Ambient Challenges

Ambient Challenges

Master Hunter

Rank 1: Collect five Coyote Pelts.
- Coyotes are most common in New Austin (around Hanging Rock).

Rank 2: Collect five Deer Pelts.

Rank 3: Collect five Wolf Pelts and kill five Wolves with your melee knife.
- You don’t have to kill five wolves all at once, so if you encounter a pack of them, kill off two or three of them before going at the remaining ones with your knife.
- You can weaken a wolf with bullets before trying to kill it with your knife. Just make sure the gun you use isn’t too powerful.
- The five Wolf Pelts don’t have to come from the wolves you killed with your melee knife.

Rank 4: Collect five Boar Tusks and three Armadillo Carapaces.
- Armadillo are common around Armadillo and Escalera.
- Boars are common around the boar picture on the map north of MacFarlane’s Ranch and the boar picture on the map at the southeast end of West Elizabeth.

Rank 5: Kill two Cougars with your melee knife and collect two Cougar Pelts.
- Cougars are common around Rio Bravo and the boar picture on the map north of MacFarlane’s Ranch.
- Weaken a Cougar with bullets before trying to kill it with your knife.
- The two Cougar Pelts don’t have to come from the cougars you killed with your melee knife.
- You can roll to the side while wielding your melee knife by holding LT/L2 and pressing the X/Square button.

Rank 6: Collect five Racoon Furs, five Skunk Furs and five Fox Furs.
- Raccoons can only be found at night. Look for them in the Great Plains.
- Look for skunks in Rio Del Toro or Cholla Springs.
- Foxes are most common around the fox picture on the map south of Beecher’s Hope.

Rank 7: Collect five Elk Meat and five Bighorn Skins.
- Look for Elks in Tall Trees.
- Bighorns (rams) are most common in southern tall trees (around the bighorn picture on the map.

Rank 8: Kill one Bear with your melee knife and collect one Bear Pelt.
- You can weaken a wolf with bullets before trying to kill it with your knife. Just make sure the gun you use isn’t too powerful.
- The Bear Pelt doesn’t have to come from the Bear you kill with your melee knife.

Rank 9: Search Ojo del Diablo for “Khan” the legendary jaguar and collect his pelt.
- Travel to Ojo del Diablo. Walk around the area and Khan should soon appear. He will be marked on the Mini Map by a red blip.

Rank 10: Search Aurora Basin, Stillwater Creek and Nekoti Rock for “Lobo” the legendary wolf, “Gordo” the legendary boar and “Brumas” the legendary bear and collect their pelts.
- Travel to Aurora Basin, Stillwater Creek or Nekoti Rock, walk around the area and one of these animals will soon appear. The animal will be marked on the Mini Map by a red blip.

Lobo the wolf can be found by Aurora Basin.

Gordo the boar can be found by Stillwater Creek.

Brumas the bear can be found near the cave at the top of the winding path near Nekoti Rock.

Master Hunter (Rank 5) Reward: Unlock Buffalo Rifle. You can purchase this weapon from a gunsmith.

Legendary Hunter (Rank 10) Reward: Obtain Vittles when skinning most animals. This item will restore Marston’s health when consumed.

Sharpshooter

Rank 1: Kill five flying Birds.

Rank 2: Kill five Rabbits.

Rank 3: Kill five Coyotes without taking any damage from them.
- Coyotes are most common in New Austin.

Rank 4: Kill five flying Birds from a moving train.
- To get onto a train, you can either wait until the train stops at a station and climb onboard or ride your horse up next to it and press the X/Square button when the prompt appears to jump over to it.
- Look to your map to determine where the trains are. There will be two trains if you are far enough in the story.

Rank 5: Kill two different species of animal in one Dead Eye burst.

Rank 6: Shoot the hats off of two people’s heads (without killing them).
- Target the sombreros worn by Los Banditos in Nuevo Paraiso (or the Los Banditos that occupy the Fort Mercer gang hideout) or the top hat-wearing Walton’s Gang members.

Rank 7: Kill three Bears each with a single shot.
- Use a Shotgun (the Semi-auto Shotgun is ideal). Wait until the bear is close, then trigger Dead Eye and tag the bear in the head once.
- Bears are very common in Tall Trees (especially near the bear picture on the world map).

Rank 8: Shoot the hats off of two people’s heads (without killing them) and disarm two people.
- You must shoot the weapon, not the person’s right arm. If you see blood, it doesn’t count as a disarm.
- You can disarm the same person more than once. Disarmed enemies will most likely pick up their weapon or pull out another.
- Thieves’ Landing is a good place to do this. Take cover behind the bar in the Thieves’ Landing Saloon, point your gun at someone, then activate Dead Eye when he draws and shoot the weapon out of his hand.

Rank 9: Kill six animals without reloading or changing weapons.
- Use a weapon with a large ammo capacity, such as the Evans Repeater or the Mauser Pistol. The Mauser Pistol can fire 15 times before reloading, and activating Dead Eye will reload the weapon without penalizing you.
- This is easiest during the “Pestilence” mission in Abigail Marston’s mission line. If you’ve passed this mission already, you can often find large packs of animals on Marston’s property in Beecher’s Hope. Another good opportunity is right after clearing the Fort Mercer gang hideout, as a group of more than six buzzards will appear overhead once you do.

Rank 10: Disarm six different people without reloading or changing weapons.
- This is easiest with the Mauser Pistol. The Mauser Pistol can fire 15 times before reloading, and activating Dead Eye will reload the weapon without penalizing you.
- You must shoot the weapon, not the person’s right arm. If you see blood, it doesn’t count as a disarm.
- You can disarm the same person more than once. Disarmed enemies will most likely pick up their weapon or pull out another.
- The best place to do this is in Thieves’ Landing. Bring plenty of Chewing Tobacco and Moonshine with you. Wear the Deadly Assassin outfit if you have it (although doing so is in no way necessary).
- Take cover behind the bar in the Thieves’ Landing Saloon, point your gun at someone, then activate Dead Eye when he draws and carefully shoot the weapon out of his hand. If you move out from cover, keep tapping the LT/L2 button to prevent Marston from holstering the weapon and automatically reloading it.

Master Sharpshooter (Rank 5) Reward: Receive more ammo for your guns when you open the chest in your safe houses.

Legendary Sharpshooter (Rank 5) Reward: Killing enemies and scoring headshots refills more of the Dead Eye meter.

Survivalist

The Survivalist challenge can be made easy (albeit still very time-consuming) with the use of the Survivalist Map. This item can be bought at any general store for around $25. Nearby herbs will appear on the Mini Map when the Survivalist Map is used. The effect lasts for about 20 minutes. You can press down on the D-pad to zoom out the Mini Map so you can see more of the herbs around you.

Travel to the location where the plant you’re after grows and use a Survivalist Map to mark nearby herbs on your Mini Map. You can only hold one Survivalist Map in your inventory at a time, so once you’ve used one, before setting out to find the next type of plant, stop by a general store and purchase another.

A Survivalist Map can be purchased at any general store.

For each rank, you must collect the number of the plant listed in addition to any you may already have. So, if you go into Rank 3 with two Red Sages already in your inventory, you’ll still have to collect four Red Sages to move on to Rank 4.

Rank 1: Collect six Wild Feverfew. They are found in Hennigan’s Stead and Cholla Springs.
Rank 2: Collect six Desert Sages. They are found in and around Gaptooth Ridge.
Rank 3: Collect four Red Sages. They are found in and around Rio Bravo.
Rank 4: Collect eight Prickly Pears. They are found in and around Punta Orgullo.
Rank 5: Collect seven Woolly Blue Curls. They are found in and around Perdido.
Rank 6: Collect eight Butterfly Weeds. They are found in and around Diez Coronas.
Rank 7: Collect 10 Hummingbird Sages. They are found in and around Tall Trees (mostly in the southern part).
Rank 8: Collect 12 Prairie Poppies. They are found in the Great Plains (mostly in the southern part).
Rank 9: Collect 15 Golden Currents. They are found in the Great Plains (mostly in the northern part).
Rank 10: Collect 10 Violet Snowdrop (found in Tall Trees, mostly in the northern end) as well as two of every other herb available (i.e., two more of every herb required to reach Rank 9 of this challenge).

Master Survivalist (Rank 5) Reward: Survivalist Map effect lasts for twice as long (from 20 minutes to 40 minutes).

Legendary Survivalist (Rank 10) Reward: Ability to brew Tonics, a consumable item that restores Marston’s Dead-Eye meter when used. Marston will automatically brew a Tonic whenever you gather a herb.

Treasure Hunter

The Treasure Hunter challenge involves using maps to uncover treasure chests. To start this challenge you must first recue a treasure hunter NPC during a random event. If you rescue him, the treasure hunter will show his appreciation by giving you a Treasure Map. If you weren’t able to rescue him, loot his corpse to acquire the map all the same.

You can view the Treasure Map from your inventory once you have it. It can be difficult to match up the picture on the map to the landscape feature it depicts. Fortunately for you, doing so isn’t necessary as long as you’re using this guide.

Each chest you open will contain the map to the next chest and a bar of gold. You can sell the gold in town for a considerable amount of money. The value of the gold in the chest increases as you move up the ranks.

Rank 1: Acquire a Treasure Map by rescuing a friendly NPC (or looting his corpse) during a random event.

Rank 2: Find the treasure in Hanging Rock.

Rank 3: Find the treasure on the southern face of Del Lobo Rock.

Rank 4: Find the treasure in the basement of the old mansion in Tumbleweed.

Rank 5: Find the treasure along the Rio Del Toro.

Rank 6: Find the treasure near Crooked Toes. The treasure is on top of the rock formation pictured below.

Rank 7: Find the treasure under the Ojo del Diablo rock formation.

Rank 8: Find the treasure on the mountain path along the river north of Agave Viejo.

Rank 9: Find the treasure along the stone wall in eastern Beecher’s Hope.

Rank 10: Find the treasure inside the cave in Neokti Rock.

Master Treasure Hunter (Rank 5) Reward: Ride stagecoaches for free.

Legendary Treasure Hunter (Rank 10) Reward: Acquire the Treasure Hunter’s satchel, which allows you to hold double the amount of each consumable item.