Nature provides great bounties to those who are capable of seizing its spoils, including meat, hides and trophies… depending on what perks Henry has. Successfully hunting can be rather difficult in the early going, when your skills and resources are wanting. With better equipment, skills and know-how, however, you can regularly hunt game and earn some decent groschen in the process. This page will discuss how hunting works in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, including where to get ranged weapons, what perks you should use and where you should seek out game.

Page Breakdown¶

Hunting Overview¶

The core concept of hunting should be understandable enough, you want to find where game congregates, sneak up on them, and kill them to get all their juicy bits. Only problem is, at the start of the game only the first of these is really easy. You’re not terribly sneaky - probably not sneaky enough to creep up on a boar or deer without being detected - and even if you do secure a bow you probably won’t be able to put down Some of this will just take some grinding, like getting decent levels of Sneak and Agility, others will take footwork, like hoofing it to buy better weapons, and on top of that you’ll just have to learn how hunting works, all of which will be discussed below.

Finding Hunting Spots¶

Before you can hunt any game, you need to find it. You’ll stumble across critters all over the map, but reliable spawns of game will be marked on your map as hunting spots. They’re not the only place animals will spawn, but if you want a dependable supply of a specific type of game, visiting hunting spots is your best bet. Note, however, that game may not be out and about during inclement weather. Unfortunately you’ll have to explore to find hunting spots, but they should be marked on your map automatically when you get close.

Finding Ranged Weapons for Hunting¶

Locating game is all well and good, but you can’t do much to them without a ranged weapon. If you’re lucky a bandit may just donate one to your cause, but failing that you’ve still got options. Either go visit the Huntsman’s son Vitek at his father’s house west of Tachov for higher quality weapons or buy a crossbow from the Carpenter in Troskowitz. The Dogwood Hunting Bow packs a hefty punch if you’ve got the stats for it, while the Ash Hunting Bow deals less damage but has lower stat requirements, albeit at a higher cost. At first crossbows are probably easier to hunt with, even though they’re relatively slow to load and fire - a humble Old Field Crossbow will deal significant damage, with low stat requirements and is relatively cheap. Getting decent arrows and bolts (anybody above crude grade) will serve you well.

Early game bows - even the better ones - probably won’t kill anything heavier than a hare in one shot, but an Old Field Crossbow should bring down doe and boars with a single bolt. This isn’t a deal-breaker, as you’ll see below, but if your end goal is just to get meat off game without leveling any stats or skills, a crossbow is the shortest path to success.

Reunite with Mutt¶

Once spooked, game will eventually return to (or near) their original grazing spots, but if you want to speed things up you should consider getting Mutt back. This is covered in the side quest Mutt, and once you have Mutt back at your side you’ll want to level up Houndmaster to Lv 6 to get the “Hunt!” and “Search!” perks. This will allow Mutt to chase game in the former case and in the latter case find and alert you to caught game (via barking) in the latter case.

Ideally you’ll injure game with a ranged attack, then sic Mutt on them immediately afterwards and hope he downs your target. Mutt can also hunt independently, but in our experience he’s not likely going to bring down something larger than a hare without assistance. Mutt’s also not always successful, so while he’s a useful aide, he’s not a magic bullet. Still, even when Mutt’s participation isn’t a deciding factor it’ll help you bond and raise your Houndmaster skill, which will make Mutt more capable. Also note that after chasing game Mutt will need to take a break, so try not to sic him on too many targets in quick succession.

Hunting Walkthrough¶

Explore to find hunting spots, get a ranged weapon, rescue Mutt and then it’ll be time to move beyond theory and start practicing. Make sure you’re wearing clothes that have low Visibility and Noise stats and ensure you’re bathed - hunting in full plate mail while covered in blood and body odor will make things more difficult.

With the previous conditions met (at least as far in your favor as possible), try to sneak up on an animal. Move slowly, try to approach from their flank so you have a large target, and shoot them with whatever ranged weapon you prefer. Early on you’ll need to move slower and keep a greater distance due to a lower Stealth score, but Stealth should improve over time as you hunt - indeed, moving around near wild animals is a good way of earning Stealth EXP, so even if you don’t bring anything down, you should still be making some progress.

If your ranged attack hits and kills, great! You’re done. Butcher the game and take the spoils. Be sure to feed and praise Mutt every kill just to keep his obedience up and level up Houndmaster. More than likely, however, the animal won’t be killed in a single shot. Immediately sic Mutt on them and give chase so you can hopefully see where or if your prey falls to Mutt’s attack. Butcher the game and reward Mutt if successful, if not, even then you’re still in good shape.

Should you miss an attack, spook an animal with an overly hasty approach, or fail to bring down the target even with a hit, just go back to where you started the assault, stay sneaking and wait. Animals will return to (roughly) where they were grazing earlier given enough time, and a critter wounded earlier will remain wounded. If a first arrow failed to kill, a second might not. Even should you fail to bring anything down, you should be gaining EXP in Stealth, Survival, Marksmanship, and Houndmaster and more, so you’re making progress - you’re just not seeing the rewards for it yet.

Best Hunting Perks¶

Hunting is mostly a matter of having the right skills, gear, Mutt and in-game know-how, but there are numerous perks that will also make hunting easier and/or more rewarding. Below we’ll list the perks you should consider getting if you plan to hunt regularly:

With the info provided above, you should be able to whip Henry into a proper hunter! Or at least you won’t be as confused as we were were our junk bow and crude arrows took numerous shots to bring down a single boar!