Hunt: Showdown Ammo Types and What They Cost

The four base cartridges

Compact pierces thin wood at close range; it cannot pierce stone, metal or trees. Medium pierces thin wood at mid range with more penetration damage. Long pierces wooden walls and small trees, thin stone and single metal sheets, and holds damage at distance. Shells pierce wood at point-blank only. That hierarchy governs everything else: an ammo type that “adds penetration” adds it relative to a base that may already be enough for your fights.

The trade table

FMJ raises penetration and holds damage better over distance — and lowers muzzle velocity. Lower velocity means more lead at range, so FMJ is a close-to-mid brawling round that happens to punch walls, not a sniper round. High Velocity raises muzzle velocity and extends the range before damage falls off — at a 5% damage cut and slightly more recoil, and with less reserve ammo. This is the correct long-range pick, and it is a damage nerf. Spitzer raises penetration and velocity while lowering damage. It punches through multiple targets, which is its actual use: shooting the second hunter behind the first. Dumdum causes heavy bleeding on hunters, removes penetration and lowers velocity. Its bleed does very little to monsters, so it is a PvP round. Poison blocks healing and degrades the target’s vision and hearing, and cannot penetrate anything. It is a pressure round: you are not trying to kill, you are trying to force a move. Subsonic cuts sound and drops velocity and range. Silenced weapons with subsonic rounds are the quietest thing in the game, and the velocity loss is why they are close-range tools. Slug turns a shotgun into a single projectile with better range and penetration, at the cost of ammunition and hip-fire accuracy. Flechette fires darts that fan out, cannot pierce, and bleed. It trades the one-shot for a wider hit pattern. Penny Shot replaces pellets with coins: enormous close damage, unreliable past a few metres, no wall penetration. Explosive, Incendiary, Dragon Breath and Starshell are utility rounds. Explosive opens doors, shutters and concertina; incendiary ignites targets and leaves a visible trace that points back at you; dragon breath is a short flame jet; starshell lights an area.

How to read the trade

Ask what range band you actually fight at. If you hold a lane at range, HV’s damage cut is irrelevant because you are aiming at heads, and its velocity gain is the whole point. If you push lairs, FMJ’s velocity loss is irrelevant because you are three metres away, and its wall penetration is the whole point. The same gun wants different ammo depending on whether you are the one holding the angle or the one entering the room, and the bullet drop and velocity page explains why that distance figure is not the one on the stat card. Which cartridge a gun can even take is a separate question, and the weapon families page lists what each one is built for.