PlanetSide 2 – How to Play (Beginners Guide)

Planetside 2 is complicated. This guide is here to fix that.

Getting Started

Note: Credit goes to HammerBroGaming

So, you got bored of Battlefield? Tired of being called a *** and being told to *** in Call of Duty? Well have I got the game for you! Planetside 2 the massive, online, multiplayer shooter MMO!

The first thing you will have to do is create your character and align that character with one of three factions, The Terran Republic, an authoritarian government who is fighting to preserve their long-standing empire, the New Conglomerate, a conglomerate of independent companies and special interests who fight for freedom and individuality, and the Vanu Sovereignty, a weeb club who fights for furry rights (ok fine, they fight for the advancement of humanity through religion and alien technology but you’ll see what I mean when you start playing.) After that, you will have to play through the tutorial. After that, you will be dropped into your very first battle. It will be utter chaos with you running around like a headless chicken.

After all that chaos you will come to your senses and think “wait, I need to think more carefully about this.” That’s what I’m here to help you with, especially if you came from Call of Duty. When you die, you will be looking at the map screen, you will see your current fight and all other fights on the map. You want to find a fight that’s about 50-50 your team versus their team. (Or 33-33-34) in the case of a 3-way fight). An even fight will heighten your chances of being able to actually play the game. So you should redeploy to a fight like that. To use the redeploy feature, just press U. A timer will count down then you will be killed and will be able to respawn at any base on the map.

Classes

Then you have to choose the appropriate class for the situation.

• Infiltrator: These guys are spies and snipers. They can equip light weapons and sniper rifles. Their unique ability to cloak and become almost completely invisible makes them extremely effective in this role.
• Light Assault: These guys are equipped with jetpacks that give them exceptional mobility. They have access to carbines as their exclusive weapon. They are one of the three Anti-Vehicle classes with access to Rocklet Rifles and C4.
• Combat Medic: These guys are, well, the healers of the battlefield, they can heal living soldiers and revive dead ones. They have assault rifles as their exclusive weapon which excel at mid-range combat.
• Engineer: These guys do it all, they fix vehicles, fortify positions, plant landmines, and their anti-material rifles make them another of the three anti-vehicle classes. They are more of a support-centric class and require some investment and practice to utilize well.
• Heavy Assault: The Beefy Boys, they are the main fighting class. They have two exclusive weapon types: Light Machine Guns and Heavy Weapons. Light Machine Guns are self-explanatory, Heavy weapons are where it gets interesting. Each faction has a different one. The NC has a high-capacity burst firing shotgun, The TR has a handheld chaingun, and the VS has an explosive plasma launcher. Nanite Systems (more on that later) also has a heavy weapon called the Thumper, a heavy grenade launcher. They also have an overshield to protect themselves from damage. When paired with a medic, these guys become unstoppable.
• MAX: More of a small vehicle than a class, the MAX is a big robot suit with two heavy weapons on each of their arms that can perform a variety of tasks.

Weapons

After playing for a while: you will have a lot of currency called certification points or “certs.” These can be exchanged for all sorts of things like weapons, attachments, and consumables. When you are new to the game, you should not buy weapons just yet. You should invest in kitting out your favorite class with a better suit, medkits, and other things.

When you do buy a weapon it should be something you like, something beginner friendly would also be helpful, NS weapons are good for this, they have something for everything! But remember: no refunds, no matter how much you beg and plead. Trust me, I tried.

Weapons are a little different in Planetside 2 than in other games. You start with the most balanced weapons for each class. All the other weapons specialize in a certain area. For example the Blitz GD-1 is an ambush-based close range submachine gun, whereas the Gladius is a hard hitting, longer range, but slower firing submachine gun. All the weapons are carefully balanced to excel in one area but be deficient in another.

There are many types of weapons in Planetside 2 so here’s a rundown of what each type is and what they do.

• Carbines: Well balanced weapons that excel in close quarters combat with general ease of use. Only Light Assaults and Engineers can use these.
• Assault Rifles: The Carbine’s big cousin, Assault rifles focus more on mid to long range engagements. They are exclusive to the Combat-Medic.
• Light Machine Guns: The Assault Rifle’s big cousin Light Machine Guns (or LMGs) are the Big boys of the battlefield. Different LMGs are built for different types of combat situations. Try them out in the testing range! LMG’s are only able to be used by Heavy Assaults.
• Scout Rifles: These are semi-automatic rifles tuned for use in closer range than sniper rifles. They can also equip a wide range of attachments.
• Shotguns: My personal favorite weapon type, Shotguns are close-range weapons that shoot a spray of metal pellets at their target. However, they are virtually useless at longer ranges. Unless you choose to equip slugs.
• Submachine Guns: Another type of close range weapons, Submachine guns (or SMGs) are fast firing nimble weapons that can easily dispatch a target at close range, though the bullet velocity at longer ranges.
• Sniper Rifles: Long range bolt-action or semi-auto rifles that reward precise shooters with quick kills. Different models are built for different scenarios so, again, test them out! Only Infiltrators can use these.
• Rocket Launchers: There’s a surprising amount of these things that you can buy. They are made for all different manners of targets and they all have their own way of completing their tasks.
• Pistols: Your sidearm is an important part of your arsenal. It can save your life if your primary weapon is out of ammo. There are many different types of pistols including semi-automatic pistols, burst pistols, revolvers. n
• Knifes: The default knife is just a pointy metal stick, as most knives are. The NSX Amaterasu is weaker but can shoot a hard light beam to strike at a distance, and your empire-specific power knife can kill in one hit when activated and when you hit the head.
• Misc Weapons: These weapons don’t really fit into a specific category, so we’re gonna rapid fire them (no pun intended).The NS AM7 Archer is an anti-materiel rifle that does some damage to vehicles, but it’s main purpose is to kill max suits. It has a sawed-off version called the NS AM8 Shortbow. The NSX Kuwa is a hybrid rifle. After a short windup, it unleashes a torrent of bullets at your target. The Seeker HLX is a crossbow that fires hardlight bolts. It never needs to reload, but it has a relatively small ammo pool. Amphibious weapons are weaker than regular firearms but they are able to be fired underwater.

Vehicles

While you’re fighting, you will see lots of vehicles driving around. Soon enough: you might want to hop into one of these bad boys, but they’re not just a pick-up-and-pay thing, you need a little info on them.

• First up: the Flash, the Flash is an ATV that you can equip with a gun, because why not? It mainly serves to get you from point A to point B.
• The Harasser is a dune buggy with a gun, it can also seat one additional passenger in the rear seat. (It’s not very comfortable). It’s best for fast attacks, hit and run style.
• The Sunderer is the most important vehicle in the game, because it can deploy into a spawn point for your faction. It can have two guns on top but it’s pretty slow and it’s a big target so it’s easy pickings for the other vehicles.
• Next up: the Lightning is a light tank with a large assortment of main cannons to choose from. It can take on most vehicles except the next one.
• Each empire has its own main battle tank. The Terrans have the Prowler, a double barreled tank that can deploy into an artillery battery, the New Conglomerate has the M1 Abra- I mean the Vanguard, it is hailed as the premier 1 on 1 tank because of it’s 150mm gun and it’s force field that can be activated when needed. The Vanus have the Magrider, a futuristic hover tank with a plasma cannon. The Magrider sports a “Magburner” which can give the tank a boost of speed when needed. Which is usually always.
• The A.N.T or Advanced Nanite Transport. Is used to construct bases from scratch using courtium.

Aircraft

You may also see aircraft flying around there are four types of them, they are:

• The ESF: Or Empire Specific Fighter. Each empire has its own fighter craft that excels in a different area. The New Conglomerate’s Reaver is a rough-and-tumble stable aircraft that can take a lot of hits and deal out immense damage. It has the most hover stability and has the highest top speed. However, it’s not the most maneuverable. The Terran Republic has the Mosquito. It is very maneuverable with excellent acceleration. But it’s not a very stable platform. The Vanu Sovereignty Scythe is a wild card of a fighter. It’s shaped like a pancake so it’s hard to hit from the side, but easy to hit from the top. It’s one of the most accurate fighters.
• The Valkyrie: is what would happen if the UH-1 Iroquois and UH-60 Black Hawk had a baby. It’s one of the two aircraft that you can jump out of and not take fall damage. It’s best for hit and run attacks where the Galaxy would prove to be unsuitable.
• The Galaxy: A large troop transport craft with four offensive weapons. It has room for 12 people. It can also deploy into a spawn point with the lodestar module.
• The Liberator: A large gunship. It can equip powerful anti-vehicle and anti infantry weapons on its nose and belly gun.

As for how to fly ESFs and Liberators? Sorry folks, I got nothing.

Implants

You may notice the little green symbols at the bottom of your screen, those are implants. You can equip two of them at a time to give yourself passive effects, you can even upgrade them! Implants do all manner of things. One protects you from concussion grenades and flashbangs, others will increase your crouchwalk speed. Some implants can even unlock more benefits for you implants by upgrading them to the max level.