The NEW Best Rifle in Hunt? Wildland Rifle Mastery | Hunt: Showdown 1896

Intro

Hi guys, Rex here!

With the 1896 update and the Web of the Empress event, Hunt: Showdown introduced two brand-new scarce weapons — and today, we’re taking a closer look at one of them: the Wildland Rifle.

Just like the Homestead 78 which I recently covered, this lever-action rifle can’t be purchased from the store.

Instead, you’ll need to spend three pledge marks at the Bileweaver’s Nest to open a special weapon box — where you’ll have a 50/50 chance to get either the Homestead or the Wildland Rifle.

The devs have confirmed that both of these scarce weapons will stay in the game after the event ends, though it’s still unclear whether they’ll remain scarce or eventually become purchasable for Hunt dollars.

Now, the Wildland Rifle is essentially a direct upgrade from the Centennial — keeping all of its ammo types and features, but with noticeably better stats across the board.

It hits harder, fires faster, reloads quicker, and even handles better in close-range fights thanks to its tighter spread and higher rate of fire.

Let’s break it down.

The Wildland deals 126 damage, compared to the Centennial’s 123.
It has a drop-off range of 150 meters, a muzzle velocity of 650 meters per second, and a rate of fire of 31, up from 23 with the centennial. It also carries 16 rounds, compared to the Centennial’s 10, and with a spread value of just 17.5, its hipfire accuracy is significantly tighter. The wildland also features a speed loader, allowing for much faster reloads than the centennial.

Mechanically, it functions just like the Centennial. It can be levered for a massive boost to close- and mid-range firepower, once you assign the levering trait for 7 points, which is highly recommended! You can also run it with the Iron-eye trait which allows you to stay in iron sights between shots and increases firing speed while aiming down sights.

When it comes to ammo options, the Wildland has all the familiar choices — FMJ, High Velocity, Poison, Subsonic, and Dumdum.

Regular ammo is the most balanced and consistent, offering solid stopping power and a perfect mix of range, accuracy, and penetration. With its 126 base damage, it can one-tap hunters who are missing even a small health chunk — which is quite common in the mid- to late game or following a revive mid-fight.

FMJ adds extra penetration for wall bangs and retains damage better over distance at the cost of reduced velocity and higher recoil. This can be great for levering in close range but overall doesn’t seem necessary for this weapon.

High Velocity ammo greatly increases bullet speed for long-range accuracy, bringing the velocity up to 775 meters per second, but has higher recoil and lower damage. This is essentially a near hit-scan experience, if you prefer not having to lead your shots and can be great if you generally go for headshots since you’ll be missing out on the one tap potential once a hunter is missing a health chunk.

Poison rounds inflict the poison effect on hunters, which obscures vision, limits hearing and prevents healing for the duration of the effect, making it easier to push enemies after a tag, but the downside is that it has no penetration power.

Subsonic ammo reduces noise made by your shots but significantly reduces bullet velocity. This is honestly a ridiculous option on a loud rifle that has excellent bullet speed. For non-silenced rifles, subsonic won’t do much for you besides holding you back.

Finally, we have Dumdum rounds — which is scarce and can only be obtained in a match. DumDum on medium ammo rifles such as the Wildland applies intense bleeding, and when you combine that with the wildlands incredibly solid damage and firerate, this ammo type is a force to be reckoned with, leaving very little time to stop the bleed after taking a hit! The downside of dumdum, aside from it’s scarcity, is the lack of penetration power.

In my matches, I mainly paired the Wildland with the Trueshot pistol to stack medium ammo. I matched the special ammo type between both weapons — for example, running regular or Dumdum on both — effectively increasing the ammo pool for the Wildland.

I also experimented with the Devil tarot card, which improves hipfire accuracy.
The combination of Levering and the Devil card makes the Wildland absolutely brutal in close to mid-range fights — though, of course, it comes with the risk of losing an extra health chunk if you get downed.

In this video I am putting the wildland and it’s various ammo types to the test. At the end of the video I’ll be sharing my thoughts and recommendations for this weapon, so stay tuned, but without further ado – let’s dive into it!

Thoughts & Recommendations

After spending some time with the Wildland Rifle, I can confidently say — this is one of the best rifles in Hunt: Showdown right now.

It’s accurate, powerful, and fast — basically everything you’d want from a lever-action rifle. It feels smooth, handles beautifully, and is just incredibly fun to use.

Regular and Dumdum ammo performed the best for me, but I also had solid results with Poison and High Velocity. FMJ isn’t bad, but I just didn’t find much reason to use it over the others for this rifle.

In short, the Wildland is a straight-up better Centennial — faster, harder-hitting, and more forgiving.

It works perfectly for solos, duos, or trios, and fits into almost any loadout thanks to its versatility.

Levering is highly recommended, and if you like to play aggressively, give the Devil card a try — just be prepared for that high-risk, high-reward tradeoff and bring an extra recovery shot just in case!

The Wildland Rifle, despite it’s incredible stats, feels relatively balanced due to the fact that it is scarce and can only be obtained in-game. If it was purchasable for Hunt Dollars I believe it could shift the meta, but luckily its limited availability leaves it in a good spot!

But now I want to hear your opinion — what do YOU think about the Wildland Rifle? Is it balanced, or overpowered? Would you prefer to have it purchasable for hunt dollars or as a scarce option following the event?

Let me know in the comments — and until next time, I’ll see you in the Bayou.