Gray Zone Warfare is the newest entry in the extraction shooter and military simulator genre, with a heavy emphasis on realism, whether through weapon ballistics, damage mitigation, hunger and thirst effects, as well as realistic injury treatment mechanics. With the many intertwining systems at play in this game, new players may be confused or lost on how to survive on the island of Lamang. This beginner’s guide will provide you 10 useful tips to help you become the top PMC operator on the island.
💡 Tip #1: Play Slow and Stealthy.
As a general rule for mil-sim games, playing slow and stealthily is ideal for getting the drop on any targets you’re looking to shoot. Running will not only tire you out more but will alert anyone nearby because of the loud footsteps. Going slow and steady while methodically clearing out the area is the way to go. Lamang is full of jungles and farmland, which you can use to your advantage. Hiding within thick foliage will prevent enemies, whether AI or players, from taking the first shot at you.
Always utilize cover as much as you can, as there are many wide-open areas in Lamang with barely any cover. With cover, you can lean left and right using Q and E to keep your hitbox profile in cover while giving you an angle to shoot incoming enemies.
💡 Tip #2: Fight with a Team.
Playing with friends or anyone you know will increase your chances of extracting a full inventory for massive profits. Having someone watch your back will increase the likelihood of spotting enemies from different angles. As a squad, you can coordinate with them on small infantry tactics. They can even bring you out of a coma in case you ever get caught at the wrong end of a gun barrel.
💡 Tip #3: Use the Map Often.
The map of Lamang gives you plenty of vital information to work with, as it provides the locations of friendly players, the amount of cover in a specific area, specific buildings for NPC tasks, and other data that will help you in your raids. Pressing the Tab key will bring up the map, which can help you find your way should you ever get lost in the deep jungles.
💡 Tip #4: Check Ammo Frequently.
It can be troublesome to run out of ammo just before entering a firefight with an enemy. Doing ammo checks can help you stay apprised of your ammo economy so that you always stay prepared in the event that fighting becomes inevitable. You can initiate a check by holding the left Alt key and pressing the V key to count how many bullets are in the current mag.
💡 Tip #5: Start with the Tasks Near Your Faction Base.
Tasks are missions assigned by the many NPC vendors in your base. Completing these will reward you with weapons, armor, ammo, and experience to progress your character further. The best starting tasks are situated in the towns near your faction base, which are less likely to have enemy players in there and can be completed easily once you know the locations of those tasks. These can give you some excellent starting gear and will allow you to trek into farther areas for more difficult tasks and better loot.
💡 Tip #6: Need Gear But Can’t Fight? Be Like a Rat.
Sometimes, entering combat can be too risky to stake your loot over. If you aren’t confident with your current gear or your odds, the "Rat Playstyle" can help you get better gear and fill up your stash box. Like the humble rat, you must avoid confrontations with other PMCs and sneak around the map, gathering loot. This is best used in PvP mode, but should you play in PvE, you can play a little bolder with slightly less intelligent AI.
💡 Tip #7: Keep up Your Nutrition and Hydration.
An army always marches on their stomach. Keeping your character fed and hydrated goes a long way in staying at peak condition for any combat encounters. Food and water are plentiful in the towns of Lamang, which is why you should always keep your hunger and thirst meters topped up whenever things are quiet in the raid.
💡 Tip #8: Modify Your Weapons.
Gray Zone Warfare has many guns that can be customized with different attachments that perform differently. Foregrips, magazines, scopes, and other attachments can be suited for different engagement ranges and scenarios. Is your target beyond 100 meters? Put an ACOG scope on your gun for more zoom. Do you find yourself engaging in close-quarters combat frequently? Put a drum magazine on your assault rifle for more volume of fire. Need better recoil management? Attach a vertical grip to lessen the amount of recoil when firing. You can modify your guns on the fly by going to the inventory screen, right-clicking on the weapon of your choice, and selecting “Inspect” to switch out your attachments. Knowing how to customize your weapons will drastically improve your quality of life when engaging enemies at variable ranges.
💡 Tip #9: Treat Injuries Wisely.
You will eventually have to deal with the realistic injury system after coming out as the victor of a firefight. There are different consumables that treat specific injuries, but they do not heal you directly, unlike most other FPS games. To understand the nature of healing items, we must first understand how your health and the injuries work.
Your primary “health” bar is your blood meter. Losing too much blood will slip you into a coma, which can be fatal for your character. You can restore this meter by using blood packs to replenish your meter. Take note that being shot in the head or in the heart will instantly kill you, regardless of your blood meter.
Starting off with wounds these are always sustained after taking a hit at an unarmored portion of your character. Wounds will cause you to bleed out, draining your blood meter slowly. There are three different wounds: Light, medium and heavy. Light wounds represent grazes and surface injuries, which will go away on their own after some time, but they can be stopped immediately by applying a bandage. Medium and heavy wounds will require the use of a tourniquet to completely staunch the bleeding and prevent you from losing more blood.
Next are bone fractures. Fractures can cause you to lose a portion of your stamina based on the fractured limb. Arm fractures will significantly affect your ability to aim at the target, while leg fractures will reduce your movement speed. Treating these requires the use of a splint to fix the broken limb and continue fighting at optimal conditions.
Organ damage can severely affect your character and can only be treated by using a surgery kit. This healing process is prolonged, taking up to 30 seconds to treat the injury.
Pain is a general condition that will always be a part of any injury in Gray Zone Warfare. While pain is not fatal, it can make your character cough or groan, which might give away your position. Painkillers can treat this condition reasonably easily and should be brought at all times.
To expedite the healing process, you can assign hotkeys to specific pouches with meds in them, which can shave off time by going to your inventory screen and clicking on the healing item. Some injuries can put you down rapidly, so using hotkeys for healing items will get you back into the fight much quicker.
💡 Tip #10: Put the Extraction in Extraction Shooter.
Like its contemporaries, you can keep the loot you find as long as you extract from the area alive. In Gray Zone Warfare, you have a personal helicopter pilot who will designate an extraction zone for you, which you need to head to after completing your mission. To call for your ride home, click on the “Call Transport” button on the map screen. The helicopter will land on the closest LZ you’re at, so make sure to mark the available LZs on your map so you can extract easily and quickly. Be careful, as other players can set up ambushes on LZ sites, so always make sure the area is secure before calling your transport home.
