The Most VERSATILE Weapon! LeMat Mastery | Hunt: Showdown 1896

Intro

Hi guys, REX here! The LeMat is a compact ammo weapon that comes in 3 variants: The pistol, The Carbine and the Carbine Marksman. All the LeMat variants, including the pistol feature an underbarrel shotgun, which means you can run up to 4 ammo types simultaneously if you run either of the rifles alongside the pistol. Aside from regular ammo, the LeMat can run FMJ and incendiary ammo for the main barrel. FMJ ammo increases penetration power and damage retention over distance at the cost of reduced velocity and drop range as well as increased recoil. This ammo type is great for landing wall bangs in cases where you don’t have a clear line of sight. Next up, Incendiary compact ammo sets enemy hunters on fire with the first hit up to 20 meters or with two hits beyond that range unless they have the salve skin trait, in which case it takes two hits regardless. Incendiary ammo has no penetration power, meaning you need a clear line of sight to land shots.

For the shotgun barrel, you can choose between regular buckshot, slugs or star shells. Regular buckshot is a great all-round option that can penetrate wooden walls, allowing you to wallbang hunters behind cover. Next up, slugs are single large projectiles that travel further than other shotgun ammo types and is also the only shotgun ammo type that can land headshots. Additionally, slugs will often one-shot to the chest on longer distances than other shotgun ammo types. One thing to note is that slugs have a slight deviation, meaning they aren’t 100% accurate, especially on longer ranges. The third ammo type, dragon breath, deals massive fire damage on impact and will set enemy hunters on fire even on longer distances, but the overall damage is lower than buckshot, meaning you won’t kill with a single shot as often. Because of the high fire damage, this ammo type will often burn off one or more health chunks on impact, especially with multiple hits, which significantly weakens the enemy hunter until they are able to restore their health chunks. Finally, star shells are flares loaded into your shotgun and will illuminate an area like regular flares. This ammo type will also set enemy hunters and various AI on fire on impact. Both dragon breath and star shells can be used to burn downed hunters, freeing up a tool slot if you’d rather take something other than a flare pistol or fuses.

The LeMat carbine variants deal 107 damage with regular ammo and has a drop range of 130 meters. The rate of fire is quite decent as well, and the base velocity is 460 meters per second which isn’t very high compared to a lot of other weapon families, especially considering this weapon doesn’t have access to HV ammo. With FMJ ammo the drop range is reduced to 120 and the velocity is 415 meters per second.

I ran the LeMat Carbine and the Carbine Marksman in solo vs trio lobbies for a day, and this video features my best rounds. For the regular carbine, I ran FMJ and buckshot and paired it with the LeMat pistol with slugs for a well-rounded loadout that allowed me to fight effectively in close to medium range. For the marksman variant, I assigned the quartermaster trait and brought the hunting bow for a well-rounded loadout that covers all ranges effectively. At the end of this video, I will give you my thoughts and recommendations for the LeMat, but without further ado – Let’s dive into it!

Thoughts & Recommendations

After having played the LeMat for a day, here are my thoughts! First off, I am blown away by how well this weapon performed. When I did my original LeMat mastery about a year ago I remember struggling to get it right, and not having much success with it for the first day of playing it, but during this challenge it felt absolutely amazing all the way through. The combination of FMJ, buckshot and slugs was very powerful and allowed me to take control in fights where other rifle and pistol combinations wouldn’t have been optimal for solo gameplay. Aside from the obvious success, I also have to point out how extremely fun and versatile this weapon is. It certainly takes a bit of skill and experience to effectively juggle various ammo types and switching back and forth between main barrels and shotgun barrels in the heat of the moment, but once you get it right it is tremendously satisfying to play.

When it comes to ammo types, anything goes for this weapon, and you can mix and match to fit your playstyle or preferences. I brought buckshot and slugs simultaneously for the most versatility as both excel in different situations. Even though I brought the bow alongside the marksman, the pistol would more than likely do the trick as well, but for sniping gameplay I typically try to keep my distance when I can, and the bow was great for utility between fights and traversing the map quietly. As a sidenote, the LeMat pistol can be paired with the fanning trait for increase fire rate and close range dominance, or you could even dual wield it alongside one of the carbines or other rifles if you take the quartermaster trait. Since both LeMat pistols have a shotgun barrel, this gives you tremendous close range firepower. I did not dual wield or use fanning for this challenge as I didn’t see the need for it, but I’d say it’s worth a try! I plan on covering dual wielding LeMat pistols in a video in the near future, so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!

What do YOU think about the LeMat family, and what is your favorite variant and ammo combination? Let me know in the comments, and until next time I’ll see you in the bayou!