How to Crossbow your way to 6 star

If you are looking to improve your crossbow skills in the game Hunt Showdown, there are several things you can do to become a better player. In this article, I will go over the crossbow and hand crossbow weapons, how to improve, playstyles, ideas for builds and general tips and tricks.

Who am I and do I have the knowledge to talk about the crossbows?

Hello everyone Mr. Melledork here. I am a 5-6 star crossbow main on the EU servers. I have played Hunt Showdown for about 3 years now and 95% of my gameplay has been focused around the crossbows. I have about 2 000 hours played, and i actively play every game mode in the game.

What is the Crossbow

First things first, let’s talk about the crossbow. The crossbow is a powerful weapon that can be used to take out enemies from a distance, but is even more devastating up close. It’s a weapon that one shots to the body up close, and one shots to the head at any distance. It’s also a very quiet weapon, so it can be used to sneak up on your opponents. Since it’s a quiet weapon it’s also hard for people to track where the bolts are coming from in a fight at medium range. The way I see it: It’s a silenced shotgun at close range. At longer ranges it’s a deadly sniper in the hands of a master, and a tickle machine in the hands of a noob.

The Crossbow

The crossbow is a 3 slot weapon with interesting ammo types and all of them are very viable.

• Standard bolts: Standard bolts seems to be slept on a lot but this is what it does: It’s a projectile that has a decent arc, bleed and a lot of damage close range. Secondly, at any range it’s a one shot to the head.
• Explosive Bolts: Explsoive bolts are very powerful in the current patch. Crytek does not seem to know how to properly balance this ammo type. Sometimes it’s under powered and sometimes it’s scaling is a bit insane. We’re in the bit insane part right now. But the explosive bolt is a bolt with a pretty steep projectile arc, that one shots on hit and does a lot of splash damage around the impact. It’s very good at tagging enemies, dealing with Meat heads, finishing off tagged people hiding behind cover and generally causing mayham in the bayou.
• Shot bolts: Shot bolts is a projectile that has a moderate arc and it is a very strong ammo type, that is basically a shotgun shell attached to the end of a bolt. The shotgun shell goes off on impact and acts like a buckshot from there. Meaning, if you hit someone it’s a point blank shotgun shot. So in most cases if you hit someone they’re dead. It’s also the only ammo type for the crossbow that can be used to shoot through walls. I like to bring one set of these every now and then, just to be able to fight properly around fences, walls and other cover.

The Hand Crossbow

The Hand Crossbow is a 1 slot weapon with the some very interesting ammo types the Crossbow does not have. It has the same shotgun factor at close range, but it’s a bit more accurate. It also has a faster reload speed. To me the great thing about the ammo types:

• Standard Bolts: It’s a projectile that has a decent arc, bleed and a lot of damage close range. Secondly, at any range it’s a one shot to the head.
• Poison Bolts: Poison bolts will deal a lot of damage to players and most AI enemies, with a noteable exception being the Hives and the spider. It will also poison your enemies, stopping them from healing for a while. The poison bolts also leaves a cloud of poison where it impacts. This cloud will damage enemies that are in it or walk through it. If you hit a player, most of the time the impact wont kill them, but depending on their movement they will die to the damage from the poison cloud. It’s also very good at denying revives from your enemies just plop a poison bolt on the on the body of a downed enemy unless they use choke bombs to get rid of it or the person has used an antidote, they will not be able to revive their teammate. Also it’s generally a good zoning tool where you can block of doors, windows and other entrances with poison bolts.
• Chaos Bolts: Chaos bolts are interesting, they land somewhere between blankfire decoys and a chaos bomb. But they are so rarely used people cannot tell if it’s a real fight or a chaos bolt. It’s very to good to distract or mess with teams tracking you. It’s also the only bolt type for the Hand Crossbow that can be used to explode barrels. It does have a pretty steep arc on the bolts, so takes some getting used to. This ammo type for me falls under the same category as decoys and chaos bombs. A skilled player that has focused on misdirection and mind games will be able to use this ammo type to their advantage. But it’s not something you can just pick up and use effectively. It’s a very situational ammo type, but it can be very powerful if used correctly.
• Choke Bolts: Choke bolts leave a cloud of smoke. It’s pretty much a high precision Choke Bomb. It can be used in many of the same ways. but you have more ammo of choke bolts than you do with choke bombs. The main use for choke bolts in my eyes is to clear up a tool slot. If you want to run double traps (poison and concertina) then run choke bolts on your hand crossbow so you can still help you burning teammates.

Playstyles

There are several different playstyles you can go for with the crossbows. I will go over the most common ones. Also know that you’re not limited to these playstyles. You are going to mix and match them to your liking and what the situation calls for. But these playstyles are choices you make in your loadouts and with your team, which will determine how you play the game. If you’re gonna play stealthy, you won’t instantly shoot at people when you see them. You will make sure that shot lands first. If you’re gonna play run and gun, you will be more aggressive and you will be more likely to force enemies into bad positions.

Run and gun

The run and gun playstyle is pretty much the same playstyle you would do with a Winfield. Active close to mid range fights, where you can use the crossbow to it’s full potential. It’s a very versatile playstyle, but it’s also very risky. You have to be very good at tracking your opponents and you have to be able to hit your shots. If you miss your shots, you will most likely die. It’s a very high risk high reward playstyle. Also rememeber that if you do miss and you’re out of position in a fight, you have a lengthy reload time.

It’s a playstyle that is heavily reliant on your aim and dexterity. Depending on your fast paced aim; your experience in both hunt and in other shooters, it will determine how good you are at this playstyle.

Stealth

The stealth playstyle is a playstyle where you try to avoid fights unless you know you have the advantage. This advantage can be as simple as you’re waiting for the oppertunity to down one of them and have the numbers advantage. Or it could be tracking someone and ambush them when they get into a fight with another team or the bosses. If you do get into a fight, you will try to use the crossbow to it’s full potential. You will try to hit your shots and you will try to get into new and petter positiosn as fast as possible. A good way to be thinking about it, is that you’re being strategical and every choice you do has a purpose. You’re not just running around shooting at people. You’re trying to get the most out of every shot you take.

Be sure to know, this is not a camping play style. You will not be hiding in a bush for 10 minutes waiting for someone to walk by. You will be moving around, but you will be moving around with a purpose. You will be moving around to get into a better position, to get a better shot or to get into a position where you can ambush your enemies. This is not the lazy way of playing Hunt: Showdown, it’s the ‘smart’ way of playing Hunt: Showdown. If you feel like your aim isn’t as strong as those 360 no scoping MLG t-bagging pros out there, this is a very viable option. Looking at how the developers of the game view the game, this is a playstyle they support.

Trapper

The trapper playstyle requires some luck. You need to get to or be in the places other people want to be. In Hunt: Showdown that means the bounty compound. So if you’re lucky, you spawn there. If not, you need to do your best to get there before everyone else. Because the main thing about this play style is setting up, and already being ready for a fight. There is a lot of tips for the traping play style that I will go into in another article, but the gist of it is setting up traps that enemies can walk into during a fight. A well placed trap can turn a bad situation into a good one. The trapper playstyle is not a fighting playstyle, so you usually combine it with the other two.

Mixing it with the run and gun playstyle is a very good way to play. You can set up traps and then go into a fight. If you get into a bad situation, you can use the traps to your advantage. You can either retreat behind you traps and hope that your enemies will trigger them. If you get into a good situation, and winning your fight infront of you, then the traps will protect you from a potential team rushing from behind.

Combining with the stealth playstyle will have you set up an ambush with them. One of the ideal experiences with this would be to have a kill trap set up, have a enemy run into it and die, when their team mate comes to help them you can land that important shot. If you’re in duos, that team is dead and if you’re in trios you have a 3v1 on your hands. Either way you’re in a big advantage.

Builds

1. The Crisscrossbow

This is my main build. It has it’s strengths and it’s weaknesses. It’s a very versatile build. It’s good for close range fights and medium range fights. Like mentioned before, it’s a one shot to the head at any distance. I play alot of trios when I play Hunt: Showdown, so the choke bomb is very useful. But you could replace the Choke bomb with something else and use one of your hand crossbow ammo slots for choke bolts. Also the electric lamp is no joke, since you’re gonna spend most of your fights close to people. Being able to blind the opponent at night or in underground boss lairs is a really big advantage. Use your poison to deal with bosses, block of paths, secure dead bodies. Use your waxed dynamite when enemies don’t think they can be hit by it. Like if there is a chokebomb in between you guys, chuck that waxed dynamite stick through it and surprise them.

2. The Packing Crossbow

The Crossbow is a beast, but where it lacks is penetrative power. That’s why we put a Pax with FMJ there. It will be a weapon you can pull out for medium range fights, people hiding behind walls or just follow up to a crossbow bolt that didnt kill. Very versitile build. If you want to main crossbow, but you’re not ready to fully embrace faults the crossbow has when it comes to penetrative power and range, this is the build for you.

3. The Trusty Sidearm

The vetterli packs a mean punch, and so does the hand crossbow. This build is good for close range fights. It’s also good for taking people out at medium range. Taging someone with a vetterli and following up with a poison bolt is 99% of the time a sure kill. It’s the reverse of The Packing Crossbow build, where your side arm is your main weapon and your main weapon is your side arm. This is the build I recommend to people who are not fully ready to to convert to the crossbow life. This way you get some exposure. If you want to mix it up with normal bolts, you can do that too. Be sure to use the hand crossbow as much as possible so you can get used to it. Maybe after you’ve gotten more confident move to the Packing Crossbow build.

4. The Trapper

Tips and Tricks

1. Practice Makes Perfect

The first and most important thing you need to do is practice. Spend some time in the game killing grunts, hives and armored with he crossbow. The good thing is that you can replenish your ammo by picking it back up again. Practice aiming and shooting at targets until you feel comfortable with the weapon. Before you fight teams, make sure to take out all AI on your path with your crossbow. So you can move quickly and silently through a compound. Note that if you win a match, kill everything on your way to the extraction point. This will give you a lot of experience with the crossbows. You will slowly learn the arc, the travel speed and how to use this weapon.

2. Know Your Range

The crossbow is a powerful weapon, but it has a limited range. I say limited as in “shooting straight at them”, when you learn your ranges and arcs you can land some pretty insane shots. But you also need to know the ranges where you one shot people. So you can make the right calls if you should rush someone or keep tagging them at a distance. With that noted, no matter how far you are from your target, you can still kill them with a headshot. So, aim for the head whenever possible when you’re outside of the effective range.

3. Use Cover and Concealment

Crossbow players are vulnerable when reloading their weapon, so it’s important to use cover and concealment to your advantage. I’m not saying you have to play stealthy, but you should try to stay out of the open and behind cover whenever possible. This will help you avoid being shot while reloading. Since it’s a very quiet weapon to use, you can also use it to your advantage to sneak up on your opponents.

4. Aim for the Head

As mentioned earlier, the crossbow has a limited range. However, the crossbow is a one-shot kill weapon if you hit your opponent in the head. So, aim for the head whenever possible. It’s a difficult shot to make, but with practice, you can become more accurate. When you land that 150m headshot, you’ll feel like a pro! Make sure to put it in your montage on Youtube.

5. Be Patient

The crossbow requires patience and precision. Don’t rush your shots or panic when you are under pressure. Take your time, aim carefully, and wait for the right moment to take your shot. Before you put yourself in a situation where you need to reload, make sure to assess the situation before hand and plan your next move.

6. Experiment with Different Bolts

Different bolts can have varying effects on your targets. Try using different types of bolts such as poison or explosive bolts to see how they impact the game. Some people love the explosive bolts, some swear by the poison bolts and some people just wants the world to burn in a hail of chaos bolts. Experiment with different bolts to see which ones work best for you. The crossbow is a very versatile weapon that has tools for a lot of situations. Get to know the tools and see if it can help you gain the upper hand in a fight.

7. Know When to Switch Weapons

While the crossbow can be a powerful weapon, it may not always be the best choice in every situation. It’s important to know when to switch to another weapon, such as a shotgun or pistol, to better suit the situation at hand. While my main build is a double crossbow, I will switch of it to one of my other builds if I’m not feeling it that day.

8. Stay Aware of Your Surroundings

As with any weapon in Hunt Showdown, it’s important to stay aware of your surroundings when using the crossbow. Keep an eye out for other players and potential threats, and always be prepared to switch to a different weapon or take cover if necessary.

9. Practice Movement

The crossbow can be difficult to use while moving, so it’s important to practice movement techniques that allow you to aim and shoot accurately while on the move. Try moving side to side or back and forth to get a feel for how the crossbow behaves in different situations. Movement will also keep you alive in a fight, so it’s important to practice it as much as possible, never stand still. Outside of a fight, you can also use movement to your advantage to sneak up on your opponents and set up ambushes..

10. Don’t Be Afraid to Retreat

Sometimes, the best course of action is to retreat and live to fight another day. If you find yourself in a situation where the crossbow isn’t working for you, or if you are outnumbered or outgunned, don’t be afraid to fall back and regroup.

By incorporating these tips into your gameplay, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a skilled crossbow player in Hunt Showdown. Keep practicing, stay alert, and above all, have fun!

Thanks for reading

Hopefully some of these tips and tricks will help you become a better crossbow player. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to join the Discord. I’m always happy to help out new players. If you want to see some of my gameplay be sure to follow our twitch.