Evolve Guide: Beginner Advice and General Tips/Tricks

Evolve, the asymmetrical multiplayer game, just released and it can become overwhelming. There are 4 hunters against 1 monster and each person has their own role and abilities. The only way to defeat a monster is to work together and use abilities at the right time. There are multiple game modes as well and if you don’t understand the basics of the game, winning will be difficult.

I’m here to give you all the tips and tricks you need to get started on the path to being the best hunter or monster you can be.

This guide will cover the basics in Evolve including:

• Basic Gameplay – How the game works.
• Game Modes – Each game mode and what they do.
• Roles and Characters – Each role and character, how to unlock them, and what they do.

Basic Gameplay

The general idea of the game is for the 4 hunters to hunt the 1 monster. The monster can feed on corpses of wildlife or players to gain power. Some wildlife give buffs to either the monster or hunters. Take these out when possible.

Eventually the monster can evolve into a stronger version of itself. It starts at stage 1 and can evolve a total of 2 times to stage 3.

Hunters can track the monster in various ways:

• Follow tracks the monster leaves.
• Watch for birds the monster disturbs and carrion birds that fly over something the monster just killed.
• Look for broken trees and other changes to terrain.
• Search for corpses. This means a monster went that direction at some point.
• Class abilities that track the monster. More on this in the Roles and Characters section.

Tips:

• Save Jetpack Boost. Don’t use it all up trying to chase the monster. You want to keep some for when you have to go vertical.
• Pay attention to your surroundings. You can hear the monster and if you have rumble support, you can feel it moving when it is close.
• Don’t shoot the monster if your team isn’t with you. It just alerts the monster to your location and it will either kill you or hide.

Monsters can escape being caught in multiple ways as well:

• Use the sneak ability so youdon’t leave footprints.
• Kill carrion birds that come after a fresh kill.
• Climb up high when hunters try to keep you on the ground.
• Use the smell ability to highlight important things, including the hunters’ locations.

Tips:

• Eating grants you armor. Don’t fight unless you have it.
• Target one hunter at a time. Take out the Trapper if you don’t want to stay in the mobile arena, otherwise the Medic. If Hank is shielding the person you’re fighting, take him out.

Game Modes

Hunt

• This is the main game mode. Hunters must find and kill the monster before it kills them.
• If the monster gets to stage 3, they can also destroy the power relay to win.

Defend

• Monsters must destroy the transport ship’s power source.
• Hunters must defend for the time limit or kill the monster.

Nest

• Hunters must destroy all the eggs and minions.
• Monsters must kill the hunters before they can do that.
• Monster can also spawn a minion at the cost of an egg.

Rescue

• Hunters must revive and evacuate 5 survivors.
• Monsters must kill 5 of the survivors. There are more than 5 total.

Evacuation

• A dynamic campaign that plays 5 missions randomly from the other 4 game modes.
• Players vote on 1 of 2 game modes each mission.
• Environment and buffs are affecting by winning and losing.

Roles and Characters

Hunters

There are 4 roles or classes, each with their own abilities, and 3 characters in each class. Each role has an ability that each character in that role uses. For example: All trappers have a portable arena used for keeping the monster from escaping.

You start with 1 character in each role.

• Assault – Markov
• Medic – Val
• Trapper – Maggie
• Support – Hank

You unlock the next set of hunters by completing the 3 skill challenges for that character. Example: You unlock Hyde by competing the skill challenges for Markov. You unlock Parnell by completing the skill challenges for Hyde.

You can view these challenges by opening your profile, going to the character, then going to the right one screen to see each challenge.

Assault

The Assault role’s main job is to do as much damage as possible to the monster. All of their abilities involve doing massive damage and staying alive.

Class ability 

• Personal Shield – Temporarily gives the user invulnerability. Best used when the monster is attacking you.

Markov

• Lightning Gun – Shoots lightning that arcs, hitting multiple enemies.
• Arc Mines – Places mines on the ground that explode when an enemy walks over them.
• Assault Rifle – Just a rifle and Markov’s single-target weapon..

Hyde

• Flamethrower – Shoots fire that hits multiple targets.
• Minigun – Rapid fire machine gun and Hyde’s single-target weapon.
• Toxic Grenades – Grenades that poisons enemies in the area.

Parnell

• Super Soldier – Increases movement speed and fire rate. It costs health to use.
• Combat Shotgun – Fully automatic weapon used for short-range combat.
• Multi-fire Rocket Launcher – Fully automatic weapon used for long-range combat.

Medic

The Medic’s job is to heal the other hunters and provides light support. Each one does this in different ways.

Class Ability

• Healing Burst – Sends a short distance burst that heals everyone, including the Medic, in the area. Best used when you need to quickly heal everyone at once.

Val

• Medgun – Heals a single teammate.
• Tranquilizer Gun – Slows the monster and highlights its location for a short amount of time.
• Armor-Piercing Sniper Rifle – Does damage and highlights a weak spot on the monster. Shooting that spot does extra damage.

Lazarus

• Lazarus Device – Revives quickly. Can be used on dead teammates as long as their body is still there.
• Personal Cloak – Makes him go invisible so he can revive.
• Silenced Sniper Rifle – Rapid-fire sniper rifle that highlights weak spots on the monster.

Caira 

• Healing Grenade Launcher – Shoots grenades that explode to heal in the area. Also heals Caira.
• Acceleration Field – Increases movement speed of the group for a short time.
• Napalm Grenade Launcher – Deals area fire damage to enemies.

Trapper

The Trapper’s job is to slow down and stop the monster from escaping. This is done mostly with their class ability.

Class ability

• Mobile Arena – Places a dome in a wide area. Anything caught inside the area cannot leave it.
• Try to place in an open area so the monster can’t hide when you trap it.

Maggie

• Pet Trap Jaw – A trapjaw named Daisy that helps track the monster. It can also revive teammates.
• Harpoon Traps – Sets traps on the ground that harpoons the monster when it gets close. Harpoons stop the monster from moving.
• Machine Pistol – Basic gun for dealing damage.

Griffin

• Sound Spikes – Places spikes on the ground that alert you when something goes past it.
• Harpoon Gun – Shoots a harpoon to stop the monster’s movement. The button must be held down.
• Gauss SMG – Basic gun for dealing damage.

Abe

• Tracking Dart Pistol – Tracks the monster, or wildlife, so you always know where they are going. If a monster eats tagged wildlife, it also becomes tagged.
• Stasis Grenades – These drastically slow the monster down.
• Custom Shotgun – The faster you fire, the bigger the spread. Slow firing increases accuracy.

Support

The support’s job is to buff, protect, and help the team anyway they can.

Class ability 

• Cloak – This cloaks the team, allowing you to revive or escape.
• This is best used to escape danger when you are the last one alive.

Hank

• Shield Projector – Blocks all damage down to the targeted teammate.
• Orbital Barrage – Marks an area for an airstrike that does massive damage. Can only be done outside.
• Laser Cutter – Fully automatic weapon for dealing damage.

Bucket

• UAV – Sends out a probe that can move through the map. Can mark the monster by keeping a target on them until the bar fills up.
• Sentry Guns – Sets up to 5 turrets that deal damage to anything that gets near.
• Guided Missile Launcher – Shoots missiles that can lock on the targets.

Cabot

• Damage Amplifier – Channels a beam on the monster that greatly increases the damage done to the monster.
• Rail Cannon – Shoots a powerful blast that can go through objects and hit enemies on the other side. 
• Dust Tagging – Tags an area with dust that reveals all creatures in that area.

Monsters

There are currently 3 monsters and they play very differently from each other.

Goliath

It can leap forward short distances.

• Fire Breath – Does area fire damage to multiple enemies.
• Leap Smash – Jumps to the targeted area, dealing damage to anyone in the area.
• Rock Throw – Throws a rock that does damage to anyone in the targeted area.
• Charge – Runs forward, damaging anyone in the path.

Kraken

It can fly in air using Air Burst. This charges over time.

• Lightning Strike – Shoots lightning down at the targeted area, dealing great damage.
• Banshee Mines – Places homing mines that deal damage to anyone that gets close.
• Aftershock – Deals damage to anyone around the Kraken.
• Vortex – Pushes enemies away and deals damage.

Wraith

It can teleport short distances and moves very quickly.

• Warp Blast – Teleports you forward and unleashes an explosion attack.
• Abduction – Grabs the targeted enemy and brings them back to your original location.
• Decoy – Makes a copy of yourself that fights for a short time and puts you in stealth.
• Supernova – Marks an area that increases your attack speed and damage for a short time.

This gives you all the info needed to get started in Evolve. Check back often as I link to more detailed guides for everything listed in this one.