Beginner tips for Gray Zone Warfare: Aiming & firing, survival, resources, more

Gray Zone Warfare has a lot of hidden mechanics that players need to learn to survive their incursion on Lamang Island. Here are some useful beginner tips that players can use in GZW.

Gray Zone Warfare throws players into a realistic battlefield, where every misstep can kill them and make them lose everything. Learning how to handle your gun, your health, your ammo, and your resources, is the key to a successful extraction.

So, here are some beginner tips to ensure you make the best out of Gray Zone Warfare.

• Gray Zone Warfare basic gameplay tips
• Movement & stealth in Gray Zone Warfare
• Map, deployment, and extraction in Gray Zone Warfare
• Ballistics and cover in Gray Zone Warfare
• Health, food, and hydration in Gray Zone Warfare
• Aiming & shooting in Gray Zone Warfare
• Looting, inventory & safe deposit box

Gray Zone Warfare basic gameplay tips

Gray Zone Warfare offers a fully immersive experience to players, so here are some basic gameplay tips you need to know before trying this tactical extraction shooter:

• Friendly fire is always enabled, no matter what mode you play (PvE – Joint operations/PvP – Warfare). Be mindful of your surroundings and consult your map to avoid team kills.
• Players from your faction are marked as blue icons on your mini and world map. If you spot a player in the distance and it is not marked as a blue icon, then it’s a player from a rival faction.
• Instead of deploying the first time you play, try exiting through the door. Following the path from your base, you’ll find a starter area with fewer enemies and small grabs you can loot to familiarize yourself with the basic mechanics.
• Most doors open towards you, so if you stand in front of them, they won’t open.
• To loot/move objects fast press Left Ctrl+right click. This will drop items between containers automatically, you need to sort out the order yourself.

Movement & stealth tips for Gray Zone Warfare

For additional Gray Zone Warfare tips, here’s a full rundown on the basics of movement and stealth in the game:

• When getting down a chopper upon deployment, run towards the nearest cover.
• Use Left Ctrl to move silently, you’ll travel slowly, but undetected.
• Stay down near enemy crowded areas, duck using C, and adjust the height with the mouse wheel.
• Silencers are your best friends, try to get one as soon as possible.
• Try to move in groups, stay with your squad, or accompany other friendly players. There’s plenty of loot for everyone.
• Enemies can hear you at a 50-meter distance, and spot you from 120 meters, or more. So stay in cover.
• Bushes offer no protection but cover the enemy sight. They will make noise as you move through them, so use them to approach from distances.
• Move slowly, with patience. Rushing will only deplete your stamina and turn you into an easy target.
• If your character runs, gasps for air, coughs, or bleeds, enemies will track you down.
• The AI is prepared to approach and corner you, if several enemies spot you they’ll shoot on sight. If a single enemy is in the area, it’ll issue a warning yelp, move towards cover, or call out other enemies in a 50-meter radius.
• Enemies can search up to 250 meters from your last location. They can also initiate pincer attacks if two or more groups of enemies spot you.
• The best approach is always staying hidden/behind cover, using stealth and the environment in your favor.

Map, deployment & extraction tips for Gray Zone Warfare

Here are some basic tips you need to know about map, deployment, and extraction in Gray Zone Warfare:

• There are 2 maps, one minimap GPS tracker map, and one bigger tactical map. The first is accessed by pressing M, the second is on the Map Tab of the Inventory menu.
• To deploy from your base, press on Landing Zones in the global map (press Tab, or I, then go to the map Tab) then select ‘call for chopper.’
• Deployment choppers cannot be used as extraction choppers, so if you see a helicopter carrying players approach, it won’t take you to the base. But if you see that players have called for an extraction chopper (empty), and run to it, be sure to take any available seat.
• To extract, press on Base Landing Zone in the global map (press Tab, or I, then go to the map Tab) then select ‘call for chopper.’ The chopper will arrive at your nearest extraction point, so be sure to stay near one of the Landing Zones marked on the map.
• When the pilot receives the deploy/extract order, you’ll hear a cue calling for the ETA (Estimated time of arrival) check the map for the countdown to be ready for extraction/deployment.
• When approaching a chopper, you need to press ‘F’ to climb on a seat. Only four seats are available per chopper.
• The further away you’re from the base, the longer it will take for the chopper to arrive for extraction.

Ballistics & cover tips for Gray Zone Warfare

Here’s some useful information about ballistics and cover protection that could save your life in Gray Zone Warfare:

• When shooting, your zeroing distance is the range of your weapon. Projectile fall/spread operates differently on each type of weapon and ammo, so be mindful of that.
• Walls, fences, trees, cars, sandbags, and other structures offer different levels of protection. Walls are your safest choice, the more thick the protection, the better. Here’s the classification for cover protection from greater to lesser:
  • Walls, Cars, Trees,
  • Sandbags, Dirt mounds
  • Fences (Wooden or metal)
  • Other minor covers (Barrels, crates, etc.)
• Always stay behind cover when fighting against AI or players, use ‘E’ or ‘Q’ to lean, and aim to avoid being fully exposed.
• Pressing X will make you fall prone, use this in extreme cases where the cover is not enough to cover your full body. Try to crawl towards a better cover if possible.
• Bullets can still hit you through cover, remember, some heavy ammo has penetration capabilities.
• Vests/Body Armor have levels of bulletproof capabilities and are indicated on NIJ levels: IIA, II, IIIA, III, IV (where IIA is the lowest, and IV is the highest protection rate). The armor piece also indicates if it covers the Front (F), Back (B), or Sides (S), so be mindful of this detail.
• The closer your enemy is when shooting the weapon, the more penetration the projectile has.
• Ballistics operate in a quasi-realistic sense, so the more layers of cover/body armor you have, the less probable you’ll be one-shot by an enemy.

Here’s a full explanation of how ballistics work in Gray Zone Warfare:

Health, food, and hydration tips for Gray Zone Warfare

In Gray Zone Warfare, you’ll need to eat and stay hydrated to maintain normal levels of blood (health), energy, and stamina. On that note, here are some tips you should know to survive:

• Keep a steady supply of food and water in your bags. It is the most common loot you’ll find in the game.
• Your blood level is your health: if it reaches 50 % you’ll become dizzy, and after 30 % you’ll enter coma (you can still be saved by players but cannot move).
• Tourniquets and gauze are your best friends, they stop minor and major bleeding.
• Eating and drinking until your levels of energy and hydration are at 100% will help you recover blood faster.
• If you are dehydrated, you’ll lose stamina faster.
• If you are hungry, you’ll become dizzy more frequently when shot.
• Blood packs can recover 25% of your lost blood, but they’ll be less effective if you’re bleeding. Use a tourniquet first.
• Eating recharges your energy, but diminishes your hydration. You should eat first, then drink to maintain high levels of both bars.

Here’s a triage system to understand better how and in which order of priority you should treat wounds:

1. Heavy bleeding: Apply tourniquet immediately, suture the wound, and then apply bloodpack.
2. Moderate bleed: Apply a tourniquet, then suture.
3. Lesser bleed: Apply gauze/bandages.
4. Broken/hurt limbs: Use splint and painkillers.
5. Bruised/Hurt: Use painkillers.
6. Dizzy (after bleeding): Use a blood pack, drink/eat.
7. Dizzy (flashbang/explosion): Take cover, use meds.

For more information on how to heal wounds, you can consult our guide on how to treat injuries in Gray Zone Warfare.

Aiming & shooting tips for Gray Zone Warfare

Here are some additional tips for aiming and shooting better in Gray Zone Warfare:

• Crouching affects stability. Crouch and shoot to augment precision.
• Press Left Alt when aiming to hold your breath and improve accuracy. It’ll deplete your arm strength bar (left upper side of the screen) and stamina.
• Scopes increase accuracy but diminish handling.
• The weight of the weapon determines arm strength depletion for precision aiming, the heavier it is, the harder the less time you can continuously aim.
• Some implements improve handling while increasing the weight. Other implements decrease weight but decrease weapon control. Modifying weapons is all about balance and your fighting style.
• Get scopes and silencers, they’re your best friends for tactical combat.
• You can inspect a weapon by pressing Left Alt+V. You can check your magazine’s ammo by pressing V.
• Falling prone by pressing X only increases accuracy while sniping. Also, it reduces the enemy’s visibility. However, if they see you fall prone, they’ll know you’re there. So, avoid falling prone in combat unless you’re in need of emergency cover.
• There’s no scope gleam/reflection implemented in the game yet. So snipers and scopes are harder to detect.

Finally, here’s a list of beginner weapons that could drastically increase your chances of succeeding in Gray Zone Warfare.

Looting, inventory, & Safe Deposit box tips for GZW

Most of the lootable items in Gray Zone Warfare are laid out in plain sight or the bodies of dead enemies. However, it is important to mention that there are several kinds of containers spread around Lamang Island, most of them hidden behind lock and key.

• Blue UNLR containers are easily identifiable and they contain equipment, weapons, and attachments.
• Large wooden rectangular boxes are a little harder to identify, they mostly contain weapons and ammo.
• Wooden crates contain ammo, grenades, and attachments, as well as the occasional weapon.
• Green ammo crates contain projectile weapon ammunition and might contain AP ammo.
• Fridges can contain food and beverages.
• UNLR Medkits are bright red with a white cross, while regular medkits are white with a red cross, pay attention to them for medical supplies.
• Cash Registers contain money and you can grab some quick cash from them.
• Safes are rare and also hidden behind a lock and key. They contain valuable items and cash.

It is important to mention that players have access to a Safe Deposit stash in their inventories, which cannot be looted by enemy players if they die. The size of the Safe Deposit box varies depending on which version of the game you have.

Finally, remember each item has its own weight, and while you can carry a lot of things, pay attention to the weight bar in the bottom right corner of your inventory.

That’s all the basic knowledge you should keep in mind to dive into Gray Zone Warfare and climb to the top. If you’re looking for specific mission guides and more advice, here’s a full guide section on the game:

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