Hunt Guides That Are Wrong After 2.9 (Checklist)

Dead habit 1: “Open the map and pick your extraction first”

Before 2.9, every extraction was marked at spawn. Now they are hidden by default (see the hidden-info page). Any route guide that assumes you can see all exits on load is obsolete.

Dead habit 2: “Rush the nearest extraction after the bounty”

You may not know where the nearest extraction is until you investigate a clue (which reveals two) or pull a Scouting Map / Spyglass reveal. Blindly sprinting for an exit you cannot see gets solo hunters killed.

Dead habit 3: “Scout Towers are a free map scan, skip them”

Scout Towers are now hidden too, and while they still guarantee a Scouting Map inside, you have to find the tower first. Treating them as automatic knowledge is wrong.

Dead habit 4: “Bow is the default pick”

The 2.9 balance pass cut the Hunting Bow’s one-hit range (Hundred Hands 36m→30m, without 29m→27m) and its reserve ammo. Old “bow dominates” loadout guides need re-evaluation.

Dead habit 5: “Slugs are too expensive to run”

Slug ammo dropped from 65 to 40 Hunt Dollars across several weapons in 2.9. Guides warning against slugs on price are stale.

Dead habit 6: “Your MMR number means X”

If a guide quotes exact MMR point ranges (for example “1 star = 0-2000”), that is a community estimate, not Crytek’s published mapping. The star system is official; the numbers behind it are not.

What still holds

Sound discipline, positioning, timing, and loadout sense did not change — the four-mode death series is as true in 2.9 as before. What changed is information access, not gunplay fundamentals. When in doubt, check the date on any guide: if it predates 2.9 and talks about the map, assume it is at least partly wrong until you verify against the new rules.