PUBG Beginner’s Guide - Battlegrounds Essential Tips and Tricks
This is our PUBG beginner's guide, detailing all the essential tips you need to know for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions.
PUBG has just launched on the PS4 worldwide, after originally only being available on PC, and then Xbox One later on. In this PUBG PS4 beginner's guide, we'll be walking you through everything you need to know if you're only just trying out the game for the very first time, including a range of essential PUBG PS4 tips that you need to know going in.
PUBG PS4 Beginner's Guide
There’s a lot to understand when heading into your first, second, or third game of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds on Xbox One, but chief among them might be the need to scavenge. At the very beginning of the game, when you’re in the airplane, you’ll want to jump out (F key) and aim towards a building on the ground.
Timing your ejection from the plane is difficult in itself, as you’ll want to hit the ground ideally away from everyone else, but still close enough to a building you can loot for weapons and equipment. As you can imagine, all 99 other players in PUBG will be heading for buildings on the ground, so this is tricky.
Once you’ve ejected from the plane, take a look around while in midair, to see if anyone else is nearby. If they aren’t, then you’re in luck, but if there are players around you in the air, you’ll want to head away from them, facing the desired direction and holding W to quickly descend away from other players.
After you first land on the ground (ideally near a building), it might be a good idea to look up to the skies, to see if there are any parachutes landing nearby you. Being aware of your surroundings is key to winning that chicken dinner (the prize for coming first), and being aware of any players that are nearby is absolutely essential in Battlegrounds.
Now that you’re on the ground, head into a building, using Shift to sprint. Scan the building for all the supplies you can scavenge, but remember to shut the door to any buildings you enter once you’re inside. This is because the default state of all doors in PUBG is closed. If you leave any doors open, nearby players will instantly know you’re inside a building.
Remember to check all the rooms of a building that you’re looting, as PUBG often has loot hidden in bathrooms and bedrooms, meaning you’ll likely miss out on some ammunition and healing supplies if you only check the main rooms of a building.
As soon as you’ve picked a weapon up (and the nearby ammo), you’ll want to reload it by pressing R, as weapons don’t come with any ammo already loaded. While carrying ammunition and weapons doesn’t actually slow you down, you will be able to run and move faster with your weapon holstered (X on the keyboard).
Once you’ve looted your first building, you need to understand exactly how the game of PUBG works. When everyone first lands on the ground, you’re given a timer, by the end of which you must have made it inside the white circle on the map (press M to view the map). If you haven’t made it inside the white zone by the end of the timer, a blue circle will gradually close in from the end of the map, till it meets the white circle, gradually damaging anyone caught inside this blue circle.
This process repeats throughout the game, and the white circle gets smaller and smaller every time, essentially forcing players together. Try to stay inside the white circle at all times, and if you do get caught outside of the blue circle, then race to the safety of the white zone as quickly as possible, as you’ll be constantly losing health.
After you have looted your first building, it’ll be up to you to decide what to do next. Did you get all the weapons and equipment you needed in that first building? If you’ve got items like an assault rifle, uzi, painkillers, and a backpack, then the answer is probably yes, and you’re all ready to hit the open world. If you didn’t find any of the previous items, or if you only have short range weapons like a shotgun and pistol, then you should probably aim to loot a second building straight away.
When you’re moving about in the open map of Battlegrounds, the game truly comes into its survival element. You effectively have to be aware of everything happening around you at once, which means you should be near-always checking over your shoulder (hold ALT to look around freely), as well as never running in a straight line for too often, just in case someone has their sights set on you.
An element of stealth is also employed in Battlegrounds, as even the slightest sound can draw attention to you, and alert other players to your location. Bearing this in mind, cars and other vehicles should generally only be used when absolutely necessary, for example if you need to escape the encroaching blue circle. On top of this, it’s a good idea to stay away from wide open areas like fields, and stick to forests and tree lines instead, where possible.
In Battlegrounds, various items like compensators and stocks can be picked up and attached to your weapons, in order to provide some attribute boosts for them. As well as this, you can change the fire mode of your equipped weapon (where possible) by pressing B, switching between, single, burst and automatic fire modes for certain weapons like assault rifles and SMGs.
All Battlegrounds weapons have a certain amount of recoil, that you always have to keep in mind when firing. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to fire in short, sharp bursts when aiming at a mid to long-range target, and saving automatic fire modes for enemies that are in close range to you.
While you're unlikely to rank well after your first game, hopefully this intro to PUBG will get you nicely on your way to winning that first Chicken Dinner. For more PUBG tips check out our PUBG - How to Clear Buildings and Loot Them Safely guide, PUBG Beginner’s Guide - Battlegrounds Essential Tips, PUBG Weapon Stats Guide - Best Weapons and Loadouts, PUBG Vehicle Spawn Locations - Cars, Boats, Buggies, Motorbikes - How to Refuel a Vehicle, and PUBG Loot and Weapon Drop Locations.