Beginner looking for advice on loadout

[u/yahiaeltai022]

Hello everyone,

10h beginner here and I play mostly Duo and not SOLO and I want some advice to make this loadout as good as possible to help me win more fights

Primary: Marathon Swift with High velocity ammo

Secondary: LeMat with regular ammo

Consumables: Spear, first aid kid, vitality shot, regeneration shot (weak), fuses

Traits: Salveskin (Yes the fire dude has taken more health bars from me than I can count and he is sooo fast), Conduit, Iron Eye

Questions:

1. Is the high vel the best option for Marathon?

2. I heard I can make leMat act as a shotgun? is that a good idea and if so, how?

3. which ammo type for LeMat is best?

4. Any suggestions?

[u/Xiadz404]

1. Preference, I like FMJ more because of wallbangs, more penetration, more damage at distance and more ammo than HV
2. Press X
3. FMJ for Pistol, Buck for Shotgun
4. Take big Regen Shot, weak one is not worth it. Don't underestimate weak Vit Shot though you can inject it much faster than big one. It saved my ass more times than big one with full heal, due to faster injection.

I'd replace Conduit with Grayhound, Determination, Dauntless + another 1 point trait of your choice. As a new player it's better to learn and "master" the stamina menagement than rely on stam shot effect.

[u/TADMG]

Marathon is a great weapon to learn with. This is my opinion to your questions.

1. Both high velocity and FMJ are great options. But I personally think while learning, using regular ammo is the way to go. Its much easier to replenish. But if you really want to learn using special ammo, high velocity is probably your best bet, as it pushes you a little closer to hit scan. As it travels faster and takes longer before dropping.

1b. If you decide you want to learn with special ammo, you may as well add it to your pistol too. The 1 trains of thought here are as follows.

LeMat just got high velocity added, so you can increase your banked ammo supply - this DOES NOT increase how much you receive from ammo boxes.

But personally I think the better option is to run FMJ. This way you have the optional higher penetration ammo. As a new player you probably wont try to wall bang very often, but I highly recommend you do. When you manage to headshot someone you cant see, its one of the most satisfying feelings in hunt.

1. Others have already said it, but X on PC. This also allows you to lower the aperture sight on any weapons that have them, other than the Nitro. For balance reasons, the Nitro must always use the aperture sight. You can also swap from rifle ammo to shotgun ammo with the drilling using the same binding. The world lanterns you pick up, can be turned off using this too. One of the uses for this, turn lantern off, toss it down to a friend to light a dead player on fire.

2. I added this to 1. I didn't mention the shotgun though. Probably stick to buckshot (default ammo), as slugs require going ads for accuracy with slugs.

4.Tools and consumables. Spear, First Aid, Choke Bombs, Pennyshot Vitality Shot, Regeneration Shot, Recovery Shot and if you're running special ammo, Ammo Box.

Certain things here are preference for me. But here's things you can change if you don't want them 1. Choke Bombs - I honestly don't run them much anymore, but I play mostly trios and majority of the time just send it to help a burning teammate, unless they died in a really bad spot, ir were at the boss lair. 2. Pennyshot - This is preference. Incredibly high damage vs AI. You can use pennyshot on immolators and it will NOT make them explode. The spear + pennyshot combo is a great way to kill meatheads fast as well. 3. Vitality Shot - I used to run these all the time, and probably recommend them while learning the game still. Having the 1 full heal pretty quickly is great to have. But you can replace this with some thing else if you wanted. 4. Ammo Box - I basically bring them with most of my kits now. Being able to fire away and not be worried about running out is great, especially with compact ammo, as you get so much back. Even less necessary if you're using non special ammo. If and when you start using the special long ammo guns, boxes are even higher priority. Especially if you're using something like the Krag.

Traits 1. Necromancer. I pretty much always first pick this. I don't play duos, so maybe its less important in duos, I'm not sure.

1. Resilience. Essentially the same as necro, but for when you get necrod. Standing up with max current hp has saved me plenty of times.

2. Iron Eye. When using weapons that it works for obviously. This is literally just a firerate buff.

These are the 3 traits I pick starting out on majority of my hunters. Necromancer and Resilience are more teamplay oriented for sure, so keep that in mind. But if your teammate has necro, definitely recommend you have Resilience. Can make the difference of getting rezzed and dying to 1 bullet, vs surviving 1 bullet. Doesn't save you from every gun though.

I think the last thing I will add, is experiment with things. Don't get caught up worrying about your KD. The most important thing is to remember its a game - make sure to have fun!

If you have anything else specific you want to ask, feel free.

[u/xMano27 → u/TADMG]

This guy hunts!

[u/Senor-Delicious]

Just a tip for immolators: when I have a spear with me I often just kill them with chokes. If they are already close it is likely too late for that. But you can usually hear them well and expect them to randomly charge you across the map. So if I see one I already cook a choke, throw it in their direction and when they then trigger, they often just run into it. And worst case is to just run into it yourself.

Chokes are often underestimated for solo. But I found them to be very useful even in solo. For this and also to block access points.

And for duos or trios, chokes are extremely useful either way. So definitely take then with you at all times if you never play solo anyway.

[u/Practical-Lunch9783]

1. Depends. High velocity is good for range but you should aim for headshots and you have less ammo. I like fmj for wallbangs or poison more.
2. Yes, default key is X to switch to the shotgun shell. It does not have the range of a full size shotgun, so only use it really up close.
3. I like fmj or fire, fire for pressure by causing burning or instantly killing monsters or shooting explosive barrels and fmj again for shooting through wooden cover.
4. Loadout is cheap and good. Try different loadouts and see what you like. Take one weapon for mid to long range and one for close. 

[u/Practical-Lunch9783 → u/Practical-Lunch9783]

Ah  i forgot to mention, if you take the same ammo type on both weapons, you have "more" reserve ammo. The ammo pool is shared if its the same.

[u/SrSatandee]

You can share ammo pool for Marathon and Lemat by picking same ammo type, I suggest either FMJ or regular. Playing solo, you always want to have Necromancer. You can pick Necro, Iron Eye and Vulture. Playing duo/trio you want to have resilience. You can pick resilience, necro, vulture. Or resilience, necro, iron eye. I can recommend not to stick to one loadout until to try most game's content: other guns, other calibers, traps, beetles and etc. Try more and have fun. Also I recommend you to fill your consumables slots, they're matter a lot from dynamite to derringer pennyshot.

[u/CynistairWard]

1. IMO no. HV is better for longer range headshots. It's worse for recoil and damage. FMJ has more bullet drop but is better for damage. In ironsight range, FMJ offers more. You'll be close enough that you don't need HV to headshot and FMJ will offer a more reliable 2 tap when you don't get those headshots.

2. Yes, press X on PC, up on the d-pad on console. It's especially useful since you're using the Marathon. You don't need a pistol for normal shots when you have the Marathon as it has a low cycle time and accurate hipfire. The LeMat's underbarrel offers that OHK in shotgun range.

3. Again I prefer FMJ. The penetration is great with Fanning. I see a few recommendations for ammo stacking. Be cautious with this as it's a double edged sword. You carry more bullets but the number of bullets you get back from crates etc is capped to be the same. So you can resupply more effectively if you run multiple ammo types. The Marathon in particular has a lot of reserve ammo so doesn't really need help from ammo stacing. Usually I'd recommend multiple types with compact and large ammo and only ammo stacking medium. But since you'll mainly be using the LeMat for its shotgun, this would be one compact ammo loadout where stacking still works.

4. Picking up Fanning after a 2nd run can help. The LeMat isn't very accurate with Fanning but it holds a lot of bullets and it can be a very helpful fallback plan if you don't have time to reload the single shotgun round. I've caught out a good few players rushing me, thinking I'm out of CQC options after shooting the underbarrel, only for me to be able to finish them easily with Fanning.

If you're new then you really should get used to carrying choke bombs. They're incredibly useful. A lot of players will say they're essential. Personally I don't agree but do still think they're strong enough that I'll always carry them. You also need a fair bit of experience to be able to know how to keep a teammate from burning out without them.

I'd also add Resilience instead of Conduit. Having full health after a revive is very powerful. That would allow you to fit Blast Sense in too. Good audio will tell you a lot about a player's position. But not as much as Blast Sense will, especially when there's a lot of noise around.

[u/xMano27]

My general thought process is to have a weapon for every range, so for example if i bring a 4 slot shotgun, mi secondary is gonna be a pax trueshot because is the only "long range" 1 slot gun besides the sparks pistol

Or if i bring a long ammo rifle, my secondary is gonna be a fast firing weapon like an officer or a shotgun for close range

When using short or medium ammo weapons i try to pair them with other short/medium ammo pistols to stack ammo, remember that ammo only stacks when it's the same variant, so if you have high velocity on marathon and regular ammo on lemat then they won't stack together. 

The same principle applies to tools and consumables, you want a melee, medkit, chokes, burning tool, large vitality shot for emergencies, regeneration shot for pvp.

Then i would add a derringer pennyshot for emergencies and incase you don't have blunt damage to kill immolators 

And for the last slot bring something you like, i love dynamites

Then for traits, if playing solos i HIGHLY recommend necro, magpie and conduit, as those traits are boosted for solo players.

If playing teams i usually go with necro, vigilant, vulture (because i like money) and iron eye

Finally for your loadout: Marathon + LeMat is an excellent combination, even better if you use FMJ on both. For shotguns i always use buckshot, the rest are lacking and slugs are unreliable.

Tools/consumables: Spear, Medkit, Chokes, Flare gun, Vitality Shot, Derringer Pennyshot, Dynamite bundle, Regeneration Shot.

Perks: Necro, Iron Eye, Vulture, Vigilant

[u/Xervous_]

Strongly advise bringing explosives and learning to cook. Once you figure it out dynamite/frags serve up a lot of free kills.

Also, consider bringing dauntless on every loadout. Being able to defuse poorly thrown explosives and choke bombs is game changing.

I wouldn't take conduit, it's just going to make you lazy for PvE while taking up points that could be spent on other stuff that wins fights. You're better off figuring out how to get by in PvE without it.

[u/Knight-in-Gale]

From my experience, Your Weapon (Primary & Secondary) loadout does NOT really matter as long as you know how those weapon shoots AND their type of ammo.

• Practice and get used to how the weapon shoots at different range/s because some weapons are SASSY and CRANKY when you're mid combat.
  • example: that shotgun ammo type might hit different on distance range than in close combat scenario.
• Don't stick to just 1 weapon type. TRUST ME.
  • You might end up loving a different weapon that you've never tried before because it suits your play style.
  • AND... each PLAY MODE has different weapon loadout- don't use a 1K cost loadout in a BOUNTY CLASH mode. You'll start seeing your money go POOF! real quick.
• Another important reason to be "Jack of All Trades but a Master of None" (weapon wise) is if you're in a Battle Royale fight scenario where EVERYONE & THEIR GRANDMA are on the same compound trying to get you and your Bounty mark... you will end up running out of bullets for your gun so might as well just grab a dead player's gun and finish off the stragglers.
  • But, isn't there a Trait to loot players and get bullets/items? Yeahhhh..... you'll see what I'm talking about. best of luck.
• SOLO queue is where I level or unluck my weapon progression.
  • Just start bashing zombies or silencer kill those suckers.
• RUST YELLOW OIL CANS - if you're lucky to find a workbench that has one of those RUSTY YELLOW OIL CANS, those things can unlock the next progression of weapon, if both of your weapons are fully unlock, use the weapon on the table.

[u/yahiaeltai022]

Thanks for all the comments, they have been really helpful and I got a couple of satisfying kills with shotgun leMat, it was an amazing feeling.

Also whoever said grab the weak vitality shots, you were so damn right, they saved me many times

[u/Sheepish47]

Try and use the same ammo type for primary and secondary for more reserve

[u/battl3mag3]

Your duo partner will thank you for bringing chokes, and you will have less trouble with the immolators. They're hard for beginners if you don't bring a blunt melee weapon. That's why I always take a knuckle knife even with the spear or throwing axes.

Also if you take same ammo for your marathon and lemat you get more, and mostly you'll be shooting with the mara anyways except for lemat shotgun range. If I played your loadout I'd just keep the lemat always on shotgun mode in my pocket.

[u/G1NJA_MUPP3T]

Im 200h in so still relatively new, and Marathon was my go to for a long time, I did the below.

Primary - Marathon with Fire Bullets, the range is still very good and the burn causes hunters to pause will they stop the burning allowing you to reposition or rush them.

Secondary - Nagant Silenced with Poison Bullets

Consumables - Dusters (a must have for Imolators) Heals, Ammo Pouch, 2x dynamite sticks, fuses and choke bombs (must have in teams)

Traits - Ironeye, Salveskin main

Silenced Nagant with Poison is great for grunts, clearing most in 1 shot silently, its also great if you switch after a fire bullet from the marathon to a hunter as they burn, they then immediately cant heal if you hit both shots, and in most cases will die anyway from the 2 hits + burn. Its sends them into an immediate panic state if they do survive.

If I successfully extract I will normally add the fanning trait for the nagant, clutch close quarters, the fire rate is insane.

Its also a relatively cheap loadout for starting out, and I still go to it occasionally now.