Gaming
Games
7 tips for surviving Red Dead Online's Gun Rush mode
Red Dead Redemption 2 has a new battle royale mode, Gun Rush, so here are a few essential tips to help you land a win in Tall Trees and Braithwaite Manor.
Red Dead Online is still carving its own niche, and since it's 2019, there’s a new battle royale mode to appease the 'BR gods' above. Gun Rush sticks 32 outlaws into a smaller-scale skirmish that's armed with pickups for weapons, armor, and horses. It's just that Rockstar Games have steered the genre in the direction of 10 minute matches that are overrun by realism, and a demand to be the culprit for every action and reaction that occurs.
Because of that, Gun Rush is a pixelated showcase of desperation and glory. It's not perfect, as it’s an addition to Make It Count that only uses four maps (Tall Trees, Rhodes, Fort Mercer, Braithwaite Manor), and is forever bound to aim assist, but its use of time and resources turns surviving an old-fashioned shootout into an absolute thrill ride.
We're still interested in the idea of incorporating animal dens, and having 100 Red Dead hooligans attempt to hijack a runaway train, but for now, here are a few essential tips to help you survive the cerebral chaos known as Gun Rush.
Head straight for the middle
A cowboy's best strategy is to run fast
© Rockstar Games
In Gun Rush, players start on the edge of the map, instead of being dropped in by hot air balloon. A quick sprint to the centre gives you a chance to loot, and find a useful vantage point. Weapons, horses, and chests containing armor are often found near the middle of locations such as The Manor and Fort Mercer, and being good old fashioned 'minimap scum' allows you to pinpoint items, structures, and cover from afar, as you plan your next move.
Remember headphones? Use them
© Rockstar Games
Listen to everything
In other words: wear headphones. Being tethered to the natural sounds of New Hanover is just battle royale etiquette that allows you to get a better read on nearby gunfire, occupied buildings, forest ambushes, and 1v1 scenarios that spiral into a campaign for headshots. Listening to your surroundings can also help you differentiate a rifle burst from a shotgun blast, and introduce you to other reads, like knowing footsteps are much louder on wooden surfaces. It's a tip the game never really tells you, and it’s one that’s extremely useful around Rhodes, and The Manor.
Bear guns, not knives
Because CQC doesn't exist in Rhodes
© Rockstar Games
Try to remember everything you know about melee weapons, and then throw it out the window. Gun Rush is first and foremost about guns, as it trades Make It Count's bow and melee combat for pistols, shotguns, and rifles that are all capable of one-tapping you into oblivion.
Melee items can easily be found on the edge of the map, but outside of the Ragnarok levels of CQC that occurs at the very beginning of a match, they're useless against weapons that have their own environmental perks. For instance, rifles are god tier in Tall Trees, and as a wise man named Bronte showed us in the main storyline, shotguns rule The Manor and buildings with stairs.
Shoot first, but have a plan
The thing about Red Dead Online is you're going to get shot. A lot. It's the Wild West after all. However, unless you're spearheading an in-game project for Campers Anonymous, you're going to eat a few bullets in the process. The best solution for that is to shoot first and move.
There's a 99 percent chance someone else is stalking you, and making Predator noises into their mic, and drawing first enables you to land an unassuming kill or create a distraction. It's a risky move when louder guns are involved, but it gives you enough time to reset, escape to a new vantage point or watch every other player be demobilised by the same decision making.
To quote an old book, know thy enemy
© Rockstar Games
Know your towns and maps
Though only four environments have been confirmed so far, Gun Rush's map selection is one of its greatest strengths, due to its scope. Tall Trees is a sniper’s haven that goes full Rambo, with rocks and foliage being used as cover; Rhodes is a cross-town shootout that utilises windows, rooftops, and alleyways; and The Manor and Fort Mercer are centralised around larger buildings that come with their fair share of stairs, chokepoints, and interior/ exterior chaos. There's some hope for Bayou Nwa and MacFarlane's Ranch, but map knowledge goes a long way, as every setting brings its own terrain, atmosphere, and weapon buffs and nerfs to keep things interesting.
Quit horsing around
Just leave Blueberry Pancakes at home
© Rockstar Games
Don't. Just don't. Leave Buttercup at home. Dodging gunfire on horseback can feel like the first draft of Keanu Reeves in Speed 3, but in Gun Rush it's the battle royale equivalent of letting a friend drive while simultaneously wearing out the horn. Horses can up your cool meter in any given scenario, but they're a much larger moving target on all four maps, and they're always a short hop away from turning you into an instant kill via aggressive snipers (or tree branches).
The 'Parkour!' memes must live on
© Rockstar Games
Embrace climbing culture
Mastering the dodge roll is one thing, but giving in to every friend who's ever bragged about 'daisy chains' and their bouldering group is a top tier strat. Climbing in Red Dead Online is essential. Parkour-ing your way around Rhodes and Fort Mercer lets you survey rooftops, balconies, and floors, and kicks the door wide open for strategies that benefit snipers and campers. There's a decent chance you’ll be shot as you parkour from building to building, but doing so can increase your map knowledge, and give you the upper hand against players who aren't familiar with sniper dens and chokepoints.
