Sakhal Map: DayZ Frostline DLC

DayZ Frostline: Everything you need to know about DayZ's new winter map!

In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the Frostline DLC and about the upcoming map Sakhal. I’ve categorized the information into neat chapters, so you won’t have to jump between random wikis, developer blogs, or YouTube videos. Simply use the table of contents and jump to the part that interests you most.

What is Sakhal?

Sakhal is going to be part of the Frostline DLC, which will be filled with new gear, survival elements, and more. The biggest part of this will, of course, be the new map itself.
The last map DayZ officially released was Livonia (2019). That map is filled with lush forests, wildlife, and green trees! Well, not this time around, because DayZ is releasing a semi-hardcore winter map called Sakhal!

So the biggest question on your mind may be regarding the size. So let’s take a look at the size of the new map!

First, to get an idea of the scale of the new map, we need to take a look at the other vanilla DayZ maps that were released prior.

Chernarus has a surface area of 225 km² (86.9 square miles).
Livonia is slightly smaller, at 163 km² (62.9 square miles).
Namalsk (pc modded map) is 27 km² without ice and 63 km² with ice. (10,4 square miles / 24.3 square miles)
Sakhal, however, will be much smaller then original vanilla maps, coming in at 105 km² (40.5 square miles).

Sakhal map

From the streamer and content creator playtest we’ve gotten quite the look at Sakhal. Including in this look is a propper screenshot of the new Sakhal map. Take a look:
So from looking at streamers, content creators and how the map is being layed out we’ve came to notice a few things. Below we have marked spawn points with a red dot.

The red arrows visualize the flow of the map. The map moves from north to south. Where at the north side you will find the lesser tier loot. The more south you go the better the loot becomes.

Also interesting POI’s have been marked with a red circle. We even gave the location of the new airfield. You can see the runway on the map yourself!
Yes, Sakhal is smaller, but it brings a significant change: being DayZ’s first official winter map! Console players will finally experience the snowy survival landscape PC players have enjoyed for years.

The winter aspect introduces exciting new elements to gameplay, especially in terms of survival mechanics. Let’s explore!

Wildlife

DayZ features many different wild animals. With Sakhal’s release, the developers will be adding some more wildlife to spice up the game. Let’s have a look at the first creature, the hares!
Hares
First of all, these cute and furry little hares will be added to the game. Though in a survival situation, you need to put the cuteness aside and be willing to shoot the thing. It’s you or him, and I bet you’d rather survive.

Foxes
Foxes will be added in DayZ. I’m not sure of the specifics yet on the fox as they haven’t been shared yet. However, I wonder what the sound will be like…

Reindeer
Santa’s trusty engine parts are coming to DayZ. The reindeer will most likely have similar stats to a regular deer that can be found in Chernarus and Livonia.
With boats comes increased aquatic content. Players can now fish for Steelhead Trout and Pollack using a fishing rod. Shrimps will be able to be caught using a small fishing trap.

Boats

There are many new elements of gameplay being added to DayZ with the release of its new map Sakhal. We’re talking about items, gear, wildlife, gameplay mechanics, and more! Let’s start with boats.
The addition of a new boat into DayZ may be one of the most anticipated additions in a while. You may think that it sounds minor since the last vehicle that was released was the Humvee with the DayZ 1.19 update in 2022, but this boats provides players with a whole new means of transportation for their enjoyment!

As far as we know at the time of writing (September 13, 2024), boats are not going to be exclusive to the Frostline DLC. This means that server owners will be able to spawn in boats as part of the CLE on their other maps as well.

Seat positions on the boat. Driver, passenger left, passenger right, front seat.
The boats are going to be made of rubber and will be powered by an outboard motor. Luckily, if you are stranded, the DayZ developers made it possible to push the boat back to water.

This means you can drive it up to the beach, get out, do a little loot run, and get the boat back into the water. Currently, the boats have room for 4 players: 1 driver and 3 passengers. The boats will have no inventory space.

There will be 4 variants of rubber boats:
Orange
Blue
Black camo
Full black

Heat Changes

Sakhal’s winter environment means that temperature management becomes a critical aspect of survival.

The heat system in DayZ will be changed across all maps. This means even Chernarus, Livonia, (and other modded maps) will have this implemented.

In DayZ there are different variants of the same piece of clothing. With the frostline update winter clothing will have better insulation than the summer variant. Heat sources will work differently, and snowfall will affect your temperature, same as that pesky rain on Chernarus or Livonia!

Changes to food.
Food temperature will cool off based on the server temperature, meaning that eventually, it can freeze if left out in the open long enough. That’s right, frozen food is coming to DayZ. This means that food items like canned bacon, tuna, cola, sprite, and all those other delicious canned wares will have a chance to spawn frozen, or eventually freeze.
You will have to defrost your food next to a heat source (like a campfire, gas stove, or in a car) before you can eat it. Now, if you cook food and don’t let it cool off, it will hurt your character.

So when is food safe to eat in DayZ? The food is safe to eat the moment it isn’t stated as HOT but as WARM.

All of the food heat stages are:

Hot
Warm
Chilly
Cold
Frozen (cold)

Warm and cold foods will affect the temperature of your character accordingly. This means carrying frozen food in your inventory will make you colder, and carrying some hot steak will warm you up.

Blizzards & Ice sheets

Looking at the most recent DayZ developers’ stream, we can see that there is a new level of low temperature. Before, you could go from light blue to dark blue, but now even flashing blue is added to the game indicating a very cold status.
The ice sheets around the Sakhal map are a dangerous but interesting way to traverse the map. Not all sheets connect, so you’ll need to cross them by going in and out of the water.

Together with the blizzards and snowstorms, your character can quickly freeze to death so make sure to come prepared.

Cosmetics & Gear

The new Frostline DLC will be introducing plenty of new gear and clothing items. Additionally, there will be an overall reduction in clothing inventory size.
Reduction of inventory size
DayZ has always been a survival and PvP game. At some point, they introduced base building as well. However, the inventory sizes were too big in the minds of the developers.

Now, with the new 1.26 DayZ update, the inventory sizes of clothing and character gear will be reduced to bring back that good old feeling of not being able to take everything with you.

Clothing and Insulation changes
The clothing items inside DayZ have variants for all seasons. For example the hunter gear has a spring, summer, autumn, and winter variant. It looks differently but insulation wise, it is all the same.

That is going to change with the new update. The insulation properties of different clothing variants will differ depending on the season they are meant for. Take a look at the image below.

Caves

With the release of Sakhal, the DayZ developers have implemented something cool. After years they implemented caves. These caves will be an interesting place for players to put down a fire, shelter from the snow and blizzards or build a nice little hideout!

Take a look below to get a glimpse of the new DayZ caves:

Diseases and Medicals

With the upcoming Frostline DLC (and the DayZ 1.26 update), two significant new diseases will be introduced: Heavy Metal Poisoning and Pneumonia.
Below is a breakdown of how each of these illnesses will affect gameplay, as well as how to manage and treat them.

Heavy Metal Poisoning occurs when you consume snow or water on Sakhal that has been contaminated by volcanic ash. This contamination can lead to visual disturbances, where your vision appears doubled, with the effect fading in and out.

How to Prevent and Treat Heavy Metal Poisoning:

Filtration Bottle: Use this new item to filter contaminated water or snow. Simply collect water in the bottle and drink from it to avoid poisoning.
Chelating Tablets: These tablets are the cure for heavy metal poisoning. Take one pill at a time and wait for the effect to wear off before taking the next. These tablets can also be used to purify water containing Cholera, similar to how Chlorine tablets function.
Pneumonia occurs if a character progresses beyond stage 2 of the Common Cold, which develops as follows:

Stage 0: Character begins shivering, and the temperature indicator turns blue, signalling the onset of a cold.
Stage 1: The character starts sneezing, and the sickness icon appears in the stats. Codeine or morphine can temporarily suppress the sneezing, but they do not cure the cold.
Stage 2: The cold escalates into Flu, where the character experiences sneezing, coughing, and blurry vision. Codeine can still partially suppress the symptoms, but the illness worsens.
Stage 3: The cold advances to Pneumonia, severely reducing stamina and health regeneration. The character starts losing health rapidly, and untreated Pneumonia will be fatal within 24 minutes. Neither codeine nor morphine is effective at this stage. Tetracycline or Vitamin Pills must be used to treat it.
An infographic on the disease progression will be available soon, so stay tuned for a step-by-step guide on sickness management in DayZ.

With the Frostline DLC, new methods of water purification will be introduced to avoid both Cholera and Heavy Metal Poisoning:

Existing Methods:
Boil dirty water in a cooking pot.
Use Chlorine tablets on dirty water in containers.
New Methods:
Drink directly from the Filtration Bottle.
Use Chelating Tablets to purify water.
Boil water by placing a container directly on a fireplace or inside a hot cooking pot.
These methods ensure that players can maintain clean water sources, critical to surviving the harsh winter environment of Sakhal.

Expansion Announcement Teaser

DayZ Frostline - Expansion Announcement Teaser

End of the Guide

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