I’ve played the game for like 10-15h around half a year ago and stopped. Picked the game up again after the new update and am struggling with re-acquainting myself with the controls, but I’ll get back there I think. More importantly, I don’t know when to take opportunities to come out and make plays.
For context, I played a round yesterday where I found the boss lair after a single clue which was in the neighbouring compound. I went there by accident and started the fight. Looking for a boss weapon, which I didn’t know didn’t spawn next to the boss lair anymore, I attempted the Assassin without a weapon and almost got killed. After wasting a sticky, I ran in the attic and hid there for like 35 minutes, listening to my surroundings in the hopes of finding a hunter. Fast forward a little, I managed to find a hunter that’s been trying to kill the Assassin themselves for like 15 minutes straight and killed them, then I had like 5 minutes left to kill the boss and extract but didn’t get it, so I just extracted.
Ultimately, I just spent 35 minutes in an attic doing nothing which wasn’t as engaging. Any tips on how to make myself go out of my way to make proactive plays?
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Got ~1000 hrs but rarely play solo, but If I do here are a few tips. Although I recommend you just play trios.
tldr: Don’t be afraid to loose your hunter, it nearly impossible to run out of money. Stay silent and be quick between compounds. Build confidence by 3rd parting 2v2 fights and crowd control the enemy teams. Your first loud shot counts the most make it a kill. Whoever has a compound controls the fight. Don’t let enemies know you’re solo. Get a feeling where enemies are on the map. Always burn hunters immediately.
In detail:
- Get the Silenced Nagant Revolver with Poison ammo, it’s the best utility weapon in the game. One-shots all non-boss enemies (at least it did until they buffed Immolators) and all bosses except the spider have a severe poison weakness. Pair it with Fanning and you also have one of the strongest short range weapons in the game, almost outclassing shotguns. Look out for special ammo boxes or bring one yourself. It really let’s you get from point A to B fast and quiet. Also because you’ll be shooting things left and right with it, it will improve your aim a lot. If you have quartermaster, swap the Nagant for a bow, its a definite upgrade.
- Don’t be afraid to lose your hunter. Being solo gives you a massive boost in money rewards if you extract. So just extracting with the bounty token once every 5-7 games should keep your head above water.
- Intervene. If you hear a fight, go there. The server usually has 9-12 people. If there are 2 bosses, and you hear a gunfight on your side of the map, this means that all the players from your side are at that position. If you come out on top of a 2v2v1 this means that your side is now fully cleared of enemies and since people rarely switch sides, you’re essentially completely safe. But if it’s very far away and you’re at the boss lair already, you can kill the boss and escape before they even finish their fight. Also, in a 2v2v1, don’t kill off one team completely, cripple them by killing only one, and then use the confidence of the 3rd team to also kill one of theirs. Now both teams are weakened and confused. It’s essentially crowd control. Let them kill and revive each other a few times, so they will be easier to kill later.
- Try to make it a 1v1 with your first shot. Winning a 2v1 is difficult, but if you kill the first hunter immediately (and even burn him for good measure) the odds are now even.
- When picking a hunter check their skills and build your loadout around that. Bulletgrubber means you’ll take a bolt action or Specter, Pitcher means you’ll take more throwables, Scopesmith a marksman or sniper rifle, etc… I recommend you stick with roughly the same tools and consumables every time, but your main weapon should vary. I usually ignore the Bow skills and swap them for something else.
- Meele is strong. Just a single hit from any weapon and the next strong meele attack is going to kill. And people often panic if you try to meele them. I recommend the Scotfield Brawler with fire ammo. It fires faster than other single action revolvers and fire makes people panic even more. Just shoot and punch.
- Be aware of your and the enemies effective ranges. Shotguns have distinct sounds, so do long rifles. If you know at what range the enemy is good at you know how NOT to engage. A silenced Nagant with Fanning and a bolt action rifle, means you’re effective at essentially every range, so you can pick how to engage.
- Don’t stay inside the boss building after you killed the Boss. The Boss building isn’t really designed to be defendable by a single person. Rather check the map to see which direction the enemies are going to come from most likely and set up an ambush on the edge of the compound. Most people don’t rush the boss area, but rather try sneaking into position before engaging. Those slow moving sneaking players are an easy target for you. Ideally you don’t let them into the Compound at all, that way you’ll always have more cover than them.
- Traps, for solos should be used differently. Usually you’d be inclined to place traps on doors to deny entry. But in a big building the traps will usually be spread out to far apart for you to profit of off them. Rather use them for ambushes. Place them close to cover you’d expect the enemy to use. Instead of denying them entry, deny them cover. Cortina traps remove enough health to make any weapon a one-hit kill shot.
- A couple of rules regarding the boss. If you spawn on the boss and he’s close to an exit kill him fast and extract. If the exit isn’t close, kill him fast and brace for combat. If you stumble upon the boss later in the game, don’t kill him at all, rather prepare for a fight and kill the boss afterwards. If the boss got killed by another team, don’t engage, stay outside the compound (about halfway to the next one towards the exit) let them come out and engage shortly, before running for the next compound for proper cover. The “half way to the next compound” is important, because usually people check for enemies with the Bounty Darksight once right after killing the boss and once before entering a new compound.
- This one warrants a separate point. If the enemy is in the process of killing the boss, either let them kill it and wait for another team to arrive and push in a 2v2v1. Or use the confusion during the boss fight to slip inside the lair. As long as you don’t engage the boss it will mostly ignore you and focus on the enemies. Most people neglect healing during the boss fight so all of them should essentially be one-hit kills even with meele. If they suddenly stop fighting the boss, they most likely noticed you and you should disengage.
Here are some equipment recommendations:
Main weapon:
- Whatever fits your Hunters traits the best, preferably Long Rifles and Shotguns
Sidearm:
- Silenced Nagant with Poison Ammo (best paired with Fanning)
- Small Crossbow with regular and poison darts Bow (with Quartermaster)
- Silenced Bornheim with Fire Ammo Scotfield Brawler with Fire Ammo (Don’t use Fanning on this one, to much spread)
- Caldwell or Lemat Uppercut for extra Long Ammo
Tools:
- Knuckle Knife or Throwing Spear (essential)
- First Aid Kit (essential)
- Flares or Flare Gun (essential instead of chokes, can burn hunters easily, flares can kill armored, don’t use flare gun on mobs, its quite loud)
- Throwing Axes or Throwing Knives (If no suppressed weapon)
- Cortina Razor Mines (good but optional)
- Exploding Decoys (optional, to fake a duo instead of solo)
Consumables:
- 2 x Regen, or 1x Regen and 1x Stamina Shot (essential, pop right at the start and loot tool boxes along the way
- Sticky Bomb (essential for Bosses, can be used offensively)
- Bee Bomb (good to prevent a push or get people out of cover, often backfires tho)
- Frag (good range, bad RNG)
- Triple Dynamite (reliable and cheap)
- Big Dynamite Bundle (good but overkill)
- Hellfire Bomb (big radius, burns hunters)
- Molotov (cheap and good for burning hunters without line of sight)
- Ammo box (for special ammo)
Traits:
-
Beastface (essential)
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Physician (good trait, essential for solos)
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Fanning (essential for Nagant Revolver)
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Serpent (essential for getting clues as a solo, and you can snatch a bounty from a downed hunter)
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Necro (essential for self revive)
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Magpie and Conduit (essential)
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Gatorlegs (because men only want one thing and it’s disgusting)
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Greyhound (you can outrun enemies)
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Silent Killer (always nice to have)
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The one with the silent vaulting and climbing, don’t remeber what its called (essential)
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The one that let’s you use tools one extra time
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Vigor (paired with regen shots, gets you back into the fight faster)
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Pitcher
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Doctor
You can change your healt bar arrangement by clicking on the Hunters health bar in the loadout menu, for solos I’d recommend 3 full bars, since getting downed will most likely be the end of the hunter anyway.
Agree on most points. But would push back on two specifically:
- “Try to make your first shot a kill”: I’d say instead of risking overthinking in order to make a kill, trying to find out what the next step would be after taking a shot should be priority. Going for a kill specifically could result in a bad position between two teams. I’d instead opt for blocking an extract or supply and control high-ground, especially with Necromancer
- Hand crossbow ammo choices. Fire bolts, to me, hold the most value. They burn small chunks on direct contact, burn bodies, and can instantly blow up barrels. Only downside when compared with poison ammo is it won’t go through walls, which at a low experience level you won’t try anyway. Instead, I’d recommend a loadout that looked like this: Winny C (infantry 73c I think) with levering, Ironeye and FMJ, hand crossbow with fire ammo and bolt thrower, melee tool, medkit, traps, one big regen, one big stamina, one dynamite, and an empty slot, with bonus traits being the one that revives you with full health, the one that revives you with full stamina, and kiteskin for easier flanks.
Sure, if you’re in a bad position don’t bother going for a straight up kill, but usually if the enemy team is unaware of me, I try to announce myself by killing one of them. It gets easier if you 3rd party a 2v2. One of them will sooner or later stand still long enough to pop their head. Even if its a 1v1, the other player is at a disadvantage, because they have to fight you and try to revive their buddy before he burns.
I don’t like using the Dragon Breath arrows, because they are essentially as loud as a normal shot. Poison arrows also leave behind a cloud that lingers for quite a while and can be used to stop a push or deny a revive.
Sound is everything in this game. I’ve had countless games where a teammate shot a zombie in the beginning and we instantly got wiped on the next compound because the other team waited for us. As an experienced player, a single misplaced shot tells me where you are, how far you are, where you’ll probably go, possibly what weapon you use and most importantly that at least one of your teammates is an impatient hothead with a happy trigger finger.
It’s all about being quick and stealthy, that’s why I think the silenced Nagant is so good. It’s perfect against NPCs and with fanning an excellent weapon in a pinch. The best thing is, nobody expects it. Cocky shotgun players try to rush you, miss their shots and get drumdumped with poison ammo in return. This doesn’t really apply to solos but it also can’t be used against you. I’ve had numerous encounters where I got downed first, the enemy then stole my Avtomat and proceeded to wipe the rest of my team with it. Nobody willingly picks up a Nagant.
Valid points. I don’t really stealth, don’t have the patience for it honestly unless I have a vetterli with HV, but it’s a valid strategy. I tend to prefer a lot of movement over being sneaky. Keeps me alive longer and nets me more kills. Then again, I haven’t played in a while, with only one match since the update. Things might’ve changed.
Buy throwaway hunters with cheap loadouts and just head towards the first gunshots you hear.
Try not to care about bounties or income much, and just run into danger until you start killing instead of getting killed.
Basically, lower the stakes and put in some practice.
I actually disagree with this. A lot of what makes games like hunt (tarkov, rust, etc) games where you have real stakes in you fighting a lot hinges on how you act when you have a lot on the line. Example for hunt being all the bounties are on the floor for your taking but you have a clutch a 1v3 you are inevitable going to play and feel differently from “running into danger”. You might be physically shaking, leaning hella far into your monitor, etc everything that comes with the natural of pressure and stress etc. not to mention how those fights you get into when running to danger vs fighting authenticly will play out differently. You can practice and aim train as much as you want but when the pressure hits it hits until you get used to it.
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How is any of that mutually exclusive with what I’m suggesting?
Maybe you don’t want to play without roleplaying like it’s life and death, but that’s you.
Whether OP likes playing your way, mine, or their way, is up to them, and whether they find in fun or/and productive.
Did you really use the word “authentic” as if there’s an “inauthentic” and “incorrect” way to enjoy a game?
Who are you to define what other people want out of the games they play? If I set out to just figure out some of the NPCs, am I doing it wrong? If I set out to just get some kills, am I doing it wrong?
Fuck no. People make their own fun. OP asked how to get over their tendency to just hide from other players and not actually play the game. Lowering the stakes until you can bring yourself to actually do shit is a fucking no-brainer.
Then when you can, you can go ahead and raise them as high as you like again, IF that makes it more fun FOR YOU.
No where did I say one one is correct or not. I just said if you lower the stakes to fight then you raise the stakes you will not fight the same. No where did I say one way is better than another. I didn’t tell anyone what to do.
Edit: in fact no where did I suggest you do anything. The only thing I really say is you either get rid of “gear fear” or “loot” or anything of the matter and just pay the game or you continue to do what you do. This even goes for casual vs ranked matches in csgo ro r6 playing in a casual match will never compare to playing in a competitive match because everyone including you will be acting different. You can not train one way and then play another and expect it to correlate completely.
You said you disagreed, which is a pretty clear endorsement of your own thoughts over mine.
You then proceeded to use the word “authentic” to describe a given playstyle as if it’s “more real” than others.
If you didn’t want to come across like you were pushing a “right” way to play, pick your words better.
Obviously different people will play differently depending on how they relationship with a game works. Why is that worth bringing up as if it’s a problem?
Bi guess I understand his post as wanting to get better in those “authentic” situations witch you will not get into if you “run in”. I did not say one is not fun, or not real, or the “right” way. He is talking about how he plays and how to get better at the way he is playing and you suggested to completly change the way he is playing.
If I were to actually suggest anything for him would be to play and get better with his play style would be to go in with cheap and stripped down kits basically handicap himself as much as possible and then play as if he has it all on the line the same way.
Not forever.
I said they should deliberately get into trouble in order to develop some skill and gamesense.
You can just keep doing what you do with small alterations, but that is a really slow way to improve.
The fastest way to learn to deal with other players, is to go to them, not wait for them to come to you.
I’m usually the last to advocate for that, but there truth lies somewhere in the middle. You both raise really valid points and suggestions for me to improve.
On the one hand, going havoc on other hunters and getting a feel for combat and making plays is really good advice because of what I mentioned in my post. On the other hand, trying to play “authentically”, whatever that might mean in this case but probably something like incorporating gun fights and going for objectives, is also really helpful because I also need to learn the ropes of the basic gameplay loop.
I very much appreciate both of your inputs - I’ll have to ponder my orb and see what I’ll cook up!
I’m usually the last to advocate for that, but there truth lies somewhere in the middle. You both raise really valid points and suggestions for me to improve.
On the one hand, going havoc on other hunters and getting a feel for combat and making plays is really good advice because of what I mentioned in my post. On the other hand, trying to play “authentically”, whatever that might mean in this case but probably something like incorporating gun fights and going for objectives, is also really helpful because I also need to learn the ropes of the basic gameplay loop.
I very much appreciate both of your inputs - I’ll have to ponder my orb and see what I’ll cook up!
When you recruit hunters there’s an option to recruit 4 free hunters, and they reset after every match. There is 0 downside to picking those up, picking one you like, taking the gear off the other ones, and starting a game. I actually do this for a match or 2 to warm up and not experience gear fear.
They’ll usually have similar loadouts and generally speaking the minimum necessary gear so you can start learning some weapons’ strengths and weaknesses without going in naked.
Alternatively, you can try out soul survivor, in which only the last player standing gets to win, so you must make moves or lose.
In the end, it comes down to being OK with failure and losing, but still striving for the win. Once you have that confidence, you might feel “ok, I’m pushing and making moves, but maybe not winning as many of these as I’d like. I guess now I have to learn to pick my battles better and learn to maneuver better”.
Don’t worry about KD or MMR. You can hide those stats and just play the game.
Would you say there’s worth to sticking a preferred loadout and decking out your hunter with it before starting the round? For example, I feel like I might like the Martini or what it’s called. Should I buy it for the hunter everytime I recruit them if they don’t have it or should I actively try to branch out? I’d imagine tools and consumables could stay the same across all hunters but don’t know about the weapons
I would encourage you to get comfortable with a tool and consumable loadout somewhat, at least to try to keep them in the same slots and change your keybinds so you can quickly switch to a vitality shot or a melee weapon without having to scroll.
You can make loadouts just for those, but this game’s UI is a buggy mess and the UX is guantanamo bay tier so I would wait with that until you feel ‘rich’ and always able to buy everything you like, so you don’t get gear fear and frustrated with the fact that the game doesn’t automatically use your contraband items.
For weapons, it’s up to you. The Martini Henry is a decent gun, though I would say it’s outclassed by the Sparks in terms of damage and by the Springfield in terms of special ammo. There are challenges in the game for making hunters bleed, or using specific weapons, etc. so being able to make use of multiple guns is useful. Challenges give bloodbonds and battlepass points.
If you feel like you want to play something varied one day, you can try out different loadouts, and if you feel like you want to get good with one gun another day, you can do that too. In the end, it’s about your enjoyment.
One more thing I forgot to mention in my long post.
An easy way to reliably get a first kill on a team without a headshot is to wait for a player to get any damage. Usually I wait till a player is either jumping from a roof and getting fall damage or getting hit by a NPC. Hellhounds are perfect for the latter, because its almost impossible to not get hit at least once while fighting them. Most long rifles will kill with one hit after a single zombie strike.
Edit: The reason why I’m putting so much emphasis on that first kill in a fight is because you specifically asked about “confidence”. If you manage to instantly take out a player, the remaining one will usually get insecure and make mistakes. After that first kill you control the fight.
That’s good Intel - I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you for your thorough explanations and responses, appreciate it! :)
