With the likes of PUBG and PUBG Mobile dominating the battle royale scene on most platforms, it’s not unexpected for other devs and publishers to try their hand at creating battle royale shooters of their own, and Garena Free Fire isn’t an exception. Capitalizing on the popularity of battle royales back in 2019, this Garena brainchild became the most downloaded mobile game of that year. And with its straightforward mechanics, it’s easy for anyone to pick up the game - even if they played a battle royale or not.
For players used to PUBG and PUBG Mobile, the familiar mechanics of Garena Free Fire can make playing the battle royale a breeze. However, for newcomers to the game, the many considerations in a battle royale game can be quite difficult to master. Thankfully, some beginner tips for Garena Free Fire can make the mobile battle royale game an easy title to master.
Change Controls For Convenience
In Free Fire, players actually have a means of changing the way things are laid out on the screen, allowing them to place buttons precisely where they want to be for the sake of convenience. This can become extremely handy for players who want to take their battle royale experience more seriously, as an optimized control layout can help them reach for certain commands much faster.
For instance, stealth players might want to keep the crouch and sneak buttons nearer to the right stick for easy access. Likewise, marksmen would want to keep the trigger button and ADS button much closer to ensure they get the jump on enemies much faster.
Get Passive To Survive The Longest
Perhaps the most practical playstyle in Free Fire lies in its origins: it plays like most battle royales. As such, a great tip to survive most first matches in the game is to play it passively instead of aggressively. Unless players want to train using particular weapons or combat mechanics, camping and waiting for player teams to die out before dashing for the final showdown is a reasonable course of action.
Players can do this easily by trying to get to the middle section that lies in between the inner and outer reaches of the map’s safe zone. This ensures that players stay safe from danger zones but aren’t too deep into the next safe zone that they would encounter opponents. Not only that, but this Goldilocks Zone allows players to find buildings to explore for loot without worrying about getting caught in crossfires.
Familiarize With Characters And Their Skills
Players who start a Free Fire match can choose a character to use before entering battle, carrying with them that character’s base appearance and skillset. It’s important for players to pay attention to their chosen character’s ability as this can change the way they can approach the match.
For instance, Kelly is the game’s speedster that has the Dash ability, allowing her to sprint faster and therefore encouraging more dangerous plays. Meanwhile, Alvaro has the Art Of Demolition ability that improves the damage and range of explosives, which incentivizes using grenades and other throwables. Understanding how each character can provide certain advantages to perks to combat.
Switch Locations All The Time
While it’s perfectly safe to camp out until the battle ends in a battle royale, it’s much better to keep on switching locations to avoid unnecessary conflicts in the game. Thankfully, all areas in Free Fire have a selection of houses, buildings, and structures that can generally serve as safe zones for players who want to survey the surroundings.
As a general rule, players should stay in an area for a half-minute at best before going elsewhere. This should be more than enough time for them to find loot, recover health, and even reload their weapons for another firefight. Staying too long in a location can leave them open to ambushes from other teams, especially when other teams have an aggressive approach in combat compared to others.
Red Means Shoot
When players aim at an enemy, their crosshairs will turn red for a quick moment. This isn’t a feature other battle royales offer, and this is something that players should take full advantage of this interesting mechanic. At its core, the red crosshair indicates that a player is pointing at an enemy that is in their direct line of sight, meaning shooting in this instant will guarantee a hit.
Players should train their trigger fingers to activate precisely when they notice this red dot, as this means they can at least score a hit. This is crucial in intense firefights when players can’t easily chase opponents with their eyes, as the game’s recognition can help players recognize enemies that they might not see immediately.
Loot Kind Is Irrelevant In The Early Game
When players land for the first time in a match, they’re likely going to scour the environment for their favorite weapon combination to dominate the early game. This is a wrong mentality, as trying to find a specific weapon type in a huge game world is likely to land players in trouble. Instead, players should try training in all weapon types so they can adapt to whatever weapon they see on the ground.
Remember, the early stages of the match are important as players can only get better loot if they have the firepower to secure buildings, loot crates, and bodies of dead opponents. Players in the early game should adapt to the weapons they see first and then only search for their favored weapons after the first few minutes of roaming.
The High Ground Is The Best Ground
Regardless if players are getting into the match with a passive or aggressive playstyle, getting to higher ground should always be a priority if they plan on staying in an area longer than usual. In the urban landscapes of Free Fire, players have access to bunkers and even tall buildings to stay safe from opponents.
Aside from the fact that buildings are very hard to navigate and give players a lot of room to ambush opponents, peeking from windows gives players great firing angles. After all, when players see enemies from higher floors, their crosshairs will almost immediately get a view of the opponent’s upper body or head, giving them higher damage numbers during gunfights.
Secure Maximum EP As Often As Possible
Unique to Free Fire is the EP mechanic, which acts as another gauge to watch aside from HP. In essence, players consume EP slowly when they lose health, acting as a “buffer” for healing HP before players have to use regenerative items. This is a nifty way to save lives in a pinch, but the tricky part here is that players don’t necessarily regenerate EP by default.
Rather, players can only get EP by doing certain tasks such as staying at campfires. Players need to take this into consideration before heading deep into safe zones. Staying with full EP or high EP as much as possible can greatly help players in the event that there aren’t any regenerative items nearby, or if they need to head from one firefight to the next without any breaks.
Stealth Is Wealth
Fans of FPS games know that camping isn’t always a great way to play a match as this spoils the fun in action-packed fights, but in a game like Free Fire where strategy is half the battle, stealth is probably the best and safest approach.
It’s advised for players to sneak around as often as possible, especially in areas that have a lot of hallways, doors, and access points with loot where other teams can spot them. Likewise, players who want to make the jump on a visible enemy team can do it safely when crouching or sneaking, as this improves their accuracy when it comes to aiming. Shooting guns blazing can ruin their aim and give opponents a chance to escape.
Engage In The Shrink Zone
As with other battle royales with danger zones, Free Fire has a shrink zone that damages opponents the longer they stay there. Of course, it’s natural for players to prioritize getting out of the shrink zone first and head to safety instead of engaging other opponents they see there. Interestingly, players might want to use this to their advantage, as half the time their targets in the shrink zone will have to think about whether to fight back or risk dying.
To do this, players who play a bit aggressive might want to try and stay just a bit ahead of the shrink zone so they don’t necessarily stay inside it but remain close enough to spot those just trying to get out. Players can then block the path of those trying to exit the shrink path by shooting at them, at which point the enemies will either have to stop and fight back or retreat. It’s always an option for players to chase them a bit inside the zone, as their enemies will likely be at an HP disadvantage anyway. However, if players end up getting half-life but not killing their enemies, it may be best to stop using this strategy for now.
Garena Free Fire was released in 2019 and is currently available for play on Android and iOS devices.