DayZ Best Maps 2026: Official and Community Maps Compared

Chernarus is still the best DayZ map to start on: 230 km² of post-Soviet countryside, included with the base game. For a harder game pick Sakhal or the community map Namalsk, and for something new pick Nasdara, the 267 km² desert map of the DayZ Badlands DLC, out since 15 October 2026 and the largest official map.

DayZ now has four official maps and dozens of community ones. Below are all four official maps, the community maps with the most Workshop subscribers, which of them have been updated for Update 1.30, and what each needs on a server. Everything was checked on 25 October 2026.

The four official maps at a glance

Sizes come from the DayZ, Frostline and Badlands store pages and Bohemia's Frostline progress report; older Bohemia posts give Livonia as 163 km². The seasons are Bohemia's own: in the Badlands launch post, "following autumn in Chernarus, summer in Livonia, and winter in Sakhal, Nasdara's arid spring now completes DayZ's cycle of seasons." The mission names are the folder names in Bohemia's Central Economy repository.

Chernarus

The original map, a hand-made terrain that Bohemia's store page describes as "inspired by real-world locations in North Bohemia of the Czech Republic". Coastal towns, big forests and military bases inland; Bohemia still calls it "the quintessential DayZ experience". Learn it with the iZurvive map open on a second screen.

On a server, the stock Chernarus mission is dayzOffline.chernarusplus. Our Chernarus server settings guide covers loot, restarts and traders.

Livonia

Livonia stopped being a separate purchase with Update 1.25 in May 2024, when Bohemia merged it into the base game and gave it to every existing owner for free. It is smaller than Chernarus, with lush, dense forests and, in the store page's words, "a deep secret" beneath its surface. Anyone who owns DayZ can join a Livonia server.

Sakhal (Frostline)

Sakhal is a volcanic winter archipelago in the Far East, sold as the DayZ Frostline DLC since 15 October 2024. The store page says it "poses by far the biggest danger" of any DayZ environment: cold, new diseases, ice and the sea between the islands. With the navigable water included, Bohemia put the playable area at 236 km².

Players need the DLC to join. In the Frostline release post Bohemia wrote that "access to servers running Sakhal requires a purchased copy of DayZ Frostline", and it made the Sakhal assets free for community servers and maps to use.

Nasdara (Badlands)

Nasdara is the newest and largest official map: 267 km² of desert in Nasdara Province, west of Chernarus on Takistan's western frontier. Water is the main enemy, with heatstroke, silicosis and sandstorms on top, and nearly 5,000 structures can be rebuilt, wells included. Our Nasdara map guide covers the lay of the land, water, the Morse code bunkers and running a Nasdara server in detail.

What server owners need to know:

• Mission: dayzOffline.nasdara, which Bohemia added to its Central Economy repository on 16 October 2026.
• Who can join: As of 4 November 2026, Bohemia has not said whether players need Badlands to join a Nasdara server.
• Patch level: Bohemia released Patch 1 for Update 1.30 on 21 October 2026. Its change log, listed as 1.30 Update 2 (version 1.30.164200), fixed infected and animals having trouble navigating rebuildable structures, irrigation tunnel water giving players cholera, and a specific server crash. Run a Nasdara server on that build or newer.
• Wipe: Bohemia announced Update 1.30 as "a fresh start for everyone, with a full wipe across all platforms". Community servers decide for themselves; our Badlands and 1.30 checklist walks through the update.

The most popular community maps

Community maps are Workshop mods with their own mission files. The table lists the most subscribed community terrains in the big DayZ map collections on the Workshop, leaving out seasonal reskins of Chernarus and Livonia and add-ons for Namalsk, with subscribers and last update as Steam reported them on 25 October 2026.

The last update matters more than usual right now. Update 1.30 changed the navmesh, the file that lets infected and animals find their way, and Bohemia's change log says it is "now on a newer version with no backwards compatibility", asking terrain makers to regenerate it. A map that has not been updated since 1.30 reached the experimental branch on 16 September 2026 cannot have the new navmesh yet. Check its changelog before you move a live server to it, and see our 1.30 mods guide for the other changes.

Namalsk

The most subscribed community map: a cold, abandoned archipelago with sea ice, the Athena underground labs and EVR storms. Bohemia's Frostline report puts it at 27 km² without ice sheets and 63 km² with them, so it is small and dense. Its Workshop changelog shows the 1.30 work: "Exported Namalsk under latest WRP and navmesh format" on 15 October and "Navmesh was not compatible with the latest game version" fixed on 21 October.

Server notes from the official Namalsk server repository, updated for 1.30 on 14 October:

• Load Namalsk Island and, for the full survival setup with its events, Namalsk Survival. Copy sumrak.bikey into the server's keys folder.
• Pick the Regular or Hardcore mission (regular.namalsk or hardcore.namalsk). Regular has basic vehicles, all base building and more loot; Hardcore has no vehicles, no base building beyond stashes and small tents, and less weapon and ammo loot.
• The author recommends 30 to 40 players at most, and the default config sets 30.
• No monetization of any kind, "even things such as selling priority queue slots". Donations are fine if players get nothing in return.

Our Namalsk server guide has more on events and restarts.

Deer Isle

The second most subscribed community map, and the biggest download in this list. Its Workshop page is only the download: installation, server files and documentation are on the Deer Isle Discord and wiki linked there. Its last update was on 4 June 2025, so as of 25 October 2026 it has no update for 1.30's navmesh change. Test it on a copy before you switch a live server to it, and keep an eye on its changelog.

Banov

A 256 km² map inspired by the Banov District in Slovakia, with one city, 35 villages, three airfields and four large underground complexes, according to its Workshop page. It got a navmesh update on 15 October 2026, the day 1.30 came out, and several fixes since, the latest on 25 October. The mission files are in the Banov Central Economy repository: dayzOffline.banov, plus a second mission, dayzOffline.banovfrost. Its rules suggest 60 to 120 players and allow VIP sales as long as they follow DayZ's monetization rules, but no repacking or editing of the map's own scripts.

Takistan Plus

A desert map with sandstorms, for groups who want a dry setting without the Badlands DLC. The mission is on the author's GitHub, and the Workshop page asks server owners to read the mod's "README ServerSettings.txt" to set up the sandstorm. On 25 October 2026 the author released "V1.76 Updatefix to DayZ 1.30" and updated the mission files on GitHub the same day; the update before that, in April, was for 1.29. Read its licence before you open a public server: servers that require donations are not allowed unless the money only covers running costs, up to $1,500 a year.

The other maps in the table

• Esseker has not been updated since July 2021, and Melkart since April 2024. Both still have server files on GitHub, but expect problems on 1.30. Melkart also allows monetization only under Bohemia's server monetization agreement and with Bohemia's permission.
• Valning, a 105 km² map inspired by places between France and Germany, has not been updated since November 2020, so the same applies.
• Bitterroot, about 155 km² in a fictional part of Montana, is still in development; its author says it is not recommended for use until the mission files are released.
• STALKER NewHorizon ChernobylZone got a navmesh update in the week after 1.30 came out. Its page says the mission and Central Economy files ship inside the mod in a MapFiles folder, and its licence rules out commercial use.

Which map for which group

Running a map on your server

Every map comes down to the same three steps:

1. Install the map. The official maps are part of the game and its DLCs. A community map is a Workshop mod: add it to the server's mod list together with its dependencies, and copy its .bikey file into the server's keys folder.
2. Upload the mission. Official missions come from Bohemia's Central Economy repository; community missions from the map author's repository or Discord. Upload the whole folder to mpmissions.
3. Point the server at it. In serverDZ.cfg, the Missions class names the mission folder. Namalsk's default config, for example:

class Missions
{
    class DayZ
    {
        template="regular.namalsk";
    };
};

Bohemia's repository also holds seasonal versions of the official missions, such as halloweenOffline.chernarusplus, and Bohemia said at the Badlands launch that it will support seasonal events on select terrains in the coming months.

Mind the disk as well as the RAM. A map like Deer Isle is an 11.7 GB Workshop download on its own, before any other mods. Our DayZ server hosting runs in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Australia (Sydney) with 50, 70 or 90 GB of NVMe storage on the Survivor, Bandit and Hero plans, full FTP access to your mission files and Steam Workshop mods. For RAM per map and player count, see our DayZ server requirements guide.

FAQ

What is the best DayZ map for beginners? Chernarus. It comes with the base game, it is the original DayZ map, and Bohemia calls it "the quintessential DayZ experience".

What is the biggest official DayZ map? Nasdara, the Badlands map, at 267 km². It is the largest official map; Chernarus follows at 230 km².

What is the hardest DayZ map? Among the official maps, Sakhal: Bohemia calls it by far the biggest danger of any DayZ environment. Among community maps, Namalsk on its Hardcore mission.

Is Livonia free? Yes. Since Update 1.25 in May 2024 Livonia is part of the base game, and existing owners got it for free.

Do players need the DLC to join a Sakhal or Nasdara server? For Sakhal, yes: Bohemia requires DayZ Frostline. For Nasdara, Bohemia has not said as of 4 November 2026.

Which community maps work with Update 1.30? Check each map's last update. Namalsk, Banov, Alteria, Takistan Plus and STALKER NewHorizon ChernobylZone were updated after 1.30 came out on 15 October 2026; Deer Isle, Esseker, Melkart, Valning and Chiemsee had not been updated for it on 25 October 2026.

How do you add a community map to a server? Add the map's Workshop mod and its key to the server, upload its mission folder to mpmissions, and set that folder name as the template in the Missions class of serverDZ.cfg.