What's your favorite current ability card loadout? And why?

[Pro_Donn]

My previous loadout:

 

Eye for an eye

Strange medicine

Never without one

 

My current (test) loadout:

 

Peak condition

Landon's patience

Winning streak

 

Do the damage cards in my current loadout stack?

 

 

 

 

[ALifeOfMisery]

Currently I run

 

Paint It Black 3

Peak Condition 3

Horseman 3

The Unblinking Eye 3

 

PIB and TUE for hunting and herb picking, more Eagle Eye time for tracking and more Dead Eye time for painting groups of animals.

 

PC and Horseman I've just found to be decent damage buff cards if I happen to get dragged into some freeroam PvP. They are both active on horseback, but I don't know whether or not they stack. I figured I'm covered for having a damage buff on foot or horseback. PC also comes in handy during Story Missions where we can't use our horse.

 

I am contemplating swapping Horseman for Winning Streak, which would give me two damage buff cards that can be active at all times, rather than having to rely on being on a horse for one to work. Although, WS only works against a single target, resetting the damage buff when switching to another target, I kind of like that the damage buff from Horseman remains consistent across multiple enemies.

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by ALifeOfMisery

[-LN-]

1 hour ago, ALifeOfMisery said:

Currently I run

 

Paint It Black 3

Peak Condition 3

Horseman 3

The Unblinking Eye 3

 

PIB and TUE for hunting and herb picking, more Eagle Eye time for tracking and more Dead Eye time for painting groups of animals.

 

PC and Horseman I've just found to be decent damage buff cards if I happen to get dragged into some freeroam PvP. They are both active on horseback, but I don't know whether or not they stack. I figured I'm covered for having a damage buff on foot or horseback. PC also comes in handy during Story Missions where we can't use our horse.

 

I am contemplating swapping Horseman for Winning Streak, which would give me two damage buff cards that can be active at all times, rather than having to rely on being on a horse for one to work. Although, WS only works against a single target, resetting the damage buff when switching to another target, I kind of like that the damage buff from Horseman remains consistent across multiple enemies.

 

We use the exact same loadout!

 

I haven't any interest in buying or using the ones that seem to be centred around PvP endeavours; as someone who is either hunting and gathering or engaged in PvE activities, this loadout seems to work well for me. I don't often use PIB to paint multiple targets though; I aim, click to go into dead eye, and then fire. It does wonders for killing NPCs efficiently and effectively; it also helps when firing at certain animals that are harder to take down with just a single regular shot.

[ALifeOfMisery]

26 minutes ago, -LN- said:

We use the exact same loadout!

 

I haven't any interest in buying or using the ones that seem to be centred around PvP endeavours; as someone who is either hunting and gathering or engaged in PvE activities, this loadout seems to work well for me. I don't often use PIB to paint multiple targets though; I aim, click to go into dead eye, and then fire. It does wonders for killing NPCs efficiently and effectively; it also helps when firing at certain animals that are harder to take down with just a single regular shot.

I don't really use PIB against NPC enemies, I should for the extra XP, but headshots are so quick and easy against AI that I've become lazy.

 

While hunting, like you, I'll use it against animals that can be tricky to one shot, but mostly I'll use it when I spot a herd of grazing animals at a distance, using the Bolt Action I can usually get 3 - 4 clean kills without having to chase them.

[CMCSAVAGE]

Original:

 

Paint It Black 3

Peak Condition 3

Horseman 3

The Unblinking Eye 3

 

Currently:

 

Focus Fire 3 

Peak Condition 3

Winning Streak 3 

The Unblinking Eye 3

 

Since I really don't do a lot of PvP, having PIB just for headshots seemed useless, plus I never painted any targets in freeroam. Horseman was great for awhile for dealing with griefers on horseback, but I find Winning Streak to be more useful.

 

I think it's a decent PvE loadout that suits my needs, and isn't too bad for PvP. I do swtch back to Horseman for Dispatch Rider, I like that one.

Edited June 1, 2019 by CMCSAVAGE

[-LN-]

20 minutes ago, ALifeOfMisery said:

I don't really use PIB against NPC enemies, I should for the extra XP, but headshots are so quick and easy against AI that I've become lazy.

 

While hunting, like you, I'll use it against animals that can be tricky to one shot, but mostly I'll use it when I spot a herd of grazing animals at a distance, using the Bolt Action I can usually get 3 - 4 clean kills without having to chase them.

I do like it when I'm facing NPCs who are a significant distance away and when I can't always see well enough to land an accurate headshot, but yes the bonus XP is indeed nice and I kind of just like the sound it makes when quickly clicking and then firing off and on like that, lol.

 

I've become a bit better than I used to be as of late, but I still find myself painting the same animal(s) more than once if I'm not careful and don't take my time. I just need to practice though!

Edited June 1, 2019 by -LN-

[Van_Hellsing]

My load out depends on what activity I am doing. For free roam I come across quite some ambushes. Enemies are bullet sponges and can deal quite a lot of damage. So:

 

Paint it black 3

Strange Medicine 3

Cold Blooded 3 

Winning Streak 3

 

Strange Medicine and Cold Blooded restore health. 

 

For hunting dangerous animals:

 

Focus Fire 3

Unblinking Eye 3

Langdon's Patience 3

Horseman 3

 

LP works for sniping. If you are hunting herbivores, replace Focus Fire with Paint it black. 

 

 

Showdowns :

 

Paint it black 3 

Peak Condition 3

Langdon's Patience 3

Winning Streak 3

 

 

If harassed by a griefer :

 

Slippery Bastard and The Unblinking Eye. 

 

[IamCourtney]

This is just an editted C&P of a post I made back in February, most of it still applies!

 

Been rolling with this as a general purpose Free Roam loadout, it skews toward a PvP focus. I don't like swapping cards all the time and I find PvE simply doesn't pose anywhere near enough challenge to warrant specific loadouts. By and large, good PvP cards will have PvE uses as well. I also don't really do Showdowns, just Free Roam Events and PvP encounters in free roam sessions (I'm in Offensive Mode 99% of the time):

 

Slow & Steady III

Cold Blooded III

Winning Streak III

Never Without One III

 

S&S has been my go-to Dead Eye card since I unlocked it, it's kinda fallen out of favour since it was nerfed (a nerf it badly needed imo) but I still manage to get good results with it. It's just very simple and versatile which is what I like. Good for both reacting to sudden attack and allowing more aggressive movements on my part knowing I can tank a hit or two. Being a Free Roam focused player helps as fighting on horseback negates S&S's biggest drawback, the movement speed penalty.

 

Cold Blooded vs. Strange Medicine is a hot debate and I like both (I have both fully upgraded) but I get more out of CB most of the time. A lot of my fights tend to be long range rifle engagements over in one or two hits, protecting or attacking mission objectives or fending off random grief, so I get more out CB's higher healing per kill as well as the unpenalized regen. I'm usually not in enough prolonged enemy contact for Strange to really pay off.

 

Winning Streak is just a solid as hell card with no downsides, but I'm not sure if Peak Condition or Landon's Patience are better. I've tried all of them and honestly, for my purposes, I can't see much difference in most cases. I'm sticking with Winning Streak mainly because it pays off nicely against other S&S users and/or people with temporarily increased health bars (Health Tonics, Golden Armor, Teddy Brown etc.)

 

Never without One is another card that's taken a nerf-related hit to it's reputation, and I admit I was pretty annoyed with it at first, but after a few weeks I've reached different conclusions. It probably was too good before, especially in a Showdown setting, but for my money it's still the best card in the Defense category. It still saves me from plenty of headshots, and since it's now less likely to be constantly shot off my head, the secondary damage reduction effect has a relative increase in value which synergizes nicely with S&S and my fat-ass armor.

Edited June 1, 2019 by IamCourtney

[*Lola]

8 hours ago, Pro_Donn said:

 

 

Do the damage cards in my current loadout stack?

 

 

 

 

Y

E

S

[DeadEyeAdler]

Paint it Black III

Winning Streak III

Peak Condition III

Never Without One III

 

Its a solid all-round build for both casuals and competitive players.

[Pro_Donn]

6 hours ago, *Lola said:

Y

E

S

Do you have proof?

[Chrismads]

I switch between Slow and Steady, Paint It Black, Slippery Bastard and working on getting Focus Fire to lvl III.

 

The rest of my cards is 

NWO

Horseman/Peak Condition

The Unblinking Eye

 

The setup I'm working my way to is:

Focus Fire III

Horseman III

Peak Condition III

Landons Patience III

 

Hoping to achieve a one hit build while on horseback with my Springfield and express ammo.

 

Do Landons Patience increase the damage of the first shot or do I have to aim for 15 sec before shooting first shot? 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Chrismads

[Hetraet]

None, I just want the magic cards to go away, but since everybody uses em my loadout is S&S III, NWO III, Eye for an eye III, To fight another day III. It's mainly a defensive loadout but it works for me

[Leftover Pizza]

3 hours ago, Hetraet said:

None, I just want the magic cards to go away, but since everybody uses em my loadout is S&S III, NWO III, Eye for an eye III, To fight another day III. It's mainly a defensive loadout but it works for me

^ this.

 

I'd rather have some sort of ability points you gain per level and use on specific talent trees ie. weapon masteries, dead eye boost, defensive stats, you know the drill. I only use some random cards to avoid the "you have empty slots" message. 

[-LN-]

5 hours ago, Hetraet said:

None, I just want the magic cards to go away, but since everybody uses em my loadout is S&S III, NWO III, Eye for an eye III, To fight another day III. It's mainly a defensive loadout but it works for me

Ideally, I too would still like to see them gone forever, but sadly, I think they're here to stay. Overall, I don't give them much thought aside from PIB, which as far as cards are concerned, I like it well enough for what it is and does from a PvE standpoint, but I do wish that none of them could be used in showdowns or lobby based PvP modes. There should at least be an option to play matches where they aren't allowed, but yea, I don't think R* is going to be on board with that idea either.

[*Lola]

15 hours ago, Pro_Donn said:

Do you have proof?

Y
E
S

[Pro_Donn]

15 hours ago, *Lola said:

Y
E
S

 

15 hours ago, *Lola said:

Y
E
S

Where is it?

[Danish Crusader]

I sure Paint it Black, because I like that it paints targets in Dead Eye + I like the song.

Hunker down because I am a PvE player and therefor spend a lot of time in cover.

And come back stronger. So health replenishes faster after taking damage.

I don't have a fourth card yet.

 

I am a PvE player, so I pick what works for me in PvE.

And if PvP starts in Free roam... Well, that is what the Pump-Action is for

[U Carmine]

I haven't really changed my loadout. I still use Paint It Black, Eye For Eye, Unblinking Eye and Never Without One. I may have Slippery instead of Paint It Black, depending on the situation. But I don't really come on much anymore. Maybe once a week.

 

4 hours ago, Pro_Donn said:

 

Where is it?

N

O

W

H

E

R

E

[*Lola]

6 hours ago, Pro_Donn said:

 

Where is it?

https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadredemption/comments/ak40zb/ive_tested_a_ton_of_ability_cards_at_level_3/

Edited June 3, 2019 by *Lola

[U Carmine]

6 minutes ago, *Lola said:

 

I'm not on reddit but Short Game only seemed to work with melee combat. That's if you still haven't found out.

[Failed Again]

"My dream deck"

 

Faster than a speeding bullet

Leaps tall buildings in a single bound

Bend steel with my bare hands

More powerful than a locomotive

 

Pib

UBE

The one with the crawling baby

Strange Medicine

 

[Ddankunicorn]

I do the invincible sprinter setup it's dead eye is whatever you want really but the main cards are

fool me once 

Peak condition 

Iron lung 

I use slow and steady sounds counter productive but it keeps me on my horse under cougar attacks, and tanks me up when I can't really run around. 

 

I still get the damage bonuses from my stamina level. 

 

 

 

 

[PanagiotisP]

Free Roam

• Slow and Steady
• Sharpshooter
• Peak Condition
• Never Without One

 

[DarksunDaFirst]

Still hate the cards in the game.

 

Slippery Bastard, Sharpshooter, Unblinking Eye, and I switch between Peak Condition and Iron Lung.  

I have others, but this is my primary that I use for PvE and PvP.  My main weakness is fast moving enemies with PIB and a bow.

[FRIDA_KAHLO]

Half the time my PC version crashes upon clicking deadeye, so I don't oft reach for it in a fight. But I love my cards anyway and normally arrange em into little frog sized card houses, while Cripps slaves away. Now you get right down to it and your basic two options are "four walls without a roof" (like Cripps used to sleep with around him in his wuss days). Or my preferred option of two tents or teepees (or one of each!) like "/\ /\".

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by FRIDA_KAHLO

[AmyStone]

On 6/22/2021 at 8:16 AM, Ddankunicorn said:

I do the invincible sprinter setup 

 

Nah.

[Veleno]

PvE:

 

Paint it Black lll

Strange Medicine lll

Iron Lung lll

Fool Me Once lll

Peak Condition lll

 

PvP:

 

Swallow My Explosives lll

[kcole4001]

I like the extra damage of Winning Streak with regular shotgun shells, so:

PiB

WinStr

PeakCond

UnBlink

[Krommer]

I'm lazy, so I only use the same set up for PVE/PVP and this works pretty well (all max level):

 

Slow and Steady, great all around dead eye and FANTASTIC for legendary charging boar/grizzlies/cougars/wolf packs (did PIB before, but was never good at it.)

Iron Lung

Fool Me Once

Winning Streak 

(last two are great all around combo, you take less consecutive damage and do more consecutive damage.)

 

Can't believe I wasted so much time with PIB, not really being good at it; Slow and Steady was an all around game changer, especially for

predators/legendaries that previously made the horse buck. I do it automatic now, when a cougar pops up and is coming towards my horse and me.

 

I used to also use Peak Condition, but Iron Lung seems way better.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Krommer