How to get Heartshots in Nightingale

Heartshots in Nightingale are exactly what they sound like. Similar to headshots, they’re an arrow, or bullet, straight to an enemy’s heart. Here’s everything to know to get Heartshots, easy-peasy.

Nightingale offers a new spin on open-world survival-combat games. The new release from Inflexion Games has introduced a bunch of interesting and novel mechanics to the genre. From exploration via portal jumping, to mini-dungeons and deep skill trees, there are definite echoes of the game’s early conception as an MMO.

One gameplay mechanic that fans of other survival games might not be familiar with, however, is Heartshots. Here’s how to get Heartshots in Nightingale.

What are Heartshots?

Much like a headshot, in Nightingale a Heartshot deals extra damage. And of course, they require aiming at the torso area of an enemy, rather than the head. While players can still land headshots for extra damage in Nightingale, Heartshots provide some extra challenge and fun in ranged encounters.

Landing Heartshots is a little tricky, but luckily there’s a quest that can help teach players the ins and outs. Players can pick up the quest “Take Aim and Shoot” from the NPC Bass Reeves in the Provisioner Realm.

How to get Heartshots in Nightingale

While the quest will take players through all the basics of Heartshots, there are some additional tips that can help.

The heart’s location on humanoid enemies is fairly straightforward. Just aim for the left side of the chest. But for mobs on all fours, it can be a bit more difficult to pinpoint the exact spot.

To get a Heartshot on an animal, players usually need to be aiming for the animal’s left side above the front leg. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule for every monster in the game, it’s a safe bet for any familiar-looking ones, like boar and deer.

Another easy tip for landing Heartshots is to exploit the delay enemies have when spawning. Even though it’s just a short delay, the extra time to aim can make a huge difference.

Although players need to unlock guns to get access to the quest from Reeves, any projectile weapon in Nightingale can deliver a Heartshot, so it’s well worth players experimenting too, to see which one they prefer.