Arkham Knight: Combat and Skills Guide

Following on the genre defining Arkham Asylum and exceptional refinement of Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Knight is the best and deepest installment yet. Now covering the entirety of Gotham City, the latest adventure for DC’s finest includes a few more tools and toys to the mix on top of its brand new villains and mechanics. We’ve put together a combat guide so you can be sure to bring the full force and training of the World’s Greatest Detective.

The Attack and Counter System

Starting with Arkham Asylum, Batman has always held to a brilliantly simple and kinetic system that rewards rhythm and counters as much as offense and defence. No matter the game, the core of the combat experience is about stringing long combos together while watching for the chance to punish enemies with devastating Counters. As long as you are watching for the blue counter symbols above enemies’ heads, Batman can block any normal blow and carry on racking up high combos and broken bones. Starting with Arkham City Batman is also able to simultaneously counter more than one enemy when facing a multi-directional attack, showcase a set of highly choreographed and brutal counters that can quickly level a group of enemies.

Once an enemy is lying on the ground, humbled from a flurry of blows, Batman simply needs to execute a Takedown to permanently remove them from combat. WIth upgrades and later installments this can include chain takedowns on downed enemies or from Arkham City onwards Standing Takedowns when unlocked.

Knives, Shields and Other Enemy Types

Immediately building on this system, Arkham Asylum quickly introduced a class of enemies that simply cannot be countered. These were added to in City and Origins and it’s likely they will be our usual suspects leading into Arkham Knight.

 

 

 

Knife Wielders: These produce Yellow Counter icons when they attack, for which Batman has no crushing counter for. Instead the Caped Crusader can dodge when these icons appear, rather putting distance between them or leaping over the head of the enemy so he can obliterate the vulnerable goon. These enemies function slightly differently in each installment, with the Asylum version requiring a Cape-Stun to lower their defence while later games allow them to be attacked like normal enemies.

Stun Baton: These enemies function identically to Arkham Asylum’s Knife Wielders to give you that extra bit of complexity. Watch out, as their weapons can be picked up by others after they have been knocked out or disarmed!

Shields: Building on Knife and Baton wielders Arkham City also introduced Shield users. These are armoured opponents who use heavy riot shields to block any incoming attacks from Batman and cannot be countered. Unlike Knife and Baton enemies, however, they can’t be combo’d after being Cape-Stunned and leaping over their heads doesn’t allow you to pummel on their vulnerable side. Only appearing relatively late in Arkham City, Shields will disrupt your ability to chain combos and build momentum easily and are the top priority in combat. The best strategy when dealing with Shields is to use an Aerial Attack, triggered when Batman Cape-Stuns and jumps off a kneeling Shield, causing them to drop their weapon. As with Knife and Baton enemies, these weapons can instantly be put back into the fight if there are still enemies around.

 

 

 

Armoured: Similar to Shields, Armoured enemies cannot be comboed normally. Since they don’t have a weapon, they also can’t be disarmed of their special advantage. Unlike Shields they can be countered although you won’t be able to use this as a springboard for a combo. The easiest method of removing Armoured thugs from the fight is to simply spam Ultra Stun to get them off their feet, followed up by a ground Takedown.

Guns: The last enemy you will encounter in normal fights will be Gun thugs. As thick as Batman’s armour may be, guns are absolutely deadly when faced in a fair fight. When encountering an enemy with a firearm (weapon bright red in Detective Vision), your options are to quickly close the distance and Disarm/Takedown, stun with a Batarang, or wrench the weapon from their hands with your Batclaw. When you get into range of them, they are no harder to beat than normal enemies although unless you have disabled their weapon it will stay in play for other enemies to use.

Titans: Impossible to miss, these are special enemies encountered a few times in each game. Starting with the first boss of Arkham Asylum, these are hulking enemies that with constantly try and charge you off your feet. In B:AA, simply wait until they are charging and hit them square in the face to stun them ready for a long combo. In B:AC, Ultra-Stun is your best option followed by a long combo.

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