New to Vigor on Switch and looking for a great beginner’s guide? Look no further.
This guide to Vigor on Switch is meant for new players who may be familiar with the concept of battle royales, but don’t understand how Vigor is different. Vigor has some trappings of traditional battle royale games like PUBG and Fortnite, but it also rewards slow and stealthy gameplay.
You can extract at several exits at any point in the match. Of course, the ultimate goal is to grab the airdrop, but it’s not the most important priority for new Switch players who are learning the game. Instead, you should be focusing on learning the maps and finding a few beginner guns to master.
Vigor Guide on Switch – Timing is Everything
Every single aspect of this game is on a timer and when you realize that, you can start to plan your Encounters much better. You should be aware of these basic timing facts about the game and maybe even set an external timer while you’re in an Encounter.
- The airdrop will be released at 8 minutes into the Encounter.
- The airdrop hits the ground around 8 minutes and 50 seconds.
- Comm stations cannot change airdrop location after 6 minutes.
- Signals Detector has a 2-minute cooldown between uses.
- The Signals Detector shows other Outlanders on the map for 20 seconds.
- The safe located in the Barred House takes 1 minute to unlock.
- Radiation begins crossing the map at 12 minutes into the Encounter.
- Radiation reduces your health one tick per second. Once the radiation wave hits you, you have 1 minute and 40 seconds to exit at full health.
Knowing how long you’ve been in a match and when the radiation wave is coming is important to surviving the Encounter. But the most important aspect of playing is not to stress about dying or losing resources.
Occasionally, sweaty tryhards will join the match and they’ll hunt you Hunger Games style with portable signals detectors. All you can do in these situations is book it to the exit with as many resources as you can carry – don’t worry about getting the airdrop in your first few games.
Vigor Guide on Switch – Exploring for Loot
As a new player, you’ll want to explore the maps and get to learn where certain things spawn. If you find wire in a certain location, chances are it will be there again on that map. When seeking specific resources to upgrade your shelter, make note of where you find these resources and play those maps.
New players should focus on upgrading the Crafting Table at the shelter. It requires chemicals and metal parts. Focusing on the crafting table will unlock new weapon patterns to expand your arsenal. It also gives you the relative safety of being able to craft a replacement gun should you lose yours in an Encounter.
Every single Encounter will contain three Loot Chests with a combination lock. To unlock these chests, rotate the numbers until you find the one that turns green and sounds different. Change each of the four numbers until you find the combination and the chest will open. Be careful though, other players can hear you fiddling with the locked chest if they are close enough.
Players can also find photographs in an Encounter that will show where a Buried Cache is hidden in a level. Sometimes, you will find the buried cache on your own. These locations are chosen randomly from a set of photographs, so you can never return to the same buried cache twice.
Points of Interest
Every map in the game has set points of interest, but the location of special items is randomized. If you spawn near a comm station, you should book it there if you plan to use it. Always have a plan for your first point of interest within the first 10 seconds of the match. Here’s a short preview of what every point of interest does.
- Comm Station – The comm station lets players view where the airdrop is landing or change it to four other options. If you do not change the location while there, someone else can. Changing the location at least once means it won’t be changeable again before the airdrop comes. These stations also let you sabotage the airdrop for others.
- Signals Detector – This shows where everyone is on the map for 20 seconds. You should always approach these with extreme caution since experienced players book it here. These are useful for sussing out camping Outlanders who are good at hiding in bushes and shrubbery.
- Barred House – The safe is located inside the barred house. Windows have the fewest bars to remove and are the quickest way to get to the safe. Start unlocking the safe and then exit the room in case someone comes looking for you. You don’t want to be caught unaware.
- Exits – Exit locations are in the same location on each map. Explore the areas near them and learn where campers may be hiding. Not all exits are created equal, though. Some maps have booby-trapped exits, while others contain locked exits that will need resources to open. Once a locked exit is open, everyone can use it.
Surviving Your First Encounter
You should understand that Vigor is not a guns-blazing battle royale. Camping is part of the game, which is brutal for newer players. Your first ten matches will be against other ‘green raincoat’ newbies like yourself. Take advantage of these games by exploring the maps and staying quiet. Don’t worry about going after the airdrop until you have upgraded your shelter with loot you’ve gathered from escaping.
When exploring a map, move between points to hide. Listen for footsteps, which indicate someone else is nearby. You make the most noise fully standing and footsteps are LOUD. Crouch to reduce the noise you create and go prone to move almost silently. Use bushes and trees to hide and assess the situation if you hear footsteps.
You can get a feel for what you’re up against by looking at the guns and medals your opponents are bringing to the match. Press the ‘X‘ button in a lobby and use ‘L‘ and ‘R‘ buttons to switch between everyone in the match. If everyone in the match has better guns than you, it’s best to lay low and loot as much as you can.
Another tip for new Vigor players is to only take one weapon into a match at a time. Carrying more than one weapon slows you down. In a gunfight, you will likely only need one weapon anyway. Carrying two or more decreases your stamina and slows you down, making it harder to escape from a Threat. Outlanders who have killed four players in an Encounter become a Threat and are visible on the map for 20 seconds.
Use the map to mark exits and try to survive with loot for your first matches. Don’t worry about killing someone for their loot until you feel more comfortable with how the guns in Vigor function. It is vastly different than other battle royale games and even other run and gun competitive online shooters like Call of Duty.
Remember!
You should always bring some kind of health item into the match with you, too. Fall damage is a real danger in Encounters. When you have the crafting patterns, try to bring 2 antibiotics and either a bandage or a painkiller to your matches. Also, bring enough ammo for your gun – at least two stacks of your preferred gun’s type.
Vigor Guide on Switch – Noise Levels
Vigor’s noise cues are some of the best you will find in competitive gaming. It is how your hunters will find you if you are not careful. You should always wear a pair of earbuds or a headset when playing to help you hear other players. You can hear gunshots across the map and they are localized, so you can pinpoint firefights. Here’s an example guide of how far you can be heard, based on your movement level.
- 30 feet away while running
- 20 feet away while walking
- 10 feet away while crouch-walking
- 5 feet away while crawling prone
If you plan on sneaking up on someone, you will need to be prone to do so. If you are not wearing a headset while playing Vigor, you are at a severe disadvantage compared to other players. Players who don’t stop to listen before approaching a point of interest quickly end up dead. Stop, look, and listen before you approach any building.
Shooting Range
The shooting range at your Shelter is one of the most important tools to familiarize yourself with the guns in Vigor. Using the guns available to you there will give you a good idea of how that gun handles. The Scarecrows set up on the range have the same health as a person in an Encounter. Practice headshots with your favorite weapons to give yourself an edge.
Aiming down the sights can be done for some weapons with an iron sight or scope. Just be careful if your weapon has a scope because it will give off a lens flash. You may inadvertently give away your position. Here are some good beginner weapons to help you start racking up kills in Encounters.
Suomi KP/-31 – This gun is nearly as accurate as the sweaty vet favorite gun, the ADR. It only takes three to four confirmed hits with this gun to get a kill, less if they are headshots. Only requires Crafting Table level three to begin crafting.
Vz. 58 P – A steady gun that can be fired accurately and in bursts. It is highly accurate in single fire burst mode and only requires Crafting Table level one.
A-KM – Similar to the Vz. 58 P in terms of accuracy. It is pretty cheap to craft and only requires Crafting Table level 3 to start.
A74-K – Another solid choice for an automatic assault rifle. It requires Crafting Table level seven, so it is something to work towards.
These guns are recommended for beginners because it’s not a big deal if you die and lose them without insurance. The G3, AUR Para, and the AUR A1 are all great guns, but they require a fully-decked out crafting table to make.
Vigor Guide on Switch – Earning XP
Like most battle royale games, Vigor has a battle pass that can be leveled up. There are a few activities you can perform that grant XP at the end of the encounter. You will always receive XP for looting, even if you didn’t extract with the items. Here’s a peek at some of the ways you can gain XP to level your battle pass.
- Logging in every day – 300 XP
- Leave an encounter safely – 100 XP
- Get a kill – 100 XP
- Get a headshot – 300 XP
- Extract with the airdrop – 500 XP
- Unlock the safe – 500 XP
- Use Signals Detector – 100 XP per use
- Open the airdrop – 200 XP for white, 400 XP for green, 600 XP for blue, 800 XP for purple, 1000 XP for gold
- Improve Your Shelter – 500 XP per upgrade
- Leave with Loot – Depends on the loot
Metal Parts grant 1 XP per unit and can be stacked to 150. Nails grant 2 XP per unit and can be stacked to 75. These two are the highest XP resources you can extract with if you find yourself XP farming. Both Glass and Fertilizer grant 2 XP per unit and can be stacked to 50. Chemicals and Food grant 3XP per unit and can be stacked to 25. Fuel and Electronics grant 5 XP per unit and can only be stacked to 10.
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