The Hand Crossbow is the Strongest Sidearm in Hunt

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The hand crossbow is one of the earliest weapons you unlock in Hunt: Showdown, but that might deceptively imply it is easy to master. It really isn't. But this video can you get started!
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[@HomeReel]

Subscribe for future videos! This is the podcast I was listening to, Shia LaBeouf on REAL ONES: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJ-5fKSHnrasirM

[@milke7252]

this vid is major cope

[@Dr.Boring]

@@milke7252 elaborate

[@milke7252]

​@@Dr.Boring very simple, Reel is trying to sell that its a really good utility weapon (which is true), but everything it does can be achieved with minimal tools/consumables. you arent good at the game if you need more than a knuckle knife and flare gun.

[@Lickwit]

I'm absolutely addicted to the hand crossbow. I'm just a bit sad that the poison bolts are so insanely useful since the other two ammotypes get overlooked because of it. Chaos bolts especially are so criminally underrated because nobody expects them. People generally don't even know it's a chaos device since it's so much shorter than the bomb making it sound a lot more real.

[@genin8562]

I'd like having the chance to bring an additional ammo type just for the hand crossbow... That would turn it into a real multitasking tool like batman's belt! XD

[@turbodymomenel]

I tried using chaos bolts, but my problem with them was how little noise they might make over their short duration - I could swear there's a chance for them to not go off even once before running out

[@Yerr_ItsNick]

@@genin8562 you can have 2 for the hand crossbow though, no?

[@genin8562]

@@Yerr_ItsNick yeah, but I mean the chance to have 3 instead of 2.

[@drugsarebad97]

Yeah combine the chaos bolt with a veterrli marksman

[@Forbiddensirenz]

This damn weapon killed me the most disrespectful way once. I was running solo, dude hiding in some bushes shot me in the back with a Springfield. I panic and keep running. He pulls out the crossbow with poison and arched it over my head and it landed right in front of where I was running so I ended up running into my own death. 😩

[@tonyn2184]

I have done this B4 to people

[@tiramin]

As Dwarves says when they're escaping from alien monsters to a pod with a timer where every dwarf will be left behind if the times runs off... FIRST!

[@AFestiveDude]

ROCK

[@riukasoulripper8252]

@@AFestiveDude AND

[@rexbababa]

@@AFestiveDude stone!

[@KG-th3cr]

@@shaunhayes3072 That's not very Rock and Stone of you.

[@tiramin]

@@shaunhayes3072 if you don't Rock and Stone, you ain't coming home

[@waltgrizzly4879]

You make some of the best Hunt content on youtube, my man. No clickbait, all honest, with a good sense of humor. Hope your channel blows up. You deserve it!

[@HomeReel]

Sorry I missed the comment earlier. I appreciate that, a lot, sincerely!

[@fruffy3220]

Bolt thrower is huge imo. It speeds up the reload enough to justify bringing it with my Martini. It’s so much fun to use.

[@cassidy8307]

A double action pistol is still way better for followups though. Plus you shouldn't be playing that close anyway, given that you have a martini

[@fruffy3220]

@@cassidy8307 I forgot to mention I use the martini reposte usually. But you are still right, a Nagant officer or Scotfield spitfire are usually 10x safer and easier to use. I know it ain't a very safe way to play. But I find it a lot of fun to tag a hunter and just run screaming at them.

[@kontraxt]

@@Hextin YoU aRe HaViNg MoRe FuN iN a ViDeOgAmE YoU hAvE nO cLuE hOw 2 mAkE lOadOutS

[@TRak598]

​@@cassidy8307The Martini is an S-tier close range weapon.

[@dakotabarrett5585]

Winfield Talon plus this bad boy have been a pretty solid loadout lately. I go poison and chaos. Had a game yesterday where I did chaos bolts to keep the other teams fighting and the last two guys traded so I just got to loot all the bodies and get bounty for free. Something you didn't mention about the chaos bolt is that it drops the sound part of the bolt at the halfway point of its trajectory. So the bolt might keep going but the chaos portion drops midair. In addition to needing to aim higher if you want the sounds further out, it also means if you're going for red barrels you need to aim up because the bolt won't set off the barrel, it's the chaos spark that does.

[@ragerontilt4778]

One of my loadouts is Winnie talon and nagant officer brawler at level one and swap to hand xbow with trades. It frees up a tool slot for traps.

[@PenitusVox]

That's some good info about the chaos. You may well be the only person who knows this, hahah.

[@dakotabarrett5585]

@@PenitusVox not anymore haha

[@TRak598]

Solid build, I use it too (minus the Chaos Bolt part). As Reel said, it shines best when paired with weapons that do well on their own, and the Winnie Talon definitely does this... ...Especially if you bring FMJ + Levering; Amazing RoF, Hip Accuracy, Penetration, and you got a big ass Axe attached to the weapon's stock if everything fails (and to kill bosses and get some initial damage on Meatheads). Not using the Swift over it also tends to pay, since while it's true that all Winnies have plenty of reserve ammo and are Compact Ammo (you get 8/15 bullets per resupply), you definitely don't want to run out of ammo ever, as this will prove to be fatal without an Ammo Box, and compromising a consumable slot for the Ammo Box just so you don't have to be more disciplined with your shots (and not by a whole lot, should I say) is kind of stupid and will make you less prepared to face the rest of the game anyways. The reload speed of non-swift Winnies is fine. The Hand Crossbow also makes a lot of sense Trait-wise since Levering is a game changer for the Winnie Talon, which means that you may not have the points needed to buy Quartermaster or Fanning. Moreover, while Bolt Thrower is useful, lacking it won't make the Hand Crossbow any less useful as an almost completely silent AI removal tool (drawing a bolt and firing can be heard from the same distance as a grunt's death, which is less than half the distance from which you can hear someone using melee attacks, and you don't even need to be too close to the AI you shot, as this is a ranged weapon), Poison/Fire/Choke dispenser or even as an ambush tool (miss the first shot or get the enemy to tank it and the Winnie is the best follow up, not another bolt). To sum it up, this loadout is cheap, covers any kind of combat from close to mid-long ranges, only requires Levering to be broken (which is kind of cheap, too), and even though it's fully functional without Bolt Thrower, should you get it, you'll be even more efficient.

[@ryanbolson23]

2:45 from when I’ve found in my own testing it only kills crows and ducks if you hit a bird itself, if you hit near them the still get spooked. Ever since I learned this revelation I’ve not spooked crows once.

[@itszaque5031]

You can do it near them, but shooting them directly is probably a safer bet

[@ryanbolson23]

@@itszaque5031 yeah that was the thing is the inconsistency. When shooting a bird directly I’ve not set them off once in weeks.

[@klabrdonko]

@@ryanbolson23 i wanted to share this fact but iwanted to be only one in incognito mode

[@Khaons]

Great vid, just want to clarify the reload speed for the crossbow. Crossbow - 4.2 seconds Crossbow (Bolt Thrower) - 2.95 seconds Hand Crossbow - 3.9 seconds Hand Crossbow (Bolt Thrower) - 2.7 seconds

[@KillerShock8]

Finally some hand crossbow love! Who doesn’t want a mini silent Romero hand cannon with poison bolts that absolutely destroy 3/4 bosses??

[@frenchy3044]

All your jokes landed well this time around. That The Forest one was amazing.

[@ferroghazi]

Some tips and tricks, you can bring poison arrow and antidote and hide inside the poison clouds, it will protect you from Ai like zombies, hellhounds and immolator. I found out that if you use antidote shot and shot a poison cloud on ground and hide inside the poison cloud, the hellhounds couldn't touch you like you, as if are having a shield protection which is dam cool. Good situation if you hate dealing with crowded zombies or hellhounds, just shot poison on ground and hide inside the poisen clouds with your antitode shot already used, the poisen will kill them automatically when they come near the poison clouds. Do note that it will kill zombies instantly, but for hellounds it won't but they won't be able to touch you even if they are many. Have fun.

[@Himbeer-Toni]

As Dakota said, chaosbolts are able turn other Teams into each other. Also you can make the bountyboys check the other side of a build u wanna sneak in. It also often helps me distract pissed Hunters chasing me in 1 V 3 rounds. At the time i got the most fun in set up traps and shoot people silenced from far. A hard enemy is the Immolator, if it detects someone, his hiding time is over. Poisonbolts silence Immos supersilent from distance. Sad only that the random team mates often not accept it.

[@hilariousnickname]

The fact you listen to podcasts while playing is terrifying. It's so relaxed. At any moment when I'm playing hunt I could be ambushed and murdered by someone who's just chilling in the bayou like they're on a safari holiday, but the game is man.

[@swedisheinherjer]

Oh man... I remember this one game when this random dude on my team completely wiped the server and revived my team! I don't know how he (or she) did it, but we had one bounty.. We took care of one 3-squad but suddenly we got sniped... The only one left in my team took care of the enemy hunters with the hand crossbow and revived the rest of my team. If I knew who that player was... I would buy him, or her, a bottle whiskey!!!

[@CrabQueen]

It should be noted that handxbow poision clouds go straight through walls. If theres some rat holed up in a tower or wall banging, hit em with the gas

[@PenitusVox]

Choke clouds, too! I spooked a scared solo with that the other day, forcing him out of the spot where he was holding an angle.

[@BobPIcs560]

Choke bolts also silently destroy animal cages when fired at the lantern

[@N1injaRhino]

0:57 Fantastic pun with saying flashy as the flash bomb goes off.

[@olninyo]

hand xbow is a personal favourite. that small slot "shotgun" style potential is so so useful, on top of everything else mentioned in the vid

[@marakevans3984]

5:00 "So I can keep listening to my podcast..." -I'm dying- 🤣

[@sike3000]

Silenced Vetterli and Hand Crossbow with Poison is one of my go to loadouts

[@6ch6ris6]

i prefer bayonete over silencer

[@sike3000]

@@6ch6ris6 with the silence vet and hand crossbow you can kill everything in the game without any aggro sound

[@6ch6ris6]

@@sike3000 sure but silenced vetterli s kinda op and it is very annoying. All the benefits of the silenced winnie and more but without its horrible iron sights

[@thedrunkensunbro]

I honestly love that you were listening to jon bernthals podcast. I just watched that episode myself the other day.

[@carlosspicywiener4775]

By far my favorite "side arm"! Take choke bolts and regular bolts. Choke bolts to flush out hunters and also for area denial. I used to use poison bolts for this but plenty of players have antidote ticking so an area you thought was blocked off really isn't and now you get shotgunned in the back. As compared to chokes where there is literally nothing you can do to clear it out. Give it a try!

[@treschlet]

Probably obvious to most, but I didn't really consider this until just the other day; the chaos bolt for the hand crossbow seems a little silly, but it can't be overstated how powerful the ability to launch chaos 250 meters away is. Ultimately I think this makes it a FAR more useful tool than chaos bombs, despite the shorter duration. You can literally make a team think that there's a gunfight an entire compound away, or if you're approaching on one side of a compound, lob them over the top to the opposite entrance. Even if they recognize that it's chaos, they'll probably be looking within throwing distance.

[@alexnewell2606]

“5 seconds is a long time”, thanks Home. Needed to hear that

[@zoobooz8552]

i found your videos when i was ENGROSSED in everything hunt, i have since fallen off hunt for a bit, but love this vids still. When i was playing, hand crossy was my MVP

[@phrikaphrak40k]

Looks like the choke bolts blow up instantly. If your back is against the wall and an enemy is cooking a nade at you, you might as well choke your feet on reaction to hearing the fuse. Instant bomb protection that way.

[@PenitusVox]

Yeah or shooting it at a window they're going to throw the nade through.

[@tristanemerick7045]

Hand crossbow is one of my favorite weapons. Mainly used for crowd control and rotations when pushing boss rooms. Only use regular bolts for silent AI kills but I have gotten a few hunters with them.

[@blueburgundy90]

Chaos bolt is for podcast listening and poison is for scaring crows, got it!

[@bradenmize740]

Love the videos I started using the hand crossbow cause of your Martin Henry and hand crossbow gameplay video

[@pondopondo1497]

Appreciate the dry humor, man. Made me chuckle a bit

[@Overdrive-19]

The chaos bolts are much better than a chaos bomb especially if you spread them a bit out. Great to break up stalemates because people want to take the opportunity to third party

[@LexusLFA554]

Could you do a gun guide on the Caldwell Chain Pistol and the Caldwell Rival? Would love those.

[@Lieutenant_Dude]

You had no right living through that intro clip. My God.

[@robin98464]

I just love the handcrossbow. Its not the best weapon in the game but like you said it has just this super utility paired with a fitting other gun that makes this one so good

[@fogdocs9169]

That was such a good podcast. Loved that little play on words :)

[@sonopegrapher8628]

Also choke bolts can kill dog/chicken coops without that big boom. Hit the top of the lantern (not the wire the lantern is hanging from or it'll put the flame out) and it will cause the fire to fall and kill the animals without a bunch of sound going off

[@DrunkenWizardBattle]

the poison bolts have so much value... soundtraps, AI, door / window denial, and my personal favourite : its a super cheap and easy way to deny a revive... have managed to redown a few players who've been necroed into the gas cloud and it preserves your throwables

[@tom_roche]

REAL ones podcast with Bernthal. I respect it

[@tonyn2184]

To add one thing to the video if you use a antidote shot in combo with the poison shots. You can stand in poison and dogs can't hurt you at all as well as if you cared extra ammo or just use it well you can lock down a building really well. Seeing ass poison also kinda blinds outher and not you it really does give a edge. Poison all the way

[@OhIGotSnacks]

That podcast was actually amazing. Never thought I would enjoy listening to Shia LaBeouf for 2 hours.

[@headnathan]

Thanks for affirming what I say everytime I run the hand crossy. "BEST SIDEARM IN THE GAME."

[@insaineven6896]

I love the euphinisms you use in these videos. "Much like dating advice in england, aiming at a specific bird rather than the whole flock, is your best chance at success". Shit kills me everytime

[@PenitusVox]

The hand crossbow is fun but I use it incredibly rarely. Part of that is because if I have bolt thrower, I'd rather take a full-size crossbow and only mad men take a big crossbow and a hand crossbow. Aside from that, I usually build my loadouts around maximizing spare ammo and the hand crossbow doesn't lend itself to that since its ammo is entirely unique.

[@VexdGamer]

This thing is a godsend for bosses with the poison. That and antagonizing trios that don’t know where you are

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

If I am running a low cost load out, or if I have a high ammo primary I run hand crossbow. It is insane utility. Silent, poison bolts that 1 shot infernals and melt bosses, one shot body shot, etc. Oh and poison bolts are great for zoning too.

[@VintageNarwhal]

I deleted a couple trios in one match with just this and it felt amazing lol. It earned my respect after that lol.

[@AdamSmith-jb2lf]

The fact that this video wasn't sponsored by Audible is a tragedy.

[@Leo-pu2ru]

Literally the best hunt channel

[@SleepyBastard]

Can you do a review on either the bomb Lance or the uppercut?

[@rolling.reggie]

Big fan of the hand crossbow. Esp. w posion bolts. Kinda OP for PvE. Also, I listened to that same Shia podcast with Bernthal lol

[@6ch6ris6]

my favourite second weapon !!!! such a blast paired with mosin-nagant bayonete

[@wicky7591]

You can use blade-seer to find players you have hit with bolts- but it’s usefulness is negligible. It only works up to 25 meters and at that range it would be better to follow up with basically anything else.

[@PenitusVox]

It's probably better just listen for the bleeding at that range. Unless you're trying to wallbang them poison sense style.

[@wicky7591]

This is exceptionally ratty but: You could also know where to aim if you wanted to hold an angle on a downed-hunter through a wall. Since the projectile will still be in them after they are killed.

[@PenitusVox]

@@wicky7591 Ah, good idea! No worse than holding the angle on the bounty through a wall, I guess.

[@vhuyjgvyj]

Also I'm pretty sure that the bolts get dropped when hunters remove the bleeding.

[@PenitusVox]

@@vhuyjgvyj They do, yeah. Same with sticky bombs, by the way.

[@upizzdown-v2331]

I love running Winnie Swift with choke bolts and then going double trip mines

[@Glenn_1358]

Omg finally someone who feels me. Hand crossbow is such an utility weapon!! I use it mostly when i go LRR SNIPING so im usefull against bosses/PVE also quite tactical, denying reviving, blocking doors, killing crows and oneshooting armored etc...

[@fleet6835]

I find the best way to consistently kill crows with poison bolts is to directly strike one of the crows or ducks with the bolt. It usually kills consistently

[@Deffy1992]

hand crossbow has been my main weapon for the last 1600 hours i have in this game. I love it!

[@haydensteward5187]

That Shia interview was good enough to listen to while playing tho

[@anonvideo738]

The effective range tells you the distance the crossbow sights are sighted to. In other words, if you shoot at something 45m the bolt will be slightly lower.

[@kyrax9462]

Still don't know how the sights work, like where am I supposed to be aiming with it

[@lidla2008]

To kill meatheads most efficiently with poison ammo, you can hit them with one to aggro them and immediately start your reload, then wait for them to run toward you. They'll stop, turn, and swing, and you can shoot them when they do this turn and they'll sit in the cloud long enough to die. Two bolts for a silent kill on a meathead. Really nice.

[@d4dave669]

This gun is great for utility. But my 1 hit kills are lacking...

[@HomeReel]

we gotta hop in that bayou, up those numbers

[@atrociousguff1237]

I, too, found that podcast particularly engrossing lol

[@RimaSuit]

Handcrossbow is hands down *pun intented* the best utility weapon. I would also go so far to say that every ammo type can be used unironically for best performance possible. atm I mostly run poison/choke with winfield. Winfield is so versatile at all ranges, a secondary isn't necessary. Instead, poison deals with AI and soundtraps, choke frees up a tool slot to get poison/concertina for deadly traps. Normal bolts are a potential slug shotgun, but a unreliable due to no limb pen + bad velocity. Still strong for a 1slot tho. chaos can be insanely good, really underrated. They actually sound real (mostly) compared to the chaos bomb, also much higher range. If you are in a 3+ team stalemate, shoot at the position of one team to alert the other team and benefit from the result. Literally won games and engagements because of it ngl. I love that weapon so much.

[@pant0sand0hat]

This with one poison bolt and winnie c is my go to load out.

[@hungryhedgehog4201]

hand crossbow my beloved

[@theeroticsponge1256]

god i love the forest so much. It's actually one of the first games I played on pc (near v0.01). Would love to hear how you feel about SOTF because I feel like nobody shares my hype :(

[@Eggu-san]

Didnt know choke kills the poison thank you 😱 Btw. Can you make a video about all meele weapons

[@SbaDefender]

Bro every time someone lights up an explosive I pull out my hand crossbow in a panic and get that choke bolt out just in time to snuff out a super cooked bomb about to murder me

[@ryanle1293]

My friend in my group of three runs two of these things with only chaos bolts, while the two of us during a gun fight rapidly change positions amidst all the noise, makes us hard to pin point

[@Himbeer-Toni]

Ah am not quite shure but, if you hit a hunter with the silent sparks down to one hp, and he runs in a house or around a corner, should the cokebolt detonation/cloud kill him thru a wooden wall or around a corner ?

[@NoisR]

to me the handcrossbow is just utility with the poisen bolts to finish tagged players that wanna hide in a corners or to kill bosses or block areas or people from reviving their teammates.

[@maegnificant]

I didn't hear that spring noise at all.

[@tni333]

2:40 my current working theory is that the poison bolt has to directly hit one crow or duck to kill the flock. Every time it doesn't work I shot in the middle of the pack or the ledge where they sit (like you show in the video), but so far every time I directly aim at a crow, it works. /edit Oh nevermind, you say that yourself a few seconds later 😂

[@6ch6ris6]

i usually go for the middle of the pack and it works 90% of the time. the bolts are just broken. or the birds. its a bug and i hope it will get fixed some day

[@poragon]

How do you listen to a podcast AND listen for audio cues at the same time?! I have a difficult enough time telling between my own footsteps and the enemy's.

[@ramsaybolton9151]

the problem with all the bows is at high level when people constantly air strafe and should peek you will hit their arms, they live and now you die.

[@pl0xyserver]

run with poison bolts and antidote shot, when fighting the boss you can make a lap of poison clouds and just let the boss follow through each, stand still and shoot at the floor if a pack of hellhounds comes at ya and u wont be hit you can afk the assassin using the same method as the hellhounds ;)

[@MrRopman]

cool stuff! :)

[@ksterlings197]

Jon Bernthal: "Lemme tell you something"

[@Sadeyr]

If only it could carry three ammo types at once. I love the hand crossbow, and I love to one-shot, and the poison is just so strong in most cases- but damn it, I really like using the choke bolts so I can bring different tools. But the uses are more limited and poison, and losing my one shot for a choke-poison hand crossbow hurts!

[@harizismail314]

We bought thisd for our son. The first trip he came up to hunt with me, he had a shot at a great buck and wacked him dead to rights at 50 yards. Dead on, literally.

[@ericritchings8739]

Of all people? U no likey Punisher? Awesome show that ended too soon!

[@saltytatertot3124]

Sneaky lil HomeReel, 0:57. That was entirely intentional

[@joestoes427]

With bolt seer perk, can you see players through walls if you hit them with a bolt?

[@ExpertPeeb]

home did you test whether it was possible to track hunters you'd tagged with the bolt using blade seer? that's something i've always been curious about and i dont think it was mentioned in the video

[@xandermelis9896]

Another commenter said you could, but it was pretty niche and not really worth doing

[@DeezNuts-ju1rj]

the guido and nunzio loadout.

[@Moshugaani]

Can you believe that the hand crossbow used to be a medium slot weapon!

[@wowkiller9691]

Does step 2 work only on pc? I'm on the ps5 and it's not working for me, i unchecked the box and click apply but doesn't work:/

[@Massacrillic]

I worry about that too, I always having trouble finisNice tutorialng anytNice tutorialng I try and create, but I figure if I do a little more each day, it'll get there one

[@cassidy8307]

The actual reload speeds are 4 seconds without bolt thrower and about 2.7 seconds with. Ingame stats are weirdly inaccurate sometimes

[@AFestiveDude]

He says “flashy” right as a flash bomb is thrown at 0:57. Planned ingenuity or lucky happenstance? I don’t know

[@BeltfedJoe]

If only we had a handrossbow in The Forest

[@gamesandloot5888]

Subscribed hope the pain goes away.

[@HomeReel]

Cured

[@thedoomlord8618]

Other KZbinrs: This is the best weapon because it can kill in so many ways! This madlad: This weapon can lead people away so you can enjoy your podcast in peace lmfao

[@RevJ7]

Wow, shout out to Jon Bernthals real ones, amirite? That Shia interview was fuckin heavy...

[@jackinmydreeeam3142]

Am i high at 8:23 im hearing absolutely no sound of springs vibrating, only from something else in my body

[@AMainProductions]

Wouldn't blade seer be useful if you shot some one and could then track them in dark vision using your bolt ?

[@PitviperXD]

You could do that but the range on the bolts showing up in dark sight is so short that you're better off going by sound or just rushing

[@Dmitryaga]

Max oneshot range is 19m

[@gabsomniac9607]

I once accidentely shot a chaos bolt on a ennemy hunter, I couldn't stop laughing after that.

[@whyareusobad3528]

I love people who see the damage of the crossbow and try to pvp me with it I just end up running taking a little damage and bleed then heal and blast them

[@Forewarned76]

Ahh but what if you use Blade Seer like some hunters have been using Poison Sense to Wall Bang other hunters?