Due to the very helpful and large community this section is dedicated to community tips for surviving in DayZ
Player versus Player (PvP) Survival
- Do not be afraid to pull the trigger. Most players will shoot anyone they see on sight, no matter how well (or poorly) geared you are. This is usually a result of them being killed by bandits over and over again.
- Despite the fact that you shouldn't be afraid to pull the trigger, you should try to avoid confrontation with any player unless they are exceptionally well geared, and you very poorly. It is not uncommon for someone to receive fire, hide, then return fire and kill their attacker, especially if the original victim is well-geared.
- Regarding the above point, it is also often a better choice to let someone pass by if they have not seen you, especially if you are in a city, as nearly all gunfire will attract zombies from ~150m depending on the gun that you're using.
- If you see someone in a Ghillie Suit, it is almost always a good idea to server-hop, or to run the other way. These players are almost certainly bandits who will have no qualms over shooting a fresh spawn, most well-geared bandits specifically target fresh spawns to get their murder count up.
- If you receive fire, in particular long-range sniper fire (distinguishable by the crack coming a second or two after the bullet) the best course of action is to go Prone (Default Key: 'Z') and then roll left and right (Default Keys: 'Q' and 'E' respectively) sporadically and in a random pattern, this will make it exceptionally hard to shoot you, especially if the sniper or gunman is far away.
- Never, ever turn on your Flashlight during the night, especially if you are in a city like Chernogorsk, Elektrozavodsk or Stary Sobor, these are considered bandit activity hotspots, and your flashlight will stand out like a beacon from kilometres away announcing "I'm a noob! Come kill me!" To every sniper in the area. If it is absolutely necessary to see well at night, either find a Military Flashlight, which has a red light which cannot be seen from range, or adjust your Brightness and Gamma settings.
- If you are pinned down by a gunman at night, i.e. inside a house or behind cover, a good course of action is to throw a Road Flare, this will distract your attacker for several seconds, and, if it is night time and they are using Night Vision Goggles (NVG's) it will also blind them as their vision adjusts. Take this time to get well away from your opponent.
Zombies
- Getting chased by a horde? Run in doors, as zombies are forced to walk, this will significantly help your chances of survival!
- Zombies dislike docks! Use them as temporary safe zones.
- Throw smoke grenades you picked up into zombie hordes that are chasing you just like you would throw a flare, zombies love the hissing noise the grenades make when they go off and will get distracted by it.
- Running from zombies will only serve as a temporary measure, they will not quit following you until you lose line of sight, or are at least 300 meters away. You can also escape running zombies by swimming (Not recommended, as the zombies may swim after you, and you have a chance of losing all your items), or running up a steep hill.
- You can buy time when running from zombies by:
- Swimming
- Running up steep hills (If you sharply zigzag up a hill, you can lose zombies very quickly. This is because the zombies will run straight toward you, directly up the hill, slowing them down.)[Note: As of 1.7.2 this method will no longer work]
- Running indoors
- Climbing ladders (zombies can climb ladders, but takes a while sometimes)
- Running zigzag trough evergreen trees. When the zombies run trough the branches of the trees, they will start walking, just like they do inside of houses
- Zombies may hit through walls and doors, and may in some cases pass through them completely.
- Crowd Control: When you have the ammo and at least a buddy turn the tide and control the horde. Luring them away from your target (house, other zombies) and gun them down together. Even a Zombie Rush is easy to handle when you have a pal at your side. Keep your surroundings and your weapon's noise in mind.
- Zombies will inspect thrown objects, such as tin cans. Use this to your advantage by distracting them when in tough places.
- Zombies react to sound. A good rule of thumb is that if something is making any sound, Zombies might hear it. This for example applies to opening soda cans.
Weapons
- Like all sights in Arma 2 you have Zeroing. When you pick up a sniper, for example the CZ 550; the zeroing is set on 300, meaning you will hit dead center at 300 meters where the crosshair is. If you aim at something that is 450 meters away your shot will be too low (under the crosshair). Adjusting the zero to 400m will give you a better chance to hit your target. If you have higher zeroing you will shoot over the target(above the crosshair). By default, you adjust zeroing with page up/down, and can see your adjustments on the top right of the screen.
- Weapons have different sound when fired, a good thing is to learn how they sound and you can also get the players position where they fire from. This however, requires skill to get an exact pin-point location of the shooter.
- Grenade throws are silent, and therefore will not give away your position.
- Smoke grenades and flares can be used to draw attention away from your location. (Smoke grenades attract zombies)
Loot
- While looting inside a town or city it is recommended you crouch or walk, and stay off main roads. This will significantly reduce the amount of noise and visibility from zombies and players.
- Perhaps the best place to start looking for some serious weaponry is the town hall in Chernogorsk. At the entrance you can almost always find an assault rifle (such as an AKM. If you go around the building, on the corners opposite to the front side, you'll find rain pipes which you can climb on. On the rooftop, you can find all sorts from firearms and supplies, ranging from a simple, yet stylish M1911 to M4A3 CCO with flashlight. So far, AKM, AK-74, AKS-74U, M16A2, M4A1, M4A3 CCO, CZ 550, MP5A5, M4A1 CCO, M1014, and the Winchester 1866 have been known to spawn there. You can also find M107/M240 ammunition up there.
- If you happen to kill another player and start to loot his equipment keep one thing in mind: SPEED! Quickly move to their body and retrieve their gear. Players spawn all over the coast, chances are that player is double timing it to his last known location, that or nearby players have heard the shot(s) and are investigating. Keep in mind once a player is killed, that status is globally announced so a smart player will be looking. You may also need to think over if their equipment is worth the risk.
- If you come across a bandit who is unaware of your presence, you should shoot him, but dont loot his body yet, as bandits ussualy travel in small groups.
- Buildings in general, once they have been cleared entirely of loot, will automatically respawn new loot after 10 minutes only if there are no players within 120 meters of the building in question. So, if you feel as though you are tailing another player and missing all of the loot, just pick everything up and go hide somewhere for 10 minutes, dropping all of the bad items off to the side somewhere (reconnecting or somehow teleporting to within 30 meters of the building will not trigger loot spawns). Keep in mind, though, that this 10-minute timer will be reset if another player ever bothers to go within 120 meters of the building in question.
Assorted tips
- Avoid people in Ghillie Suits like the plague. Chances are they are very well equipped players who are determined to kill anyone no matter how well (or poorly) geared they are.
- Don't be afraid to pull the trigger at another player. Many players have some degree of uneasiness about murder in DayZ, but ultimately the zombies are just a nuisance, the real threat comes from enemy players. If you want to survive you will have to learn to be ruthless.
- It is often a lot safer to shoot enemy players on sight, (especially if they're armed!). This will stop you from getting shot in the back / followed to your camp and murdered.
- At night Never run with a flare or light source in your hands! To better hide yourself at night just suck it up and run in the dark! Please make sure you are doing this in a safe area such as the beach or a well known location!
- If you have to light a flare in a town look up and hold the mouse button to throw the flare farther! Once you throw you will light up and entire path to where the flare falls. This method will also hide your position from any other hostile players in the area!
- Think before you pull the trigger. That should be your main consideration. Gunshots draw in hostile players and zombie hordes.
- During night if you see another light coming your way with your flare/flashlight on, turn it off. When the person approaches you try not to be uncovered by his light and ask him if he's friendly or foe, hold him at gunpoint until you evaluate his intentions.
- If by any chance you were spotted walking at night with a light source and at the same time were shot at, drop on the ground, turn off your light source and roll. Be on a lookout for the shooters muzzle flash.
- If you've come up to a city sign, and can't read Cyrillic, try to describe the letters to other players, who knows there might be someone on the server who actually knows it.
- In case you find yourself staring at the road sign with text like russian text, it might be a good idea to view the Chernarus Map and compare the Cyrillic/Latin spellings of geographical names. It helps in case you are totally incapable of reading Cyrillic letters.
- Lakes, ponds and water pumps you can use as a water supply.
- If you find yourself running into an "invisible wall" (or just a regular wall or obstacle) do not run into it too long for you may break some bones which can cause instant death or be hard to fix.
- Servers differ in difficulty level, regular difficulty allows third-person, has a crosshair, and allows you to see other players nameplates. Veteran servers do not permit these. (This is no longer necessarily true)
- The view field of the game is around 500(?) meters. And this is set by server so everyone has the same view field.
- Zombie only spawn when players are near. So take a minute to observe towns, cities or camps from far away while approaching. If you can spot zombies, players are already on the location.
- If you spot a helicopter crash site or any other point of interest, and only then, (that isn't already really obvious!) do your part to make the server better by marking it on your map. You can place a server marker by double shift-clicking a spot on the map.
this list has been made possible by various members of the community. If you wish to add more, feel free!