Getting killed a lot? Hunter finding you frequently? Getting killed within the first few minutes of the game? Here’s some tips to what you are probably doing wrong and some tips to help making escape easy!
Table of Contents
Which Scav Should I use?
If you’re looking for highest survival chance, pick up any of the scavengers who have Active Camo ASAP. As of this writing, that would be Ghost and and Inked.
I recommend starting with Ghost using Lucky Charm and Rich Get Richer for starting perks. You will need to suffer through a few games to level to get him and the perks unlocked, but it’s well worth it.
Getting extra blood from blood piles is never a bad thing and means you can turn in more blood faster than other scavs, netting you more XP. The ideal situation is to find 2 blood piles near a single tower. Fully harvest the first pile, then head to the 2nd one. Assuming you proc extras, the 2nd pile will be left with partial blood. Go turn in, then head back and finish collecting the 2nd pile. Once that is drained, head back to the first and it should be almost, if not completely, full again. Continue this cycle, hiding from the hunter when needed.
While you’re turning in, make sure to mark surrounding items for even more XP with your infinite ammo from Rich Get Richer. The XP starts racking up faster than you may realize meaning you can start upgrading your kit faster than most other scavs.
Active Camo
This should be top priority to level first. The reason being simple.
Five. Seconds. That’s potentially 15 seconds of Active Camo when the perk is maxed.
Not only does it greatly increase your chance of avoiding/escaping chases, but with a little practice you can literally walk the entire map and never break invisibility. This is especially important during the exit phase – YOU DO NOT HAVE A RED AURA WHILE INVISIBLE. However, using Active Camo in a revealing zone will give you a black outline that is visible to the hunter. It is important that you still try to keep yourself distanced anytime you are in a revealed area, even when under Active Camo.
During the escape phase, wait until the reveal wall is about to hit you and cast camo on yourself. Keep a mental count of your remaining time and recast with one second left, then recast. On the second cast, scout for a blue box and head to it. Once at it, cast your 3rd Camo and gather the box to refresh your charges. Rinse and repeat until you reach the exit gate.
As you get more comfortable, you can even use Active Camo to pass through a drone’s revealing field with minimal notice. While elsewhere on the map, the hunter will get the audio cue, but when they go to look they will not see your red outline so they can’t immediately tell which drone field you’re moving through.
As you level up Active Camo and the duration increases, and of course with practice, you should be escaping far more often as long as you’re not purposely going out to attract the hunter.
Marking Nodes and Disabled Drones
You should be consistently doing this throughout the game. Anything and everything you come across should be marked. The XP may appear small, but it will add up quickly. It will also help you and your teammates in the long run to know where everything is at any given time.
Disabled Drones – Don’t Blow Them Up
I can’t stress this enough, and it amazes me how many people do this. At the very start of the match, people try to nuke as many disabled drones as they possibly can, not realizing that they’re potentially screwing themselves before the hunter even hits the map.
On most maps, the hunter can see the drone explosions from their spawn. So while you’re going through, farming up negligible XP from disabled drones before the hunter enters, they’re sitting up top watching the path of the explosions tracking which direction you’re heading. Once they’re allowed to enter, it’s usually just one Super Charge jump from their spawn in that direction and you’re spotted within the first 10 sec of the game.
The same applies throughout the match. Every explosion is potentially giving away your location to the hunter. Even from a distance, it’s a gamble since the hunter can spot the trace from your shots. The XP gained from basically sending flares up in the air screaming “I’m over here, come kill me!” is just not worth it.
Is there ever a good time to blow up disabled drones? That depends on your skill and timing. If you notice a killer activating one nearby, and you’re confident you can pop it before he finishes activating it without being found, go for it. But this is intended for newer players and when starting out, it’s just best to avoid doing so until you’re more experienced.
Active Drones
Active drones are a bit more tricky.
First thing to note is what it takes to knock them out. All special darts blow them up in 1 shot, no matter the type. With the exception of Fog, it takes 3 normal shots to kill them. Using any Vambrace shot leaves a trail that the hunter can potentially use to track you.
So when do we blow them up? It’s situation dependent. In most instances, you’ll be blowing them up when they’re over tower points so you can turn in blood. There’s no avoiding this, so it’s up to you to remain vigilant to see/hear if the killer is heading your way once you do. I’ve found that the “safest” way is to help each other out – blow up the active drones across the map furthest from you when you see your fellow scavs heading towards them. That way they can get to where they’re going without revealing themselves (whether by the drone or killing it themselves), minimal risk to you (unless the hunter is nearby), and you get the XP for it.
There’s no real “ideal” time to blow up active drones. That’s the point of them – to greatly inconvenience the scavs. It forces you to waste ammo to disable them, wastes your time to replenish said ammo, and gives you a timer to finish what you’re in the area to do and gtfo. I can only offer basic advice overall – blow them up when needed and can safely do so without revealing your location to the hunter.
Escape Phase
#1 – DO. NOT. PANIC.
If you have Active Camo, just read and practice what was explained above and your escape is almost a certainty. If not, well then you have some work to do.
First thing you should be doing is glancing into the sky to get an idea where the exits are coming down from. Most new players don’t even realize this is a thing, they just run towards a random marker they see, not knowing which one is closer. You can also tell, albeit more dangerously, which is closer by the direction the reveal field is coming from when it reaches you. The first one to reach you is the closer one.
The main thing at this stage, besides obviously running for an exit, is to be listening. This is the prime time for the hunter. All scavs become revealed. They will do their best to cut off anyone they can from the exit, which means lots of gunfire. If you are heading towards one exit, hear a lot of gunfire, and the other exit is close enough, you need to choose. Is it safer to alter course and head to the other exit? Do you think the hunter is distracted enough by others for you to slip through? As in most cases during the match, it’s situationally dependent and only your own experience will be able to tell you what you are capable of pulling off.
One thing to note, you CAN ragdoll into the exit and escape. If you’re being chased and are near the exit, you can be potentially downed and still be unwillingly tossed into the exit. I would not highly recommend trying this in common practice – 99% of the time this is not going to happen and you’re executed in the warm, white glow the exit.
Moving On
Once you feel comfortable with the basics, you can move on to other scavs without Active Camo. All of them have their pros and cons and when used efficiently are just as good as Ghost/Inked. If anything, I’d recommend practicing the scavs with healing darts, those being Fog and SawBones. The healing dart will revive downed scavs from a distance, given that you can hit them before the hunter initiates their execution animation. But that’s up to you as to how you wish to challenge yourself next.
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