Since their introduction in 0.18.0 alongside Mad Miramar, the PUBG Mobile vending machines have gone through a tumulous time with the community. From initially seeming like another addition nobody asked for, to becoming player’s best friends after they started tossing out too many energy drinks.
Tencent’s local mechanic has tightened the springs since then, and the machines have settled into a happy place within the meta, dishing out cold ones to get players through the circle. So whether you’re hunting them down for the Season 13 Week 2 mission or just want to ensure you’re making the most of each drive-by on your quest for chicken dinner, we’ve done a few laps of the desert to confirm the most popular PUBG Mobile vending machine locations.
What Do PUBG Mobile Vending Machines Do?
Before we get into the nitty gritty of where the confounded things like to hide, it’s important to get everyone up to speed. Vending machines in PUBG Mobile are best described as healing stations. They won’t toss out meds or adrenaline shots to patch you up in a hurry, but they can be used to a similar effect.
That’s because these vending machines toss out a random amount of Energy Drink items when you “purchase” from them. Just slap the purchase button on the screen when you approach one, and you’ll loot a few drinks from the ground — up to a maximum of eight if you land the “jackpot.”
There’s no way to influence the number of drinks a machine spawns, and you can only use each machine once before it goes into a restock mode for an undetermined amount of time. The best thing, however, is that despite the purchase button, you don’t need any kind of currency to activate them. It’s like being at a free play arcade.
Vending machine spawn mechanics
We’ve toured the new map time and time again on the lookout of new vending machines, and to corroborate the findings of other players. What we’ve determined is that while there are some places you’ll often find vending machines, it’s best to understand where they can spawn rather than precise locations. There’s a few reasons for that.
First off, vending machines spawn randomly. But there is a method to tracking them down. Miramar has dozens of potential vending machine locations flagged as spawn points, but only a set amount of vending machines can spawn in each match. This means while you might find a machine in the same place in two different rounds, you might not be so lucky the third time around. If there’s an inoperable vending machine in a building, it’s probably a potential energy drink vending machine spawn point.
It’s important to understand the types of buildings that can house vending machines so you can sneak into nearby potential spawn locations rather than go out of your way to travel to a location you’ve visited before that might not have one this time.
PUBG Mobile vending machine locations are primarily based on building types. They spawn in consumer areas first and foremost, so there’s no reason to start dashing between obvious residential abodes in the hunt for them. Gas stations, casinos, arenas, and places with a load of banners and billboards plastered along the front are the ones to look out for. Motels are another potential spawn point, but stick to the lobby areas rather than individual rooms.
Vending Machine Locations
We’ve mapped out some confirmed locations down below. It’s far from a complete list of potential spawn locations and more of a “best of,” highlighting spots in locations toward the center of the map where most players tend to congregate throughout a match. This way you can quickly scout around for vending machines as you pass by these popular zones.
Top vending machine locations
- Los Leones
- El Pozo
- Chumacera
- Pecado
El Pozo, Los Leones, Chumacera, and Pecado are the four most frequently visited vending machine locations. Each hotspot has a number of places dispensers can spawn. The maps above highlight possible spawn locations, but it’s important to remember there’s no guarantee a vending machine will spawn in that exact location in every single match.
As for precise locations within buildings, vending machines can be just about anywhere, but as you start to visit more, you’ll notice buildings being simple copy/paste jobs of others around the map. Use that knowledge to predict roughly where a vending machine will be in each type of building so you spend less time darting around and more time efficiently looting locations as you pass them by.
Some can be behind main doors, on upper floors, or even between floors through broken ceilings. Areas like casinos and arena can have multiple vending machines on the same floor, too, so if you’re scouting out on of these locations, don’t think you’re done in there after hitting up a single machine.
Disclaimer: Fanbyte is owned by Tencent, which also runs Tencent Games, developer and publisher of PUBG Mobile. Tencent also subsidizes much of Fanbyte’s PUBG Mobile coverage by covering freelancer budget costs. Those covering PUBG Mobile for the site have no contact with Tencent, however, and are given complete creative control to write whatever they wish.
