PUBG Mobile pro gameplay tips
Whether you're in a team or on your own, here's some tips to get you through the game.
Best clothes for PUBG characters: This isn't a fashion show, it's battle royale, so think tactically. If you're wearing white jeans and a yellow puffer jacket, you'll be easily spotted and easier to target. Think muted shades and of course, camouflage, to give you a tactical advantage. It's tempting to wear a baseball cap, but you really want a helmet.
If you don't have good clothes, strip in the assembly area: This is a bit of a weird one, but when you start a game, you have a minute or so in the assembly area. You can drop your clothes and others might come over to swap. You can then swipe a better set of clothes. Ok, sometimes it doesn't happen, but sometimes you'll get a great set of threads!
There are clothes in the assembly area: A tower and some crates have been added to the assembly area on Spawn Island. You have about 1 minute while you wait to start the game and there are some clothes you can collect on the top of one of the crates (next to the barrels). You'll have to use big jumps to get there, and it's tricky, but you can get yourself a cool jacket and trousers. If spawning in the map (as was the case in version 8), there are no treats for you.
Choose your moment to jump from the aircraft: PUBG Mobile plots the path of the aircraft across the map, so you can see what you'll be flying over. It also tells you how many people are left on-board, so you've a general idea of the distribution across the map. Using this information you can pick your INFIL point, avoiding areas full of other players. Bigger towns attract more jumpers, so if you want to die, jump into a town.
Freefall with speed: As soon as you're out of the aircraft, push forward on your controller and you dive toward the ground. This gets you to the ground faster, so you're not drifting down while others are gathering weapons and preparing to slaughter you. Your 'chute opens automatically, so you don't need to worry about that.
Open your 'chute early to fly across the map: If you're out of the aircraft and you can see masses of people already falling below you, perhaps you want to be elsewhere. Pop your 'chute manually, and you can drift a long way across the map to a different area. Remember though, that while you're drifting, others are gathering.
Master the map: The map is your best friend because it shows you the game area, which decreases through-out the game. You need to stay inside this area, or you'll slowly die. Drop a marker on the map and you'll see it in your compass to help you navigate to a safe area. You might need to zoom in as the game progresses, especially towards the closing stages.
Avoid the red zone: The map also shows you the red zone, which is an artillery barrage. If you're in the red zone, there's a good chance you'll get hit, although if you're in a building you'll be able to ride it out just fine.
Get protected with auto pick-up: Your baseball cap looks great, but a helmet stops your head splitting like a melon (usually). Grab that protective kit so you can take a little more damage. Ensure that auto pick-up is turned on and you'll replace kit with higher rated stuff when you find it.
Get the right weapons for the job: The weapons in PUBG Mobile work like real-world weapons: shotguns and pistols are only good for short range, SMGs are great in enclosed spaces when you want to put down a lot of fire quickly, the assault rifles are good all-rounders. An assault rifle and an SMG is a great combo, two pistols is not. Version 6 added the armoury where you can see the characteristics of all the weapons and mods.
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Collect sights: Many of the weapons are adaptable and holo sights and scopes make it much easier to hit the target. At the start of the game, manually grab sights and scopes you find, so they will then attach to weapons you collect. Bingo, you'll be dropping bad guys in no time. If you have spare sights, share them with your team.
Empty your backpack: If you're carrying loads of stuff you don't need, you'll fill your bag, meaning less space for stuff you need. Tap on your backpack to see the contents and then drop the stuff you don't need, like ammunition for a weapon you've dropped.
Manually drop weapons: Auto pick-up sometimes means that you'll drop your scoped silenced SMG for a rifle, which you might not want. Open the backpack as above and you can drag a weapon to the trash can to drop it. You can then get the loadout you want.
Swap sights on your rifles: You'll automatically add sights to some rifles, but you have the option to equip a particular weapon with a particular accessory. Put the 6x scope on your 7.62mm weapons, because they have greater power and range, so are better for sniping. Avoid big magnification on SMGs - they're better at close quarters combat where you just want a holographic sight. The 8x sight will only attach to sniper rifles.
Horde sights so your enemy can't have them: If you come across an 8x scope but don't have a rifle for it, take it anyway. Otherwise, the person behind you might just shoot you in the back. You can always pass it to teammates later in the game, or you might find that rifle.
Use silencers: Stealth is your friend in PUBG, because gunfire is located on the map for enemies that are close by. Silenced weapons make it much harder for other players to locate you - there are silencers for many weapon types (AR, sniper, SMG, pistol) but you might have to manually add it to your weapon once you've found it if you already have a compensator fitted. Silencers do not change the ballistic properties of weapons.
Lie down when raiding crates: When you kill someone, you can raid the crate they drop for more stuff. Lie down when you do it, because otherwise anyone else in the area will spot the green puff of smoke, then snipe you while you stand there selecting a new pair of shoes.
Master sprinting: To move across the map quickly, sprinting is often the way to do it. You can lock sprinting by tapping the running icon next to the map. Then you can run and look at the map, have a drink or whatever.
Drink energy drink for a speed boost: You'll collect energy drinks in the game. These will give you a slow energy recovery (about 23 per cent), but if you smash down two cans, you'll get a running speed boost too. Need to run from a building? Need to get to the game zone? Neck a couple of Energy Drinks before you go.
Load up on adrenaline, energy drink of painkillers to survive outside the play area: Sometimes you're caught outside the play area looking for a vehicle. Load-up on an adrenaline shot and it will continue to help you recover and delay the energy sapping effects outside the play area. It's a great tactic if you land miles from the playzone and have to run to safety.
Dash, down, crawl, observe, sights, fire: It's a basic infantry drill that really works - much better than jumping repeatedly and firing. If you're taking fire, move and hit the deck, keep moving and the enemy will lose you. Then you need to locate the enemy, get eyes on them, hit the aim and neutralise them. Simple. (But sometimes you'll just get dead.)
Don't jump out of fast moving vehicles: Yes, you'll die. Try not to crash as your vehicle will take on damage. If you lose a tyre, it won't drive so well.
Collect medikits, always: You will get shot and you can often recover from that with some medical attention. Pickup medical supplies because they will often be more useful to you than grenades.
Remember the aim of the game is to survive: If you want to win, you can pretty much do so by collecting your weapons, staying out of trouble and killing the last few people. The aim isn't to kill the most people, it's to be the last player standing. Hiding and staying out of trouble is a good way to do that.
Watch out for the bridges: As the play area shrinks, you might find you need to cross one of the bridges. Take care, as these are natural ambush points, with cars being used to block bridges so you can't just race through. If there are people on the bridge, you're better swimming - directly under the bridge often makes it easy. If you're caught on the bridge, go over the edge to get out of the killzone.
Use first aid: There are bandages and medikits in the game. The medical kits are essential for recovering after taking a few shots. If you find the painkillers, these will give you a gradual health recovery, meaning you can pop them down and get moving.
How to kill yourself in PUBG Mobile: You might just want to end it all. You can't shoot yourself, but you can kill yourself with a grenade, jump from a moving vehicle, fall from a high cliff or drown if you spend too long under water. We're not sure why you'd want to do this, but at least you now know.
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Tips for PUBG Mobile squad play
Co-op play is a massive part of PUBG and here's a couple of extra tips to help teams win. This applies both for Classic and Arcade modes.
Remember your team mates are probably idiots: Let's face facts, a lot of team games are random pairings and you'll likely end up with idiots. Often a team leader will dive into the biggest towns (because there are more buildings, therefore more weapons) and end up dead in the first 3 minutes. Or, they'll drive you into a town with the same result - premature death. Consider where you're heading and if you don't like where the team is heading (to its doom) then do your own thing.
Turn off team voice chat: Don't want to listen to your team mates coughing and sniffing? Want to limit their abuse when you do something they don't agree with? There's a speaker symbol next to the mini map - this will silence your team and save you the bother. Conversely, if you're playing with friends, this is where you can turn voice chat back on.
Coordinate your landing zone: When you 'chute into onto the island you can coordinate your LZ by opening the map and tapping to drop a marker. Use the parachuting tips above to get everyone in the same place. Otherwise you'll spend half the game trying to rendezvous (but remember the "idiots" caveat above).
Use follow me to co-ordinate your landing: An update added a "follow" feature which solves the problem above, letting a squad member act as jump leader and guide everyone else down. This gets you all into the same LZ easily. However, if the person you are following doesn't know what they're doing, you can "unfollow" once you've descending and choose your own landing point. You can also use follow on the ground.
Locate your team members: If you're not together, you'll find your squad locations marked on the map and in your UI, making it easy to find your way back to them.
Stick together but spread out: Bunching up makes you easy to kill, spreading out means any enemy has to make a decision. It also means you can use interlocking fields of fire to engage any enemy. Don't, for example, bunch around a dropped crate as you'll be taken out with a burst from a machine gun. Fighting as a team is the best way to win.
Isolate the threat before you revive: You can revive your team members when they're injured - it's perhaps the biggest part of being a squad - but don't rush over as soon as they drop as you'll probably get shot. Watch your partner's health meter in the top left corner, while you eliminate the threat. If you die trying to revive your team, you all lose. If you've been shot, crawl into cover so your teammate isn't exposed.
Use enemy ahead to share target designation: In the text chat there's an "enemy ahead" option. Use this while looking at an enemy and that information will be shared with your team. You can't shout fire control orders, but you can pinpoint your enemy for effective team fire. Top tip: you can also do this after you've been wounded to help your teammates out.
How to kill a teammate: If you need to get rid of someone on your team, then the best way to do it is with a grenade. You just have to make sure they don't see you toss it into the same room - or use a Molotov instead to burn them down. It's not really in the spirit of team play, but sometimes needs must.
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Tips for winning PUBG Mobile
All the above will serve you well, but the top 10 battle is the fiercest. Here are some tips to help you through the final stages of the game.
Get your SAW or sniper rifle from the dropped resupply crate: You'll notice that there are regular airdrops, with a red smoke indicator on a weapons crate with great weapons in it - usually a SAW or sniper rifle. Keep your eyes on it because it has weapons that will help you win - or present you with a chance to snipe those who go to collect from it. The choice is yours.
Keep your eye out for the flare gun: This was a version 8 addition, letting you fire a flare so you can call in a personal airdrop. That's great as the supplies come to you, but your enemy will see the signal too, so expect to draw fire as soon as you approach that crate. If you're inside the playzone, you get weapons, if you're outside the playzone you get an armoured car.
Get your belt buckle in the dirt: As the safe zone decreases, you'll find yourself in close proximity of all the remaining players. You'll need to be on your belly to survive, so once the circle is getting small, you'll basically have to do everything at the crawl or you'll be shot.
Watch the map for sounds: As people move in vehicles or shoot, the map will indicate noise with orange marks. Use these to make sure you're aware of where enemy action is - so you can avoid it, observe it, or engage.
Use your grenades: When you're in the dirt, you'll often not be able to see your opponent for a clear shot. Try throwing out a grenade and they'll run to avoid it giving you a target to shoot, or you might wound or kill them. Molotov cocktails are especially effective if you don't know exactly where they are.
Finally: how long does a PUBG Mobile game last? About 30 minutes is a safe guess if you're playing on classic mode.