Off the Grid has quickly become one of the biggest battle royale shooters in the world, with millions of players jumping in to experience the first blockchain game that has really broken into the mainstream consciousness.

But with so many players in the mix—most of whom seem to be experts already—it’s not easy to make it into the final stages of a match, let alone win. It took me six games before my team made it into the top five, and I’m embarrassed to say how long it took me to get a win.

However, with a few hours under my belt, I’ve picked up a few tips that would have really helped me out in the early stages of my Off the Grid experience. If you follow these tips, then you’ll skip a lot of the early pain that I experienced, and hopefully will pick up your first win in no time.

Get aggressive early 

Off the Grid’s map takes some getting used to. Its odd shape makes some areas effectively unplayable, which greatly reduces the locations you’d actually want to drop in. This, typically, means that you're never too far away from another team in the early game, and I’ve found that being the aggressor in that situation usually works out.

Providing you have some decent coordination and get an acceptable weapon from your first crate or two, then running at enemies you see and trying to fight them while they are looting often gives you the advantage in the fight—and then gives you a bigger area to loot. This should set you up with enough cash to get exactly what you need.

Forget RNG, get your loadout drops quickly

When it comes to competitive games, RNG—or random number generation, aka randomized drops—is the last thing you want to be dealing with. In a battle royale game, there’s always going to be some, but in Off the Grid you can minimize that RNG in at least one area: your weapons.

You can run around and scour every loot box for the weapons you are best with, or you could pick up as much cash as possible and call in your favorite loadout to have the exact gear you are looking for. Getting your go-to loadout early is a great way to increase your chances of a win, and should make life a lot easier.

Find a loadout that works for you 

Off the Grid is barely a week old, and already some players are declaring some weapons and abilities as useless. It’s easy to get caught up in the meta and what the top players think, but in reality you will always be much better off building a loadout that works for you rather than the one the pros think is the best.

If you want to run around with two close range weapons, and it works, then go for it. Likewise, if you want to double up on long range options and sit at the back of the circle, that’s also cool. Just do whatever works for you, and ignore what everyone else says.

Play as a team 

It might just be because I’m bad at Off the Grid, but it feels like teamwork is more important here than in many battle royale shooters. Trying to 1v2 or even 1v3 an enemy squad never seems to work, and having backup to tap in if you die and then bring you back to life seems to be the best way to fight. Stick close to your teammates, always pay attention to where they might be fighting, and always give them backup.

Don’t die for a Hex 

Throwing in an extraction mechanic where you need to send loot boxes from the map back to your inventory is one of Off the Grid’s smartest design choices. It gives you an objective that isn’t winning, which means you can still feel like you achieved something if you die. But the key thing to remember is to not put yourself in a bad position just to extract a Hex.

If you are going for wins, then running to a Hex extraction point is a massive risk—and the fact that you need to stick around it for a while until the extraction completes doesn’t help either. If you think you can do it safely, and it’s on your route, then go for it. But it’s usually just best to ignore them, as you’ll get more than a few just by playing naturally.

Edited by Andrew Hayward