Hunting Bow Master Guide! Your Handbook To Superior Archery In Hunt: Showdown 1896

Hi guys, REX here! The Hunting Bow is one of the cheapest and most primitive weapons in Hunt: Showdown. It comes with four different ammo types as follows; regular arrows, poison arrows, concertina arrows and frag arrows. At the time of posting this video I have personally killed well over 12,000 players with the Hunting bow and mained it for over 3 years of playing the game, which likely makes me one of the most experienced bow players in Hunt: Showdown overall. In this video I will teach you everything you need to know about the Hunting Bow. Let’s dive into it!

1. Pros and cons of the hunting bow 

The bow is extremely powerful in capable hands, and arguably one of the best weapons for close to medium range encounters under the right circumstances. It can be used for both pushing or defending a compound and can drop enemies rapidly with a single well-placed arrow to the chest, arms or even legs depending on how much you draw the bow and the distance to your target. The weapon has no variants and is therefore available from level 1, which makes it a great option for players who are prestiging. Another benefit of the hunting bow is that it is very cheap, costing only 57 hunt dollars to purchase, which makes it a perfect fit for any budget loadout. Because the bow is a 2 slot weapon, it can be combined with any other 1 or 2 slot weapon, or with any 3 slot weapon if you take the quartermaster trait. A very useful feature of the hunting bow is the ability to retrieve your fired arrows, which is massively useful in sustaining your ammo pool without the need for ammo boxes. Finally, since the bow fires arrows, it is a very quiet weapon overall, making it a perfect option for stealthy gameplay, for example if you are playing solo. 
 
While the bow can be extremely effective in close to medium range, it generally lacks long range and is probably one of the hardest weapons to master in the game. Unlike most weapons in Hunt: Showdown, the hunting bow has more complex mechanics that makes it harder to use overall. The first thing you’ll notice is that the bow has a draw mechanic, which gradually pulls the arrow back and simultaneously slows down your movement speed. The damage increases with increased draw, and this effect can be even further enhanced by applying the bow trait hundred hands, which I’ll explain in depth later in this guide. Because the movement speed is slowed down every time you draw an arrow, you are typically a much easier target to hit, making your movement and positioning crucial to your success. The bow has a much steeper drop curve than bullets in the game, making it much harder to land accurate shots on range. It also has a very low velocity of just 150 meters per second, which is roughly one third of the speed of most bullets. This makes leading your shots on moving targets very tricky, especially on longer ranges. Finally, the bow has no penetration power with the exception of the blast radius of frag arrows, making the weapon very limited in a lot of situations. 

2. Bow mechanics  

The Bleeding effect 

The hunting bow causes medium bleeding on impact, and multiple hits will increase the intensity of the bleeding. The bleeding effect is extremely important to keep in mind in a PVP scenario, as most bow hits will bring your target’s health down very low, meaning they have very limited time to stop the bleeding. While the enemy is bleeding they are vulnerable and often unable to defend themselves, which opens up a perfect window to push in for the kill. One thing to note is that arrows will be stuck in the target for as long as the bleeding persists, but will fall to the ground once the bleeding is stopped. Take note of this, as you will find this information useful later in this guide. 

The draw mechanic: 
The draw mechanic of the bow is gradual, with increasing damage and travel range the more you draw the bow. The maximum draw of the bow can be increased by taking the Hundred Hands trait, which also increases the maximum damage potential. I’ll cover this in depth later in this guide. You can fire your arrow at any point during the draw phase for a lower range, lower impact hit. This is referred to as a partial draw and can be extremely useful in a variety of situations. Learning how much damage the bow deals with various degrees of partial draws is something that takes time, but once you master it you will have a much better understanding of how much you need to draw to finish off a wounded enemy, for example following another partial draw hit. One common mistake that beginners will make is to always commit to fully drawing the bow. This will very often get you killed as you simply don’t have enough time in a lot of PVP scenarios where enemies are pushing you. I effectively use partial draws all the time to tag enemies, cause bleeding and force them to retreat or potentially die to another partial hit right after. This allows me to move a lot more efficiently between shots as well, which severely reduces the chance I get killed in the meantime. 

 
Quickfire 

The bow can be quickly fired by simply tapping your fire button once. This could technically be considered the lowest degree of a partial draw but is still worth mentioning as a separate feature as it can be very useful for quickly tagging enemies with minimal movement penalty, or you can use it to one-shot certain AI. This technique can also be very useful for boss killing as it enables you to maximize the arrow pulling potential, which I will cover in a minute. 

Retrieving Arrows: 

I mentioned in the beginning of this guide that arrows can be retrieved after being fired. For clarity this only includes regular and poison arrows, as both concertina and explosive arrows will be spent once fired. Arrows can be interacted with where they land and will be added to your ammo pool once picked up. Fun fact, you can also pick up arrows fired by enemy hunters or even your own teammates, meaning if you’re running low on ammo your teammates can fire arrows into the ground for you to pick up and replenish your ammo pool. One thing to note regarding retrieving your arrows is that once an AI dies and despawns, the arrows will detach from the target and fall to the ground. You may still pick up the arrows from the ground where they land. Finally, the blade seer trait can be acquired for 1 trait point and will allow you to see arrows in dark sight, which can be very useful in some cases as it is very easy to lose track of where your shots landed. I personally never run this trait however I would still recommend it for beginners until you get better at keeping track of your arrows. 

Arrow Pulling: 

On the topic of retrieving arrows, one thing you may not know is that you can retrieve your arrows from living targets, including regular AI, bosses and even hunters. I refer to this as arrow pulling, and it is probably my favorite way to get bow kills. I mentioned that arrows will stick to a hunter until the bleeding effect is stopped. During this time, you can interact with the arrow by pressing the interact button. Pulling out an arrow deals massive damage and will usually be enough to kill a wounded enemy if you hit the torso, and in some cases even if you hit the arm. I will showcase the specific damage numbers for arrow pulling a bit later in this guide so stay tuned! As for most AI, firing an arrow and then pulling it out will usually be enough to kill them, but in some cases you might need to repeat this process twice, for example versus armoreds. For bosses, arrow pulling deals a lot of damage. You can clearly see the power of this effect if you quickfire a few arrows into a boss and then pull them all out at once. Fun fact, arrow pulling is boosted by the effect of the event trait “Berserker” which doubles melee damage. 

Draw cancelling 

As mentioned, the bow’s draw mechanic both takes time and slows you down, and sometimes you may need to move quickly. While you could fire your arrow and move, this makes more noise and wastes more ammo in the long run which isn’t optimal in most cases. This can be avoided by cancelling your draw, which can be done in two ways, both of which have pros and cons. 

The first method is simply undrawing your bow by pressing the reload button. This is very quiet and is perfect for situations where you haven’t been discovered yet but need to move faster than a drawn bow will allow you to, or if you need to perform other actions quietly. The downside of this method is that it is fairly slow and that your movement speed is slowed down for as long as the animation is ongoing. 
 
The second method is far more effective, but makes more noise. With a drawn bow, you can quick swap twice to cancel the draw and switch back to the bow in an instant. Since there is no draw cancelling animation involved, this allows you to move at full speed immediately, making this the best option in any scenario where the enemy is already aware of your presence, or any situation where stealth is no longer an option. One example of this would be if you are suddenly getting shot at while your bow is fully drawn. Quick swap twice and move! 

Hipfire vs ADS 

The bow has two firing modes; hip fire and aim down sight. The bow’s hip fire accuracy is to my knowledge one of the most accurate, if not the most accurate in the game. It may not seem obvious looking at the crosshair in hipfire mode, but the arrows will generally land VERY close to the center of the crosshair, making this firing mode highly optimal in most close range fights and in a lot of medium range encounters. The benefit of hipfire is that you have a lot more overview since your aim is not as zoomed as it is in ADS. One extremely important feature of the hip fire accuracy is that it is unaffected by jumping or falling, which enables more techniques that I’ll get into shortly, namely jump shots and dropshots. When you ADS with the bow, you’ll notice that the sights are very primitive. The wooden pin sticking out of the handle is your aim point, and you want to line up your shots at the very tip of this pin whenever you’re not accounting for arrow drop or velocity. In other words, on a still target within the drop range of your arrows, aim with the tip of the pin for an accurate shot. In general, I recommend using ADS in any situation where you need to be more precise with your shots, typically for most medium to long range shots or on any target that is not moving, provided you have the time to ADS. Aiming down sights is generally the best way to land accurate headshots or threading the needle by firing arrows into very narrow gaps in a fence, wall or between window bars. Unlike the hipfire mode, your accuracy in ADS is severely decreased if you jump or fall whilst firing your shot. 

Jump shots and Dropshots: 

As I just mentioned, hipfire is very accurate for the hunting bow, even whilst jumping. This opens up a whole world of new angles and possibilities with enough practice. While you may not have a clear shot in a lot of cases, jumping with a drawn bow in hipfire mode can get you the angle you need to land the shot. This can often catch the enemy off guard and turn the tide in a fight. Similar to jumping, you won’t lose accuracy if you’re falling with the bow drawn in hipfire mode. This can be very useful to catch an enemy hiding behind cover at a lower level as you can fire your shot accurately whilst mid-air, however this requires some degree of skill to pull off effectively. 

Flick shots 

The final technique I’d like to mention is flick shots. This may be the most challenging technique overall as it requires extreme accuracy to use effectively, however once mastered it will take your bow gameplay to the next level. Flick shotting is relevant for most weapons in the game, so you may be familiar with it already, but in case you are not, let me briefly explain. Flick shotting means rapidly moving your crosshair from an off-target position onto the target and firing a shot. Once mastered, this entire sequence happens so quickly that it can be hard to keep track, meaning this is a technique heavily based on muscle memory. Your eyes detect the target and based on your experience and muscle memory you are able to land the shot quicker than you ever could if you were actively aiming. While a lot of flick shots will miss their target, this is something you’ll get better at the more you practice, and in the long run you’ll be more consistent with it. This is considered a very advanced technique and not something you need to focus on in the beginning, but definitely worth practicing once you’ve got the basics down. On a final note, it is possible to combine flick shots with jumping or dropping from a height for even more impressive and fun skill shots. 

3. The Hundred Hands trait and the integrated dewclaw ability 

I mentioned the hundred hands trait earlier in this guide. This is the only bow-specific trait in the game at the current time, so let me explain how it works. The hundred hands trait costs 2 trait points and is unlocked at level 51. This trait extends the maximum draw of the bow and adds extra damage accordingly. Like I mentioned earlier, the degree of which you draw the bow determines the damage, and since the hundred hands trait extends the draw, it adds more damage at the end of the draw animation. More specifically, the trait adds 10% damage at end-draw, which may not seem like much, but in practice this makes a huge difference in how consistently you’ll one-shot hunters with a full draw. One thing to note is that both the time it takes to max draw and the visual animation of the draw is increased with this trait enabled, as you can see on screen. The hundred hands trait also reduces the sway of the bow at max draw, making it a bit easier to aim with, and enables a special ability called dewclaw. When this trait is assigned, you may use your arrow as a melee weapon by charging up a heavy melee attack. This attack deals a lot of damage and is decent for both PVE and PVP, however the windup and recovery time is a bit slow in my opinion, raising the question whether this ability should be buffed a bit in the future to be more useful. Fun fact, if you use the dewclaw ability with poison arrows you will inflict the poison effect on impact. 

4. Specific damage numbers on various ranges and their impact for kill potential 

As mentioned, the damage and kill potential of the bow is depending on the degree of draw, the distance to your target and whether you have the hundred hands trait assigned for the additional 10% damage at end-draw. Let’s look at some specific scenarios and compare them. 

Full draw, no trait, chest shot –  Kill range: 34m 

Full draw, with trait, chest shot – Kill range: 28m 

Full draw, no trait, arm hit –  Kill range: 6m 

Full draw, with trait, arm hit – Kill range: 9m 

Full draw, no trait, leg hit – Kill range: Doesn’t kill 

Full draw, with trait, leg hit – Kill range: 6n 

Partial draws from 30 meters distance: 

Chest shot quick fire – Damage: 60 

Chest shot 25% draw  – Damage: 100 

Chest shot 50% draw – Damage: 120 

Chest shot 75% draw – Damage: 140 

Quick shot at 5 meters or closer: 

Chest shot damage: 128 

Arm shot damage: 70 

Leg shot damage: 65 

Dewclaw: 

Arrow pull damage: 

Bleeding damage: 

5. Arrow drop and leading shots 

Since arrows drop at a steeper curve than bullets and the velocity is much lower, learning how to land shots on distance and/or on moving targets takes a lot of time. There are too many factors in play for me to accurately give you a recipe to land your shots effectively, meaning this is something you will just have to practice a lot to get a feel for it. Luckily, since the posting of my original bow guide, the shooting range has been implemented to the game, making it a lot easier to practice drop ranges. For reference, arrows start dropping at X meters on full draw, meaning you can aim on target up to that distance. After the drop range kicks in you have to gradually aim higher with increasing distance to your target. The best way to practice this is to spend time in the shooting range and fire arrows at targets on various distances until you get it down. I recommend spending a few minutes every day in the shooting range before you go into live games just to get some more practice in. Keep in mind, in a live game you generally don’t get to fire a lot of shots before the enemy either dies or kills you. This means you can get way more practice in a shorter amount of time by killing target dummies over and over in the learning phase. I’ll include some aim training routines for the shooting range at the end of this video, so stay tuned! 

As for leading shots, the only way to truly get it down is to practice a lot. Keep in mind the velocity of arrows is very low and you will have to lead your shots more than you do with most guns in the game. The main thing to keep in mind is that you need to aim in front of a moving target if they are moving to the left or right relative to your position. The further away the target is and the faster they are moving, the more you need to lead your shots. This takes a lot of time to master. 

6. Pushing VS defending 

In the beginning of this video, I mentioned that the hunting bow is a weapon that is great for both pushing and defending. Because it has such high damage and kill potential and the ability to quickly ready up another shot, a skilled bow player can hold off or take down an entire team in a matter of seconds if they play their cards right. I often refer to close range fights with the bow as a tug of war, or a rope pulling game. It’s a dance between pushing, holding your ground, falling back and defending, and it heavily relies on optimal movement and positioning. Every situation needs to be read carefully, and you need to react immediately once the tide turns. If you push into a compound and kill a player, this could be your que to use the momentum and element of surprise to push even further and catch remaining enemies off guard. Being able to take advantage of this initial kill can make all the difference and can often end the fight in a matter of seconds. On the contrary, if you push into a compound and take the first hit, you may need to fall back and hold a strategic angle, waiting for the enemy to make their next move. More often than not, enemy players will try to follow up a tag with an immediate repeek or push. The strength of the bow in this scenario is that it will quickly one shot any hunter that comes around the corner, which can quickly turn the fight to your favor. Peeking a skilled bow player generally doesn’t work well, which means you can often hold your ground or slowly retreat whilst holding strategic angles. I usually use a regeneration shot when a fight starts, which allows me to hold angles and heal up over time without having to lower my guard whilst using a med kit or vitality shot. 
 
As for defending a compound with the bow, you have the upper hand if you can make the enemy push you. Using traps and positioning yourself strategically in a way that makes it hard for a team to make a synchronized push will often force them to push you one by one, and once again if you hold your angles and position yourself well, they will be easy to take out one by one. Holding angles and listening is crucial for the best possible outcome. If you can position your crosshair strategically and wait for an enemy to walk into it, the outcome is almost always going to be in your favor. 

7. Movement and positioning 

We’ve covered pushing and defending a compound, but what about general movement outside of compounds? When you’re fighting in the open you need to keep in mind that the bow is a weapon best suited for close to medium range encounters. You generally don’t want to take long range fights with this weapon, meaning the best course of action is to force the enemy into a less advantageous position.  Baiting the enemy into pushing and strategically placing traps is a very solid strategy that I use a lot. By placing traps on certain choke points I can prevent the enemy from coordinating a tactical push on my location and focus more of my attention to where they are most likely to push from. For example, placing a couple of bear traps along a hillside or wall ensures anyone running into it will take a lot of damage or even die, whilst leaving me the option to move more freely in the other direction. By pushing in one direction, it is more likely that one of the enemy players will try to push up behind me and ultimately run into the traps.  

Another thing to note when it comes to movement and positioning with the bow is how you move between shots. In general, since the bow’s draw mechanic slows you down and takes time, you want to stay in cover for as much of the draw time as possible and move out of cover to take shots when you’re ready. This minimizes the amount of time you are vulnerable and unable to defend yourself and reduces the chance that you’ll get killed whilst drawing. Move into cover when you’re drawing your bow, then move out of cover to take your shot. 

8. Special Ammo types 

There are currently 4 ammo types for the bow. I’ve already covered all the base mechanics that apply to regular arrows in depth, however one final thing to note before we get into the special ammo types is that regular arrows come in a stack of 8 per ammo slot, or 16 total if you run regular arrows exclusively, which is higher than any of the special ammo types. All remaining special ammo types come with 5 arrows per ammo slot, or 10 total if you run special ammo exclusively. I’ll now cover the three different special ammo types for the bow. 

8.1 Poison arrows: 

Poison arrows are very similar to regular arrows with three exceptions. First off, poison arrows have a lower ammo capacity than regular arrows, which makes it harder to conserve your ammo. Secondly, poison arrows inflict the poison effect on targets, which will instantly kill certain AI and will prevent healing and impair vision on enemy hunters for X seconds provided they don’t have an active antidote shot. Finally, poison arrows have less hip fire accuracy than regular arrows, making them less suitable for hip fire in general. More specifically the hip fire spread is 11,5 for regular arrows and 30 for poison arrows. So far, I have generally never played poison arrows much as result. The main reason for this is the hip fire accuracy, which I feel is crucial to optimal gameplay. Hare some other reasons why poison arrows may not be worth playing compared to regular arrows: 

  1. Regular arrows already deal tremendous damage and will often kill on impact. 
  1. Even if a regular arrow doesn’t kill, the enemy will bleed and will be forced to slow down to heal, making the follow-up shot or arrow pull finisher easier even without the poison effect. 
  1. A lot of players will have active antidote shots, effectively countering the entire poison effect, leaving you with less arrows, less accuracy and no benefits. 
  1. Having less arrows means you can’t afford to take as many pop-shots which could have resulted in kills. With poison ammo you need to be more careful with your arrow management to not run out quickly, or you’ll have to take an extra bow or ammo box for extra ammo, both of which have negative impacts on your overall loadout. 

8.2 Concertina arrows: 

The second special ammo type for the bow is concertina arrows. This arrow type releases a cluster of barbed wire on impact, which deals damage and causes bleeding to enemy hunters that are caught in it or move into it. Being caught in concertina slows you down, meaning you can trap enemy hunters by repeatedly hitting them with these arrows. While the concertina damage itself isn’t very high, the lock down effect is significant, and an unsuspecting target will often not be able to get out alive if you keep hammering them with these arrows. While these arrows are a ton of fun to use against other players, they are also very useful for zoning and controlling a fight. You can for example use them to block off entrances and prevent enemy teams from pushing effectively, or you could use the arrows to block a dead body from being revived either directly or with the necromancer trait. You can even use them to kill ducks and crows, although I doubt this is the best use for these arrows. One thing to note is that concertina arrows are affected by heavier arrow drop than regular arrows or poison arrows. 

Personally, I’ve used concertina arrows primarily for the fun factor. These arrows make for some absolutely hilarious meme loadouts. One way I’ve used this a lot is to lock players down with concertina arrows just so I could hit them with the ranged projectile of a bomb lance. The player is unable to move and you get to stand there and watch them explode. My second favorite tactic is quite similar, but instead of the bomb lance I’ve used frag arrows. Once again, lock the player down and yeet frag arrows at their feet. Hardly anything can beat the front row seat watching enemy hunters’ desperate attempts to escape their inevitable death. 

8.3 Frag Arrows: 

The final special ammo type for the bow is frag arrows. These arrows are charged with an explosive tip that will detonate shortly after impact. What makes frag arrows so unique is that they don’t detonate or stick to the target on impact like the other arrow types. Frag arrows can therefore be bounced off surfaces, which makes them fantastic for hitting targets behind cover where you normally wouldn’t be able to reach them. Frag arrows cause a lot of damage and apply bleed on impact, making follow up shots even easier since the enemy has to slow down and heal. With enough practice and map knowledge you can often bounce frag arrows onto the enemy’s location by hitting surfaces near them or above them, for example a tree or a roof. One of my favorite ways to play frag arrows is to bring a bow with regular arrows and another bow with frag arrows. The regular arrows allow me to play the bow optimally for close to medium range encounters, while the frag arrows can be used to apply pressure, force players out of position or finish off wounded enemies hiding behind cover. If you find yourself at a strategic elevated point, you can often deal tremendous damage as you’ll be hard to hear or spot. The downside is that frag arrows are very hard to use on range due to a heavier drop than any other arrow type, meaning it takes a lot of skill to use them effectively. 

9. Optimal traits for bow gameplay 

While the bow generally doesn’t require many traits to play effectively, here are some of my favorite traits to bring with my bow loadouts: 

The bow trait Hundred Hands is highly recommended; however, you can effectively play the bow without this trait following the 10% damage buff to the bow with the launch of Hunt: Showdown 1896. Effectively, this 10% damage buff made the bow WITHOUT the trait stronger than it was prior to this update WITH the trait. Despite this fact, I would recommend always taking this trait when you can as it will significantly increase your damage output and kill potential, as previously showcased in this guide. 

Since the bow lacks long range, the most optimal bow loadouts include a weapon that is effective on long range. For that reason, I generally take the quartermaster trait with my bow loadouts. This allows me to run a sniper rifle with the bow, meaning I can fight effectively on any distance, even as a solo player. If you play in a team this would be less important provided your teammates loadouts have long range potential. 

Poacher is a VERY underrated trait that allows you to place and disarm traps very quietly. Since you will be finding yourself in close range fights all the time, this is tremendously useful. With the poacher trait for just 1 trait point you can for example place two bear traps behind you whilst being chased by an enemy team which will instantly kill the first player that runs into them, as I explained earlier. 

Necromancer is highly recommended to take whether you play solo or in a team but is especially necessary for solo bow players. Since you will be actively seeking out close to medium range fights, the chance of trading is very high. Having the ability to revive if this happens is very useful. 

10. Best bow loadouts 

Since you can pair any weapon with the bow either with or without the need for the quartermaster trait, there are countless possibilities. Some loadouts are generally stronger than others though, so here’s what you need to consider when deciding which weapon to bring with the bow. 

  1. The bow lacks penetration power. You want your secondary weapon to have at least some penetration power to make up for this fact. As such, any pistol or rifle would work for these specific criteria. 
  1. The bow is not effective in long range encounters. Your secondary weapon should be able to cover the long-range fights, and as such a scoped weapon is preferable, but you can definitely go for an iron sight weapon if you don’t like playing scopes. 
  1. There are plenty of good options both with and without the quartermaster trait. Explore different loadouts for each, so that you can play without this trait on newly recruited hunters and then assign the quartermaster trait for an upgrade once you extract from a mission successfully. 

Here are some of my current favorite weapons to pair with the bow without the need for the quartermaster trait: 

Here are some of my current favorite weapons to pair with the bow once I’ve assigned the quartermaster trait: 

Keep in mind, what is BEST is not always the most FUN to play. Don’t be afraid to play some less optimal loadouts and experiment. It can often lead to a far better gaming experience than the most optimal loadouts ever will. Here are some recommended FUN loadouts that are more close range focused: 

That’s it for this bow guide! If you enjoyed the video, don’t forget to smash that subscribe button! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or ask me when I am live! I stream on Twitch 5 days per week, so don’t forget to follow me over at Twitch.tv/REXNOR. What is YOUR favorite bow loadout? Let me know in the comments, and until next time, I’ll see you in the mountains! 

Hellborn Guide! How To Find & Kill The NEW Wild Target In Hunt: Showdown 1896

The ULTIMATE Solo Guide! Your Handbook To Surviving Alone In Hunt: Showdown 1896

10 EXTREMELY Useful Tips & Mechanics Every Player Should Know! | Hunt: Showdown 1896