I won’t waste time explaining basic things that are easy to figure out in the first ten minutes. Miss Second takes the recruit through the tutorial, shows the main areas of the base, and teaches the basic controls.
Everything else has to be learned through experience, mistakes, or from other players. My goal with this guide is to save time, reduce unnecessary searching, and help avoid stupid deaths during raids.
1. Active Matter Controls and Settings
Everyone has different preferences, but some controls are worth changing immediately.
Action Wheel: I move this away from the default K key. I use the ~ key (Ё) or Alt + mouse side button instead.
One-handed tactical grip: if the mouse has extra side buttons, I bind important actions to Alt + mouse button:
- Activate the tactical flashlight or laser designator (Alt + RMB).
- Switch the weapon firing mode between single and automatic.
- Draw the knife or axe.
Look Around: I assign this to C.
I was surprised more than once when experienced teammates didn’t know about this feature or didn’t use it while moving between positions.
During a firefight, fractions of a second matter. I don’t want my fingers moving across the keyboard when I need to react quickly.
There are many settings to configure, and it can take some time at first. It becomes much more comfortable later. There is also a search function and a config file if you need them.
2. Hideout, Storage and Economy
I need some time to get used to the base layout. It looks complicated at first, but after a few evenings, preparing for an expedition becomes much faster.
Quick Inventory Hotkeys
Shift + Click – I use this to instantly move an entire stack or item between my backpack and storage without dragging it with the mouse.
Alt + Drag – I use this to split a stack exactly in half, which is useful for ammo and medicine.
The Refill Ammo and Repair buttons are small icons in the corner of the storage screen. They are easy to miss.
I press them before leaving. This keeps the weapons maintained and the magazines fully loaded.
Storage and Investigations
Storage space fills up quickly, so I follow one simple rule:
- Expand your storage immediately. I prioritize tasks and investigations that reward additional storage slots. Otherwise, loot will quickly fill the storage and can prevent me from turning in new finds.
- Matter-infused items: I don’t keep these around. I send them to the Replicator for recycling and use the resources for crafting.
- Green and blue tasks: these are the main stable source of tokens, so I unlock access to them as early as possible.
- “Legacy of the Fallen”: I use this once per day to convert 3 common tokens into 1,000 Monolith tokens. There is no reason to ignore it.
Monolith and Wipes
Active Matter does not force a wipe every three months.
Progression is voluntary through the “Self-Sacrifice” ritual (prestige wipe). Once I reach the Monolith limit, I can choose when to reset my accumulated progress.
In return, I get permanent status bonuses and unique Replicator branches while keeping all unlocked blueprints.
3. Loadouts: Your Own Gear vs. Government-Issued Gear
Government-Issued Gear (Free Loadout / Rental)
The Agency lets me enter a raid with a government-issued kit without spending anything.
I use it for three main things:
- Scouting the area.
- Collecting raw materials for basic crafting.
- Learning map routes without risking my own equipment.
There is one important trap.
All loot extracted with government-issued gear goes into the Temporary Stash. If I enter another raid without moving that loot into my main storage, I lose it.
Government-issued weapons also don’t have suppressors, and the suits provide weak protection. I don’t use this gear for PvP unless I have no other choice.
I gather resources during free-loadout raids and use my own equipment when I want to fight other players.
Your First Reliable Combat Loadout
I don’t enter combat with a weak setup and hope everything works out.
My first reliable setup is an AK-103 with a functional loadout:
- Suppressor
- Vertical grip
- Comfortable stock
- OKP-7 reflex sight
For armor, I use a Beast or Alfa suit with L-class plates.
This setup gives enough protection to fight properly without risking the most expensive equipment.
Weather Conditions: Look at the Sky Before You Start
Night and fog: long-range optics become less useful. I use an OKP-7 reflex sight and a flashlight.
The flashlight is dangerous, though. A beam between branches or through windows can be visible from 150 meters away and reveal my position.
Anomalous storm: thunder covers the sound of metal footsteps and suppressed weapons. I use this opportunity to move behind enemies or get close enough to use a blade.
Spatial disturbance: I keep iron bolts in the quick-access slots. I throw a bolt ahead of me to discharge the disturbed ether before moving through the area.
4. The Operative’s Body: Heart Rate and Fatigue
Weapon accuracy depends heavily on the physical condition of the operative.
Heart Rate Above All
There is no normal stamina bar. Heart rate controls the important part.
Sprinting, jumping, and climbing walls increase the heart rate.
The higher it gets, the more the weapon sways. The first shot can easily miss.
I can’t sprint and immediately expect to land a precise headshot from 50 meters away.
The marksman’s rule: before aiming, I stop for two or three seconds while crouched or prone. This gives my breathing and heart rate time to settle.
Arm Fatigue
Weapons have weight, and holding them up for too long makes the arms tired.
I don’t keep my sights aimed at the same area for more than five seconds. The arms start to shake, the barrel drops, and recoil becomes harder to control.
Instead, I track the target from the hip and use the laser dot while watching over the barrel. I raise the weapon to the sights when the target actually comes out of cover.
Injuries and Treatment
Injured arms: the hands start shaking, raising the weapon becomes slower, and reloading takes much longer.
Injured legs: I lose the ability to jump and movement becomes slower. Jumping from the second floor with a heavy backpack can break the legs.
Treatment requires rest: healing is not instant. Bandaging takes time and keeps the hands occupied.
I use healing gel before an assault when possible. It gradually treats minor wounds while I am fighting.
5. Shells: Purpose and Armor Plates
A shell is not just a skin. It determines backpack capacity, mobility, and the layout of the armor pockets.
The fundamental law of protection: armor is divided into separate sections.
Armor plates come in XL, L, and S sizes. Each plate protects only the body part where it is inserted.
If I use an L-class plate to protect the chest but leave the sleeve pockets empty, the shoulders and arms remain vulnerable.
I choose the suit according to the role I want to play.
Beast: a popular choice for solo expeditions. It is simple, inexpensive, and provides solid torso protection. I use it for economical runs where I don’t want to risk expensive gear.
Alfa: a light assault suit. It increases movement speed while still providing decent bullet protection. I use it for aggressive and mobile fights.
Ghost: designed for snipers and cautious scouts. It reduces footstep noise and helps conserve arm strength during long periods of aiming.
Knight: heavy armor with strong protection. It provides the most coverage for the arms and legs and protects against nearby grenade explosions. The downside is slower running and jumping. It is useful in underground bunkers and narrow corridors.
Viper: useful for long expeditions. It has spacious pockets, manageable recoil, and keeps the weapon relatively light in the hands.
Rhino: a heavy suit designed around a huge XL chest plate. I use it for machine guns and carrying large amounts of loot. Heavy loads have less effect on heart rate while wearing it.
6. Weapons, Calibers and Shooting
The Great Secret of Active Matter Ballistics
Active Matter doesn’t have several ammunition types for every caliber. There are no separate armor-piercing, incendiary, or explosive versions.
Each caliber has one standardized ammunition type.
Whether a shot penetrates depends on the caliber, distance, and durability of the armor plate.
Pistol calibers (9×18, 9×19, .45 ACP): these are practically useless against heavy L and XL plates. If an armored operative approaches while I only have a submachine gun, I don’t waste shots on the chest. I aim for the knees and unprotected arms.
Intermediate calibers (5.45×39, 7.62×39): these are the middle ground. They penetrate thin S plates easily and can reliably break heavy L plates with several accurate hits.
Rifle calibers (7.62x54R, 7.62×51, 12.7×55): these penetrate most protection and can cause severe blunt trauma through the armor.
Subsonic weapons (VSS Vintorez, ASH-12, Vykhlop): these are quiet, but the bullets have a steep trajectory. At long range, I need to compensate for bullet drop and adjust the sights for distance.
Special Weapons
Cold steel: completely silent. With enough skill, I can approach a group from behind and take out three sleeping mutants without making a sound.
Flamethrower: extremely effective in enclosed rooms. It ignores armor plates and burns health directly. The flames also instantly char wooden creatures such as dendroids and flower creatures, whose flesh can absorb a lot of automatic fire.
Crossbow: quiet but difficult to use reliably in standard field combat with a normal bolt. I leave it for later.
7. Tactics, Sound and Terrain
A good position and a quick look at the battlefield can decide a fight before the first shot.
I think first and act second.
There have been plenty of times when I started shooting simply because the fight was happening, even though I had no advantage. Sometimes it is better to wait, let the enemy come closer, and avoid giving away my position.
Headphones are my main ears and eyes: I don’t use speakers. I need three-dimensional sound to tell which wall a floorboard came from, which floor someone crossed, and where the enemy moved.
I have tried different headphones, and even budget open-back headphones can provide detailed positional audio over long distances.
I also disable virtual 5.1/7.1 effects and other similar enhancements. The game’s own sound engine is enough.
Reading the soundscape: I listen to what is happening around me. A distant creature scream or a seed-mine clicking can mean someone has disturbed that area.
Often, if it sounds like something happened, something probably did happen.
Seed fields as alarm systems: I don’t run straight through seed fields and announce my position to everyone nearby.
Instead, I use them as an alarm. I position myself so the seed field covers my back or exposed flank. If someone tries to circle behind me, the seeds can reveal them.
Your Own Map Notes
I place markers as soon as I have important information:
- “Fallen”: a body I haven’t safely searched and looted.
- “Contact”: a living enemy I have seen.
- “Noise”: the direction of a firefight, suspicious footsteps, or triggered traps.
- “Numbers”: I use this to predict the enemy’s movement based on hacks or noise.
Regular squads can develop their own communication system. For a new team, I use both voice and map markers to make sure everyone gets the information.
8. Death, Hacking and Beacons
Dispelling the Persistent Myth About Mindvault
There is a common beginner myth that hacking the Mindvault of a dead enemy sends them to the main menu and prevents their teammates from reviving them with an injection.
This is false.
Hacking a body does not prevent revival.
The purpose of hacking is to extract the accumulated matter and take the token. The process makes a loud metallic noise and sends a noticeable signal to nearby players.
A Tactical Trick Against an Enemy Trio
If I knock down one player from a squad, I don’t start hacking the body in the middle of the fight. Their teammates will immediately know where I am.
Instead, I quickly open the inventory, take their main weapon, and throw it into the bushes, sludge, or murky water.
If their teammates revive them with a syringe, they will come back without their main weapon.
Respawn Beacons
I don’t leave a beacon behind after using it.
If I place a beacon in a quiet location, clear a nest, and move on, I fold the device back into my backpack.
Otherwise, if I die later, I can respawn at the old location several miles away from my equipment.
If I don’t place a beacon at all, I respawn at the beginning of the map where I entered the raid.
Enhanced Beacons: these allow me to respawn directly at the location in government-issued gear. I can return to the fight and recover my backpack.
Safe Container
When I am downed, I can disable automatic extraction of loot from the protected container.
With trusted teammates, this can be useful. If they defend me and revive me, the loot remains with me.
If the entire squad goes down, however, attackers can take anything that was not protected.
Robo Dog
Shortly before release, the Agency updated the dogs’ firmware.
They can now independently run to extraction while carrying a useful payload.
9. Chronogenes: The Wisdom of Mutations
Chronogenes are natural enhancers obtained from anomalous creatures.
I can carry up to four modifiers.
First and second tiers: these provide permanent benefits that remain active. For example, Soft Step reduces the sound of running, while Nimble Fingers speeds up magazine loading and bandaging.
Third tier: these provide much stronger combat effects, such as automatically healing injured arms and legs.
There is one important limitation: third-tier Chronogenes have 10 charges.
Every death during a raid permanently consumes one charge.
Normal repairs cannot restore these charges. I can only replenish them by merging twin Chronogenes at the laboratory workbench.
I save this power for important expeditions with my squad.
10. PvE vs. PvP and Final Advice
I don’t agree with the idea that peaceful expeditions (PvE) are a waste of time or that an extraction shooter must always be about fighting other players.
I can play the game however I want.
Active Matter works well for solo exploration and relaxed loot runs. Over time, the game naturally pushes me toward encounters with other scavengers.
I don’t rush that process.
I first learn the hidden paths, find escape routes, and get comfortable with my assault rifle. When I am ready, I move into PvP on my own terms.
Brotherhood in Arms and Radio Communication
When I go out with two or three players, the raid is usually decided by communication rather than random shooting.
- Contact at 90. One hundred meters away, garage behind the blue car. I can engage.
- Wait, don’t make noise. I’ll go left through the house and get a bead on them.
- Copy, covering.
- On position. Engage first, I’ll cover with a grenade.
I keep radio communication short and precise. I give the bearing, distance, and landmark instead of filling the channel with unnecessary words.
A coordinated trio that thinks about making things easier for its teammates is one of the strongest forces in the Zone.
If I enter a raid alone with a random teammate or meet another player, I don’t avoid voice communication.
In many cases, reasonable players would rather talk, avoid an unnecessary fight, and leave with what they have already earned.