Top 10 UK Cities For Surviving A Battle Royale

Whether you’re a fan of Hunger Games or live for Call of Duty, everyone loves a bit of a paintball battle royale. We know the tactics, we know the rules, but it always comes down to the resources and the playing field in making or breaking your paintball game.

CoD is releasing a long-awaited new map and we decided to do some solid research and see how we can make battle royale more lifelike. We wanted to look at cities across the UK to see which city had the best advantage to win in a full-on battle.

We all know that land is where the gold is, the better your surroundings the higher your advantage. If we’re talking zombie apocalypse, full-scale paintball match, or a battle royale - you need to scavenge for supplies and find good cover. Using Corine Land Cover data we looked at land diversity, for cover, and varied environment, for looting. We focused on:

• Areas with abundant resources - farmlands, woodlands, and mineral extraction sites
• High loot potential - construction, industrial, or dumpsites
• General interest areas for land diversity - beaches, peat bogs, moors

These metrics, along with 20 others were used to find the 10 best UK cities to host a battle royale and create a points system that revealed our winners. Take a look at what we’ve found:

Which UK City Would Win in a Battle Royale?

1. Swansea, Wales

None of us expected this outcome but Swansea is where you want to be if a battle breaks out! This Welsh city came out on top with a comfortable 21 point lead over second place, whilst it didn’t do too well in the more urban categories, it more than made up thanks to its diverse land:

• Beaches (1.41%)
• Pastures (43.29%)
• Forests (5.37%)

It’s also the closest city to an island with the Atlantic on 3 sides. Hide your sheep, hide your snacks, and invest in paintball guns, Swansea.

2. Edinburgh, Scotland

Coming in at second, Edinburgh really steps it up with an infrastructure that no other city can rival in our rankings. This fantastic city could be a paintball battle royale haven thanks to the urban development:

• Roads, rail (0.42%)
• Port (1.11%)
• Airport (1.84%)

Ranking amongst the best in the UK in this area, it was this infrastructure domination that meant it beat out the other Scottish cities on this list. Now add in that interesting misty weather and it could really be something.

3. Aberdeen, Scotland

Only losing out to Edinburgh by a slim 8 points, Aberdeen was one of the consistently agricultural cities on this list. Looking over our data we found that over a third of the city is taken up by pasture, in the centre of which is Dyce and the airport. The port and the North Sea to the East makes the geography very interesting and would make for an interesting area for a battle, pack your swimmers and make sure your paintball gun is fit for water.

4. Sheffield, England

Surprisingly this is the first English city on the list, as England seems to have a less diverse environment and less infrastructure fit for a battle. Sheffield’s pastures, moors and peat bogs are what make it such a varied city and what won it the fourth spot overall and first in England. Breaking it down into numbers the region is divided into:

• Moors (12.39%)
• Peat bogs (12.95%)
• Pastures (18.52%)

All in the centre and the dense urban environment to the East. We’d recommend stocking up on molle tactical vests and planning your pursuit now.

5. Leeds, England

Whilst Leeds has some advantage thanks to its dense urban environment, it can’t compete with vast and varied environments found on the maps of Swansea or Aberdeen. However, the rich factories and resources mean that Leeds managed to score pretty high in two areas:

• Construction (0.08%)
• Mineral extraction (1.39%)

So, any battle royale happening in Leeds would have plenty of resources to be carried out. The dumpsites that constitute 0.19% of the city would give it plenty of character as well, if you’re into a zombie trash-land kind of thing.

6. Belfast, North Ireland

The Northern Irish capital is the only city to represent Northern Ireland. It would only make sense that the birthplace of the Titanic would have one of the largest port areas by land size in the UK (2.88%) winning Belfast a solid sixth place in our top 10 of battle royale cities.

The urban setting on the seaside would be a perfect location for a battle royale and it’d be a great place to give the Umarex HDR 50 a try, you know, if there was a battle and paintball markers were allowed in the city.

7. Bradford, England

With a little bit of everything, Bradford was able to get enough points to place itself on this top 10 list. It’s trying very hard to follow Leeds and it’s the worst of the Yorkshire and the Humber region, but with it on this list, that region has the most contenders for best UK battle royale city.

With a bit of everything you sort of get the kind of battle royale map, you’d set on an easy level when you’re not sure where your strength is. 10/10 for newbies!

8. Cardiff, Wales

The only city on this list that’s sort of close to our shop, if you ever need to restock on ammo. The Welsh capital is equally divided between rural and urban thanks to its high proportion of Green urban areas (2.52%). If you like more water-heavy fights Cardiff scored the highest in the port area with a 3.15% so this is the place to be if you want to try a beach pursuit.

9. Bolton, England

North West has made its way into our list by bringing Bolton in at number eight. Just about edging out Leeds for the best city for mineral extraction by 0.04%, Bolton became a strong contender on the list thanks to its huge amount of industry infrastructure (4.77%) and the layout of the town which encompasses lots of urban, industrial, and hilly land.

10. Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Finishing off our list is Newcastle upon Tyne, this city was built around a Roman settlement and is known for having the largest ship building and repairing centres - it simply screams loot and fight.

Funnily enough, it made the top 10 list because it’s completely surrounded by the largest Green Urban Area (4.95%) in this list. To the North of the city, you’ll also find:

• Airport (2.19%)
• Pastures (9.07%)
• Mineral extraction sites (0.74%)

To the south is the River Tyne with a few bridges for traversal, this city has all the components of a winner but it simply isn’t large and built out enough to knock Swansea, or the other eight contenders, out of their spot.

Get Your Paintball Gun Battle Ready

Battle royale is no joke, and you need to choose the best city when a zombie apocalypse of CoD war breaks out. We hope that our list helped you choose a city that will give you the ultimate advantage.

If you’re looking for something a bit more down to earth than scavenging and looting, why not give a paintball match a try? Completely legal and absolutely high on fun. Take a look at some of our favourite posts on starting out with paintball and looking after your paintball guns. If you’re thinking of getting a paintball gun and have no idea where to start, just give us a shout - our team is ready to help you pick the perfect battle royale partner.