in this guide i tell you step by step how to join the pvp ecosystem and succeed at being the best minge chad

Explanation: PvP

PvP is a standard term for Player vs Player, which can commonly be confused by many players as griefing or minging. to be real, this is the only legitimate reason to play the game. nobody realistically wants to spend money on this game and do the boring ♥♥♥♥ like farming or endless story missions so you have to learn how to go from a baby gamer to a mega chad killmongler, as well as some tips to the starters and lowboys to maximize their killing potential. by the time you finish this tutorial i fully expect there to be as many bloodthirsty battles as possible to the point that it becomes a problem.

Before you start

In order for you to begin your murder journey you must remember to keep these in mind

• You should find a clan to roll with if possible as they will teach you some things you didnt even think could happen, or at the least get some friends you like to help in any sticky situations (or act as bullet sponges to draw fire away if they suck)
• You should complete the story missions as soon as possible for the extra money reward, be a full bastard because it pays better and its good practice starting off
• Dont waste your money early on clothes or cosmetics because you will screw yourself and stay broke forever
• If you decide the grind isnt worth it (reasonable stance that nobody will blame you for) and buy gold dont waste it on guns or colors, buy bounty hunter and trader and nothing else
• And finally never go into cover, the cover system is a false safety and you will most likely get killed when using the cover system rather than putting your body behind the thing manually

Step 1: Hardware

As anyone who plays will tell you, PC aiming sucks donkey ♥♥♥♥ in RDO and you should only use it in times of great need or when sniping. the first thing you should do is buy yourself an xbox one gaming controller. the soft lock is meta and anyone who says otherwise are children who cry about skill gap in a game that requires you to pay for guns with infinitely better stats. trust me when i say you want every advantage against the middies and highboys.

Step 2: The player HUD

the most important thing in any player battle is your surroundings. the wrong press of a button or the lack of key information can mean the difference between a clean kill and an unfair death, and as such you must always ensure that you have the upper hand in any engagement.

Set the minimap on your hud to expanded and leave it like that. you may also want to rebind some of your action keys to mimick the d-pad on a controller to give an intuitive response when switching between the two. next, you want to keep your reticle complex and set the dot size to small. i have seen some hudmods that shrink the dot even further but i dont recommend changing any game files for fear of rockstar’s draconian policies.

Step 3: Choosing your Battles

A general rule of thumb when picking fights is this: when you start a fight, look at their rank and then look at any of their friends who may be nearby. add up those numbers and then cut it in half. if that number beats your rank by three times or more, you should probably avoid fighting else you will face the wrath of a hopeless war, where you will be sucked into a draining battle that is hopeless for you to win or even run away from, forcing you to turn beta and leave the game. this rule applies even to the higher ranks, though at that point you probably have the skills to mitigate risk and put them at even odds.

There are five distinct stages in player rankings, though there are always exceptions to the rules this is what i have observed in my 314 levels of game experience

Starters (Level 3-10)

These are your new hatchlings that are brand new to the game. generally i would say not to fight these people unless they start fights first. look for juicier prey, they wont even be worth the ammo and youll probably find yourself in a bit of trouble with other, much higher rank people if you pick on them too much. the exception is christmas kids who blast everyone with their free E rounds, they’re free game to pick on and they deserve it. generally starters defy logic and reasoning and are either insanely pa*sive or overtly aggressive to the point of stalkerish behavior. easily the most unpredictable of all the stages, though to little danger.

Low-Tiers (Level 13-30)

These guys are getting their toes wet in the game and still have plenty to learn and plenty to unlock. their guns will be pretty weak since they havent unlocked express ammo yet but their arsenal will be expanded to different types of engagements, including the use of dual pistols in late stages. their move sets are still predictable so unless you arent paying attention youll never be caught off guard by them. most lowboys will be timid and submissive and will easily be beaten in a fight after just a few kills.

Mid-Tiers (Level 31-49)

Middies will be a bit different from your low tiers with their use of express and high velocity ammos that will substantially increase their firepower across the board, and they may employ the use of multiple tarot cards and become specialized in their move sets. middies show some resistance in a fight when in a crew but will easily be pacified when they are separated from the pack. be careful of a posse of middies who have varied ability cards as they can be mildly unpredictable.

High Tiers (Level 50-99)

At this stage players have full access to the weapon set and card sets but have little to no experience with them, so their difficulty may vary depending on the rank. we also see the beginnings of the slippery kid at this stage, which gives this stage a huge advantage. most high tiers will begin to form groups at this stage or play alone with a highly specialized skill set, and a posse of high tiers can be a formidable opponent to anyone on the field. high tiers are much more aggressive than their middie counterparts, especially in packs, and they may even employ minge tactics against you like bolas, toxic gas, ropes or slippery ♥♥♥♥♥.

Untouchables (Level 150+)

At this stage we have reached the chad status of the game. anyone with a rank higher than this will be insanely specialized in their kit to the point of meta, rarely deviating from it unless with a pack of other untouchables. even one man from this stage will be a challenge to deal with, and a full posse will be nearly unstoppable to anyone but their own kind. this stage is highly aggressive, highly tactical and highly determined, even when separated from their group. they are also known to employ highly scummy tactics like E rounds, bomb bows and firebreath, in addition to other game breaking tactics like bow sniping, wall glitches and any other tactics available to their knowledge and disposal. a truly formidable foe that deserves to be feared.

Step 4: Starting the battle

When you have decided upon a target to fight, whether it be a solo highboy or a posse of middies, one should take keen interest in how to best engage the conflict. Many times, simply killing a posse member is enough to stir the pot and anger the hive, but on other occasions more devious methods must be used to lull a fight out of people. a common tactic used is to hogtie players and teabag, or shoot their horses dead and deny them access to it. though the former is considered a highly scummy tactic, you should always remember that its a game, and if people want to leave, they have every right to do so with the menu, or by simply alt+f4’ing.

Step 5: Kiting

Normally in battles, the victor is determined by the person who parleys or leaves the session first after a dispute, however by playing too aggressively you may find that many players dont want to fight you and will simply go away after a few kills. especially considering the economy of the playerbase nowadays, the last thing you want is to spend twenty minutes looking for a fight only for it to last 2 minutes. In this instance, pvp’ers can use the method of kiting, which in this instance refers to the act of strategically prolonging a battle through feigning defeat or failure to boost the other side’s morale, or by taking actions which would prevent players from exiting a conflict in ways they may not realize. this can take many interpretations, wether that be losing a key area of defense, intentionally exposing yourself to the enemy to allow them a few kills, or faking a submissive strategy such as cowering behind obsacles and allowing them to play the attack.

kiting can also be an aggressive form, such as shooting enemy horses when they attempt to flee the scene, or committing acts which they would deem upsetting enough to continue an altercation, such as capturing trader wagons or moonshine. again, many players would vehemently object to this method of kiting, but remember that this is a video game, and that by simply exiting the lobby or quitting the game, players will regain all their lost a*sets, so long as the timer doesnt expire.

this method is a fairly advanced strategy and can take a long time of fully master. with enough practice, any level of player can successfully use psychological tactics to prolong battles and stay engaged with their enemies.

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Now that you have mastered the ways to identify and engage in pvp, here are some helpful tips for the newcomers of the game to begin their journeys into the tough world of red dead pvp

Tips: Your first start (Level 3-5)

So you just started your game and played the tutorial, or if youre cool you skipped the tutorial and you got your first guns.

First thing you should do is open up your weapon wheel and examine your first pieces of steel. many people will say to ditch these tools for hardier equipment early but i will be the first to tell you that you should keep these as long as possible, as they are great for handling any close quarter situation. your cattleman is the 3rd rated best in cla*s damage and can drop even a max health un-tonic’d player with its six shots, especially in rapid fire mode. your repeater carbine is also a formidable tool as it is the only repeater with a quickly reloadable magazine, quickly resupplying your 7 shots in a mere 2 seconds.

when upgraded to max specs both of these weapons can be used in medium tier environments that require fast firepower and consistent damage, however you must recognize their limitations. your six shooter will be no match to a burst of mausers or the blast of a shotgun if you do not hone your accuracy and reaction time down to a science, and while your repeater may have a scope its use is merely aesthetic and you will never match the range or accuracy of a lancaster. also your repeater has the shortest range of all the repeaters, meaning your bullets will literally not go further than a city block and a half.

additionally, when selecting dead eye cards, the only real option is paint it black. pc aiming is absolutely atrocious and even with the god might of the controller, you will suffer from bloom in these early levels. paint it black is a special dead eye card that eliminates all acuraccy debuffs, such as weapon sway, reticle bloom, injury debuffs and more. take every advantage you can and put on paint.

As a starter your use in a pvp environment will be limited to hit and run tactics or picking off from a medium distance with paint it black. you should not expect to live long or do well beyond plinking distances. your best strategy is to circle strafe and use paint it black as much as possible, though this will be limited as you dont have many cards or tonics to help you.

Tips 1A: After the story missions (Probably level 6-15)

Now that you got some money in your pocket and some rank to your name its time to do some upgrading to that inventory of yours. I know i just said that your starting guns are pretty good but they arent worth a spit at medium or long range, which is where all the high boys will be sitting once you have sufficiently pissed them off.

your first purchase should be a long range gun like the rolling block. actually just the rolling block for you low tiers. unless its the halloween sale or a special gun event in which case get the carcano, its infinitely better than the rolling block. these two sniper cla*s rifles have excellent long range accuracy and arent affected by any accuracy debuffs. these are also the only two options for sniper rifles, the bolt action rifle does not count even with a scope on it nor does any other gun where you have to manually put the scope on.

You must always have a long range weapon on you at all times! your combat effectiveness must be as expanded as possible and forfeiting one option to specialize in another will greatly hinder your skills unless you are in a group. it is good practice to always give yourself an out in any situation.

the next thing you need to buy is a secondary holster. normally these are reserved for early mid tier loadouts but with a measly 2 gold you can buy the bandit holster early and start rocking two cattlemen. thats right get yourself a second cattleman. the rapid fire isnt as fast but 12 is better than 6 in a pinch.

if you want to spice things up and have the cash, you can obtain two double action revolvers and upgrade the barrels and sights to increase the accuracy. remember to also equip the gunslingers choice ability card when using the double actions as they are extremely unwieldy and useless without this card.

Your usefulness in the low-mid tier pvp game will be vastly expanded to long range encounters, and though you may not do well in being an elite sniper you will be able to fend off foes whom would be out of your reach.

Tips 1B: Your First Buisness (Level 16-25)

At this stage you probably have the gold to open up a buisness and the first thing i reccomend is to go straight for trader. even though bounty hunter offers way better minge/pvp equipment the trader will give you a healthy cash flow for your future escapades, plus now if you join a crew you wont be the slack a*s riding off everyone elses dime. if you can afford it later get the bounty hunter too as you can use the bounties to hone some of your skills like headshots and cover placement.

as for your equipment you should be focusing this time on your cards, specifically upgrading and developing your talents to fit your playstyle. you may also want to aqcuire new hardware like the shotgun and the lancaster, which will give you an edge on short and mid range combat.

once you have your flow of cash, you may take the chance to fill up on any missing items from the catalogue, like ammunition, gun oils, tonics, and more.

Advanced Tips and Game Knowledge

• If you or a posse leader has bounty hunter, accept a wall bounty before engaging in city brawls, as this will keep the police out of the fight. this will only last as long as you are in the posse or until a set time limit in the bounty, usually about 45 minutes.
• The best war locations are usually the hardest to defend. when in doubt, Citadel Rock is the spot to be
• Winning streak is a wasted card. most all the cards are wasted cards, there’s really only a good few.
• Dark red hostility is for a reason.
• On some bounty missions you may be able to commandeer a maxim wagon, which can be quite potent when put to good use

I hope you enjoy the How to PvP – Red Dead Redemption 2 guide. This is all for now! If you have something to add to this guide or forget to add some information, please let us know via comment! We check each comment manually!