10 Game-Changing Quality Of Life Tips You NEED In Hunt: Showdown 1896

Intro:

Hi guys, Rex here,
and in this video I’m going to show you 10 game-changing quality of life tips that will drastically enhance your Hunt: Showdown experience.

Including a trick that lets you deal with explosives even without Dauntless or chokes—something most players don’t realize.

If you’re looking to take your gameplay to the next level, this video is definitely for you—but without further ado, let’s dive into it.

Number 1. Running Two Ammo Types

One of the easiest ways to stop running out of ammo in Hunt is simply running two different ammo types on weapons that allow it.

Weapons like the Springfield, Sparks variants, or the Maynard Sniper can all run split ammo—and a lot of players either double up on the same ammo type or don’t really think about it.

Here’s the important part:

Regular ammo is refilled from normal ammo boxes, which are found everywhere.
Special ammo is refilled from special ammo boxes, which are far less common.

But both ammo types can be refilled from deployable ammo boxes.

So if you run half regular ammo and half special ammo, you can refill from basically anything you come across.

That means:
• you’re not relying on finding special ammo boxes
• you get more consistent resupplies
• and if you bring an ammo box yourself, you gain ammo for both your ammo pools since it refills all ammo types

This is why I always run split ammo on the Maynard Sniper—half High Velocity, half regular. I basically never run out, and even if I switch, the weapon is still highly effective with somewhat lower velocity.

And on weapons like the Sparks, this gets even better. Incendiary ammo can’t penetrate surfaces, while regular ammo can—so running both gives you flexibility depending on the situation, without sacrificing stats.

It’s a small change, but it makes a massive difference over time.

Tip 2: Flare & Hive Swarm Counter

Hive swarms—whether from hives or hive bombs—are one of the most annoying things to deal with in Hunt.

They poison you, block healing, and chip you down until they disappear—and once they get close, they can be annoying to deal with.

Now, a lot of players know you can burn a swarm with a flare pistol or a fuse—but you’ve probably noticed this doesn’t work once the swarm is already on top of you.

At that point, you can punch them with something like dusters or use your weapon stock—but if you don’t have a blunt weapon like a knuckle knife, or you’re low on stamina, this can get very dangerous very quickly.

Here’s the trick:

If the swarm is too close, just fire your flare pistol straight down at your feet while running away.

The swarm will still fly through the flare, ignite, and burn before it reaches you.

It’s a super simple move, but it can completely save you in those panic situations where you’d normally just take the damage.

And as a bonus—if you’re running the Shadow trait, swarms will ignore you entirely.

Which means you can push through them, use hive bombs aggressively, or just not care about them at all.

Tip 3: Water Weakens Immolators & Firebreathers

With a recent update, Hunt introduced the wet status effect.

When you enter water, you become wet—this status changes your footstep sounds and also speeds up your charcoaling recovery.

But what a lot of players don’t realize is that the wet status also applies to AI—specifically Immolators and the new Firebreathers.

As soon as they enter water, they become wet, and you’ll actually see a visual change.

And this completely weakens them.

Immolators no longer explode when their skin is pierced, firebreathers no longer release bursts of flames when killed, and both become much safer and easier to deal with.

This is huge, because normally, if someone shoots an Immolator while you’re fighting it on land, you’re in a lot of trouble. A lot… of trouble.

But if you drag them into water first, you remove a lot of that risk.

You can also apply this without entering water—hitting them directly with a water bottle will kill them instantly, just like a choke bolt or choke bomb, and even hitting a water bottle at their feet will apply the wet status as well.

So anytime you’re near water, you can use it to:
• safely kill them
• reduce incoming damage
• and deal with them much more quietly

It might be a bit situational, but knowing about this mechanic can give you an edge.

Tip 4: Concertina Clearing Tricks

Concertina can be really annoying to deal with in Hunt.

There are a lot of ways to clear it—explosives, decoy fuses, even a stalker beetle—but sometimes you just don’t have anything convenient.

You might already know that some melee weapons work better than others.

For example, an axe can clear it with a slicing attack, while something like a hammer—which deals blunt damage—is completely ineffective.

And if you’ve tried stabbing it with a throwing spear, you’ve probably noticed… that doesn’t work either.

But here’s what you may not know:

The shovel actually has two different damage types.

A heavy attack is blunt, but a light attack is a slice—and that slicing attack can break concertina.

And in the case of the throwing spear, it can break concertina—but only if you throw it.

It won’t do anything if you stab, but a thrown spear will clear a couple of strands at a time, which ends up being useful more often than you’d expect.

And as a small bonus—the shovel’s light attack also causes bleeding due to the rending damage…

…but let’s be real, if you’re using it in PvP and not just caving someone’s skull in, you’re doing it wrong.

Tip 5: Disarming Explosives Without Dauntless

Any fused throwable in Hunt can be disarmed with the Dauntless trait.

It’s easily an S-tier trait, and with enough practice, it can often shut down explosives entirely.

But here’s something most players don’t know:

You can actually disarm explosives without the trait—and no, I’m not talking about chokes.

If you hit a lit explosive, fuse or flare directly with an arrow, bolt, or a thrown weapon—like throwing knives, axes, or a spear—it just gets deleted.

It doesn’t explode—it doesn’t go off—it simply disappears.

That means even without Dauntless, you can remove most explosives in a pinch—as long as your reaction time is good enough.

Of course, this gets a lot harder—or even impossible—if the explosive is cooked, but in the right moment, this can completely save you.

On a sidenote just in case you’re curious, hitting a dark dynamite satchel or choke bomb will cause them to blow up instead, which can either be useful or catastrophic depending on the situation.

Tip 6: Blast Sense Is Insanely Underrated

Blast Sense is a 2-point trait that lets you see gunshots and explosions in Dark Sight from up to 200 meters away.

And in my opinion, this trait is massively underrated—I slept on it for way too long myself.

While it’s not technically required, I’ve come to consider it S-tier because of how much information it gives you.

During fights, you can instantly track where shots are coming from, identify team positions, and even catch players trying to stay hidden in bushes.

It also helps you adjust your own aim much faster, since you get precise locations on enemy players—allowing you to lock in much quicker.

At this point, I pick up Blast Sense whenever I can—it’s easily become one of my favorite traits in the entire game.

The only thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t work against silencers using subsonic ammo…

…but realistically, the lower velocity of that ammo type also makes it much harder for them to land consistent shots at longer ranges.

Tip 7: Throwables Aim Helper

Throwables in Hunt have a built-in aim helper.

This shows you the exact arc and landing position of your throw—and for explosives, it gets even better.

As you cook them, the line actually shortens, showing you exactly where the explosion will happen.

And once it gets close enough, the indicator turns red—letting you know you’ll take damage when it explodes.

The same applies if you aim too close at your feet, even without cooking—it’s basically a built-in safety check, letting you know that if you stay where you are, you’ll take damage.

Now, when I first started playing Hunt, I could barely ever make dynamites work.

I’d just yeet it in their general direction and hope for the best… which, let’s be honest, doesn’t work most of the time.

But once you understand that cooking explosives is the key—and you combine that with the aim helper to predict exact impact locations—it completely changes how effective they are.

And you can take this even further.

One of the most consistent ways to one-shot Rotjaw is by using a big dynamite bundle with this exact mechanic.

Trigger her so she goes underwater, then wait on land for her to resurface.

As soon as she comes up, cook your dynamite with the aim helper placed directly on her, and release it just as the line retracts slightly—so the dynamite airbursts right on top of her.

It’s incredibly consistent, very safe, and easily one of the best ways to deal with her. You might want to keep some distance to your teammates while you practice though—just in case…

Tip 8: Scope Aim Helper

Most players don’t realize this, but scopes in Hunt actually have a built-in aim helper.

If you look closely, the lower vertical line in your scope is slightly thicker than the rest.

That’s not just visual—it’s a reference for bullet drop.

The distance between the center of your crosshair and the tip of that thicker line represents your drop range.

So here’s how you use it:

If a hunter fits perfectly between those two points—from head to toe—you’re right at maximum drop range.

If they appear larger than that, you’re well within range and don’t need to compensate for drop.

And if they appear smaller, you’re beyond that range—and you’ll need to aim higher.

It’s a super simple way to judge distance and land shots much more consistently without guessing.

And one really important detail—the line automatically adjusts based on your ammo type.

So whether you’re running high velocity or something slower, the reference still works.

Tip 9: Hunter Bots in the Shooting Range

With a recent update, Crytek added hunter bots to the shooting range.

You can spawn them using beacons found around the map, which will place bots in different areas.

These bots are immortal and move in fixed patterns—but that’s exactly what makes them so useful.

They’re perfect for practicing your aim, learning bullet velocity, leading shots, and getting a feel for drop at different ranges.

If you’re switching to a new weapon or trying a different ammo type, this is easily the fastest way to get comfortable with it.

Instead of guessing in actual matches, you can just spend a few minutes in the shooting range and dial everything in properly.

Tip 10: Custom Scope Sensitivity

Hunt Showdown has multiple sensitivity stages.

You’ve got your overall sensitivity, hip fire sensitivity, and then separate settings for each scope type—Deadeye, Marksman, Sniper, and Aperture.

This is important, because each of these scopes has a different zoom level.

If you keep everything the same, your aim will feel inconsistent depending on what you’re using.

Personally, I’ve adjusted each one to keep the overall sensitivity feeling as consistent as possible across scope variants.

For example, I run Deadeye and Aperture at 1.0 to match my base sensitivity, then lower it to 0.8 for Marksman and 0.6 for Sniper scopes.

That way, even with higher zoom, the sensitivity still feels controlled and predictable.

It makes a huge difference when it comes to landing shots consistently across different scopes.

And if you want to dive deeper into this, I’ve got a full settings guide where I go through everything—DPI, all of my Hunt settings, and even one secret mouse setting that can accidentally ruin your aim without your knowledge…

…so make sure to check that out after this one.

Outro:

And that’s it—10 quality of life tips that will more than likely enhance your Hunt: Showdown experience.

If you found this helpful, make sure to like and subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!

And if you enjoyed this video, check out my recent one covering 40 advanced mechanics the game never explains—I’ll leave a link in the description.

Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.