Red Dead Online Posse guide: How to join or set up a posse, and what are the benefits?

A Red Dead Online posse can be a huge deal in the Wild West, allowing you to explore and play co-op with friends to take on bigger and better challenges - or just cause chaos as a group, rather than individually. Joining or forming a posse in Red Dead Online isn't immediately clear on how to do though, so whether you're planning on hunting treasures, beasts or bounties as a group, we've put together this comprehensive guide on setting up a Red Dead Online posse and what the benefits of being a proper gang can be.

How to join a Red Dead Online Posse

After you’ve completed the tutorial in Red Dead Online, you will be kicked out into the cold open world. Alone and bereft of Gold Bars, one of the first things you should do is figure out how to get into a posse so you can start earning your keep with strangers or friends.

Hit Left on the D-Pad irregardless of console to open up the Free Roam menu. Then, navigate to the ‘Posse’ tab and you will see a list of the various gangs available in this instance. Simply tap Square or X on the posse you like the look of and choose to join it.

Before you take the leap you can also vet your potential partners by choosing the ‘Members’ tab to see who is in the group. Also, take care to study the information that appears at the bottom left of the screen, particularly the ‘Reputation’ of the posse which can be either Honorable or Dishonorable.

Unless you’re desperate, you probably don’t want to join a gang that doesn’t align with your personal in-game philosophy. Besides that, you should be good to go, and your new partners in crime (or justice) will crop up on your map as blue dots rather than red.

How to set up a Red Dead Online Posse

If you’re more of a Dutch Van Der Linde than an Arthur Morgan, you may want to lead a gang yourself. Hit Left on the D-Pad to open up the Free Roam menu and head to the same ‘Posse’ tab.

Once you’re there tap Square or X to ‘Form a Posse’. For now, you’re faced with a set of questions but the settings are mostly self-explanatory. You can choose whether you want friendly fire to be enabled or not, whether you want to keep the posse open or invite only, and where you want your camp to be. A small camp will cost you $1, so make sure you know where you want it to be before you form the posse.

Once formed, you can invite your friends or the other outlaws within your instance. Be careful as there is a limit to how many people you can invite at once. Your posse will track with your own personal honor rating, and hopefully you’ll attract players of the same ilk.

How to set up a Red Dead Online Persistent Posse

You may have noticed when forming your posse that certain functions are locked off. This is because there are two types of posse in Red Dead Online, Persistent and Temporary. Temporary posses do not have access to Posse Versus, are locked to just four players and a small camp, and they also cannot be given a name.

Persistent posses can hold up to seven players in total and you can name your outlaw gang whatever you like! Persistent Posse’s also gives you access to Posse Versus modes like ‘Team Infighting’ and ‘Hunt the Leader’, which are basically multiplayer competitive game modes where you can fight against other posses or fight against the players that make up your gang.

To set up a Persistent Posse, it’s mostly the same process, but you'll need to change the type of posse you want from Temporary to Persistent. You can then name your crew and pick where you want your large camp to be. There’s a pretty big catch though.

To get access to all of these benefits, it’s going to cost you a cool $200. That’s not an insignificant amount of money in Red Dead Online, but as the name suggests, the posse is persistent, meaning when you quit an instance or shut down the game and load back in, your posse will be waiting for you. You even get an option to lead your posse from the starting menu of Red Dead Online. It’s certainly worth it if you’ve got a dedicated group of friends and want to commit to Red Dead Online, but maybe not if you’re just riding solo.

What are the benefits of joining a Red Dead Online Posse?

Aside from the obvious, like having drinking buddies, strength in numbers and camaraderie, there are numerous benefits to playing in a posse. For a start, communication can make the various activities in Red Dead Online much easier, especially if you’re on the same page. If you want to start a hunting operation, that is far easier with a posse than on your own. No man is an island, and having other players alongside to back you up will stop others from griefing and make life as an outlaw much easier.

Besides that, there are also a set of awards that are available to players for simply being in a posse. From hours spent to versus challenges, posse assists and revives, it may as well be something you’re working towards whilst you play if you want to rank up. Truly, it can’t hurt to be in a posse, even if you just log on to complete activities on your own.