I like my axe

[deadactionman 2]

Hi All,

I've been playing the Arma series since OpFlash days, but I've only been playing DayZ for a couple of weeks and now that I've worked out how to use my axe as a primary weapon, I just can't bring myself to trade it for a a rifle. The burdon of having to loot for ammo and the fact I can't find anything silenced, makes the axe my best friend. I've tried picking up and putting an AK into my Alice pack, but if you press the wrong button at the wrong time, the rifle vanishes (along with it's ammo). I know I can put the axe back on my toolbelt and/or drop the rifle to make space when I want it back but it's way to slow when dealing with an advancing horde.

Everyone else seems to be running about with some sort of rifle and I'm worried I'm doing something wrong, or missing something vital.

Does anyone use both an axe and rifle or is there another way to silently kill the walking dead? Are there any melee weapons I can carry instead of a pistol? Great game, I'm just getting fed up avoiding other (heavily armed) players.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Blondedash 403]

range dominates range dominates. nuff said.

[Mos1ey 6301]

Most people tend to avoid the zombies completely TBH.

I usually either lead them in to a building then swap my rifle for my hatchet or just lose them.

[Oompa 25]

The only valid reason to spend ammo on zombies is if an idiot team mate gets himself trapped, or you find yourself trapped by some ingenious machination on part of the highly complex AI.

[Blondedash 403]

Most people tend to avoid the zombies completely TBH.

I usually either lead them in to a building then swap my rifle for my hatchet or just lose them.

knew you would come and yeah we discussed this an another thread kinda :)

[deadactionman 2]

Ok thanks guys, I'll favour a rifle tonight and see how I go. Lookout for my fly-ridden corpse and well stocked Alice Pack :)

[herrjon 478]

Yes, just lose the zombies, no need to even axe them a question. You can use a crossbow with some practice, but it's not very good PvP wise. If you really have to, use your sidearm or a quieter rifle such as the MP5A5, or even without that, most assault rifles aren't too terribly loud, and if you find an M16, M4, or G36 variant, all those and more can be loaded with STANAG SD ammo, which doesn't aggro zeds. Just be prepared to leave quickly, as any nearby bandit will be on your tail.

One gun I love to use is the M249 SAW. It's only 80m aggro range, 2 shots zeds, has 200 rnd. belts, and can be loaded with STANAG and STANAG SD. It can clear the zeds with ease and is big and bad enough to hold it's own in a firefight. You can only find them at heli crashes and barracks however, so happy hunting!

http://dayzdb.com/da...apon-comparison

reference chart for audible range for zombies and such

Edited March 27, 2013 by (TMW)HerrJon

[PrimalBanana 0]

I tend to just run away.

[OrLoK 16185]

I also like mine as does Slaine above.

Edited March 27, 2013 by orlok

[AshleyP 121]

Does anyone use both an axe and rifle or is there another way to silently kill the walking dead? Are there any melee weapons I can carry instead of a pistol?

There's a crowbar - which is rubbish, it's less powerful than the hatchet - and a machete, which is rare, and a bit superfluous because it's no better than the hatchet. I hope that the standalone introduces the following:

- lethally sharp boomerang

- combat yo-yo

- those steel fans from Yie Ar Kung Fu

- pocket sand

- a rubber horse mask, so that the zombies assume you're a horse

When I started, I used the hatchet all the time, for the same reasons as yourself. It's a silent one-shot kill that never runs out. You just funnel the zombies into a building, and thwock! Yes, thwock.

But I had exactly the same problem with the bag. The game tended to try and stuff the rifle AND its ammunition into the bag, and so on the one occasion I got hold of an SVD I started with ten magazines and ended up with three without firing a shot. In the end it became untenable. I like to have a utility gun in my hands and a long-range killer in my backpack, which leaves no room for a hatchet. Now I either run past the zombies or I try to plug them in the head with a Colt 45.

Back when magazines respawned, SD ammunition and one of the M16 variants or the M249 was an even better option - If you never depleted the magazines completely, they grew back - but nowadays you can't rely on having them. The problem with firing off a rifle isn't so much that it attracts zombies, it's that it gives away your position to other players (albeit that they would probably have noticed the zombies chasing you already).