Laughing Deer is one of the original members of your posse in Hard West 2. He’s a melee specialist, chopping down foes with ease as he rampages through the battlefield. Here’s our Hard West 2 Laughing Deer guide to help you with the best card skills and weapon loadouts for him.
Note: For more information, check out our Hard West 2 guides and features hub.
Hard West 2 Laughing Deer best card skills and weapon loadout guide
Main skill: Wild Run – Rushes a target to deal 4 base damage and extra damage for every two spaces that he covered. This is a brutal ability that can take out a chunk of an opponent’s HP in one hit, while also bringing you closer to other hostiles for more melee strikes. That leads to numerous Bravado chain kills as long as your foes don’t have a lot of HP remaining.
Weapon loadout: Melee (main) and Shotgun (sub) – Naturally, a melee specialist like Laughing Deer requires a melee weapon (i.e., clubs, knives, or axes). A shotgun can be used in the second slot, switching to it if you need to blast enemies at a wide arc after doing your rushing ability.
Below, you’ll see the card skills for Laughing Deer in Hard West 2. As usual, having a better poker hand equipped means unlocking all the lower-tier skills.
| Skill | Requirement | Effect |
| Warrior | Default | +1 damage with melee weapons |
| Horseback Riding | Default | Movement bonus and Burning/Crippling resistance when mounted; -25% reduced chance of getting hit |
| Gather Pace | Loyalty – Ally | +5 speed/movement distance if you start your turn without cover |
| Second Wind | Loyalty – Friend | Gain Patching up status if starting your turn with less than 25% HP |
| Wild Run | Pair | Rush to an enemy to deal 4 base damage plus extra damage based for every two spaces that you crossed to reach your target; does not trigger Counters |
| Natural Predator | Two Pair | +1% bullseye chance when you kill someone; lasts until the end of the mission |
| Bullheaded | Three of a Kind | Resistance to Dazed and Drunk status |
| Shotgunner | Straight | +1 damage with shotguns |
| Wild Run II | Flush | Does a Warcry AoE that inflicts the Dazed status on nearby enemies (unable to use weapons and shrinks their field-of-view) |
| Bloodless | Full House | Resistance to Bleeding |
| Slayer | Four of a Kind | +5% bullseye with melee weapons |
| Wild Run III | Straight Flush | Has 5 base damage; also gives nearby allies the Duelist status |
| Vengeance is Mine | Royal Flush | Gain the Bloodlust status if half your posse members have already fallen at the start of your turn |
| Witness Me | Five of a Kind | +1 bullseye damage multiplier everytime you kill someone when not behind cover |
Card suit and character usage: To have the best card skills for Laughing Deer in Hard West 2, you’ll want to have a Pair to unlock Wild Run. Later, you’ll just want to focus on a Flush and Straight Flush for the ability’s upgrades. Meanwhile, Clubs are the ideal suit due to the extra movement distance that’s provided. As for the Five of a Kind perk, Old Man Bill is an ideal candidate for one set. Laughing Deer is a good choice for the remaining set, but so is Gin Carter.
For character usage, Laughing Deer is as straightforward as it goes: rush foes and beat them to a pulp. Likewise, all his melee attacks only cost one acion point (AP), so you can bash the same enemy a couple of times, too. For your Wild Run target, you’ll want to start further away so you can cover more distance and gain extra damage. That’s followed up by more stabs, swings, slashes, and shotgun blasts. You may also use Flynn’s Shadow Swap ability to bring a hostile closer to Laughing Deer if necessary.
Last but not least, you’ll want to watch out for Wendigos. The monsters are able to counter in melee range before you can hit them, which means Laughing Deer might take unnecessary damage.
Hard West 2 is available via Steam.
Published: Aug 4, 2022 02:55 pm