Important Notes
Important Notes for Hunt: Showdown
This section collects critical warnings, common pitfalls, irreversible decisions, missable content, difficulty spikes, grinding traps, online etiquette, anti-cheat details, save management advice, and knowledge that veterans wish they had from day one. Read this carefully to avoid costly mistakes.
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Warnings & Pitfalls
Sound is Everything: Every action you take makes noise—walking over glass, shooting, using consumables, even breathing near a barrel. Sound travels a long distance (shots can be heard across the map). Many ambushes happen because someone ran through a patch of reeds or kicked a can. Always move quietly when you suspect enemies are nearby. Use the hold-to-walk key (default `Ctrl` on PC) to reduce footstep range.
Alert Trip Mines (Alerts) are Visible: When you place an alert trip mine, it creates a small orange wire that any player can see. Placing them on commonly used doors or windows without covering the wire often tips off experienced hunters. Instead, place them in shadows, inside bushes, or in water where the wire is less obvious.
Lanterns and Fires are Dangerous: Carrying a lit lantern makes you a beacon at night and can attract enemies if you throw it. Also, standing too close to explosive barrels when shooting (or when an enemy shoots them) will kill you or your teammates instantly. Treat every red barrel as a potential bomb.
Don't Trust Random Matchmaking: Playing with random teammates can lead to frustrating experiences: teammates who make loud noise, steal your bounties, or rage quit. Always check the teammate's prestige/kill count if you can, and consider using the official Hunt: Showdown Discord to find premade groups with voice chat.
Bounty Extraction is not the only way to die: You can lose your hunter in other ways: dying in a match (especially with a bounty token), being disconnected (the hunter dies if you timeout during a match), or retiring a hunter (irreversibly loses all experience/upgrades). Always extract with your bounty if possible, but also remember that you can extract without bounty to keep your gear.
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Irreversible Choices
Permanent Hunter Death (Permadeath): Once your hunter dies in a mission, they are gone forever, along with all their equipment and upgrade points. All legendary hunters cost additional in-game currency each time you recruit them (they are not free after the first purchase). If you recruit a legendary hunter and they die, you must pay blood bonds or hunt dollars again to get them back.
Prestige System: Prestiging resets your hunter roster, inventory, money, and progression unlocks. The only rewards are prestige tokens (which can buy exclusive skins). Prestige is optional and irreversible. Do not prestige until you have unlocked all weapons and gear you enjoy, and have a comfortable bank of hunt dollars. Many players regret prestiging early and losing their favorite loadouts.
Retire Hunter: You can retire a level 50 hunter to earn 500 prestige XP, but this permanently removes that hunter and all their gear. Retiring is only beneficial if you are trying to progress through prestige ranks quickly and don't mind losing a strong character.
Selling Gear: Once you sell guns, tools, or consumables from your inventory, you cannot get them back. Only sell duplicates or items you truly never use. Don't sell a weapon you might want later just for a few dollars.
Blood Bonds Purchases: Some cosmetic items are only purchasable with blood bonds (premium currency). While you can earn bonds in-game, spending them on items like legendary hunters or unique weapon skins is a personal choice. There is no way to refund a purchase, so think carefully before buying.
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Missable Content
Event-exclusive Skins and Contracts: Hunt: Showdown frequently runs limited-time events (e.g., The Light the Shadow, The Asylum, etc.). These events offer unique weapon skins, legendary hunters, and sometimes exclusive variants. Once the event ends, these items may become unavailable for months or forever. Always participate in events if you want the special cosmetics.
Seasonal Twitch Drops: Occasionally, watching official Hunt streams on Twitch can reward you with exclusive skins. These are time-limited, so set reminders.
Weekly Bounties: There are sometimes weekly challenges that reward high amounts of blood bonds or rare items. Check the in-game “Challenges” tab every week and complete them before they expire.
Legendary Hunter Prestige Rewards: Certain legendary hunters (e.g., The Black Coat) are only unlockable at specific prestige levels (Prestige 1, 10, 25, etc.). If you never prestige, you will never get those skins.
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Difficulty Spikes
Early Game (Levels 1-15): You face only tier 1 hunters with basic weapons. Once you pass level 15, you start matching against tier 2 and 3 hunters with better gear, scopes, and shotguns. The sudden jump in loadout quality can feel punishing. Be prepared by having multiple cheap loadouts ready.
Boss Fights: The first few times you fight a boss (especially the Assassin and the Butcher), you will likely panic and take heavy damage. Learn the attack patterns of each boss in Training Mode or watch guides. The Assassin is the most dangerous because it can clone itself and move quickly.
Trios Matches: Playing in teams of three (trios) is significantly harder because you have more enemy hunters to deal with and coordinated teams can triple-team you. Until you are comfortable with the game’s mechanics, stick to duos or solo against duos.
High MMR (Matchmaking Rating): As you win more games, your MMR increases. You will eventually face very skilled players who can headshot you instantly from range, hear your footsteps, and rotate perfectly. If you feel outmatched, consider deranking by playing with lower-ranked friends or using budget loadouts until you improve.
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Grinding Traps
Buying Expensive Gear Every Match: Using a fully kitted-out loadout (e.g., Avtomat, Dolch, Quartermaster perks) every match drains your hunt dollars quickly. Most players run expensive loadouts only when they have a high-level hunter they want to protect. For leveling up new hunters, stick to cheap weapons like the Winfield, Romero 77, or Nagant Officer.
Attempting to Farm Experience on Low-Level Hunters: It’s better to try to survive and extract regularly than to go for kills and risk death. The highest XP gain comes from extracting with a bounty. If you die, you lose the hunter and any progress toward unlocking new gear. So play conservatively until you have a stable income.
Ignoring the Weapon Unlock Tree: Every weapon has a variant (e.g., Winfield -> Winfield Swift) that requires a certain number of kills with the base weapon. Don’t keep switching weapons before you unlock better variants. Focus on one weapon family at a time.
Overusing Special Ammo: Special ammo (poison, fire, explosive) costs more hunt dollars and can be scarce in the bayou. Only bring it when you have a specific strategy (e.g., fire ammo to burn downed hunters) and you are prepared to restock at supply points.
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Online Etiquette & Anti-Cheat Notes
Voice Chat & Communication: Use the in-game voice chat (proximity chat) to talk to teammates and enemies. But be aware that enemies can hear you within about 50 meters. Do not shout out your position or plans in proximity. Use Discord or party chat if you want private communication. Teammates who are downed can still hear everything, so be considerate.
No Griefing: Don’t intentionally teamkill, block doorways, or loot teammates’ bodies unless they are clearly dead and you need their gear. Griefing can get you reported and potentially banned.
Cheating & Anti-Cheat: Hunt: Showdown uses Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC). Cheating is rare but exists. If you encounter a suspicious player (instant headshots through walls, speed hacking), report them after the match using the in-game report system. Do not publicly accuse them in chat.
Spectating Enemies: After you die, you can spectate teammates or enemies (if your team wipes). Do not use spectating to give live callouts to your team; this is considered cheating by many. Stick to watching your teammates only.
Respect Extraction Points: If multiple teams are at the same extraction point, usually only one can extract (except if they cooperate). Try to coordinate or fight fairly. Some players will wait at extraction points to ambush, so always clear the area before boarding.
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Save Management Advice
No Manual Save: Hunt: Showdown has no manual save system. Your progression (hunters, funds, unlocks) is saved on the server automatically after every match. Closing the game during a match will cause you to lose the hunter (die) and all equipped gear. Always ensure the game shows “Return to Menu” before closing.
Backup on PC: Your local configuration files (settings, keybinds) are stored in %appdata%\Local\Hunt_Showdown\Config. If you want to keep your settings across reinstalls, back up this folder. However, in-game currency and hunters are server-side and cannot be backed up locally.
Cloud Saves: Steam Cloud is enabled for settings but not for game progression. Do not expect to recover a lost hunter by deleting local files; they are tied to your account server-side.
* Multiple Hunter Slots: You start with 5 hunter slots. You can purchase more with hunt dollars (up to 50 slots). Use extra slots to recruit a few high-level hunters with good traits and cheap gear for backup. Never burn all your hunters in expensive loadouts.
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Things Players Commonly Regret Not Knowing Earlier
1. You can switch between shoulder cameras: Use `Q` (default) to swap between left and right shoulder aim. This helps you peek around corners without exposing your whole body.
2. Dark Sight Boost (DSB) reveals enemy hunters: When you carry a bounty token, you can use Dark Sight (press E) to see enemies within 150 meters (or 50 meters for the first 5 seconds). Use this to scan for snipers or check if the boss lair is empty.
3. The enemy team can see your bounty icon on the map: Picking up a bounty token puts a large icon on your location for all other teams. Use this to your advantage: fake a direction or lure enemies into an ambush.
4. You can set downed hunters on fire: Use a lantern, fire bomb, or flare to ignite a downed enemy hunter. This causes them to burn and eventually die permanently, preventing revival. Similarly, you can choke bombs to extinguish burning teammates.
5. Ducking reduces noise and vision: Crouching not only makes your footsteps quieter but also reduces the distance sound travels. Bush camouflage works better when crouched.
6. Ammo boxes refill all ammo types, not just what you’re out of: Opening an ammo box refills all ammo for all weapons and tools. Use ammo boxes strategically, and don’t waste them if you already have full reserves.
7. The Spider can climb walls and ceilings: Many new players lose track of the Spider because it can jump on walls and ceilings. Always look up when fighting the Spider.
8. You can shoot through walls and wood: Most weapons can penetrate single thin walls, fences, and doors. If you know an enemy is on the other side of a wall, you can wallbang them. Use the “penetration” stat on weapons to judge effectiveness.
9. Empty the boss lair before banishing: Check all hiding spots and corners in the boss compound before starting the banishment. Often an enemy team is hiding inside waiting to ambush you while you’re distracted.
10. Finally, have fun: Hunt is a punishing game with high stakes, but don’t let frustration ruin the experience. Take breaks, experiment with different loadouts, and learn from each death. The community is generally helpful, and the thrill of extracting a bounty after a tense fight is unmatched.
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> Pro Tip: Keep a notepad of the “lessons learned” after each match. Write down what mistake killed you (e.g., “ran out in the open,” “forgot to check compound completely”). This will accelerate your improvement faster than almost any guide.