The deluxe beginner's guide to Danger Zone

Danger Zone is CS:GO's newest gamemode that gives an interesting twist on the popular "Battle Royale" type of game. This guide will give you a ton of useful info to start with and help you avoid some rookie mistakes.

NOTICE: This guide is now outdated because I no longer play csgo frequently.

Introduction

At the same time DZ was made public, CS:GO also went free to play and got TONS of new players, so if you're new to the game, welcome! This first section is for you. Since you're new, I'll quickly note a few general things:

• The accuracy of your weapons is greatly reduced when you're running. You'll fire better shots when walking (Shift, movement is slower but silent) or standing still, and even better while crouching (Ctrl, even slower movement). The backward force of firing individual bullets also plays a factor in your accuracy.
  
• Your "use" key is set to E by default. This button basically performs the action of touching anything with your hands, like opening doors and picking things up. (Also, all the keys I mention in this guide are for QWERTY keyboards. I don't know the keys for any other keyboard types but you can check them yourself under the keyboard settings.)
  
• Players have 100 health points in other gamemodes, but in Danger Zone players can have up to 120. This is not a trivial amount -- it's enough to survive an AWP bodyshot.
  
• Unlike in other CS gamemodes, in Danger Zone your speed doesn't rely as much on which weapon you have in your hands. Instead you get weighed down slightly by each thing you pick up.
  
• CS:GO comes with a training map! Click the play button, then go to the dropdown menu (which probably says "Official Matchmaking") and select "Training Course".
  
• For CS:GO, Blacksite is a rather large map. Some of the combat in this map will take place at a much larger range than you'll typically see in other gamemodes.
  
• The map Blacksite is currently unavailable in official matchmaking as it undergoes adjustments for the April 30th gameplay changes. Sirocco is the only map available for the moment.

This is the basic outline of Danger Zone: players descend into a map from helicopters, gather supplies and fight until one player (or team) is left alive. Players are progressively forced to draw closer to one another by the "danger zone", an area that periodically expands to consume the entire map and hurts whoever gets caught in it. Games can last up to about 15 minutes including the warmup.

Before you even click "GO", consider if you want to play with another person or not. Currently, you can play as a team of 2 (by either checking "auto-fill squad" and being matched with a random player or by having a friend join your lobby) or by yourself. Even if you're by yourself, you'll still be facing other teams of 2, and they can respawn, so I don't recommend playing solo right now.

General Strategy

Warmup

Warmup is the time before the actual game begins where you can practice killing, wait, explore, whatever. It doesn't affect anything in the actual round.

Deploying

You want to drop in places with a good number of supplies nearby (you'll learn them as you play more rounds). The inner green circle represents the area that you'll be able to swing around in while on the rope (which we'll get to). The outer circle basically shows you how much space you've claimed to yourself — any other drop points with a green/red circle inside that outer radius are now disabled. If you don't feel like choosing a spot, the game will automatically give you a random one once the timer reaches 0. (Other players may think you're AFK and try to pick you off first. For them an inactive player is free money and items.)

I know of an image circulating currently of a heatmap that shows supply spawn locations. I can confirm it is pretty accurate, but it doesn't tell you a few things:

• Not all item spawn points will actually create items every round. An area with a lot of items one round may have very few the next.
  
• Some spawn points are explicitly more likely to spawn items than others.
  
• Some spawn points will cause other nearby spawn points to become less likely to spawn things if the first is already spawning an item.

Some spawnpoints are also more likely to spawn particular items. (For example, the item north of Delta is usually a shotgun crate.)

If you're playing in a team, you should always drop in a spot near your friends so you can stick together. Everybody else will be doing this too. If you and your friends have agreed to drop on a particular area, don't go on the very middle of that area because it forces your friends to walk farther to meet up with you.

You

Teammates

Enemies

Once everyone's ready to deploy, they will all drop into the map hanging on a rope secured by a helicopter. Look for supplies while you descend. You can swing yourself in a certain direction by pressing the same keys you use to walk around (W A S D on qwerty keyboards) and give yourself a small head start. After you're a certain distance from the ground (I don't know the exact distance) you can hold E to let go of the rope, but unless you're dropping into water I don't recommend this due to fall damage. Note that choosing a higher-up spot doesn't mean you'll land sooner, and choosing a lower spot doesn't mean you'll be descending for longer than others. (This means you can choose a low spot, and then swing over to higher ground for an even better head start.)

Early Phase

Now that we have all THAT out of the way! Like I said, look for supplies and take them. Items will be presented to you in a few different ways:

• Small blue crates carry tools - ammo, melee weapons, medishots, fire bombs, armor and helmet, flash grenades, smoke grenades, and diversion devices.
  
• Small yellow crates carry explosives - C4s, breach charges, fire bombs, and frag grenades.
  
• Small red crates carry pistols, but never the P2000, Glock-18, R8 or Desert Eagle.
  
• Large red crates carry either an SMG or a shotgun. The crate will look slightly different depending on which type of weapon is inside. Large crates must be opened with melee weapons (besides fists), guns, fire, or explosives.

Small crate items are sometimes simply lying out on the floor. Aside from being color-coded, crates also have labels on them that say what items may be inside. Glock-18s and P2000s can be found very easily, so they might be a good choice despite their poor damage.

Picking a fight with other players while you have few supplies is a risky maneuver and will probably result in you dying fast. Often early fights consist 100% of punches and a few bad pistol shots.

Personally, I aim to get at least a full clip for my primary weapon and pistol, an extra medishot, armor, and a melee weapon. Go for the knife or axe. Be aware that when you switch weapons, the ammo you had in the old one stays in the old one, unless you're picking up a weapon of the same type, in which case the bullets will be extracted. Your tablet will show you the nearest large crate. Even after you've grabbed a primary, break large crates (with something other than bullets!) to lower enemy interest in coming towards you.

Mid Phase

Once you've collected everything in your local vicinity, keep going around to other places, get more supplies, and fight people if you feel like risking it. Whatever you do, don't camp (unless the danger zone is far away). You can avoid most fights but you most certainly will be in a fight eventually. Frequent fighting can earn you tons in supplies, but it's a simple fact the more fights you get in, the more chances you take of dying to a better armed/better skilled/better strategizing/luckier player. If you're playing by yourself, there's currently little incentive to fight before the endgame. So what should you do? Hide!

During the later half of the game, special supply crates will start to drop in from the air. There will be one for each player left. These crates contain the most powerful weapons available to you, like AUGs and AWPs. All players get notified of the crate positions via tablet. Simply go to the center of the hex and you'll probably hear the blinker sound from there. Check your tablet to see if anybody is nearby before you go to get one of these. Unlike large red crates, these can be opened with your bare fists. (And oddly, not with explosives. They won't break while in the air either.) The weapons inside will spawn with little ammo (AWPs in particular, only come with 5 rounds). Buying or finding ammo is a priority. After you get ammo for a top-tier weapon, you're probably close to the end phase.

End Phase

Right as the wave 4 missiles fire, squads of two will lose their ability to respawn. This means that killing people will have actual significance, and solo players will stand a greater chance in winning. You'll find in this phase that information will lose some value to plain skill. Use all the medishots you've got till you have 120 health (well, be wise about it), stay quiet, and get to a safe hex, preferably the final one. Past a certain point, a drone traveling to your position is a huge giveaway and will attract players without a doubt, and they might get there before you even have a chance to actually acquire your items. Splurge on items before this point. You want to try and use the zone to your advantage -- make them come to you! If players manage to survive until there's only one sector left, the safe area will start to shrink even further to a random spot. The danger zone will eventually expand to cover even this in its entirety, and at that point the round will be won by whoever has more health (usually rounds end before that point though).

Ammo

Conserving ammo is a top priority since most weapons don't even come with a full clip. It's better to not pick on enemies you can avoid if you have low ammo.

There are little orange boxes around the map with 4 ammo packs in them. Press E and the bullets go in whatever gun you're holding. You can reload at the same time you grab them. How much ammo a box gives depends on the gun. An AWP will get 4 bullets, and a Glock-18 will get 40.

Automated Sentries

The map is littered with fully automatic turrets. (Think of the turrets in Portal, but not prone to tipping over.) They will shoot basically anything that moves (especially diversion devices). It's best to go for the sentries with a melee weapon to conserve ammo (and doing so will turn their sights away from you). Ammo will be your reward for killing sentries. You'll make a lot of sound, especially if you melee the turret, so watch for back-stabber enemies waiting till you've killed the turret.



As you approach a sentry, keep moving to the left or right so that it can't lock onto you. If you get out of a turret's sight before it locks on, it will shoot at the last spot it saw you for a few seconds. Once a turret gives up, you may find yourself in a powerful spot to camp. The turret can reveal enemy positions to you, and help you kill them.

Bump Mines

Bump mines are small devices which will send whoever touches it very far away, allowing for speedy getaways or surprise attacks. If you jump on it, you better have a parachute! These can be destroyed by explosions or fire. They're very rarely found in the map, but can be bought along with the exojump. (This in turn makes the parachute a very good deployment perk.)

The Danger Zone

The danger zone is the red/gray area that slowly grows around the map. The danger zone will hurt players and other objects inside it for 3 to 10 points of damage every half(?) second. The danger zone should generally be avoided, but you are able to actually step into it a tiny bit and be ok. If you find yourself accidentally caught in the zone, use a medishot and get back to the safe area!

Your tablet will show you where the danger zone is currently. The faded red areas are where it will move next. For most of the game, a timer on the left of your screen will count the seconds until the zone starts moving again. Once that timer ends, you have approximately 60 seconds to move out of the sectors being filled. As the round progresses, the danger zone will take less time between expansions. The expansion rate matches the speed at which you can wade through water, so it will never outrun you.

Killing enemies while they are caught in the danger zone is easier, but you will have to sacrifice some of your own health if you want their supplies. Special outlines sometimes appear when a player gets caught in the zone.

The art of predicting

Zone Intel tablet upgrade? Hah! What are ya, some city slicker? Here's how you can do some of the upgrade's work in your HEAD. First, there are two rules the zone always abides by.
1. If an area is getting "pinched", that means it will be safe for a while. (Pinch rule.) Look at the pinches in these screenshots

That local area will be safe from the zone for a good amount of time, because if it was consumed, the safe area would become split in two, and the game doesn't want that to happen because that would be sucky and unfun for everyone. This does mean areas such as the one to the left of the yellow hex, in the right shot are likely going to be consumed next (depends on if those hexes would also be considered vital links for other hexes).

2. The wave strikes will never force you to walk over more than one sector in order to reach safety again. (No-Double rule.) What can I say? All that running would be monotonous so Valve cut it out.

I'll show you how to apply the rules later, but I should also note there are strictly 5 missile waves in each round. (Okay, plus one more for when the zone starts to shrink smaller than 1 hex. Not important.) That means the zone must consume a specific number of hexes each wave:
1st wave: Unsure. (For the first wave, it's really not important tbh. There's no way you can predict anything that early on.)
2nd wave: 11 (Wave 1 and 2 are the most common time that the zone will consume hexes which aren't already adjacent to it due to it having to consume so much. Again, the number for this wave isn't very important and you might not even be able to count the hexes clearly.)
3rd wave: 7
4th wave: 5 (After this wave, we have the "final four" hexes.)
5th wave: 3 (After this wave, there's only one hex left.)

The final four hexes can be in 3 shapes:

• Diamond - The final hex will be one of the two in the middle.
  
• Fidget - Final hex will be in the center. Rarest type. All hexes are disconnected except for one in the center that touches them all. Looks exactly like a fidget spinner.
  
• Scythe - Final hex is in the center. A triangle of hexes, with another hex connecting to strictly one of them. (It doesn't actually look that much like a scythe. Kind of a 'P' shape?)

I think it'd be best to show an example of how to predict.
Wave 1: Okay, so immediately we can see the majority of the zone will come in from the east, in a huge wall. This is something I see pretty frequently, where the zone comes in heavy from one side of the map and sweeps across. I call it "the chemical curtain" but it's too early to say if this one's a true curtain. See the hex in the far top right, with the zone closing in on 4 sides? Due to the No-Double rule, we can be sure that one of those other two hexes nearby it will survive wave 2. Since we seem to have a curtain here, let's assume it's the top left of the two.

Wave 2: Okay, we do have a curtain from the east. Sure enough, the top left of those two hexes survived wave 2. The No-Double rule will likely come into play again in the north for wave 3, but the curtain will probably butt in. (I'm predicting these by wave, btw. Not cheating!)

Wave 3: Well, the curtain's fractured itself in two. I don't think it will continue as much now. This throws a bit of a wrench in predicting wave 4. We know that exactly 5 hexes are going to get eaten in wave 4, let's see if we can tell which. The northernmost sector with the rescue zone is surely getting eaten, because the only "final four" shape that could fit is the scythe, and the problem with that is that it would violate the No-Double rule for the southernmost sector. That's just one example of something we can tell at this exact moment. I won't bore you with every little thing I could say here. I have a feeling the final four will be a scythe with the center being the hex immediately to the west of me. That sector to my northwest will definitely survive, per both rules. Past this point, you won't have a use for the Zone Intel upgrade, unless the final four is a diamond.

Wave 4: Well, not quite! We ended up actually getting a fidget today, which happens relatively infrequently. The scythe shape I originally imagined, with the blade of it to the south, could have also happened. At this point in time, you can tell that the final hex will be the one directly to my west. That's wave 5 in a nutshell; any other outcome would violate the No-Double rule.

This particular example didn't have any good examples of the pinch rule, but they are definitely out there. Will you be expected to remember all this prediction crap? No. That's why you've got the upgrade.

Deployment Perks

When you deploy, you can spawn with one of four extra items.

• Exojump - Discussed in the Exojump section. These aren't easy to find in the map but they can be bought.
  
• Parachute - Discussed in the Parachute section. They aren't easy to find in the map and cannot be bought.
  
• Health Shot - Gives you an extra medishot.
  
• Taser - Gives a Zeus x27. Might be useful for early kills or opening large crates fast.

Doors

(This first part specifically is talking about the regular doors.) Almost every structure on Blacksite has at least one door. To open and close doors, just look at them and press E like you would for picking up supplies. All doors begin closed — if you see one that's open, that means somebody was there, or still is there! Doors may also be damaged (creating holes in the center) or broken off their hinges completely. Some objects can influence which way a door swings (or prevent the door from shutting) if they're in the door's path.

Security Doors

Many places have special "secured" doors which hold any kind of supply (or rarely, a sentry). To open the doors, you'll have to pay anywhere from $0 to $1000 to open it depending on the item inside. You can also pay with explosives! You cannot shoot through them, even after they open. Annoyingly, breach charges will get stuck on both types of doors.

Explosives/Utility Grenades

Non-grenade explosives:

• Exploding barrels - These red oil drums are both fun and good for quick killing. Take some time to learn their lethal range. Don't get wild with them, cause the top part of the barrel will get sent flying up into the air and attract others. Any person unlucky enough to get hit by that top bit will... be stuck while it clips through them. Thanks Valve.
  
• C4 - Just like in Defuse, the C4 can be planted somewhere and then it goes kaboom. In Danger Zone, the C4 can be planted anywhere and sports a damage radius about the size of an entire sector. Nearby tablets are notified of the C4's radius, and when the bomb goes off, it will create a HUGE commotion — black bits fly out to the explosion radius, a huge ball of dust and smoke is created, and the boom is heard through the entire map. The bark is honestly worse than the bite though. The lethal radius is disappointingly small, but they're OP once there's only one hex left (if you do this, I will find you irl). C4s will also have a little screen on them pointing towards the nearest safe. Before you embarrass yourself, you cannot defuse these.
  
• Breach Charge - 3 small bombs detonated by a remote. Throw bombs with Left Click and detonate with Right Click. The bombs are pretty good at their job, but their arming and detonation emits very distinct sounds, and the detonation is delayed by about one second. The bombs must be attached to any moving or stationary object before exploding. A single charge will do up to 1000 damage at point blank or if they attach directly to the player, making them one of two weapons to be able to kill in one hit, guaranteed (the other being a backstab with the knife). (If you have one stuck on you, press E to get that sucker off!) Charges will automatically detonate if hurt by other explosions, fire, or the danger zone. If you attempt to pick up an enemy's or teammate's breach charge (with E), the charge will become a dud and do no damage.

Grenades/Tossables. These can be thrown a smaller distance by using Right Click instead of Left Click. They can be thrown a medium distance if you combine left and right click. These throwables will do a small amount of damage if they directly hit something, so even a flashbang could just barely kill somebody.

• Fire Bomb - Sets the area around where it lands on fire. This is a rather effective method of making an enemy move, or making them not move. Flames will get extinguished by smoke or water (who would have guessed). Unlike in regular CSGO, these will never explode before hitting the ground, and they have a MUCH bigger area of effect. Because molotovs work by spreading flammable liquid, the area directly below the impact area may also get flames on it.
  
• Frag Grenade - Generic grenade, explodes a short time after being thrown. The damage radius is much larger than it appears. They do about 100 at the most. Good for finishing off someone as they run away.
  
• Smoke Grenade - Does not damage, but creates a temporary cloud of smoke. The smoke cloud is impossible to see through. Players inside the smoke won't be able to see anything except their tablet screen. Other than putting out flames, I haven't found much use for them.
  
• Diversion Device - A variation of standard decoy grenades, but instead of emitting gunfire sounds, it emits fake footstep noises before exploding for about 8 damage at the most. They also light up hexagons even if no players are inside them.
  
• Flash grenade - Does not damage, but temporarily blinds and deafens players. The flash will go through smoke clouds. Use them when you don't wanna be seen by someone nearby. (Don't use it to try and "stun" someone from a distance. They can and probably will move as fast as possible.) Look away from the flash to have the effects be lessened.

All explosives except the C4 can be avoided by hiding behind something solid.

Exojump

The Exojump is an equipable item that increases your jump height (if you hold space bar down). It can also launch you forward if you crouch and then jump quickly. They'll also reduce fall damage. The only downside is that they're very noisy and you'll no longer be able to jump silently.

Medi-Shots

Medishots are single-use items that will give you up to 50 points of health over 6.5 seconds. It's a good idea to use one when you get to say, 85 health. Definitely use it once you're at or under 70 cause then you'll get your full use out of it. If enemies are nearby, use them even sooner, you'll want every bit of health you can get. Medishots also give a 20% speed boost and let you take ammo from holders faster. You can carry two at once. If you have a third on the ground, use one now. Medishots will reduce your damage output by 10% while healing, so just consider that...

Melee Weapons

There are six melee weapons in Danger Zone:

• Your fists - Always good to have. You will be holding the fists when you first land. The primary attack doesn't do much damage (15 unarmored, 7 armored), but they can deliver a delayed alternate attack (Right Click) that's stronger (30 unarmored, 15 armored) and capable of knocking weapons out of an enemy's hands. They cannot open large red crates.
  
• Wrench - It can break large red crates. Get something better. (7-8 front unarmored, 15 back unarmored, 5-7 front armored, 11 back armored)
  
• Hammer - Like the wrench, but a bit more damaging. (16-19 front unarmored, 32 back unarmored, 13-16 front armored, 27 back armored)
  
• Axe - Hammer but sharp. Does the most damage to crates. (20-24 front unarmored, 40 back unarmored, 17-20 front armored, 34 back armored)
  
• Knife - (Primary attack 40 front unarmored, 90 back unarmored, 21-34 front armored, 76 back armored) Considerably better than the axe by the amount of damage it deals to turrets. The right click attack works like normal: does more damage (except to crates), takes longer to swipe, and can backstab for huge damage. (65 front unarmored, 180 back unarmored, 55 front armored, 153 back armored)
  
• Zeus x27 - A taser. Victims die instantly, unless the shot is at the far end of the weapon's range. It's technically not a melee weapon, but you pretty much have to be in melee range to get a good shot. They're the quickest way to shut a turret up, or open a crate. These are not single use items! They start to recharge immediately after firing, but it takes 30 seconds.

The wrench, hammer, and axe can be thrown (Right Click) at enemies for 30 health and 15 armor if armored, and 60 health unarmored (which means throwing is most viable early on). Beware: your victim may proceed to grab that weapon. Thrown weapons can still do damage after hitting a wall, or even while sliding on the floor.

Money

Money can be exchanged for goods and services. Dollars come in packs of 50 and are scattered everywhere (and they can end up dropping in ANY location on the map, not just the regular item spawnpoints). There are also bags with 3-5 stacks of money. These bags can be opened with E or by damaging. There are many other ways to get money:

• Killing enemies (they will drop their money upon death, but not all of it apparently)
  
• Survival bonus - Given to you each missile wave. The first bonus and the one when the respawn cutoff is announced are both $100, and the rest are $750.
  
• Exploration bonus ($100) - Given after a certain number of seconds of occupying a sector.
  
• Safes - Green metal boxes with $500 inside which are only openable by an explosive that works identically to the C4 (behavior discussed in the explosives section) except that these bombs notify every tablet on the map. Once the bomb detonates, the money inside can be collected all at once by bumping into the safe.
  
• High Value Target - Appears as a black briefcase that gives the opener a contract of sorts. You are given the (rough) location of a (specific) random player that you will be rewarded $500 for killing. If somebody kills this target before you do, that person becomes your new HVT. Even if you don't plan to act on this contract, there's absolutely no downside in picking it up.
  
• Hostages - Hostages may be carried to rescue zones designated by white and orange squares for $500. Hostage delivery can be rendered obsolete after a certain amount of time, due to the rescue zones getting consumed by the danger zone. Other tablets will be notified that someone's carrying a hostage. You will also be rewarded small amounts as you take the hostage closer to a rescue point. Hostages can be extremely effective later on as a way to block your enemy's path.

Offline Practice

If you want to play Danger Zone offline, you'll have to do it through what's called the console. The console is a thing that you can type stuff into to do many magical things. Bots do not understand Danger Zone and they kinda just roam around dumbly. This is why the DZ option is excluded under "Practice With Bots".

If you don't already have the console enabled, go your settings (gear icon), click "Game Settings", and change "Enable Developer Console" to "Yes". Press the key with ` and ~ on it to open the console.

To load or reload Blacksite, put this in the console:

map dz_blacksite survival (or dz_sirocco for Sirocco)

There's currently an issue where once a full game is complete, CS:GO tries to load Italy as a DZ map, and then crashes cause Italians can't play DZ. You'll have reload the map for every round you want to play it seems.

Other console commands

Most will require sv_cheats 1.

• sv_dz_cash_bundle_size [number] - Changes how much money a single wad of cash gives.
  
• sv_dz_contractkill_reward [number] - How many cash wads are rewarded for killing a high value target.
  
• sv_dz_exploration_payment_amount [number] - How many cash wads are rewarded by the exploration bonus.
  
• sv_dz_hostage_rescue_reward [number] - How many cash wads are rewarded for rescuing hostages.
  
• sv_dz_zone_bombdrop_money_reward [number] - How many wads of cash are rewarded for the survival bonus.
  
• sv_dz_player_spawn_armor [number] - Makes players spawn with a certain amount of armor on them.
  
• sv_dz_player_spawn_health [number] - Changes how much health players have when they spawn.
  
• sv_dz_warmup_weapon [entity] - Changes what players are given during warmup. This is basically hooked up to a 'give' command, so even things like weapon_axe will work.
  
• sv_dz_zone_damage [1 yes, 0 no] - Changes if the danger zone causes damage or not. Recommend this if you just want to chill on the map.
  
• bind "'" "ent_create item_cash" - Makes your ' key spawn money where you're looking.
  
• bind "/" "give weapon_healthshot" - Makes your / key spawn a medishot directly under you.
  
• developer 1; ent_text point_dz_weaponspawn - Shows you every place that items can spawn! Excluding the random money placement. Laggy for most PCs.
  
• mp_warmup_pausetimer [1 yes, 0 no] - Pauses the game in warmup if 1.
  
• mp_warmup_end - Ends warmup.
  
• healthshot_health [number] - How much a healthshot heals you.
  
• healthshot_allow_use_at_full [1 yes, 0 no] - If 1, allows you to use a medishot when you're at full health. If it's 0, you'll get a message saying you're at full health when you attempt to use it.

Want to test how covered you are from different areas? You can do this with bots! First place a bot (bot_add; bot_stop 1) then look in the direction where you want the bot to sit, then do bot_place. If you want the bot to crouch, do bot_mimic 1 and then crouch.

Parachutes

Spare parachutes are rare but frequently life-saving pickups. Parachutes pickups are rather rare, which makes them a tempting deployment perk. Press Space while airborne to deploy your parachute. They will deploy automatically once you start falling at a fast speed. There will always be a parachute at the top of Water Tower, and one at the top of Lighthouse (Blacksite locations). If you don't see them there, that means someone was there already.

Radar Jammers

Obtainable only by buying, radar "jammers" are destructible devices that turn the three nearest hexagon sectors black, so that players (other than the buyer) are unable to see if anyone's inside. They do not block a tablet from working entirely which many people believe. They will not be damaged by the danger zone.

Jammers are no camper safe haven — they emit a strange metallic sound, they self-destruct in a few minutes, and their location can be somewhat deduced by simply travelling to the center of the black sectors. If you're going to use one... be smart about it.

Respawns

Players in teams of two can redeploy a short time after their death, if their other squadmate does not die. When a squad (or single player) is wiped out, a "Squad Wipe" note will be added to the kill feed. Squads lose their ability to redeploy after a certain point in time.

When you're redeploying, don't spawn back in the middle of the action! You'll just die again before you hit the ground.

Sound

Sound is a big factor in Danger Zone. Here's aaallll the ways enemies can hear you:

• Getting seen by turrets (they WILL beep and shoot no matter what, its best to shut them up or get outta there)
  
• Firing guns (reduced if they have a silencer, even then bullets are audible as they go by others)
  
• Drones when they come to you (they make a propeller noise even though they run on gas)
  
• Throwing any kind of grenade (melee weapons will also cause whoever they hit to yell)
  
• Running (walk or crouch-walk if needed, same goes for ladders)
  
• Deploying your parachute (a very small audible range though)
  
• Dropping any item (makes a loud clunk)
  
• Landing on the ground too hard
  
• Buying things from your tablet
  
• Opening and closing doors
  
• Opening security doors
  
• All explosions (DUH)
  
• Rescuing a hostage
  
• Using medishots
  
• Opening crates
  
• Picking stuff up
  
• Planting a C4
  
• Reloading

If you're spectating with X-ray mode on, you'll see that players glow when they make noises. Switching between weapons and carried hostages do not make noise.

There's currently a sound bug that will really mess up your game. Sometimes looping sounds will continuously emanate from you yourself. Other people can apparently hear this and it's very annoying. I've seen it happen with the helicopter rope sound and the drone sound.

Spectating

If you're not alive, you'll be able to watch other players from their view, at a close distance around them, or go anywhere in free roam (modes cycled with Space).

Press X to toggle X-ray mode, which will show you the locations of all players and show a glow around ones making noise. Press Z to toggle the auto-director, which will periodically shift your view between all the active players.

If you have friends alive, you will be limited to watching only them, through their view/s and no X-ray mode.

Tablet

Your tablet (which you spawn with) is your biggest source of information and supplies in Danger Zone. The map display (Tab) will show you the exact locations of you and any teammates, and give you a very rough idea of where enemies are on the map, indicated by yellow hexagons simply called "sectors" or "hexes". The tablet also shows you where the danger zone is currently and where it will expand to next. You and your teammates will also light up sectors.


The technology in Danger Zone tracks you specifically by the tablet, meaning that if you drop your tablet (G), other tablets will think you're still in the sector you dropped it at. Dropping your tablet has some drastic consequences — you can't buy things, and you lose access to a ton of information. You should only drop your tablet if it's part of a well-thought out strategy. Even the "falsely occupying a sector" trick I mentioned will only fool a person for so long.

Taking a dead player's tablet can be beneficial if it has an upgrade. It may also let you get some extra money through the exploration bonus (rewarded as tablets travel large distances). When a player dies, the tablet they held is no longer shown on the map display until somebody else picks it up, in which case that person's old tablet then becomes unshown.

Going underground will "block" your tablet's signal. You won't be able to see the yellow sectors but drones & other things will be visible, and the buy menu is still usable. Underground areas let you travel with little visibility to other players (and they're where shotguns really shine).

You may be able to tell where duos are on the map by watching the timing of hex changes closely. If an unlit hex lights up, and then an adjacent hex goes out a few seconds later (but not immediately), it's probably a team of two with one member lagging shortly behind.

Drones

When a player buys something (B), that item will be delivered to them by a drone that spawns on the opposite side of the map. I think that buying items near the center of the map logically then results in deliveries being the fastest but I'm not sure yet. Drones will not drop their delivery while you're running. You will have to slow down or stop completely while it homes in on you. Where a drone drops an item tells nearby players where you are (or, where your tablet is to be precise). Most buyable items could also be lying around nearby (and some items you pickup are not buyable). The top row of items is randomized each round.


Drones can be shot down (or have the crate they carry broken), but given their speed its a tricky thing to do. Drones do not go indoors and if you're indoors they will drop your item on the roof above you.

Tablet Upgrades

You can also buy three different upgrades to your tablet which aren't delivered by drone, but apply instantly.

• Drone Intel - Shows the locations of enemy drones and shows their "footprints" represented by small dots if they are currently carrying something. Most useful in the later half of the game, when players are roaming less and you're able to focus better. Drones delivering items to you will appear bluer to other players that see them face-to-face. Your drones will also fly faster and therefore be even harder to shoot down.
  
• Zone Intel - Draws a red line showing where the danger zone will move one wave ahead. It's good for finding safe spots you can regroup at, but the upgrade is 100% obsolete once the faded red area is covering all but one sector.
  
• High-Res - Breaks the hexagon sectors into small triangles. This is useful at any time in the game, but being the most expensive item on the menu, it simply isn't an option early on and it might never be one if you don't save up.

Tablet upgrades are also sparsely located around the map. Dropped tablets with upgrades are identifiable by color-coded outlines and dots on the tablet.

Water

Water is something not often seen in CS:GO maps. Blacksite features water on all of its edges, and unlike normal CS:GO, this water will slow you down significantly, and you're unable to go deeper than wading in it. There's no supplies to be found out in the water, except a few bits of money occasionally.

Water should only be gone into if its convenient for getting to somewhere else. You can partially avoid water's slowing-down by jumping just before it starts to take effect. Water does have one exploitable feature: cancelling ALL fall damage, no matter how shallow.

Some Specific Places (Blacksite)

Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a little over-valued. Lighthouse takes up its own island in the northwest corner with a real heap of supplies around. Getting both a primary and pistol is pretty feasible if you're landing here. Many other players will try to get this loot as well. Defending from intruders is tough with a bridge connecting the island to the mainland, two staircases offering access from the canyon, a ladder route from below, a few windows, and two doors. Two people (or three, depending on the specific locations chosen) in total can land on the island.

Overpass

Overpass is a small section of a road that quickly drops off into the water. Similar to Lighthouse, Overpass has some seclusion due to being in a corner of the map. This area has up to 7 items off the bat: 2 on the far end of the road, 2 around where the bridge meets the land, and 3 near the support structures below. There is a sentry box on the road, so be prepared to swing in case it spawns.

Pier/Ferry

The vicinity shared by Pier and Ferry seems to frequently have primary weapons. Both areas typically have 3 items each in their immediate space, and up to 5 in the spots nearby. Going out on the pier is a bit of a gamble though, cause if somebody shows up at Ferry, you'll be surrounded by the enemy on one side, and water on the other three.

Water Tower

My personal favorite. You are well-hidden, in the sense that few people will think to look up at the tower. If anyone does spot you though, you better be armed because cover is scarce. There will always be a parachute at the top.

The verticality can be put to good use by dropping right next to the tower and swinging straight to the right. You will land on the very top of the tower and gain the best head start possible. This pretty much is the only place you can exploit or even notice that safe bomb and C4 blasts can be escaped by changing your altitude. Anybody with a sniper rifle or USP will get a good use out of the spot.

The area is notably prone to nearby turrets, which may aim upward even to the high rim. Traveling up and down the ladders will leave you exposed, with poor accuracy. Drones are also really sucky at understanding altitude and sometimes your item can fly off the top if you aren't careful.

Some Specific Places (Sirocco)

Floatilla

Basically a tiny little island that you'll have all to yourself. It has tons of potential item spawns and lots of cover. Getting to and from it though may be risky as every route to it leaves you pretty exposed, unless you've got some bump mines.

Misinfo

I've seen other guides giving a few myths which I'm gonna bust (if I didn't already imply that they're wrong).

The radarmap differs a bit from the deployment map with the borders of these hexagons.

Not false, but that's just because the hexagon grid gets randomly shifted every round. Also, the faint lines that you see on the loading screen aren't even in the same angles as the actual grid.

Tablet hexes will be more colorful if more people are in them.

Completely false. The color of them does look a little different if they're in a to-be-eaten sector though.

You need the drone-tracking upgrade in order to see airdrop locations.

Completely false again.

You need a C4 in order to open a safe.

Safes come with explosives strapped onto them already. A very close C4 explosion will open safes however.

You should hide and let everyone else kill each other.

Imagine if everyone did this! Waiting till other fights finish is definitely less risky, but don't let that become camping and hiding the whole round (I often see one player in the match who wins by a landslide--4 to 8 kills total). The zone will come for you eventually, and you won't have time to slow down and control your bullet spread when the zone's 2 meters behind you. (So basically, camp if you can stay there for a long period of time.)

Shotguns aren't good because combat can be extremely long-range.

Yes, shotguns are bad at a long range, but up closer, they kill very quickly and are ammo-efficient. I have killed AWP-holders with a flashbang and a few shotgun blasts.

You should hide old weapons that you drop.

This is generally hard to actually do because items are automatically outlined for you once they're visible and close by. You can also simply waste the item (shoot all the bullets or chuck the nade in a random direction or whatever). Neither of these are likely to end up making a difference though.

Waiting to drop in a random spot is good.

The spots suck. You also suck. Quit wasting 15 seconds of everyone's lives.

Misc. Notes

• If you find yourself being chased very early in the game, run to any place that might slow down your attacker. E.g. jump through windows, close doors behind you, lead them over to crates (risky, but they might stop to open it and give you a bit of breathing room). You should not turn around to look at them because you move slightly slower when going backwards.
  
• Every roof can be accessed. You just have to be a little creative with some. Nearly all rooms in buildings can be accessed silently as well (not accounting for the danger zone possibly obstructing paths, in which case use it to your advantage).
  
• You'll see numbers or letters next to each category of items that you collect. These correspond to shortcuts on your keyboard that let you switch to that item faster. Due to the huge amount of items in DZ, this can be very helpful for switching weapons as opposed to scrolling. It may even save your life.
  
• When an item pops out of a crate, there will be a small delay before the item is eligible to be automatically picked up simply by standing over it. You can pick up items faster by pressing E the moment the crate breaks.
  
• If you're playing with a teammate, don't hog every single item. If they're not finding anything good, buy them something.
  
• After you kill someone, pause the game and check the leaderboard. (I know, sounds ridiculous.) If that person had a live teammate, they might be close...
  
• Like with most surfaces, you can shoot through trees!
  
• When you go on ladders, approach with your left or right side facing the front of it. Look straight up or down (depending on which way you want to go) and press up + left or right (depending on which side of you is facing the ladder and which way you're going). You will go FLYING up and down ladders.
  
• Check if anybody's near you by counting the sectors on the tablet. If there are less sectors lit up than the number in the top left, plus one, there are multiple players inside a single sector, which could be yours. Remember diversion devices also light up sectors. Cross over a hexagon's border then back to be 110% sure if anyone's nearby.
  
• Somebody has to die first. It's gonna be you sometimes.

[get better trash kid LOL]

I just had a L4D2 versus match against this child "pinsplash", and literally 3 seconds into the match the living garbage tries to kick me for using voicelines. Team votes no.

I put this pathetic kids actions and jealousy aside, and this kid later on into the match trolls and downs me. It gets promptly kicked by me, and then the kid blocked my main steam account.

So this little beta male baby was upset and jealous it couldn't do what I could, with the voicelines, so it tries to kick me out of pure jealousy.

When that fails, even after I put its pathetic, childish actions behind me and play, it teamkills later on.


And you're a little degenerate that runs a YT channel and tries to act like you're professional?

Meanwhile you troll on source games, ruining them for others, for no good reason.

Literally hilarious. I have the video clip of the match (it trolling) and a video of its profile showing it blocked my main over IT trolling me and then being kicked.

[nevertheproblem]

This guide is awesome. Great job!

[✈ Kacpir ✈]

Good.

[MortVader]

Nice and thorough guide. Well done!

[Shauma Uvoton Jaivoeich Dun XXII]

god