Hunt: Showdown is a peculiar game, and that is meant in the best possible way. It is brutal, elating, unforgiving, and one of the most rewarding games ever made. There is no hand-holding here, and the only way to learn is by dying. In a game where, when a character dies, they are truly, meaningfully dead, that can seem pretty harsh, but it also ensures that every time you get out of the swamp alive (and maybe grab a kill or two), it feels like you’ve really accomplished something.
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Here are ten basic tips to help get you off and running in Hunt: Showdown.
10 MONSTERS
It’s paramount to learn about each monster in the game, and how to effectively deal with them. A popular Hunt saying: First you fear the monsters, then you fear the players, then the players fear you. First on that list is learning how to deal with the monsters, so here’s a list of the enemies in the game that aren’t simply zombies.
Hive: Hives send a swarm of poisonous bugs after anyone they see. These bugs can be pretty easily dispersed by a few melee attacks, but the poison effect they cause is going to be a real downer for a few seconds. One headshot will send these things to the ground, though with their heads dangling off their backs, that might be easier said than done.
Hellhounds: Usually traveling in packs, these Hounds cause bleeding if they manage to get their jaws on you. They can be taken down in the usual fashion, just be sure not to get to many riled up all at once, or they could become a problem.
Armored: Basically just a zombie with a bigger health pool and some seriously loud breathing. They’re pretty easy to deal with in melee, as long as you keep them staggered.
Immolator: If you don’t handle Immolators in a specific way, you’re probably going to end up six-feet-under. Never, ever, ever shoot or stab an Immolator, because they’ll ignite and enrage, chasing anything down that they can get their hands on. They’re faster than a player, so running is no hope, at that point. To take care of an Immolator, you’ll have to hit it with blunt damage, like a hammer or dusters.
Meatheads: Meatheads are oddly-named, considering they don’t actually have a head at all. Surrounded by leeches, these leeches are essentially the sensory organs of the Meathead and are pretty easy to avoid, meaning as long as you’re staying stealthy, the Meathead isn’t going to be much bother.
9 CLUES/BOUNTIES
Tracking down a bounty in Hunt usually requires finding three clues. These clues will eventually lead you to the lair of the bounty, or the big boss that most players are going to be gunning for. There are either one or two of these on the map, with three possible monsters as the bounty(ies). Each of these bounties should be handled in a different way; for instance, the Spider causes poison damage, the Assassin causes bleeding damage, and the Butcher causes fire damage. There are many more intricacies to them than just that, but those are the basics to prepare for.
8 DARK SIGHT
Throughout the match, you can use Dark Sight to see where clues are, and eventually, where the big bad monster is. Once you’ve got a bounty, you’ll have five seconds of a special Dark Sight to use whenever you want, allowing you to see other nearby players. Once you’ve got the bounty, other players are going to turn into their sweatiest selves in an attempt to kill you and take the bounty for themselves, so make good use of these five seconds.
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On a related note, once you’ve got the bounty, other players can enter Dark Sight and follow the gigantic lightning bolts that give away your position (or look for the lightning bolts on their map). There’s no stealth once you’ve got a bounty, so the best bet is to leg it to extraction.
7 BRING A MELEE
Bringing some sort of melee weapon is almost always a good idea in Hunt. Whether it’s something like a combat ax or machete that takes up an inventory slot, or something like a knife and/or dusters that take up a tool slot is up to you, but having a melee weapon to deal with something without making a ruckus or wasting the ammo is super valuable.
6 USE YOUR TOOLS, THEY RESUPPLY
One thing that might not be evident right off the bat is that tools resupply each time you load into the fray, as opposed to consumables, which do not. This means using all three of your first aid kits in a match doesn’t mean you have to buy a new one. Same goes for things like trip mines, decoys, etc.
5 BURNED HEALTH CHUNKS DON’T COME BACK
Each Hunter in Hunt has a certain amount of health chunks, in values of 25 and 50 hp each. Health will regenerate up to these chunks, but if a chunk is fully depleted, it’ll need to be refilled by some kind of healing item.
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The same is not true of health chunks that have been burned away. Those are gone, permanently; the only way to regain those is by spending upgrade points your Hunter earns in between matches.
4 BURN THE DEAD
Here is another thing relating to fire: once you kill a player, it’s safest to burn their body, unless you know for a fact you’ve killed their teammate(s). Shooting a Hunter that’s lying on the ground won’t make them bleed out faster, and there’s no real way to tell if they’re alone or not unless, well, you know for sure. Lighting the body on fire accelerates the death of the Hunter, meaning their possible teammates will need to work fast if they want to revive them.
3 CROWS, CHICKENS, DOGS, DUCKS, HORSES, AND TWIGS, OH MY
There are a lot of audio cues to pay attention to in Hunt for signs of other Hunters, but the most obvious of them are the things listed above. These are scattered throughout the map, and if you get too close to them, they’ll make a serious amount of noise, cluing in anybody paying attention that they aren’t alone.
2 TRAPS
There are a lot of traps to make use of in Hunt, and if you’re planning on locking down a building or something, these traps are going to be invaluable in your effort. Things like alert mines, concertina mines, bear traps, etc are all going to give audio cues, damage enemies, and really just make it a difficult task for them to get anything done.
1 STEALTH
Stealth is the name of the game in Hunt. Even if you plan on going in guns blazing to kill an enemy, why not wait for the perfect moment to strike? A lot of players are going to slip up, stand still, move out of cover, or any number of things, giving you a perfect chance to land that one headshot you need to take them down without a fuss. Take your time, set up the perfect ambush… and then pounce.
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