Published on 12:00 AM, August 24, 2017

Top 4 tips for winning in Playerunknown's Battlegrounds

If you're still waiting for your first chicken dinner in PUBG even after a hundred games, use these 5 tips to plough through the competition. 

1. LEARN HOW TO FIGHT IN THE HOT LANDING ZONES.

If you think you're going to secure a win by landing near a few huts and arming yourself with a frying pan, you're going to have a bad time. Not only will you not be able to retaliate against a sniper 400 metres away from you, you will be starved of gear as the rest of the zones will be looted by the time you get there. 

So, it is highly recommended that you learn to deal with the initial crowd in the hot spots around the map. The military base is somewhere I always want to land simply because of the quality of weapons available. Sure, a lot of people drop in there as well but remember, the ultimate goal of the game is to survive and you will have to eliminate your enemies sooner or later, might as well do it sooner. Learn the surrounding areas and move fast, you don't want to be armed with a pistol while you get shot down by an AKM. 

2. USE DRAG AND DROP.

A lot of times I see people scurrying for weapons and ammo only to be stuck in an infinite pick-up animation. Easy kills, the lot. Don't use "F" to pick up your items. Instead, once you're near a stack of weapons and ammo, press "Tab" and drag the items to your inventory. 

Practice dragging your items as fast as you can until you can do it as fast as most pro streamers. It's not a difficult thing to do. Bear in mind that while you have your inventory open, you are prone to being ambushed as your visibility is severely diminished so practicing fast dragging is mandatory. 

3. LEARN HOW TO FIND YOUR SHOOTER. 

A majority of shooting games generate sound based on where your shooter is. You will hear the gun sound in the same instance as the bullet "whizzing" sound. In PUBG, this isn't the case. First of all, you'll hear the "whizz" of the bullet before hearing the gun fire. This is done in accordance with the distance from your shooter to you. The farther your shooter is, the later you'll hear the gun fire. 

Don't trust the "whizz" of the bullet to identify where your shooter is. If the sound of the bullet comes from your left or right, chances are your shooter is either in front of you or behind you. If the bullet sound is in front of you or behind you, then your shooter is at your left or right side. 

Wait for the gun fire to sound before you move your mouse cursor frantically to search for the enemy. You should also look out for the muzzle flash of weapons. They are always a dead giveaway unless they're using a suppressor or flash hider, of course. If you're being fired at with a suppressed weapon, use the bullet "whizz" rule to find your assailant. 

4. MOVE SMARTLY. 

I shed a tear of joy when I see someone running through an open wheat field while I have my sniper scope trained on them. Don't be that guy. 

You should always plan out every single move you make. You should also have a clear idea of where you want to head. After you set your destination, analyze all the possible routes you can take. Do you search around for a vehicle? Or do you want to hoof it? If you choose the latter, you'll have to make sure you avoid areas with minimal cover. Buildings are never a safe bet to run through as there's always the chance that you may be ambushed by someone looking out the window. Try to find areas where there are trees. That way you can find vertical cover every time you get shot at and the shade helps to mask you body against long-range shooters. 

Captain Price from CoD 4: Modern Warfare once said, "Check your corners". You should follow this advice to the letter. Whenever you're in close quarters, switch to your shotgun or high fire-rate SMG and peek around walls before moving. It's a good idea to use stun grenades before you enter a suspicious room. 

Now that you've learned how to be a proper PUBG survivor, it's time to put it into practice. Get online, and earn that chicken dinner. Good luck.

Shahrukh Ikhtear is a sub-editor at SHOUT who stresses himself out while trying to learn marketing. Send him pictures of Philip Kotler as blessings at fb.com/sr.ikhtear