Movement & Positioning Guide For Hunt: Showdown 1896
Hi guys, rex here, and welcome to my guide for movement and positioning in Hunt: showdown! This guide is mainly catered towards solo players, but the strategies and concepts in this video should still be applicable to most gameplay, whether you like to play alone or in a team. Let’s dive into it!
Number 1 – Cover and concealment
A general concept in military strategy is cover and concealment. While there are obvious differences between real life scenarios and video games, these concepts are still highly relevant, and if implemented correctly they could entirely change the way you play. So what is cover and concealment, and what is the difference between the two? I’m glad you asked.
The similarity between cover and concealment is that both can be used to prevent taking damage. Cover describes an object or structure that effectively prevents incoming fire from hitting you by absorbing the damage partially or entirely, often referred to as soft cover or hard cover.
Concealment can be described as visual cover, and hence reduces the chance that the enemy will see you in the first place. Good concealment can also make it harder for the enemy to land their shots due to very limited visibility.
An example of hard cover would be something like a large rock formation, a big tree or sheet metal plates on a fence or wall. Concealment can be a variety of things. In a real-life scenario, snipers utilize ghillie suits to conceal themselves, but in Hunt showdown your concealment could be anything from bushes, small trees or a character skin that blends in well with the environment.
So how is this relevant to your hunt showdown gameplay experience? Knowing the difference between cover and concealment could change how you position yourself and how you move in a firefight. For example, once the bullets start flying and your position is already revealed to the enemy, seeking out the nearest hard cover would be the best option. If the enemy is unaware of your presence, however, good concealment will secure a line of sight for you to take them out before they even realized you were there. Sometimes, good cover is nowhere to be found, and seeking out a nearby bush to hide in could save your life if you act quickly. Soft cover is the middle ground between hard cover and concealment and can be extremely useful in some situations. A good example in Hunt: Showdown would be a wooden wall with some cracks that offer partial visibility. This wooden wall will prevent some incoming damage, such as arrows or crossbow bolts or certain special ammo types, while most bullet types generally pass through. Because you are hardly visible at all, enemies moving outside are unlikely to be aware of your presence, while you are still able to take shots through the wall with a rifle or pistol – referred to as wall banging. Always consider the strength of the cover and the ammo types being used against you in an encounter, and you’ll see more success overall.
Number 2 – Stay in motion
A still target is an easy target, and a big target is easier to hit. If you want to stay alive in the bayou, learning how to move effectively is critical. If you have watched my live streams or YouTube videos, you have probably noticed that I generally move after each shot. In particular, I have developed two tactics that work very well for me, and both have become an integrated part of my playstyle. The first tactic is primarily utilized in situations where I am taking fire from an enemy or enemy team. After each shot, I make a hard turn to the left or right, often whilst looking down. This tactic is based on the assumption that if I don’t move immediately, I am very likely to get hit. As a solo player, you are going to be the only target in most fights, meaning there are anywhere from one to three weapons targeted at you. Things can very easily go south if you start taking damage, meaning the best means of survival is to not take any hits in the first place, or at least limit how many hits you are taking. The downside of this tactic is that it requires a lot more game awareness and quick reaction time, as you will have to keep track of the enemy and line up your shots again. With practice this gets a lot easier though, and it is a fantastic way to improve your general game sense.
The second tactic I use a lot is to crouch before I shoot. This has two main purposes. I mentioned making yourself a smaller target, and crouching is the very definition of this concept. Furthermore, by crouching you are effectively changing how the enemy needs to place their crosshair to land a shot. In an example, an enemy might have lined up a perfect headshot, but since you crouch, the shot ends up missing. Alternatively, they need to readjust their aim and due to the pressure of taking fire from you they end up rushing the shot and hence landing a body shot instead of a headshot. This buys you time to either move to cover, seek out concealment or land a killshot.
The second purpose of crouching before taking a shot is to counter weapon sway. When you are standing up and moving, your weapon sway is much larger than if you were to crouch. This means that you are not only less likely to get hit or killed, but simultaneously more likely to land an accurate shot on the enemy. Getting into a habit of moving effectively in fights AND crouching to make yourself a smaller target is guaranteed to increase your survival rate.
Number 3 – Flanking & rotations
Once the shit hits the fan and the enemy is aware of your position, it is time to rethink the entire situation. Sometimes, cover and concealment won’t help you out, and even running around like a headless chicken whilst spamming that crouch button won’t keep you alive. It is time to reposition.
In my previous guide “top 10 beginner mistakes and how to fix them” I talked about how repeeking is a certain way to get yourself killed. This is where flanking or rotating comes in handy. After having repeeked and missed a couple of shots, the enemy is starting to push closer to your cover, and it is just a matter of time before they run you down. In this situation, falling back and relocating to a different position is often the right move. It may seem very simple, and that’s because it is. Literally. You’d be surprised how little it takes to throw off an enemy team in a lot of scenarios. Since most players are not effectively repositioning, most of your enemies will be very focused on your last known location. If they saw you peeking a window a couple of times, chances are they will keep focusing on that specific window or building for quite a while. In the meantime, being the special ops hunter you are, you decided to sneak out the back and move around the enemy team, and now you’ve lined up a perfect shot on one of the attackers. This maneuver is referred to as “flanking» and trust me when I say that it works more often than you think. The fact of the matter is that it is just simpler to not move. A lot of players run on autopilot and repeat the same tactics over and over. Repositioning requires extra brainpower, meaning you need to think outside of the box and plan your next move in advance. It’s the equivalent of going the extra mile, but instead of walking on a nice trail you are waddling around in disgusting zombie infested swamp water. You get the idea.
So what is rotating?
The alfa omega. The ultimate skill. The key to success! Rotating in this context means quickly and effectively moving from one position to another, often before the enemy realizes what happened. Whilst flanking generally means pushing and attacking from the side, rotating could mean moving from one floor to another, or even from one building the the next. It is not necessarily an aggressive maneuver.
Rotating is a skill that requires a tremendous amount of game knowledge to master, which is why it is so hard to get it right. The better you know the maps, the faster you can get from A to B unnoticed and often get better angles to land a kill shot. Some compounds are fantastic for making rotations. In general, the more complex and multi-layered a compound is, the better for rotations. A good example of this is Fort Carmick. This location has two floors and roof access, as well as walkways along the sides with multiple entrances to the main structures. There are also elevators, a lift and multiple ladders surrounding the outside and inside of the fort, which makes for a tremendous amount of rotation possibilities. The question you need to ask yourself is this: “How can I get a better angle or a more favorable position as quickly as possible?”. If you can catch the enemy off guard, chances are you’ll win the encounter.
For example, you may be on the roof of fort carmick defending yourself from an enemy on the ground level outside. After taking a couple of shots, repeeking is getting risky and you decide to make a rotation to get a better angle. You quickly cross over to the other side of the building and drop down one level. Suddenly you find yourself in a spot where you have a clear line of sight while the enemy is still expecting you on the roof of the building. You take out the enemy with a well-placed headshot.
Think outside of the box, and you’ll see much better results. Even moving just a little bit from your position can be enough to throw off an enemy team.
Number 4 – Mask your movement
This tip is massively useful for anyone who plays solo, but can just as well be implemented for anyone who plays in a team. Hunt showdown is a game that is highly based on audio. A good player will be able to distinguish even the quietest sound you make from the surroundings. A single step could be enough to give away your position. This is why masking your movement is so important, and I’m going to show you a couple of ways to do that.
One tactic that I use a lot is to synchronize my movement with the ambient sounds of the bayou, or any noise that other hunters are making. A very typical example of this is using the sound of a boss being fought, killed or banished to mask my movement. For example, let’s say you need to climb a ladder to get to a position where you can take out an enemy player. Climbing ladders is a very distinctive sound that any decent player will able to recognize, and hence the chances of staring into the barrels of a Caldwell rival once you reach the top is very high. If you are aware of your surroundings, you can climb the ladder one step at a time and wait for any noise loud enough to cover up your movement. Waiting for the boss banish to start is a perfect opportunity to climb the final steps, before running down the unexpecting enemy team.
While the first example is mostly based on not revealing your position in the first place, you can also use this tactic aggressively in a push. A perfect example of this would be throwing a decoy fuse before climbing a ladder or repositioning. You could even throw a decoy fuse and move through it, as the enemy will likely be seeking cover expecting an explosion. If you are brave enough, this tactic can be used even more aggressively by throwing a sticky bomb in the direction of your enemy and running past it before it blows up. For the more experienced players, the same could be done with any explosive if you defuse it with the dauntless trait as you run past it, however I would not recommend that tactic for beginners.
Number 5 – Wait for the right moment
This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one. As a solo player, any mistake you make is likely to be a ticket back to the lobby. One of the things that gets me killed the most is my impatience as a very aggressive player. I will often times push into a compound a bit too early and get punished for it. Waiting for the right time to push and gathering the right intel is crucial if you want to maximize your chances of success. As a solo player you are outnumbered, often 3 to 1, and you need every advantage you can get, even if that’s just waiting to count how many players are on the enemy team, determining where they are headed, and factoring in possible cover they could use before you choose to engage. Holding off a little bit can be enough to get you that advantage, and interfering with another fight is often smarter than initiating a fight on your own. This is of course highly based on preference and playstyle, but as you can probably imagine, if the other team is not entirely focused on yourself, it is less likely that you get hit or killed. Sometimes, waiting for a fight to start could be your queue to make your move and start taking them out one by one while they are distracted, often referred to as third partying.
Another example where waiting for the right moment would be advised is a situation where you have no effective means of pushing an enemy team holding a compound. Repositioning and setting up an ambush could be a better strategy, as they are eventually going to be moving out towards an extraction point. While there is nothing wrong with chancing it on a risky push, the smarter and likely more successful play is usually being a bit more patient and letting the game unfold. Another team could end up pushing in, allowing you to make a move, or the bounty could end up moving outside which would drastically increase your chance of success. Finding that right balance is key.
Number 6 – Listen and react accordingly
You are outnumbered and your cover is blown. The enemy team is pushing in quickly and flanking you on two sides. Breathe. You’ve got this. Listening is crucial to your survival in a situation like this as you will be able to hear the target before you see them. You need to create a mental image of where each player is relative to your position, and you need to know which player will be in your line of sight first. The better you are at listening, the better you can position yourself and brace for impact. As the enemy team pushes in on you, you want to make sure you are facing the right direction to defend yourself from the first attacker. In the event that you successfully kill the first player, assess whether you need to hold your ground or reposition for better cover or concealment. In a lot of these situations you are left with no option but to hold your ground, but that doesn’t mean you can’t move. Killing a player is often enough to give you a bit of leeway, for example to start moving around a hill away to stay out of the line of sight of the other pushing players. If you listen carefully, you can use the audio of player movement to position yourself opposite to them and maintaining the cover for as long as necessary or alternatively move out of cover at a strategic time, either to fight back or to make your retreat.
The tactic of listening and reacting is something that I use all the time in situations where cover is scarce and concealment is non-existent. A good example of this is a situation where you take a hit in the middle of the woods where the only available cover is a tree. Most trees in Hunt: Showdown provide very limited cover, and it is very easy for an enemy to flank you if you don’t move. By listening to the movement of the enemy, you can position yourself opposite to them and maintain that cover whilst healing up or reloading, until you are ready to either return fire or make your retreat.
Number 7 – Hold angles
When you are moving out of cover, you are making yourself a target. This is why holding angles is a very effective tactic in any shooter game. Line up your shot, listen and wait. If the enemy has to push into your line of sight, they are much more likely to get hit first. You’ll see me using this tactic all the time when I am playing the hunting bow, and the success rate is very high. This has led to my phrase “never push a bow, because if the bow player knows what they are doing – you’re dead”. This doesn’t mean that the strategy is only viable for bow gameplay though. It is just as relevant for any other effective close range weapon, or any weapon for that matter if your aim and crosshair placement is good.
You’ll see the effectiveness of this tactic particularly in high rank lobbies. In 6 star lobbies it is quite common to get instantly killed the second you peek a window, as these players know exactly where you are likely to show up next and they are holding the angle waiting for it. Unfortunately this is also what can make these lobbies quite tedious to play in, as you will very often find yourself waiting for a very long time unable to make a move. This is both a testimony to how well holding angles and waiting strategically works, but also how optimal gameplay is not always the most fun for someone who enjoys fast paced gameplay. If the goal is to win or achieve a high rank, patience is a virtue, which is why I often say that the main difference between a 5 star and a 6 star player is playstyle.
Number 8 – Read the map
This guide is about movement and positioning, so it is highly relevant to look at the bigger picture – the map. When I say “read the map” I am not just referring to the actual map in game, but the overall picture of what is happening throughout the game. I’ve covered some of this in my previous videos, such as my guide called “10 Extremely Useful Tips I Wish I Knew As A Beginner!”. Noise traps like horses, ducks and crows can be heard from far away, and if you are good at listening or looking for visual queues they will give you a lot of information about enemy movement and positioning. Shots and explosions can generally be heard from anywhere on the map, and the distance can be determined based on the loudness of the sound. Sometimes muffled audio suggests an explosion happened underground, for example, which immediately narrows down the possible location of enemy teams.
If you compare all the things you are hearing and seeing on the map with the actual in game map and greyout area when searching for bosses, you can quickly determine roughly where players are spawning, where they are heading and where they are fighting other players or bosses. Comparing this with available extraction points, you can predict where the enemy team is likely to go next and position yourself accordingly. For example, putting yourself between the boss lair and the nearest extraction point ensure the bounty team doesn’t have a free path to make a run for it.
Reading the map, visually and based on audio can be extremely useful when determining what is gong on in the match and positioning yourself accordingly. It could help you set up an ambush on a team moving from A to B, interfere with an ongoing fight or ensuring you’re attacking from the best possible direction and without getting sandwiched by another team.
Number 9 – Pushing strategy
We’ve covered defensive strategies including listening, reacting and holding angles, but what about pushing? Pushing enemy teams is a skill that is very hard to master, especially as a solo player. One mistake is all it takes to send you back to the lobby. When you are pushing an enemy team, whether it be out in the wild or in a compound, utilizing all of the previously mentioned points will be necessary.
The first thing you need to do is close the distance. This is where a lot of players fail, and mostly due to the lack of implementing point number 1 of this guide – cover and concealment. In most cases, you can’t simply run up to an enemy team without taking fire. You need a way to get closer that either involves not being seen or heard, or you need cover to block incoming damage as you are moving closer.
Sprinting from cover to cover can often work well, provided you are aware of your surroundings and actively pay attention to where the enemy might have line of sight on you. In example, an enemy team might have two windows facing your direction, and you will want to keep your eyes on those windows and possibly return fire as you are moving from A to B. In some cases this will not just get you closer to the compound, but also wear down the enemy team along the way, which increases the likelihood that you’ll succeed later on when you make your attack.
Once you have pushed up to the compound, you’ll need to make an entry. The best option is generally to score a kill first to even the odds, so a little bit of patience is adviced. Look for good angles and wait for the enemy team to make a mistake. In a lot of cases it is hard to get a good initiation however, and you’ll need to make the first move. Explosives can be a great way to do this, as it offers a chance to score a kill on an unsuspecting enemy, whilst also masking your movement and allowing you to rotate to a better position or climb a ladder for example. When the time is right, you make your move and push into the compound. This is when listening and reacting is crucial. Position yourself in cover and hold angles when you can. Most of the time, staying in the same position too long is a bad idea, so you’ll want to make a move when you can. Quick peeks and rotations are crucial to succeeding in these scenarios.
Number 10 – Position Of Dominance
As a solo player good positioning is key to your survival. You want to leave yourself as many options as possible in an encounter. If you can put yourself in a favorable position, you are reducing the effectiveness of the enemies “strength in numbers”. You may remember that scene from the movie “100”, where a hundred Spartans held their ground against an army of invaders. There is a lot to learn from this strategy. For instance, if you are trying to defend yourself out in the open, it is very easy for an enemy team to flank you, leaving you little or no chance of defending yourself. If you instead fall back into a large building and block key entry points with traps, you are making it much harder for them to effectively attack you. On top of that, leaving yourself some options for rotations or even retreating in case things go south will further increase your chance of success.
Another way to shift the tide and better your odds is to seek out high ground when possible. It is much easier to get an overview and fight effectively from a strategic elevated position such as a rooftop when your enemy is at ground level. Even if things go south and you end up going down, your body will fall into cover, meaning you will likely be able to revive yourself before they can reach you. If the roles are reversed, however, and you get downed in an open field by a player holding the high ground, you are not likely to survive the match.
There are countless ways to shift the balance in a fight. Play to the strengths of your loadout and position yourself in a way provides the best cover, the most options to move if necessary and the ability to retreat if you have to.
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