HUNT
Hunt is the game type most dependent on a the skill of the person playing the monster. The hunters must track, catch up to and eliminate the monster to claim victory. The monster will have a head start (distance-wise), so the hunters will need to catch up quickly.
The monster on the other hand, must avoid the hunters as it attempts to feed off the wildlife of Shear and evolve to level 3. Once the moster reaches level three, it can either attempt to wipe out the hunters or destroy the power relay to win the match. A monster can try to kill the hunters earlier as well, but there would need to be a big skill difference in the sides for it to succeed.
Hunters:
- Variety is the spice of life: Varying up your tracking approach can yield big rewards. Keep in mind that it is a human player controlling the monster. If you can switch up your strategy and catch him/ her off guard (changing from a party of 4 to two parties of 2 and then swapping to a party of 3 with a trapper lying in ambush), this will help slow down the monster's evolution and give you more time to deal with them in their weaker form.
- Stick together: While it can be useful to split up (especially into pairs for advanced strategies), don't under any circumstances go wandering off alone. Why? Because even a level one monster can easily overpower or use stealth to pin and claw to death a lone hunter. If you do break up into pairs, make sure to keep in quick sprinting distance of each other. The bleed out timer is quite short in this game, so if a pair gets ambushed you want to be close enough to reach them.
- Pair up: As mentioned above, some strategies revolve around pairing up, using decoys, and setting up ambushes and traps. In this situation, it is important to pair up the right classes with each other. A good starting combination is: Assault + Medic. The medic is tasked with keeping the assault player alive while they track the monster aggressively in it's weaker (lv 1 or 2) forms. Anyone who has played a class based shooter should understand how this works. Support + Trapper: While the other group is actively tracking the monster, this pair can set up traps, flank the monster or use pincer tactics to attack from both sides.
- Auto tracking: Maggie (trapper) has the ability to auto-track the monster, making her good as a party leader or person to call out information as the tracking continues. The group will also make better time when chasing the monster if they can just follow a marked character, rather than a set of vanishing footprints or the occasional group of birds.
Monster:
- Run away: You initially start out as a level 1 monster with a short distance head start on the hunters. This makes it very unlikely for you in your starting state, to win in a stand up fight against them. You really just want to eat and run to begin with. Make sure to make your tracks difficult to follow (flying if possible, jumping onto high surfaces, doubling back around the hunters, to slow down the pursuit (unless they have Maggie on their team).
- Armour Maintenence: Armour management is one of the most vital aspects of controlling a monster. Monsters have an armour bar which can be refilled by eating dead wildlife or hunters. The monster's health bar on the other hand cannot be refilled, so fleeing or interrupting attackers while you feed to regain armour are essential skills to learn. Keeping an eye on your armour and fleeing when it is nearly spent is a good tactic for monster players to get their heads around early on. More experienced players will know when to keep pushing or to leg it instead.
- Stealth: Yes, your hulking Godzilla style monster has stealth abilities. These allow you to bring down animals without being attacked and reduces the chance of detection by hunters. You can also pounce on lone hunters and rip their giblets out while they can do nothing about it. All they can do is wait for another hunter to arrive and rescue them. Stealth is especially handy in dealing with the final remaining hunter as if you initiate a stealth pin, they have no comrades left to revive them, meaning your monster can chow down without fear of reprisal.
- Showdown: When you reach level 3, you need to make the choice to engage the hunters directly or to attack the power station. You can perform multiple hit and runs (or ranged attacks) against the power station, keeping the hunters stuck there as guards so you know where they are. You could also attack the power station to lure them into an ambush as they think you are attacking it to destroy it. Either way, the choice is yours.