Among Red Dead Redemption 2’s side activities is Legendary Animals hunting.
Among the Legendary Animals, the Legendary Giaguaro Panther is the most difficult to hunt. This beast is not only one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, animal that players can encounter in the story mode, but it’s also the most difficult to find, as it will only become available once you complete the ninth Master Hunter challenge.
In this guide, we will cover everything there is to know about the Legendary Giaguaro Panther and how to hunt it successfully.
An Elusive Beast
Unlike all the other Legendary Animals in the story mode, which can be hunted as soon as the “Exit, Pursued by a Bruised Ego” Chapter 2 story mission is complete, the Legendary Giaguaro Panther only becomes available after reaching rank 9 in the Master Hunter challenges, a series of optional challenges related to hunting.
Due to this, before even being able to get to the panther, you will have to skin three deer, get three perfect quality rabbit pelts, track 10 different animal species using your binoculars, get a clean kill after calling to an animal five times, skin three bears, kill and skin five cougars with your bow, use bait to lure and kill both a herbivore and a predator, catch three fish without using a fishing rod and kill an opossum playing possum.
Please note that these tasks have to be done in this exact same order, so getting three perfect rabbit pelts before skinning three deer, for example, will not count toward the completion of the challenge.
Finding the Panther
Once you have reached the ninth rank in the Master Hunter Challenge, you can finally go after the Legendary Giaguaro Panther. The animal is the strongest Legendary Animal of the entire game, so make sure to do a manual save before entering its territory, which is found to the east of Braithwaite Manor and south of Bolger Glade.
The reason for manual saving before starting the hunt is simple. All Legendary Animals will take some time to re-spawn in their territory if Arthur is killed and, as it’s likely that you will die trying to hunt the panther, you can just load your save without having to wait for it to come back. You can make time pass quickly by camping, but it may take days for the panther to become available again.
The Hunt is On
Due to the territory’s visibility, we suggest you try hunting the Legendary Giaguaro Panther in the morning or early afternoon, as it will be easier to shoot it down while it’s trying to run away from you, if you manage to survive its surprise attack.
Once inside its territory, you will have to search for clues using Eagle Eye like for other Legendary Animals. The main difference here is that the third and final clue will not lead you directly to the animal, but to a tree. Once you get close to the tree, the panther will attack you, and you can say goodbye to this life if it manages to catch you.
To avoid dying before even being able to see the panther, you need to move away from the tree as soon as you get close to it. After a very short while, you will hear the panther’s growl: use the dive mechanic, activated by pressing the X button on Xbox One and the Square button on PlayStation 4 while aiming with any weapon, go into Dead Eye and move the camera to your right and to your left to highlight the panther. Once the reticle turns red, shoot without trying to adjust your aim, as there’s no need to try and get a perfect kill on legendary animals.
As the panther is extremely quick, it’s a good idea to use a powerful weapon like any of the shotguns. Rifles are OK to use as well, but they have a lower fire-rate, so they can make things a little more complicated.
As you need plenty of time to aim, we also suggest you fortify the Dead Eye bar before entering the Legendary Giaguaro Panther territory.
Rewards
Killing the Legendary Giaguaro Panther will allow you to harvest the Legendary Panther Pelt and the Legendary Panther Eye items. The latter can be used to craft the Panther’s Eye trinket, which decreases the speed that the Dead Eye bar drains at by 10% for the first three seconds. This is an extremely useful perk, especially in the final few story chapters where you will often have to deal with a lot of enemies at the same time.
