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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds: (PUBG) Controls and Tips to Help You Win

This article is over 7 years old and may contain outdated information

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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds doesn’t have any built-in controller support at this time, so there’s a lot to learn for new players.  Aiming down sights, equipping items and using them, running, parachuting and more… this is the essential list of controls for Battlegrounds that’ll help you survive longer and potentially win the Battle Royale.

Aiming Down Sights

One that many players seem to have trouble with right out of the game is Aiming Down Sights.  Aiming down sights in Battlegrounds can be done in two ways.  In the third person and in the first person, but it’s done with the same button — the right mouse.  To aim down sights in first person you can toggle it on and off by tapping the right mouse.  To aim down sights in the third person you have to hold the right mouse button.

Aim Down Sights – 1st person (tap right mouse toggles on and off)  3rd person (hold right mouse).

Hold your Breath While Scoped

If you happen to find a long range weapon in Battlegrounds, you better know how to use it.  First and foremost, being able to aim down sights is a must, but you can also hold your breath to steady your shot for a short period while aiming.  To hold your breath in Battleground for more accurate shots, hold Shift when scoped in.  A little lung icon on the bottom of the screen will let you know how much breath you have.

Change Rate of Fire

If the weapon you’re using in Battlegrounds has multiple rates of fire, it would be beneficial to know the key that changes this on the fly.  Press B to cycle through the rates of fire on a weapon.  At the bottom of the screen there will be an indicator that tells you what your rate of fire is, whether it’s single shot, burst, or automatic.

Auto Running

The nature of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will have you running a lot.  The map is constantly getting smaller, and you’ll be needing to book it across the map if you want to stay alive.  Thankfully, you don’t have to hold down the run key the whole time.  You can simply use the = key to auto run.

Looking Around You

There’s danger around every corner in Battlegrounds, so it’s helpful if you can look behind and around your character while still moving.  To do this, just hold the ALT key while running or in ADS.

Parachute Faster

Each round of Battlegrounds starts out with you parachuting out of a cargo plane with 99 other players.  The first ones with boots on the ground are usually the ones who find the weapons most quickly.  To get on the ground quicker, you can use this tip.  When you jump out of the plane, aim your mouse directly at the ground, and hold the W key.  You’ll reach Terminal Velocity of 230.  Not only will you be moving faster, but you’ll have a lot of momentum when your parachute deploys, allowing you to get to the ground quicker than those who don’t use this method.

Healing Faster

Healing in Battlegrounds can be a tedious process if you don’t know the correct hotkeys for healing and boost items.  Instead of going into your inventory every time you want to chug a can of Redbull, use bandages, or a first-aid kit, you can use the designated 7,8,9,0 keys to use these items on the fly.  This method won’t circumvent the time it takes to use the items, but at least you won’t have to toggle to the inventory screen.

How to Swim

There are boats in Battlegrounds, but sometimes you just have to swim for it.  If you do find yourself in this situation, there are two methods of swimming.  On the water and below it.  On the water seems to be the slower and more dangerous approach.  However, you can dive below the surface by looking down with your mouse or hitting the crouch button.  You can stay underwater as long as your lung meter has life in it.  To surface, just hit the space bar.

Grenade Management

There are many types of grenades in Battlegrounds — frags, stun, and smoke grenades.  If you’ve got different types of grenades in your inventory you can switch between them by pressing the 5 key.

Shooting and Leaning

Leaning around corners is a good way to get a good shot on a target without exposing your whole body and it can be down in both the third-person and first person ADS modes.  Press E or Q to lean left or right when you’re shooting.

Shut them up

It’s a PC game with a 100 players per match.  There’s a 99% chance that the beginning of your game will start with loud screaming, household noises, someone playing DJ, or other annoyances.  You can quickly toggle voice chat on and off by hitting CTRL + T.

Turn off the UI

Is the user interface getting in your way, or do you just want to play the game without the minimap and other on-screen indicators?  You can quickly turn off the user interface by clicking CTRL + U

Flying Melee Attack

It’s inevitable that you will find yourself in a fistfight in Battlegrounds at some point in your time playing it.  While it’s certainly not the highlight of the gameplay, taking a running start and lining up a leaping punch can do more damage than your standard jab or hook.  Just run towards your adversary, leap into the air, and line-up that sweet Superman punch for the kill.  This is definitely easier said than done, but with some practice it’s definitely a tool you’ll want in your arsenal.

The basics

The very basics of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds are pretty similar to all PC games.  But if you need a quick refresher.  WASD are the movement keys.  Your mouse wheel will cycle through your weapons.  Reloading weapons is the R key.  Z is used for going prone and C is used for crouching.  Shift is used to run, but as you saw above you can auto-run as well.   Jumping is done using the space bar, and if you can’t clear a hurdle on the first try, try taking a running start and then leap forward. Health is a precious commodity in Battlegrounds as well, so be mindful when doing things like leaping from balconies, there’s only so far you can fall before you’ll lose some health as a result. Same goes for vehicles.  Try to exit a moving vehicle when its going too fast and you’ll lost some if not all of your health in the process.


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