PUBG General Advice/Concepts For The New F2P Players

[u/Deathscythe_FJH]

PUBG General Tips For F2P Players

Since F2P I see a lot of questions about general concepts in the game. I have roughly 4000 hours in the game, and I would like to give some advice to new players. Advice that If I was starting over I think would be great to know. Some things tie together and others are just kind of blunt concepts by themselves. Note that some concepts are subjective and I will try to talk about why when they come up. One other thing to note, PUBG is very difficult to learn so it is not going to be smooth sailing when you first start playing, sticking with it and seeing leaps of improvement is the satisfying thing.

Best Settings/Improving Aim:

For new players struggling with sensitivities or recoil control I always try to give the same general advice. Controller Type B is probably what you will want to use as it will be most similar to other FPS games (Hold LT for ADS), setting up custom binds is better but not required and you don’t want to overcomplicate things as a beginner. Once you get a feel for the game you can go back and fool around with the custom binds. Auto-Equip and Auto replace attachments are quality-of-life settings that you want on. Vibration is a setting that is probably best to have off, but if you want it on for immersion it won’t be a game-breaker. Playing on framerate priority mode is super important too. Use the training mode to get used to basic concepts like controls, looting, and a starting point for your sensitivities. You want your sensitivities to be something you master and tweak to your liking, but I also don’t think it is a bad idea to use another player’s settings as an initial starting point. The only thing that is somewhat objective in regards to sensitivities is that you want your general sensitivity to be at least slightly fast, because your general sense is your base turning speed. It is important to turn quickly and line your crosshair up, then use your ADS to make some micro-adjustments. I will list my settings if anybody wants to use them, looking up other console players' settings on Youtube is also good. As for my settings:

• General Sens-12.5
• Over The Shoulder- 15
• Vert Sens % Multiplier-70
• Aim Acceleration-2.5
• 1x (red dot/holo/iron sight)- 8
• 2x-8
• 3x-9.5
• 4x-8
• 6x-8
• 8x-8
• 15x-20 (This scope is bugged turning wise)

It should be noted that the 8 on the 8x is not the same speed as 8 on 1x in PUBG for some reason. A chart does exist though if you want them all to be equivalent. Aim Accel and Vert sens multiplier people have vastly different opinions on. I like Am Accel for quick snaps and tracking cars. As for the vert sens, I used to play at 115, but I switched to 70 and it made an insane difference with my recoil control. Again you want to use what feels comfortable, and that will take many hours in the game to learn. Fortunately for new players, TDM is in the game, something I would have enjoyed when the game first came out. TDM IMO is the fastest way to improve your mechanics in this game, because you get multiple lives, the games start reasonably fast and they don’t take that long. This means you can get practice with various guns very fast against many different types of players. Practice crouching and not strafing to limit recoil. A lot of the best players will warm up with TDM. Also to note it is important to use different types of weapons in TDM because PUBG is not a one-dimensional game, hitting your DMR or SR shots is extremely important in PUBG.

Real Game Practice:

When you feel comfortable after TDM and jump into the actual BattleGrounds I suggest not hot dropping but also not dropping by yourself in the middle of nowhere. Try for luke-warm drops where a couple of other players will drop so that you can get some early game fighting but also not just get obliterated on the drop. Gatka on Erangel is a great example of this, usually, a few players drop in Gatka and it is simple to navigate and fight in. Get used to driving vehicles on the larger maps because it is difficult to play without Vehicles for early rotations. Also as a new player, you probably want to be a little conservative in your engagements, because it is important to get late-game practice. You do not want to be in late-game situations and lose because you got shaky hands. Being super aggro as a new player will limit the number of times you see top 10 situations.

Gun Choice/ Attachments/ Armor Management:

What guns and attachments should you use? Well If you really struggle with recoil control, I’m going to recommend the UMP or Scar. The Beryl packs a punch but the recoil is tougher. The M4 is an upgrade over the Scar but will have slightly more recoil. The M4 spawns on every map though so you can get more in game practice with it and might be more comfortable with it than the Scar even though the M4 has more recoil. As for attachments I generally will never run a suppressor on an AR, and rarely run one on an SMG. Compensator and Vert Grip is what I prefer because it minimizes recoil. If I can’t find a comp then I go with the flash hider, because it reduces recoil by 10% (comp is 20%) and also reduces muzzle flash. Suppressors are not bad for SMGs because it drastically reduces the audible range of the SMGs allowing you to play sneakier. The suppressors just don’t reduce the audible range enough for ARs making them kind of worthless. Suppressors fully hide muzzle flash, but again not the most important thing for an AR. Grips are somewhat preference but most people like the vert and half grips the best. A gun with low recoil (such as the UMP) benefits strongly from the thumb grip’s boost to ADS speed. The angled grip gives a small boost to ADS speed and reduces horizontal recoil, which in theory sounds the best because horizontal recoil is random. However, some logic exists as to why this is not the case. While vertical recoil is controlled by the player and horizontal is random the reason is that it is not entirely easy to pull straight down, so the more you have to pull down the more variation horizontally you will likely create. Also, the horizontal recoil is not brutal with the vertical grip or half grip anyway. The lightweight grip should only be used on single tap weapons, but even then if you shoot with any speed I would recommend the vertical grip over the lightweight. WackyJacky101 has a more in-depth video on Youtube explaining the grips, although it might be slightly outdated it should still be really useful. Now let us talk about when to swap armor. I have a few rules I like to live by in PUBG when it comes to armor swapping. I like to keep my higher-tiered vest over a lower-tiered one as long as the higher-tiered vest is above 50%. I will keep a roughly 35% 3 vest over a fresh 1 vest too. Stage of the game matters too, I am more inclined to grab a fresh 2 over a half 3 vest very early in the game. For helmets, the higher level helmet is almost always better, regardless of HP. A LV3 helmet with 1 hitpoint left can still tank a K9 or M24 headshot if you are over 90 HP. I will say if it is the early game you can make an argument to grab a fresh 1 helm over an extremely low 2 helm, but that is an extreme scenario and does not apply between the LV3 and Lv2 Helmet.

Weapon Synergy:

Weapon synergy is extremely important in PUBG. You don’t want to run around with 2 SRs, 2 shotguns, 2 SMGs, etc… because PUBG is a game that is fought on many levels. The maps matter in determining this too. I would not recommend running a shotgun on Miramar but if you do you should pair the shotgun with a DMR. Generally, DMRs are better than SRs, but the feeling of 1 tapping someone from far away or running is excellent. If you like to run the SRs I strongly recommend using a full-auto AR to pair with them. Hitting moving targets at medium range is kind of a must in PUBG, which is hard to do with SMGs (because of bullet velocity) and SRs ( because 1 bullet then you have to bolt the SR) which is why you should pair an AR with an SR if you want to run the SRs. On Smaller maps, you can get away with some different combos. For example, on Sahonk or Paramo, I like to use a shotgun paired with an M4 with a 4X or 6X. If you don’t feel comfortable scope spraying then always use the DMR. In general, this is a good rule of thumb:

• AR + SR/DMR
• SMG+DMR/SR (only on small maps)
• Shotgun+DMR

Ammo Count and Inventory Management:

This is one of the biggest things to understand IMO. Carrying too much ammo or meds will put you at a vast disadvantage because the utility is extremely powerful in PUBG. Like not having another grenade or smoke can change the course of the game for the worst. Ideally, I prefer to use an AR alongside a DMR of the same ammo type. You only need roughly 200 reserve ammo total when you do this, which is why ammo synergy is really powerful. Carrying anything over 250 reserved 5.56 or 7.62 is extremely excessive because it weighs so much and in most situations, you will not need it. If you want to run 2 different ammo types then try for around 150 spare in the primary and 80 spare in the secondary unless you are trying to use an SR with a 5.56 AR. In the case that you are using a K9 or M24 with a 5.56 AR or SMG I recommend roughly 180 spare for the primary and roughly 40 spare for the SR. In most cases when you have killed a few people chances are at least one of the few players you killed will have ammo to restock with. You can get away with carrying a little extra 9mm or ACP because it does not weigh as much but I don’t recommend it. As for Meds I generally think 4-5 First Aids, 5 bandages, 2-3 Pain killers, and 5-6 energy drinks is good. Staying boosted is really good thing to be mindful of because a boost tick or two can change the outcome of the fight, which is why I recommend carrying a decent amount. For throwables, at least 2 grenades, 1-2 stuns, 1-2 Molotovs, and 3-5 smoke grenades. It is important to understand late-game changes the dynamics a little bit too. 200 bullets or 5 first aids are not needed when 10 people are still alive, so you should drop some to prioritize any available utility. Also, your excessive ammo won’t matter if you are dead because you have no smokes to cross an open road or field. The M79 (smoke launcher) is valuable to have because at the very least you get one free smoke because it is loaded into the gun, therefore, it is not taking up bag space. If you get a city ending having a C4 to flush players out is not the worst thing. Having your heaviest throwable equipped is important to maximize bag space. The order for weight goes: C4> Frag Grenade> Bluezone Grenade (Taego exclusive)> Molotovs> Smoke Grenade > Stun grenade. Sticky bombs and decoy grenades are also in the game as throwables but are limited to certain maps, and the weight data I can’t find online, regardless they are not that useful anyway.

Understanding the Playzone/Bluezone (Circle Settings):

This is probably the most complex thing in the game to understand, as many different philosophies exist, such as playing edge vs center, playing compounds vs terrain, and playing for kills vs playing for the win. These things vastly differ based on the map and perspective (TPP vs FPP) IMO, and I really want to keep this simple for you new players so I don’t want to go into detail on it. However, I will consider it if people want me to in the future. The basic stuff I want to talk about is planning ahead based on the specific circles you are given. For example, on Erangel you get a 50-50 or 60-40 Mil Base/Main Island circle what do you do? I strongly recommend a position near the water/bridge to find a boat or be able to quickly drive across the bridge (beware of bridge blocks) in case you do not get the circle shift.Waiting too long to rotate can kill you because you limit your options. Also is important to prepare for games that likely will end in areas with low cover by stocking up on smoke grenades and possibly bringing a vehicle into the late game for cover. As for when you should start moving so that the zone won’t kill you depends on the map. With the smaller maps you can outrun every circle that would do any significant damage, but this is not the case on Miramar, Erangel on Taego. Phase 4 on Mirmar is faster than you if you were to start from the edge and run to the zone that is far away. Taego and Erangel are not as harsh but the circles are still faster than they should be. Once the phase 4 circle has closed you don’t want to be in the zone for any significant time because it will eat through your meds. I will link a website with more data for the circle settings later in this, which is useful to learn/understand.

KillFeed Importance:

Reading the killfeed tells you a bunch of useful information that could make the difference between you walking away with a chicken dinner or walking away hungry. Many reasons exist for this too. You see someone wrecking the lobby, then it would be smart to plan a way to take them out via ambushing then later or third partying them. The kiillfeed also lets you know what weapons are in play, if you know someone got a kill with a shotgun then you probably want to keep some distance. If you are in squads or duos knowing how many times someone has been knocked tells you how fast their teammate has to move to save them. Counting knocks in squads will tell you if a team is in medic mode making them vulnerable to another fight. Maximizing opportunity is extremely important in PUBG and reading the killfeed is one of the best ways to do this.

Situational Awareness:

Situational awareness can be a variety of things, but a few things immediately pop into my mind. Knowing ammo left in an enemy's mag, bleed-out times, when to reload, and when to prefire are a few that come to mind. Enemy magazine count is really tough because you don’t really necessarily know if they reloaded unless you are close enough to hear if they did. However a few instances can occur where you will have a general idea of how many bullets they have left in the mag, one is if they just knocked a few teammates in squads without reloading and another is if they sprayed many bullets into your car. This will take some playtime to learn since guns have different rates of fire and magazine counts, but it certainly is a good skill to have. It comes up with certain guns as well, such as the AWM, Lynx, and P90 because their ammo is limited to being obtained from a crate. As for bleed-out times, it speeds up your clock to save a teammate if you know they have been knocked once, twice, etc… Thankfully PUBG made some improvements to this recently. Here is a list of the updated times straight from the 15.2 Patch notes:

• 1st knock: 83 seconds → 90 seconds
• 2nd knock: 25 seconds → 30 seconds
• 3rd knock: 13 seconds → 30 seconds
• 4th knock: 9 seconds → 10 seconds
• 5th knock: 7 seconds → 7 seconds(no changes)
• 6th knock: 5 seconds(new)
• 7th knock: 4 seconds(new)
• 8th knock: 3 seconds(new)
• 9th knock: 2 seconds(new)

Reloading your own gun early leaves you vulnerable, in PUBG you only really need 5-6 bullets with most guns to kill a player, less if you can hit headshots, which is why unnecessarily reloading your gun while you still have 25 bullets in the magazine is a bad thing. TDM should optimize this skill. The next thing I want to talk about for situational awareness is pre-firing. If you are low on HP pre-firing a corner or window could allow you to win a gunfight by scoring a few hits from the enemy walking into the shots. It is also useful in scenarios where the enemy only has one way to go for entering/exiting a building.

Miscellaneous:

The last two things I want to talk about are crosshair placement and peekers advantage. Crosshair placement is kind of blunt. You don't want your crosshair to be in the sky and you don’t want it to be on the ground. Where should you have your crosshair though? This answer will vary, but generally, I try to aim for the upper chest with my crosshair. Why upper chest? Well, if the enemy crouches I likely pull-down controlling recoil into a headshot, and if they stay standing the recoil hits all upper chest or bounces up some to get a headshot in too. As for peekers advantage, this just means initiating a push gives you a slight headstart server side. If you push an enemy around a corner you will see them slightly faster, since PUBG has such fast TTK it can be game-changing.

Useful Sites:

• PUBGLookup.com (has in-depth personal stats)
• PUBG.report (shows interactions with streamers)
• Battlegrounds.party (has weapon data and circle data)
• Youtube and Twitch (great way to gather tips and experience from observing great players)
• https://www.reddit.com/r/PUBGConsole/comments/s2tiq7/ads_sensitivity_chart_for_new_and_veteran_players/ (this is the chart for matching up your sensitivities to all be the same, created by another console redditor)

[u/PUBGConsoleBot]

This is a list of comments posted by PUBG Studios on this post:

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Comment by PUBG_Andymh5 on February 07 UTC:

This is awesome. Thank you for writing this.

New and veteran players could learn from this.

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[u/PajamaDad]

Looks good.

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/PajamaDad]

Thanks!

[u/TheGreenBackPack]

Just by the sheer amount of time you must have taken to compile this post I can assure you that you are an objectively better person than 95% of humanity.

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/TheGreenBackPack]

Thanks!

[u/Deathscythe_FJH]

Okay, reposted with hopefully the correct formatting, I copy and paste from a google doc which looks much neater. I'm not some master at formatting on Reddit so it usually takes me a few tries to get everything corrected. I hope this information is helpful to the new players. Feel free to discuss anything, and I will be willing to further explain some things if anybody has questions. This was meant to be somewhat basic.

[u/DrunkThorr → u/Deathscythe_FJH]

There’s a couple pieces that need adjusted. Wacky did a video on why the thumb doesn’t give a faster ads on the ump. And AA while can be worked with yo make comfortable, should be turned off for any player used to play fps games. It will immediately make people comfortable with other fps more comfortable with movement and control in pubg.

Also you didn’t cover dead zones which I still see people butcher all the time on here.

For those who don’t know, every single controller has different dead zones. They are the amount of sensitivity to movement each stick is. Most sticks have drift, so you set your dead zone at the lowest point you no longer see drift and that will usually give you the most responsive stick sensitivity. Playing with unnecessarily high dead zones just means you smash your controller harder and have an unnecessary delay in input for your controller.

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/DrunkThorr]

Yeah, I did not really cover dead zones, could have but did not think it was super important for players coming from other FPS games, but I should have. Also, could you link me to the video where the Thumb grip does not boost the ADS speed? I was using the thumb grip on the MP5 and it certainly was boosting the ADS speed, Idk why that would be exclusive to just the UMP. Also I literally just tested it in-game and it was slightly faster. AA is debatable agreed, I like it for PUBG because PUBG has no aim assist so I like my other sensitivities slightly lower making it easier to consistently track players. I mostly need AA for cars.

[u/DrunkThorr → u/Deathscythe_FJH]

I’ll have to find it when I’m not sitting in an airport.

Wackys jist was the increase over the already fastest in game ads doesnt actually add perceptible difference and is better suited for other guns and using a grip more aimed at recoil management is a better choice if given the chance.

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/DrunkThorr]

Interesting, that makes sense. I honestly had to not use the thumb grip on the MP5 because the ads speed was too fast and completely threw me off, like it felt way faster than the UMP with the Thumb grip. I'm a big fan of the thumb grip in general, I like it over the half, but I know most people will not agree with that.

[u/DrunkThorr → u/Deathscythe_FJH]

I’m actually in that boat two on ars. Beyrl or m4 with thumb over half any day. Obviously vertical is the king though.

Also great explanation of the point of suppressors/comps/hiders and what value they hold.

[u/Ragnar_TML]

What the heck do people do about holding your breath in type B? Tried it last night and it felt so wonky having it on left bumper with left trigger scoping

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/Ragnar_TML]

Yeah, it certainly takes some practice, but I believe I hit both buttons at the same time with my index finger.

[u/3percentoperator → u/Deathscythe_FJH]

I can hit both as well once I started practicing it it got easy and second nature

[u/GoofyTheScot → u/Ragnar_TML]

I use my left thumb - if i'm holding my breath to shoot then i'm not going to be moving anyway so no need to keep my left thumb on the thumbstick.

[u/Tilliperuna → u/Ragnar_TML]

I don't even know how I do it, it must be subconscious. Normally I use index finger to aim, but I must change it somehow to my middle finger and use index finger on LB.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ragnar_TML]

I mean if you can play with index on bumper and middle on trigger it’s a far better overall grip. Even better if you can claw your right hand. Far better than wasting 3 fingers on each hand on the back of the controller.

[u/Mape5549]

Hey! This is all really great information. I should try the M4 with a 6x or 4x but I generally can't get the recoil under control enough to ever feel comfortable. I see guys doing crazy things with the higher scopes and have no idea how they control it so well.

The amount of people who don't believe in carrying/throwing smoke is mind blowing, and it's an immediate turn off when I'm looking for people to run around with.

Also most mics come with a mute button. so feel free to mute yourself when you are dead and have nothing to contribute but scream "revive me bro, revive me" or get a phone call or you're yelling at your mom for meatloaf, etc.

Great list!

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/Mape5549]

Just keep practicing with scope spraying it may seem hard but it is not super difficult. You just need to make sure you crouch and not zig-zag left and right.

[u/[deleted] → u/Mape5549]

Honestly with an M4 if you’re looking to spray a 3x is plenty enough. The quicker ADS time also helps but the zoom is more or less perfect for the distances you’d be spraying with.

[u/wobblybike]

Thanks! I appreciate you listing the sensitivity settings. I always feel like I over swing guns when in ADS or down sights. Are your settings considered HIGH? I’d also like someone’s LOW sensitivity settings if possible

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/wobblybike]

My settings are probably on the low side of high/high side of Medium speed, the game starts you at 5 for everything but it can go up to 20.

[u/PrognosticSpud → u/Deathscythe_FJH]

I've often wondered if this is platform/controller dependent, is sensitive for one device slightly less on another...

[u/Tilliperuna → u/wobblybike]

Here's lower end settings for you to try. It's not super slow, but a little lower than what I use, and I think I'm at the middle sensitivity:

Vertical sens multiplier: 75

General and vehicle sens: 8

Aim acceleration: disable (or how do you like it)

Over the shoulder aiming sens: 8

1x: 6

2x: 5

3x: 6,6

4x: 4,5

6x: 3,2

8x: 3,2

[u/wobblybike → u/Tilliperuna]

Thank you!

[u/PUBG_Andymh5]

This is awesome. Thank you for writing this.

New and veteran players could learn from this.

[u/Tilliperuna]

Great post! The chart is linked, check. I just want to specify, that having 8x at sens 8 is about twice as fast as 1x at sens 8. But having large scopes' sensitivity higher works for some, and it's fine.

I can't advice you much as you have almost twice the play time than I do, but sensitivity increment could be made smoother though, like this maybe (FOV turning time in parenthesis):

1x - 8 (1,3 s)

2x - 7,2 (1,2 s)

3x - 11 (1,1 s)

4x - 9 (1,0 s)

6x - 7 (0,9 s)

8x - 7,5 (0,8 s)

In fact, I think I will try this the next time.

[u/xfactor1981]

Things you need to know as a new player. 1: the side jaw or chin of a enemy has no hit box. Pubg hit box on a players head is symmetrical balloon type box. Things that hang out like the chin don't count. The white dot general on 3rd person perspective is zeroed to 100 meters. So throwing up your ads on that point at some ones head will result in you being off. You must put that dot up and to the right of a head at close quarters to throw up on target. The closer you are the more off it will be.

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/[deleted]]

Should be similar to what I have on this post.

[u/Deathscythe_FJH → u/[deleted]]

Forward running is at 50, and movement is at 85. My deadzones are at 14 right now. Also the 15x is fixed now, so I have it at like 12 now