Hunt Showdown: Ultimate Beginner’s Guide

The fires burn brighter than ever in the southern hellscape that is the state Louisiana. Overpopulated with creatures that go bump night and day still run rampant as order is nowhere to be sighted among the American Hunters Association. This is great news for business as you can still participate in the Devil’s Moon event for another week. Now as a new hunter, trying to understand the comings and goings around this side of the border may bring about some confusion, so we’ll throw you a bone and give a few tips to make sure that you stay alive while wandering about.

Ultimate Beginners Guide To Hunt: Showdown

As Hunt prides itself as a game with a steep learning curve it’s only natural for you to make a few oopsies that can cost you everything, by reading through the guide we’ll show you one of the few things you can do and expect in-game.

1.     Know your weapon

Having a good understanding of the limitations of your weapon will benefit your greatly. Using a shotgun? Stay inside the compound and make sure it’s clear before leaving. Using a rifle or repeater? Take a few steps back and let your guns do the talking. Using a melee build? Move around, get close to your opponent, and start swinging!

2.     Know your traits

Besides the weapons get some new Traits once your hunter starts earning levels. They allow you to handle some of your weapons differently and some of them even let you run longer distances without having to use a consumable.

Some notable traits are listed below:

• Beastface – Allows you to walk closer to audio traps without triggering them
• Greyhound – Lets you sprint longer distances
• Gator Legs – Lets you waddle around water quicker and also reduces noise while crouched
• Physician – Reduces the time needed to bandage your wounds
• Lightfoot – Vault, jump, fall, and climb ladders silently
• Determination – Shorten the time needed for your stamina to recover, great for melee
• Packmule – Receive an additional tool or consumable when looting a player or item box

3.     Know your surroundings

If you’re in a compound then one of the other things you should keep an eye on are the dog kennels and chicken coops. They’re colored red when they have dogs or chickens inside and will be gray if empty. You should see a lamp hanging around the top of these things so shooting them and burning everything inside is a good move to make sure you can move around the compound quietly.

If you’re still in the compound then there’s a good chance that you already found yourself a clue. They come in two flavors: Sealed and broken. They’re sealed if you’re the first to get that clue and should be hollowed out if another group got to it first.

Now the third flavor is the spicy one. This means that you’re not alone and the other party also knows that they’re not alone. Either one of you back out compound and try your luck elsewhere or you settle your differences here and now.

4.     Understand the map

Understanding where you should be and where you shouldn’t be plays an important role during a match. If you pick up a clue a portion of the map grays out telling you that there is nothing left to do there. Move on to the next one until you locate the compound that’s housing the boss lair.

The map grays out the same for every player, keep that in mind if you want to stay ahead of everyone else or if you want to try and predict their movement and set them up for an ambush.

5.     Listen to your surroundings

This could mean anything so we’ll try to narrow things down. Start with knowing where the gunfire is coming from, after that go and make a decision if you’ll be going after it or prefer heading elsewhere. If it’s only a few shots that were fired someone probably just panicked and shot a Grunt that caught them off-guard.

If you hear multiple shots it’s probably players gunning down a boss because no one brought an axe or an actual gunfight. The next decision is whether you want to third party them and take what they’ve worked for.

Another thing you can listen to is player movement, you’ll be able to tell their footsteps apart from a running shambler after a certain amount of time. If they don’t have Lightfoot then you’ll be able to hear them grunt while jumping around, they enjoy a little bit of b-hopping during downtime.

6.     Find a good ambush spot

If you’re okay with the idea of being hated by an online community for having a different approach towards winning then camping shouldn’t be an issue for you. If highwaymen end up lifeless after a failed robbery then the same thing can happen to you as well. 

Surprising as it may sound this actually ties in to reading your map and listening to your surroundings. If you have a good idea where another player is headed after getting their first clue then who are you to not double up on their mistake? Game awareness comes in handy like that, just make sure your shots connect when time comes.

7.     Stay quiet

Keeping up with the planned ambush it would be best that you remain quiet while you’re moving around. No stepping on water regardless if you’re crouched, no triggering horses, and definitely no shooting if you don’t have a suppressed weapon!

Other ways to remain quiet while wanting to take something down would be to use Throwing Knives and Axes if you really need to get something out of the way. Remember: a loud hunter is a dead hunter.

8.     Go loud when necessary

You wouldn’t lie flat on your stomach or motionless while under fire right? The time is now so peak out of your hiding hole and shoot back! They know that you know that the gloves are off so sprint, shoot, or throw a stick of dynamite or two to get some breathing room between you and the person you intend to gun down.

9.     Keep moving

Keeping pressure on your opponent is what you should be doing at this point and you’re not going to achieve that by staying in one place. Look at your surroundings for an exit, find a different angle to shoot from and keep on doing that until someone that isn’t you goes down.

Move as fast as possible or as slowly as necessary. Only you can tell when to do either of the two so it will take some getting used to. This would be a good time to think about a tactical retreat as well.

10. Know your resupply points

If you’re running dry but want to keep the fight going because you want to sleep on a bed and not in a coffin then you should find a supply point that’s nearby. They’re marked by a Wagon icon on your map. Here you can find ammo and tool boxes for your consumables, first aid kits, a weapon, and a lamp in case you need to light someone up.

11. Cut your loses

If the fight goes on for too long then it’s simply not worth the trouble anymore. No shame in retreating especially if you’re not streaming. Try your luck on the next match and see if you can get better results. It is almost always never worth it to push if the odds are stacked against you. But if fighting against trios as a solo is your idea of excitement then who are we to judge? Give them hell!

12. Let go of the gear fear

There’s three things that you do in Hunt: Shoot players, shoot bosses, and collect the bounty. Notice how two of those requires shooting? Now if the only thing you do to your guns is let them collect dust in your arsenal then you’ll only be putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Use your guns, especially the Contraband ones since you won’t profit from selling them anyway. Accepting the fact that you will lose your gear in the middle of a fight will help you play better as you will have less things to worry about.

13. Don’t hide forever

Let the match go on long enough and someone will definitely pick up the bounty, that someone should be you. Should it not be you then stay away from players who have the bounty as they will already have Dark Sight Boost. In layman’s terms that means they can see you through walls.

Dark Sight Boost allows the player to see up to 150m for five seconds and each compound is roughly 250m in size. You can still circle around and find a spot to nab the bounty from the other party or safely extract and call it a day. Don’t just sit in one spot and hope they’ve used up their five seconds!

Use these guides in any way you can think of and you will see improvements after getting through a mishap or two. And of course, always remember to have fun. Now go, the bayou waits for no one!

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