Update 2.2 – Post Malone’s Murder Circus | Hunt: Showdown 1896

Hi guys, rex here! Update 2.2 just went live, and with it we got a new event, a returning map as well as plenty of changes and updates! In this video I will cover everything you need to know, so without further ado, let’s dive into it! 

Post Malone’s Murder Circus 

The theme for this new event is a corrupted circus, once controlled by the ringmaster “Post Malone”. This event, as per usual, brings a battle pass which you may progress through to unlock unique rewards. The murder circus can be found on each map, and within the zone you can acquire new traits, fight various new AI and acquire new and special rewards!  

1. Pledge marks 

Similar to previous events, this event brings pledge marks that can be spent in various ways to gain special traits or rewards. In the past, you could acquire up to 4 pledge marks total, but with this update the number has been increased to 9. On top of the increased pledge mark cap, you will now be able to loot pledge marks from dead hunters. If you reach the cap of 9 pledge marks by looting a dead hunter, any remaining pledge marks will stay on the body and can be looted by other hunters. 

2. Troupe traits 

Similar to previous event pacts, this event brings three “Troupes” instead of pacts, which you can pledge to in order to acquire special traits. Each troupe has two traits tied to them, and the first pledge to each troupe is free of charge. With this event, you may deepen your pledge at the cost of pledge marks, and the available troupes goes as follows: 
 
2.1 The Trickshooter Troupe 

• When pledging to this troupe, you gain the blademacer trait, which allows you to retrieve projectiles through dark sight up to 100 meters away. Projectiles that are stuck in enemies will be ripped out for extra damage. Sawblades from the Shredder may not be retrieved this way. 

• For an additional 3 pledge marks you may acquire the “crack shot” trait, which reduces shoulder spread and sway in ADS with certain weapons. 

2.2 The Ringmaster Troupe 

– When pledging to this troupe, you gain the Shadow Crush ability, which allows you to damage any monster or target once through dark sight from up to 25 meters away. This ability overrides shadow leap, rendering it useless if you have both acquired. 

– For an additional 2 pledge marks you may acquire the Corpse Seer trait, which grants you 1 second of special dark sight every time you loot a hunter, even if you’re not carrying a bounty. 

2.3 The Mystic Troupe 

– The first ability gained when you pledge to this troupe is Poltergeist, which allows you to manipulate, interact with and agitate in world objects and animals remotely via dark sight from up to 50 meters away. This ability even works through beetle view, which should open up a world of opportunity! 

– For an additional pledge mark you will unlock the blast sense trait, which allows you to see gunshots and explosions through dark sight up to 200 meters away! 

3. Dark sight changes 

– With this update, a new icon appears on screen every time a hunter gains dark sight boost, regardless of the amount gained. The icon will be visible to anyone in the match and could reveal your position if you’re not careful! 

– Special dark sight has now been separated from regular dark sight, meaning you can now enter regular dark sight first and then activate your boosted dark sight from there by holding down the right mouse button by default. The legacy version where dark sight boost is activated immediately is still available from the settings for those who prefer it. 

4. The shredder  

This update brings a brand-new event exclusive weapon – the shredder! The shredder is a fast firing experimental sawblade launcher that can only be acquired in-game, and only for the duration of the event. The shredder is located in the center of the murder circus and can be unlocked for 5 pledge marks. There is only ONE shredder available in the circus per match, so you better be quick or prepare to fight for it! 

The shredder must be spun up before it can start firing, and has two available ammo types, both of which can bounce off hard surfaces multiple times to change their trajectory. Regular sawblades can pierce through multiple targets, which allows for more than one kill per blade. Frag blades have been inscribed with runes to detect enemy hunters within a 2 meter radius, triggering a small frag explosion. 
 
The shredder CAN be extracted and kept in your arsenal for the duration of the event, but will disappear after the event ends, so there is no reason to hoard it! 

5. Sealed rewards 

Similar to previous events, you can spend your pledge marks to obtain special rewards. At the circus and occasionally at supply points, you can now find Fortune Teller machines which you can interact with to unlock rewards. Here are the available rewards from the machine: 

• A master clue effect which unlocks the locations of bosses and wild targets on the map. 

• Regain a lost health chunk 

• Gain a random trait 

• Gain a random shot effect 

• Receive 1 second of dark sight boost 

• Receive a hunt dollar reward 

Sealed rewards have also seen some changes: 

• The Dark sight boost sealed reward now grants 1 second to the player instead of replenishing dark sight boost for bounty carriers 

• The Full restoration kit now only restores health for the player interacting with it 

6. New weapons, ammo and consumable! 

6.1 Chu Ko Nu 

The Chu Ko Nu is a fast-firing repeating crossbow. This weapon takes 2 weapon slots, and fires regular bolts that can be retrieved similar to the other crossbow variants in the game. In addition to regular bolts, this weapon fires incendiary bolts that will set players on fire at any distance unless they have the salveskin trait enabled. The weapon can also run explosive bolts that stick to target and apply bleeding on impact. The explosive bolts have a trigger delay and will also trigger other nearby bolts when they explode. 

6.2 1865 Carbine Aperture 

The 1865 carbine was introduced to the game with the 1896 update. This weapon packs quite a punch as it deals 145 damage. The 1865 Carbine has now received an aperture variant for increased zoom in ADS, which should be interesting especially considering how low the default muzzle velocity is for this weapon. 

 
6.5  Maynard Sniper Silencer 

With the last update, the Maynard sniper was introduced to the game, and with this update this weapon has received a silencer version. This rifle has gained a lot of popularity, and so it will be interesting to see how this plays out considering this is the first silenced sniper rifle to be introduced to the game! 

6.4 Krag Silencer 

The Krag has received a silenced variant, which should be interesting considering how powerful this rifle feels overall. In case you missed it, I recently posted a Krag mastery video where I played the other available variants for this weapon – so why not check that out after this video? I’ll leave a link in the description! 

6.5 Sparks Pistol Silencer 

The final weapon variant added with this update is the Sparks pistol silencer. This weapon often acts as a sidearm for long ammo rifles as it greatly boosts the overall ammo pool. With this variant, you will not only get more ammo for your main weapon, but also the ability to silently deal with enemy hunters and AI, which will likely make this a very popular sidearm going forward! 

6.6 Subsonic ammo! 

This new ammo type travels slower than the speed of sound for quieter gunshots, and can be fired by the following weapon families: 

• Bornheim No. 3 

• Centennial 

• Frontier 73C 

• Infantry 73L 

• Krag 

• Maynard Sniper 

• Nagant M1895 

• Officer 

• Ranger 73 

• Sparks 

• Vandal 73C 

• Vetterli 71 

With this ammo type being added to the game, we are seeing some changes to how silencers work, which brings me to my next point. 

6.7 Silencer changes 

As you can see, there are a few new silenced weapons with this update, and on that note – silencers have received the following changes: 

• Silenced weapons now make more sound by default 

• Subsonic ammo brings down the volume to the previous levels, similar to how silencers worked prior to this update. 

• Non silenced weapons will also benefit from subsonic ammo to make less noise 

6.8 Recovery shot 

– This update brings a brand-new consumable – the recovery shot, which restores a lost health chunk upon use. Keep in mind, the shot only restores one lost chunk, which still has to be healed afterwards. This shot should make it a lot easier to consistently recover lost health bars! 

7. Custom equipment animations 

With this update, we are getting custom animations for specific weapons. The animation can be applied to the relevant equipment through the inventory and is shared between all instances of that same equipment.  

Here are the available animations from the battle pass: 

• Blade revolver (knuckle knife) 

• Exhibition drill spin (Krag) 

• Fake surrender (Sparks pistol) 

• Lever spin (Centennial shorty) 

There are also two available animations that can be purchased for blood bonds: 

• Blood shake (katana) 

• Bruiser’s Twirl (dusters) 

8. Gunplay changes 

With this update we are seeing some changes to gunplay, including the following: 

– Contraband scopes no longer have cracks in them, making them a lot more useful overall! 

– The vetterli cyclone now has less recoil than before 

– Steady aim now stabilizes the aim a lot quicker than before 

– The vandal and it’s variants now have reduced recoil and spread 

– The sparks pistol reload time has been reduced from 5 seconds to 3.4, which makes it even more useful than before! 

– The uppercut ammo capacity has been reduced 

– Finally the cycle time on the specter and it’s variants has been improved, which might make this shotgun a lot more popular going forward! 

9. Gameplay changes 

–  Some dark sight abilities such as poltergeist and detonating dark dynamite satchels can now be performed through beetle view 

– Throwing axes and knives have been changed to melee attack with the LMB and prime a throw with RMB, which should make them easier to use. 

– Throwing knives have also been buffed with increased fire rate 

– Steel bolts now deal the same damage as regular bolts, which should make them a lot more useful! 

– Some items have been removed from the saddle bags item pool, and the recovery shot has been added as an option which could come in handy! 

10. New trait – fast fingers! 

This new trait allows you to prepare bullets for faster reloading when playing the Springfield and sparks as well as their variants, with the exception of the sparks pistol. With this increased rate of fire, both the springfield and the Sparks should be a lot more viable going forward! This trait can be acquired for 4 trait points. 

11. Returning map – Lawson Delta! 

With this update, the Lawson Delta is making a return with a complete upgrade to the current standard. This should be a welcome sight and bring a fresh experience for all hunters, whether you are new or returning! This makes for a total of 3 maps in the current rotation, with Desalle still waiting for a revamp. 

12. Ear ringing 

The ear ringing feature has been expanded to be triggered by more sources, including explosives, barrels, gunshots, scrapbeak and other AI. The degree of ringing is determined by the distance to the source. 

13. Custom ammo scarcity 

Certain ammo types can now only be found in game. For now, this includes the following ammo types: 

• Dolch 96 FMJ & Dumdum 

• Centennial Dumdum 

• Scottfield Dumdum 

• Nagant Officer Dumdum 

• Caldwell Conversion Dumdum 

Any instance of these ammo type already owned when the update hits can still be used. 

14. Hunter progression 

• 18 new hunters available to unlock have been added via hunter progression. 

• Reaching level 50 with certain hunters now unlocks their next tier 

• Hunters with progression have 3 tiers: Rookie, survivor and veteran, and all of these hunter unlocks are permanent 

• Finally, a new hunter progression screen has been added to view all hunters with progression unlocks. The base variants for all of the progression hunters are unlocked via bloodline or prestiging. 

15. Bounty clash changes 

– Bounty bonuses have been added to bounty clash contracts, meaning extracting with the bounty yields higher rewards than before. 

– A modifier has been added for solo and duos in clash. Extracting solo yields an additional 600 bounty, and duos gain an addition 150. 

– Dark sight boon has been added to event items in bounty clash. 

– Two new compounds have been added to bounty clash from the Lawson Delta map: Lawson Station and Windy run. 

– Odonovan’s stone has been removed based on community feedback. 

– Timer after all bounty has left has been reduced to 1,5 minutes down from 5. I assume this will work wonders in preventing campier playstyles and encourage more active gameplay focused around the bounty itself. 

16. Additional changes 

• The maynard sniper has been added as a weapon for recruits 

• The frontiersman, pitcher and silent killer traits have had their cost reduced. 

• A new prestige screen has been added, which gives a full overview of prestige rewards and progression 

• Team VOIP has been introduced, as well as an option to text chat in team or vicinity. 

• Hellborn has received five new spawn locations on the Mammon’s Gulch map 

• The Preston Oil compound has received some changes on the west and southwest side to improve player movement. 

That’s it for this update video! Keep in mind, I shortened this down to include the most interesting and relevant information, but I will leave a link to the full patch notes in the description for those interested. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them as soon as possible! Alternatively, you can ask me when I am live. I stream 5 days per week over at Twitch.tv/REXNOR, so don’t forget to drop a follow! I’ll leave a link in the description. Thank you so much for watching, and until next time – I’ll see you, in the bayou!