PUBG is all about fighting everyone around you and becoming the last person standing to get that sweet “Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner.”
A standard game of PUBG begins pretty simply. You drop from an airplane and start looting weapons and gear. There may be players around you who will be doing the same, and they will be trying to kill you, as you have to try to kill them. After all, PUBG is a battle royale, and the last one standing gets to eat a chicken dinner by themselves.
As the game progresses, the safe zone on the map will get smaller as a blue wall of death closes in. If you are outside of the safe zone, you will take damage until you die. Each successive circle will continue to get smaller until players are forced into a fight in a tiny area.
PUBG can be pretty random at times, as are the loot spawns and where the circle spawns, but it’ll never hurt to have a routine that you can rely on.
Considering there are 100 players in each lobby, the odds of winning will depend on how you can outsmart and outlast others. Though shredding through your enemies can look like the ultimate approach to winning, there are more than a few ways to play PUBG. Before deciding the kind of player you are, you should identify your strengths and weaknesses.
If you have a good aim, it may be beneficial for you to take early fights to get your hands on better loot. In any case where you don’t trust your aim, you’ll need to take things slowly and play a bit more strategically to give yourself the best odds of winning.
Here’s everything you can do to win and eat more chicken dinners in PUBG.
Standardize your loot
There are a few things you will need in every single match of PUBG, no matter the case. You’re going to want to find a backpack, a helmet, body armor, and healing items.
Armor means nothing if you can’t defend yourself, though, so weapons are obviously also crucial. An assault rifle will be your best friend. Get familiar with different loadouts and try to play with other weapons from time to time.
While all players will have their favorite weapons and ultimately play with them every match, you may not be lucky enough to find them all the time. Having a couple of standardized loadouts will help you become more versatile, a valuable skill to have in PUBG.
Get to know the maps
Each map in PUBG requires different mechanics to shine. Sanhok, for example, is more about close-range fights, while a map like Miramar favors sniping more.
It’s hard to have a single playstyle that works for all maps, so you’ll need to adapt. Watch guides on each map and learn what you need to be doing while playing each of them. Getting to know the terrain and the environment will help you stay one step ahead of each player in a match.
Fight or loot
The first decision you will need to make in any PUBG match is whether you want to fight right away or if you want to gear up before taking anyone on.
Landing in highly populated areas, like large cities and military bases, will usually mean other players will surround you. If you want a better chance at surviving early on, find smaller towns or cabins throughout the maps to slowly gear yourself and then move into the circle as the game moves on.
To mix things up, you can also land in small towns near highly-contested areas. This’ll give you a chance to loot safely and challenge the survivors of these areas as the zone closes. The players coming out of these populated areas will mostly have nice loot, and you can catch them off-guard with an ambush.
Note that players like those mentioned above also tend to have good aim and fast reflexes, so you’ll be preparing yourself to face a worthy-opponent.
Familiarize yourself with weapons
PUBG has many different weapons, and while some are certainly better than others, it will mostly come down to preference. A submachine gun will help you out in smaller cities in the early game, but you’ll want a sniper rifle and assault rifle for later engagements.
Experiment with different weapons and figure out what you like the most. Try to have a weapon of choice for each gun type in PUBG since other maps will require you to use different weapons based on terrain.
Use vehicles to your advantage
If you find yourself on the other end of the map from the safe zone, a vehicle might be your only hope of survival. But be careful, you will draw attention to yourself by making noise, and enemies will be free to take potshots at you while you’re defenseless.
Vehicles will be more in demand around areas that players will desperately try to move out of due to the approaching blue zone. When this is the case, you can easily set up an ambush by camping near a vehicle. Any enemy players getting into these vehicles should be sitting ducks for you, allowing you to get some extra loot off them before you proceed to the circle.
Play the circles
A solid strategy is to slowly play the outside rim of the circle as it closes. If you do this, you can avoid engagements from long range and gate-keep and pick off foes who are trying to get into the safe zone.
Note that as you approach the game’s final stages, the players playing the center can have an advantage over you. They’ll be likely to secure a nice hideout with a nice view of its surroundings, meaning you can be detected before you get close.
When this happens, you’ll either need to find a vehicle to close the game or continue moving with the help of smokes and cover. You can also take the fight to them with your long-range weapons, but also make sure to cover other angles.
Patience is key
You’ll often find yourself with an itchy trigger finger, but the fight might not be worth it. Measure your surroundings, check your gear, and see if you’re ready for a fight before you go guns blazing and alert the immediate area of your presence. Pulling the trigger too soon could end up in your death.
This makes silencers game-defining attachments since it makes it possible to secure sneaky kills while making it almost impossible for enemies to find you.
Keep yourself boosted, especially during the late game
You can boost your character by drinking Energy Drinks, taking Painkillers, or using Adrenaline Syringes. Players generally keep their available stock of these items toward the late game, which is usually the right call.
Boosting your character will give you a slight movement speed and regenerate health over time to 100 percent. This regeneration effect keeps ticking even if you take damage, meaning it can surprisingly save you with an inch of your health left.
You’ll find yourself in many intense situations before the late game starts, so it can also be a good idea to top up your boost bar to secure an early kill. You’ll likely find more boost in the crate of your opponent you’ll be taking down, and your boosts would go to waste if you were to die right then and there anyway.
Try to use your boosts more strategically and when you have at least 75 percent HP since you can heal yourself up to there easily, even with bandages.
Take advantage of your surroundings
You don’t need to secure your position inside a building to feel safe in PUBG. The terrain is full of trees, rocks, and grass. You can use these gifts of nature to approach your enemies, but always remember that the grass doesn’t render for players that are more than 200 meters away from you.
This means that, while you’ll be able to hide from enemies that are nearby, anyone with a sniper rifle may also be a clear shot on you if you’re hiding in the grass.
Learn when and how to fight
Most PUBG players return to the main menu because they can’t identify when to take fights and when to run away. There’s no point in taking fights that you’re at a disadvantage unless you absolutely need to.
This is a skill that you’ll obtain as you play more PUBG, but you can fasten the process by watching veteran PUBG streamers and content creators. Most will be commentating over their gameplay, helping you understand their thought process and improve your decision making.
By choosing not to engage in a skirmish when you shouldn’t, you’ll live to fight another day, increasing the odds of your survival at the same time.
Always check on your defensive loot
Your vest and helmet will get damaged over time. With less durability to work with on your protective gear, it means that you’ll have less defensive resources to work within your next gun fight. If your gear is damaged, prioritize finding new ones.
A level-three vest may not always be better than a level two vest, though. If the level three vest you found has less than 30 percent durability left, you’ll be better off with a new level two vest.
The same situation can’t really be said for helmets. A level three helmet will always block a headshot even at one percent durability, even though you’ll have no head protection after taking that headshot. This forces you into making a decision, and most veteran players prioritize the headshot protection. If you’re more of a close-range fighter, you can still decide to go for a full durability level two helmet instead of a damaged level three, meaning this heavily depends on your play style.
If you’d like to play better to excel on a competitive level, we strongly recommend watching professional PUBG streams as much as you play the game. You can only get better by watching a player from a higher skill level, and imitating what they do in a match can be a great start to improve yourself.
