Batman: Arkham Origins

49 Achievements

80-100h

GOG

Medalist

Obtain all medals on the original Ranked Maps in Challenge mode (as Batman)

Epic

1.0%

How to unlock the Medalist achievement in Batman: Arkham Origins - Definitive Guide

Blargby

TrueAchievements

12 Dec 2013 00:14

All right, since no one else had posted anything here, I might as well take a crack at it. This is by no means the most fun way of getting this achievement, but it worked for me, and so may as well for you.

A couple of things out of the way first: this guide will assume that you have every upgrade. Partly, this is because you have to be in the tail end of endgame to try for this achievement, but I obsessively did every mission and so had everything by the time I attempted this. The only upgrades actually necessary are the Batclaw Disarm, Mine Disruptor, Sonic Shock Batarang, and Rope Takedown. However, I highly recommend you get the Disarm and Destroy move as well. Also, I'll be covering a lot of the basics in here. Apologies if you feel like I'm rehashing what you already know, just scan through it for the interesting bits.

In order to gain access to the maps themselves, you will get access to the vanilla version of each challenge after beating its equivalent in the main campaign, meaning you have to all but finish it to get access to all of the original twelve maps. To access the Extreme version of each map, you have to play through a Campaign containing the vanilla map. So, completing the first four Campaigns will open up all of the maps.

All right, let's move on to the actual tips.

Combat

I won't post a breakdown of each map, because it would be pretty repetitive. Basically it boils down to one thing: beatdown. Stun everything and beat the crap out of it, pausing only to tap Y when attacked, to shift to a new target, or to charge your all-powerful shock gloves. Boring? Perhaps. But it'll easily get you to the top score and beyond in all but a couple of cases. Naturally, it isn't quite that easy, so I'll list tips for specific enemies, in roughly ascending order of least dangerous to most dangerous:

Mooks: Your standard foe. As the standard enemy, they pose little threat, mostly serving as distractions or vessels for more important targets. Use them as beatdown fodder to charge up your electric gloves so you can use them against more dangerous enemies. It's the weapons they can pick of that make them dangerous. Bats and pipes can be safely ignored, as all they do is make the mook hit a little harder.

Tasers and shields are more worrisome; they can ruin your combo easily and, in the shield's case, is completely unblockable. So, whenever you see one of these on the field, get your combo up to 5, flip over the heads of anyone between you and your target, and press X and Y simultaneously to perform a Disarm and Destroy combo.

Now, this game is a little wonky in its aiming mechanics, and Batman may randomly decide to prioritize the menacing pipe over the Shocking Stick of Sparky Suffering, but just get a few critical strikes to get your combo back up and try again.

Broken bottles and knives can be either a curse or a blessing. If you've got a good handle on the Blade Dodge Takedown combo, then by all means, leave them on the field. A successful takedown means a mook instantly out of the fight, maybe even an armored mook, and the takedown is worth 100 points, which is quite a lot and will see your score skyrocket if your combo is high. But, if you can't get the grasp of it, no amount of potential extra points is worth the loss of your combo, so add it to the list of things to Disarm and Destroy on sight.

As a general rule, these guys should be your lowest priority. Use them to build up your charge, but once those gloves are on, focus on taking down other enemies. The last opponents standing in any given fight should be a bunch of these guys.

Armored Mooks: These guys are trickier than standard mooks, but are still more irritating than actively dangerous. They can wreck your combo if you try to attack them normally, and they take so long to beat down you'll spend as much time countering attacks as actually hitting the guys. So, my tactic involves wailing on the standard enemies and building up my shock charge, then taking on the armored fodder. The shock gloves make them go down so much faster.

Martial Artists: Highly irritating enemies. They can counter almost anything, even the end of a beatdown, so they're best avoided if possible. What they can't counter, however, is shock gloves. So once again, build up that charge while avoiding their attacks, then stun them and go to town. If one of them starts an attack chain (long string of attacks) just jump over some heads and attack a new mook.

Venom Users: Now these guys are dangerous. If they nail you with their unblockable attack, they'll hold you still while another opponent beats the crap out of you. And even if they don't do that attack, they still hit really hard, and can block attacks like armored mooks. Beating them is a two-stage process, and can go one of two ways. The first way is similar to the disposal of dangerous weapons: beat people up until you have a yellow combo, flip over heads until you're near the venom user, the hit B+Y to disable their intravenous tubes. Repeat for however many of these guys are on the field. The other way is to flip over to them, stun them, and then administer a beatdown. Both of these methods will disable their venom-based attack, but leave them standing. From this point on, they are essentially normal mooks and can be safely ignored.

Enforcers: These are the really, really big guys. You should try to take them out as soon as possible. Just flip over heads until you reach them, then mash X until they drop. Whenever they start an attack, dodge overt their heads. Whenever anyone else starts an attack, dodge over their heads; being in the middle of a counter animation won't protect you if an Enforcer takes a swing. Taking them out first has several advantages: first, an incredibly dangerous enemies is off the field. Second, staying so close to them means they can't charge you from offscreen and do some serious damage. Third, by them time you take them down, your gloves should be charged up and ready to go. Take them down, pop the charge, and use it to take care of whatever threats remain on the field. Armored Enforcers are similar; the only real difference is you have to build up a combo then use the B+Y takedown on them to open them up to your attacks.

Ninjas: HATE. Hate hate hate hate hate. These girls are fast, tough, can dodge attacks, and have ridiculous range. I've lost count of the number of times I've been dealing with another enemy only to lose my combo because a ninja has swooped in from offscreen. They also have bladed attacks which are not only faster than normal, but have four swings instead of three. The only real advantage is that they never appear at the beginning of a wave, and always announce their presence with very flashy smoke bombs. By this point, you should have you Freeflow Focus going (the combo counter is red and your screen is wavy). This means you can instantly knock out two of the blighters with the B+Y takedown. For the rest of them, dodge over people's heads if one of them so much as looks at you funny, and use critical strikes to build up your combo for more insta-takedowns. If there's only one or two left, you'll find them quite susceptible to beatdowns.

So basically, use beatdown liberally, build up your shock charge, and whatever you do, don't get stuck in a corner. Stay in the center of the arena whenever possible. To review, the order of actions on the field should be:

1. Build up combo to remove Armored Enforcer's armor.
2. Mash in Enforcer's face.
3. Build up combo to disable Venom User special attacks.
4. Disarm and Destroy any shields, stun batons, and (if desired) knives and broken bottles on the field.
5. Build up shock charge by beating down normal mooks.
6. Use shock gloves to beat down armored mooks and martial artists.
7. Dispose of remaining mooks.
8. F***ING NINJAS.

And that's it for the combat challenges.

Predator

Once again, this will be written with the assumption that you have all of the available upgrades. There won't be any videos for two reasons: 1. I have no video capture software, and 2. the later maps can be somewhat difficult to predict, and so I find myself winging it more often than not.

First, the enemies:

The only two enemies you face here will be mooks and armored mooks. Mooks are fair game for all takedown techniques, whereas armored mooks are immune to all silent forms of takedown, meaning silent takedowns from behind, corner takedowns, and hanging ledge takedowns (the one where you stand on a ledge above your victim and drop down to strangle them with your feet), as well as using the Remote Claw to string them up on gargoyles from a distance. Explosives, falls, inverted takedowns, anything that makes lots of noise is fair game. Armored mooks are also generally more observant; if they see you zip away onto a gargoyle, not only will they shoot out the gargoyle they saw you on, they will also sometimes shoot out every other gargoyle they see afterwards. So don't let them see you.

It's the equipment they carry that really differentiates these guys. Heat-vision goggles are less worrisome after you buy the upgrade that makes you invisible to them, but they can still see you if you move (i.e., use a gadget, or swing away or onto the gargoyle they are scanning), so it still pays to be cautious around them. They can also see through smoke of any kind. Still, they should be considered low priority targets, unless there is a specific medal that requires the use of smoke. Proximity mines are irritating but easily handled; simply identify the mooks who carry them, follow them around (making sure to swing to new perches so you have a clear view), and once they stop and stoop down to place a mine, pull out the Disruptor to set off the mine under their feet. Jammers are the most irritating, scrambling your Detective Vision until their carriers are permanently taken out of commission. These guys should almost always be your first target (again, unless a medal states otherwise).

As for more general tips: always stay high. Oh sure, vents are useful, but on gargoyles you can swing and glide to any point on the map almost instantly. If spotted on the ground, try to break line of sight with your pursuers before grappling up and away; the enemy might start to shoot out your precious gargoyles if they see you ascending into the darkness. And any time you take a mook down, try to put as much distance between you and your latest victim before his buddies arrive as you can. There's no guarantee they won't see you lurking up there.

The tightrope takedown is surprisingly useful; it's basically in inverted takedown that can be used in more areas. As always, you should take care to use it on isolated targets, but anything that can instantly take out an armored enemy is a welcome weapon.

Specific Maps

(As a general note, vantage points will always be referred to as 'gargoyles' in this guide, regardless of what they actually look like.)

Breaking In

Easy Money

Checking Out

Silent Waters

Wrecking Crew

Smash and Grab (perform an inverted takedown through a plywood ceiling (or pointless skylight, but this map doesn't have one)), Mined Your Step (take out an enemy by detonating a mine), and Extinguished (Use the Remote Claw to hit a mook with a fire extinguisher and do a silent takedown in the cloud. Note that you have to use the Claw, you can't just hit the extinguisher with a Batarang.).

At the start of the mission, quickly grapple up and over to the gargoyle on your right. Directly below is plywood flooring that you'll be using to nab the first medal. Before long, a mook will walk directly below. Now, the pathing is a little wonky, so sometimes you can string him up at this point, and sometimes you can't. If you can (which, sadly, does not happen often), wonderful. If you can't, you have two options. Either restart until his path finally corrects itself, or wait until he goes around the corner, glide down to the left, and plant a sonic batarang on the ground directly beneath the ceiling (try to throw it at the 0:55 second mark or so). Swiftly run back and grapple up (you'll have to be quick to avoid being spotted) and take down the guy (usually a mine layer) when he comes to investigate.

As always, swing away as soon as you're finished with the mook. Locate the remaining mine layer and swing over to keep him company from above. Follow his progress, and be patient. Wait for him to move to the upper level, and then wait for him to stop and plant a mine near a fire extinguisher. When he does so, detonate the mine as soon as he straightens up (be careful to target the mine and not him. Swing to another gargoyle (but still keep in sight of your chosen extinguisher), pull out the Remote Claw, and wait.

If you managed to take him down right next to the extinguisher, then getting the last medal is a simple matter of waiting until the mooks are gathered together, attaching one of them to the extinguisher, and gliding down into the smoke and chaos to choke one into oblivion. If the crowd is out of range, however, it's not the end of the world. When they start moving again, one of the mooks will move past the fire extinguisher (whether willingly or with the help of a sonic lure). When he does, use the claw. If he brought a friend, glide down into the smoke and take him out. If the mook is alone, glide down anyways, stand next to the prone mook, and spam Y until he starts standing up and take him down. Do not use a knockout smash, and the second you regain control of Batman, grapple up and away. The smoke won't last long, and you do not want to be caught in the open. Boom, all three down. You are free to dispose of the remaining mooks at your whim. Personally, I like to detonate a mine under the other layer, toss a sonic batarang in front of a plywood wall, use the wall to take out the guy who investigates that, detonate the batarang on the guy who investigates thatand then give the last man standing a flying kick to the face.

But hey, that's just my preference.

Hard Time

And now we enter the territory of the Extreme maps. These are far more random, and so harder to write concrete guides for. The initial setup is always the same, but once that first mook is down, a guard may go this way or that. Something to keep in mind.

Breaking In (Extreme)

Fall Guy (knock out an enemy by pulling them over a railing with the Batclaw), Vantage Mastery (perform a tightrope takedown), andWindow Pain (takedown an enemy through a window).

Fall Guy first. There are two ways to do this: the safe way, and the daring way. Directly in front of your starting position is a big bookcase type thing. Glide down onto it, pull out the Batclaw, and turn to the right. On the walkway next to you is a mook with Thermal Goggles. Wait until he starts scanning the gargoyle, hit him with the claw, and yank him over the edge. You can do it earlier, but sometimes he just hits the rail and bounces off. He's guaranteed to go over while he's scanning. That's the safe way; the daring way is more rewarding (if you don't mind restarting a few times until you get it right). Go out on the starting gargoyle and wait until the two-second mark. Swing to the gargoyle on your left and then immediately glide towards the platform with our old friend the pointless skylight. Standing on that platform is the mook with the jammer, and the reason you need to hurry is because he goes down the ladder not too long after the map begins (exactly when varies, hence why you'll probably need to retry). Glide until you're close to the railing (or he's about to jump down the ladder), land, and quickly hit LT-Y. If you land before he gets close enough to the ledge (he should be on the verge of going down the ladder), try crouching behind the railing; it helps you hide. No, the mooks in this game aren't very smart. Pop up when he's close enough and hit LT-Y. If you time it right, he'll get dragged over, and your game just got that much easier. Grapple up and away instantly, as there will be a guy standing directly behind you.

From this point on, advice boils down to "watch the guys and take them out when you have the opportunity." I always take out the mine layer with the Disruptor immediately after getting the Fall Guy medal, just so I won't have to deal with explosives while trying for Window Pain. Speaking of which, you have two good options. Swing to the first gargoyle from the left of the starting perch and look to your left. The window at the furthest end of the room and close to the wall is a prime target; one mook basically walks over and stands in front of it outside the cubicle for a few seconds as part of his route. If he does it while there's no one around, glide down while he's moving towards it, crouch by the window, and hit Y. If he has company, you can go for the other option. From the same gargoyle, directly in front of you is another cubicle with a similar window. Wait until nobody has line of sight on the window, then toss a Sonic Batarang in front of it, on the outside edge. Glide down, huddle on the inside, and greet the poor sucker who comes to investigate.

The second method can actually be a good setup for Vantage Mastery. Make a tightrope with the Remote Claw that goes between the gargoyle you're sitting on and the one to the right of the starting gargoyle. Not everyone will usually come running to investigate; there will usually be a guy or two still patrolling around. Once everyone is gathered around your latest victim, tightrope out over them, pull out the Remote Claw, and use a heavy reel to string someone up in another part of the room. Then, while everyone else is running to this new source of mayhem, simply hit Y while standing over the last guy in line. He will conveniently pause during the lengthy animation while everyone else keeps running away, giving you breathing space to make your getaway (which, as always, you should get right on). If that doesn't work out for some reason or another, no worries. Simply keep the tightrope there and be patient while everyone disperses/your Sonic Batarang recharges. Either wait until a convenient victim comes along or toss the lure at some point underneath the rope and take them out when they come along. All three down.

Easy Money (Extreme)

Armor Piercing (take out the armored mook before anyone else), Mined Your Step (take out an enemy by detonating a mine), and What Goes Up (knock a mook off a ladder with Explosive Gel).

For obvious reasons, Armor Piercing goes first. Fortunately, the mook in question is right below you when you start. From the starting gargoyle, look down; below will be the armored mook (sadly immune to being strung up) and a grate system. There will be a section of grates interrupted by stone floor directly below, with entrances on the left and the right of the gargoyle. The directions will be from this starting perspective, so don't get turned around. This is one that relies on patience; the armored guy will start ambling to the right while you watch, and then will turn around and start heading back to the left. When he turns around, drop down behind him and enter the grates. Wait for him to come to a stop in the center of the stone area, move under it to the grates on the left side. For some reason, this will start his wandering again. When he starts moving, move back to the right-hand grates. Wait for him to get close enough, leap out, and smash his armored skull against the floor. Then zip back up and away as soon as possible, since you'll be a sitting duck.

Next up is Mined Your Step, which is simple enough. Simply locate the mine-layer and follow him around, Disruptor at the ready. As soon as he stops to set up a mine (well, one you can reach from your gargoyles) set it off under his feet.

And lastly, What Goes Up. There isn't really a set strategy for this; you can take down (or string up) a mook on the lower level, and while everyone's gathered around gawking at him, go and spray Explosive Gel right at the top of the three ladders to the upper level (one in the middle of the bridge, and one by each of the two stairwells near the spot where you started). It may take a while - mooks have a frustrating tendency to use the stairs instead - and you may have to resort to using a Sonic Batarang to lure someone into place, but have patience and eventually you will be rewarded with the sight of an unfortunate soul sent pinwheeling through the air by the detonation.

Checking Out (Extreme) Incomplete

Silent Waters (Extreme)

Extinguished (Use the Remote Claw to hit a mook with a fire extinguisher and do a silent takedown in the cloud. Note that you have to use the Claw, you can't just hit the extinguisher with a Batarang.), Have a Nice Trip (knock a mook down with a running slide and then do a ground takedown), and Don't Touch That Dial (take out the mook with the Jammer last (ugh)).

I'm not a big fan of this one, mostly because of the fact that my precious Detective mode is worthless for the whole match, but it isn't extremely difficult. At the start, grapple up, then over to the gargoyle immediately to your left. In front of you, there will be a standard mook meandering around. Glide down behind him, then run towards him and hit RT to slide into him and knock him off his feet. Once he's on the ground, hit RT-Y to do a ground pound and take him out.

Obviously, that is a very noisy process, so once you're finished, immediately grapple up and away. Swing over our old friend the Help Desk Gargoyle, pull out the Remote Batclaw, and wait. Everyone will come running and gather around your victim; look carefully for the two mooks with the Thermal Goggles equipped. When you find them, hit them with the Remote Batclaw to string them up to the nearby gargoyle, then toss a batarang to cut them down again. Grapple to the gargoyle to your right; they'll turn to look in your direction after you throw the batarang. If you can hit the other goggle-mook from there, do so; string him up too, and get them out of the way. Once they're out of them picture, you can safely perform Extinguished.

Grapple back to the Help Desk Gargoyle and pull out the Remote Batclaw again. Hopefully, everyone will still be gathered around the upper level; if they are, good. If not, not the end of the world. Look for the fire extinguisher and mark it with the batclaw; there should be two mooks in close proximity to it (make sure at least one is un-armored). Attach the extinguisher to one of them (armored, if there's one present), then glide down into the smoke next to your chosen victim. Hit Y, strangle him, then amscray pronto. There will be an awful lot of guns pointed into that smoke.

Once those two are done, the rest is a simple matter of not attacking the guy with the Jammer. Take out the mine-layer in the obvious fashion, then the rest however you see fit. One way to keep track of how many mooks are left is to use noisy attacks, like the inverted takedown, then see how many people come running to see what happened. Once the Jammer mook is the only one to respond to his comrade's ignominious defeat (or no one comes running; the Jammer is usually the one to take a hostage on the lower level), it will be safe to take him down.

Wrecking Crew (Extreme)

Weapon Jam (jam a mook's gun with the Disruptor and take him down after he tries to shoot you), Fists of Fury (take out a mook with a beatdown), and Scare Tactics (reveal yourself to a mook in the Terrified state).

The medals themselves on this map aren't all that hard; hell, you can get all three in one go if you feel like it. The problem is setting up the scenario where you can get the medals, and a large part of that is starting the match right.

At the start, crouch and move forward, to the right corner of the platform you're on. Through the tangle of pipes and pipes and girders in front of you, you'll see the armored mook carrying the Jammer. He'll be your first target. When he turns around and starts walking away, drop down to the level below and enter the grates. Follow him until he stops moving and then take him down (try to do this while directly beneath him). Once he's down, immediately hop back into the grates and move away; go as far as the grates will allow you to. Use Detective mode to check where the mooks are as they run around; when there's no one looking at you, jump out and ascend to the gargoyles.

From here, swing over to the gathering and identify the two armored mooks carrying mines. Ready the Disruptor and follow their progress; I shouldn't really have to tell you what to do from here on out, should I? :P Once both mine layers are out of commission, you can relax a bit; the tricky part's over. From here on out, there's only one thing to keep in mind: armored mooks are more confident. What's more, they often help keep their more squishy brethren from being easily rattled. Therefore, your next objective is to take out all the armored mooks. How you do so is up to you; inverted takedowns are the safest way, yanking them over railings with the batclaw is always entertaining, and the Tightrope Takedown is always effective. Just try to remain unseen.

Eventually, you will be down to the three unarmored mooks; this is when you will finally get your medals. Weapon Jam requires you to disable a mook's weapon and then let them try to take a shot at you; when you take them down after this doesn't really matter, as long as they don't run to grab another gun. Scare tactics requires you to suddenly appear in front of a mook in the Terrified state (when you look at someone in Detective mode, it'll give you a little readout of their status: Nervous is normal, Terrified is when they get all jittery and start shooting at nothing); this means either dropping down in front of them from above, or being right behind them when they turn around. Hours of fun. Anyways, if you want to risk it and try to get all three medals on one guy, then it's fairly simple; use the Remote Batclaw to string up your victim's friends, use the disruptor on the poor man, drop down in front of him, watch him cower, let him try to shoot you, and then use your cape to stun him and beat the crap out of him. If you want to do it with two left, disable the weapon of one (be sure to remember which one!), loom at the one with the working gun, them beat him down. Let the other one try to shoot at you when he comes running over, then take him down once he tries to shoot. Either one works; just be ready to take action immediately after you disable the weapon. Terrified as he is, he may try to shoot at thin air and ruin your setup.

Hard Time (Extreme)

Sonic Boom (detonate a Sonic Batarang to take out a mook), Smash Landing (take out an enemy through a weak ceiling), and Confiscated Weapon (use the Batclaw to yank a weapon out of a mook's hands and then take them down).

In my opinion, this is actually the easiest of the Extreme maps, because almost all of the mooks actually stick to a routine. From the start, immediately grapple up, and then to the left. Be patient, and wait for the Jammer mook to come your way. When he walks out onto the little catwalk below your gargoyle, zoom down and string him up (don't worry about the other two mooks; they never notice, even if they're looking straight at him when it happens). Grapple to another gargoyle, switch on Detective mode, and then observe the mooks carefully. There is a mine-layer here, but the mines don't show up on his character model, meaning you can be unaware of the fact until he actually starts setting up mines. How rude. You can identify him in a few ways: first, if you zoom in on him, the little readout thing in Detective Mode will show mines. Second, he'll be wearing a goggle-like setup, but they will be more like ski-goggles than night-vision wear. Third, all Thermal Goggle-wearing mooks will immediately head for the raised ring in the center of the room, whereas he may take a wider tour of the room. Or not. However you identify him, follow him until he sets up a mine, then use your Disruptor to give him a world-class hotfoot. He may even be kind enough to set it down where you can get him and a friend.

With that out of the way, grapple over to the central area and start using inverted takedowns to string up Thermal mooks. No particular reason why you should go after them, they're just easy to take down, what with standing directly beneath gargoyles and all. Do this until there are only three mooks left; then you can start getting medals. At least one of the remaining mooks will be a Thermal guy; wait until he walks over to another gargoyle and starts to scan it, then throw a Sonic Batarang at his feet (his feet, don't actually hit him with it) and detonate it to... do whatever that thing does to incapacitate him. Be sure not to do this while another victim is within range.

During all this commotion, another mook should have wandered into the center room and taken the guard there hostage (this is actually the reason why I wait until the Thermal mook is scanning something, it gives this guy time to get into position). After obtaining Sonic Boom, glide down to the roof of the building and hop onto the little skylight. Hit Y and smash the poor victim's face in. Don't worry if the last mook is in the room with him; in fact, if he isn't, you should wait for him to come and join you. Either way, pull out your Batclaw (or hit LT-Y), yank the gun out of his hands, and then dispatch him in whatever manner you see fit. Boom, last medal obtained.

I'll be posting individual guides for each map shortly.

If anyone has comments, criticisms, or advice on how to improve this solution, I'm all ears. Please let me know what you feel should be changed. :)

12 Dec 2013 00:14

12 Comments

I haven't started this yet, but you get a thumbs up just for the sheer effort you've put into this guide. Very good.

By kevthejedi on 09 Jan 2014 10:00

Thanks! This is (quite obviously) still a work in progress, but I hope to have solutions to all the maps done in a few weeks. Also to have the frankly embarrassing number of spelling errors corrected.

By Blargby on 12 Jan 2014 21:23

For the D&D answer, that actually clarifies it very much. I'd been doing wrong the whole time, which is why it was so hard for me. I was rotating my hand clockwise, but then that lead to crunching it up in a tight and awkward position which didn't work.

As for the blade dodge takedown, I guess I just have to practice to get the timing right. I have a good headset too, so I'll definitely focus on listening more than I had been. I guess I'd been failing it so much because I was too focused on other aspects of the fight, and then it caught me off-guard such that I couldn't immediately deal with it.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to respond to me, and once again, excellent guide!

By Paul Zap on 05 Feb 2014 14:04

I do blade dodge takedown visually as I usually play with the sound off or very low (sleeping baby when I play). As Blargby says, as soon as you see the yellow lines hold Y and tilt the stick back. Once a swing is complete (their arm stops moving) release Y for a split second before holding it again.
I don't bother with blade dodge takedowns against ninja's, it's not worth risking getting hit as they're so quick.
For D&D I don't rotate my thumb, I use the widest part where the knuckle is across the 2 buttons, I guess different techniques work for different people. This is the one move I mess up more than any other though.
Sorry for the hijack. :-)

By kevthejedi on 05 Feb 2014 15:21

@kevthejedi thanks for the additional tips. :)

By Paul Zap on 06 Feb 2014 14:42

Finally got this achievement today, after I miraculously became amazing at combat a few days ago. Now onto the camPAINs.

By Paul Zap on 19 Feb 2014 02:31

Obtain all 72 medals on the original Ranked maps in Challenge mode (as Batman)

By HolyHalfDead on 22 Apr 2014 22:14

Great guide. Must have taken forever to write :)

By Solario32 on 23 Jan 2015 23:45

Thanks for explaining how to unlock the maps. Mine glitched and didnt unlock one of the campaign challenges so good to know I can still do this one!

By Falensarano on 05 Aug 2023 08:30

In "Checking Out (Extreme)", for "Breaking and Entering", they never, ever go near the walls on their normal patrols. But, when they're at Nervous level, the three non-armored guy will patrol the bottom area and will periodically stand near the wall opposite where you begin. It's the only sure-fire way I've found to get that one.

By Fire Hawk D on 22 May 2014 20:33

@ Paul Zap: Yeah, part of this style of fighting is just resigning yourself to the fact that you are going be attacked every third or every other punch. The key is to use the time the takedown animation gives you at the end of the combo to rotate your camera so you can see the rest of the mob.

As for blade-dodge takedowns... those can be hard. Part of my tactic is listening to the attacks instead of looking at them. So, when you see the yellow lines, drop everything, hold Y, and tilt the stick back. Then when he attacks, you'll notice a little snik sound. Immediately after you hear that sound, let up on Y. Not for long! For about as long as it would take you to tap that button to do something else. Let go and then immediately slam your thumb back down onto it. Listen for the second snik, let go of Y and press it down again, all the while holding the thumbstick back. If you successfully do those, he'll automatically catch the third swing and do the takedown. Sometimes, they can be hard to hear, because of background noise (or if you don't have a good headset like I do); if you watch the attack animation, the end of the snik often coincides with the end of their swing; so, when their arm is all the way up, or to the left, or whichever, is also a good time to do the tap.

Mostly, though, the blade takedowns just seem to come naturally to me. I don't really think about them too much, I just do them. The above paragraph is simply my trying to explain how I do it after the fact, so sorry if it's confusing. *shrug*

As far as Disarm and Destroy, yeah, they can be a pain to do, but the end result is so helpful I love them anyways. The way I do it is I rotate my entire right hand counter-clockwise so my thumb is pointing to... seven thirty? Anyways, both X and Y are covered by my thumb simultaneously like you described, only the opposite direction, then I press down. What I usually do is put the my thumb on the X, then twist around until it covers the Y as well. Again, it just comes down to the fact that I've done it so many times since Arkham City that it's second nature to me.

And don't worry about asking questions. If you have any more (I don't think the D&D answer was handled that well :/) feel free to ask.

By Blargby on 03 Feb 2014 22:26

Excellent guide. I absolutely suck at combat in Batman games. Every time I get into a fight, I always end up jumping over everyone's heads constantly, trying to figure out what to do next.

This game's combat system in particular is harder than its predecessors because it doesn't slow down right before you're about to get hit (which would give you a fair chance to counter). It's sort of nonchalant in that you're beating down a guy, and some other guy leans back with a cross and wails it on you with little more than a blue lighting that appears for a split-second as a warning - and this happens constantly. It's almost like there's no sense of connectivity in the A.I., i.e. they all function independently.

And yet, when I watch people like Batman Arkham Videos or prenatual, it seems so easy, seamless and effortless. The next move is never ambiguous.

Anyways, mini-rant aside, I genuinely think this guide will help me plan out my strategy to not only get this achievement, but also improve my combat abilities, which will consequently help me get the other achievements.

One question though, any tips for executing a good blade dodge takedown? I can only manage to do it 50% of the time, and even when I do get it, I don't know exactly what I'm doing right. E.g. I don't know how long to hold Y and I don't know when during the attacks to hold it. It seems like I either hold it for too long and Batman simply dodges the blade without taking down the opponent, or I don't hold it for long enough/don't hold it at the right times and I get hit during one of the lunges. Any clarification on that would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. one last question (for real this time). While it may seem moot, I was wondering the ideal way to perform the X+Y disarm and destroy move (physically, with the controller). I say this because my right thumb is usually resting on A or in between A and B facing about 10 o'clock, and every time I try to execute the X+Y move, I usually end up accidentally pressing A+X because of the position of my thumb and getting up to have the lower part on the X and the upper part of my thumb on the Y (facing 1-2 o'clock). Is there an ideal position for the thumb? If not, how do you do it (i.e. what direction of the clock is your thumb pointing when you do the move?)

Sorry if this whole comment seemed to drone on and sorry if you find my questions to be banal. Thanks for taking the time to read this. :)

By Paul Zap on 03 Feb 2014 20:39

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Ryn0 L

TrueAchievements

22 May 2014 15:29

For combat challenges, there's only a couple things to know:

Evade, Hit, Evade, Hit, etc...do that to keep your combo up. The priority is to not get hit, so your combo keeps getting higher and higher.

Next, every time you get a combo stored up, do the bat swarm thing using

. It will give you a ton a points. As you keep your combo going, you'll start getting thousands of points every time you do it. Also, the more guys it hits the better.

That's all you have to do. Hit, Evade, and Bat Swarm. I usually got all three medals by the middle of the third round. Use this same method for any character on any game (bruce wayne, catwoman, robin, etc)

22 May 2014 15:29

1 Comment

Great solution it is way easier that way

By Blackout 4171 on 15 Jul 2019 21:08

togethawiistand

TrueAchievements

01 Mar 2015 01:50

I'll share with you guys the general idea of how to score big or at least just enough to get all the medals in any of the 3 sets of challenges (except combat training, because that one isn't about scoring high). It still takes a little practice. I myself did all of them once I was done with my first playthrough and well used to Batman and his moves. Big guys, armored enemies, martial artists and Bane's thugs make the following technique a bit more tricky to pull off, but it's still so very possible - if you don't let them kill your combo.

Start any fight by hitting (

) on the first guy in front of you as many times as you can, up to 3.

Counter (

) before being hit by someone else (avoid guys with knives, so if they attack you first, evade and start again with another group or using them as the target to start the combo) as many times as necessary (up to 3 enemies).

Now that your combo meter is at 4, evade an enemy and hit him in the back. You'll be able to perform a special move (assuming you have all upgrades) so you can do the Bat Swarm (

).

From now on you just have to keep hitting 3 NORMAL/ORDINARY enemies (those who don't block your attacks) and performing the Bat Swarm combo. The higher your combo, the more points you get for executing the move. If you're able to perform, let's say, more than 3 Bat Swarm (the more, the better) without being hit in one round, you'll earn good points. Yeah, you might pass the bonus for performing different variations of moves, but it's still more worthwhile this way.

Another thing to have in mind is that once you're able to use the Shock Gloves (

), instead of having to hit enemies 3x to earn the special move, it decreases to 2, which is really great, specially considering that now none of the enemies is able to block your attacks, so it's pretty much hit

, hit

, Bat Swarm

and repeat.

When there are only 2 enemies left, you probably won't be able to continue to perform the special, so here's what to do: you can get rid of one of them any way you want or you can work with both of them, without loosing the combo (a bit more risky). Perform the Ultra Stun (

) on him/them (one at a time) and finish the round with Ground Takedowns (

).

As I said at the beginning, some rounds will be more challenging because of the special enemies. In that case, my advice is to take them first or last, depending if you can manage having them around and avoid their charges. Maybe it's best to take some of them down first, so you don't risk hitting them by accident and loosing your combo. It really depends on you. It's possible to perform some beatdowns (

...) on these special enemies just to earn special moves and letting go of the beatdown (stopping hitting

) when ready to perform the special move, then rinse and repeat until the special enemy falls. There's always the chance that some enemy wasn't stunned by your last Swarm and will come at you to make you loose the ongoing combo, so be ready to counter.

Anyways, this is the general idea. Using this method sometimes I was able to save a whole attempt that I had messed up, on the very last round.

If this solution helps you in any way, give it a thumbs up and leave a comment.

01 Mar 2015 01:50

3 Comments

I ALMOST down voted.....till I tried it, shock gloves are the best thing out there, it is like a timed "super-powered" from Arkham City, it can hit even through tazer goons, and armored goons, (haven't tried shields yet) PLUS you can do beatdowns without the stun!!

By Warboy925 on 12 Jul 2015 20:49

Hmm, I'm glad you actually tried before doing so. I've played all the Batman Arkham titles for the 360, so I knew what I was talking about when I wrote this. Thanks.

By togethawiistand on 12 Jul 2015 21:39

Update: You can hit through shields as well!! Plus, you can now counter shields now!!

By Warboy925 on 12 Jul 2015 22:26

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TheManUtdFan, ashiano

PlaystationTrophies

Unfortunately, the tricky Challenge mode returns in Arkham Origins. Those who platinumed Arkham City will be pleased to know however that these are considerably easier than the ones from previous games, so if you had no problem with those, you should have no problem with these either. They can be a bit hard to tackle for those who haven't done challenge maps before. They are split into combat and predator. In combat, you need to get a fixed number of points while in Predator you need to do certain tasks to gain medals. These are further split into normal versions and extreme challenges. The normal ones will all be unlocked by the end of the story, while to unlock the extreme challenges you need to complete the first four campaigns (See Olympian), or are unlocked through NG+. In extreme variants, enemies are of more powerful variants, of higher numbers and the medal requirements are tougher. You should also note that for the predator challenges you'll need upgrades, the hardest being the Sonic Shock Batarang at Worst Nightmare rank 10. There are 24 maps in total, 12 of each type and 72 medals up for grabs in total.
General tips for the Ranked Maps:

Combat

Hit, jump, repeat. When you get a combo move, jump into a group of enemies and use the bat swarm (+) to gain points. As soon as you get enough charge for the shock gloves, activate them.
Try not to get hit. Jumping continuously can do the trick but sometimes it is necessary to counter too so don't neglect it. If you remain unhit for the entire challenge, you get 7000 points in bonuses (500 for each round and a 5000 bonus for not getting hit in the entire fight). Also, if you don't break the combo during a round you get 1000 bonus points.
For armoured or Titan enemies, you can use a combo takedown (+) if you wish, but you will lose potential points from that enemy, and you can gain a lot more from the bat swarm. You will be able to take down these enemies easily with the sonic shock gloves.
The ground takedown (+) when an enemy is on the floor can be effective for points if pulled off but is dangerous as it is impossible to counter an enemies strike while in this move, so use it at your own risk. Definitely use it on the last enemy if possible, or the last couple if the rest are stunned or on the floor.

Predator

Take your time. You don't need to do the medals on the first enemies you KO. Some are a lot easier when there are less enemies left, so wait. If you get spotted, swing quickly around the vantage points and wait for them to lose sight of you.
Make full use of detective vision. In some predators, there is an enemy with a jammer, so take him out first (except for one where you need to leave the jammer enemy until last, disrupting the jammer won't negate the medal as long as you keep that enemy standing).
Use PowerPyx's videos. They are an invaluable help for getting all three medals in a fast time, indicating the best spots for some medals. The playlist can be found here: Batman Arkham Origins - Predator Challenges - YouTube
Use your gadgets wisely. The Remote Claw can be used to quickly attach non-armoured enemies to vantage points, the Sonic Shock batarang can be used to lure enemies to where you need them to be, or blown up for an easy knock down.

BiggD

XboxAchievements

WARNING: MISSABLE ACHIEVEMENT

The Ranked Challenge Maps consist of 12 Combat Challenge Maps and 12 Predator Challenge Maps. These challenges will unlock via story progression, but in order to unlock each Challenge’s “Extreme” variant, you will need to complete the Campaign Challenges Maps. In order to earn this achievement, you must obtain all three medals per Challenge Map in a single run. In Combat Challenges, medals are awarded based on score values. You will need to string together your hits and achieve a large combo and variation bonus in each of the four waves in order to earn the required amount of points for all three medals. If you have played the previous Arkham titles, Combat Challenges should not be too troubling.

Predator Challenges on the other hand, vary drastically, as each Challenge Map will task you with completing three different requirements in terms of taking out goons using certain gadgets or techniques. As always, all three requirements must be performed in a single attempt of the Challenge Map, which can prove to be very difficult at times when working on the Extreme variants of each Map.

Since certain abilities and gadgets are needed for some of the medals in the Predator Challenges, it's highly recommended to complete the story first and purchase all of Batman's upgrades. Also, take note that you will need to complete Rank 10 of the Worst Nightmare track in the Story Mode in order to unlock the Sonic Shock Batarang. This upgrade is essential for some of the Extreme Predator Maps.

Once you have obtained all 72 medals in the Ranked Challenge Maps, the achievement will finally unlock. You can utilize THIS PLAYLIST in order to view PowerPyx’s extremely helpful videos for all 12 Predator Challenge Maps.