Hunt Showdown is a tactical FPS where players track down and destroy monsters in a demon-infested bayou in the year 1895. Unlike most multiplayer shooters, one of Hunt’s key features is the permanent demise of your hunters should you and your team fall in the bayou. The only thing keeping you alive in the bayou is your skill of arms with your chosen weapon.
Which weapon should you pick? With more than two dozen weapons, and most weapons having multiple variants, Hunt Showdown has quite the arsenal. Here are the best weapons to help give you an edge in the bayou. Each entry on this list will include all the chosen weapon’s variants.
10 Crossbow
The silent hunter’s best friend, the crossbow comes in two variants: a pistol-sized hand crossbow, and full-size. While its range is worse than firearms, that’s no surprise. If you pick the crossbow, you know what you’re getting into. Both variants are quiet killers in their effective ranges, able to one-shot hunters or apply a bleeding debuff and leave them of low health.
Their second benefit is the variety of bolts at their disposal. In addition to the standard, high-damage bolts, the full-length crossbow can have explosive bolts and shotbolts (a shotgun shell instead of an arrowhead). The hand crossbow can use poison, fire suppressants, and gunfire decoys. If you’re fine forgoing a pistol, the hand crossbow can be another tool bag.
9 Caldwell Conversion Pistol
The Caldwell Conversion Pistol is an early unlock for all hunters, and it may be the most accurate sidearm to have at your side. The standard versions of the pistol use compact ammo, but for the range you’ll use it at, it can pull its weight. Its hip fire accuracy makes it ideal for dual wielding, and the chain pistol variant can be turned into a pseudo machine gun with fanning.
The other variant is the uppercut. This variant swaps the pistol’s compact ammo for rifle bullets. The uppercut has higher damage and better range than its standard variant. This comes with the cost of higher recoil and a much higher buying price. At pistol ranges its recoil holds it back a little, but it makes an effective secondary when your primary weapon is short-ranged.
8 Winfield M1873C
Most fights in Hunt: Showdown take place in small compounds that are usually dozens of meters across, surrounded by some forest or swamp. The Winfield excels at this range. You won’t have to worry about its damage falling as this is what it’s meant for. By bringing the Winfield you get a responsive and accurate platform made even stronger at close range through the levering trait.
For its variants, you can attach a scope to help you compete at longer ranges, but then its low caliber will be more apparent. Even with a scope attached, its handle is high enough that you can still fire it from the hip with decent results. Alternatively, you could attach a suppressor and become a quiet, close-range nightmare.
7 Lemat Mark II
The Lemat Mark II is a unique weapon in Hunt: Showdown. It’s a pistol and a compact shotgun wrapped up in one package. With nine shots in its cylinder, the Lemat already has more rounds than your average revolver. When those aren’t enough, you can switch to the under-barrelled shotgun and punctuate your point with buckshot, slugs, or dragon’s breath.
The Lemat recently received a rifle-length variant in the Lemat Carbine. This variant enhances the pistol’s range, speed, and shotgun spread by giving both barrels more length. While it doesn’t keep pace with dedicated rifles or shotguns, it still gives you a versatile weapon effective in most ranges where fights take place.
6 Romero
The first shotgun in the game, awarded at level one, the tried and true Romero. Shot for shot, no shotgun can boast the damage, range, or pellet spread that the Romero has. The problem is that it’s a single-barrel breech-loading shotgun. While it reloads quickly, you’ll be reloading every shot.
This doesn’t hold the Romero back too much; its deadly damage is enough to keep most hunters at bay, and as a single-shot weapon, you can mix the ammo types you bring along. Its variant gives it a loading mechanism close to a magazine that does speed it up, or you can take a more compact version in the hand cannon. Its last variant is the Romero Hatchet, a shotgun with an axe attached — an incredibly fun brawling weapon.
5 Winfield Slate
If you prefer shotguns that have more than one shot, the Slate is an excellent choice. While there are two pump-action shotguns in Hunt, the Winfield Slate is the faster of the two. Within ten meters it can down hunters in one shot, and it has enough fire speed that it’s still a threat beyond that range with follow-up shots.
Inside buildings, its speed lets it clear out enemy teams in its ideal range. While they may get a chance to react, you’ll still have the advantage unless they have a Slate of their own. The Slate also has access to slugs, extending its one-shot range at the cost of ammunition count.
4 Sparks LLR
Of all the conventional rifles, this one hits the hardest. The Sparks LLR will leave enemy hunters with only a single hitpoint to their name if struck with this rifle. While it only has one shot, if your enemy is injured at all it’s the only shot you need.
The Sparks has its share of interesting variants. The sniper lets you make use of its massive stopping power at long distances. As a support sniper for your team, you can soften targets up, or finish off a target for them. Alternatively, you could take the suppressed version, shortening your range, but capturing most of your sound to strike hard and leave the enemy confused.
3 Scottfield Model 3
The Scottfield revolver is a somewhat recent addition to the Hunt arsenal. It’s a medium ammo pistol given to players at level one. The key difference from its competitor, the Caldwell Pax, is the Scottfield can break open at the cylinder and eject all rounds at once. This lets you reload faster when all rounds are used.
It’s a reliable backup weapon for any loadout, and its variants are all strong. The spitfire increases its rate of fire significantly to the point of being able to wipe a full team in a few seconds. The brawler attaches a set of knuckle dusters for melee, and the speedloader further increases its reload speed.
2 Vetterli Karabiner
The Vetterli Karabiner is a fast-shooting bolt action rifle that uses medium ammo. Its damage is strong, its shot speed is good for most ranges, and its ammunition options are diverse. The Vetterli is a good weapon for every situation, while not being the best in any one particular area.
It has a good amount of variants that further improve its use in the focused area. It has two scope versions to help you fight at range and a bayoneted version for close quarters. It’s one of the few weapons with a suppressed version as well and may be the best-suppressed weapon currently in the game.
1 Mosin Nagant
With Hunt taking place in 1895, the Mosin Nagant bolt-action rifle is a cutting-edge weapon for the time. Its power shows in-game; the rifle has exemplary range, power, and muzzle velocity. It’s also one of the few weapons with a strip clip to help you reload faster when the weapon is empty.
The Mosin has seven different variations, the most in the game. It can be a sniper rifle, a brawling rifle with a bayonet, or it can be cut down and used as a secondary weapon. If you’re in a spending mood, you can even grab the Avtomat, the only weapon with actual burst fire, though it’s not great. As a rifle, the Mosin will fulfill most of your needs in any situation, and with so many variants, you can find your own area of expertise.
