Avoiding Zeds | Zombies from A to Zed DayZ - ArmA 2 mod Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

In order to effectively avoid or lose Zeds, you first need to understand the mechanic behind their behaviour. Assuming you're the only player on the server and you haven't yet left the beach, there won't be any zombie on the map yet. Zeds show up only beside buildings or inside buildings, when the player gets at least 300 metres from them. When that happens, zombies will start spawning and heading into random directions.

The direction at which freshly created zombies walk is random, though they have a tendency to walk down if the terrain is sloping. It can be used to for example approach a deer stand safely, by heading down the hill at which it's set. Going up the hill, you can be sure of running into zombies that will be walking in your direction.

It's important to understand a zombie's field of view. At the moment, Zeds can only see what's in front of them, regardless of which way they're looking. Therefore you can walk past them even if it seems that they're looking straight at you. The direction their body faces is what matters.

Zombies also have a good but not perfect sense of hearing. If you want to avoid them without provoking, keep an eye on the amount of noise that you generate, even if you're out of their sight.

If hard to determine exactly what's the maximum range of their senses, so you will have to learn it basing on your experience. However keep in mind that the game is still under development and Zed behaviour also changes. Additionally, zombies are capable of randomly noticing you even from very far away, as long as you're within 300 metres from it. It's not knows whether it's a bug or an intentional effect, but beware. Luckily it doesn't happen very often.

Let's move on to methods of losing pursuits.

The easiest way of tricking Zeds is running into a building, inside which you can hide behind anything, e.g. a turned over table. The zombies will walk around the room and head out if they don't notice you. If the building you enter turns out not to provide any cover, run out through the other side to end the chase (unless you won't come across more Zeds on the other side). Inside buildings, you can freely walk around zombies (even in their field of view). You won't be attacked as long as you stay in out of their reach. You can pretty much plunder the whole building in front of their eyes, as long as you keep enough distance to avoid a direct attack.

Crawling in the grass is one of the best methods of avoiding zombies. Crawling on a soft surface causes almost no noise and additionally makes you very hard to spot. While moving like this, you can approach a zombie and almost tie its shoe laces. Look out however, as if the zombie is looking straight in your direction, you won't be able to approach it so close.

A well aimed jump into bushes can also let you lose the pursuit. Firstly you have to run behind a tree/bush to break the line of sight between the zombie and you and afterwards quickly go prone. If you do it properly, the zombie should become disoriented and walk away eventually. However you should be very careful when using this method. If you "hide" a bit too early (without breaking sight) or too late (the zombie will manage to notice you again), you can get hit pretty badly when trying to get up. Practice makes perfect..

Long chases can be also ended by running into water, though it has to reach you at least to the waist. Zombies temporarily lose trail in the water, giving you enough time to run away. Sometimes they don't start chasing you again at all. The additional advantage of this method is that Zeds don't approach water out of their own will, so it's unlikely to come across another one while running away from the previous.

A very effective way of losing pursuits is running up steep hills. Playing DayZ, you will note that your character cannot run up steep slopes and neither can zombies. What zombies cannot do however, is run zigzag up a hill. Zeds always chase players in a straight line, so by doing so you will make them slowly climb up while you zigzag much faster. In short time you should be able to leave the zombie far enough to be able to jump into bushes. Remember that Zeds will follow you up to the spot where they last saw you, so move away by crawling or running through the bushes.

If you're in a trap or want to clear the nearest area from zombies, throw an item. It can even be an empty can or other items, but the most effective ones are smoke grenades (during the day) and flares (during the night). Zeds will be interested in that object long enough for you to be able to safely leave the current location.

Whatever can be said about the above method, darkness still stays the best defence against Zeds. Even semi-darkness makes you almost invisible to them and your visibility while walking becomes even lower than when you're prone is sunlight. Losing zombies is made equally easy. You just need to run behind a corner of a building and crawl away a bit to lose the chase. I also recommend this method to plunder military bases which are especially difficult because of the lack of any covers apart from rare buildings.

When it gets completely dark, the flashlight will become your best friend. Apart from the obvious fact that you become completely visible to other players, the Zeds don't react to its light. You can point them right in their eyes and they still won't see you - which can be seen on the visibility and noise icons.

After you obtain your first pair of night vision goggles, the night will become your best friend, as you will navigate between buildings and zombies like Sam Fisher. You will be able to see each Zed in the area, while they won't notice you at all. I intentionally skip the topic of altering brightness and gamma, as it's bending game rules, though of course no one can stop you from doing it. I however won't be surprised if the developer of DayZ or the author of ArmA 2 find a way of stopping this method from being used. If you want to feel a real thrill, play fair and in the future you will be ready for any changes in this matter to come.