How to play STRATA

Controls

STRATA needs a keyboard and mouse. The How to play card in the game menu lists the same keys.

A match, step by step

1. Warm-up

Everyone waits at one location with a few weapons lying around to try. The island is rebuilt between matches (a card shows the new order of locations), the warm-up spot changes every time, and the match starts when the countdown ends.

2. The dropship

A dropship crosses the island on a new line each match. Its doors open over the lit part of the flight line: press Space to jump, skydive, then steer your glider to where you want to land. Anyone still aboard at the end of the line is thrown out. Open the map with M before you jump: it shows the flight line, how far you can glide from it, the first ring and the HOT location, where floor loot is a tier better and so is the competition.

3. Loot

You land with nothing. Weapons, ammo, armour and heals lie on floors and in loot bins; walk over them and press E. You carry two guns plus fists, a body shield, a helmet, a backpack and 6 inventory slots (a backpack adds 2, 4 and 6 more). Every eliminated player leaves a death box with everything they carried, and you can take all of it.

4. The ring

The safe zone shrinks in six stages. The timer at the top right counts down to the next one, and the map shows where it will close. Outside the ring you take damage every second, 3 at first and 26 at the end. Supply drops with top-tier loot fall inside the next circle, and some carry the Rhino RPG.

5. Last one standing

The last soldier alive wins. When you are eliminated, a recap shows who got you, with which weapon and from how far, your damage and the XP you earned. Then queue for the next match or watch the rest of this one. Spectating starts on whoever got you: A and D switch to the next player west or east, a click on a soldier watches them, and Tab opens the scoreboard, where a click on a row does the same.

Movement

Movement is what makes STRATA different from other battle royales. Fights are won by whoever holds the high ground and keeps their speed.

• Jets: hold W or Space in the air. A full tank lasts under two seconds and only refills once you are back on the ground, so jet in bursts.
• Slide: press S or Ctrl while running. Slides pick up speed downhill.
• Slide-jump: jump out of a slide to carry its speed into the air.
• Mantle: push into a wall with a ledge in reach and you climb up onto it.
• Ziplines and ropes: press E to grab one. Jump off a zipline at speed for a flip.
• Jump pads throw you high and far.
• Jump towers hold a balloon 22 m up on a cable. Press E to grab the cable anywhere along it, even in the middle of a jump, and the winch reels you up until the balloon flings you back into the sky to glide somewhere else. Jump or E lets go on the way up.
• Drop through floors: S + Space on a one-way floor, such as a scaffold deck or a catwalk.
• Swim in the sea below the lighthouse, the harbour basin, the dam reservoir and the canyon river. Water slows you down.
• Impulse grenade jump: throw an impulse grenade at your feet to launch yourself about 15 m up, or into an enemy to knock them off a ledge.

Weapons and rarity

Guns come in Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary. A higher rarity never changes damage. Each tier above Common adds a bigger magazine (+20%), tighter spread (−7%), faster reloads (−8%) and quicker equipping (−6%), so a Legendary has +60% magazine and −24% reload time. Damage, fire rate and range for every gun are on the weapons page.

Healing and shields

You have 100 health. A body shield adds up to 100 shield on top and takes damage first. Healing takes a few seconds, and firing, reloading, switching weapons or taking a hit of more than 30 damage cancels it, so heal behind cover. Press Q for health and Z for shields.

Tips

1. Check the map (M) before you jump. The lit flight line, your glide reach and the first ring tell you where you can land and how far you will have to run.
2. Pick up a body shield early. It absorbs damage before your health and is worth more than a second gun.
3. Fight from above. Jets and jump pads make high ground easy to take, and shooting down at someone in the open is the safest trade.
4. Reload behind cover. The Bulwark LMG takes 3.1 seconds and the Thunderbolt .50 2.7.
5. Aim for the head. Most guns deal 1.4 to 2 times damage to the head, and a Thunderbolt .50 headshot does 200. A helmet cuts part of that extra damage.
6. Shoot the red barrels. They catch fire, then explode for up to 120 damage and set off the barrels next to them.
7. Smoke hides you from everyone, bots included, for 10 seconds. Throw it before you cross open ground or heal.
8. Heal before the fight, not during it: a Med Kit takes 5.5 seconds and a Bandage 2.4.
9. Loot death boxes. Everything the other player carried is inside, often with better gear than the floor.
10. Move with the ring early. In the last stage it deals 26 damage a second.

Practice against bots

Pick Practice in the menu to play offline against 5, 10, 19 and 29 bots. Difficulty changes how fast they react, how well they aim and how smart they move: