Having trouble getting started in Unturned when it comes to PVP servers? This helpful guide will walk you through how to go from a fresh spawn to a well-geared survivor. Whether you’re new to Unturned or just struggling in multiplayer servers and want to up your game, this guide is sure to provide you with plenty of helpful hints and tips.
Table of Contents
Getting Started In Unturned After Spawning
Being dropped into a dangerous zombie apocalypse with not even clothes on your back can be difficult. However, in Unturned having the right knowledge can make all the difference. By following these steps and helpful tips, you will find yourself having more success on PVP multiplayer servers.
Form a Group
PVP servers are multiplayer and this means you can bring friends to help you or make some new friends to team up with. Form a group and your collective efforts will make you more successful, as well as being able to watch each other’s backs. If you are going at it alone, you will find other groups simply just have a numbers advantage and it will be more difficult for you.
Finding a Location to Loot
The key to getting started in Unturned is finding a location to loot where you will not immediately die and lose the progress you have made. This means avoiding other players at first. This includes other fresh spawns not in your group. Even if they don’t immediately start punching you, if they find a weapon and see the opportunity to take off with your loot, they will probably take it. Therefore, try to find a location that has few to no hostile players around it. Picking a location that has some decent weapon spawns is a plus, but if you’re just going to lose those guns immediately to a stacked veteran player in Spec Ops gear, then it really isn’t worth it.
Finding a Melee Weapon
The first thing you will need to find is a melee weapon so you can easily dispatch zombies. Until then, all you have is your fists to do this. You can punch them and slowly back up, keeping them out of range of their attacks. Try not to attract more than one at a time. You can also go prone and crawl into buildings while searching for a weapon. The zombies will generally not notice you until you make more noise. However, this takes time and at any point, another player could see you crawling around and fire easy-to-hit shots at you.
Finding a Gun to PVP With
Once you have your melee weapon, the next goal when getting started in Unturned is finding a gun to fight players with. If you can’t defend yourself in a PVP encounter, any other loot you gather won’t matter if someone kills you for it. The goal is to get any gun at first that can cause bleeding and does decent damage. Basically, anything but a Sportshot or a 1911. You are better off running at someone with a knife than using either of those guns. Seasoned players will see you pull out one of those guns and put their gun away to stab you just for the laughs.
Most Unturned fights also occur at medium to long range unless you’re hiding in a building. So, while a Peacemaker or Yuri can spit out plenty of rounds to get a kill, that won’t help you much if your opponent is out of their effective range. Therefore, assault rifles are what you’re ultimately looking to find. However, even a Schofield or Hawkhound can bridge the gap until you acquire a better weapon. You might not be able to kill the stacked veterans on the server, but you should be able to hold your own against other players who are not quite as geared.
Farm Experience
Now that you have a gun to defend yourself with, you will need skills to use it effectively and repair it. There are a few easy ways to farm experience when getting started in Unturned. The best way is by killing military zombies because they give twice the experience compared to other zombies. Experience from zombies is also doubled during blood moons and the zombies spawn faster. You can very quickly fill your skills this way. However, if you’re worried about other players killing you at a loot location, cutting trees with a chainsaw can farm experience quickly as well. Just make sure that you are in a remote location because the cut-down trees will signal to other players that you are near. Whichever method you use, if you are in a group you may want to set a member on watch so no one ambushes you.
Gather the Basics
Now that you have some experience and can defend yourself from lightly geared players, you will need to gather the basics to establish a base for your future loot hoard. Read the next section and look to acquire what you need. Be careful during this stage because you do not have any backup gear if you die. If you have a group, try to stick together and cover each other. If one person dies, the others can retrieve or defend the dropped gear. However, if you guys are out-matched, it’s okay to retreat and get some of you out alive with gear. It is better than everyone starting back at square one.
Tip: Collect all the scrap metal you can by scrapping items. You will need as much as you can gather for metal storage containers and metal base parts.
Establishing an Early Base
A base is key to getting started in Unturned on PVP servers. You will need a place to store your loot or gear that you take from defeated players. If you die, you will have this extra gear to use so that you are not starting over from scratch. Your first base does not even have to be permanent, but you do need some place to store items and respawn from.
Choose a Good Location
The location of your base is important. First off, never build inside of zombie spawn locations. Seasoned players will raid your base with zombies and you will lose everything. The second thing to consider is your proximity to looting locations. If you are not near any decent loot, you will find yourself traveling long distances to get better gear. The longer the trip home is the larger the chance someone kills you before you can get your new loot back to base. The last thing to consider is the attention you want to draw to your home. If you are close to a high-traffic area, being raided or harassed by other players becomes more likely. So, choose your base location wisely, and for help check out our best base location articles for each map.
Wooden Bases are Fine at First
When getting started in Unturned, you will want to make a wooden base at first. Getting a chainsaw from a farm will make building a wooden base much quicker. Make sure to use metal doors and metal shutters for doorways and windows on your base. These lock and will only be accessible by members of your group. Put an airlock as well to insulate the center of your base from the entrance. That way if someone kills you when you open your door, they don’t gain access to your entire base.
Metal Storage is Important
You should try to find a blowtorch, collect plenty of scrap metal, and acquire crafting III as soon as possible. This is because you will want to store all your items in metal storage containers. They are locked and only accessible to you and other group members. It only takes a single charge to get through a wooden base part. So, if all of your gear is in wooden storage once they are in, the loot will be easily accessible and become theirs. If your loot is in metal storage containers then they must use more raiding supplies to break into the lockers. Spacing out your metal storage within your base is even more effective. Raiding supplies are more time-consuming to get than wooden base parts. Expand your base rather than packing storage containers close together, and make the enemy use more of their hard-earned charges if they want your loot.
Tip: If you have enough metal storage, you can start using your spare scrap metal to convert your base to metal and make your loot even safer.
Food, Water, and a Bed
These three things are necessities for getting your base started in Unturned. You will need a steady source of food and water so that you can focus on more important things like amassing a wonderful treasure trove of loot. Farming is the easiest solution for a steady supply of food. Get seeds from a farm or find vegetables in cities that you can craft into seed. If one person in your group can dedicate themselves to maxing out their agriculture skill, they can do the farming for the group.
There are three ways to get plenty of water in Unturned. The first way is making rain barrels and finding/making a canteen to drink from them with. They only fill after it rains, so you will need plenty of them depending on the size of your group. The next water source is actually a food source as well. Teal berries give more water than food and can be farmed as a pseudo-water source. The last method for staying hydrated is visiting vending machines with a generator. If you are near a city with a few vending machines, making some rounds to each one every 4 minutes will give you a large storage of drinks.
The last thing your base needs is a bed for you to respawn from. All you need is 9 cloth to craft one. Just scrap extra clothing and place one inside. Try to pick the safest location in your base to place it because if the bed gets destroyed you are out of luck. It is a good idea to log in with an extra bed. This is because if your base gets raided and your bed is destroyed while you’re offline, you can then place the spare when you enter the server.
Getting Better PVP Gear
Now that you have your base established, you’re ready to start gathering better loot and gear. This can be tricky because the other players on the server are looking to do this too. The better players will be looking for quick scores by winning PVP fights and stealing from weaker players. Here are some simple ways that you can build yourself up and get better gear when getting started in Unturned.
Find Remote Loot Locations
While military bases are overflowing with the best weapons, gear, and ammo, other players will be there looking for that loot as well. Especially those players looking to steal from other players. Why spend time looting the entire place when you could let someone else do it and kill them when they are finished? Therefore, it’s best to avoid these locations until you can take these fights and win them. For now, settle for lesser locations that still have the gear you need but just not as abundantly.
Fight Players You Can Beat
David vs. Goliath is a great story until you play that fight out ten times and the little guy loses 9 out of 10 times. Take fights that you have a better chance of winning and walking away from with good loot. Try to observe the skill and number of your opponents before engaging them. You will also want to take note of their gear and make sure it’s worth the risk. Firing off a bunch of shots to kill someone without much gear might attract other players. The fight goes from one that you can take to one you lose to a nearby team of five that heard the commotion.
Ambush Geared Players
Shooting first in a fight is a massive advantage. You can take someone out before they even have a chance to react. Scout out the area and try not to be seen first. If you see someone who is decked out in high-tier gear that is clearly better than you, you can still take them. You just have to do it smart. Shoot and kill them before they can react and fight back. Watch out for their group though because you never know who is nearby. If your group is outnumbered, an ambush can give you the numbers advantage if you can kill some of their members in the initial ambush. Finally, get out fast after an ambush. Grab the loot and go before you are ambushed yourself.
Raid Smaller Bases
Raiding the massive sky base over military can get you all the loot you will ever need. But, when getting started in Unturned, that’s not always practical. These larger bases may require several charges before you even sniff a piece of loot due to honeycombing (layering your base to protect the goodies inside). However, smaller wooden or metal bases can require only a few charges to obtain some quality gear. This is especially true if you choose one in proximity to a good loot location. Just like picking a fight you can win, start by raiding bases that you have the resources to raid.