Evolve Guide: How to Play the Support Class

The Support class hunter in Evolve is your party’s last line of defense against the monstrous beasts that plague Shear. That’s no exaggeration. The Support’s job is to ensure that the party gets an edge or an advantage over the monster whenever possible. This can be done in a variety of ways which we’ll soon explore as we go through each of the three different Support hunters.

When engaging in a fight with a monster, the Support’s focus is never on dealing damage to the beast. Instead, your priority should always be the safety of your fellow hunters and ensuring that the Assault is able to deal maximum damage to the foe at any given time. It is only in instances where your entire party is in good shape and doesn’t require much of your assistance that you are then able to focus on hurting the monster.

The reason why I say the Support is the party’s last line of defense in Evolve is because of their shared ability: Cloak. This ability allows the Support to cloak himself and be invisible to the monster for a short period of time. Now, you really should only activate Cloak when two or more of your party members have been incapacitated and there’s no opening for Daisy to get to them. By staying invisible to the monster, the Support can easily make his way to his fallen comrades and revive them before the monster even realizes what’s happening.

Apart from Cloak, all three Support characters have different weapons and equipment in their arsenal which will allow them to provide various buffs to the party.

Hank

Hank is the first Support hunter you’ll get to play as in Evolve and he’s pretty damn handy. Equipped with the Shield Projector and the ability to call down an Orbital Barrage, he’s great as both an offensive and defensive character. If the monster gets to close to him, Hank also has a rather potent Laser Cutter to help defend himself from danger.

The first weapon you’ll want to get acquainted with is Hank’s Laser Cutter. This weapon is a beast in that it’s rather effective at close range and at a distance. It’s an accurate weapon capable of dealing decent damage to the monster and it’ll definitely help you out if you get cornered by the monster.

As a Support character, though, your focus will probably be on his Shield Projector instead. This is a nifty little tool that generates a shield over a targeted party member. When shielded, the targeted hunter will be invincible to the monster’s attacks. Ideally, you should try to shield the Assault with the Shield Projector whenever you can since chances are it’ll be the Assault drawing most of the aggro from the monster. Of course, the key to using the Shield Projector effectively is to always pay attention to the monster’s attack patterns. Try to predict who it’s aiming for next, and shield his potential target.

A drawback to using the Shield Projector is that its aim isn’t very good. Instead of holding down the R2 button to provide constant shielding for a hunter, perhaps use it in bursts instead when the monster is about to strike. The Shield Projector only lasts a short while before it needs to undergo a cooldown period, so use it wisely.

Hank’s other ability in Evolve is Orbital Barrage. This is a powerful Area of Effect attack that allows you to rain down missiles on the monster. In order to use this ability effectively, you should try to coordinate with your team in luring the monster into narrow spaces where it’ll be harder to dodge the missiles. Using the Orbital Barrage is simple; get to a high vantage point, aim at where the monster is going to be, and then take the shot. An effective Orbital Barrage should allow you to take off most of the monster’s armor.

Bucket

This charming little mechanical robot is definitely one of my favorite characters in Evolve. Not only is he full of wit, Bucket also comes equipped with a powerful arsenal as well. Unlike Hank, Bucket is a much more offensive Support hunter.

In place of the Laser Cutter that Hank carries around, Bucket is equipped with a guided missile launcher that makes for an extremely effective long ranged weapon. The great thing about the missile launcher is that you don’t have to aim with pinpoint accuracy; simply fire off a missile and guide your laser reticle to the monster. The missile will follow your reticle, explode, and deal splash damage to the surrounding area as well. Reloading the weapon can be a pain, so try to make every shot count.

Bucket also comes with some really handy Sentry Guns that will help a ton in taking down the monsters. Sentry Guns are essentially turrets that will fire at any enemies in its vicinity. Once your Trapper has released the mobile arena and trapped the monster, try to surround the monster with your Sentry Guns so that it’ll receive damage wherever it tries to run off to. Couple the Sentry Guns with the heavy firepower of the Assault, and fighting the monster should become much easier for your party.

The Sentry Guns can also come in handy when you’re trying to revive a fallen hunter. By placing the turrets near your comrade’s body, you’ll be able to fend off the monster for a short period of time as you nurse the hunter back to full health. Be warned though; you can only place five Sentry Guns at any given point of time, so be aware of where you’re positioning them.

Lastly, Bucket also has a UAV that can scout out the monster’s position without alerting it. When you sense that Daisy is getting close to sniffing out the beast, stop for a while and let the UAV do the rest of the work. Once you’ve pinpointed the monster’s location, it’ll be revealed to everyone else in your party and you can catch it by surprise. One thing to note about using the UAV is that it’ll leave Bucket’s body vulnerable, so you might not want to use it when there are other wildlife nearby.

Cabot

Cabot is the leader of your ragtag gang of hunters in Evolve. He also happens to wield one of the most useful, in my opinion, loadouts in the game. Armed with a Rail Cannon, Damage Amplifier, and the Radioactive Dust Tagging ability, Cabot is arguably the most powerful Support hunter available right now.

With the Rail Cannon, Cabot can shoot through anything. If there are any obstacles in his line of sight, the shot splits into a cone, damaging anything that falls within it. With a clear shot, the Rail Cannon can deal a large amount of damage to the monster. This weapon is effective at both close and long range, though you’ll want to be careful when aiming your shots. The Rail Cannon takes some time to reload and this could give the monster a good opening to attack if you happen to miss.

The Damage Amplifier is an invaluable buff for your party as it doubles the damage dealt to the monster by their weapons. All you have to do is aim the Damage Amplifier at the monster and it’ll start taking twice as much damage as it normally does. What makes this weapon so useful is that you can use it from a distance, keeping you safe from the devastating attacks of whatever monster you’re up against in that round.

The next trick that Cabot has up his sleeve is the Radioactive Dust Tagging ability. When you activate it, you’ll highlight every living thing in the area for a period of 20 seconds. If you suspect that the monster might be close by, release a burst of dust to confirm your suspicions. Much like Bucket’s UAV ability, the Dust Tagging allows you to scout out the monster’s position and highlight it to the rest of your party.

Being a Good Support in Evolve

So we’ve taken a look at all the different Support characters. Now the question is: how do we choose which character to use? I have some recommendations on which hunter to use when facing against the different monsters but of course, strategies vary depending on your play style and it should be noted that this list is not exhaustive.

When you’re up against the big, brutish Goliath, it’ll probably be wiser to bring in Hank as your Support. The Goliath is capable of wreaking havoc on all the hunters in one go, and your Medic won’t be able to heal everyone in time before the monster’s next attack. Hank’s Shield Projector would come in really handy in minimizing the amount of damage taken by your party. Also, the Goliath at stage 3 is still pretty slow when you compare it to the Kraken and the Wraith, making it an extremely easy target for Hank’s Orbital Barrage.

Bucket’s Sentry Guns could also prove to be useful when dealing with the Goliath, but I think he’s better suited for dealing with the Kraken or the Wraith. The Kraken, in particular, is a long ranged attacker that revels in hurling bolts of electricity at you. Bucket is also equipped with the Guided Missile Launcher that will allow him to fire at the Kraken from a distance. After all, if getting up close and personal with the Kraken isn’t a viable option, then the only way to take it down is by sniping it from afar.

Cabot isn’t a bad choice for Support when facing off with the Kraken either; his Rail Cannon can do a lot of damage from afar as well, though you’ll require a lot more precision with him.

The Wraith is pretty similar to the Kraken in that it moves around fast and it isn’t always easy to detect her. So what do you do when you’re facing an enemy that’s good at hiding her tracks? You bring in a Support character with the ability to expose the monster’s position. Either Bucket or Cabot will work well against the Wraith, though I find that Cabot’s Radioactive Dust Tagging is a lot more efficient than Bucket’s UAV. The Wraith can teleport over short distances and has high agility, so you’ll definitely need a Support who can pin down her movements.

With how agile the Kraken and the Wraith are, you’ll find that Hank won’t be of much use in a fight against either of these monsters. It’ll be hard to hit them with the Orbital Barrage, and his Shield Projector would honestly be put to much better use against a heavy-hitter like Goliath.

Did you enjoy playing the Support class in Evolve? Feel free to share some of your own Support strategies in the comments section down below.