- You need to level Dead Eye Cards, Having just one Dead Eye is bad. You can pretty much ignore all healing Dead Eye cards

- You Need to do the same for Several Tanking/Damage dealing passive ability cards to level 3 so you can switch them at will for different situations

- You need to go here https://socialclub.rockstargames.com/games/rdr2/catalogue/online/ and stock up on all consumables (tonics and food, food is needed to keep being fat for higher damage reduction, but you can also use Harriet's tonics to get there faster), ammo (all types) and gun supplies to either x999 or x99, then go to your chest take all the newly acquired items out and go to the catalogue and buy the rest as there will be free space in the chest.

- You need to manually stock up on certain consumables like moonshine, dynamite, flammable moonshine jar, flowers, fattening tonics, collector maps (just for dailies) etc from Free Roam vendors, the items they sell are not available on the catalogue but can be bought directly from role vendors like Harriet, Madam Nazar and Fences.

- You need to buy all 10 stables and put the fastest horses inside all of them (I suggest Black Arabian and Nordfolk Roadsters) so you can catch up or get away at will and you don't need to waste time using a reviver on them. Just shoot downed horses and new ones will come when you whistle. You need to buy insurance for all horses. You need to buy Upland Saddle for all the horses. It is a level 20 Bounty Hunter saddle. But you can also buy Nacogdoches saddle which used to be the best and can hold collectors bag with 6 outfits.



- You need to own a hunting wagon and insurance for it

- You need to unlock and level all roles to maximum for abilities, gear and horses, roles also help each other out, like Naturalist helps Trader.

- You need to level the current Season Pass to maximum for abilities

- You need Pump Shotgun, Carcano and 2 Navy Revolvers (alternatively, 2 Sawed-offs, 1 Litchfield or Lancaster, and Rolling Block, but Carcano is better), You need a Bow and a Reinforced Lasso for all loadouts, keep the bow on your horse for when you need it Buy a Varmint Rifle but only take it out of your Weapon Locker when you go hunting for 3 star pelts for clothes. You also need to upgrade the functionality of all guns to the max at the gunsmith

- You need to unlock level 3 health tonic, Incendiary pellets for shotgun, explosive ammo for revolvers, dynamite arrow for bow and craft them all. Those are unlocked by either looting them from Treasure Maps randomly or buying them for dollars at any fence as pamphlets

- You need to own wilderness camp that is bought off Harriet

- You need to buy all camp upgrades, they help with gameplay and also with dailies (even taking the annoying dog out to pet it for daily is useful before discarding it)

- You need all MONEY MAKING business upgrades to earn most profits

- You need to make and keep your character fat by eating 3 portions on regular basis or using Harriet's potion but then you need to keep eating from time to time to remain at the level

- You need rank 100 for all the gear, but chances are you will have a higher rank when you finish with all the roles

- You need to learn how to deal with cheaters and griefers

- You need to discard all useless items and throwables like throwing knives, they just clog up your weapon wheel, also avoid buying not needed guns and especially avoid unthrowable melee weapons like swords and machetes (buy just a single one) as you can't store them in locker or discard, don't buy binoculars, they are useless, even for the collector and don't increase collectibles view distance.

- Buying out Gus' Trinkets can be a plus

- Having a backlog of collectibles, treasure maps, animal parts, legendary animals for Cripps stored in your hunting wagon and other special items like that can be helpful for end game, whether to get cash, gold or complete a daily quickly



- If you are into PvP and destroying horses and vehicles, it would make sense to have under 4 dollars on you, that you can use for a fast travel to the closest butcher to fast travel again, as each destroyed vehicle costs $4 and can actually become a fairly large sum over time. When you have less than 4 you are not charged. Just use the means I mentioned above to quickly get a buck.
This will also save you from being money drained by cheaters

- Learn hidden game mechanics like 30 minute payouts and events like Condor's Egg to win them, all horses are afraid the same, it is not a hidden game mechanic, just mash G to calm them

- Learn how to use additional online resources about the game like maps and schedule
https://jeanropke.github.io/RDOMap/
https://jeanropke.github.io/RDR2CollectorsMap/
https://www.richardwestenra.com/rdr2-free-roam-event-schedule/