The War: Complete Gun PvP Guide

What The War actually is

Two lootboxes in, everything gets easier. Before that, aim is doing all the work and every match feels stacked. That's the actual difficulty curve here — not enemy skill, your arsenal.

The setup is simple. Free-for-all, guns only, infinite respawns, no objectives. You earn cubecoins from kills and match-end bonuses, spend them on lootboxes, and unlock permanent weapons with their own damage and fire rate values.

I keep a spreadsheet of gun cost against average kills-per-match, and the pattern doesn't change: the second permanent unlock pays for itself before the first respawn.

Guns and lootboxes carry the mode

New guns come from lootboxes, bought with cubecoins you earn by playing. Each weapon has its own damage and fire rate, so the arsenal you build shapes how you should fight.

Match your gun to your range

Fast-firing weapons reward aggressive close-range play - get in, strafe, and out-DPS your opponent before they can answer. Harder-hitting, slower weapons reward patience: hold angles, take the first shot, and make every bullet count. Fighting your gun's preferred range matters more than raw aim.

Build a complete loadout

As your collection grows, cover both ranges: one weapon for close quarters and one for distance. Map areas change constantly - a loadout that only works at one range will spend half of every match uncomfortable.

• ▸Open lootboxes as soon as you can afford them - a better gun earns its cost back in faster kills.
• ▸Test every new unlock for a full match before judging it; fire rate feel is personal.
• ▸Learn two weapons deeply instead of swapping after every death.

Fighting on your terms

With infinite respawns, dying costs you momentum, not the match - but repeated deaths hand your opponents free cubecoins. Fight on your terms: engage when you have the health or position advantage, and disengage when you don't.

Manage your health

Health is your real ammunition. Peeking the same angle repeatedly chips you down until a weaker player can finish you. After taking damage, break line of sight, let the situation reset, and re-peek from a different angle.

Use cover between shots

Standing in the open trading fire favors whoever has the stronger gun. Duck behind cover between bursts, and you turn every engagement into a series of small wins. On this mode's tight maps, a wall or corner is always a step away - play around them.

Cubecoins are the real progression

Cubecoins flow from kills, with a bonus when the match ends. Every elimination funds your next lootbox, so efficient farming is its own skill. Three habits separate rich players from broke ones.

• ▸Play the hot zones early. More encounters means more kill chances means faster lootboxes. Hiding starves your economy.
• ▸Finish your kills. Damaged enemies who escape are cubecoins left on the table - push weakened opponents before they recover.
• ▸Survive to the end. Match-end cubecoin bonuses reward players still fighting when the clock hits zero.

Positioning wins more fights than aim

In free-for-all, everyone is an enemy - which makes information your most valuable resource. Knowing where opponents are before they know where you are wins fights before they start.

Habits that keep you alive

• ▸Move between cover, never across open sightlines longer than a second or two.
• ▸Listen and watch for ongoing fights - third-partying two damaged players is the highest-value play in FFA.
• ▸Never hold the same angle twice against the same opponent.

After each respawn, resist sprinting straight back to where you died. The player who killed you is still there, healed and expecting you. Take a different route and catch them watching the wrong lane.

The maps, ranked by tempo

The War rotates through 8 maps: Desert Siege, Twin Towers, Warehouse, The War Street, Arctic Base, Old Town, Firehouse, and Rubber Fort. Each rewards a different tempo.

Indoor-heavy maps like Warehouse and Firehouse favor fast-firing, close-range loadouts and constant corner-checking. Open maps like Desert Siege and Arctic Base reward patient angle-holding and longer sightlines. Vertical maps like Twin Towers make high ground the whole game - own the top and you own the lobby.

First spawns on a new map? Spend your first life learning one strong position instead of wandering. Knowing one good spot beats knowing none of the map.

Mistakes that keep costing you cubecoins

I still catch myself sprinting back to my own killer at least once a session. Habit dies slow. If you can cut these five, half the difficulty of ranked lobbies disappears.

• ▸Rushing back to your killer. They're healed, positioned, and waiting. Take a new angle or farm elsewhere.
• ▸Hoarding cubecoins. Unspent coins don't shoot. Lootbox unlocks are permanent - buy them.
• ▸Fighting in the open. Cover wins gunfights more than aim does. Move wall to wall.
• ▸Peeking while weak. Low health plus the same angle equals a free kill for whoever's watching it. Reset first.
• ▸Ignoring fire rate. A slow gun played like an SMG loses every trade - and vice versa. Fight at your weapon's range.

FAQ

Bottom line

Farm efficiently, buy lootboxes early, learn two guns instead of ten, and fight every angle from cover. That's the whole ladder.