What is a hot drop?
"Hot drop" is a term used in Battle Royale games, typically PUBG, to describe a place where there are a lot of loots and people at the start of the game. These places are often big cities or locations near the middle of the map. For example, in Erangel, we have School and Pochinki, in Mirama, we have Pecardo and Hacienda del Patrón.
Players who go to hot drops usually have a very low chance of surviving unless they are very skillful. In exchange, if one can make it out alive, they will be guaranteed to obtain a decent set of gears, weapons, and items. As a beginner, you will find a lot of people telling you to land hot drops to improve their skill faster. As for veterans, they love to go to hot drops to show off their skill, improve and get that wonderful feeling of dominating the whole area by themselves.
How to play in hot drops?
While it sounds simple to just land in a crowded place and fight to improve your skill, you will neither gain much experience nor get any kill if you don't do it right and get killed the moment you just landed. Some even say that winning the game is easier than surviving in a hot drop.
Parachuting
This is the very first thing you need to learn before you try to hot drop. If you land slower than other players, you will be likely to get killed before you can even touch any weapon.
First, mark the location you want to go to on the map and jump out of the plane when you are about 1.2 km - 1.3 km away from your destination. Keep heading to your destination until you are about 150 m away from it and 350m - 400m above ground and then dive down. This way, you will always be the first person to land and easily get a weapon beforehand.
It is best to choose a starting spot where you can safely pick up a gun first, and then you can slowly rotating around and killing people. You will learn about these spots the more you play the game and observe other players' habit.
Choosing weapons
If you are already somewhat familiar with the game, it won't be hard. But there are a few things that you need to notice:
- Always aim for SMGs over ARs if there are someone landing next to you at the same time. SMGs have much shorter reload time than ARs, so they will allow you to shoot first and kill them.
- Shotguns are also good but unlike SMGs and ARs, you need to shoot and hide as the fire rate of shotguns is very low.
- You might want to ignore sniper rifle as well in critical situations as they are not very good in close-ranged fights.
- You might try to kill them with your fist or melee weapon while they are picking/ reloading guns if you have no gun and nowhere to run.
Advantage spots
These spots will help you throw off your enemy and get an easy kill. Now that we have Ledge Grab, you can reach many places that no one would expect. You will need a lot of experimenting to find out the best place that few people know, but everything will be much easier once you get used to it. Exploring the location also helps you remember the map of the place and how people move.
Be caution as some players might already know about those spots. Also, try to hide in an obvious high spot like the tower near Military Base. People always look there and if you get spotted you won't have any place to hide.
Moving
- Always move from covers to covers, check conner and imagine where the enemy might come out. That way, you will be less surprised and react faster.
- Notice clues such as guns on the ground without ammo, body crate, sound to predict where the enemy could be. If you think that there might be an enemy in a room or a spot, don't hesitate to pre-fire. You only waste a few bullets at worst and it might save you one day.
- You can also get outside of the location to look in and flank the enemy. People usually get less cautious when they think that there is no one left, and start leaving the place.
- You can crouch walk to move extremely slow and make almost no sound at all.
- Sometimes, all you need to do is to leave your place and find another angle to shoot at your opponent.
Be flexible
Rules and plans are only basic guidelines. In order to truly perfect your skill, you need to adapt to the situation and think outside of the box. For example, you somehow jump off the plane too late, don't try to go the place. Instead, search for weapons and gears in houses nearby and then come back for a good fight. That is a much better option than returning to the lobby before you can even do anything.
However, in order to break the rule, you need to understand them thoroughly first.
Mentality
Lastly, I want you to work on your mentality to stay as calm as possible. There will be a lot of noise, gun sounds, and footstep around you and you might freak out. However, don't hide in the corner waiting for people to come and give you easy kills. Be focus, move around and follow these tips above. You will be much calmer when you have a plan and know what to do next.
Be ready to fight and be ready to die.