Dark red hitmarkers: How do they work?

[Slonitram]

As you may or may not be aware by now, there is an apparently random chance of delivering certain critical hits to NPCs which will not kill them instantly, but will put them in a bleed out state. 

 

This bleed out state is a lethally wounded state where they'll begin bleeding profusely from the spot you shot them in. They'll stand up, run away from you while leaving a massive blood trail behind them, then collapse and immediatelly die or lay on the ground groaning in pain until they finally perish. 

 

I have tried for the past days to force these states to happen more often in order to understand how they work. I've read that they activate if you shoot them in certain critical spots (seen through Deadeye), which I have tried with little success, as sometimes I shoot them in these exact spots and I get a white hitmarker. I've heard about using High Velocity rounds in order to have these happen more often and so I did, which, so far, has given me mixed results. High Velocity rounds do seem to cause these dark red hitmarkers to happen more often, but it seems to be more so by chance than by shooting NPCs in the right spots.

 

I've caused these bleed out states with shots to the gut, shoulder, neck, lower back and I've seen one video where someone shot a guy in the ass and it caused him to bleed out. What do you think? Are these by chance or is there more to be learned?

[Sonny_Black]

You can do it repeatably if you shoot in the neck as I saw it in a video but for the rest I don't know, by the way I do remember in one video a guy also bleeding out from a abdominal wound.

Edited November 16, 2018 by anthony

[djb204]

If you upgrade your dead eye level to the point where you can see NPC/animal vitals (red areas), those are bleed out shots. Successfully shoot those areas for a red hit marker.

 

Note: I don’t know if the angle of your shot determines a successful shot. Angles might matter because ammunition bullets/arrows have a penetration rating, so just because you aimed your gun at the vitals doesn’t you hit the vitals. If the bullet has to penetrate an arm before reaching the torso for example, it wouldn’t matter if the trajectory was on course for a lung hit, a low penetration rating MIGHT prevent it from reaching the lung. Again, I say MIGHT because I don’t fully understand the penetration rating.

[Slonitram]

1 hour ago, djb204 said:

If you upgrade your dead eye level to the point where you can see NPC/animal vitals (red areas), those are bleed out shots. Successfully shoot those areas for a red hit marker.

 

Note: I don’t know if the angle of your shot determines a successful shot. Angles might matter because ammunition bullets/arrows have a penetration rating, so just because you aimed your gun at the vitals doesn’t you hit the vitals. If the bullet has to penetrate an arm before reaching the torso for example, it wouldn’t matter if the trajectory was on course for a lung hit, a low penetration rating MIGHT prevent it from reaching the lung. Again, I say MIGHT because I don’t fully understand the penetration rating.

Where can I see the penetration rating of bullets? Or is it not displayed within the game? I'm sure High Velocity bullets have much more chance of penetrating than Regular ammo since they're pretty much hollow point rounds. Maybe I have more chance causing heavy bleeding by shooting the vitals with rifles?

[Catfish Pie]

Good question OP....I've had a few, but like you say they are quite rare/random. 

There is no penetration rating in game I don't think, but it stands to reason as you say, that the High Velocity ammo is the highest penetration........makes sense.

 

I killed 2 Murfree Brood last night with a single hot round (High Velocity) from the Henry rifle (Litchfield Repeater).

One happened to be stood directly behind the other as I approached them.....head shot the one and it killed his mate stood behind too (through and through head shots) 

 

The most memorable bleed out shot I had was the first one.....I was hunting rabbits with the .22 varmint rifle (low penetration I presume) 

I came across some dude on his own at a camp, he took offence at a stray round i fired near his camp and opened up on me.....

I turned and and shot him with the Varmint rifle, and happened to hit him in the throat....he ran off bleeding and squealing like a stuffed pig! 

Guess you have to hit them just right....hope it ain't random. 

In 100+hrs I think I've only seen 3. 

[Slonitram]

UPDATE: High Velocity rounds + aiming at the highlighted vital spots in Deadeye do make bleed-outs happen much more often. They're not guaranteed on every hit, but the chance is improved massively when both things are combined together.

 

So, it's not entirely dependent on luck. You have to be using hollow point and aim for the red spots in Deadeye. 

[Firefly156]

I personally use the M1899 pistol with High velocity rounds and I aim near the shoulders and most of the time they bleed out.