Favorite Ability card sets?

[Mr.Softy]

What's your favorite setup for most situations?

I love my Slow and Steady setup for PvP events.

Slow and Steady, Sharpshooter, Peak Condition, Fool me once.

That while using only the Carcano with a short scope.
I've gone 18/1 with that setup, might have been noobs in that match, but it definitely works the way I use it.

For 5 star legendary bounties I use -
Quite an Inspiration, Sharpshooter, Peak Condition, and something to generate dead eye with, like Kick in the Butt or Live for the Fight.
Quite an Inspiration generates so much health, you can do 5 star bounties without using tonics, and it works on your allies too, if you are not playing solo.

And for the every day free roam hunting and stuff I use -
Paint it Black (you just need that for hunting birds), Winning Streak, Peak Conditon, and Live for the Fight.
Extra damage and automatic dead eye regeneration, works for most free roam npc encounters.

I really like the ability card system and playing around with different combinations, they should make more cards for the next update though, in PvP I see no reason to use anything else than Slow and Steady with a sniper rifle.

So what's your go-to cards set?

[Malarraenaepcaleac'h]

Paint it Black, Come Back Stronger, Strange Medicine and Eye for an Eye.

[chiefalfred]

Does anybody have a set for pve trader role?

[Mr.Softy]

Originally posted by Jabba the Wolf:

Paint it Black, Come Back Stronger, Strange Medicine and Eye for an Eye.

Two health cards? Come back stronger and Strange Medicine?
Paint it black and eye for an eye should work nicely together, if you are going for a marked dead eye headshot.

Originally posted by chiefalfred:

Does anybody have a set for pve trader role?

What PvE do you have in the trader role?
Resupply mission when you steal some stuff, or the bandits at the end of the delivery.
You could basically use anything for that.

Paint it black is really powerful, you can just mark enemies and headshot them before they have a chance to fire back.
If you want to actually aim by yourself, the other dead eye cards offer a lot more than paint it black.
Try Slow and Steady, see how much hits you can just take while you kill one npc after the other.
Or Quite an Inspiration, where you just heal when it is on, you save a lot of tonics.
Focus Fire for the extra damage is not bad either.

For the other cards I'd say pick something that either boosts the dead eye card more (focus fire + winning streak, for example), or that complements it, so you have a very balanced set.

In general I'd say any PvE content can be done with Paint it Black, but personally I think the other dead eye cards can be more fun.

[chiefalfred]

I usually don't use dead eye that much, I use free aim mostly. I was hoping for cards that would make it harder for them to kill me while I'm getting into cover and maybe make my shots more accurate. I do mostly trading, I buy supplies rather than steal them. I also do a lot of collecting

[Mr.Softy]

Originally posted by chiefalfred:

I was hoping for cards that would make it harder for them to kill me while I'm getting into cover and maybe make my shots more accurate. I do mostly trading, I buy supplies rather than steal them. I also do a lot of collecting

Cards that make it harder for the enemy to kill you are for example Slow and Steady.
You can't run or sprint, but can take a ton of damage.
Combined with level 3 tonic and the fool me once card you can take explosive ammo to the face without dying.

Slow and Steady is the terminator mode, you just take all the hits while slowly killing one enemy after the other.

Quite an Inspiration heals you while it's active. It works for your allies too.
You can do 5 star legendary bounties without using tonics, with this card.

A Moment to recuperate is basically the same card, but it only heals you, and dead eye is turned off when you take damage.
That is the only dead eye card I haven't leveled up yet, but since it is like a solo Quite an Inspiration card you can't use under fire, I expect it to fill your health back up much faster.

Making your shots more accurate - I think the only card that does that is Gunslinger's Choice.

That is the first thing I did in the game as the money starting rolling in - buy all ability cards.
They are only $50, just upgrading gets somewhat expensive (350 for lvl 2, 500 for lvl 3).

So, basically my advice is - simply get all the cards, read their description, and test them in the game. There are many great choices that help you do more damage, take less damage, turn damage into dead eye, turn the damage you deal into health, etc, etc.

[Mr Jt (Gog is king)]

Slippery

[Moonflame]

this is my fav setup in free aim lobby
oneshot sniper glass cannon

Paint it black(for close range combat)
Sharp Shooter
Landon's patience
Peak Condition

weapons
rolling block express ammo(main)
bolt action (for med~close combat)

[Erynar]

I primarily use

- Paint It Black
- Fool Me Once
- The Unblinking Eye
- Live for the Fight

If I'm doing a lot of running around, I may swap out The Unblinking Eye for Iron Lung, and sometimes I've swapped out The Unblinking Eye for Never Without One during PvP, but it seems like a lot of the time, Never Without One doesn't actually work for some reason, and I still get killed in a single shot. It does work sometimes, so it's not useless, but I'm not convinced that it works well enough to be worth using. Regardless, I almost never swap out any of the other three cards.

There's no way in hell I'm playing without Paint It Black, I've found it to be suicidal if I get into a fight and don't have Fool Me Once, and without Live for the Fight, Deadeye doesn't regenerate, which is BS IMHO.

[Artok]

Focus fire, iron lung, peak condition, fool me once (PVE only)

[MeadWolf]

Slow and Steady
Gunslinger's choice
Iron Lung
Peak Condition

Perfect for dual wielding Navy Revolvers. Slow and Steady, Iron Lung and Peak condition synergise nicely. Down side is when you join an activity and the game decides to unequip your secondary holster.

Originally posted by Erynar:

Never Without One doesn't actually work for some reason, and I still get killed in a single shot. It does work sometimes, so it's not useless, but I'm not convinced that it works well enough to be worth using.

There are damage builds that let you kill with a single body shot if your opponent hasn't stacked some decent damage mitigation and tonics so Never Without One wouldn't help against that.

Originally posted by chiefalfred:

I usually don't use dead eye that much, I use free aim mostly. I was hoping for cards that would make it harder for them to kill me while I'm getting into cover and maybe make my shots more accurate. I do mostly trading, I buy supplies rather than steal them. I also do a lot of collecting

Slippery bastard would be the one to help you run for cover since slow and steady means you can't sprint. Maybe Never Without One to protect against surprise head shots, but then after they knock the hat off you take increased damage and some builds kill just as easy with body shots so it doesn't seem worth it.

[Seijana]

I'm still not decided on all of them, but I'm rather liking Cold Blooded for the healing from killing and To Fight Another Day so I can charge through gunfire to kill up close. I'm playing an unhinged maniac after all.

I just wish there were more cards that worked for bows.

[Mr.Softy]

Originally posted by Jt:

Slippery

I was kinda convinced about that card, but now I don't really see the point of it.
It's not a card that helps you against people with scopes, and experienced players with a repeater will just switch to the scope.

Every time I used that card - get killed by rolling block rifle.
Some sniper gets you, because the card doesn't work there.

For me it's Slow and Steady in PvP.

Why?

The moment I aim with my Carcano I turn it on, and for the duration of the sniper duel or whatever my opponent is using, it stays on.

I don't need to run or sprint, if I can take a real beating with that card, combined with sharpshooter while scoped in, and fool me once.

And while my opponent strafes and zig-zags like a madman, I just aim and strafe while walking.
It's usually such a short encounter, doesn't matter if the guy hits me or not, a headshot won't kill me, and I can kill with a bodyshot.

It just feels like it has more to offer than Slippery Bastard.
With SB you can't really get hit by "regular" firearms, revolvers, shotguns, etc, at MID-RANGE.
At close range they will hit.

And if you want to hit anything you have to limit yourself to sniper rifles, using scopes on the repeaters, using the bow, or any thrown weapon (which is gonna be tough without paint it black).
Any enemy using those weapons is not affected by your Slippery Bastard card, so it's basically a wasted card slot against these people.

Slow and Steady works fantastically against any weapon, together with the Special Health Cure (lvl.3 tonic) it feels like you are cheating, because you can take so many hits.

PROTIP (lol):
If you don't want to waste tonics, have some stew at camp and then the strong moonshine you need a collectible for, at your bar.
Then you will have all golden cores (from the stew), and all golden rings (from the moonshine).

Basically you are invincible with that, for the first couple of hits until they break the gold stuff.
Takes a bit of planning ahead, but entering a free-roam event like that, right after some shots in your bar, gives you a free super health/stamina/dead eye boost.

Originally posted by Erynar:

There's no way in hell I'm playing without Paint It Black, I've found it to be suicidal if I get into a fight and don't have Fool Me Once, and without Live for the Fight, Deadeye doesn't regenerate, which is BS IMHO.

Fool me once is a must have against enemies that need multiple shots to kill you, they slowly shoot their damage down to zero.
It's basically an inverted winning streak card, so if your enemy is using that, theoretically they should cancel each other out.

Dead eye does slowly regenerate if you have golden cores, but other than that you'll have to use snake oil, without a dead eye generating card.
Oh, duh, and of course - killing enemies or even just animals without using dead eye will generate dead eye.

I just don't understand why there is no way you are playing without Paint it Black.
I get it, it's very powerful, if you are faster than the other guy, you get the perfect headshot, and the lancaster repeater is a beast with it.

But if you like the sniper rifles, and stay at a range where you can use them well, you won't need other weapons, and then your paint it black is a wasted card slot.

I try different card setups with paint it black, but I always come back to my sniper PvP setup - Slow and Steady, Sharpshooter, Peak Condition, and Fool me once, using only a Carcano with a short scope, with express ammo (duh!).

For events like Fool's Gold I've started to keep my sidearm or repeater loaded with explosive ammo, and switch to that when I get close to the guy with the golden armor.
Explosive ammo will knock that guy off his feet, and you can finish him off very easily then.
And for that bit of free aiming I don't need paint it black either.