Hunt Showdown Banish: The Timer Everyone Forgets

Banish is a commitment, not a button

Killing the boss does not give you the bounty. Banishing does, and banishing takes time during which the whole server knows which compound you are in. The banish is the loudest thing that happens in a Hunt match. That means the decision to banish is the decision to be attacked. Everything you do in the next minute should assume someone is already on the way.

What the banish window gives you

The banish restores health chunks for the team that started it, which is the mechanical reason it matters beyond the bounty. A team that has been fighting with two chunks missing gets a full bar back before the next fight. That restoration is the real prize on a contested map. It converts a battered team into a fresh one, and it happens inside a window that the enemy team can also use to arrive.

Setting up during the banish

Do not stand in the lair. The lair is the one place every arriving team is aiming at. Move to the edges of the compound, watch the approaches, and treat the corpse as bait rather than as an objective. Traps on the inner doors, one player with a long sightline outside, one player watching the route from the nearest extract - that is the setup.

Reading the banish from outside

If another team banishes, the sound tells you exactly where they are and roughly how long you have. The counter-play is not to rush the lair; it is to take a position between the lair and an extract and let them come to you with the bounty. Attacking a defended compound during a banish is the most expensive way to contest a bounty.

The post-banish window

When the banish completes, the team picks up the bounty and gains the dark sight advantage. That is the moment they are strongest, not weakest, and it is the moment most teams make their mistake by attacking into it. Wait for them to leave. The fight on the route to extraction is where the bounty changes hands.

What to do if you lose the lair

If the boss is killed and you are not the one banishing, your options are to attack during the window or to set up on the extract routes. The second is almost always the better expected value, and it is the play that wins more bounties than any push.

Related guides

• Hunt Showdown Boss Lair Fight
• Hunt Showdown Extraction Guide
• Hunt Showdown Revive Mechanics