DayZ: Looting Guide

DAYZ Loot Guide

Starting a new life on the coast of Chernarus can be a scary thing. With the new starting equipment of a flashlight, bandage, and one box of painkillers, looting smarter is now even more important in the horrifying world of DayZ. With this guide, you will learn the basics of surviving the zombie apocalypse and will soon be scavenging to your hearts content. That is until the bandits find you…

Introduction:

Play smart, use a map. There are several community created online maps which highlight the various loot spawns around Cheranus. If you want to totally immerse yourself in this horrifying world you can always do without, but I feel a map open in my second monitor has helped my enjoyment of DayZ immensely.

http://dayzdb.com/map

- The DayZdb.com map is our favorite for ease of use and how thorough it is. It even includes up to date loot tables for each spawn type!

http://teamfackin.com/moocow/dayz/map/

MooCow’s DayZ map is awesome for beginner players. It doesn’t have quite as much detail as the DayZdb map but has all of the important buildings clearly marked. This map makes it really easy to see which buildings are in each town at a glance and should give those less familiar with the region a great idea of where to head next.

 

DayZ Looting Basics:

There are a few varieties of loot spawns that you will want to familiarize yourself with.

Residential Loot: The most common type, contains everyday items like food, cans of soda, painkillers, water bottles, bandages, flares etc. Has a small chance to spawn backpacks, ammo, and low level weapons like makarovs, . Also the main source of useful tools like compass, hunting knife etc.

Medical Loot: Like the name suggests medical loot spawns have a 100% chance of spawning med supplies. These will provide plenty of bandages, painkillers etc. and are your only way of finding bloodpacks, epi-pens, and antibiotics, other than betraying a fellow survivor and taking it off of his fly ridden corpse that is…

Industrial: Locations such as factories and gas stations spawn industrial loot, which usually contain vehicle repair parts.

Military Loot: These spawns are where the goodies are. Military spawns will have generally the same items as residential, plus more advanced weapon types, such as assault rifles, gear and ammo. While they have the best items, these are very dangerous locations that other players will frequent. Military spawns also have morphine and other medical supplies, but no blood.

Important Building Types:

Now that you know what the different types of spawns are, its time to figure out where to look. Each type has different buildings to watch out for. With the way the spawns work in DayZ and how risky it is in cities, unless you are desperate you are better off skipping most low quality buildings and only keeping an eye out for the ones listed here.

Residential:

Apartment Block

Church

School

Castle

Supermarket (High chance of food)

All of the above items have many spawn locations inside and have high percentage chances of finding useful items like backpacks, binoculars, compasses, bandages, food etc. These will be your main source of everyday survival items and can be found in most larger cities. Churches and castles have higher chances of spawning equipment, Supermarkets have the best chance of finding food.

Hospitals and Medical Tents:

The only source of important medical supplies like blood, morphine, and antibiotics. A must for any new character. If you don’t stock up on morphine before heading off the coast, it can be a VERY long crawl to the nearest one.  These are ONLY located in Cherno, Elektro, and Berezino, which are highly dangerous. Hospitals have glass which must be broken before you can enter, which will attract zombies, but zombies cannot actually go through the broken glass. They also have a chance of spawning supplies on the roof.

Military

Now for the fun stuff. Military buildings are your source for weapons and come in a few different types.

Barn

While technically a residential spawn, the barn has a much better chance of spawning basic weapons like hatchets, shotguns, crossbows, Lee Enfield and CZ rifles. Great spot to stop for a new player, keep an eye out for the red roof.

Deer Stand

Deer stands are scattered all over the map, and are always worth checking out. As you travel through the wilderness try to hit as many as you can. With only 2 spawns per stand, they are a bit of a crapshoot and will often be empty, however they can spawn some very high end gear and guns. Players like to camp near these so check out the surroundings and try not to get sniped.

ATC Tower

Firestation

Each of these are a very good source of primary weapons like AKs and M16s. Have a very small chance of spawning higher end weapons as well. Located in Balota, Cherno, Electro x2, NW and NE airfields.

Military Tents

Technically a low quality military spawn, these tents are still a great source of weapons, ammo, and gear. With a couple in Cherno and Berezino, they may be worth hitting up. Stary Sobor is a hotspot on the way to the NW Airfield and has 10 of these on the north side of town. In Stary, the sheer number of tents means you are almost guaranteed some good drops and are well worth a visit. Be extremely careful as there are many players here and this is a very popular spot for server hoppers. The hill to the north is a great spot for snipers so check the area carefully before you begin looting. It is highly recommended to have a friend with a rifle on overwatch, as here things can get hairy very quickly.

Barracks

The best looting location in the game, other than crashed helicopters, the barracks can only be found in the infamous NW airfield. There is one on each end of the airstrip and can be recognized by the row of windows along the side. Several of the best guns and items in the game, such as NVG’s, only spawn in the barracks.

Take EXTREME caution when planning a barracks raid. Bring friends, and be prepared to die because you almost certainly will. There will likely be people inside the building itself or in the woods nearby, there will generally also be snipers on the south hill or in the ATC tower.

 

Starting off:

There are two schools of thought in the best way to start a new character, and the choice is yours. The “low and slow” approach applies to a spawn on the western side of the coast such as Kamenka or Komorovo. The mentality here is to head directly north, hitting all barns and deer stands on your way. Raid towns like Zelenogorsk and Putoschka for food and supplies. While this approach is very safe, it also means you may go a long time before finding any weapons, will need to run great distances with little defense and little payoff, and may end up all the way at Stary Sobor with nothing much to show for it.

Personally, we recommend a faster but more risky approach: head directly to Cherno or Elektro. If you spawn too far east or west, just suicide and start again. The idea here is that a successful run through either of these towns will almost always leave you well kitted out, and only takes 10-15 minutes. Even if you die trying 4 times, you will have spent less time than looting small towns and deerstands up north. A successful starting run should net you the following items:

Sidearm (Makarov or M1911), and at least 3 clips

Primary Weapon (Shotgun or better) and 2-3 clips

At least 2 cans of food

1 Water bottle and 1 soda can, or at least 3 soda cans

2-3 Bandages

2-3 Painkillers

2-3 Morphine

1-2 Bloodbags

Upgraded Backpack (Czech bag or better)

Bonus: Compass, Binoculars, Hunting Knife, Matches, Hatchet, Antibiotics, Toolbox

 

Cherno:

The best way to approach Cherno is from the west side. Hug the coast until you get into town. In this order, hit the Supermarket, Firestation, Church, and then swing north through the factories until you reach the hospital in the NW of town. Take a moment to listen for gunshots and assess the situation. If you didn’t find a backpack in the Church or Supermarket, hit the apartment blocks directly beside the hospital first, so you have room for medical supplies. You will almost definitely find one in the 5 apartment buildings. If you did, check your gear and see if you still need anything other than meds, the apartments may still be worth a visit. Hit the hospital and grab the medical gear noted above. If you didn’t find a primary weapon, head to the east side of town and hit the medical tents, but if you did its too risky and time to get out of dodge. Head north to the woods quickly and quietly. If you don’t have all of the items listed above, its still worth rooting around in town until you do.

 

Elektro:

Elektro can be approached from either the East or West, if approaching from the East simply reverse the order o f buildings listed below.

Approach the city from the north, avoid the mostly useless industrial buildings on the southern docks. Look for the Firestation as your first target to minimize zombie aggro and time spent in town. From the Firestation you (hopefully!) got a decent weapon or two, and should head to the Church, School, Hospital, back up to the Supermarket, and finally to the northern Firestation before leaving town. Do not leave town on the main road heading north, as snipers love to camp out by the lake, instead duck NorthEast up the hill into the woods as soon as you can. On your way out of Elektro, be sure to stop by Castle Rog to the north east, as it can contain any equipment or backpack items you may have missed.

Again these runs are high risk / high reward, but don’t take very long and will almost certainly leave you with a good kit and weapon. It might take a couple of tries to get through the town without getting killed by other players, but with some luck it is much more efficient than combing small towns. Any missing items like hatchets can easily be found in barns further north once you are all set up.

ProTip: If you aggro zombies before you have a gun, the cities are actually one of the safer places to be. This is another huge advantage of starting off in the cities rather than small towns. Simply sprint full tilt and the zombies will not be able to hit you (though you will pull more and more after you). Keep an eye out for any building that has more than one entrance (Factory, Red Brick buildings, Cafe) and sprint through to the other side. Zombies walk indoors so this will buy you time and space. On the other side immediately crouch run and make some space while keeping a low profile. Make sure to GTFO as quickly as possible as other players may be after you as well.

 

Got any other looting routes or tips for noobs? Leave a comment and let us know!