- Scale
- Ranks 1 to 8.
- The rank that matters
- Rank 4 by Chapter 6: below it, Do Not Seek Absolution never starts and Lending a Hand is lost.
- Fastest repeatable ways
- Throwing caught fish back into the water, and delivering bounty targets to the sheriff.
- What it changes
- Shop prices, outfits, one Chapter 6 mission and the kill cams.
Plan for rank 4 before Chapter 6
Do Not Seek Absolution, one of the optional Honor missions in Chapter 6, only starts if Arthur's Honor is rank 4 of 8 or higher. Without it, Lending a Hand cannot be earned on that save. Play honorably from the start, keep a manual save from before Chapter 6, and check the rank in the pause menu before the chapter begins.
Rank perks, as two of the guides we read give them
| Rank | Perk |
|---|---|
| 1 | Better loot from corpses. |
| 2 | 10% off in all stores. |
| 3 | New outfits become available. |
| 4 | Access to the optional Chapter 6 mission Do Not Seek Absolution. |
| 5 | 25% off in all stores. |
| 6 | More new outfits. |
| 7 | 50% off in all stores. |
| 8 | No new perk: the top of the scale. |
How to raise it
- Throw caught fish back into the water. It can be repeated without limit.
- Complete bounty hunts by delivering the target to the sheriff's office.
- Pay off your bounties at a post office, and surrender to lawmen instead of fighting them.
- Help people in random encounters: a stranded rider, a wounded traveller, someone asking for directions.
- Donate to the camp tithing box, and do camp activities and item requests for the gang.
- Take the honorable option in story missions when the game offers one.
- After the story, daily missions are another way to raise it.
- Two of the guides we read give every way on this list; both call fishing and bounties the most reliable.
Chapter 6 choices that raise it
- One honor guide lists these Chapter 6 decisions as honorable.
- A Rage Unleashed: agree to help Rains Fall.
- Archeology for Beginners: agree to help Captain Monroe when he asks.
- Mrs. Sadie Adler, Widow: accept Sadie's mission.
- Do Not Seek Absolution: help Archie and Edith.
- The Course of True Love IV and V: take the woman to her sweetheart on the train, then refuse her jewelry as payment.
- Red Dead Redemption: do not go back for the money.
- The same guide says Honor gains are 50% higher in Chapter 6.
What else it touches
- Kill cams reflect your Honor, say two of the guides we read. One adds that with high Honor the camera stays on Arthur, and with low Honor it dwells on the kill.
- Killing members of a rival gang is not counted as dishonorable in itself, but provoking the fight first can be, says one guide.
- In the epilogue you play John Marston, whose Honor starts at neutral rather than at Arthur's level, according to one guide.
Does Honor change Arthur's death?
- Yes, say GamesRadar and the Red Dead Wiki on Fandom: in the final mission, high Honor ends with Arthur watching a last sunrise, and low Honor with Micah killing him. The wiki gives both outcomes after either choice: helping John escape or going back for the money.
- No, says RDR2.org: which ending you get depends only on that choice in the mission Red Dead Redemption, whatever Arthur's Honor. It says Honor only shapes earlier scenes, such as how Arthur takes the news of his illness and whether he sees a deer or a wolf in his visions.
- We have not played it and cannot settle it. If the ending matters to you, keep a save from before the final mission.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 23 October 2026 against PowerPyx's Honor guide and trophy guide, RDR2.org's Honor system and endings guides, PSNProfiles' trophy guide (rank 4 for Do Not Seek Absolution), IGN's tips and epilogue pages, GamesRadar's ending explainer and the Red Dead Wiki on Fandom. The perk table and the ways to raise Honor are given by PowerPyx and RDR2.org; the kill cams by IGN and RDR2.org. The single-guide points are PowerPyx (Chapter 6 choices, the 50% gain) and IGN (rival gangs, John's starting Honor). Not from a playthrough: nobody here has played it.