Deathgarden: Bloodharvest is an asymmetrical action game, with five players taking the role of Scavengers and one playing as the Hunter. Scavengers are fast, nimble, and helpless. Hunters are powerful, invincible, and relentless. Below, we’ll cover the ins and outs of finding, downing, and executing Scavengers as a Hunter.
Hunter basics
The Hunter has a first-person view. Their goal is to hunt Scavengers. When a Scavenger runs out of health, they’re downed. The first time a Hunter downs a Scavenger, they can be recycled. This removes all of their resources and gives them a second shot. The second time they are downed, the Hunter can execute them, removing them from the match entirely.
High-impact weapons cause Scavengers to rag doll, sending their body flying away. A downed Scavenger can be resurrected if an ally moves to them and completes the resurrection animation, get back up by finding and activating a health pack on their own, or be resurrected at range by Sawbones’ heal. To remove a Scavenger from play, the Hunter must recycle a Scavenger, down them again, and then complete the execution prompt.
Hunter characters
Just like Scavengers, there are multiple characters for Hunters. Each Hunter has their own unique ability and arsenal.
There are two abilities all Hunters share: an exo-suit, which dramatically boosts speed temporarily, and shock, which does damage in an area around the Hunter and stops the Scavengers from using their vambrace ability. Each Hunter has two unique passive abilities, and six other perks. Only two perks can be active at the same time. Each Hunter is a character with a backstory, history, and unique aesthetics.
The Inquisitor’s ability grants a Hunter two turrets. The turrets will automatically trigger when a Scavenger is nearby, dealing damage and revealing their location. His default loadout gives him a shotgun and assault rifle, meaning the Inquisitor is an all-rounder who can be offensive at any range. He can later unlock a three-shot round burst rifle.
The Poacher can put down up to 10 proximity mines around the map. His arsenal is all shotguns. He is most effective at close range.
The Stalker can cloak herself. The audio cue that indicates a Hunter is nearby will still play, even when the Stalker is cloaked. Her default loadout is a three-shot round burst rifle and a sniper rifle; she can later unlock a second automatic sniper rifle that has effective hip fire.
Playing as a Hunter
The Hunter enters the map after the Scavengers get a short head start. The Hunter must find the Scavengers.
Just like the Scavengers, the Hunter needs to collect power cores and ammunition from around the map. While the Hunter is powerful, running out of ammunition is a powerful deterrent. The Hunter uses power cores to activate drones that reveal Scavengers.
While the Hunter’s role seems much more straightforward than the Scavengers — find and down them — the nuances make it more difficult. First, you’re louder than you think. Not only is there a musical audio cue that triggers around your location, but activated recon drones scream, leaves crunch under your feet, and firing your gun announces your presence.
This means you need to think a lot about positioning and choices. Everything around the map is an opportunity to trick Scavengers and hunt them down. Carefully choose the location of drones, watch for characters grouping up, and consider your resources. For instance, an alternative to taking the content of crates is to hack them. A Scavenger who takes a hacked crate will be revealed on the map.
If you can’t find a Scavenger, go to a high point or open space, and watch for the activated pillars. Activated pillars send red rings into the sky, red pulses through the ground, and the icon marking the pillar will pulse.
You’re also much slower than Scavengers. Your exo-suit gives you a massive boost of speed and power, but it’s short-lived as it consumes power, so use it carefully. An exo-suit jump allows you to cross the map in just a couple of bounds. Since your suit consumes power, if you use it too often, you’ll find yourself in the dust when you need that speed boost the most. Hunters also can’t dodge or climb as efficiently as Scavengers. If you want to ensure you can scale a cliff and still keep up the chase, leave your exo-suit unactivated until you can use it to finish a chase or reach a blood pillar.
Hunter tips
Here are some final tips to help Hunters find their feet in the Deathgarden.
- Learn how each Scavenger vambrace works. Active Camo leaves a Predator-style shimmer on the Scavenger, and they kick up dust in their wake. Twitch’s Clones can’t dodge or jump; they just run. Once you learn each ability, you can use your knowledge to help you hunt down the Scavengers.
- Execution or recycling isn’t always the best call. A downed survivor can act as bait as other Scavengers come to help them.
- Activate your drones so they’ll reveal areas of importance, like next to pillars or in heavily trafficked areas between pillars, for the best results.
- Don’t stick too close to a Scavenger. Because you have a first-person camera, you have a narrower field of view, and a Scavenger can dodge and loop around you. Give yourself some room to work with, or a clever Scavenger will escape you with their speed in your blind spots.
- Make sure you use all of your abilities. Refresh your Poacher mines, use Shock when in melee with a Scavenger, and keep an eye on your turrets to ensure they haven’t expired.
- Don’t get tunnel vision. If one Scavenger leads you on a goose chase, the other four can sneakily turn in blood and trigger the match’s end. Sometimes, you should just let your prey go.