Basic Unturned ~ Survival Guide

A large Unturned guide that I have compiled based on my experience playing the game. I hope players of all skill levels learn something new here!

Changelog

April 5th, 2021

Added map specific guide for Hawaii

March 29th, 2021

Reworded many things for conciseness
Added more details to some sections
Reorganized some parts

May 18th, 2019

Added notable gear section
Added map specific guide for Russia

April 4, 2018

Initial publication

Introduction

I have wasted a lot of time on played a lot of Unturned, and I have a method that I typically use that works in vanilla PvP servers. Probably 95% of my hours on Unturned are from Vanilla PvP survival servers. Now I would like to share my methods and some tips to help some newer players or maybe some more experienced players that are just bored and looking through guides.

This guide is primarily targeted at vanilla servers on normal or hard difficulty with PvP enabled. Most of these will also apply to modded servers as well, like kit servers and such.

Before You Play

Believe it or not, there are some important things that you can do before you start up your first map. That is customizing your character. There's a few things I would recommend. I would suggest making your character's skin color darker so that it is easier to blend in to surroundings. Bonus points if you have gold and make your character's skin green. Camoflauge is extremely important in Unturned. If you go walking around with a hot pink character, you're just asking to be killed.

Also, make sure you set your skillset to something useful. You may notice that some skills in the ingame skills menu have an icon attached to them - those symbolize which perk that skill belongs to. The only skill exempt from this is Overkill - that does not have a perk attached to it. For example, the crosshair denotes the Spec Ops skillset, whose skills are Dexterity and Sharpshooter. The skillset is important, as on-perk skills are half off and are not lost when you die. I will explain skills in more detail later on.

Game Mechanics

The Basics of PvE Melee Combat

You can aim where you attack with a melee weapon and attack with left click, or use a heavy attack that consumes Stamina (your yellow bar), takes longer to hit, has a longer recovery time, and deals more damage. Where you attack determines how much damage is dealt. You always want to attack a zombie in the head with any melee weapon. This makes a flinch attack almost guaranteed. In PvE melee combat, your goal is to "flinch lock" the zombie, inflicting free hits while the zombie cannot do anything. Some more powerful weapons can inflict flinch without a head hit, but will require significantly more damage. Also, not all zombies are equal. You may notice that some zombies have helmets. They require more powerful attacks to inflict flinch, and take more hits. These are most commonly your military and construction zombies. Some very weak weapons are ineffective against helmet zombies, such as the flashlight, which will only inflict flinch with a heavy attack to the head.
Against multiple zombies, try to prioritize higher threat zombies. Runners should always be dealt with first, and crawlers last. When fighting a horde, melee one then back off so you don't get hit by the others, rinse and repeat.
Make sure you keep your melee weapons repaired. A weak melee weapon deals less damage and at some point stop inflicting flinch. To repair a melee weapon, remove it from your hotbar, put it in your inventory, and go to the "Repair" section of the crafting menu. Most melee weapons require metal scraps to repair. Keep your weapons maintained.
If you are better at melee combat, you can effectively fight most zombies with just your fists (no melee weapon) to save a weapon slot. This involves punching then backing up until you can punch again, rinse and repeat.

Meet the Zombies

The basic zombie is the most common and easiest to deal with. They just walk towards you.
The crawler zombie lies prone on the ground and slowly crawls towards you. However, they do the most damage and inflict bleed.
The sprinter zombie is on all fours. They are the fastest but have less health.
The fire zombie is a normal zombie on fire. When killed, it explodes, causing damage and bleed to nearby players and turns nearby basic zombies into fire zombies. The explosion damage is nullified with a full Firefighter set. Use ranged weapons, preferrably silent.
The spitter zombie has bright acid coming from its mouth. It is a basic zombie that occasionally spits out an acid puddle on the ground. The acid puddle deals heavy damage.
The flanker zombie looks like a basic zombie, but once it aggros you, it turns translucent. Instead of charging you head on, it will try to get behind you and attack.
The mega zombie deals the most damage. All its attacks inflict bleed, including its rock throw attack. They ignore all flinch. You can sometimes find a spot to cheese it, but generally, you need to unload 30/40 rifle rounds to its head to put it down. They have the best loot drops.
The deadzone zombie is found in deadzones. It can be any of the above zombie types, except it additionally explodes into a low-damage radioactive mess.

Skills

After low-tier looting, you may have realized that you have a good amount of Experience points (XP), but you do not know what skills to invest in. There are some skills that I feel are absolutely essential, some that are nice to have or can be pushed off for later, and some that are low priority. These are my opinions.

Essential:
Survival, Immunity, Warmblooded (only if you are on a snowy map like Yukon - useless on maps without extreme cold), Cardio, Exercise

Good To Have:
Crafting, Engineer, Sharpshooter, Dexterity, Healing, Diving, Parkour, Overkill*, Sneakybeaky, Stength

*Overkill Lv6 makes zombies without helmets flinch to your fist. Overkill Lv7 makes all zombies flinch.

Status Ailments

Bleeding (Red Blood Drop), Quickly drops HP
Cause: High damage attacks (sharp traps, gunshots, melees, crawlers, mega zombies, very long falls)
This is the most common and dangerous ailment. Always treat bleeding ASAP.
Remedies: Rag, Bandage, Dressing, Suturekit, Medkit.

Broken Leg (Bone snapped in 2 pieces), Cannot Sprint or Jump
Cause: Snare trap, long falls
These leave you vulnerable since you cannot sprint or jump. Treat it quickly on a PvP server.
Remedies: Splint, Morophine, Medkit

Starvation and Thirst (Fork and knife, Blue water drop), Slowly depletes HP
Cause: Food/water at 0%
Remedy: Eating/drinking

Disease (Green radioactive symbol), Slowly depletes HP
Cause: Disease (green bar) at 0%
Disease drops when eating/drinking anything under 50%, drinking chemicals, eating bad berries, being in a deadzone with no mask, getting hit by zombies, and using adrenaline. Be careful - once your disease is below 50%, it will automatically drop like food and water does.
Remedies: Vaccine, Cough Syrup, Antibiotics, Vitamins, Purification Tablets, Mauve Berries

Deadzone (Skull), Rapidly drops Immunity, and then rapidly drops HP if Immunity is 0%
Cause: Being in a deadzone
Deadzones are high radiation areas on most maps. Being in one will kill you very quickly unless you have a gasmask with working filter.
Remedies: Gasmask/Bio Hood + Filter, getting out

Fresh Spawn - Melee Combat and Early Looting

Your First Goal - A Melee Weapon

You just found a server and joined it. You now have no gear or skills. Your first goal is simple - find a melee weapon. You need a melee weapon to effectively kill zombies without taking damage. Without a melee weapon, it is difficult to fight zombies without taking damage, and near impossible to kill other types of zombies without taking damage. You do not need anything fancy yet, a baton, kitchen knife, baseball bat, rake, etc. is good enough. There is just one thing you want the weapon to do - make zombies flinch when attacked. Let me explain the basics of PvE melee combat.

Melee Combat and Zombies

Moved to Game Mechanics.

Early Looting

As previously stated, your first goal is a melee weapon. From that point, where you go there is entirely dependent on what map you are on. Usually, you want to loot lower-tiered or isolated areas of the map. On Russia, this is the southern farm and campsite area. On PEI, Washington, and Germany, this is whatever town or other area you spawn near. Try not to go in hot areas too early, however. Avoid large cities like Moscow, Berlin, or Seattle until you have decent gear. Avoid large miilitary bases until you have competent PvP weapons on most maps.
You want to get the best clothing possible for your storage slots (shirt, vest, pants, backpack) so you can scavenge longer. You want to find a gun also, so you can defend yourself (or prey on other players). Ammunition is always good to have, as is food and water. There are a few items that you defintely stand out at this tier of looting.
Also, make sure you are constantly getting combat healing meds. Those are items that cure bleeding (see the Status Ailments section under Game Mechanics). The easiest one to get are Dressings. Here's how to make them:
Clothes can be scrapped for various amounts of cloth
2 cloth = 1 rag
2 rags = 1 bandage
2 bandages = 1 dressing
Rags, bandages, and dressings all cure bleeding, but dressings heal the most health. With good enough healing skill, 1 dressing will completely heal you from a rifle shot or two to the body. Remember to hotkey them!

Noteworthy Low-Tier Items

Moved to Noteworthy Items.

The Mid Tier - Looting and PvP Interactions

Mid Tier Looting

You finished looting basic areas and have clothing, a melee weapon, and a bow or a Hawkhound. Now, you move on to the cities for better items. However, cities are generally where you will first encounter other players, especially big cities with a military presence, like Seattle, Berlin, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Also, not all buildings of a city are worth looting. These are the buidings I generally loot and what can be found there.

Gas Stations, Mechanic Shops, garages of houses - Gas Cans, Blowtorches, Stealy Wheelie Automobileys
Hardware Stores, Construction Areas - Generators and other useful base materials
Botanist - Seeds, ferilizer, planters
Fire Station - Gasmasks, Filters (You need these for the high tier - looting radiation-filled Deadzones!)
Gun Store - Civilian Guns/Ammo, Low-Tier Military Guns/Ammo
Pharmacy, Practitioner, Hostipal - Medication
Grocery and other food stores - Food and water

Skills and Status Ailments

Moved to Game Mechanics.

Looting

At the mid tier, you are geared to loot any part of the map except for deadzones. Your goal at this point is getting an assault rifle (military or ranger, doesn't matter), killing mega zombies, and building a base. You can loot the high-tier areas for new weaponry, or lower tier areas to restock on food and water (unless you have a farm running).

PvP

Moved to the PvP section.

The Mid Tier - Base Building

Base Building

The main function of a base is to serve as a safe storage area for your items.
At some point, you will need a base. Your inventory will not last forever, and death will also mean a full restart. You need a home to store items and stock up. The base locations depend on the map. You need to determine what kind of a base you want. Ground level? Skybase? Underwater base? Built into the map? Each have their own pros and cons.
The most common base you will see is on ground level. This is the jack-of-all-trades base. You can keep vehicles (both land and air) there, they are relatively easy to defend, and can be as big as you want. Based on placement, they can also be off the grid and hard to find. However, they are not good at everything. They cannot store water vehicles, and they are easily and very often raided.

Types of Bases
First, there is the regular ground level base. There is nothing special about it - it's just simply a base on the ground. Fairly simple to build, fairly straightforward to raid, but it can do everything you need a base to do. It can store all your land and air vehicles, and water vehicles too if built near a shore. It can store all your items too and is easily expandable.
Very rarely you will find a skybase. They are very hard to raid, as you will need to build a skyramp (which leaves you vulnerable and obvious) or use an air vehicle (hard to find). However, they are also very hard to build. You need to build foundations high into the sky and salvage them afterwards. You can only store air vehicles there, and you need an air vehicle to get there. Lose your helicopter or plane? Well you're stuck without a base.
My personal favorite, although impractial in the long run, is an underwater base. The ultimate in stealth, but nothing else. On some maps, these are very hard to find, especially Hawaii and PEI where there is a lot of water. Washington? Not as much? Yukon? *laughs* They are also hard to build. You need either Max Diving and/or a snorkel/diving tank to build and access them. You need to constantly have a generator and an Oxygenator to stay alive in there. You are limited in your appliance options - no campfires, you need a more expensive Stove. No torches, you need metal to make a cagelight. Also, they are easy to raid - a raider can easily pick which angle loooks vulnerable and invade.
The final kind is the map-built base. These can be hard to find or easy, but the same spot on all servers. You cannot destroy the map, making them hard to raid, and they have few entrances, meaning that a defender can set up a near impenetrable defense. However, there are strong drawbacks. First, others may have claimed the area first, or many others who want that spot can find them easily - they are not necessarily covert. Also, they tend to have zombie spawns. You will need a safezone radiator that is always powered to make sure zombies don't destroy your base. However, the biggest drawback is space. You cannot expand, so you will inevitably run out of space. You also cannot use rain barrels or farm efficiently with rain. For the better locations, you also need your own light. The best examples of this base type are on Hawaii. There are two caves that can be transformed into great bases - the mechanic base and the ranger base. I personally like the ranger base.

What to put in a Base
The most obvious thing to put in a base is storage. Build metal storages (wardrobes and lockers) to hold high-value items like ammo or powerful guns. Use wood storages for lower tier commodities, like crops, basic materials, and low tier guns. But please, keep your raiding gear in hard to reach areas! You do not want to give raiders free C4! Farms are always good for sustainable food, rain barrels are good for sustainable water, pump jacks for sustainble fuel. You want a generator also to power sentry gun. You generally want to make Hostile sentries that will attack all invaders. You usually want assault rifles with high capacity for outdoor sentries. Bonus points if you attach a tactical light to make a searchlight, helping you defend your base at night. Indoors, shotguns are terrifyingly effective at defending small rooms, or SMGs for massive capacity at the expense of firepower. However, these need power to work. Without power, they just look cool. For land bases, a helipad is always nice to have, and easy to integrate into your roof. I'd suggest at least a 3x3 area for a helipad, more of you are not a good pilot, 2x2 if you are skilled, and 1x1 if you're feeling suicidal. If you're base is near water, a water vehicle garage is nice. For a skybase, a landing strip doesn't hurt. Something nice to have is light - torches are the most practical, but cool people use Cagelights. Campfires are nice to have to cook food. Water and Fuel tanks are good for holding backup water and fuel.

The High Tier - Deadzones and Raiding

Deadzones

Preparation

Driving around the Russia deadzone at night.
Deadzones have the best gear that is difficult to get in other parts of the map. However, they are also difficult to deal with, and require a specific loadout to loot safely. First, you absolutely must have a gasmask with spare filters, depending on the size of the deadzone. On Russia, I find 4 filters enough if I have a vehicle or 5 on foot (with maxed Cardio and Exercise). You also need a gun with a good amount of ammunition and a supressor, and metal scraps to repair your supressor on the fly. Deadzone zombies are like mini-flamers. They explode when killed, albeit at less range and less damage. However, all zombies are like this, and you cannot take that kind of extreme damage. A supressor ensures that the entire deadzone does not converge on your location, and to attact less player attention. Check its durability religiously, as an unsilenced shot will lead to an ugly fight, especially if that mega spawned at Silo 22. A vehicle (if you're on Russia) ensure that you spend minimal time in the deadzone. Ammo supply depends on the map. A full Ranger Drum is good enough for Russia, but I sometimes need a second drum if I find a mega zombie.

PvP in the Deadzone
Because of the swiftness needed when looting Deadzones, you are unlikely to find players there. However, it is very much possible, and this will lead to an ugly gunfight, as deadzone looters will also have high-end gear. If you're looting, it's especially bad for you. Your filters do not last forever, so waiting out your opponent is not a viable option. If your enemy is unaware that you are there, you can easily jump them. If not, then you must go on the aggressive. If you find someone in a deadzone, wait for them to leave and jump them - they cannot stay there forever. This works especially well on the Russia deadzone.

Raiding

Sometimes, you want new action or really good loot fast. Perhaps both. Why not raid? It is a very intense operation where you can get fast loot, but can also be very dangerous.

Preparation
First, you obviously need raiding gear. You can choose to either raid with C4 charges or an RPG. C4 raiding is more risky (you need to physically place the charges), but is easier than RPG raiding. Crafting C4 and finding a detonator is much easier than finding an RPG. However, RPG raiding can be situationally safer. You can breach the base from a distance, and RPGs deal more damage to bases. However, you can easily kill yourself breaking storages indoors. In short, entering the base is easier with an RPG, but once inside, C4 is more useful.

Meet the Squad
For raiding, you generally want a squad. The more, the merrier. You definitely want one or 2 solid frontliners - they will be armed with an assault rifle as a primary with a Bluntforce, Vonya, or Devil's Bane in their inventory for indoors. They carry the C4. Give them a good secondary - a nice SMG for close quarters. If you are going solo, this is your role. If you have a very large squad, you can have 2 different types of frontliners - one that focuses on attacking defenders and covering a "demolitions crew". The demolition crew fights players but also destroys the base and storages. A sniper in the back is great if you have a good number of frontliners. The sound of a Grizzly, Ekho, or especially a Shadowstalker strikes fear into the defenders, and can also effectively support the team from a distance. Bonus points if the sniper is well camoflauged.

Showtime
The exact approach of the base raid depends on the shape of the base and the location. Usually, invading from the roof is the best option. However, if a roof entry is not possible, try to enter from as high as possible. Usually, the worst loot and the strongest defenses are on the ground floor.
When inside, you have three objectives, in this order.
1: Rout the Enemy
If defenders are active, kill them first. How this is done depends on the role of each player in the squad. Raiding is a lot easier if you don't have to worry about getting shot.
2: Destroy the Beds
Don't let them reinforce. After killing an enemy, you have 30 seconds until they respawn, and if the base is well-made, 35 seconds until they have a new armed defender. Destroying beds prevents them from respawning nearby.
3: Loot... Quickly!
Destroy containers, destroy doors, and open garages. You want to get the best loot in the base, but do it fast. The explosions and gunfire definitely attracted attention from other players. The base owners could have respawned nearby. You do not want more enemies to deal with.
4: Leave
Time is of the essence. Get in your getaway vehicle and return to somewhere safe to deposit your goods. While you're leaving, it's also not a bad idea to steal some of the vehicles at the base you just raided. Chances are, they have a Stealy Wheelie Automobiley in there.

PvP

Introduction

You will likely start to find other players as well. From here, you can kill players for intense action and more loot, but it is risky since you can die as well. And you will die many times in Unturned - be ready for it.
Also, you can easily choose not to kill players. Some people may appreciate that. Other don't care and will shoot you anyways. When you are trying to be friendly, watch out for warning signs. People charging you, a gun being pointed at you, etc. You can decide to kill someone if you feel uncomfortable. Better safe than sorry. In fact, you will probably be more successful if you kill everyone instead of killing nobody. You will be hated, sure, but you will improve your PvP skills and you'll be more often taking initiative in a fight, which is very important.

Low Tier PvP

At lower tiers, enemies probably have hunting rifles or bows. These will mess you up, but their big disadvantage is fire rate. It is hard to hit you if you move around erratically. You can sprint at full speed in any direction - abuse this to avoid getting hit, then counterattack. Cover and high ground give you a strong advantage as well. With a hunting rifle and good positioning, you can even kill military geared players with a decked out assault rifle. You can also try waiting for someone to approach, then jump them with a chainsaw or shotgun.

Mid Tier PvP

Mid tier PvP is nothing more than an awkward mix of low tier and high tier PvP. The mid tier doesn't really give any new weapons to significantly shake up PvP. The automatic hand guns are annoying at best, and police shotguns are usually not a problem. Lower tier players will probably still be using hunting rifles and higher tier players will have their assault rifles. If you feel outgunned, remember that you can always opt to run away from a fight if a team is bigger than yours or if you don't feel confident with your weapons.

High Tier PvP

Here you have bare minimum a decked assault rifle. You may have a sniper rifle, SMG, or shotgun too. Here is where the real intense PvP happens. At this point, you seriously want to have Sharpshooter greatly levelled or even maxed out to reduce your weapon's recoil the most. Dexterity is also great if you are using some kind of manual action gun (bolt action rifles, pump action shotguns, etc.). Running skills are basically mandatory to maneuver well (Cardio and Exercise). Healing is nice so your combat meds do more.
At the high tier, when against other high tier players, it is generally safer to take initiative when you can, since geared players are more likely to be immediately hostile. This is especially important because assault rifles can beam people at mid to long ranges in a fraction of a second.
Most of the assault rifles generally perform the same. However, the Eaglefire and Fusilaut are not recommended at this point since they do not have a full auto fire mode. The Maplestrike is a very popular option when available, but my personal favorite is the Zubeknakov. Pick a weapon that suits you.
It can be hard to hit shots, especially further away. Always have a scope with you for longer range fights. Yes, a sniper scope on your assault rifle. Seriously. It will make it very easy to hit targets farther away, especially against reflex and holographic sights do not have any zoom whatsoever. This is not like Call of Duty where you get a little bit of zoom - it is literally no zoom, which makes it hard to hit things past point blank, especially at higher FOV settings. Level up your Diving so you can hold your breath with these scopes longer also.
Having a good foregrip on your gun helps control recoil farther away so you can spray better. You usually do not want to use semi unless you are shooting someone from sniper ranges. Knowing how to beam with full auto at midrange will get you much farther. Don't carelessly waste ammo, but don't be too conservative with it, either.

Tips

Dropshotting is ridiculously broken in Unturned. It makes you a smaller target, greatly increases accuracy, and greatly decreases recoil. A bipod makes most games have almost no recoil. Yes, that means a very meta build is an assault rifle with a scope and a bipod.
If you are not experienced in PvP, then it may be tempting to never go out and fight. However, this will not make you better. If you want to practice in a safer environment, join a creative server. On creative servers, you can spawn whatever you want, so join one and deck out your favorite gun and start fighting.
Also, if your server has it, use third person for PvP. Third person is just simply broken. It lets you peek around walls, and most people find it easier to aim in third person than in first person.

Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks

Hotkeys

One of the most important things ever. These let you have easy access to equippable items in your inventory. Instead of opening the menu, right clicking on your Dressing, and clicking Equip, you can just hit "3" on your keyboard to take out a Dressing in the heat of battle. Hotkeying an item is simple. First, you right click an equippable item so that it brings up the menu that shows its description and options (i.e. Equip and Drop). Then, press a number key that you want to map that item to (except for 1 and 2, which are reserved for your primary and secondary slots). So, for a Dressing, I pick "3". I suggest hotkeying any item you will need at any given time. Generally, these are my hotkeys:
3: Suturekit; 4: Dressing; 5: Adrenaline; 6: Grenade; 7: Gas Can; 8: Filter; 9: Umbrella; 0: Binoculars.
Note that you cannot hotkey items that go in primary or secondary slots (i.e. Blowtorch, guns).

Binoculars

Binoculars are easy to find and are very useful at any stage for scouting.
Extremely important in PvP servers. Binoculars allow you to see farther than a 16x scope, does not restrict your mobility like a scoped gun, and has a wider field of vision than a scope. Binoculars allow you to quickly look at something far away. Think you saw a player? Check to make sure. Is that a base? Take a closer look.

On-The-Fly Crafting

This is something that helps a lot when you already have a base, and especially if it is a work in progress. Let's say you have no space, but your inventory is filled with metal scraps. Craft wardrobes, rifle racks, cagelights, etc. to save some space. 10 metal scraps can be compressed to a 2x2 area by making a wardrobe that you could place back at base. If you don't need any item, then you can compress metal scraps into wire. 3 metal scraps can be made into 6 bars, which can be made into 2 pieces of wire. If you go on a metal run, this can definitely help you carry metal more efficiently.

Sandwiches

A grilled cheese sandwich is one of the easiest sandwiches to craft.
You may have a farm, which is nice for sustainable food, but it is not that effective to carry 5 pieces of wheat to restore all your food - that takes up 10 inventory spots, better used for ammo or guns. A more efficient way to bring food is with sandwiches. You need Cooking 2 to make them. When loooting, I pick up wheat, cheese, bread, canned bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes, even if they are low percent (crafting a sandwich will always give a 100% sandwich, even if you have bad ingredients at 0% or something). I also farm some of these when possible. These can easily make sandwiches that restore most of your food and a bit of water, only taking up a 1x1 spot. These sandwiches are the ones I find myself crafting the most since they are easy to make:
Grilled Cheese ~ 2x bread + 1x cheese
BLT ~ 2x bread + Bacon (either canned or from a pig) + lettuce + tomato
Cheese Steak ~ 2x bread + 1x cheese + 1x cooked venison
If you fish, bonus points to you - you can make sandwiches out of the fish you find also!
Tl;dr Sandwiches are more efficient for restoring food.

Seachlight Sentries

If you put a tactical light on a sentry gun weapon, then it will effectively double as a searchlight which can help you defend your base at night. It also looks very intimidating.

Storage Under the Floor

Instead of using floors for the entire first floor of your base, use roofs for the middle parts. Then, you can hide storages under. If you are raided, these items could be left untouched unless your raiders are smart.

Sniper Bullet Drop

Bullet drop matters the most when you are sniping, and luckily there are some fairly easy to remember numbers for sniper bullet drop. For most sniper rifles (Timberwolf, Grizzly, Ekho), the bullet will drop 1 line on a 16x scope every 50 meters, or 1 line every 100 for an 8x scope. For the Matamorez, the bullet will drop 1 line on a 16x every 40 meters, and 1 line every 80 for an 8x. The Shadowstalker does not have bullet drop.

Full Moon Looting

Military areas are dangerous because they tend to be high-priority zones for geared players. However, full moons make zombies dangerous also, so if you want to avoid players, loot these high-priority areas during a full moon. Just keep in mind that this tactic requires a supressor, ammo, and a melee weapon (or maxed Overkill). You do not want to kill a flame zombie with an unsilenced round - the entire military base will attack you. You also want to try to not kill zombies when you do not have to - they can serve as sentries that can alert you to other players.

Unnatural Occurences

Generally, there are unnatural occurences that can alert you to a player's presence. No zombies in an area that should have them? Someone killed them recently - the area is either fully looted, or more dangerously, being looted. Zombies moving, but not towards you? They have aggro'ed onto another player.

Safe Trading

It is always risky to meet other players in a PvP server, even for something like a trade. There could be a trap. The best way to avoid this is trying to arrange your trade at a safezone area. Of course, not all maps have a safezone - this will only work on Russia, Hawaii, and Greece.

Questing

Quests, while seemingly insignificant, can help you gain a significant amount of XP and sometimes exclusive items. For instance, on Russia, you can get military armor, which could sometimes be hard to gain, or the exclusive Fighter Jet.

Barricades

Barricades can easily be crafted out of wood. They can be very handy if you're ambushed in an open area. If there is no cover, take it out and make cover. Make sure you use barricades and not plates, since wooden plates can be destroyed with low caliber gunfire, but barricades cannot. Remember to hot key them!

Crafting Hierarchy

Metal buildables are always the best, and brick is second best. After that are the wood types - Pine wood is the best, followed by maple, then birch. Better buildables have more health and have better uses. Metal storages hold more than pine, which hold more than birch. Pine rifle does more damage than birch rifle. Pine jerrycan holds more gas than birch jerrycan.

Bum Rush Deadzone Run

Some deadzones are pretty small so you don't need a gasmask to loot them. Some examples of this are the UFO on Washington and the various small deadzones scattered around Hawaii. Of course, you will still take significant radiation, so you will want to have a way to bring your immunity bar back up after the looting. Of course, this will not work for big deadzones (i.e. Russia deadzone, Hawaii's Aliani, France's Marseilles).

Raiding with Low Caliber

Some vehicles have HMGs. These include the Hind, Maelstrom, Fighter Jet, and more. HMGs can raid bases, and their HMG boxes are refilled with low-caliber military ammo. Compare this with the other guns that raid - LMGs (i.e. Dragonfang/Nykorev) and sniper rifles (i.e. Grizzly, Matamorez) - that take the far more rare high caliber ammo. These vehicle mounted HMGs can easily raid bases far more economically if the vehicle can access that base. I recommend not raiding with the fighter jet, but all other HMG vehicles can do so easily.

Notable Gear

Low Tier Weapons

Hawkhound
Best low tier weapon. Very strong for PvP. High damage (kills in 1 headshot + 1 body shot against military armor, or 3 body, while only using civilian ammo. Consider using a scope (makeshift scope at the low tier). Works well even in high tier if you're accurate and are in a good position. Any other bolt action hunting rifle works well too (i.e. Schofield).
Find at: Farms, Campsites

Compound Bow/Crossbow
High damage. Can oneshot players with no helmet, and extreme damage to players with one. Silent, ammo can be recovered (but remember to repair it!). Consider explosive arrows in the later game.
Find at: Farms, Campsites

Sportshot/Nailgun/Paintball Gun
Terrible weapons. Scrap ASAP.
Find at: Farms, Campsites, Civilian Areas

Makeshift Rifles/Bows
Powerful weapons, but worse than scavenged counterparts. Consider only on extremely hardcore maps where finding a gun is very hard.
Find at: Crafting

Masterkey
Situational, but extremely terrifying. A good blast up close will oneshot even the most armored players. Useless at longer ranges. Can be sawed off (Saw + Masterkey) for wider spread and the ability to be equipped as a secondary.
Find at: Farms, Campsites

Low Tier Tiems and Loot

Chart/GPS/Compass
Lets you see the map or compass heading. Compass headings are great for callouts in co-op (i.e. "Enemy at 300 behind the tree")
Find at: Campsites (Chart/GPS), military areas (GPS)

Gas Can
Can be filled at gas stations, fuel tanks, or pump jacks. Used to fill vehicles and generators.
Find at: Mechanic Areas

Stealy Wheely Automobiley
Unlocks a locked vehicle.
Find at: Mechanic Areas

Blowtorch
Repairs vehicles and bases. Used to repair more advanced weapons.
Find at: Mechanic Areas

Mid Tier Weapons

Civilian Automatic Handguns (Colt, Kryzkarek, Luger)
Decent at killing zombies. Low damage against players, but better than nothing.
Find at: Civilian Areas

Ace
My favorite secondary. High damage, but less customizable, smaller clip, and more recoil.
Find at: Civilian Areas

Police Shotguns (Bluntforce/Vonya/Devil's Bane)
Deadlier versions of the lower tier shotgun. Generally tighter chokes (Bluntforce especially). Vonya and Devil's Bane are also fully automatic. Consider for sentry guns.
Find at: Police Areas

DMRs (Sabertooth/Snayperska)
Good for mid to long range. Basically hunting rifles, but semi auto and more customizable. Takes Low Caliber Military/Ranger ammo, which is a bit more rare. Consider adding a scope. Muzzle is great at night.
Find at: Military/Ranger Areas

Submachine Guns/Carbines (Peacemaker, Yuri, Calling Card, Viper)
An upgrade to a pistol secondary. Full auto, fast firing, low damge. Good as a backup up close, or to PvP in the water.
Find at: Military/Ranger Areas, Scorpion-7 areas (Viper)

Military Handguns (Avenger, Teklowvka, Desert Falcon)
Not recommended to use. Slightly better than civilian handguns, but use rarer ammo, especially Desert Falcon.
Find at: Military/Ranger Areas

Mid Tier Items

Generator
Powers appliances. 7 generators can make an industrial generator, which has extremely long range and lasts for 12 hours in real time!
Find at: Construction Areas/Hardware Stores

Grenades, Raw Explosives, Glue, Detonator
Used to craft Charges/Rockets for raiding.
Find at: Military Bases (Grenades, Raw Explosives, Detonator), Construction/Civilian Areas (Glue)

High Tier Weapons

Assault Rifles (Maplestrike, Heartbreaker, Zubeknakov, etc.)
Go-to weapon. Good for zombies and players alike. Good up close and at midrange. Can suppress at long range, but not great for killing that far. Also has drum magazines. Consider a zoom scope for longer range, and a bipod to spray better.
Find at: Civilian Areas (America maps), Military Areas, Ranger Areas

Sniper Rifles (Timberwolf, Grizzly, Matamorez, Ekho, etc.)
Long-range monsters. Highest damage, least bullet drop. Shadowstalkers have no bullet drop. Oneshots players without a military helmet, and does 90% damage to players with one.
Find at: Military/Ranger Areas

Rocket Launcher
Boom. Launches an explosive projectile that destroys bases and armored vehicles. Waste on players and zombies. Ammo is craftable. Extremely rare.
Find at: Ranger Areas



Honeybadger/PDW
Assault rifle-like performance in your secondary slot. Internally suppressed, but has more bullet drop and degrades faster. More damage and range than SMGs, though. Taking one out does make a distinct noise, however, so be careful when trying to be sneaky.
Find at: Military Areas, Ranger Areas (Russia)

High Tier Items

Spec Ops Clothes
Provides the best armor in the game, but slightly less space compared to military.
Find at: Military Areas

Gasmask/Bio Hood/Filters
Needed for looting big deadzones. Bio Hood and Gasmask are functionally the same.
Find at: Fire Areas, Scorpion-7 Areas

Food, Water, Medication
Easy to forget when getting super high tier loot. Don't forget!
Find at: Most areas

Metal Scraps
To repair your weapons or make metal base materials.
Find at: Construction Areas, scrapping most guns/melees

Map-Specific: Washington

Washington is the third of the official maps for Unturned, featuring many military areas and thus encouraging frequent PvP encounters, especially since the map is only medium-sized.

Quick Details

Map Size: Medium
Deadzone(s): Excavation Site
Recommended Skill: Intermediate
Notes: Very PvP intensive.

Basic Map Design

Washington has a mix of cities, towns, farms, military bases, and special areas scattered around the map. It's smaller than more recent maps like Russia or Hawaii, and with the abundance of military locations, it's best to prepare for a fight.

Unmarked Areas Map

Spawn and Arming Up

Upon spawning, your first objective is to find a melee and a gun. Your best bet at this is rushing to the nearest military area, as they are numerous on Washington. Avoid Seattle, however, as Seattle often has multiple players in there at all times in a populated server. Chances are, you'll head to one of the military tunnels or convoys, but you could also try checking the military base if you are nearby. You will hopefully at least get a military knife and some military clothing, and if you're lucky, you'll also have a good primary weapon, such as a Heartbreaker. Alternatively, if you spawned near it, you can go to Scorpion-7 for a chance at the Viper or the Shadowstalker railgun.

Looting

After you're armed, you can either keep looting military areas for weapons and ammo or civilian/farm/camp areas for tools, food, or water. If you keep looting military areas, then watch for players and loot fast. If you go for other areas, then keep an eye out for anything useful. If you happen to go into Seattle, stay alert for anything moving, because there is almost always somebody in Seattle.

Base Building

Washington is not too large and locations are not super spread out. As such, it is hard to make a base that nobody will find. You could try building a base in the hills out of sight (like to the east of Shelton Farm and Everett, or around Scorpion-7). You also can try building a base underwater, since a fairly large river runs through the map. It is also not a terrible idea to try fortifying Scorpion-7 if you're active enough to fuel a generator and safezone radiator, as there are only two ways into the building - the top floor and the front door.

High Tier Loot

After you're all set up, your main goal is to increase your armory. Run loot laps around the map, hitting most if not all military areas. Generally, I hit all the tunnels and convoys, the helicopter crash site, the excavation site if I have vaccines or a biohazard hood with me, and the military base at the very least. If you prefer using Ranger gear, then loot the radio towers (including Scorpion-7), the militia submarine, and Heritage Valley.

Map-Specific: Russia

Russia is the first official large map for Unturned, spanning four times the area of medium-sized maps such as Washington and PEI. This allows for less player confrontation, more areas to build bases, and more areas to explore.

Quick Details

Map Size: Large
Deadzone(s): Silo 22, Coalition Base, Oil Rig
Recommended Skill: Experienced
Notes: Tier-based loot map, gradually working north. PvP at high-traffic areas.

Basic Map Design

On Russia, all the spawns are on the southern coast area. This area consists of farms and campsites with low tier loot. Loot gets better the farther north you go. After the farms and camps, there are towns and cities, and beyond those are military areas, the Krovi Estate, and the main deadzone.

Loot Tier Map

Unmarked Areas Map

Spawn and the Low Tier

There are no military areas remotely near spawn except for the unmarked Oil Rig, but that is a deadzone, and you cannot loot it without a gasmask or a way up. You could go to the Liberator to grab some quests, or immediately go looting. Your goal is a full set of clothing, a bolt-action hunting rifle with spare clips/magazines, and civilian ammunition.
If it's all you have, a bow works for looting and fighting down in the low tier area, but arrows take up a lot of space and bows are outclassed by rifles most of the time. I usually run a few laps around the low tier area until I find a Hawkhound or Schofield and some mags. By this point, I have also crafted a handful of dressings and am ready to head north towards the mid-tier areas.
If you would like, there is also an unmarked scrapyard (marked no. 5 on the unmarked locations map above) north of Camp Oleksandr that has a lot of mechanic drops, like gascans, stealy wheelie automobilieys, and blowtorches.

The Mid Tier

The mid tier areas have a variety of locations, consisting of towns, big cities, a firefighter base, a farm, and a mine.
Chances are, you'll go to one of the towns first - Novobirsk, Jhavesk, or Yekativurg. There is nothing too special in these towns, just loot the buildings that have important loot, like pharmacies, fire stations, or police stations.
If you're on the west or middle areas, moving farther north will get you to St. Petersburg or Moscow, respectively.
St. Petersburg has the underground metro system to explore, but it is dangerous to enter without a headlamp or nightvision goggles. A flashlight is not enough, as without Overkill, it will not make the construction and military zombies flinch. However, under there are many hardware and some military item spawns that can help you out. At the surface, there is just about every type of building there - loot the items that you need. The same applies to Moscow, except it has no metro system. Be careful though, as these are big cities that likely have players in them. Listen for gunshots, footsteps, or vehicles.
Keryev Mine has industrial spawns that can help with base building. It also has an abundance of metal you can mine if you have a pickaxe or jackhammer. Be careful when mining, however, as going down in the mine puts you very vulnerable to attackers above you, and with few routes of escape. It's usually better to have a team watch you while mining to be safe.
The Firewatch Base has firefighter spawns and is the best place on the map to find a gasmask and filters. There is also a medical tent for medical supplies. Always stop by if you can, as filters are hard to find.
Lastly, there are two unmarked police areas (marked no. 6 and 7 on the unmarked locations map above) that are handy for civilian ammo or Kryzkareks, and Vonyas if you are lucky.

The High Tier

The high tier area consists of military areas, the deadzone, and the Krovi Estate. Watch our for armed players here.
The Volk Military Base and the unmarked military tunnel (marked no. 1 on the unmarked locations map above) are good areas to check for military loot, and they both have mega zombie spawns. Volk also has a helicopter spawn. The unmarked outpost (marked no. 3 on the unmarked locations map above) also has good loot spawns for military gear.
The Krovi Estate is a mafia house that can spawn the Calling Card SMG, ranger ammo, the Ghost (fastest land vehicle in the game), and the Hummingbird helicopter. Many players also like trying to build a base in its attic.
The large deadzone up north consists of two areas - Silo 22, and the unmarked Coalition base (marked no. 2 on the unmarked locations map above). It is recommended to bring a vehicle to minimize walking time. With a vehicle, 3-4 filters per person is enough. Without one, bring 4-5.

The lowest part of the Silo 22 deadzone.
Silo 22 is basically Volk but with better gear spawns. There are high tier military spawns as well as vehicle spawns, including the tank. The missile silo goes down very deep, and at the bottom is a mega zombie spawn. It's best to kill all other zombies first, then take off your suppressor to fight the mega zombie.

The top of the Coalition Base at nighttime.
The Coalition Base is like militia bases on other maps. It has military-grade weapons and attachments like the Heartbreaker, dot sight, and Viper as well as other militia weapons like the machete and katana. Be sure to kill all the zombies here, as they have a chance of dropping even the PDW or rocket launcher. Yes, I have seen them drop from zombies. Kill them all.
There is also a smaller deadzone in the southeast, the Oil Rig (marked no. 4 on the unmarked locations map above). Its spawns are comparable to Silo 22, just without the vehicles. It also has a mega zombie spawn up top. To loot it, you only need 1 or two filters. To get there, you either need a built bridge (usually someone already made one out of wooden plates on your servers) or an air vehicle. Either have a friend airdrop you in a plane or heli, or you can land on the helipad with a heli. You cannot land a plane here.

Base Building

Since Russia is large, location is very important for your base, especially if you have no vehicle. You could be safer building your base in the south, but you will be far from all the important military areas. The north could be more convenient, but more geared people will see your base, and you're far from easy food and water resources. The east side has the Firewatch Base, but you'll be stuck with weaker birch buildables. Each base has its own pros and cons. Personally, I like to build somewhat near Keryev for the easy metal to upgrade your base.

Map-Specific: Hawaii

Hawaii was the first curated map in Unturned, and the fifth map in the game. It has been retired to the Steam Workshop. It is a large map that has a focus on exploring caves and unmarked locations.

Quick Details

Map Size: Large
Deadzone(s): The Ailani, Helicopter Crash, parts of Mauna Kea, scattered radiation barrels
Recommended Skill: Intermediate
Notes: Many caves. Some require lights or nightvision.

Basic Map Design

The spawns on Hawaii are all on the south island. The north island has better loot, including the military locations. Ranger areas are scattered throughout.

Unmarked Areas Map
Red: Normal Unmarked Area
Green: Cave (may be a deadzone)
Orange: Deadzone

1. Sunken Ranger Submarine (ranger loot)
2. Ranger Island (ranger loot, some coastguard)
3. Beach Campsite (campground loot)
4. Native Ruins (exclusive loot, some camp loot)
5. Ranger Lighthouse Island (civilian loot, ranger loot)
6. Mini Power Station (construction loot)
7. Unmarked Resort (civilian loot)
8. Helicopter Crash [Deadzone] (coastguard and ranger loot)
9. Small Cave (ranger loot)
10. Aegis Cave [Deadzone] (research loot)
11. Mauna Kea Cave (construction and exclusive loot)
12. Ranger Bunker (ranger and research loot)
13. Mechanic Bunker (ranger and mechanic loot)
14. Cave Campsite (civilian loot)
15. Crashed Vehicles [Deadzone] (research loot)
16. Fishing Tower (civilian loot)
17. Hani Farm Cave (civilian loot)
18. Campsite (campground loot)
19. Unyielding HQ Construction (construction loot)
20. Military Checkpoint (military loot)

Caves

One of Hawaii's defining features is its cave system. There are many caves, most of them unmarked and can be seen on the unmarked areas map above. There is one marked cave at the Haiku Stairs, with an entrance on its north and south sides, with construction and ranger loot. Most of the caves are dark and require some sort of light - this can be a flashlight, tactical light (preferably on a secondary since some caves have water), headlamp, or nightvision goggles. Placeables work too, like campfires, spotlights, and cagelights, but these are only practical if you are building a base in one. Some of these caves are also good for bases - more on that later.

Spawn and Arming Up

All the spawns are on the south island with various sorts of locations. For the most part, there is no high tier loot on this island. You will be on the lookout for mid tier weapons, like hunting rifles, police gear, etc. Ideally, your goal is to head towards Pahala since it is the best city near spawn since it has a police station, gas station, and clothing store. Keaau does not have most of these - the only noteworthy stores there are the grocery store and clothing store. However, if you head here, you can also go try looting the Haiku Stairs cave.

Moving North

Once you get to the north island, you will generally have little reason to head back down unless you want to base there or talk to NPCs, since the cities are better and there exists higher tier weapons. Kahuna Gas is a great place to check for gascans and blowtorches (similar to the junkyard on Russia), Kailua-Kona is a big city with just about every type of store, and Hilo and Waikoloa are also decent cities with all the important stores. You can check out these cities for some supplies if needed. Otherwise, you can make your way up to Mauna Kea or the Alika base for better weapons. Mauna Kea typically will have better weapons, including Heartbreakers and Vipers, but Alika gives you a much better chance at getting gasmaks and filters. Alternatively, if you prefer ranger gear, check out the Ranger Bunker (12 on the unmarked locations map) for the best chance at good ranger gear.

At some point you can also start hitting deadzones. The only noteworthy deadzone is that on the Ailani. It is nowhere near as good loot-wise as the Russia deadzone, but still isn't something to ignore. It has your best chance of getting Alicepacks, sniper rifles, and machine guns. The Aegis ship right next to it also can spawn some good ranger loot sometimes. Underneath both is an underwater research facility as well that can spawn good military loot. You don't need a diving tank for it - max diving skill is enough. Make sure you have a light, though, because it does get dark down there, just like the caves.

Base Building

Hawaii has much less empty land space than other maps, which make conventional bases harder to hide. However, there are vast expanses of water, and if you build in the right spot, an underwater base will very likely go very long times without being raided.

Hawaii is also the best map for map bases with its caves, which can be easily fortified. The Ranger Bunker is my personal favorite and allows easy access to ranger loot. The Mechanic Bunker, however, has naturally spawning gas inside of it and is a lot more roomy - it will be harder to fortify, however since it is also much larger. Its size makes it much easier to store vehicles in it, however. The Haiku Stairs cave also has an area that spawns gas - this area can be fortified to be a decent base as well, with extremely easy access to metal nodes and ranger loot. Another noteworthy area is the research area by Holokai Harbor. When the map launched, it was infamous for being an extremely overpowered base location. It is no longer as overpowered, but its underwater area can still be very easily fortified. With a bit more effort, the whole thing can be fortified as well. There are three entrances to worry about, but they are all very tight choke points which can be focused on for a powerful defence. The underwater area also has natural fuel, twice as much fuel as the other caves! The underwater part also makes it harder for you to get raided, since the only option to get raided are charges. RPGs, snipers, and LMGs cannot be equipped underwater to damage your buildables. All of these spots will require safezone radiators, though, or else you will easily be zombie raided.

One thing to be careful of is building on the ocean's surface, on the islands, or near a coast. The map has coastguard boats that have HMGs mounted on them. Since HMGs raid and take the very common low-caliber military ammo, your bases will be made quick work of.

Conclusion

This concludes my guide. I hope this helped some of you! If you have any other tips, leave them in the comments and I can add them to the guide (with credit to the poster, of course).

[oddran]

I suffered through the alpha and beta ( cause then it was free) it was a dark time . But hey you get a sweet cosmetic t-shirt and berret :D

[Pepuniaka]

+REP

[Warbler55]

+++++++++++rep

[TNTShark]

Good work, should be helpful to the newer players

[xxfogs]

xD when i had 200 hours i only get how to play unturned like normal player i think if i had this guide at start i would know every think about unturned.

P.S. syka blyat xD

[Jennfelde]

this is a great guide. i'll be sure to use this, as I am a noob player. :D

[Ricky]

awsome

[nuke]

gj on this guide, have some pancakes

[WolfRayetReaper]

this is a pretty good guide. i do have one thing to add though. there is a very-very-very small deadzone on PEI. it is in the wheat field of one of the farms (the tignish farm to the bottom right i believe) with a gas mask and Scorpion-7 sign. just a little extra tid-bit of info. other then that good job.