The DayZ Standalone can be a harsh world to survive. But there are things that may make your life that much easier. Here is a list of 10 less-known helpful bits that can make a huge difference:

1.) You run faster with your fists raised

Covering huge distances in DayZ is part of the gameplay, and it can often turn into quite the pain. You can sprint significantly faster if you start sprinting with your fists up. All you have to do is put away any weapons that you’re carrying, make sure your hands are empty, and press space, then double tap W. Run, Forest, run!

2.) Fountains are your friend

When running a lot, calculate your route based on available fountains. Make sure you always have fountains along your path to refill that belly of yours. Drinking from a fountain is safe (for now at least), and you can spam the scroll+click buttons to quickly refill your thirst meter. At this moment, there’s no animation for drinking from the fountain, meaning it’s instant, unlike drinking from bottles. Always drink until you get a message stating that you’re full – this often means drinking 20-30 times. In case you’re not using it, here’s a map of Charnarus that has fountains marked.

3.) These green houses hold no loot

Ever! They are buggy little fiends! Don’t bother looking through them, you’re wasting your time. And, for the life of you, never drop items inside them, they have a habit of swallowing loot and laughing in your face.

4.) Don’t run on the road

While it’s easier to navigate if you follow roads, it’s also insanely risky to do so, especially now that most people are following the highway from Elektro to Cherno. Campers are everywhere, and running on the road makes it so much easier for them to spot you. And you don’t want to be spotted by bandits – they will shoot you, kill you, rob you or drain you of your blood and feed you rotten bananas.

5.) Stay off the coast

Pretty much for the same reasons, try to stay off the coast, at least the coast that leads from east to west. If you’re moving towards Balota or Cherno, take the time to go up North into the forest, and use trees as cover to move around cities. You’ll live longer. This is especially important around Pik Kozlova (that rocky hill on the coast between Elektro and Cherno), since bandits like to use fresh-spawns as target practice for their Mosin rifles.

6.) Use pristine attachments on weapons

This is especially important. Old DayZ players probably noticed that the M4 is extremely inaccurate at higher ranges. This is due to the type and condition of the mods your using. Magpul parts for the M4 are the best, and they actually increase accuracy. With full pristine Magpul attachments and an ACOG scope, you can pull off accurate head-shots at 400 meters, assuming you don’t forget to zero your rifle properly. Oh, and while we’re talking about attachments, I must highlight that the silencer does nothing in terms of weapon noise. It’s just a fashion accessory at this point. Don’t use a silencer unless it’s pristine, as you will lose accuracy.

7.) Don’t pick up shotgun ammo

You’re just wasting space if you do. At this time, there are no shotguns in the game, which is silly, considering how abundant slugs and pellets are. In any case, you won’t use it, so don’t bother picking it up.

8.) Aim for the head

I see so many players disregard this and get over-excited when opening fire on other players. Most of the times, you can afford to aim carefully and pull off a clean kill by shooting the head. There are two important reasons why this is important. On one hand, the game is full of combat-loggers (players who alt+f4 when being fired upon), which will be fixed soon, but is annoying right now. Putting a bullet in between your target’s eyes ensures he doesn’t have the time to react and close the game.

On the other hand, gear gets destroyed extremely easily. One single Magnum bullet to the chest from up-close is enough to kill a player, but will completely destroy everything in the shirt, vest and backpack (which is where most of the gear is stored). Ideally, hit the face area, which is not protected by ballistic helmets or anything else. If you don’t have the time to aim and you really have to spray, shoot the legs. That way, you’ll only ruin the pants and items inside the pockets, leaving the backpack and chest area intact. It makes no sense to kill someone just to get a bunch of ruined items.

9.) You can carry two weapons

Yes, that’s right, you can carry two main weapons (for instance, a Mosin rifle and an M4) at the same time. I remember reading up on the description of a reddit user, who compared the situation to having two women at the same time – it’s nice to have, but hard to manage. And that description fits perfectly. The advantage of having two weapons is that you can pass one on to your friends in need or use a sniper and an assault rifle depending on the situation. The disadvantage is that you’ll drop the second weapon every time you take an action involving your hands.

In order to get two weapons, you have to first store your initial weapon on your back. Then, you need to look at the second weapon (which is on the ground), use the scroll-bar and select “Take weapon into hands”. Your first rifle will be on your back, while your second will be located in your hands. This only works if your hands are empty, and as soon as you take an action (like eating or drinking), the rifle will be dropped. You decide if it’s worth the effort or not.

10.) The sun is an ally or an enemy

When planning ambush locations or engaging into firefights, don’t forget to keep an eye on the sun. Weather in DayZ is really realistic, and sunlight can blind you if you’re shooting at players that have the sun at their backs. You can use this to your advantage with some planning, since many people don’t bother considering this aspect and can be caught off-guard.