One of the most common yet essential mechanics in the game is taking cover from enemy aggression. Taking cover basically allows you to take a defensive stance in the face of overwhelming aggression from surrounding foes.
Arthur can use game structures like trees, walls, furniture, rocks, etc, to hide behind and steer clear of incoming enemy fire – or to avoid enemy detection in the first place.
How to Take Cover in Red Dead Redemption 2
via USA Today
To take cover, Arthur has to first stand behind a wall, tree, furniture, or any appropriate structure nearby.
Now pressing either the RB/R1 button on your controller (depending on the console) or the ‘Q’ key on the PC will allow you to hide behind the structure. Doing this effectively against the trajectory of enemy fire will render you immune to damage.
While in cover, you can use the Right Stick or Mouse to look around and recon the area while staying protected. This will allow you to map out sources of enemy aggression and make your next move accordingly.
Moreover, depending on the nature of your covering structure you can move along the side – as well as use the X/Square button to move to the next available cover.
Keep in mind that you just need to press RB/R1 once to enter a cover, after which you can use the sticks to move along the cover or have a look around.
Furthermore, you can still use your Dead Eye Ability from the safety of cover to unleash a quick and precise attack upon the enemies. After entering the cover, pressing RB/R1 again will allow you to exit back to your free-moving state.
Bonus Tip:
Taking cover behind a closed door can prompt you with a specific option to slowly push the door open. This will allow Arthur to take a clean shot without alerting the enemies.
Why is Taking Cover So Important
A lot of times in the game, you will be faced with several waves of enemies. Surrounded by enemies which have got their sights pinned on you from multiple angles, taking cover becomes your only effective option to survive the blazing bullets.
The practicality of this mechanic can be justified by three main benefits:
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- Firstly, taking cover will not only give you some breathing room but also allow you to scan your surroundings for all the imminent threats.
- Buying you enough time to figure out your next course of action and turn the tables on those hooligans. Not to mention you can also consume tonics or food items to revitalize your health for the fight ahead. Secondly, more often than not, your own firearms can betray you in the heat of the battle with annoying reload times.That is when going in and out of cover can provide a buffer for you to reload before you dive back into the battle.
- Lastly taking cover proactively allows you to remain undetected and avoid any unnecessary turmoil. Allowing you to preserve your ammo and health for other unavoidable challenges ahead.
A Frequent Player Issue with Taking Cover
A lot of players have complained about running into issues when taking cover. Especially while doing missions where taking cover is mandatory for the success of a mission.
For example in the mission with Lenny where you are stealing a wagon from the gun runners, you might come across the issue where you might think you are in cover but the game does not see it that way.
These issues are caused by a silly misconception, which can be cleared by knowing the difference between crouching and taking cover.
A lot of players tend to press the crouch button to take cover. While that may give the impression of laying low and seeming in cover.
The game in fact does not register the player as being in cover – not unless you use the particular key bind for taking cover which we mentioned above.
About RDR2
Red Dead Redemption 2 was released as a prequel to its predecessor Red Dead Redemption back in October of 2018. Honed through 8 years of production time, RDR 2 has been acclaimed as a work of beautiful and high-caliber game design.
It won’t be an overstatement to say it is one of the best open-world action-adventure games out there; the player reviews speak for themselves.
The game stands out from the traditional First/Third person shooter genre due to its unique and dynamic mechanics. As it incorporates a diverse mechanical skillset with a shallow learning curve – which passively develops with the story progression.
RDR 2 is known for surprising players with unique hidden mechanics which they usually stumble upon rather than learning them preemptively.
Conclusion
That is all there is to know about taking cover in Red Dead Redemption 2. Mastering which, will ultimately allow you to go through waves of enemies without breaking a sweat, as well as having added fun with your Dead Eye Ability.
The depth of RDR 2 leaves a lot of stuff to uncover for the player, find out more about the game in our other posts below.
