12 Red Dead Redemption 2 Life Hacks You Need To Know 

"10 perfect rat pelts for one hat? Heck, let's just find one big rat and save ourselves the trouble." (Glares at Micah)

For beginners, 1.Do Chores around camp, hunting, and just running to build some stats. Smoking premium cigarettes helps dead eye, but will lose stamina. Just go to sleep or use potion. 2. Save, save, save.. 3 Get better weapons. Get Scoffield Pistol in Valentines. Lancaster Repeater is in Rhodes. Get a Pump shotgun. These 3 I stuck with most of the Time. 4. Look for treasure maps and get gold Bars.very easy to do. Lots of videos to watch. 5. Use cinematic view while on horse for automatic travel. Very helpful cause that’s what most of the time you’ll be doing. 6 Get the Arabian Horse. It’s up north and it’s free. Always pack 1 winter outfit for traveling north. Start bonding with horse by calming, feeding and riding it. 7. Kill Legendary animals for trinkets. Helpful perks. Also at the trapper get animal saddle. Work on getting some. They are better than regular saddles. Do challenges to get better ammo gear and get extra holster for pistol. 8. Locate Fences and Trappers for better items. At Gunsmith is cheaper to pay to clean guns than buy gun oil. But some guns can’t be clean at the gun store so you still need gun oil. 9. Try to find and get all other weapons. Guns, ,knives, machete, axe, tomahawk, pirate sword, and daggers. . Some you’ll stumble on and some are on missions. Always try to get a weapons from dead people that you don’t own. You’ll get your old weapons back from the horse if you pick another gun. You can find another scoffield pistol or Lancaster repeater from Random NPC. 10 try to get all the Satchels. Once you get the last one, it makes things easier to carry. Food, potion, jewelry, and plants. A must to get. 11. Try to have High honor. You get 25% discount on all store. If you do a Mayor Mission in St. Denis and kill the guy. You get another 10% off. Only in St. Denis. If you get max Honor, won’t be til after Ch5, you will get 50% off. So in St Denis you can get 60% there.

Feed Arthur! Your health core was always in the red!

"Skid stops on horses are cool" *shows clip of him running a guy over and tripping on a rock*

A good tip is have your main horse and find a random horse (steal or tame a wild) bond to level one. while on your main horse whistle for your now temporary horse and it will follow. Useful for stowing big hides. Hope this helps.

Hack 1 should be: Hunt the Legendary Buck and get its trinket asap (Chapter 2 after unlocking Fence). Hack 2: Focus on completing the satchels until you have the Legend of the East one. This way you won't lose loot due to a full inventory. And the Trinket will prevent pelts and carcasses from rooting.

If you have your main holster revolver out oud push L1 twice, you do a gun spin while putting it away.

Use poison arrows for predators. They run off and die slowly but if they are perfect pelts and you hit them in the head they stay perfect, just hit them one time with the poison arrow.

Old video, but still worth mentioning for some. Lots of better tips are in comments. And one fishing tip that I personally find really great and no one is mentioning it, is going to the settings > controller > and change the reel options for fishing to hold square (x on xbox controller) rather than spinning the analog endlessly.

Something super useful IMO is to study the animals, either with binoculars or just being next to them, so that you learn the best way to kill them and gather a pelt in perfect condition.

Yeah those shop keepers and their weird personal standards like refusing to serve murderous psychopaths, who do they think they are?

A tip I haven't seen mentioned much is that at max affinity with your horse when you calm it with right stick it regains some stamina bar. From my own experience this can let you run pretty much indefinitely without using horse tonics.

If you have a perfect big pelt on the back of your horse, and see another large perfect animal that you want to deliver to the trapper, mount your horse and lasso the dead animal without skinning. You can then drag the animal to the trapper and it will not damage the pelt.

With #2, your honor went down because you killed someones farm animal. Animals that belong to someone or are in someones fence can't be killed without losing some honor. Learned this the hard way lol.

Another few secrets the game doesn't tell you: some side missions can only be done in certain chapters, as well as collecting secret weapons.

Here are a couple: Don't use a double action revolver, as they have lower damage and fanning a cattleman has much higher rpm than the double action, the cattleman revolver will see you through to the end of the game, I suggest keeping the main holster cannon short and the offhand cannon long, as you use the main hand to quickdraw and a short barrel significantly decreases draw time. The offhand holster is practical to keep your longboy revolver if you want to kill targets moving away from you, you could also use a long barrelled Schofield on the offhand holster. If you wondered why the quickdraw events are so hard and sometimes seem impossible it's because your quickdraw pistol barrel is too long and thus takes a longer time to draw from your holster. this is especially helpful in RDO where you don't have slomo deadeye

With the fishing part, i found it super helpful to move your left joystick up and down while reeling in. That way, the fish is pulled closer and closer every time your left joystick goes down. You have to try it to get what i'm trying to say 😂 it's pretty hard with my little hands but it reels in the fish way quicker

I refused to purchase the game, because I was afraid it will ruin my life, oh and because I run PC only now. So it turns out I was right, if I don't watch, I really would stick glued to the screen and play this movie of a game. It is BY FAR the BEST story game out there. The level of detail and the unique characters blew me away and keep blowing me away. Random events...omg... thanks for the tips, these help immensely, saving me from wasting too much time :D

Why would you wade around in the river surrounding Saint Denis? Its full of Alligators lol

When ever you need to reload in a gunfight just turn deadeye on and off because every time you turn on deadeye your amount of bullets you have before you need to reload goes to max

Right in the beginning “good plan fellas!”😂😂 Arthur’s such a smartass.

Seeing how he handled the ambush at the beginning of the video, I knew right away it wouldn't be teaching me anything...

Fishing tip, dont just pull back. Go forth n back n increases catch time significantly if you can do it.

Something I always found incredibly helpful and wish somebody had told me was w the legendary animals, just use your sawed off shotgun. 1 shot to the head and it’s done, perfect pelt. Easy and quick.

Thank You Eurogamer , your website helped me discover a lot of things in this game I would have just ignored . Your help is short & sweet & to the point , unlike other BS click bait sites .

What I have noticed whilst playing is that greeting everyone you pass is a good way of getting your honour up. Really good if you're in a busy town. I haven't seen this tip on any RD2 tips videos.

First time coming here. The commentary alone made me subscribe. Bloody brilliant. I'm with cha...

Life Hack #13: If you fall off your horse, get back on it.

Some less obvious tips. 1.) Clicking L3 while on your horse does more than calm it from agitation. Spacing your clicks every 12 to 15 seconds of consistent riding will recover a portion of your horses stamina, useful for races or long treks. If you have the thumb strength, just hold the stick down and your horses stamina will regenerate automatically every 12 seconds (pair this with a beaver saddle and high quality stirrups and cinematic mode for infinite riding). 2.) Using dead eye automatically reloads your weapon. If you're surrounded by more than 6 targets. Pop some slow-mo kills to extend your clip size. (Works even if the clip is empty!) 3.) If you're struggling to hunt animals. There are some procedures you can take to make it easier. (I'll use a boar as a case example.) - Study the animal to find its diet, Boars eat small rodents and amphibians, so check creeks and small bodies of water. - Bait it, and no not with store bought bait, that stuff doesn't descriminate. The best method is to stand at the location the animal appears, set up camp. (Camp usually spawn at great hunting location far from roads and trails). Then hunt down the animals favourite meal(Boars like rats, squirrels, and frogs). Coincidentally, those meals should be very easy to find in the animals habitat. After you've caught a meal, skin it(Skinned animals are easier to smell) and place it down, then wait nearby. You have a good chance of attracting your target. 4.) Are you tired of having worn weapons in your inventory? The only way to remedy this is to replace it with its high quality counter part. The game lets you own one of each( 2 of each for hand-held) non throwable weapon. If you have a worn Lancaster, you can wait until you find a good one in the world or just buy a replacement in the shop. Sorry, that's the only way. 5.) Just a for fun tip now. You may have heard by now but double tapping L1 performs a flourish before a gun is holstered.

Switch your fishing controls from spinning the stick to just holding down square.. Itll make ur life so much easier

Heheh, that intro... I'm still hanging around chapter six, procrastinating the inevitable spoiler and feeling bad I'm tormenting Arthur up a snowy mountain, in the rain looking for a moose 😆 Thanks for this vid though, you pointed some things out I'd not really payed attention to, like the guns

#6 It's faster even still to go down and up on the left stick. Down to get the pole closer to the fish and reel in the excess line, and up again to give the fish a nice pull towards you.

“Mornin miss macfarlane.”

Thank you! Great video

Also if you think you can keep changing between the three outfits on your stock saddle.... The townsfolk noticed all three the more you wear them

After the first tip, I thought this was going to be a good video. Nope. Nearly every other "tip" is just an aspect of the game you come across playing, some even explicitly explained to the player. For example, needing to have the gun cleaned before it can be customized by a gunsmith? Duh. Because when you try customizing your only option at first is to clean. That's hardly a "hack".

Great info... Thanks man

The fact that John can’t swim makes it hard to earn xp that way

Literally the least qualified person to say “rootin’ tootin’”. But great video.

Health from knock outs can be more practical if you equip a pistol or other firearm and press the melee button (either b or circle), as long as you aren't already in combat it should be a breeze. IF you are in combat there is a chance that your target will attempt to knock the gun from your hands.

Anyone know what hat Arthur is wearing in tip four and five and/or where to find it?

Some constructive feedback, having the number for the tip over the the top of the player stats HUD on the bottom left makes it hard to actually see the benefits of some of the tips. Top right would be a better location for any overlays in future RD2 videos. But anyway, thanks for the tips, hope you appreciated mine.

Kill a Legendary animal, and you can have a fence make a trinket to slow down gun degrading. Beaver Tooth Trinket - Legendary Beaver Tooth. Slows weapon degradation by 10 percent.

Side tip on the gunsmith tip. If you let him clean the gun for you, the gun condition degrades much slower than if you cleaned it. Same goes for hair pomade. If you let the barber apply it on you, it last 5 days compared to the 3 when you put it on

For no.2, you do not need to go in and kill all the animals and have a bounty on your head. Do it safely by go into the paddock with your horse and lead them outside. Use your binocular or just aim your gun at each one of the animals to find the perfect skin. Than lead them away at a safe distance and kill it for skin/meat. Repeat the same process as needed elsewhere. Good luck :)

If you can stomach killing horses, you can often find gold nuggets in the bounty hunters saddlebags. I found 4 in one day.

This seems like the perfect time to bring back the cooking show

Thanks for your info, you make good video's friend!

10:30 😂😂😂 The whole outfit part of the video cracked me up

I love to hunt on RD2 but I hate how far away the meat markets are so far in between...

That last jump is amazing.

Saw someone's hack for the Fishing with the Veteran mission. Don't cast out too far. Took me 3-4 casts, but when you get the right distance, just far enough, you can bring the fish in quick. Like less than 3 seconds.

I think leaving your horse somewhere that it can graze it should reset its hunger.

There are trinkets you can craft at the fence to slow weapon degradation

4:26 You can feed your horse while riding it just by selecting a food in the horse menu

Complete the rock carving quest and you get a brass compass which you make a talisman out of that slows your weapon degradation by 20%.

From what I’ve seen in multiple videos most players don’t know you can brush your horse while still mounted and for me I knew in my very first gameplay in the beginning.

nice thanks Johnny

How do you shoot your revolver from the hip (on pc) while smacking the top of it for quick cocking? I have never had the game explain it to me

Really good tips...!!

For health XP is better to use the bow early in the game, you don't have that many enemies and they're easier to kill. The same goes for stamina, you don't have to travel far and you can run to your destination, for Red Eye I recommend you to gather some money and buy premium cigars. For money, you can steal bounties or hunt animals; while hunting or gathering herbs you'll usually encounter enemy gangs which you can kill and loot.

Thank you 😀

Actually the best way to increase your Deadeye XP is to shoot enemies in the head from a distance. Scoped rifles help a lot.

for some reason if I try to brush my horse while im standing on the ground it never seems to get it clean. the only way Ive been able to get the red symbol that appears on the horse health core when its dirty to disappear is to either ride it in water or brush while sitting on top. its really weird.

I always keep my honor at lvl 6, like you get shop discounts and unlock cool stuff, and its cool to be honorable

Thank you my good sir!

Thanks!

Says don't rely on pistols when you know you'll need a rifle against a grizzly, then uses a pistol in the hunting mission when you're tracking a huge grizzly bear... I'm going to guess none of the other 11 'tips' are going to actually be much help either.

If you use your lasso before killing an animal, and walk towards it while it’s lassoed, you can kill it (perfect pelt everytime) (I think animal specific, only tried on deer and pigs)

Don't know if anybody else has done this but for hair and beard growth, while I'm on the horse I keep patting the horse then open the satchel quick and drink a few hair tonics then go into the stable and come back out and Arthur's/John's hair and beard has grown lol And for perfect pelts I kill the animal if it has 1 or 2 stars and leave it lying for a wee while and hang around the area, keep checking the animal and if the stars for the animals condition has disappeared then I skin it and it usually gives me a perfect pelt.

3:40 I was expecting the answer to be "humans".

you forgot drinking guarma rum and then chewing tobacco immediately after to get infinite ammo!

Number 6, fishing. I found it amazingly easy to fish by taping down the L2 and putting the controller in my lap. Now THAT'S an RDR2 life hack!

I love the first quote

My life: GET THE COMPANION APP! It's a more immersive/convenient experience. I remove the mini map on the game, kill the lights in the room, keep phone/tablet on the charger (most important step since the app will kill your phone in an hr), prop it up or put it on a stand, and hit the map. From there you can change it to Arther's mini map. PLUS, while you're traveling far in cinematic mode, you can see in the app how close you are to your destination without stopping.

0:22 The Kata of the Rifle

You can stack pelts on your horse so you don't have to have just one or one and a corpse. I didn't realize this until a second playthrough. And I've read that a good way to get your hair to grow quickly is to chug a hair tonic and take a couple of long rides in stagecoaches and your hair will grow much faster while you're on your journey.

I don't understand number 8. What exactly can I buy to make the satchels and where?

What hat are you wearing at 4:32? I cant find it anywhere :(

Why does no one mention that seasoned big game meat gives you solid gold cores.

“Excuse me partner, I just have to skin your sheep 🐑 no problem at all” 2:42

You can put animals and skins in wagons, if you can find a way to get into the back. Hay bales work great.

5:14 hey do you touch your horse often?

Complete your journal as much as you can playing as Arthur. John sketching is too awful. 😂

Invest in fast travel. It will save hours of boring loitering around. Dont abuse it because you'll miss out on fun interactions (like robbery tips etc) but will save a lot of boring game time. Also build horse bonding. Once at max stamina will never be a problem as a simple tap of the left joystick every couple seconds will recover stamina more than you burn meaning hotse stamina is irrelevant.

3:32 there was not a card on screen at least for me lol

The horse stuff is all good and correct but it's just easier to feed it and like your character... It refills all bars and cores. Other than brushing there isn't really any use in doing anything else with them. You can upgrade your saddle and stirrups but no use in anything else than just feeding and brushing from the saddle periodically. Of course after lvl 3 bonding for what I'm saying. I am in no way a role player but I try to keep some things more real. Particularly horse care abs weapons. I rest my horses and change them out regularly. I also spend time petting and messing with them even though I don't have to

A cool horse "trick" is whenever your not moving, hold square and your horse will start trotting in place. Then hold X and you can strife left or right. Not sure if this is breed specific.

He said “you’re probably a pretty well heeled outlaw already”… well not well HEALED tho, with that red health core, sheesh

14 winks = the loading time for the sleep load screen

You can fish with the bow&arrow or dynamites!

Fishing is EXTREMELY difficult actually. For bigger fish (not even talking about legendary). I just broke 10-12 lures, been working on this for 2 days. In fact my fingers are so sore im barely able to type this. Im trying to do everything as it says. I was once able to fish out a big 3 star fish. Ever since I cannot do it. Im not pulling on R, only barely went the line is escaping too fast, Im controlling with L left and right following the fish movement. I am pulling up when the fish it calm, with the L, then reeling in as fast as I can. When the fish is struggling, I stop reeling immediately and only control with L, with the occasional slight pull of R when the fish pulls too much line. The results are as follows, either my line snaps after a literal 10 min struggle, or the fish keeps gaining distance. I am at a loss. I love the fishing in this game, but its beyond frustrating at this point.

In The Heartlands I came across a shepherd on horseback. I used my lasso to grab a three-star sheep, and killed it when the prompt appeared, and no crime committed. I've also scared cows and bulls out of their pens and then killed them and I didn't get in trouble. Worth trying if you need the pelts and don't want to stir up trouble.

I haven't heard anyone mention that you can reverse if you're driving a wagon but not when you're riding a horse

Lmao I spent like 20mins casting a lure out, last try i notice a huge bluegill swimming next to the shore right by me I pulled out my pistol and shot it 😂😂

That satchel is a pain in the ass to get expecially when you 30% in the game LOL

For fast hair growth use tonic then travel by stagecoach long distances. It's fast travel but the beard growth takes it into account. Rapid max growth.

you don’t have to wait till epilogue to get a new satchel like he said in the vid

Ok the satchel upgrades are really big..bought all of them 4 slots of each item(I used rum) up to 99 slots!!! Ill never run out of deadeye again.. But seeing as im in epilogue2 I really wish I knew this sooner

You camp rest by fire and have the camp map purchase for Morgan you can fast travel when you set camp anywhere