Coach Axiom · 33k PRWhat matters in each zone
A game splits into phases, and in each one something else matters. If you play every zone the same way, you are wrong in most of them.
Zone 1
The first zone only shows up after you land, so it cannot change your drop spot. Loot up, farm mats and buy what you need. Your position does not matter much yet.
Zone 2 and 3
Zone 1 and 2 show you roughly where it pulls, and it keeps pulling that way until Zone 4. Use that and keep moving, either deep or outstorm with a plan. Being edge when a new zone starts is normal while you rotate in. Still being edge when it closes is the mistake.
Zone 4
It is the 50/50 zone and the last one where the direction still tells you something. After it, the pull is random. Position has priority now, so you want to be deep. Edge on the side the zone pulls away from is a no-go area, even when nobody is there, because from there you will be edge in the next zone too.
Zone 5 to 7
The new zone no longer sits fully inside the old one, and you cannot read where it goes. Be deep before it moves, so you are not scuffed wherever it pulls and you can go early. Once it has moved, it is too late to fix.
Zone 8 and later
When the new zone is called, the area it pulls to is still in the storm. If you go early, you end up in front of a zone you cannot enter yet and have to rotate twice. Rotate when you can actually get in. More in Endgame.
When to leave for the next zone
Your rotation is decided one zone earlier. When the new zone shows up, you carry out a plan you already have.
1. Plan it in your box
While you sit out the current zone, scout for the next one. Know what you do if it max pulls or any other direction.
2. The last seconds before the pull
From Zone 4 on, stop looting, farming or shooting. You do need to be ready in those last seconds. You can just look where you want to go early, as long as you scouted before and know which pulls let you go early.
3. Zone 4 to 7: deep means early
Be ready 5 seconds before the new zone shows, with your Shockwave and your edit ready, so you can rotate instantly. From deep you can go early most of the time. If everyone around you leaves first, notice it and go. Going late is what costs you heals, and often you only go late because you did not go early the zone before. If you are not stacked, reloot somewhere or, up to Zone 6, go for a vending instead.
4. Rotate instead of shooting
From Zone 5 on, do not shoot rotating players in the back when you could rotate yourself. You end up late and get lobby sprayed, or stuck edge with stacked loot. It is different if you are short on mats or heals and have to get some, or if the players in front of you are not moving and you cannot rotate anyway.
5. Zone plays on purpose
Playing zone in endgame can be a very good play when everything in front of you is built up, or when you want to get onto highground from behind.
Zone 1 to 4 without getting keyed
If you play passive for the endgame, your main goal in the first four zones is not getting keyed. This does not apply if you are the one keying and pushing players, see Take or leave.
1. Midmap and deep
Loot up quickly midmap, get full fast and camp deep.
2. Outstorm with a plan
Loot outstorm and stay away from the players who key inside the zone. There can be players outstorm too, but fewer. Then come in deep at Zone 4 or 5. It is easiest from the deadside. More on this in Storm and deadside.
3. Zone 4 decides
Position has priority in Zone 4. Once you are deep there, stay deep. Only give that up if you urgently need a refresh.
4. The snowball
Edge in Zone 4 usually means edge for the rest of the game, because the players who went deep block your way back in. You come in edge, you are scuffed, and you may not be able to go early in the next zone unless it pulls to you by luck. Go deep early instead, which also saves your Shockwaves (Rotations).
5. Find where it started
When you die edge late in a game, the cause is almost never the last rotation. It is the first one from Zone 4 on that made you edge, and it can start in Zone 3 already if you then come in edge again in Zone 4 and 5.
Getting surge early
Surge is a balance: the damage you do minus the damage you take. Do 100 damage and take 70, and you are 30 above surge. Do 100 and take 150, and you are 50 below, so you take damage once surge turns on.
First check if it comes at all
In cups, surge mostly comes in the last game, when many players still need points to qualify and only a few still take fights. If you got an offspawn kill with around 150 damage, you can relax about surge for now. Keep your focus on position though. If you play edge and make mistakes, you take 150 damage quickly and can end up below surge after all.
Get it early, not under pressure
Two ways work. Get your surge early and play zone after that, or get stacked loot early, go deep to a good position and get your surge from there. Other plays only work with luck.
Take it from height
From your deep spot, find the best raised position you can, a mountain or a raised house in a town. Farm or replace the structure until you are back on cap mats, then build boxes on top or a surge tower and get your surge damage from up there without risking your position.
Do not key for surge
A fight only helps your balance if you play it almost perfectly without taking damage, and that is hard. Only key when there is no other option left: no loot, no high position, and surge is already ticking. Even then, keep the fight short and make sure it gives you more than it costs.
In a surge game
Either your surge is already covered from the offspawn, or you play an AR to get your surge damage.
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