Dead Island 2

If you’re struggling to obtain the Ninja Challenge like any other person, it’s probably the only one you need.

The BEST “hot spot” for this IMO, is the Los Angeles Tattoos building in Venice Beach, just a few steps from the Blue Crab fast travel point.

It’s on the right corner as you almost exit into the premises of the beach. There will be a button that can open the shutters to get in. Do that and they’ll drop down again as you let go, make your way in.

**Disclaimer: I’m not sure if this can be accessed immediately upon arrival, if it’s locked, know that there will be a side quest that makes you go to the area later on. It’ll be available all the time after that point (Can someone please confirm in comments if it’s available the second you first enter Venice Beach?)

The shutters will only be open enough to expose the legs of zombies and they cannot get inside, making it the perfect spot for this. Just lure 3 to the shutters and stand back a little, ideally close to the desks to make sure the shurikens spread out well.

Aim for the shins/ankles as the shurikens seem to rise upward a little when you throw them.

This took me just TWO tries to get the challenge. If you need some zombies at the shutters, head back out and lure some towards the shutters, then rinse and repeat until it works.

NO CARDS REQUIRED, just aim well and stress free!

The Dead Island 2 combat challenge 'Trick Kick' required you to knock down 4 zombies (it used to be 3) with a jumping kick. It can be a bit difficult, so here's a relatively reliable method:

- Under Skills, make sure you have Block as you first card in your 'Abilities' section. You also need Drop Kick equipped (not Flying Kick) in the same section.

- Go to an open, controllable area with low level enemies. I chose the Blue Crab safehouse in Venice Beach. If you fast travel to there, the location in the video is just out the door and to the right, over the fence.

- Move around and get the attention of surrounding enemies until you have a clustered group. Make sure they're easy zombie varieties (Shamblers, Walkers, Runners etc). Assemble a group of around 5-6. Hold Block (/L1) and slowly edge around until you get a good angle. They can't damage you, so take your time. If they grab you, just mash the escape button (/O). Line them up and jump, and hit the kick (). Hopefully it pops!

It may take a couple of tries, but this technique works pretty well. As you can see, I knocked over 5 (I'd previously completed the challenge).

The kick has to knock them down, not kill them, so be aware of zombies health when attempting.

Good luck!

Most of the challenges will be done when you finish the main story as they're pretty simple to do, but some of them require you to go out of your way to do something in a certain way;

Blood will have Blood, Dissolving Problems, Electrifying Personality, and Ferocious Firestarter - Slay 50 zombies using a specific element: I'm lumping these all together because they're basically the same. Mod your weapons with whatever challenge you're doing, and kill 50 zombies with it. You can use curveballs that also apply the effect you're trying to go for, and be careful of special zombies that can be immune to a specific element.

Serial Killer - Complete 5 combat challenges: Literally impossible to miss this challenge.

Broken Bones - Maim 50 zombie limbs: Impossible to miss as well, it's super easy and you should have this fully completed by the time you reach Venice City.

Cooling off - Make 25 zombies Soggy: This is super easy to complete once you reach the Haperin Hotel, as you will unlock the Chem Bomb curveball, which will make any enemy soggy when hit. You can also destroy the backpacks of Hydration Walkers, or throw Water Jerrycans to also get this.

Dangerous DNA - Slay 25 zombies at the max Autophage tier in the Skill Deck: This one requires you to have progressed some of the story to unlock Autophage cards. The game explains it, but I'll explain it further. As you complete the story, do sidequests, and search around the map, you'll start to unlock cards that have a skull looking to the left at the bottom of the card, these are Autophage Cards (They will also say they're an Autophage card when you reach them). You need to have 3 of these cards equipped to be able to complete this challenge, and it will also tell you what tier you're at when you go to the Player Menu. The downside is that you don't auto-heal, and healing effects are reduced, but you gain massive benefits to compensate. Fury Mode is a great way to get this done as you get a huge chunk of health back after every kill, and a couple of cards give you more time in your Fury.

Dinnertime's Over - Interrupt 5 Butchers while they try to eat: To do this, you must progress the main story to unlock Butchers, which is when you reach the Santa Monica Pier. Funnily enough, this challenge can be completed very quickly after you unlock Butchers, as the area you load into after getting the laptop and killing the Butcher will be a Butcher Hotspot. To actually do this challenge, you must damage a Butcher and have a corpse nearby for it to run to heal at. Once it starts eating, kill it, as you have to do this to 5 separate Butchers. Do not try this with Vicious Butchers as they heal by eating their own arms instead of eating a corpse.

Finish Them - Slay 25 zombies using finishing moves: To do this, you must kill a zombie with a counterattack. Block or Dodge right as a zombie tries to hit you and they should be stunned, leaving them unable to move and have a prompt on them (or you can use the Flashbang curveball as well). Hit them a couple of times to lower their health, then do the counter. Counterattacks let you get 2 free hits on the enemy, so either one of those hits has to be able to kill the zombie to get the finishing move to play. Note: Make sure to have a melee weapon equipped when doing a counter, as if you have a gun out when doing it, it'll do the damage of an unarmed punch.

Furious Fighter - Slay 50 zombies using Fury: Don't need to explain much, it's that simple.

Hazard Pays - Slay 10 zombies using environmental hazards: Pretty simple to do, use Jerrycans or barrels to pour liquids on the floor, then either shock it (if it's water) or light it on fire (if it's fuel) and lure zombies into it. There's a load of areas to do this without having to activate it yourself, so you should get this done easily.

Headshot Aficionado - Slay 25 zombies with killing blows to the head: Again, this is self-explanatory. The best way to get this done is to use a Sporting or Hunting Rifle as they kill Walkers, Runners, and Shamblers in one shot to the head.

Hey, Catch! - Slay 5 zombies with explosive zombies: When you reach the Haperin Hotel, you'll unlock Grenadier Zombies. Hit their chest a couple of times until a warning logo appears on them, then try to get them into a group of zombies.

Impressive Aim - Throw a melee weapon and hit a zombie 35+ meters away: Unfortunately, this challenge comes done to skill and luck. The way I did this was to have an objective marker on the map, then move 35+ meters away and throw stuff to find where I needed to look for it to land exactly on the marker for practice.

Live Long and Prosper - Slay 25 zombies without dying: Unless you are absolutely garbage at the game, you WILL have this challenge done super early, not much to say otherwise.

Mostly Armsless - Main 5 Crusher arms: Self-explanatory, just beat the crap out of them and you'll get this.

Ninja - Dismember 3 zombies with a single Shuriken Throw: Like the Impressive Aim challenge, this one comes down to skill and luck. The way I did it was to get a group of Walkers, Runners, and Shamblers and just throw shurikens at their legs and pray I got lucky. Make sure to have the Pain Magazine, Deadeye (hey, that's me!), and Clear Sightlines cards to help get your Shurikens back and have them do enough damage to main the zombies.

No Time to Grow - Slay 1 Mutator before it mutates: I actually put a guide for this on the Not Even My Final Form achievement, but I'll summarise it here. Complete the main story, get your best Hunting Rifle an have it be at your level, then head over to Rikky's House in Beverly Hills (bottom left of the map, below where you spawn in if you fast travel). His house will become a Mutator Hotspot, so there will always be one there. A non-mutated Mutator will have one of the basic zombie names (Walker, Runner, Shambler) but they are a pale zombie with white pants and is shirtless, and it will be lying down on the ground if it isn't alerted. Move around the house until you see this zombie then shoot it in the head to kill it, as it takes on the health values of whatever zombie it is impersonating. If you alert it and it mutates, get out of the house then save and quit to reload the map and the Mutator will be back to lying on the ground.

Perfection - Pull off 25 perfect defense moves: You'll get the I Got a Zombie Army and You Can't Harm Me achievement for doing this as well, so that should be your cue. Use Block or Dodge just before they hit you to stun them, which allows you to do a counterattack. If you can do the counterattack, you get the perfect defense move. Just do it 25 times and you'll get it, but make sure to have some medkits just in case.

Pushover - Knockdown 25 zombies; Simple to do, use weapons/ mods that drain zombie stamina and you'll get it quickly. You can also use Drop Kicks to do this easily.

Shut Up - Interrupt 5 Screamers while they are screaming: You unlock Screamers when you get access to your first gun, and Curtis's home will become a hotspot when you do his sidequest and unlock Screamers. Wait for them to start screaming, then throw a Chem Bomb to interrupt them.

Speed Freak - Pull off 10 multikills: Gotta kill 3 or more zombies in quick succession, so either use your best melee weapon, or use explosive Curveballs like Pipebombs, Military Grenade, Sticky Bomb, or Bait Bomb. You should get this fairly quickly, but check up on this one just in case.

Splash Zone - Slay 5 Slobbers with melee attacks: I don't need to explain how to do this. The house where you meet the Screamer will become a Slobber Hotspot once you leave the area after getting your first gun, so got here and have fun.

Trick Kick - Knock down 3 zombies with one Jump Kick: Drop Kick, just use Drop Kick and get a group of zombies and this should be done super quick.

Zombie Space Program - Launch 25 zombies: Heavy attacks from a Two-Handed weapon should do the trick, but also explosives will work just as well, if not better

Regarding the Trick Kick Challenge - I didn't get this to pop the entire game with the"Flying Kick" card in my hand. I switched to "Drop Kick" and got it after about 15 minutes. I theorize "Flying Kick" was killing the zombies instead of knocking them down. Good luck!