Hunt: Showdown: a beginner’s guide to loadouts, boss fights, loot and hitting the extraction point

Discover what makes Hunt: Showdown unique and understand its different quirks with these tips.

Hunt: Showdown is a bit of an unusual game. Part a competitive shooter, and part an Evolve or Monster Hunter-like PvE shooter with a persistent world, Hunt: Showdown is not the easiest game to sum up in a sentence.

I say persistent, because much like Escape from Tarkov, your character and the loot you earn in a match will all vanish forever if you die. You don’t just lose a round, you lose a character you’ve been levelling up and decking out for days or weeks.

This makes every round incredibly tense, as the stakes are as high as you’re going to get from a game like this. But Hunt: Showdown also has a number of other mechanics under the surface that it doesn’t communicate very well, or at all.

In these early tips, we’re going to explore some of the things we picked up as new players in Hunt: Showdown, and a few others you should know that’ll make starting out new a much smoother experience.

Keep track of how many players you killed

A typical Hunt: Showdown match can only have a maximum of ten players. You may not immediately run into other players like you would in PUBG or Fortnite, but you’re going to inevitably come across some in your search for the monster.

Everyone will be heading towards the same point, after all, and your paths will intersect. Unlike other last man standing games, there’s no counter that’ll constantly remind you of the number of remaining players. This is likely by design, as it ratchets up the tension as the match goes on, especially in the Banishing phase.

Because of this, try to keep a mental note of how many players your team killed during the round. You may be surprised to see that you killed most of the server, or even all other players, making the end-game a breeze.

It’s great to go into the Banishing phase knowing you only have, say, two other players to worry about.

Like we mentioned, there are only ten players in total, whether that’s five two-player teams, ten solo players or any combination of the two. It shouldn’t be a massive problem to keep your kill count in mind.

Don’t always go for the nearest extraction point

The mind games in Hunt: Showdown start after the Banishing process is concluded. It’s at this point you (and your teammate) will need to take the loot and head to any one of the extraction points around the map and claim the win.

There’s almost always an extraction point closer to where you fought the boss, and it may make sense to head there as soon as you’re done for a speedy getaway. Sometimes, though, you may not want to do that.

End-game a lot of times involves waiting in the bushes for one team to finish off the monster, ambushing them, and taking their hard-earned loot before extracting. If you can predict where the enemy is going to extract from, you can camp an exit, or even better, set up an ambush at the extraction point itself.

In these situations, it’s worth going the long way around to an extraction point that’s a bit farther than the closest one. This will confuse anyone camping outside waiting for you to come out of a certain gate or follow a certain road.

Often times, compounds where boss fights take place are bigger than two people could realistically cover without revealing themselves. So campers tend to go all-in watching the exit closest to the nearest extraction point.

Also, camping an extraction point is totally a thing in Hunt: Showdown. Plan accordingly.

You’ll never have enough ammo to kill everything and everyone

One of the limitations Hunt: Showdown imposes on players that become clear early on is how limited your ammo capacity is. Between your two main weapons, assuming you’re even running with two, you’ll have something like 30 bullets.

You can see how many bullets each weapon holds by switching to it. For this reason, it’s best to only use firearms sparingly.

Instead of using a gun, consider relying on your melee weapons, whether it be the secondary knife or the proper machete, to dispose of fodder enemies. Most smaller NPCs die in one or two hits, so it’s not too much of a problem.

It obviously goes without saying that you should also conserve your ammo when engaging other players. The game’s performance isn’t in a great state right now, so you’re going to miss a lot of shots as players jerk around and move erratically.

Saving ammo also helps you start the boss fight quicker, without having to run around looking to top up first.

Don’t forget to resupply after the boss fight

Even if you’ve been saving up your ammo for the boss fight, you’re very likely going to run out of ammo mid-fight. In boss rooms, there are usually universal ammo boxes that can supply all weapons on you once, before they’re depleted.

You’ll also find shotgun cartridges and bullet packs lying around in some spots. Make sure to always top up when you can, especially after you’re done killing the boss.

You don’t want to be caught with your pants down if other players get into the boss room to kill you, or if they’re waiting outside in ambush. Realising you only have two bullets left as you’re being shot at is not fun in any game, and it’s even more so here.

Inside the various compounds you’ll also find healing kits that can be used once, just like the ammo supply boxes.

Speaking of supplies, there are multiple supply points around the map that you can use in your journey. They’re marked by the carriage icon on the mini map, so look out for those if you can’t find enough ammo indoors.

Weapon fire can be heard from miles away

Because of the loud noise shooting makes in Hunt: Showdown, you’ll want to use your melee weapons as much as a possible. Gunfire sounds are very distinct, and often rare, in Hunt: Showdown, so everyone around you will start paying attention when they hear your shots, blowing your cover.

Keep it close-quarters with your melee weapons and pull out your gun for the big bosses, or when you spot other players. NPCs typically don’t aggro if you avoid their line of sight, so skirt around big groups and keep moving.

To be able to do this, you should always make sure you have at least one melee weapon in your loadout.

Don’t disturb the crows

Following on from the previous point, you should avoid making unnecessary noise as you hunt for clues and eventually make your way to the boss.

Even if you’re not using firearms, be aware of several noise makers scattered around the map in Hunt: Showdown. The most common of these are crows picking away at a corpse. If you get close, they’ll fly away and make a very distinct sound.

They don’t seem to be disturbed by movements of AI enemies, only players. Hearing their call and the sound of their fluttering wings is a dead giveaway that players are nearby.

Also, when you’re trying to be sneaky indoors, watch out for broken glass covering certain parts of the floor, and the dangling chains at the entrance of some rooms. These also give your position away if you move through them at regular speed.

Crouching is the way to go here, or avoiding them entirely if you can help it.

Hold the attack button for higher melee damage

You can hold the attack button to do a heavier, more damaging melee attack. This attack does about twice as much damage as the regular one, letting you take out smaller enemies in one hit.

Of course, it leaves you open for a couple of seconds because of how long the animation takes, but it’s worth it. You can’t spam too many melee attacks, though, as doing that will quickly deplete your stamina.

Your stamina bar will only show up if it starts to deplete, which usually happens if you’re spamming melee. Just keep an eye on this gauge and don’t overcommit.

While we’re on the subject, you should also know that you can melee using any weapon, not just melee weapons. Even as you’re holding a syringe with one hand, you can punch with the other by hitting the attack button (left click by default).

You can avoid the boss fight entirely

If you watched the Hunt: Showdown tutorial, you’ll be familiar with the game’s main loop of tracking and hunting a boss. But what you may not know is that you don’t have to go for the boss at all.

You can simply abort the mission any time by heading to an extraction zone. This is how you should play the game if you just unlocked a new hunter. Think of it as a farming run where your is just getting some XP and money by killing NPCs.

You can do this after locating some or all clues, too, and the XP you earn is going to be worth it, particularly in those early levels.

In fact, any time you really don’t feel good about a situation you can just extract and keep your stuff. Remember, when you die in Hunt: Showdown, your character and everything it carries are gone, so don’t shy away from the getting out early to keep what XP you have and live to see another day.

You don’t have to stick to the provided hunter loadout

Hunt: Showdown doesn’t allow players to create a character outright. Instead, you can “hire” a hunter from a pool of randomised names, abilities, starting weapons, gadgets and so on.

But, you should know that you don’t have to take what you’re given as is. If you hire a cheap hunter, chances are he’s going to come with one primary weapon and no med kits. If you have enough money, you can equip them with all sorts of weapons and gadgets and go in fully-loaded.

A higher-level hunter will still be better, however, because of their unlocked abilities. It’s always worth adding a simple knife or a healing syringe if your chosen hunter didn’t start with any by default.

The issues is that this obviously costs money on top of what you already paid to hire the hunter, but sometimes it’s your best option. If your hunters tend to die quickly, you’ll likely be sitting on a modest sum of cash from all of those Bloodline (account) XP and money you’ve been earning.

Do note that tier 0 hunters won’t allow you to modify their loadout, so you have to level them up first. Like we mentioned, farming NPCs and bailing out is a good way of doing that.

Sometimes you just run into the boss

If you’re perceptive (and lucky), you may come across the boss naturally while you’re exploring without having to do the whole tracking bit. This can happen to anyone, so another team could trigger the boss before other players are done tracking.

In either case, the map will shrink in the same way it does when you use all three trackers. The bad news is that everyone now knows exactly where you are, so get it done quick.

There’s nothing you can do about this alert, but do keep in mind that enemies know the general area you’re in, not your real-time whereabouts. Use this to your advantage.

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