Hunt: Showdown Tips and Tricks
Each entry below is one mechanic, what it costs you, and the update it was last checked against. Filter by category or difficulty to narrow the list, and use the anchor beside any heading to link straight to a single tip.
AI Enemies
#Shooting an Immolator is what makes it explode
Bullets and bladed weapons detonate it for heavy fire damage to you and anyone standing nearby, which is why it kills more new players than anything else in the bayou. Switch to dusters or blunt melee, or throw a Choke Bomb to neutralize it without a detonation.
Verified on Update 2.8
Ammo Pools
#The Uppercut draws from the standard Long ammo pool
Pairing it with a Martini-Henry or a Sparks gives you one combined reserve, which is its real advantage over raw damage. It does not work with Special Long rifles like the Mosin, Berthier, Lebel, or Krag, and not with the Springfield 1866, which runs Medium.
Verified on Update 2.8
Bosses
#Shoot the lanterns before you spend your own fire
The Spider's lair has them in and around it, and putting that fire on the ground costs you nothing at all. Her fire weakness is real, but the claims that the lair always has wall lanterns and that fire specifically halts a regeneration phase are documented nowhere.
Verified on Update 2.8
#Scrapbeak's wire will trap you in the room with him
His concertina wire blocks doorways and bleeds you for walking through it, which turns a fighting retreat into a death. Bring a fire bomb or fusees so you can burn a way out, and do it before you commit to the fight rather than after.
Verified on Update 2.8
Bounty
#Carrying a bounty lights you up to 150 meters
It lasts 5 seconds per token you picked up, or 10 for a solo running Magpie, and the duration belongs to the carrier rather than being shared across the team. The 75 meter figure people quote belongs to Dark Sight Instinct, which is a different thing entirely.
Verified on Update 2.8
Extraction
#Extraction points do not drift open and closed
The one thing that flips them is The Chariot Tarot Card, an event consumable that toggles which points are locked. Identify two routes before you engage a boss anyway, because that card can close the exit you had been counting on getting out through.
Verified on Update 2.8
Banishing
#Banishing takes over three minutes, not 40 seconds
Your position is broadcast to the entire map for that whole stretch, which is long enough for a team on the far side to cross it and set up on you. Plan the defence before you start the channel, because there is no planning it while the timer runs.
Verified on Update 2.8
Extraction
#An enemy in the radius stops your extraction countdown
Sources disagree on whether it resets to zero or halts and resumes, so plan for the reset, since assuming the worse case never costs you anything. Either way a started extraction is not an escape you have already earned, and a late push can take the whole countdown.
Verified on Update 2.8
Permadeath
#Hunt Dollars you loot are lost unless you extract
Death takes the hunter permanently along with every weapon, tool, and consumable, and any Blood Bonds picked up in that run go with them. You keep 50 percent of the XP earned and nothing else. New accounts are exempt entirely until Bloodline Rank 15 under Trainee Mode.
Verified on Update 2.8
Loadouts
#Your loadout is a 5 point budget, not two slots
Update 2.8 replaced the old large and small weapon slots, and every weapon now costs 1 to 5 points by size and power. You still have to fill at least two weapon slots, and the Quartermaster trait pushes the budget to 6, which is what opens up two Size 3 weapons.
Verified on Update 2.8
Ammo
#Three ammo types cannot be bought at all any more
Update 2.8 reclassified Dum-Dum, Explosive, and Spitzer as Scarce, so they never appear in your loadout menu and have to be found in sealed boxes during a match. If your loadout screen looks like it is missing ammo options, that is intentional rather than a bug.
Verified on Update 2.8
Resupply
#A toolbox restocks tools and never consumables
It only refills what is depleted, so the bombs and shots you burned through stay burned. Ammo box resupply also dropped from 2.5x to 2.0x in Update 2.8, which makes what you carried into the match matter considerably more than it used to.
Verified on Update 2.8
Events
#A Caged Boss Target arrives already banish-ready
You skip the kill phase entirely and go straight to banishing for exactly 1 Bounty Token, with the location on your map from mission start. The banish is still a timed channel rather than an instant grab, so you stay committed and exposed while it runs.
Verified on Update 2.8
Prestige
#Prestige pays out at all 100 levels, not once at the end
Most levels let you take 2,000 Hunt Dollars or a 10 percent XP boost. The reset costs you your Bloodline rank, your Hunt Dollars down to 8,000, and every unlocked piece of equipment, trait, and hunter, while statistics, Legendary unlocks, and Blood Bonds survive it.
Verified on Update 2.8
Retirement
#Retiring at level 25 has not been possible for years
Level 50 is the only threshold, and it is also the max level. Retirement removes that hunter permanently and pays a flat 10,000 Bloodline XP, which is exactly what makes Convalescent Home and its 25 retired hunters such a long grind.
Verified on Update 2.8
Traits
#Any trait unlock rank you read is only a snapshot
Fanning alone has sat at rank 87, 36, 17, 13, and now 12 across its patch history, while Quartermaster has been 24, 45, 51, 22, and now 1. Ranks 63 to 100 also grant no new traits at all, only Hunt Dollars, so you hold full trait access well before Prestige.
Verified on Update 2.8
#Scarce traits come off the map, never from the shop
The blue-marked ones like Shadow and Catalyst drop from Trait Spurs in the world or from boss rewards. Ghoul, Conduit, and Whispersmith are ordinary purchasable traits despite being listed as scarce all over the place, and Tomahawk merged into Assailant in 1.15.
Verified on Update 2.8
Tarot Cards
#The Chariot's 5 minute cooldown is shared by everyone
Once any team plays one, no other Chariot activates anywhere for five minutes, so carrying a second is wasted equipment weight. Playing it costs you 1 Health Chunk and swaps which extraction points are locked, and it only works in Bounty Hunt.
Verified on Update 2.8
Tarot Cards
#Three tarot cards do not do what the internet says
The Tower kills monsters within 65m and sets you on fire rather than marking players, The Fool copies your last used card rather than faking a bounty signal, and The Empress grants traits rather than spawning hazards. All 14 arrived in Update 2.5, not with Road to Hell.
Verified on Update 2.8
Traps
#There is no cumulative threat meter behind the crows
It is a two-stage alerted-then-triggered system and nothing else, despite how widely the meter idea circulates. If crows scattered and you were certain you were far enough away, the likely culprit is a Stick you stepped on, which is its own separate trap.
Verified on Update 2.8
What to Read Next
- Weapons and Loadouts. The point budget, ammo pools, and resupply rules in full.
- Getting Started. Permadeath, banishing, traps, and the AI that catches new hunters out.
- Hunter Traits and Progression. Traits, retirement, Bloodline, and Prestige.
- Maps and Bosses. Every boss weakness and how extraction points actually behave.
- PvP and Strategy. Bounty visibility, sound, and reading other teams.
- Events and Seasonal. Tarot cards, Strongholds, and caged boss targets.