DayZ is a multiplayer open-world survival FPS, originally set in the fictional post-Soviet Republic of Chernarus. Originally a mod made by Dean Hall in 2012 for the 2009 tactical shooter Arma II, Bohemia Interactive hired Dean and started development for the DayZ Standalone after initial major success of the mod. After 5 pretty unproductive years in early-access, DayZ released in 2018, while the original Arma II DayZ mod is still played on to this day. This is my all time favorite game, despite it being extremely broken and janky.

I have, at the time of writing this, 700+ hours of sneaking around, getting sniped, being robbed, meeting many different people, and dying with them, by them, or never knowing their fate. As a solo, most of this game is spent completely alone, seeing some signs of others while constantly hearing distant gunfire, knowing at any point you'll cross paths with someone. Player interaction is a surprise at any time, and you have no true way of knowing anyone's intentions. Every part of this game is amplified even more on my favorite (though unofficial) map Namalsk, where towns and points of interest are very scarce and survivors must make the same journey to live. The amazing and genuinely harrowing stories I've lived through with complete strangers absolutely make this the best game I've ever put time into.

DayZ has 3 official maps, 2 of which are originally Arma II maps that are based off of real-life regions in the Czech Republic: Chernarus (irl: Ústí nad Labem) and Livonia, (irl: Chřiby mountains) while Sakhal is modelled after the volcanic jungle map Tanoa from Arma III. (irl: Fiji) Though unlike Tanoa, Sakhal is set in the bitterly cold far East of Russia.

There are also a ton of modded maps, but my favorites are Namalsk - set in Russia, Pripyat - set in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, Deer Isle - set in Maine, USA, and Bitterroot - set in Montana, USA. Modded maps usually come with matching loot spawns and animals. Bitterroot, for example, removes eastern guns and adds moose and cougars.

Before You Play

* Player Names, Choosing a Model - In the DayZ Launcher, select "Parameters" and then "Profile name" to change your ingame name. Other players won't be able to see it unless there's a party system mod, or you talk in the ingame textchat. Admins will be able to see your name always. If you want to play as a specific character model, you can only change it by going into the game. Press the big red PLAY button in the bottom left to open the game without loading into a server. Find the "Customize Character" button on the lower right-hand HUD (you might have to use the arrow buttons to flip through until it's there) and then press Save once you're finished. Lots of people use the "Random" spawn button to load in as a different model each life. But you deserve that choice! Use the "Custom" spawn button to use your chosen model.

* Choosing a Server - Now, in the Launcher, go to "Servers". Your two options are the Official tab and the Community tab. The official tab is official Bohemia servers for vanilla Cherno/Livonia/Sakhal. There is a problem with cheaters on Official servers, especially full servers. You can only unlock Steam achievements on the official servers, but besides this, there's not much of a point to choose them over community servers. Community servers are modded servers on any map of any kind, hosted and paid for by a community member. There's an infinite amount of mix and match with maps and mods on DayZ, so choosing a server for you can take a bit of looking.

* DZSA - First off, the DayZ Launcher is extremely slow, but enough for a solo player to find a server. If you're looking for a server by name - or barely any servers are loading - the DZSA Launcher is an external application that does a way better and faster job of finding specific servers. You can join directly into the servers through this as well, it's not just a search engine. The only downside is the lack of the ability to copy and paste server names. The default launcher lets you do this, so I tend to use the default launcher to find a server for my group, and they use DZSA to find it faster.

* Notes on Ping and Mods - Look for servers that have around 20-100 ping for the best experience. It's definitely possible to play on EU servers from a NA standpoint, with a little lag, but if your internet is particularly shitty, lag is a common way to go out due to DayZ's horrible packet loss. You won't be able to move items in your inventory, or block yourself from zombies if you're lagging horribly. 150-250 ping is around where this starts happening. The server will kick you automatically if you go above 300 ping. This means certain death if you get kicked for latency while unconscious, or tied up. Please keep this in mind while choosing a server. Please also check out the modlist of a community server intensely before putting time into the server. The DayZ Expansion mod comes with AI. These AI kill on sight, and are freakishly good at knowing where you are. They will hide in corners and mag dump you. Please also watch out for modded creatures, especially on PVE servers, and extra-especially on Namalsk. Bloodsuckers, Snorks, Alligators, etc. Once I had a clown named Giggles run at me from around a corner. These mods are lots of fun, but for your first time, try to give yourself a chance to live. Mutants are extremely hard to kill to the point where it's better to trap them in a shed than actually deal with them. Custom gun pack mods will fill the loot table with a bunch of useless modded ammo and unusable mounts/etc. If you're overwhelmed by all the mods, just search up "vanilla" and you'll find your perfect match of community servers without a shit load of mods.

* Server Keywords: 1PP is first person only, 3PP is third and first person. PVP is Player v player. PVE is Player v Environment. PvPvE is a mix of both.

Mods I recommend for utility: SchanaModParty, SchanaModGlobalChat, UStamina, sGunplay, VanillaPlusPlusMap, Just Gasmasks, Earplugs.

Mods I do NOT recommend for your first time: DayZ Expansion, dbo creatures, Ajs Creatures, TerjeMedicine/TerjeRadiation/TerjeSkills, ZenSleep

Mods I recommend for fun anytime: Windstride clothing, Dogs, Horses, AirRaids, Cannabis.



* HUD + Inventory Basics - Load in, and take a look around your screen - your character's stats are in the bottom right. They're all very straightforward so you can figure it out. You'll find that temporary indicators will appear to the left of these cores, like the sickness symbol to let you know you've contracted something, the full stomach icon which lets you know if you eat/drink anymore you'll vomit. Other icons include leg pain from falling from heights (multiple stages - if you keep on damaging your legs while seeing this icon you will break your leg) and the fracture icon, which can be accumulated like I said, but it's much more common to break your leg from direct damage like a beartrap, gunshot, landmine, etc.

Your stamina, noise indicator and stance are on the bottom right of your screen. As you pick up items it will accumulate to losing your maximum stamina, but stamina will stay the same "drain" rate and it won't physically slow you down no matter how heavy you are. Your noise indicator will change as you get heavier as well, making zombies hear you from closer, but it's not a big change, sprint-crouching (and crouch-walking at around ~10 meters) will always be pretty a good option for stealth killing and avoiding zombies.

First, press tab to open the vicinity and your inventory. Your inventory is something you'll have to get used to with time because it can be finicky - sometimes items you pick up will automatically go into containers in your inventory. You can also press the arrows to open and close the dropdown to show everything in a clothing item's inventory space. Keep these things in mind if an item you're looking for goes missing! Most of the time, it's within an item you're not checking, or you've closed out of the view of the clothing item you're looking in. The vicinity is everything you can physically see, so the best way to use it is by tapping tab to quickly check an area you're looking at, tapping it to close it and looking somewhere else and tap it and so on.

With your inventory open, drag items found in the vicinity to your hand slot in the center to equip it, and drag or double click items to put it in your inventory. Hold F on an item you're looking at to automatically put it into your hands. Drag large melees (fireaxes, baseball bats, pipes, sledgehammers, etc.) or guns to either of your shoulder slots to keep it on your back. Drag clothing items to one of the matching slots (at first, you'll have to learn the hard way by brute forcing items to your slots to see what goes where - some clothing like shemaghs and bandanas can be worn in different ways - on your head, face, etc) at the top of your inventory. Double click items in your inventory to equip them, and CTRL + left click to quick-drop items into the vicinity.

* Hotkeys - In your inventory, you can either drag an item to your hotkeys at the bottom, or hold down a number key on your keyboard to assign that item a hotkey. By pressing the ` key you can toggle the visibility of your hotkeys. By holding the ` key, your stats, stamina, stance, and noise indicator will toggle. As you learn the game, you'll feel more familiar with toggling both of these to your liking. Personally, I permanently keep my hotkeys off, because I've kept the same mental system of what type of item is which number on my hotkeys. I highly recommend this, it can save your life! Here's my system as a suggestion/example: I always use 1 as my zombie melee. 2 is bandages/rags, 3 is my handgun, 4 is my rifle. From 5-9, it depends on every life and what I've gotten. As a rule of thumb, if you have a weapon like a melee or a gun, if it's not hotkeyed you will barely ever use it. My zombie melee is specifically an item I want to solely use to melee. It won't be my only blade, please use your blades wisely as cutting up rags, opening cans, and gathering bark are absolute life-savers.

* Important Keybinds
WASD to move
Hold middle mouse wheel to zoom in
Hold Q to lean left
Hold E to lean right
Press shift to sprint
Tap C to crouch/uncrouch
Hold C to go prone
Hold left CTRL to slow walk
Hold right click to raise your hands
Raise your hands and walk backwards to melee block
Raise your hands and press left click to light attack. Press shift during to heavy attack.

Hold left alt for freelook
Double-tap left alt to lock free look in place

Scroll through item crafting/interactions using the mouse wheel
If you have a map in your inventory, or the server has a map mod, press M to open it.
If you have a headlamp on your head with a working 9v battery, press L to turn it on.
If you have NVGs, hold L to flip them over your eyes. If they don't have a battery, it won't do anything. But you'll look sick as fuck tbh.

Tap G to change your stance into throwing the item in your hand. The longer you charge your throw by holding left click, the farther the item will go. Release G to throw.
Hold G to drop the item in your hand onto the ground where you're standing.

When it comes to throwing grenades, keep in mind you can't prime a grenade in this game (holding it in your hand unpinned to shorten the detonation time before throwing) - anymore at least. Please note that the center of your screen is NOT where your item will go to, it's skewed. Throwing items accurately is absolutely a skill you will understand with practice only.

* Emotes
To emote, press one of the Function buttons. Press the same button to stop emoting. Some emotes are slightly longer than others, and you can't animation cancel. There are a TON of emotes in this game and I highly recommend assigning your own emotes to the function keys. My favorite - "silent". Your character will hold a finger to their lips as if they're going shhhh...

F1 is to put your hand up in a greeting
F2 is to SOS wave
F3 is to make a heart with your hands
F4 is to flip someone off
F5 is to surrender. you can't access your inventory with this one
F6 is to do a chef's kiss
F7 is to point in the direction you are looking in
F8 is to taunt with your elbow
F9 is thumbs up
F10 is to tauntingly slit your throat
F11 is to commit suicide. You'll need a sharp tool or a gun to do this. And yes it does actually kill you it's not just a taunt like F10. To get out of this pose you can press any other button to cancel. To confirm, press left click after your character has finished the animation of kneeling on the ground.
Hold . to open the radial emote wheel.


* VOIP - Hold caps lock to talk in-game. Double tap it for constant pickup instead of push to talk.
Use the up and down arrow keys to go through the three speaking volumes.
One is whisper, two is normal, and three is shouting. Though it's labelled like this, you won't be quieter on whisper or louder on shout. It's only distances.
Roughly the distances are ~7m, 25m, 45m.
Players can hear you speak clearly in these ranges no matter if they're above or below you.
Gasmasks and biker helmets will muffle your speech incredibly. You won't be understood easily but the voice effect is very entertaining.

* For gun and vehicle HUD/Keybinds check them out in the respective category.
* You'll have to be loaded into a server to see/change keybinds and other game settings.

* Notes on Items - DayZ is an extremely janky game. Sometimes clothing items will not drop on the floor correctly, teleporting upwards, downwards, into walls, etc. If you put an item down and it disappears, before leaving it behind check interior and exterior walls, and don't forget to look up. Most of the time, stuff can be salvaged by searching weird places for it and finding the right angle on the item to hold F to put it into your hands. It happens to the best of us, so keep it in mind to hold your items close. This will happen almost exclusively when you find a clothing item and switch out what's already on you, dropping it to the floor. Instead of doing this blindly, risking it disappearing especially if it's a coat or a bag, put the item you're going to swap out into your hand, and drag the new clothing item from the vicinity directly onto that slot.

I. Basics & Zombies

Basic Survival, Travel, and Looting Spawning Checklist Reparation and Item Quality Zombie Combat/Avoidance, Stealth Killing, Aggroing, mention Event Zombies Okay, you've woken up on the coast. Good morning! You always spawn facing North, so you can always use this to orient yourself a little. Need to eat food and water constantly to regain health/blood. keep yourself warm after/during rain to keep health up if injured/low immunity. block against zombies and climb on-top of things if overwhelmed by zombies. get your hands on guns, weapons, tools. guns will range anywhere between shotguns and pistols in houses, and smgs/assault rifles at military areas. you’ll need a longarm melee weapon for dealing with zombies, and a smaller bladed weapon for opening cans/cutting up shirts into rags. you’ll wanna loot matches or a lighter for faster fire lighting. if you’re on a winter map (sakhal, namalsk, winter cherno) you’ll need to find high insulation clothing. on cherno or livonia etc you won’t have to worry about warm clothing, if you do wear warm clothes on warm maps you’ll find yourself overheating. it’s not pertinent but your character will start to sweat if you’re very warm. it doesn’t kill you but it won’t help you either. sometimes you’ll find yourself on yellow temp at fires. this won’t hurt you. if your clothing is wet and you’re hurt, you’ll wanna start a fire or at least wring your clothes if they’re soaked or drenched. if they’re just damp you can’t wring them. Where to find items.



Zombie Attack Pattern heavy attack but keep an eye on your stam, aim very high for the chance of critting (they also have a neck hitbox as players do) walk towards them after heavy hitting to continue to stunlock them. if you have more than half your stamina bar, which is usual for a fresh spawn, you can keep heavy attacking. you can use light attacks while they’re stumbling backwards, but light attacks won’t be helpful against a zombie that isn’t stunned. you will Always want to heavy attack them.

II. Basic Medical Care

how to disinfect rags with what items, what each sickness looks/sounds/feels like. what diseases are deadly, how long you have to cure it, and with what. in order of most common to least. how to purify water safely, and mention heavy metal poisoning. cant eat burnt, rotten food or drink dirty water or gasoline. blood regen. blood test kits. medical items spawn in hospitals, medical tents, and blue medical buildings. pills can spawn in houses and cars.

III. Food & Water

loot houses, kill animals by listening out for sound cues and running towards them. you’ll want to stealth up to them and aim for their head. if you don’t have a good shot, try slowly rotating around the animals at a safe distance. bodyshots to animals in this game give you less meat and you’re more likely to make them run without killing them. if you have to shoot them at a bad angle, at least be ready to shoot them more than once. if you have a sporter or a MKII you’ll find yourself shooting the animal a lot. meanwhile, these guns will kill with a headshot.

IV. Fires

how to make a fire fast. how fire lighting works. mention damp fuel and tinder.

V. Weapons and Tools

list all weapons in order of short range, medium range, and long range. list tools that are helpful, and tools that have more specific uses (base making).

VI. Firearms

list all guns in order of lowest calibre to highest. how to load mags, unjam your gun and how it even jams in the first place

VII. Advanced Medical Care

everything you can do with medical items, broken legs and splints, unconsciousness and shock, epi/morphine and codeine. kuru and how it isn’t a deadly disease. blood transfusions, blood bags, saline bags, and iv start kits. more descriptive terms for each sickness. broken neck stat, combined foot stress will equal a broken leg, so don’t fall straight down, even laying down and rolling could help you. don’t jump while descending on an angle, be careful around ladders + beartraps on the top of ladders.

VIII. Points of Interest

towns and cities are your go-to for looting food, water, clothing, and guns starting out. more importantly, military bases are high-risk high-reward. for a freshie, you’ll need about 20 or 30 bullets for a pistol to clear a military base. if you can’t find this, when you get there climb on top of something and while heavy attacking the zombies, you’ll lunge forward. try not to fall. provide common military areas for cherno and livonia.

IX. Player Interaction and Death

how to be friendly, how to survive being robbed or chased. how to tell the difference between dead and unconscious people. how to survive getting shot and how its important to wait to bandage in a gun fight. explosives and how to live. bullet snaps and what direction people die in.

X. Vehicles and Bases

car talk. heli talk. warnings for server restarts and unconsciousness while driving. being stuck in animations

Chernarus Lore

You play as one of the many survivors that have immunity towards the zombies. Remnants of the many military forces that swept through the area remain to this day. It's unknown exactly how long after the outbreak the game takes place in, but military force remains to keep an eye on the attempts to kill all of the infected, shown by the periodic artillery events and the random map-wide gas bombs that kill anything they touch including people, animals, and infected. Western forces are shown to have interfered due to the amount of Western guns, ammo, and military clothing.