Red Dead Online features most of the gameplay mechanics seen in the Red Dead Redemption 2 story mode, with a few tweaks to make them work in an online environment. As such, it's no surprise that the story mode Challenges are also available in the online mode under a different name.
The Red Dead Online challenges are called Awards. By completing them, players receive gold nuggets and XP, and if they manage to complete all tiers of a single award, they are rewarded with a Gold Buckle, which can be worn by accessing the wardrobe at camp and getting into the buckle menu. Each award rewards players with a different Gold Buckle, a mechanic that's reminiscent of the Red Dead Redemption multiplayer mode, which awarded players a gold variant of weapons once weapon challenges are completed.
Some awards are extremely time consuming to complete, so it may take a while to get the related Gold Buckle. If you're just interested in getting a few ones, however, you have come to the right place, as we will cover the fastest Awards to complete in Red Dead Online.
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Kill One Flying Bird With An Arrow
This is probably the fastest Red Dead Online Award to complete. It also comes in a single tier, so completing it once is enough to earn it.
Completing this Award is extremely straightforward, as you need to just kill a single bird with the bow. The bow is unlocked at rank 10, so it takes very little time to make it become available in shops. Once you purchase the weapon, you can kill any bird at any time. You can even use Dead Eye to make your job easier.
Once you kill the bird, the game will notify you that you have completed the challenge. The related Gold Buckle will be available in your wardrobe automatically as well.
The Bow Is Your Best Friend
Once you have unlocked the bow at rank 10 to clear the previous challenge, you may want to continue using it as much as possible. Red Dead Online features several awards related to kills made with all weapon types, as well as awards for getting headshots with different weapons.
Completing these challenges is extremely time-consuming due to the number of kills and headshots needed to clear the final tier. The only exception is the challenge tasking players to get 100 headshots with a bow, which is not time-consuming at all. You can either try to accomplish this in Free Roam, or by replaying any story mission.
Horseback Riding
Among the Red Dead Online available awards are a few that require players to travel on horseback. The easiest to complete are the ones that require players to travel from Valentine to Strawberry in 3:30 minutes, from Emerald Ranch to Braithwaite Manor in 3:45 minutes and from Colter to Adler's Ranch 1:30 minutes.
While the may sound difficult on paper, especially if you haven't purchased a fast horse yet, completing this Award is extremely simple and they can be completed as soon as you get the ability to play in Free Roam mode. Just make sure to have enough Horse Stimulants and food, as you will likely need to restore the horse's stamina during your journey.
If you have been playing Red Dead Online for a good while, and have traveled on horseback extensively, completing these three challenges will also help you complete a few others, including the one requiring you to travel a total of 1,898 miles. The travel by horse award comes in multiple tiers, however, so it's not as quick to complete as the first three.
Live With Your Horse, Fall With Your Horse
Another extremely easy Red Dead Online Award is the one for obtaining maximum bond level with your current main horse. The bond level is increased by patting the horse, feeding it, and generally taking good care of it. As even just riding the horse is enough to boost the bond level, there's a good chance you will obtain the related Gold Buckle.
There's another simple way to complete an Award related to horses in Red Dead Online which doesn't require much effort or time. To clear it, you need to fall 10 meters with your horse and both you and the horse need to survive. 10 meters isn't particularly high, so find some hill, speed up and fall. If you're not sure the horse will survive, you can also make a test fall with a stolen horse, so you don't risk killing your horse and failing the challenge.
Honorable or Dishonorable?
Red Dead Online features a revamped Honor system and the current rating influences the story and stranger missions available to you. There are two different Awards related to the Honor system, rewarding players with Gold Buckles for being completely honorable and completely dishonorable.
While this sounds time-consuming, it's not that hard to get both buckles in a short amount of time, if you are ready to invest Gold Bars. Reach the highest or lowest possible Honor rating, unlock the related Gold Buckle, then talk with Mr. Jones, who will reverse your current Honor rating by paying 3 Gold Bars.
Master Trader
Unlike the main story mode, there are several challenges related to trading in Red Dead Online. Many are definitely not simple to complete, but there are a few ones which are very easy.
The fastest Award to complete is the one which tasks players with selling an item to three shop types. The city of Saint Denis features all shop types in a relatively short distance: just sell a pelt to the fence, a herb to the doctor and any possible item to the general store to receive a Gold Buckle and some XP for your trouble.
If you have more time to complete another trade-related Award, you may also want to visit as many shops as you can. Once you visit 50, you will clear another challenge. To make this easier, start from Saint Denis, which is the place with the most shops in a short distance, and work your way from there.
Herbivore
As you need to find a herb to sell to the doctor in Saint Denis to complete the previous challenge, you may want to start picking as many of them as you can, as there is one single tier challenge related to herbs that can be completed rather easily. This challenge involves players eating 20 different types of herbs. While this may seem complicated, it's actually rather easy, as there are over 40 different types of herbs in Red Dead Online. Just make sure to activate Eagle Eye while traveling the map to highlight any herb available near your position.
