name
Type of ammo
Clips
M4A1
5.56 mm
STANAG and CMAG clips
Blaze 95
7.62x51
mm
Loader contains 2 bullets 7.62x51mm or built-in clip with 2 bullets 7.62x51mm.
Mosin 9130
7.62x51
mm
Built-in clip with 5 7.62x51 mm bullets.
SKS
7.62x39
mm
Clip with 10 7.62x39mm bullets.
Sporter 22
.22
Clip with 10 or 30 .22 bullets.
IZH-43
Brenneke bullets
Loader or clip with Brenneke bullets.
This weapon is easily found at airports and military bases. It's harder to find its ammo. M4A1 is an automatic rifle, good for attack and defense. Many add-ons and several sights help you kill other players and zombies. It's best to have BUIS and ACOG sights. Recoil control of this rifle isn't that simple. While fighting at short range, fire series of 2 bullets and avoid full-automatic fire. What is more, it's good to carry CMAG and STANAG clips.
The second best weapon is Mosin 9130. You can find it in almost every city. It doesn't require any additional clip, but you should get a bipod and compensator. But one of the most valuable in-game items is sniper scope which isn't easy to find (you should look in barracks and tents on the airports). It provides zoom to kill enemies from a distance. Of course, you can use other scope, but it has smaller zoom. The only con of this weapon is small capacity of the built-in clip, what forces you to reload a lot. It shouldn't be a problem though, as one hit in the chest usually kills.
If you can't find any of those two weapons, consider remaining rifles. SKS is a semi-automatic rifle with high accuracy. Finding ammo and add-ons shouldn't be problematic. Blaze 95 is a double barrelled rifle with small clip but high accuracy. Fact that it uses 7.62x51 mm ammo, makes it a good alternative. You can also choose Sporter 22, which shots are almost inaudible. Something totally different is IZH-43 shotgun, which main advantage is that you can shorten it by sawing the barrel. Thanks to that you can keep it in backpack, what gives you additional place for another weapon. One will be used for medium and long range while IZH-43 is dedicated for a short range.
This guide will give you information about other survivors, their psychology and possible actions. You'll learn also when you should ally with them and when to avoid them.
Accidental meeting in shedTo understand other players, you need to feel what this game is about. Living in the communist country taken over by zombies, everyone will feel endangered. When you spent hours on collecting equipment, travelling around cities, you're afraid to lose it. Proper attitude towards others is a basic thing. You never know how the other player will behave. Who knows, maybe he is a bait? Maybe he needs your help and will help you back somewhen? Answers aren't always the same, because game is full of random events. Persons you meet aren't the same players you think they are. It may turn out that they fire at will at everything that moves. You should treat each one of them as a potential threat. But there are some criteria along which you should act when encounter happens. First of all, you have to notice if player you meet has a weapon on his back. If he has, it's important sign to be careful. But when you see someone with only clothes and a shovel, he should not be dangerous.
When you see an unarmed player, make sure that your vicinity is safe. Recon contains, among others, searching nearby buildings and forest. If you feel confident and you know that there are no armed players around, you can start getting in touch. While running towards other player, you should have your gun in hands, but don't aim it to not frighten the other player. When you get near to him, you should use voice communication (default: caps lock) and greet him. You should use English at first. In such a situation, 2-3 meters away from the other player (so he can't hit you) you can ask if he didn't see anyone or if he doesn't need anything. But remember not to stay in place for too long, the best is to hide somewhere, as you can be easily spotted in the open terrain by bandits e.g. If you have to much of food, water or medicaments, you can share it with other player. If playing with a group of 3-4 players, you should set up a sniper who'll scan the area. If player you're talking to is aggressive, it's enough for the sniper to pull the trigger. And while you're playing alone and not completing equipment at the moment, you can think about joining forces with other player. Playing single is much more difficult, as you have no one to help you.
Here difficulties begin. If you see player carrying a weapon, you should think of him as a potential enemy. The fact he has a weapon means that he is ready to kill you. After checking the vicinity, you have to choose from two options.
First is to fire at the enemy. Aim at head or legs to not damage the backpack with equipment. When you're sure that enemy is dead, you can approach his body, confirm the kill (fire at head or use hatchet) and search it. Do it ASAP, as someone else may have heard the shot. After searching the body, use the option hide body, so other players can't use his items.
The other option is to disarm or stop this player. The best is to approach him with the weapon aimed and loaded and start a conversation. You should tell him to hide weapon and put his hands up (F2 key). You can in some cases use handcuffs (make sure you have keys) what is recommended when player acts in weird way. When you overpower him, you can display his equipment, unload weapon and take what you can. After that you can release him (keeping safe distance) and talk to. It's not the only way of behaving. There is no need to overpower and rob other players. But it's the safest option in dangerous world of Chernarus.
Situation looks a bit different when you meet an armed group alone. In such a case you should retreat calmly. More about in the further part of the guide.
There is sure to happen situation, when armed enemy finds you first. If someone approaches you and asks you to not move and give back your weapon, listen to him. It's the best way as he has an advantage over you. But don't let him handcuff you. Try to disorient him with voice chat, but carefully. If you get overpowered, you can try run away by pressing E and Q. But, after all, it's best not to provoke him to open fire.
In DayZ: Standalone you will often visit cities or stop somewhere to search for ammo or food. But in most cases it's connected with attacking and defending some particular areas.
Fire exchange at the fly control towerDamage system in this game is very realistic, sometimes one or two shots kill you. Due to the randomness of events, you can't be sure for 100% that you're safe (except for when playing on empty server). When somebody is firing at you, you have a little of time to find him and counterattack. What is more, when you die, you most often lose your equipment (it's destroyed or enemy uses hide body option). Exception happens when shoo-out takes place in cities in which you can respawn (e.g. Krasnostav, Berezino). That's why, you should attack wisely and defend rationally.
Before you attack or defend yourself, you need to recall that the game is in alpha version. Because of that, many players use the bug called glitches. It allows to look through walls. To use it, in TPP, approach the wall with gun in your hand and press E or Q to lean out. It's not honest, but majority of the players uses it. So don't be too surprised when enemy knows you position.
Moving carefully within buildings is also important. If there is anybody inside, he'll probably hear you. So avoid running. Before you enter the building, check windows and roofs.
To attack or defend someplace, you need at least two players using some communication device (teamspeak, skype). Exchange of information is crucial. Too little or too much of it and you'll probably fail. That's why, it's recommended to play up to 8 persons in a team. You should also limit information to the most crucial ones. Before you enter the game, you should give names for the locations (hangars, crucial points). It makes the game easier. Good information is short information.
All players love to visit the biggest airport, as you can easily get armed there. So it's get the most detailed description here. When you are attacking this place, think about how to avoid threat - mainly posed by enemy snipers. The easiest way is to get there from south. Stop at the wells and prison a bit to look around for enemy snipers. The most often they are on the control tower or the roof of the shed. When you're sure the terrain is clear, head to the shed, from where make further observations. The best is to run next to the fence, passing on the hangars. Next step is to make a thorough search of the shed (all floors), from where you have a good view. If you still don't have proper equipment, head for the tents. Theoretically, you can also check prison, but there will be a plenty of other players. If you play alone, run through the forest towards the tents (there is a lot of add-ons and ammo to be found there). At the end you find a road leading to the hidden base, which is rarely visited by other players. Following this instruction should provide you rather safe travel.
Defending this place is much more easier than attacking, as there are various locations where you can surprise enemy. In such a way, you can easily collect equipment. For example, as a lonely sniper, set yourself up on the western side of the airport (avoid control tower or shed's roof, as they have no escape routes). When you play in a bigger team, you can focus e.g. for setting up one part of the airport. You can also risk getting into the prison and set your men there. Remember about glitches, which allow to look through the walls. But it may work both ways, so be careful.
Airport at Krasnostav is very often visited by players, new ones and those armed ones. It's smaller than this northern-west one, so attacking it varies a bit. The most dangerous moment is when you approach the buildings, as you'll be under the sniper fire. So it's best to approach the tower and prison from the south. But watch out for incoming fire. If you play in a group, set up a sniper at the fence. What is more, remember to check windows before entering the buildings (locked door often means a trap). You can use glitching and check rooms.
Of course, defending is simpler. You just need a sniper. He can set up nearby the northern forest. From there you can see all buildings, but it's far away. It's recommended to use the proper telescope. Rest of the team should stay in one of prisons or in the control tower. If you play single, choose one of positions above and wait for enemies.
Krasnostav airport is very similar to the one at Balota. The only difference is size of the tent field. If you respawn closer to the south, head for Balota as you're less likely to meet other player. What is more, a lonely sniper may stay under cover of buildings at Chapaevsk.
Airport is also a perfect place to friend other survivor. But remember that there is always a possibility of being backstabbed. You can also do that - this is what survival is about! That's why you should choose your companions wisely.
When you enter bigger cities you always meet other players. Those are often bandits (more about them in Chapter 10) who fires at everything that moves. They like to sit in bigger buildings, like schools. If you have weapon and courage, you can look for them. You'll surely get a nice shootout and maybe some equipment. There isn't one universal tactic for attacking particular city. But you should keep up with some rules: try to run behind fences and at the border of the city and when you hear fires, don't run into the middle of shootout. You should also watch out for windows.
When it comes to defense, there is no such a problem. It's enough to get to the building mentioned in the Chapter 4 and wait for players to come. You can also set up a sniper at some high point (roofs, cranes), so he can observe the city from above.
Here you can find information about the most important medicaments with the usage and some additional hints.
applying salineIn DayZ: Standalone, medicaments are very important. They are used to heal you and others. Luckily, finding them is very easy. It's enough to visit hospital or other buildings listed in the Chapter 4. Below you can find a list of the most important items and way of application.
Icon
Name
Description and application
First aid kit
Aid kit is an item which takes 4 slots in equipment and let you keep up to 6 medicaments inside. It also makes easier to find other medicaments.
Blood bag
Blood bag is very important. It allows you to take blood from others for transfusion. When you combine it with the start kit, it's almost complete set for transfusion. You should have a supply of them in equipment.
IV start kit
Start kit is required for making complete sets for transfusion and applying saline. You should have at least two of it in your equipment.
Defibrillator
Defibrillator serves to resuscitate the unconscious players and requires on 9V battery to work. Although it takes 4 slots, it's worth to be carrying around.
Saline bag
Saline bag combined with the start kit makes a set. When you give it to the player who lose blood, it heals him a bit. You should carry at least one of those.
Blood test kit
As the name indicates, it allows you to check the blood group. It's very important for making a transfusion. You should check your blood group after each respawn, as it changes.
Bandage
Bandage are used for healing purposes, when bleeding status appears. Medical bandage may be used 4 times, while military bandage only once.
Charcoal tabs
Charcoal tabs will let you get rid of food poisoning after eating rotten fruits and vegetables.
Morphine auto-injector
It's very important medicament used mainly when you fracture something. Fractures happen when you fall from something high or in shootouts. You should have at least one of these.
Transfusion (or applying the saline) is used to heal you or other players. You can't transfuse your own blood or transfuse to you someone else's on your own. It means that you need a partner. When the bag with blood is applied, blood bar is renewed. Saline regenerates only 1/10 of that.
Applying of those liquids is very important, because when you lose blood, you start to see world in shades of gray (it's a sign, that you'll lose conscious soon and then only defibrillation will help you). That's why you should always have those medicaments with you.
But before you start transfusion, you need to make sure that blood groups match. This problem doesn't appear when you apply saline. There are real blood groups in this game, so the best donor is player with 0-, while the best receiver the one having AB+. It means that 0- blood can be given to everyone, while player with AB+ can get blood from everyone. If you give not the proper blood group, you kill the receiver. That's why checking the blood group is so important.
Below you can find a table with matching of various blood groups. YES means that there is a match, while NO lack of it. Horizontally you can see the donor blood, vertically the receiver blood.
Blood group
0(-)
0(+)
A(-)
A(+)
B(-)
B(+)
AB(-)
AB(+)
0(-)
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
0(+)
YES
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
A(-)
YES
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
A(+)
YES
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
B(-)
YES
NO
NO
NO
YES
NO
NO
NO
B(+)
YES
YES
NO
NO
YES
YES
NO
NO
AB(-)
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
AB(+)
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
Sometimes you can find a bag with blood at body of killed player. In such a case, use a syringe to take a sample of this blood and check its group.
When you collect equipment, many things may happen. It's limited only by your imagination. This part of guide describes the most popular ones.
Team gathered in of the Chernarus' citiesTwo most typical player's type are bandit and a hero. It's not obvious that bandit is totally bad. Choice is yours, and no one has a right to force you to anything. You should have fun.
When you get a weapon, ask yourself a question: do you need to use it ASAP? If answered positively, it means that you may become a bandit. Such a player treats everyone as a threat and fires at all players. Such a behavior is justified, as everyone is worried about equipment. Typical bandits head to the cities, where newbies are collecting equipment. They like to set up next to big buildings, hospitals and police stations. The biggest battled took place in Elektrozavodsk, but now they happen in Berezino. This will change as the respawn places will change in next patches. Entering one of those places without weapon kills you.
The other typical locations where you can meet bandits are mostly airports. They like to be in buildings like control towers and prisons. You can hunt them down with glitching or use someone else as a bait.
Bandits love to overpower you and use handcuffs. They also often take your blood. Then they grab wood, water and clothes and then feed you with rotten fruits. As you can imagine, it ends with death. Thinks yourself, it that satisfies you.
This type of player just like helping. If you don't feel great in shooting and you don't want to kill innocents, you should try to be a hero. First of all, find several additional food cans and water bottles which you can share. Your task would be to help others. Often it's about information or sharing food with freshly respawned player. Of course, you can also have fun while hunting at bandits. The easiest way is to ask other players if they heard gunfires and then start hunting.
Heroes kill too. No one tells that they don't. But they think that killing the innocents has no sense, as they are no direct threat. That's way many players combines those two types of gaming, what seems to be a good choice. If you do that, you help the weak ones and fire at the armed ones.
When you collect all items you need, there are some curious places to see. One of them is Devil's Castle on north. There is nothing special in term of items, but the view is magnificent. Another fine place are blocks nearby Chernogorsk. It's a bit similar to Pripyat, which lies in Ukraine, nearby the Chernobyl. Don't forget about the ship wreck on north from Berezino. When you enter it, you can admire beautiful views (and collect some items).
This guide is made for the 0.44.123800 alpha version of game. DayZ: Standalone has very bad optimization in alpha version. You can hardly get 30 fps in bigger cities, even playing on good computers. But it should be improved with next patches. For the time being, only multiplayer alpha is available for PC. There are no plans for other modes or platforms. Servers contain up to 40 players.
Singleplayer: No
Cooperation offline (split screen/hot seat): No
Internet Cooperation: No
Multiplayer: Yes
PC: Yes
PS3: No
PS4: No
XBOX360: No
XBOX ONE: No
System: Windows Vista SP2 or Windows 7 SP 1
Processor: Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphic card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or AMD Radeon HD 3830 or Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB
DirectX: Version 9.0c
HDD available: 10 GB
Sound card: Compatible with DirectX
System: Windows 7 SP 1
Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 or better
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphic card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD 7750 1 GB or better
DirectX: Version 9.0c
HDD available: 14 GB
Sound card: Compatible with DirectX
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