Bloodhunt tips and tricks: A beginner's guide to Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt

Looking for tips and tricks on how to win matches in Bloodhunt? Now released in its full Version 1.0 glory on both Steam and PlayStation 5, this fascinating Battle Royale set in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade adds a vampiric spin to the traditional last-player-standing formula, with otherworldly powers, feeding on mortals, and maintaining the masquerade all playing their part to separate the winners from the losers.

In this beginner's guide to Bloodhunt, you'll find a set of practical and powerful tips and tricks that will help you immediately start surviving for longer, and racking up kills and wins like never before. Covering everything from loadouts to spawn points, from movement to mortal blood types, this guide will set you on the path towards victory.

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Here are our top Bloodhunt tips and tricks:

• Learn one starting spot well to begin with
• Pick an archetype to match your playstyle
• Don't ignore or underestimate mortals
• Make use of the game's verticality
• Pick a loadout which covers multiple ranges
• Communicate and stick with your team

Learn one starting spot well to begin with

Unlike certain other Battle Royale games you may have played, Bloodhunt doesn't have you jump from a plane at the start of a match. Instead, you must pick one of many spawn points littered across nighttime Prague, the battleground inside which you'll face your vampiric opponents.

I'd very strongly suggest you start by taking the same spawn point for every match, because the familiar routine that it provides will help you learn the mechanics of the game that much more easily. For example, while I was learning the game I spawned on the north side of the Helipad tower every match. I learnt how to scale the tower as quickly as possible to reach the high-tier loot on the roof, and then I progressed south from there. It's a great idea to learn at least one area very well in Bloodhunt, before expanding your knowledge to other areas of the map.

Pick an archetype to match your playstyle

There are seven different types of vampire to choose from in Bloodhunt, spread across four different clans. These seven types are known as archetypes, and each one has a different set of three skills: one passive, one active, and one movement ability.

While I do think some archetypes are a little stronger than others - as you'll see by perusing our guide to the best characters in Bloodhunt - each of the seven archetypes is close enough in overall power and brings such a unique skillset to the table that you should really learn every archetype and every skill so you can pick which one best suits your playstyle. If you like outsmarting opponents, go Siren or Muse. If you like stealth, pick the Saboteur; or opt for the Prowler if you enjoy playing as a tracker class. If you want tankiness and survivability, the Brute or the Vandal would be your best bet. And if you want a good balance of offense and defence in combat, go with the Enforcer.

Don't ignore or underestimate mortals

Prague is home to a great many mortal civilians as well as vampires, and it would be a grave error to assume that you can ignore the mortals. They can be a huge help, or a massive hindrance.

In Bloodhunt you can feed upon mortals to heal yourself, but you can also use your Heightened Senses to learn if a particular mortal's blood is resonant. There are different types of blood amongst mortals, and repeatedly feeding on mortals with the same type of blood will bestow powerful bonuses to you that persist until the end of a match.

But you must also make sure you don't shoot mortals or let them see your true nature. If a civilian sees you feeding or using an ability, then you will become the target of a Bloodhunt, which means enemies will be able to see you through walls from quite a long distance away. It's hard to stay alive when you're the target of a Bloodhunt (hint: keep moving!), which is why you should never underestimate mortals.

To fully understand this complex system, check out our guide to the different Bloodhunt Blood Resonance types.

Make use of the game's verticality

Bloodhunt gives you an incredible amount of freedom of movement for a Battle Royale. You can scale any wall you can see, and the buildings are all tall enough that sometimes it can feel like the entire map is split into two worlds: rooftops, and streets. This makes the entire map much bigger in practice than it may seem.

Players who constantly stay at one of these two levels is not making full use of the game's verticality, and will often be punished for it. Don't always stick to the streets, because you'll be pounced upon by rooftop-dwellers. If you're being hounded on the rooftops thanks to the long sightlines across Prague, then dip down into the streets to recover. Stay on the move, always. You're a vampire, for goodness' sake.

Pick a loadout which covers multiple ranges

In Bloodhunt you have three weapon slots: two slots for ranged weapons such as guns and crossbows, and one slot for melee weaponry. This is good, because it means you never have to choose between range and melee - if you get into close quarters with an enemy, you can always switch to your melee weapon when needed.

But when it comes to choosing your primary weapons, Bloodhunt offers you quite a variety - and it's very important to pick two guns which together cover all ranges fairly well. Snipers are very important in Bloodhunt thanks to the rooftop combat (long sightlines, remember?), but you'll also need something for mid-to-close-range fights as well, particularly when vampires can use their movement abilities to quickly close the distance between one another. Furthermore, in the closing minutes of a round, the map shrinks to an absolutely tiny area, at which point surviving competitors without close-range combat abilities find themselves at a massive disadvantage - so make sure you're covered.

Communicate and stick with your team

This tip only really applies if you're playing as a group, but it's extremely important when you are. As with all Battle Royales where you're playing as a team, communication is absolutely essential. Use voice chat or the game's contextual ping system to highlight enemies, loot, or good positions.

And while I'm on the topic of positions: stick with your team. It's even more important in a game where you can hop from rooftop to rooftop in the blink of an eye, because it makes it that much harder to stick together. But the team that manages to stick together and present a united front against any opponent will always prevail over the fractured group that finds themselves spread across half the map when danger comes calling.

Hopefully the above tips and tricks are enough to give you a bit of a boost to your kills and match wins in Bloodhunt. But I guess the true test now is to hop into a match and see if you can remember these tips in the heat of battle. What are you waiting for? Prague awaits.