Hunt Showdown: The Ultimate Guide to Tools

Tools are an essential part of every hunter's loadout. In this video we will look at every tool in the game, compare them, and help you optimize your lineup for maximum lethality in the bayou!
Support us on Patreon: / 4fsgaming
00:00 - Introduction
00:56 - Slot #1
01:45 - Knife
04:35 - Heavy Knife
06:15 - Dusters
08:18 - Knuckle Knife
09:15 - Melee Tool Summary
10:45 - Slot #2
11:10 - Slot #3
12:04 - Fusees
12:50 - Flare Pistol
13:52 - Throwing Knives
15:09 - Throwing Axes
16:21 - Quad Derringer
17:17 - Slot #4
17:37 - Alert Tripmine
18:07 - Concertina Tripmine
18:43 - Poison Tripmine
19:04 - Choke Bomb
19:58 - Decoys
20:54 - Blankfire Decoys
21:16 - Decoy Fuses
22:20 - Spyglass
22:54 - Electric Lamp
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hunt Showdown Affiliate: You can use the code: "4FS" To get 10% off Hunt: Showdown and support our channel at the same time!
shop.crytek.com/?ref=3485
Watch our live streams: / ascendance4fs
Chat to us on Discord: / discord
Stay tuned for updated on twitter: / 4fsgaming
Keep in touch with Facebook: / 4fsgaming

[@remsilvertongue25]

I recently found out that throwing regular decoys at barricaded doors makes the same sound as when you try to open or punch them (Minus the melee noise.) Never actually put it to any practical use, but I bet you could scare the shit out of boss lair campers with it.

[@4FSGaming]

Great addition! Sometimes it's good just to mess with people

[@nickmclean4004]

Throwing knives do as well, if I'm not mistaken. With the added ninja quality lol

[@JedediahCyrus]

Something to add to this, I was able to use regular decoys and the pitcher perk to get some campers attention by throwing it by a dog kennel. Meanwhile I was much further away and as soon as they started to poke their heads out and look that direction I got two easy headshots with a sparks. I feel like decoys are very underrated.

[@nickmclean4004]

@@JedediahCyrus I would like to add the utility of the Silent Nagant as well. Shooting doors also sound like someone "knocking" I had a stand-off 1v2 against camperish folk- 1 with a shotty and the other an Atvomat. I had no perks either. I couldn't rush and didn't want to risk footsteps, so I would shoot at doors, windows, and explosive barrels to hide my rotations. It seemed like it worked and I only hope it added fearful suspense for them haha. I think I blew up maybe 5 or so barrels throughout the 15-min fight. I did eek a win somehow, and since then I'm sold on the Mosquito.

[@neogenesis7706]

Choke bombs are a must. Almost as important as a knife and a med kit. Honestly only the 4th slot you get a choice.

[@thick9996]

true i mean you can cover the extraction point so you are less visible at range and you can choke entry points ... no pun intended :D

[@SegundoDjapp]

The "need" for a range silent weapon... idk, i just dont see the "need" for it, sure its nice. But having a choke as #3 and utility in 4th is way better IMO. I agree with you in full

[@F3nryl]

Yep, chokes are safeslot.

[@mochiboot6502]

The knuckle knife has more utility than meets the eye. First off, the KK requires only 7 light attacks (way less than a full stamina bar) to break down a door, FYI. It also is the best melee tool for grinding weapon XP: hit a grunt with one light attack then just use a light attack with any weapon to gain weapon XP on it. Three heavy attacks to an armored plus one light attack with any weapon also grants the desired weapon XP.

[@isaacmarcucci3777]

3 heavy attacks kills an armored grunt.

[@fabiopascoal5023]

@@isaacmarcucci3777 it's 4 with the knuckle knife

[@purcelash1]

@@fabiopascoal5023 its 3 heavy and 1 light

[@malcolmdowley7330]

“Stabby Hands perk” is how I will refer to it from now on. Brilliant.

[@bourbonuscreamius2354]

I’m glad to see more men of culture.. Long live stabby hands!

[@ericyi5661]

Since the new event I've been using throwing axe as the melee weapon. Although melee consumes a lot of stamina, throwing is actually great. It consumes little stamina, makes little noise and does a lot of damage, and it can take out armoured/hive with one hit without alerting them. I used to bring fusees in the 3rd slot for armoured/hive but now throwing axe is a more efficient&quiet option, and it saves the 3rd slot for bringing something else.

[@ImChurro]

With all the new people entering the bayou, 4FS smacks the ball out of the park with another banger video

[@shabribill2194]

To be honest, i really dont see knuckle knife as a problem against dogs. Light attack is super fast and it stunts them, and it also costs very little stamina, just two taps on a dog gets the job done and u can just switch between the dogs that are attacking you, light attacks are more useful than people tend to think imo

[@leopoldo3884]

much better than the dusters and heavy knife thats for sure

[@CaptainYesz]

It's the best one I think. Just don't make the mistake of stabbing when you don't want and the single tap @ the right times makes it stupid efficient

[@happyjonn9242]

this guy obvs sucks vs dogs. if you are solo vs 4 dogs unless you have a heavy knife your in trouble anyway.

[@Altrop]

@@happyjonn9242 With a knuckle knife you can easily kill 4 dogs without even getting hit. Just circle strafe while punching them. The punch staggers them too. Always remember AI bodyblocks each other. So 1, 2, 3, 4 dogs, doesn't matter, by circling you can take on one at a time.

[@hero-0f-war]

I want to add that the Knuckle Knife (while not really being great by itself) is a great compromise when running dual medium slot weapons (i.e. Vandal + Romero Handcannon as a budget equipment), since they are terrible against immolators and dogs. For the price (iirc 15 H$) it's extremely good and especially versatile. Also I'd argue about the silent AI clearing tool. Yes, Throwing Knives are not fast in killing armored, but the fact that you basically have unlimited of them (as in you don't need tool boxes to resupply them) makes them extremely versatile and the way better tool against AI outside of pushing aggressively (meaning speed). I always go for Knives over Flare. The Hatchets are a very good middle ground tho.

[@scotch1148]

The Knuckle Knife to me is the best at doing good by itself with nothing else. That's the whole draw of it. It gets fast PVE clearing, one shot headshot hunter stabs and fast blunt attacks for immolators. I'm probably pretty biased as that's the only melee tool I use, but being a generalist/good or decent by itself is definitely the main positive of the weapon. I would agree with knives over flares/fusees though. If you run packmule/double stam shot then they can really screw you over with getting your consumables back. Even just an antidote shot, and it's difficult to get a consumable in that slot if you often use the fusees in the way they were intended you need to keep them until you get the consumables back. Which defeats the purpose since you want to use them to clear enemies as you move through a compound. Not to mention if you don't have packmule you can be forced to take fusees from a tool box even though you might really need consumables.

[@AngRyGohan]

If your argument for Knuckle knife is because of the 2 medium weapon choices.... then you are basically saying Knuckle knife is well paired with Bows unless you have quartermaster.

[@hero-0f-war]

@@AngRyGohan that's true, or you run Dewclaw, but in case of Dual Bow I usually take the Knuckle Knife

[@tricky5727]

@@scotch1148 I’m always happy to see fuses when I loot, but usually I always feel like I have enough fuses for every match

[@scotch1148]

@@tricky5727 It's different for everyone, I just prefer to get throwables back when I loot, as even if I have packmule, fusees can still mess me up, I usually play solo so I end up using them a lot more. They're also just bad to pair with double stam shot because getting the consumable slots back can be difficult with fusees. Killing an armoured with melee really doesn't take that long, and if there's a concertina armoured 9 times out of 10 there will be a lantern nearby.

[@CetomimusGillii]

My favorite use for the spyglass (besides saving money and showing off that sweet sweet Steel Eye) is checking sneaky cracks in barns and such to see if anyone's peeking them. The ADS zoom is so extreme that you can do this from a safe distance. I love the peace of mind (and occasional free sniper kills) this affords when rolling up to boss compounds

[@4FSGaming]

Nice one, there are some especially nasty crack peeks on DeSalle that not enough people know about yet, so I can certainly see that coming in handy.

[@CetomimusGillii]

@@4FSGaming Yeah, unfortunately I need to learn those too before I can check them! But they always come in handy at fort, Nichols' and Pelican to for those louvre windows that people often feel safe peeking from. Alice and Arden also come to mind as having plenty of places I like to give a once-over before going in, especially when solo

[@graham3289]

The spyglass is really good for checking if doors and windows are spawned in. Windows and doors only spawn when hunters are in a certain range so for $8 you can know if a team is in a compound even if they don't make any noise

[@CetomimusGillii]

@@graham3289 Woah, I've definitely noticed that before, but I change my gfx settings every now and then and figured it was a bug that only shows up at certain LOD settings. Thanks for the tip!

[@captfodder]

@@graham3289 I knew this about grunts but not doors and window shutters - thanks!

[@greatcorvianscynthe1231]

8:32 I'm pretty sure the knuckle knife require less stamina than the normal knife though

[@Idc.at-all]

Yeah it does I’m pretty sure the knife only gets 4 heavy attacks and the knuckle knife can do 5 or 6

[@markyelwell995]

Great video, however with tool slot 3, killing hives and armoureds with fusees, or flare guns is in no way quiet and can be heard half a compound away to a compound away. This would be helpful information for new players as then they can act accordingly after killing these targets and not continue crouch walking into a compound thinking they are all “stealthy” . Haha which is hilarious for opponents to see.

[@happyjonn9242]

best way is to avoid hives in the first place and generally spent as little amount of time in compounds as possible. they are sound trap heavy.

[@bigsmoke8816]

Another use for fusees is for fighting Scrapbeak 2 fusees thrown into him back to back will take away a little less than 1/4 of his health without triggering his Frenzy, making them one of the best ways to take him out quietly

[@bobzthabarbarian]

Being I'm on console, my medkit is always my first slot, due to it already being set as a "quick slot" and then it's my melee tool in 2nd. I usually take the knuckleknife, due to its versatility, but this event has me running the throwing axe as my only melee tool(crazy, but I run two big stam shots) and then I always run the choke bombs, unless im running solo. Then I run poison and tina traps. Usually my fourth slot is empty, but I will run either a flare gun or tina traps.

[@dave6653]

I'm a big fan of Decoy Fusees and alert trip mines despite being less popular than choke bombs for that 4th slot. I guess I like going against the meta. I like punishing people with the mines that aren't looking and then punishing campers by throwing the decoy fuse in to get them to move and then just run into the decoy fuse knowing it's fake.

[@Orangefox-]

The only "tools" I take into a hunt are my teammates XD

[@Trick762]

I feel like you could have gone over their prices too. For instance I really like using the throwing axes, but spending 60 bux on them every time felt like it wasnt worth it.

[@4on4nam]

As a knuckle knife convert - a correction and some more info/my opinion: -Is *more* stamina efficient than the knife - 6 heavy stabs to drain a full bar where knife takes 4. Light attack is also stamina efficient, like dusters -Blunt light attack almost does the same damage as the dusters' heavy attack, and comes out much faster Compared to the dusters (IMO: Straight upgrade unless dealing with a 10+ grunt apocalypse) +Can easily 1 hit hunters, grunts +Stabbing attack can deal with bosses +High damage light attack kills immolators quicker (4L > 3H) +Beats down barricaded doors faster (~5Ls) +Kills armoreds quickly (2H2L vs 4H1L) =Cannot deal with concertina - needs dynamite or a slashing bayonet -Less stamina efficient when heavy swinging, but essentially equal with higher damage light swings Compared to the knife (IMO: Sidegrade with tradeoffs) +Much better stamina efficiency, especially when light attacking +Immolators are a cakewalk +Can batter down barricaded doors and do so quickly (~5Ls) =Both easily 1 hit hunters, grunts to the head -Cannot slash concertina -Armoreds take 2H2L instead of 3H -Hellhounds take 1H1L instead of 1H (So yeah, knuckle knife gives great stamina efficiency and the ability to batter down barricaded doors in combat situations, while giving up very little. I'm a huge fan)

[@skidloader1207]

The light attacks of the knuckle knife are crazy good! You can get rid of hive bombs/swarms faster than any other way. It also means you can hold your own against AI without stamina (you can kill immolators without any stamina without losing health). All in all i think the only relevant advantage of the regular knife is killing dogs but with the knuckle knife you gain so much more and the bunt part is actually better than dusters.

[@4on4nam]

@@skidloader1207 True! I completely forgot about the hive swarms - hive bombs are next to nothing with knuckle knives!

[@katanaridingremy]

Great video! I knew everything already but still loved watching this and agree with the loadout selection. I've reverted to using fuses more than flare pistol, for the ammo count and utility during dark fights. That was before the reduction in night maps and bows though. If I take bows or crossbow than I bring traps

[@szuperzaki]

Electric lamp and/or spyglass should be default tools for every hunter.

[@khuziplays5651]

Yeah built in mechanics or someone

[@jaydenfox678]

This is old ik but I always have an electric lamp equipped. They blind hunters let's u see in the dark(if the light doesn't hit your weapon) and the biggest thing is they actually make poison clouds super bright

[@Don-ds3dy]

Is this a joke?

[@TouchOfMidas21]

​@@Don-ds3dy probably not; he is saying these tools should always be available as an in-game mechanic in addition to your chosen tools

[@MobiusFun64]

I've used the heavy knife enough now that I see it as just a straight upgrade from the hunting knife. I've lost maybe two PVP fights because I accidentally slashed someone in the arm instead of the head but I've won many more. You really have to get used to the swing though. I still have moments where I potato aim or a grunt aim-punches me and my slash goes right over their head. Thanks to scrapbeak, I'm clearing concertina more often and the hunting knife is too slow at that. If we only have hunting knives, me and my friends find it's faster to just walk into the wire to destroy it which is not a great thing to be doing when other teams show up. It might also be better at killing dogs (with a lot of practice). The heavy swing can kill a dog with a body shot and if you're aggressive, you can hit multiple dogs with it.

[@russeshe001]

Good points, and I'd also add that while normal knife is better for a 'desperation attack' where you're trying to one-shot a player who has thoroughly put you in a corner, the heavy knife is more reliable when you're playing with a communicating team, because the bleed ensures the enemy can't respond as effectively to the rest of your allies even if you bungle the one-shot. And, more importantly, in those moments where you're pulling a knife to finish off an injured enemy, you have a much better chance to hit them even if they try to juke you. Again, you're making one-shots a little harder to pull off on players, but there's something to be said for just making sure that hit lands, especially with six light attacks in the bar that can all do the job on someone you've already shot.

[@holysecret2]

The only real downside to the heavy knife forme is the fact that it can only do slashing damage and no piercing damage, which is a disadvantage against Scrapbeak.

[@KitKat-lp8gn]

Your tutorials are still very usefull even though they might be relatively old but nobody seems to be making in depth tutorials anymore. Might be because the player base doesn't have any new players since it is a hard game but it is even harder to start playing now. Thanks for all the tutorials 😘

[@SlaineMor]

Very thorough sir well done... I think your default setup makes excellent sense and swapping based upon weapon choices (like 3 slot primary with blunt attack for immolators can replace need for blunt tool but most mid sized weapons do crap blunt damage) . Very helpful. There is a stam shot meta which adds arrogance to this choice which may get the nerf bat!

[@seang8702]

Love your informational videos as always. Keep up the good work!

[@graham3289]

Always love your vids on hunt. Share it to my teammates so we can all play better together

[@NuageMH]

To be honest shooting with flare gun in the sky during night is pretty cool and if you know some ennemies are camping in the middle of a forest or something like that, it's so freaking bright in the middle of the night.

[@Rashghar1337]

Very, very nice video. Very informative. As a new player (

[@CatManDoom84]

Great video as always! My setup is always medkit,melee (knife knuckles), concertina, and then usually flares. I def wanna try alert trips on red barrels, but like ya said, no guarantees as opposed to concertina. ppl always ask me why i set em off myself rather than let people walk into them lol.

[@alexanderhoh5767]

Great video :) With the ranged tools i think it also needs to be mentioned that you can get your knives and axes back by picking them up. Because nothing sucks more than needing a medkit from a tool box and then getting derenger shots or a fail. So thats a big plus for throwing knives/axes

[@tingle_belle]

Love your videos! They are so helpful!

[@Thonmauve]

Very informative for new players like me, thank you!

[@marioroman7188]

Thanks man I had no idea how many uses choke bombs had.

[@shabbychurl789]

I agree with your reasoning for everyday Hunt matches. This Event though has made me pick the tomahawks as ptimary melee weapon plus dusters in slot 3. on my Team someone always carries a bow for hives and when theres too many grunts around the dusters have me covered

[@MrDrOpossum]

Very quality video man, thank you.

[@Mrmoocows99]

Blank Fire Decoys also make the 'Muzzle' flash that would happen if you were actually shooting, so if you peek a window and get shot at, throwing them at the rim of that window and producing the flash can often get players to blow a few rounds at the window thinking you are still peeking and shooting.

[@--___--d]

Thank you for the guide Orifice gaming!

[@Roberta-yf4ge]

Knuckle knife is by far the best over all melee, fact is that heavy into light is extremely good. This allows you too 2 hit player and dogs in the body really fast.

[@michaelrosenbaum4822]

If you need two hits to kill a player, you're likely dead though.

[@happyjonn9242]

@@michaelrosenbaum4822 i've killed plenty. if you get 1 melee hit and they are usually panicking, follow up hit is easy enough.

[@LordRazer3]

Use a Chaos bomb at night and fire a flare gun the way it was meant to be fired, in the air. Simply put if you find the boss lair and know if some ones already in there you can ring the dinner bell for all the other's and ether wait until the end to pick off stragglers or join the party!

[@tricky5727]

Someone already mentioned that the decoys on doors make noise, but decoys can also trigger traps at range such as bear traps.

[@mochiboot6502]

For team play, I agree with your suggested loadout. But as a solo player, decoy fuses + blank fire decoys are great.

[@happyjonn9242]

for solo best way is nagant sniper and sit at least 3 compounds away from the boss, hope for a lucky kill then extract when you don't get it, knowing your kda is still safe.

[@henryboard317]

Another note for the fuses, you can use them to retreat/ block an advance.

[@bailwat]

Definitely agree with you on your choices, but shoud have mentioned that the dusters are pretty good (but a bit slow) vs the assasin if you dont find a axe or hammer inn the world. And my tools are The Hatchet, duster, choke and medkit inn that order. Oh and I shoud say that Im a 4-5 star hunter.

[@Deathwhisper2]

Smalll bonus of Knuckle knife and dusters is that they are cheaper. I've managed to run out of money at one point after prestiging and had to run budget runs. Just grab a knuckle knife or dusters and medkit and free hunter. If you grab at least one clue you making a profit even if you die instantly after.

[@khuziplays5651]

Not much difference lmao

[@DCWE46]

Although i gotta admit i kinda like the fusees more. Apart from that agree with your tool setup

[@domskillet5744]

I actually like running a silenced primary and carry both choke bombs and decoy fuses. Nothing is more satisfying than throwing a decoy fuse, running after it to see everyone's back to you as they run away and gunning a team down. And choke bombs just have so much utility I always gotta have them. Then I can use the silenced weapon for Armored and hives at a distance. Obviously it makes you a bit weaker in pvp but if you pick your timing and angles, it's much harder to locate where you are getting shot from with a silenced weapon.

[@joshhasty08]

Knife and med kit are must haves for me on every hunt

[@lukebortot7625]

I would argue that choke bombs are essential (if you are not playing solo). I am toxic and insta-burn and if you don't have a choke bomb you have to rush me or else your partner will be red skulled. Decoys are in my opinion the best 4th tool, they have 101 different uses. Every time I don't take decoys I always feel like I am missing something.

[@ladams391]

I was excited for the event pretty much exclusively because of the bow, and took that path first and managed to finish it within a few days. The bow is great fun, but not something I personally will run often since I tend towards long range sharpshooter and uppercut+shotgun loadouts. Upon unlocking the throwing axes, however, I was absolutely enamored, and have run them literally every round since I got them. I wasn’t really interested at first because on paper they sound maybe just above mediocre, but in application they feel simply amazing to me.

[@122martin122]

Thanks for the info good video!

[@ericjames4034]

Dusters are just really nice when you're running 2 medium slots

[@4FSGaming]

Yes they are!

[@Rig_JW]

Depends. Don't forget to check melee damage on medium slot weapons. Some have regular damage as big slot weapon. All pistols with stocks do for example (Naggant Precision, Bornheim Match, Dolch Precision).

[@ericjames4034]

Wow I didn't know that. But then again I never run any of those weapons lol

[@alexisJonius]

I absolutely love to bring fusees to use in compounds when im holding a position to make it harder to see my whilst i can see them perfectly (Using smart placement ofcourse), add some traps to the mix and you have an impenetrable defence (Dunno if this gets ruined in duos, i play solo)

[@I-love-karaoke370]

Thanks very informative

[@joelplease9039]

derringer is my go-to, i mostly have nagant silencer as a sidearm. the derringer is actually the best emergency gun in my opinion for example: You are cornered in a compound and you emptied both your main and sidearm, you can still kill a squad with the derringer.

[@Jacksonace1]

I'm almost always solo so I got kind of a weird setup that helps to keep me stealthy not just in fights, but in terms of letting me not push into places to resupply my stuff. Normally I'll have a medkit, concertina mines, throwing axes, and dusters. I also normally have the tomahawk perk so I try and carry a sledgehammer or shovel so I can get rid of both trash mobs and immolaters easily and quietly. I gotta play paranoid since I'm alone and the longer I gotta fight things, the more noise that makes.

[@BeautifulSafety]

Just got back on Hunt after a year not having money for ps+ It is good to be back! Nice to see it has grown even bigger now Ps4 poison players if you want to team up...around 1.7 kd

[@jeckelvhydefro-m-e]

Great vid. Heavy knife and reg. Knife must work differently on console. Heavy knife does in 4 grunts in 1 heavy swing. 2-3 hunters in 1 heavy swing if you catch them close together (1-2 meters apart)

[@MorganSuhm]

Two advantages to note about the heavy knife: it makes faster work of bosses than the regular knife and knuckle dusters (especially when you have a stamina shot) and it is able to clear out concertina wire much more efficiently. I can't count the amount of times people just give up and try to find an alternate route when they encounter concertina or use an explosive and give away their position, whereas with a heavy knife you can cut a path through and surprise the hell out of a camper.

[@hellidontknow85]

The heavy knife legendary that is a sickle has a different animation for its heavy. That feels really good for the headshot on enemy hunters. My buddy swears by it.

[@victorkunchev6438]

I use basically 2 setups: medkit > throwing axe > concertina > choke bombs (if I don't have a melee attachment) or medkit > alert trips > concertina > choke bombs (if I have a melee attachment)

[@DivingHawker]

The other day, I actually made quite good use of decoys. Some guy was camping on a roof and was really being a pest so I closed the gap a bit, not too much because his team was close by, and I threw decoys on the side of his building, close by, and that's where he went to the edge of the roof to investigate and ate a bullet of mine. Funnily enough, this worked multiple times.

[@MasterOfTheBrood]

my build changes regularly depending on what I'm doing. If I'm running solo I like to run a lot of traps, but if I'm running with a Team I NEED choke bombs, they're a downright necessity. I also like to put the Med-kit in the fourth and final slot, because I put my vitality shot in my first consumable slot, so I have both my healing items right next to each other.

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

I like running the Derringer instead of a melee tool when I am running a melee weapon like the Saber. It gives a ranged option in cases where you can't, or don't, want to use your primary weapon or Saber.

[@bigdkay3052]

For everyone watching played a trio with 4fs and he is so tactical and has a solution for every single situation. Guys a Fkn legend.

[@mythiclords3175]

I often go fusees(red) AND flare gun because I love their utility. I'll even go flare rounds in my lematte. Especially in a night map or when pushing bounty campers it creates a lot of confusion.

[@kyloren3693]

The throwing Hatchets, and the assailant perk offer a great, and powerful melee option for builds with long reloads while trapped in an intense clutch. I've gotten multiple melee kills with throwing Hatchets, it's like the big knife on steroids for the same stamina cost.

[@michaelrosenbaum4822]

The stamina cost seems a big drawback for me, and I'm curious what the assailant perk gets you. (IE: how does the damage translate / compare with regards to killing armoreds or bosses, etc.)

[@HendorneEndohRoth]

My tool loadout is usually a knuckle knife - since I like that the heavy attack is more stamina efficient than a knife on grunts - , a first aid kit, and throwing axes. My fourth tool is either choke bombs if I'm not solo, otherwise concertina trip mines if I am solo.

[@MeatSnax]

I do wanna say about flares and fusees, I've never identified that I was killed because I created a big light source, but I can say that there have been situations where I was able to keep track of another hunter's rough location from the light, when I probably would have lost track of it if they'd just shot a gun. I'm not great at remembering sound cue locations in chaotic fights so maybe it's a personal thing, but I've definitely gotten kills because somebody threw a fusee in an open compound or on a night map. I just started playing again after a long break so I'm really into throwing axes, but maybe once the novelty fades I'll be back to my fusees.

[@nunull6427]

If you like dusters but don't want to use a tool for it, the officer brawler variant is amazing in terms of dmg, speed, and stamina usage with only a little sacrifice to the guns already great handling.

[@happyjonn9242]

nah silenced pistol with poison ammo.

[@TheSitzheizung]

nice vid. I personally prefer decoy fuses on the third slot and choke bombs on the fourth.

[@fluffysheap]

I sometimes don't bother with a melee tool at all. If you have a silent weapon (especially one with poison ammo) you can get by with that and a few well placed whacks with the butt of the rifle. If you don't have silent killer these are quieter than melee. Not only does it free up a tool slot, it allows you to get charges for other tools or consumables from toolboxes. Of course if you brought a melee weapon in a weapon slot you often don't need a melee tool either, unless you don't have anything blunt at all to deal with immolators. (Pair that bomb lance with an officer brawler or obrez mace!) Tools are great - well balanced with lots of room for personal preference and situation specific stuff.

[@commandermongo2267]

Thanks bro 👌

[@alandraves2999]

Will there be a consumables video as well? I pretty much agree with your setup although idk if its just a glitchy server or what but I've had immolators not insta kill with chokes before. Its happened on multiple occasions.

[@blackknightz5036]

I actually run the tomahawk as my melee, you can get 3~4 swings in before you're exhausted and even then you can still throw the axe when you have no stamina. I don't take the Assailant perk cause it change the melee swing from downward to horizontal meaning it often just hit the arm rather than head/torso.

[@MrFahqup]

100% factual. 1k+ hours and across the board it's anything but heavy knife, medkit, flare pistol, choke bomb if on a team (alert trips for dirty red barrel kills if solo).

[@darkolos5836]

I honestly really like the spyglass. Its nothing special but just having it to take a closer look is just nkce

[@luke_of_astora]

This is exactly how all of my hunters go out, with the exception that I usually take a nagant officer brawler as my sidearm, so I replace the knife with the throwing axes.

[@17holloween]

Throwing axes for melee tool you can silently kill zombies and horses from range and can swing it at commons and kills husks/hives in 1 throw to the chest.

[@GaruhHuerta]

Usually i dont use a cc utility, just use a knives/axe and carry blunt on the biggest weapon. Sometimes i prefer use knuckles and a henrry riposte; solves the concertina problems, crow kill, pvp useful and big groups of mobs and just the knucle for the stamina save and inmolators. I like the weapons with riposte; theyre useful on pvp and multitasking.

[@PsyTramper]

I use the melee of throwing knives to be able to cut barbed wire since I fell in love with the knuckleknife. It´s definitely not the best choice to cut barbed wire, but it gets the job done. I don´t struggle that much with hellhounds tbh, especially when I have the Bloodless trait. Before I used knife and a derringer, but that felt like wasted potential compared to throwing knives and knuckle knife. Throwing knives are really good against hellhounds btw they allow me to kill one, two or even more before they get too close for comfort. On a stream I heard that throwing knives combined with the new trait for more melee damage with throwing knives and throwing axes they deal the same amount of damage like the regular knife, but didn´t test that myself yet.

[@trevorlobban6724]

knuckle knife > medkit > choke bombs > derringer / concertina wire is my go to setup, personally.

[@Rig_JW]

A few comments: - It's not true that throwing knives are useless as melee tool with assailant. In my tests they deal the same damage with the same amount of stamina as a regular knife. - Throwing Axes are extremely unreliable and you have only 2. So yes, they can be stealthy. But they also slow you down significantly because you need to go and recover them. Their damage is also extremely random (not killing a horse sound trap with a throw to the back). For me they are better for melee as it's light attack kill a grunt even when tired. - Decoys can also be used to kill leches silently (they have 1hp), bait off water devils and break windows. They are useful for some things that a silenced weapon also is. Also the range is quite exceptional. I'd also love if they would merge spyglass and lamp as a one tool. They are good in opposite weather types (lamp at night, spyglass during day) so it could do them some justice.

[@4FSGaming]

Great additions about the decoys! I completely forgot about using them so send off water devils.

[@Guapter]

sure it is been 2 years, but my overall best favorite tool is throwing axes. They are versatile, reliable, fun, and i don't need any other melee tool. This is my 1 slot, killing most of the enemies in one swing/throw is 2 good for me. If you are out of stamina you always can throw in point blank and immediately pull out without any stamina issue. Silently killing hives, one throw armored etc. Also knucke-knife is good but it is not so good in pvp as axes. Other slots are: triple traps without medkit (i always have one big healing siringe and big regen siringe, which is covering 90% of situations). Mining entire compound with traps is very funny. Other choise - when i dont have traps opened yet, or want to play more agressive - medkit, flaregun/flaretrap(since last update alarmtrap can set on fire corpses it have huge versatility), last slot- mood slot: smoke/shotgun-derringer/fuses

[@doritoman2593]

Corrections: 1. Heavy Knife clears Grunts with 1 light to head, Hives with 1 light to the head, Armoreds with 2 heavies and 1 light (leaving enough stamina for two more lights for Grunts or one more heavy, while the Knife only has stamina for 1 heavy for a Grunt), and Hellhounds with 1 light to head (but more often 1 heavy, since the head is hard to hit). Since you get 3 heavies with the Heavy Knife, Hellhounds are only any more of an issue with a Heavy Knife rather than a Knife when in a pack of 4 (their max single pack size). This makes the Heavy Knife better in almost every single PvE encounter except for a pack of 4 Hellhounds. What the Knife has over the Heavy Knife is PvP and that's it. It's a good advantage to have, but please don't act like the Heavy Knife is straight worse when it, by the numbers, does almost the entire PvE side better. 2. The Flare Pistol can be heard fairly easily ~125 meters away. You can test this in the 3D view. The Flare Pistol is quieter, but can certainly be heard from a compound away. For example, a common rooftop Hive to deal with is one at Lockbay Docks. A Flare Pistol shot from that point can be heard from Alice Farms and the southern area of Darrow Livestock. 3. Throwing Knives with the Assailant trait take on almost identical stats as a Knife. 4 heavies per bar. 1 heavy per Grunt. 1 heavy per Hive. 3 heavies per Armored. 1 heavy per Hellhound. It's almost completely identical, but the Throwing Knives' light attacks take ever so slightly less stamina and are a stab instead of a slash. If you have Assailant, Throwing Knives can easily replace your melee tool because they are literally a Knife in everything but appearance. 4. Knuckle Knife takes less stamina per heavy than a Knife, not more. Knife can use 4 heavies per bar, while the Knuckle Knife can use 6 heavies per bar. Also, for Hellhounds, it is far easier to use a heavy + light combo per Hellhound to kill them. The heavy will stagger the Hellhound to the ground and you can quickly finish them off with 1 light attack follow-up. Not as easy as a Knife, obviously, but you don't need to bother trying to headshot a Hellhound. When using this method, you can also kill 4 Hellhounds in one stamina bar, which is just as much as a Knife. 5. Not so much a correction as a clarification: The Knife takes two light attacks to kill a Grunt, so, when out of stamina it will require two slow, out of stamina attacks per Grunt. Whether you consider this "easy" to use to hold off 3 Grunts is subjective, but this needed to be clarified.

[@4FSGaming]

Some good points here! I suppose the issue with throwing knives + assailant is that they match knives for PvE, but don't have the one thing that makes the knife really good, which is that stab attack for hunters/reliable hits, so you're handicapping yourself by taking this on it's own. It's a similar thing to remember with the heavy knife too. Much of the stamina efficiency on paper is significantly hampered by wide swings that clip arms, making the knife a better choice all around for PvE and PvP. The light/heavy combo is great for hounds! But unfortunately it means you have to land twice as many hits as you would with a knife, slowing you down considerably and introducing significantly higher chances of error. As for the flares, I suppose quiet is relative. The distance from lockbay to Alice is close enough that you're only a few meters off hearing melee and aggro sounds from the other compound.

[@doritoman2593]

@@4FSGaming The heavy attack for Throwing Knives with Assailant is also a stab.

[@4FSGaming]

I shall have to revisit that then!

[@crazylasagna3576]

Trick for hellhounds if you have dusters or knuckle knife. For dusters, heavy hit. If you don’t hit the head but hit the body, a light attack will finish them off. For knuckle knife, all you need are two light swings.

[@freaki0734]

I also think that the knuckle knife might have a slightly faster heavy light attack than the knife which is a factor in both pvp and fighting hounds I could be mistaken though

[@tnecniw]

My favorite tool set up is Knife, Kit, Throwing knives / Throwing axe (not sure which I prefer as of yet) and a choke. Allows flexibility :)

[@tnecniw]

@Dibs I am sure that works well too. But that requires that perk.

[@Yxxilis]

I usually use these tools: 1. Knuckle Knife , 2. Throwing Knife/Axe , 3. Alert Trap /Choke Bomb , 4. Medikit Depends if i am playing with team mates or alone. Also if you want to level a new and cheap hunter, you can put scrap decoys in slot 2 and fusees in slot 3 to have most utility of your money, since scrap decoys can be used to put out lanterns or trigger traps form a safe distance.

[@BraindeadCRY]

The derringer is a meme, but its also an extremely valuable pvp tool for some loadouts. Its far more effective than a lot of people seem to think and its easier to switch to the derringer than reload mid fight or try to awkwardly fight cqb with a scoped weapon.

[@TheGreatMoonFrog]

lol, we have the same tool loadout. I leave flares if I have a silenced weapon and switch out a trap. Knuckles if I don't have a full size gun. Or for solo runs I also switch out smoke bombs for traps.

[@oxmcginnes6253]

i'm a throwing knives fan, but it seems i need to try the Flare pistol, because i remember too many accounts struggling with armored in tight situations.

[@Volriker]

My tools are generally the same as yours :P I prefer knuckle knife over normal knife though, because it is a one-tool-for-everything. Instead of throwing knifes I use nowadays the axes, but I already found out that I stopped clearing coops and kennels while I have them. Maybe will go back to throwing knifes in the future. Chokes bombs are great, I mainly use them to block paths and choke opponents.

[@crazylasagna3576]

My tool loadout 1. Dusters/Knuckle 2. Throwing Knives/Axes 3. Medkit 4. Decoy Fuses/Choke I use knuckle only if my loadout lacks close range functionality. Throwing knife or axes depends on what I feel like. Medkit is medkit. I run Decoy Fuses if I have a CQC build and chokes for rifles.

[@benjaminb.6424]

I like about the throwing knifes that you can kill grunts silently without the melee "argh" that the hunter does when you use the knife. When hunters are nearby and you have to clear a path they are most silent option. Also the hive screaming while it's burning to death from fuses is not good. The throwing axe might be with the perk a Romero hatchet alternative. Which would be strong but have to test more, the ark seems pretty similar. They are just expensive but might are better then throwing knifes. So it's knife, throwing knife (when unlocked and enough cash throwing axe with perk), medkit, choke bomb or spy glass (choke bomb is a bit overrated) in my opinion).

Nice guide! Ive replaced the knife by the throwing hatchet as my melee tool. You need to manage your stamina carefully but its so versatile that I really like it so far.

[@clarkogles3289]

hey 4FS I was wondering if you could do a combat guide to the tower at lawson. I seem to always run into a team camping up there but can never dig them out despite getting 1-2 picks prior to pushing.

[@Apgl257]

I like to keep medkit in slot 4 so it's right next to the vitality shots

[@MrRom117]

for some reason im always placing medkit first then dusters :D with a bow or silencer at my side i go: Medkit, duster every time. Last 2 slot traps mostly

[@zsasz21]

I usually use a randomizer app on my phone for my loadouts so if it has me go with a bayonet, talon, hatchet, or mace, then I don't run a melee and I use choke bombs, medkit, concertina trip mines, and a flare pistol. Otherwise I randomize the melee cause I own every legendary not tied to trials or prestiging

[@themediocrehunter4152]

For concertina armoreds I just stab it twice and get a buddy to stab it twice afterwards. No chunks lost.

[@pipe8621]

"If you have a stabby rifle, you can't kill immolaters" *laughs in pistol whip*

[@DoubleAction357]

Is the throwing knife w/ assailant really that weak in pvp? In my tests it does everything a normal knife does at the same stamina cost. 3 shots armors, 1 shots hounds, 1 shots hives. I haven't got to test in pvp though.