How effective do you find the revolver against wolves?

[Bronco]

Now that I have a revolver, I tried to use it on a wolf as it makes its stalking approach. Regrettably, I'm not having much success. Is the critical hit chance for a revolver a lot lower than a rifle? When I do resort to using the rifle, it's a kill shot nearly 100% of the time (rifle skill 3 or less). I've tried at least 5 times with a revolver (skill level is 3) and all of them were misses. Is anyone else having any luck? 

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Bronco

[ManicManiac]

I've not found one yet, so I can't speak from personal experience.  I do believe Raph mentioned in the update video that it was meant as a defensive weapon, and that it was less effective on Wolves, Bears, Deer, Moose.  I don't believe it ever intended to be on the same level as a rifle.  Seems to me that while bleed out might eventually occur, it was meant more as a hostile wildlife deterrent and not so much a hunting weapon.

Also I believe that the team is taking a closer look at the revamped aiming mechanics, so things will likely get fine tuned with the next hotfix.

Edited May 11, 2019 by ManicManiac

[ajb1978]

Effective if you can get the drop on them.  I had one wolf that I shot with a clean hit, blood trail and everything, and the wolves killed count never went up.  It may have been a glitch though.  I'm only up to level 3 with the revolver, and so far I've got just one instant-kill.  I even had one where the wolf charged me, I shot it square in the face, and it pounced anyway.  I fought it off by whacking it with the pistol, and it scampered away and dropped dead a few seconds later.

I suspect if I get this thing up to level 5, it may be somewhere between the bow and rifle in terms of stopping power.

[Bronco]

5 minutes ago, ManicManiac said:

I've not found one yet, so I can't speak from personal experience.  I do believe Raph mentioned in the update video that it was meant as a defensive weapon, and that it was less effective on Wolves, Bears, Deer, Moose.  I don't believe it ever intended to be on the same level as a rifle.  Seems to me that while bleed out might eventually occur, it was meant more as a hostile wildlife deterrent and not so much a hunting weapon.

Also I believe that the team is taking a closer look at the revamped aiming mechanics, so things will likely get fine tuned with the next hotfix.

I was intending to hunt the wolf, in most cases, it's when I happen to cross their paths like when you crest over a hill and boom, the bugger is on you.

I have managed to a deer with it though. Simply get in the path of it, crouched and waited for him to close the distance. Not sure how long it took to bleed out since I have no idea where it was hit but sometime later, I noticed my deer kills had incremented by one. Still trying to find the carcass so I can harvest the meat and hide.

[ManicManiac]

@Bronco
I agree that you can use the revolver for hunting... I'm just saying I think it was intended function was mainly as a deterrent for hostile wild life (wound them/scare them away - depending on a hit or a miss).  I mean sure if you pump enough slugs into anything it will eventually go down.  If you notice it's less effective than the Rifle, I'm just saying that I think that was the intended design choice. 

13 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

I had one wolf that I shot with a clean hit, blood trail and everything, and the wolves killed count never went up.  It may have been a glitch though.

Yeah, that might have been a bug.  Have you sent a support ticket to have the team check on it?

I had one instance in this last run where I ran afoul of a wolf and tried to take him out with my improvised knife, one day after the struggle my wolf kill count hadn't increased either.

Edited May 11, 2019 by ManicManiac

[Bronco]

1 minute ago, ManicManiac said:

@Bronco
I agree that you can use the revolver for hunting... I'm just saying I think it was intended function was mainly as a deterrent for hostile wild life (wound them/scare them away - depending on a hit or a miss).  I mean sure if you pump enough slugs into anything it will eventually go down.  If you notice it's less effective than the Rifle, I'm just saying that I think that was the intended design choice. 

Fair point. I tried using it during a struggle with a wolf and the revolver turns around in your hand and is used as a club. Definitely not a melee weapon, lol. I'll stick with my trusty knife.

[ajb1978]

So I had a rather frustrating but interesting experience with a wolf just now.  I pre-emptively shot him, and he ran off.  I encountered him a little while later, limping...and he got the jump on me.  I whacked him with the pistol until he ran off.  And that SAME wolf surprised me a second time, a second wolf struggle, and after about 3 seconds he dropped dead.

So at least the damage is cumulative.

[UpUpAway95]

I just got a critical hit on a wolf, so they are possible.  Given the revolver is a lower caliber weapon than the rifle, it stands to reason that the critical hit chance would be mathematically lower.  I'm currently at Level 2 revolver skill.

Edited May 11, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[TheHunter280]

Personaly I find the revolver to be very effective, easy and quick to use, it does the job of deterring the wolfs and the around. The revolver make travel in wolf zone easier, quicker, lighter and safer, I used to travel with bow and arrows to save weight on travel but before having Lvl 5 Archery you always take a big risk by standing up for a bit, with the revolver, no more risk to take while aiming

As a hunting weapon it suck like a vacuum cleaner

[Bronco]

Ok, I think I was definitely waiting too long before I committed to pulling the trigger. Was just playing and shot I bit earlier like before the wolf started his charge. Out of 3 encounters, all shots were a hit, the last one being a crit. Starting to feel a bit more comfortable with it.

Thank you, everyone, for the kind wisdom. Happy trails!

[TerribleSurvivor]

So here is how i experienced wolf encounters with a revolver:

1. If you shoot to deter the wolf, you better start running away from it in the opposite direction because it is not going to be fleeing very long. Also, if it reengages another shot will not scare it away unless you hit it.
2. If you actually hit the wolf (which is notoriously hard with any firearm) you have a good chance that it will be running away with a bleeding so eventually it will be dead. Also, it doesn't reengage if mortally wounded.
3. If you have an aimbot on or just get plain lucky you can even critically hit a wolf (usually with a headshot) causing it to die instantly.

I have ambivalent feelings about the revolver. It is good for defensive usage but it can get you killed because the wolves reengage so damn fast which leads to surprise attacks if you aren't careful. Honestly, I prefer flares to keep myself safe because wolves care much more about someone wielding a torch because it speaks a language they understand very well: "This is fire, don't come close or you will die!" That doesn't mean i don't use the revolver though.

Where the revolver does come in very handy though is when hunting deer. Many times, you will not kill your prey with a single rifle shot. The revolver usually allows you to finish off the deer with very little extra material input because bullets are quite abundant in contrast to rifle cartridges.

Edited May 12, 2019 by TerribleSurvivor

[Jolan]

I find the range is too short to hunt wolves efficiently.  Rabbits though, works like a charm.  Mind you, I wouldn't be hunting rabbits with a revolver if I a) didn't have a ridiculous amount of revolver ammo and b) need to seriously get my revolver skill up.  

[peteloud]

For several days I have had a revolver as well as the bow & arrow that I always try to carry.  The only time I have used the revolver is when, at the top of a rope climb. there was wolf.  I didn't have time to cycle through from revolver to bow so had to use the revolver.  I scared the wolf away but didn't kill it.

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I am better off only a bow & arrows avoiding the weight encumbrance of revolver or rifle.

[Blankshield]

In the Voyageur sandbox I started with Steadfast Ranger, I've had a couple dozen wolf encounters so far, most with the revolver.  Previously with the rifle, I would start to aim when the wolf growled, and move backwards, lining it up and firing, with easily a 90% kill rate.  Using the same technique with the revolver, I have only killed one, although I have hit nearly all of them (blood spatter on the ground where the wolf was shot).  However, the resulting struggle is over *much* faster, as the wolf is already wounded.

I am waiting on the fix for the aiming issue to come out to see if that changes my effectiveness with the revolver.

[hozz1235]

On 5/11/2019 at 1:05 PM, Bronco said:

Fair point. I tried using it during a struggle with a wolf and the revolver turns around in your hand and is used as a club. Definitely not a melee weapon, lol. I'll stick with my trusty knife.

I've been using it as my struggle weapon because you can get an easy hit shot with it.

[Bronco]

On 5/14/2019 at 9:27 AM, hozz1235 said:

I've been using it as my struggle weapon because you can get an easy hit shot with it.

You must have your revolver skill high enough for that. I'm still at level 3. Is it at level 4 or 5 that you can use it to take a shot at the wolf?

[ajb1978]

38 minutes ago, Bronco said:

You must have your revolver skill high enough for that. I'm still at level 3. Is it at level 4 or 5 that you can use it to take a shot at the wolf?

Must be Level 4 because that's where I'm at, and while button mashing if the struggle meter gets high enough, you can RMB to take a shot, instantly killing the wolf.  Like you're going at it, you've got the wolf on the ropes, then Shao Khan pops out from behind a tree and is all FINISH HIM!!

Flawless Victory.

Fatality.

[hozz1235]

15 hours ago, Bronco said:

You must have your revolver skill high enough for that. I'm still at level 3. Is it at level 4 or 5 that you can use it to take a shot at the wolf?

I could do it at level 1.

[ajb1978]

28 minutes ago, hozz1235 said:

I could do it at level 1.

Nice, must be an inherent feature then. I really wish I'd taken better notes on what each level granted. 

[hozz1235]

37 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

Nice, must be an inherent feature then. I really wish I'd taken better notes on what each level granted. 

I remember seeing the patch video clip where it showed firing in a struggle so gave it a try and it worked

[matiac]

I've been using it to quite some effect outside of the maintenance shop with bait. Must've dropped 7 wolves, only one was an immediate kill and only got pounced once (un-baited, if they get too close even if you score a hit they will pounce, otherwise they will be scared by the shot even when charging). Every shot meant a kill, minus an extra accidental one when I tried to pick my bait back up that scared the hell out of me.