Your First Match

A walkthrough from opening the game to your first frag. If you already know Quake-family shooters, skim the controls and go.

1. Get in

1. Open the game. The first time, it asks what to call you: 2–16 letters, numbers, _ or -. You can leave it empty to keep the name you were given.
2. Keep your account key. Open Profile and use Copy key or Save as file. It is the only way to get your account back on another computer. See Accounts.
3. On the Play stage pick a mode. For learning, FFA (free-for-all) is the most forgiving, and Duel is the classic 1 v 1.

2. Make practice easy: add bots

Choose Private on the Play stage, then enter a room. Only private rooms allow bots. Add one or two and set the map vote; the room chooses a standard bot preset near your private rating, with medium as the fallback for a new player. Private bot matches can update your private rating and record, separately from public play. See Connecting → In the Ready Room.

Then ready up. When everyone is ready the match loads.

3. Warmup

You spawn in a warmup where nothing scores and you can try things freely. Press F4 to ready up; the match starts when everyone has. Use this time to learn the map's layout and to try the controls.

4. The controls you need

Key	Does
W A S D	Move. You run by default
Mouse	Aim
Space	Jump; hold it to keep jumping
Ctrl or C	Crouch
Shift	Walk (slower)
Mouse 1	Fire
Mouse 2	Aim down sights
1 – 9 or mouse wheel	Switch weapon
R	Reload
F	Pick up or swap a weapon
Tab	Scoreboard
Esc	Match menu and settings

Movement and combat bindings can be changed in Settings → Controls. Menu, scoreboard, chat, console and join keys are fixed; see Settings.

5. What to do first

• You start with only the Blade. Every other weapon, armor and health pack is on the map. Moving to pick things up is the game. A weapon icon on the left of the screen lights up when you own it; the number keys switch to it.
• Pick up armor and health when you are hurt. Armor absorbs about two thirds of every hit. See Pickups.
• Watch the timers. Items come back on a schedule, and the Quad Damage (×4 damage) comes back every two minutes. In a duel, controlling those timers wins matches.
• Run out of ammo? Pull the trigger on the empty gun and, if you pull again, the game swaps you to a weapon that can fire. See Weapons.
• Jumppads and teleporters are in the maps. Walk into them. You keep your speed through a teleporter. See Movement.
• Don't stand on a teleporter exit. Whoever arrives kills you.
• Falls from far up hurt. The drop has to be big, over about 5 jump-heights; see Fall damage.

6. When you die

You have a few seconds. The death screen says who fragged you and how, and when you can respawn. Press fire when the bar turns green. In a round mode you wait for the next round, and can spectate a teammate. See HUD.

7. Getting better

Learn these in roughly this order:

1. Strafe jumping. Jump and steer in the air with the side keys and the mouse. See Movement.
2. Bunny hopping. Chain jumps with perfect timing to keep your speed.
3. Rocket jumps. Shoot the floor under you with the Rocket Launcher to launch yourself. See Damage and Combat.
4. Wall jumps and slides. See Movement.
5. Spectate good players. Watching someone shows exactly what they see, including their weapon and timers. See Spectating, or watch recorded matches on the lobby's Demos page.

8. When it ends

The result screen shows the winner and your frags. Back to the lobby puts you back in the same room for a rematch. See Match Flow and Screens.