DayZ Survival Guide !

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

*Disclaimer - I am not that great with Photoshop, please excuse the poor logo

Welcome everyone, to my DayZ survival guide. This guide will be geared towards new player's who have no clue what to do, and just need that little bit of help to get them on their way, and to more savvy player's who may just not have known a few things i will mention here. I am not, nor will i claim to be, the best in any way (Honestly i would consider myself half assed, haha) But in this guide i will give my tip's on nearly every aspect of the game that i can currently think of. Anyway's, this does it for my introduction, now on to the guide !

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The first area i would like to cover is, of course, the icon's you will see on the right side of the HUD. Going from Top to bottom,

The Ear - This is the detector for how much noise you are making, aka, how much of a dinner bell you are ringing to nearby zombies, best to keep this as low as possible.

The Eye - This is the detector for how visible you are, aka, how visible the zombie's next meal is, like The Ear, keep this as low as possible.

Thermometer - This is the detector for your body temperature. I personally have never really seen a change in this, except for when i was dying once, and it turned red. I only assumed i was really warm then. This will start white, and change varying on your temperature.

Canteen - This can obviously be determined as the detector for your thirst. Yes, you do have to keep drinking water in DayZ. This is survival, not Call of Duty. It start's green, and will turn to orange, and then to red the thirstier you get.

Blood Drop - This is the detector for your health. Like the Canteen, it start's green, and will turn to orange, and then to red.

Knife & Fork - This is obviously the detector for your hunger. As i said earlier under Canteen, this is survival, you need to keep your belly full.

Thing's to watch out for & The Medical Treatments -

Broken Bone - This will appear between the Eye & the Thermometer. This signifies that you have broken your leg's. You will need a Morphine Injection to cure this, which is commonly found in a hospital. If left untreated, you will simply be forced to crawl everywhere.

Shock - This will appear as what looks like 2 white, broken wood slivers, and will appear above the broken bone icon. There is no cure for this other then time. The range of time varies from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. If left untreated, the worse that can happen is that you log out during shock, when you log back in you will be left unconscious for a period of time (Quite a annoyance)

Bleeding - This will appear as a flashing cross in your Blood Drop icon. You will need a bandage on yourself, or another player bandaging you up. If left untreated, you will bleed out your blood, till near dead.

Pain - Pain is different, in the sense that there is no icon for it. The only way to tell if your character is suffering from pain, is to look in 1st person view. Pain is detected by excessive screen shaking, and makes aiming very damn difficult. You will need painkiller's to fix this. If left untreated, then you will just continue to shake, and make aiming very annoying.

Infection - This one is a real bitch. Infection causes you to cough and to lose blood constantly. The only way to cure infection is to treat with Antibiotics, but they rarely spawn. The blood loss stops at 6000 blood, but the coughing will continue, and it attracts nearby zombies.

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1. The most important thing you can do for yourself when you first spawn, is pay attention to the bottom right corner of your screen. In that corner, is the only chance you will get to see where you have spawned, and get any sense of awareness as to where you are at. The text will go as such.

Example Spawn -

Chernarus ----------------------- Not Important, is simply stating the map on which you are on.

Elektrozavodsk------------------ VERY IMPORTANT ! THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO !

Useless Jibber Jabber--------- Again, Not Important

1 (Continued). Using this text, the middle text is, as you can see, the most important line of text to pay attention to. Using the middle line of text is what you use to locate yourself on the map, which i will provide at the end of this guide under References.

2. Before you alt tab to go to the map, it is important to, of course, make sure there are no zombies near you (Obvious tip is obvious)

3. Using the loot map i will provide at the end of the guide, locate yourself on the map, or at least locate yourself in a general area.

4. Another important factor to take into consideration, is whether it is Day or Night. If it is Day, then you have to be ALOT more careful as to where you tread, and your View Distance / Sound Distance from zombies. At night, you still have to be very careful, but your sight detection goes down alot, letting you sneak by at closer distances, but still, do not take this as you can go running by zombies at night, no matter what, you ALWAYS have to be on the tips of your toes.

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At this point, you are probably saying, "Okay Jyphx, i have spawned, im safe, i got my location on the map, but i dont really know where i should plan my route for, any tips ?" Of course i have tips there Billy !

*Disclaimer - If you are reading this, you are now Billy.

Completely New Players

For new player's, i suggest starting your routes towards smaller towns and area's of residence. These are of lower interest to players, and can give you time to focus on learning how to move around zombies, when to move, when to stand really f**kin still, etc. etc. Pretty much teaching you the first step of DayZ, surviving the zombies. When you get into these smaller town's and villages, i would say, unless you are wanting to start repairing a car or some shit right off the bat (not recommended) Then avoid industrial buildings, and instead, stick to residential buildings.

Semi-Seasoned / Seasoned New Players

For player's that have a couple hour's under their belt, then i suggest you route your way to a big city like Cherno, or my personal favorite, Elektro. These places will hold the majority of what you need to get started on your journey. The only difference between this, and the Completely New Player's routes, is that these places will not only hold the threat of zombies, but of other player's as well. I am not claiming in any way that every other player in the game is hostile, but do not take it lightly, this is a survival game, if someone is about to die of hunger, and they see you strolling on by, they will kill you simply THINKING you have a Can of Beans on you, or any food for that matter. And then you just got the Douche Canoes that will kill player's for fun. But that aside, these will hold the greatest early game treasures for players.

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*Disclaimer - These are strictly my opinion as to which area's i think are worth looting, and what you should aim for early on.

For this, i will use a picture of Elektro, and some high area's of interest that i believe new players should focus on.

I will go by the color coordination of the circles i created, to show the better points of interest for newer players in order from most important to least, and of course, what each behold.

The Church - This one, i forgot to circle, but it is the black circle that is below the bus that is below the purple circle. In my opinion, this is the first place a new player should try to hit up. From my experiences (And i find this kinda funny) Churches seem to pack the heat, i've almost always found a pistol with ammo in a church, and they can also behold ammo, food and water.

The Hospital - This is the green circle. This is really only useful if you are playing with other players, for most of the items (Blood Bags, Epi-Pens, etc.) are required that another player use them on you. But here, you can find Blood Bags for hp (*Must be used by another player*), Painkillers for the Pain effect, Morphine for broken bones, Epi-Pens for unconciousness (*Must be used by another player*), and some other medical supplies that are useful.

High Value Residential Buildings - This is the purple circle. Oh, how i cannot praise these enough. I will loot these over a Firehouse, over a Barn, Industrial Building, almost anything. These hold a huge variety of things, specifically utility items, like A Box Of Matches, A Hatchet, Binoculars, A Map, etc. And they do occasionally carry a gun. Other things include food and water, ammo, etc. I highly recommend these for all new players. They are difficult to get to, due to enemy player's and zombies, but well worth the pay off.

Super Market - This is the black circle. Super Market's are only so far down on the list because i would deem the other's in a more demanding supply, but Super Market's are almost always worth going to, as they behold (of course) Food and water, and very often will carry a pistol, and also have chances of spawning utility items, and even bigger packs ! Why, just today, when i had to make a new character, i went into this supermarket on this map, and found a Czech Backpack and a Alice Pack (I prefer the Czech over the Alice anyday, but thats just me)

The Firehouse - This is the red circle. I put this last on the list, because all these things really hold is alot of ammo, and occasionally some good guns. When it comes down to it, if you can find a pistol in one of the other places, you are set, but these are worth stopping by to see if you can land yourself a AKM or something :) But another reason i put it so far down on the list, is because how popular these things can get. What i mean by that is, alot of newer players with less sense, will hear that these things carry guns, and FLOCK to these things. As i said, if you can find a pistol, or like me, find a Lee Enfield (AKA, The Dinner Bell) in one of the High Value Residential Area's, you are just as set.

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To make this a bit easier, i will categorize the tips !

Never stand straight up, EVER. This greatly increases the chances of both Zombies and Bandit's alike of seeing you. Rather, stay in crouched position at best, and you will more then likely find yourself prone 70% of the time, haha.

- Of course, a exception to this can be if your running through the dense forest, trying to cut across a mountain range to get to a city quicker, or something like that.

Never Sprint (Double Tap W) As with the previous rule, This greatly increases the chances of both Zombies and Bandit's alike of hearing you. It's always best to walk slowly, or sometimes it's even acceptable to run (not sprint) in a city, just keep a watch on your sound and sight meter's.

- Double Tap your Left Shift to change the standard movement from Running to Walking, and vice versa.

Be smart with your inventory. Always try and pick things up that you can refill or re-use in some way.

- A example of this would be choosing between a Coke and a Water Bottle

When starting, pick up every kind of ammo you come across (Of course, if you come across food and water, replace the ammo with that), for it is better to have a lot of ammo for a gun you don't have (but can still find) Then to have a gun, but no ammo for it. You never know, you may have passed on those 3 STAGMAG's 10 minutes ago, and come across a M16A2 in a Deer stand :P

- It's not a big deal, you can just drop the ammo that doesnt go with the weapon you find, to make more room for neccessary's.

A lot of people don't know how bags fully work (Don't be ashamed, I didn't know for like the first week, hehe) To use bag's properly, you can click on the bag in your inventory, and a button will appear on the bottom of the inventory screen that says "Open Bag" From there, it opens your bag, and you can "drop" items into your bag, at the top of the screen of your inventory, it will show a number that will decrease when items go in, that is how much your pack can hold. A Standard Coyote Pack can hold 8 items.

- You can also just double click the bag to open it.

- Larger item's like gun's, or car part's, will take up more inventory room in the bag

It's often argued that its better to play with a friend. This being my guide, i will throw in my opinion :) I believe it is better to play with a friend, or just someone friendly you meet with. Bonuses of 2 people are that people are A LOT less likely to mess with 2 people that are armed, you can clear area's faster, you can both hold essentials, or car parts for better transportation, and the list goes on and on.

When falling, try to land in a bush, it will decrease fall damage greatly.

- WARNING ! The previous tip is not proven that i know of, i am going off of personal experiences where I've fallen off buildings and took next to none / no fall damage !

When around zombies, or even around any area with buildings of any sort, pay VERY close attention to your Sound and Sight sensor's.

FACT - Zombies are more sensitive to sound then they are sight. This being said, at 1 bar of sight, you can be MUCH closer to a zombie, then if you were to have 1 bar of noise.

Generally speaking, you want to stay in prone when maneuvering around zombies, especially as a new player, until you can start learning and judging on your own distances relative to the sensors.

It is better to try and raid cities at night, where visibility to zombies will almost always be next to none. Sound will not be affected however, so keep that in mind.

Bandit's are identified by their head being wrapped in cloth (Looking much like a Taliban)

The reason Bandit's have this special clothing is to identify them as killers. You become a bandit by killing to many survivor's.

Kill Bandit's on sight, as they will 99% of time, return the kindness if you don't act.

Bandit's often like to travel in group's, so be VERY weary. If you spot Bandit's in a city, it's often best to just get out of the city, as he more then likely has friends close by.

When traveling in cities, stay close to wall's / cover at all times, as Bandit's tend to favor the sniping technique of taking out innocent's. Also on this note, it is best to avoid open field's, especially any sort of military base (I.E, The Balota Airstrip)

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DayZ Loot Map - This map can be used for both finding your way through Chernarus, and also seeing where you can loot what :)

Youtube - It always helps just to look up a few good video's for starters, or one of many other things you can learn about the game :)

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As of now, this is all i can think of to try and help new players. As I said in the intro, I am still slightly new myself, so as i grow and continue to learn in this wonderful game, I will continue to update this guide, to try and help fellow survivors in making your story. After all, this is DayZ, this is your story, your legacy to tell, and i just hope i can help make it a great one :)

*NOTE* - Please give feedback / Constructive Criticism on my guide, i will appreciate it. I will not appreciate flaming, as this is simply my attempt to help the community a little. I am not asking you to like it, just please, in a constructive way, help me, help the community :)

Edited November 16, 2012 by Jyphx

[OrLoK 16185]

Hello there

*constructive criticism* How wide is your monitor set to? I ask this as your ------ parts of your headers are taking up several lines.

will read through and comment back later

Rgds

LoK

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

I noticed that to orlok, i tried for like 20 minutes trying to get the editing on it just right, but they were always off, and for whatever reason, some times it was putting TONS of spaces between lines of text that i didnt put there. And i have a 24" monitor (And the resolution is something like 1920 x 1600, something like that)

EDIT - Oh, i see what you mean, so on my monitor they look normal, but on smaller monitors and resolutions they take up more lines. I will fix this by just making small lines to seperate instead of huge ones, thank you Orlok for pointing this out.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Jyphx

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Cmon guy's, i know it's not the most dead on guide, but a LITTLE feedback would be appreciated !

[MakeThemListen 51]

Actually a good guide, I've been playing for a while and I didn't know coughing attracted zombies. You sure about that? Good work though, and very well put together. I do disagree on looting priority though.

[meeporized 0]

Oh i like the guide so far its pretty accurate altho i miss some help in avoiding the Zombie problem.

Like giving some hints on how to do it the best way or some tips like "hiding in a bush".

But besides that i think a new player can understand it. If he will see and use it well that i cannot assure. =)

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Thanks :) Today is my off day, so after i clean the family guns with pop's and play a lil more DayZ, ill come back and update this guide, and on the bottom ima add a "My Tip's And Trick's" section :)

[SyKotiK (DayZ) 3]

Thanks for the guide! It really taught me a lot since I just started playing.

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Thanks for the guide! It really taught me a lot since I just started playing.

Thanks ! Just be sure to check back, ima be updating it alot more regularly once i get going and start learning alot more myself :P

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Updated the guide with custom buttons and added a Tips and Tricks question !

[Inception. 9443]

This is great.

Excellent job.

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

This is great.

Excellent job.

Thanks ! Means alot coming from a member of the Forum Team :)

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Bawmp !

[ketsa 41]

Very very well put together!

This would help out a new fella for sure :D

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Very very well put together!

This would help out a new fella for sure :D

Thanks ! If you ever come across new players that seem to be struggling, recommend em this guide ! Trying to get feedback from new player's, so i can see exactly how this would help someone who has no experience.

[Juuls 0]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section but I just started playing a few days ago and am thoroughly enjoying the game. Im hoping to find some friends to hook up and group with but dont mind solo play at all. reallllly looking forward to the stand alone version and so ANYWAYS.....got 2 questions and forgive if they are obviously answered but these things elude me.

1) how does one log off and come back and continue? My only option of logging off is to abort game and if i come back, i have to start over. AND 2) Im hoping this is just a screen setting thing but i cannot see the counter that shows zombies killed, pints of blood, etc. so what am I missing?

And on a lighter note, my very first experience in DAYZ was entertaining. I made my way to a little subdivision off the shore and found a bicycle so I motored my way across the countryside (with some z's in tow) but what an experience. I found myself hitting trees and veering off my intended path awed by the realism and intensity. Just had to share that, I did not know there were bicycles.

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section but I just started playing a few days ago and am thoroughly enjoying the game. Im hoping to find some friends to hook up and group with but dont mind solo play at all. reallllly looking forward to the stand alone version and so ANYWAYS.....got 2 questions and forgive if they are obviously answered but these things elude me.

1) how does one log off and come back and continue? My only option of logging off is to abort game and if i come back, i have to start over. AND 2) Im hoping this is just a screen setting thing but i cannot see the counter that shows zombies killed, pints of blood, etc. so what am I missing?

And on a lighter note, my very first experience in DAYZ was entertaining. I made my way to a little subdivision off the shore and found a bicycle so I motored my way across the countryside (with some z's in tow) but what an experience. I found myself hitting trees and veering off my intended path awed by the realism and intensity. Just had to share that, I did not know there were bicycles.

1st off, i would like to say . . . you lucky mother f**ker, i looked and looked for a bicycle but never found one :| Lol but that aside.

1. There could be several reasons to this. Do you play on different servers every time ? This being the case, more then likely the servers you are playing on previously are private hives. Private Hives are privately owned servers, and not "Official" servers. Unofficial server's are shown by having a small cloud with a X to the left of the server name. If you look at all the filters on the left side of the DayZ Commander screen, there is a checkbox for "Hide Unofficial" This will hide all Unofficial servers. The upside to this is that if you make a survivor on a official server, it carry's over to all other official servers. The downside to this, in my experience at least, is that there are more hackers.

2. This i don't know, and would like to know myself :P

[the LawsOfFire 20]

this should be a sticky in "new players" part of the forum

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

this should be a sticky in "new players" part of the forum

You have my beans sir :P

[SeeBack 1]

Nice going sir :D Have to say this topic helped me out in getting more confident around the map and know what each medical does... Maybe you could add some info about more items and what they do and such... would help me out :)

Edited November 23, 2012 by SeeBack

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Nice going sir :D Have to say this topic helped me out in getting more confident around the map and know what each medical does... Maybe you could add some info about more items and what they do and such... would help me out :)

Sure ! I was thinking about adding a "Items" section, and a tips section on maximizing the use of your backpack, things you should consider carrying, etc. etc.

[Edgar Allen Bro (DayZ) 13]

Bawmp !

[twelfthsense 7]

I am a new "player" (note i haven't played dayz and i am now just downloading armaII off steam, but, i've bookmarked this, and that loot map as well! ill let you know firsthand how this helps a newbie :)

ill give up my beans

[BSB Jimmy 360]

question, do you kill on sight?

[BSB Jimmy 360]

to toggle the debug monitor its in the options. cant remember what its under though havent played in a bit