10 tips for your first paintball matches
New to Paintballer? Ten simple tips to win more fights in your first matches: cover, leaning, curving shots, reloading and more.
2026-10-26
One hit and you're out. That single rule changes everything you know from other shooters. Here is how to survive your first matches, and start winning them.
1. Cover is your health bar
You do not have a health bar: one ball and you are out. So the bunker in front of you is the only thing keeping you in the game. Move from cover to cover, and spend as little time in the open as you can.
2. Lean, don't step out
Press Q or E to lean around the side of a bunker. Leaning shows a sliver of you instead of your whole body, and you can lean back in the instant you are shot at.
3. Curve your shots
Paintballs spin. Shoot while you lean and the ball bends in the direction of the lean, so you can hit a player tucked behind the edge of a bunker. A ball that bends more than a metre around something even scores a bonus.
4. Crouch behind low cover
Snakes, logs, hay walls and tyre walls are low. Press C to crouch and you disappear behind them. Sprint and then crouch to slide into cover.
5. Aim down sights past ten metres
Hold the right mouse button to aim. Your shots get much tighter, and with a scope fitted you zoom in. From the hip is for close fights only.
6. Count your paint
Reloading takes about two seconds, which is forever in a close fight. Reload (R) when it is quiet, not when someone peeks you. If you run dry mid-fight, switch to your Peashooter (2): it is faster than reloading.
7. Throw before you go
A Splash grenade (G) thrown behind a bunker forces the player there to move, and moving players are easy to hit. Throw first, then push.
8. Don't peek the same angle twice
If you peeked left and missed, the other player is now aiming left. Come out the other side, or from lower down.
9. Learn one map at a time
Each map has a trick: the blast doors in Deep Six, the express train in Last Stop, the crypt passage in Hollowmere, the crane in the Junkyard. Read the map guides and you will know them before your opponents do.
10. Keep playing: it gets fairer
Every new player gets a few gentle matches while they learn, and after that the game matches you against players and bots of your skill. Your rating rises as you win. When you reach level 5, try Ranked.
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