Hunt: Showdown - All Traits Explained and Tiered (2024)

This guide aims to explore the intricacies of various traits that might appear more complex than they seem initially. It will cover the uses of these traits, presented in the order I typically acquire them.

esittely

All perks hold value, and none of them are inherently detrimental. The purpose of this guide is to delve into the nuances of specific perks that people might not fully comprehend. I’ve organized the content based on the order I usually select these perks, partly to simplify the writing process and perhaps to entice you to read further. Gotcha!

Feel free to inform me about any trait-related information I may have omitted or might not be aware of.

Essential for a Better Game Experience

These two perks are consistently the first ones I acquire, except in the rare instance when I’m focused on a highly specialized task like completing weekly challenges.

Lightfoot could arguably be considered the most powerful perk in the game. In this game, sound plays a crucial role, and Lightfoot equips you with numerous tools to minimize the sound you generate. It’s akin to having four perks rolled into one: you can vault quietly, descend without noise, climb ladders silently, and, most notably, land from jumps with minimal sound.

The silent landing ability from jumping allows for a distinctive movement technique. By jumping, promptly initiating a sprint, then ceasing the sprint just before landing, you can move with nearly no auditory indication while maintaining sprint-level speed during the jump. Hastening the jump might result in subdued grunts, but with precise timing, you can be exceptionally quiet. What others will perceive is the soft ‘thud’ as you touch the ground, a sound that’s tough to trail and almost impossible to infer a shot through walls from.

This hop-based movement can be paired with either crouched walking or regular walking, although both actions generate noise. Walking facilitates swift movement, yet the footfalls are often audible. Crouch-walking, on the other hand, is challenging to detect but lacks the swiftness.

Artificial intelligence (AI) tends to react based on the volume of sound you create. Employing the lightfoot hopping technique results in AI being alerted from a significantly shorter distance compared to sprinting. Furthermore, it prevents accidental AI agitation upon jumping.

Kiteskin stands out as one of the most formidable perks available, and it merely requires a single upgrade point. At first glance, a novice player might not fully grasp the value of reducing fall damage. However, the reduction is substantial, and there are numerous scenarios where this perk proves invaluable. It enables swift movement both in and out of combat, facilitating unexpected approaches.

Leaping from second-story windows results in minimal to no damage taken. Descending from tall ladders typically inflicts only minor health depletion at most. With the perk, you can swiftly retreat from a disadvantageous position, even while injured, whereas without it, you’d likely meet an unfortunate end. This trait also empowers you to promptly engage foes in unfavorable positions. You can execute attacks from unconventional angles, and you might even dare to fire while airborne, especially if luck is on your side or you wield a shotgun.

Korkea prioriteetti

These perks hold universal appeal and are commonly selected following Lightfoot & Kiteskin.

Vigor serves two primary purposes: enabling near-infinite healing and providing substantial stamina regeneration. These benefits are advantageous in both player-versus-environment (PvE) and player-versus-player (PvP) scenarios. Swift stamina recovery proves invaluable for conventional melee-based boss takedowns, while health recuperation proves useful for PvE slip-ups or passive PvP encounters. When opponents adopt a passive approach and time is on your side, you can seek cover and activate Vigor to mend non-fatal wounds, requiring nothing but time. While healing without Vigor is possible, it’s notably sluggish except for exceptionally placid situations.

A common strategy involves initially carrying two vitality shots and eventually swapping one for a regen shot upon obtaining Vigor.

Assailant, costing only a single point, is an excellent perk. Its effectiveness hinges on your loadout, and I personally opt for throwing knives over a melee weapon, making it an ideal choice for me.

When coupled with throwing axes, it empowers the heavy attack to cleave through groups of enemies similarly to the heavy knife. By pairing this with the knuckle knife, you can access the benefits of both worlds.

With throwing knives, it enhances melee attacks, rendering them as potent as the knife. Given the knife’s inefficiency in stamina usage, it’s generally suboptimal as a melee weapon. Instead, it’s often more viable to hurl a knife and retrieve it mid-passage, as per usual. However, in certain PvP situations, time might be scarce for a brief throw or the risk of hitting an enemy’s arm might be too high. In such cases, having a conventional melee option for emergencies proves advantageous.

Necromancer’s utility is situation-dependent but incredibly valuable when applicable. Despite its 4-point cost, it’s a worthwhile investment. If your teammate perishes in an unfavorable location and foes remain passive, a brief period of concealment while focusing on them can result in their revival. Immediate revival is expected and may lead to further harm, whereas a slight delay often proves effective. Necromancer can also be used while in motion. For instance, you could initiate most of the revival process and, just before completion, rush forward and jump in front of your teammate to potentially intercept bullets aimed at them. This is undoubtedly risky but could yield success.

Keep in mind that Necromancer generates noise during revival, your teammate will gasp upon revival as usual, reviving your teammate in front of an enemy or traps without appropriate effects could lead to their instant elimination, and reviving incurs injury to you. The damage amounts to a mere 25, which can be rectified through a regen shot + Vigor or a single use of a medkit, or simply by waiting if a substantial health chunk remains.

Physician is indispensable for hastening the sluggish healing of medkits. There’s little more to add, except that vitality shots can partially compensate for the absence of this perk.

Asekohtainen (tärkeää)

These traits possess limited usefulness or diminished effectiveness without a specific weapon. However, when equipped with the appropriate weapon, their significance rivals that of the High Priority traits.

Whispersmith significantly reduces equipment-switching noise, a generally beneficial feature. I liken it to a perk tailored for the bomb lance, based on my testing, as equipping the bomb lance without this trait generates 14 decibels more sound than a tornado siren. Revealing your use of a potent close-range weapon like the bomb lance to the enemy is strongly ill-advised.

Bolt Thrower doubles crossbow reload speed—a substantial boost for a reasonable cost.

At a mere 4 points, Levering transforms the Terminus into a rapid-firing juggernaut. Winfields become close-range machine guns while retaining head-popping potential with iron sights. Employing tap fire instead of continuous fire enhances accuracy for non-Terminus levering, especially when stationary.

The Centennial is an exception where levering isn’t particularly effective. While still useful for boss damage, its PvP efficacy is inconsistent. Its fire rate is subpar, and accuracy is severely lacking.

Iron Repeater, Iron Sharpshooter, Iron Devastator, Deadeye Scopesmith, Marksman Scopesmith, and Sniper Scopesmith are identical perks. They amplify fire rate and enhance aiming ease. The extent of improvement varies depending on the weapon, ranging from negligible to significant, but the investment is only 2 points. It’s important to note that aiming down sights (ADS) isn’t necessary for shotguns (and can even be counterproductive) unless using slugs.

Keskipitkä prioriteetti

I might consider selecting these traits once I’ve acquired most, if not all, of the aforementioned perks.

Doctor’s placement is influenced by its higher cost. This trait doubles the efficacy of a medkit, doubling both healing speed and the maximum amount of healing available. When combined with Physician, it bestows rapid and abundant healing capabilities. However, lacking both traits can restrict medkit usage for in-combat healing.

Quartermaster permits the substitution of a medium slot weapon for a small slot weapon, potentially enhancing loadout diversity. While small slot weapons like the Pax, Scottfield Spitfire, Uppercut, LeMat, Hand Crossbow, and New Army/Officer are already solid choices, Quartermaster opens avenues for selections like shotguns, Mosin Obrez, Uppermat, or the Bow.

Frontiersman provides a +1 capacity boost to all tools. Its value is notable even just for the additional medkit, though its 7-point cost for this single benefit isn’t a bargain. However, its provision of an extra medkit along with an additional knife, axe, decoy fuse, and four derringer shots makes it a worthwhile investment.

Resilience’s ability to facilitate revival with 125 health proves beneficial. The distinctive animation during revival often leads opponents to target suboptimal areas like limbs or the abdomen, and many firearms can’t achieve a 125 damage hit without a headshot. Immediate post-revival actions can be evasive or aggressive, and the trait also allows safer revival through various traps. It doesn’t eliminate risk entirely but significantly reduces it.

Packmule enhances the usefulness of toolboxes and corpses by doubling their item yield. This can transform a single medkit into two, a hive bomb into a hive bomb and a flashbomb, and a throwing axe into both a throwing axe and a medkit. The inclusion of a consumable toolbox in recent updates further amplifies the trait’s value. When multiple team members possess Packmule, a single consumable toolbox can yield four items.

Certainly, the highlight of this trait is the increased availability of medkits.

Vulture enables the looting of previously looted corpses, catering to trio players and more opportunistic players. For trios, one member opting for Vulture can facilitate resupplying items such as medkits from hunter corpses. This trait is particularly relevant for trio teams and rat-style players, though it might not be suitable for my playstyle.

Asekohtainen (ei tärkeä)

These traits are more geared toward specific weapons, and I usually acquire them concurrently with the Medium Priority traits.

Fanning is undeniably one of the game’s top-notch perks. However, its cost is significant, and various other small slot weapons can maintain formidable power with or without it. While I don’t consider it an urgent necessity, I often find it tempting due to its enjoyable gameplay. Similar to levering, employing tapping rather than continuous firing can greatly enhance accuracy, especially when combined with keeping still before firing.

Silent Killer eliminates the audible charge sound when preparing a heavy strike and removes the scream accompanying melee attacks. Although AI enemies still emit death noises, these are considerably quieter than your screams. The absence of screaming conceals both the method of killing and your position. Notably, the removal of the charge sound when readying a heavy attack could prove beneficial when engaging hunters with weapons like the bomb lance or bayonet.

Dewclaw mirrors Assailant’s function, but for the Bow. It allows the replacement of your tool melee with a trait, on the condition that you’re already equipped with a Bow. It also enables access to the game’s sole poison melee option, albeit the practicality of this is debatable.

Ambidextrous is relatively dispensable. Akimbo weapons generally boast sufficient ammunition to eliminate foes before necessitating a reload. Even if reloading becomes necessary, it’s often feasible to do so safely without this perk. However, if you have a preference for dual-wielded weapons, the enhanced reload speed can be advantageous.

Steady Hand and Steady Aim progressively diminish scope sway while aiming, facilitating easier targeting with specific scoped weapons when holding an angle. Nevertheless, protracted scope aiming can render you vulnerable to surprise attacks from unforeseen directions. Overall, these perks hold less importance compared to Scopesmiths, as they lack any inherent statistical advantage and occasionally make aiming slightly more manageable.

Hundred Hands marginally amplifies the Bow’s damage output. However, I don’t employ the Bow extensively enough to gauge the true impact of this perk. The Bow’s base damage is already notably high, so this trait might not be a vital necessity.

Matala tärkeys

These are traits I’m less likely to acquire, and I would probably replace them with more advantageous traits.

Conduit grants 5 minutes of unlimited stamina and a full health restoration each time you collect a clue. The full heal can prove beneficial, such as tanking a hit from a meathead as you secure the clue it guards, and the stamina boost aids in map traversal. Snatching a clue outside a boss lair before entering can provide ample time for boss elimination with boundless stamina.

Serpent enables the retrieval of items in precarious situations, like a clue protected by a meathead, and allows for distant engagement of bounties located in unfavorable spots. However, bounties are rarely unguarded, and challenging AI usually surrounding clues can typically be handled, and Conduit’s capabilities might address these situations alongside its other effects. Consequently, I seldom find utility in this perk.

Although I’ve heard that Pitcher is considered one of the game’s best perks, I struggle to perceive any noticeable difference in throwing range beyond comparing the arc before and after its acquisition. There might be some aspect I’m failing to grasp.

Blade Seer grants visibility of throwing knives, throwing axes, crossbow bolts (both sizes), and arrows in dark sight. While this can assist in retrieving these items, you generally should be able to locate them without this perk, often finding them within toolboxes or ammunition crates when necessary.

Ei Paras

These are traits I tend to avoid acquiring and usually refund if obtained.

Determination slightly reduces the delay before stamina regeneration initiates by approximately one second. It can permit a sequence where you switch to throwing knives after depleting stamina with a melee attack, throw a knife, then revert to melee with enough stamina for a heavy attack (throwing a knife doesn’t halt stamina regeneration). However, even a minor delay in this process typically results in natural stamina recovery without the perk.

Adrenaline restores all stamina if your health is critically low. If you revive without Resilience, you can swiftly engage in melee attacks, though this scenario is generally of limited utility.

Beastface decreases the range at which sound traps are triggered. However, these traps are often easy to evade, and even if triggered, their impact is often negligible.

Magpie’s benefits are contingent on highly specific trigger conditions and offer fleeting buffs. Upon picking up a bounty token, you gain regeneration, infinite stamina, and poison immunity for two minutes. The likelihood of requiring these effects shortly after obtaining a bounty is relatively low. This perk’s most advantageous application might involve using the stamina boost to make a rapid escape after securing a bounty.

Tomahawk enables throwing of world melees for respectable damage. However, your existing weaponry is generally more practical and doesn’t necessitate finding a world melee first. This perk appears to hold limited practicality.

Decoy Supply allows resupplying of decoys at ammo boxes, excluding decoy fuses. To be honest, I’m uncertain whether blankfire decoys are included. I rarely utilize this trait.

Nooby

These traits can significantly assist new players, but their effectiveness diminishes or becomes irrelevant with more experience.

Bulletgrubber bestows weapons that lose a shot during reloading with slower reload animations that retain the unused shot. Yet, most weapons benefiting from this trait don’t truly require it, as they can reload immediately after firing a shot without incurring any cost. The only exceptions include the Bornheim, which boasts ample ammo and pickup rates that render discarding a single shot insignificant, and the Dolch, which can moderately benefit from this trait.

For those grappling with reloading after firing, you can hold the attack button without releasing it to prevent cycling the next round. This grants ample time to press the reload key. However, it’s important not to linger with an uncycled and unreloaded weapon. Instead, execute a swift reload by promptly pressing the reload key.

Gator Legs imparts a notable increase in movement speed while in water, a valuable feature. However, its utility is significantly undermined by the ability to jump through water. By leaping just before entering deep water and then spamming the jump key as you land to execute a second hop (avoid a third jump), you can maintain movement speed until your landing after the second jump. This technique holds true for most bodies of water, enabling sustained speed during much, if not all, of the crossing.

Ghoul causes healing upon killing AI, which can be highly beneficial for newer players who frequently absorb damage from AI and wish to preserve medkits for other uses. Yet, as players gain proficiency, this trait loses its appeal. Although it might occasionally provide a mid-combat heal through AI kills while battling another player, its reliability pales in comparison to other perks.

Pelileikkeet

These scenarios are tailored for creating captivating content for YouTube videos.

In specific circ*mstances, you can execute an impressive play by utilizing Dauntless to extinguish a throwable that was not cooked long enough to explode before you intervene. However, such situations are rare due to the specifics required: the throwable must be eligible for Dauntless use, the timing of the throw must align, and the tactic generally doesn’t work well against common throwables like flashbombs or dynamite cooked for midair detonation.

This move also has the potential to deactivate your own misplaced bombs, although honing your aiming skills can help you avoid this situation.

Poison Sense enables you to spot nearby poisoned enemies when in Dark Sight. While attempting to wallbang adversaries can be enjoyable and visually appealing, this trait falls more in the realm of novelty than serious strategic advantage.

laskurit

These strategies tend to be perceived as unexciting and predictable, akin to traditional card game counterplays. They typically hinge on responding to rare enemy tactics, and the lack of visibility into opponents’ actions often leaves them uninformed about your counters, leading to a guessing game.

Bulwark claims to reduce explosion damage, but its practical utility is often minimal due to the prevalence of Steel Ball ammo for the Bomb Lance. This perk loses relevance as few hunters opt for harpoon strategies. It might hold more value against dynamite users, if they become more common.

Bloodless significantly mitigates the potency of a potent debuff—bleeding. It restricts any applied bleed to the “light” category, lowering damage and hastening recovery from bleeding effects. This can prove beneficial for mitigating damage and hastening recovery times.

Salveskin decelerates the rate at which fire inflicts damage. It might aid newer players in combatting the Butcher and lessens the impact of fire-related weaponry, although such weapons are rarely seen in practice.

Mithridatist might sound unfamiliar, but it decreases the duration of poison effects. However, AI poisoning is seldom a significant threat, and poison among hunters is infrequent and often not aggressively exploited.

Hornskin proves effective against grunts and hunters wielding melee weapons like dusters or gun butts. It can counter aggressive AI and human foes pursuing close-quarters combat.

Vigilant enhances Dark Sight by revealing traps, offering considerable utility. However, trap usage among players is sporadic, and predictable trap placement limits its potential. Along with Greyhound, it ranks among the more valuable perks on this list.

Poacher facilitates quiet placement and disarmament of traps. Utilizing disarmed traps as bait to lure enemies into a push by feigning distraction is a potential tactic.

Greyhound extends sprinting duration before exhaustion, effectively boosting stamina regeneration rate in practice. While not a strict counter, this perk can hinder opponents equipped with Greyhound, limiting their ability to flee.