The War Z Survival Guide

The War Z Survival Guide by mweagle89

Oke, I see LOADS and LOADS of people whining on the forums about the game and players, because they just FAIL (yes, fail) at the game. In game I also notice a lot of players just not knowing how to play it, how to stay alive. So for a change, I will be contructive and try to help them, instead of robbing them from their hammers. I only died once since the wipe, because I have rules in my gameplay, and they seem to work. The only time I died was because I was too eager to get loot from a players I just killed. I have over 60 guns in my inventory and more than 10 body-armors, while I do not play that much, and I play alone 99% of the time.
I’m not saying this guide is the best, but it will help you getting started.

First things first:

1) KNOW THE MAP

If you do not know the map, you’re screwed. Know where the zombies usually are. Know where some nice loot is. Know what are hotspots for players (Bacially high loot area’s and towns). When you know those area’s, you can try to avoid them if you cannot handle them with your current loadout. And if you need some things, you will know where to find them (safely). For instance: Laketown and the trailerparks towards the crashed chopper are good beginner-places: lot of food/water/meds and sometimes a gun/backpack. Not a LOT of dangerous players there. You can try to get geared up a little by slowely finding loot there, so you can go to more dangerous places, like towns, military zones and the airport.

2) Play according to your situation

Too many times I have read on the forums or experienced in-game that fresh-spawns go into towns to test their luck. Yes, it is really testing your luck, since towns are dangerous if you just spawned with a flashlight: There are more zombies and a lot of places where you can hear footsteps or peak around corners using 3rd person view. If you spawn with not a lot of stuff, go easy on finding stuff, if you want to stay alive that bad. Don’t to running to players with guns, thinking they will not gun you down because you look like a fresh-spawn, since they WILL shoot you. Don’t go attracting every single zombie in the vicinity when you cannot kill them: you are forced to move and that makes you an easy target, both for zombies and players.

If you revive your character, you gain access to your GI with that character. You will always spawn in the vicinity where you died, so it’s up to you how well armed you will send your character into the field. This is a risk: if you spawn with loads of guns, you can also lose them. If you spawn with nothing, you lose nothing, but are vunrable. Choose wisely! Normally, I only spawn with a small/medium BP and a melee weapon (or a .44 Kruger if I have a couple with low ammo in it). This prevents me from losing a lot, while I can still deal with zombies and lone players. I only have a hammer then, so attracting a lot of attention and moving in places where people can easily spot me is NOT A GOOD THING. When around a town, I can enter it, since I have not a lot to lose. But how do I make it out alive? Simple: just see and observe the town for a moment or two.

Do you see zombies? Good chance there are no players.
Do you see players? Try to see how they move and what they have. Don’t go running to him immidiately, it will most likely not succeed and will only get you killed.

If it is relatively safe, you can go into the town slowely. Don’t draw too much attention and try to peak around corners with 3rd person view a lot! don;t expect to be alone, always expect to have “enemies” around you! Be carefull with floors which cause footsteps, since it will give away your position. Remember than you do not ave any firepower, so you need to sneak up to them or wait for players to kill (and stop with the “But I do not kill!!!”, it will get YOU killed).

Basically what this is about: Act according to your gear and stay sneaky and in cover if you see situations you cannot handle, like groups.

And please, don’t use bullets on zombies when you don’t have to…

3) Know the game

Pretty logically, but for some reason, people tend to NOT do this. The game has features, use them!

–Footsteps are pretty loud, so if you hear footsteps, locate which building and wait for the guy to come out, since they always come out. Don’t be too eager to kill or say “FRIENDLY!!!”. Stay patient, stay hidden and wait for the oppertunity where you have the most chance to succeed. If your target gets away, fine. But you are still alive! Don’t take risks you don’t need to take.

–Zombies are attracted to players, especially if you run. So you see a zombie running? Then you know that there might be a players nearby. Try to see where the zombie runs to and be patient again. Try to spot the other guy first, but don’t go looking for him without care: if he spots you first, his chances of killing you are way higher than you killing him. So try to stay in cover, try to expect them to go somewhere and just be safe, until you know it is safe or you spotted the guy.
-Are there no zombies when there should be a couple? They got killed! And since only players kill zombies, be carefull!!!! Possible player in the vicinity!!!

-Knowing that zombies are attracted by players, and especially running players, try to use it! When you want to cross a street, but there are zombies standing there, get rid of them BEFORE you cross the street. It will make the situation easier for you and allows you to solve different situations seperately, instead of all at once. Lure zombies by tapping sprint (shift?) from a distance from them to let the aggro you. Don’t let too much zombies aggro you, since it will be harder, just one at the time. Lure him into a place where it is safe to kill him. Alleys, buildings or even between cars! As long as you are less in the sight of your environment, it is better than killing them in the middle of the street! This way, you lower the risk of getting spotted or getting killed.

–Loot re-appears after about 20/30 minutes, and player-loot disappears ater about the same time. If you notice that an area has no loot, that means that a player has grabbed it! It does not mean that there still is a players within 10 meters, but he COULD be near. Be more carefull once you notice this. He might be near and he might even noticed you and is watching you from around the corner. Be safe, don’t attract attention and if you do not like it, get out of there!

-Careless to say if know the weapons! Know which guns are effective and which ones are not. When with melee weapons, the best ones are the hachet, knife and the hammer. 2/3 blows in the head and a zombie is down. Same with players. Using a bat is slow and ineffective. When you have firearms, know that the shotgun has an extremly small area of effectiveness (meaning low range)n and outside of that area, it is more riskier to shoot at players. For instance: you will instakill players with a shotgun from 5 meters, but from 15 meters you might need 4 shots, due to the spread of the buckshot. So don’t try to shoot people with pistols/shotguns from one side to the other side of the airfield… Use the guns for which they are suited! Shotguns = small range. Pistols/submachine guns = close/med range. AR’s = med/med+ range, Snipers = long range. Don’t try to go out of that zone, it will fail and you will most likely be dead when trying. Instead, change the situation so you can use your weapons properly! Have a shotgun? Be sneaky and get close to your target before letting everyone in the server know your position!

–Third person view is OP! That’s what a lot of people think. People got called cheaters, wallhackers and aimbotters for using the 3rd person view, while it is just using a feature of the game at its full potential. It is in the game, so use it. Use it to peak around corners, to keep an eye on players to see what they are doing, what they are wearing, where they are going and how many there are etc! Don’t feel cheap for using it, since if you do not use it, you give yourself a huge disadvantage. Try to use 3rd person view when just wandering, since if allows you to see way more than 1st person view. Use 1st person view for combat: it allows you to aim properly, to fight effectively. But when out of combat, use 3rd person view to keep a better eye on your surroundings.

4) Use the environment

Cover, cover and cover! There is cover everywhere! Containers, cars, buildings, trees and even bushes! Use everything in your environment as cover. Sure not everything blocks bullets, but visual cover is cover as well. As long as they do not see you, because you are hiding in a bush, you are doing a good job! Trees are perfect for both visual and concrete cover. From under a tree you can watch potential victims and strike when they least expect it.

When in gunfights, hive behind everything you can find and peak over or around it using 3rd person view. Some objects are actually fit for head-glitching (although this game does a good job at preventing head-glitching). Head glitching is a term for an ADS system and “abusing” it. When only your head pops out of cover when looking over a fence, and you go ADS (Aim Down Sights) you can shoot over the fence, while exposing only your eyes. This is applicable in almost every shooter and is extremely exploitable. So use it! I’ve come across a stack of pallets which are perfect for it. Only your head and a part of your torso shows, yet you can fully shoot over them. The perfect piece of cover, since if you are hurt or are being shot at, you can crouch and heal yourself just to go back into the firefight as good as new again!

So stay around cover: you never know when you need it.

5) Run wisely

You have a limited stamina-meter, so you cannot run forever. Sure, you want to move as fast as possible, but when you do that, you might run out of stamina when you actually NEED it. Situation where you get shot at for example, or when you see a guy with guns not looking around and you want to “bargain” with him with your hammer… Only run when needed, it will save your life!
That does not mean you can never run in the open. On the contrary, in the open is boring and to keep the game fun, you might want to get out of there quickly. But you also want/need to spare that stamina. What to do? You run untill your stamina meter is 3/4 full. Then you walk untill the meter is full again, so you can proceed running. This way, you will “never” run out of stamina and you will always have at least 3/4 of your stamina-bar available for those situations where you need it.

6) Some small extra things.

As the title, just some small tips and tricks for a safer trip:
-Always check your back once every couple seconds.
-When finding guns/weapons, put them in your GI. This allows you to spawn with good stuff and you never have to face zombies with your bare hands!
-Be patient.
-Don’t have guns? Then stay out of 70 player servers, pick a less populated one!
-Play with friends, so you can cover more terrain and back eachother up.
-Don’t take risks where you will most likey fail.
-Don’t get mad when you get killed, LEARN FROM IT.
-Never trust players. Wanna help them? Ignore them and let them live. Trusting players result 50% of the time in death.
-Don’t draw unwanted attention.
-Be careful for campers near safe-zones.

TL;DR:

Read it if you fail to survive ffs!

I know it is pretty basic, but for some reason, I see people not using them.
Feel free to place your “tips and trick” for other players, or give some criticism on my wall of text.