Shadowrun Returns

Shadowrun Returns

40 Achievements

1,000

20-25h

Xbox One
Xbox Series
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Rifle Headshot

Rifle Headshot

Use the rifle headshot skill to kill a target who is at full health.

15

0.34%

How to unlock the Rifle Headshot achievement in Shadowrun Returns - Definitive Guide

I want to try a more detailed guide because this achievement is particularly annoying, to the point that you kind of need to dedicate a partial run to getting it. TLDR:
  • Build a human custom character and pump all karma points into quickness/ranged combat/rifle
  • Get as much karma as you can (link to karma list provided)
  • First doable during Return to the Docks,
  • Kill key holder first, pick up key
  • Do final level up for headshot
  • Headshot mage, get 2x crit
  • Reload until successful
  • IMPOSSIBLE DURING FINAL BATTLE
First off, none of the teammates in the game have any skill levels of 7 or higher (even 5 and 6 are rare too), so this and some other skill-based achievements will have to be done by your player character. You will need 83 karma to get the headshot skill (28 per skill line, minus 1 automatically allocated in the base skills). I believe preset archetypes don't start with more karma, they just have some pre-allocated, so you'll want to go custom to bank everything into getting this skill. Humans get more karma to start with (I forget if it's +1 or +3) and can go up to 9 in all skills, so I'd choose them when going for this kind of achievement. Here is a list of most of the places you can gain karma in the game - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=12707... (I think it's missing a couple but it gets the job done).

When you get a crit in this game, it will do either 1.5x or 2x damage (don't know if there's a way to increase the odds of getting 2x). The first two rifles in the game do 10 base damage, so the most amount they can do on a crit is 20 (the next two rifles aren't much better with a base damage of 12). The lowest health that I've seen for any enemy in the game is 20, with the majority of them being 30. This is what makes this achievement especially annoying, there are already so few opportunities to get this achievement that you then miss out on because you're probably trying to run a more balanced build and don't have the points for headshot.

Assuming you do every single karma action and save them up/spend them entirely on leveling quickness/ranged combat/rifles, the absolute earliest you can get this skill is during Return to the Docks, immediately after picking up the key to the warehouse. Conveniently enough, this is also the first place you can get this achievement. Make a save after dealing with the lookout, then try to prioritize the guy with the key (for me, he was always the thin brown jacket with the rifle that shouts at the beginning of combat, but it might be randomized). Once he's dead, pick up the key with one of your teammates. You now have enough karma to get headshot and, interestingly enough, you can level up during combat, so do so. Then, with your player character, immediately use headshot on the hooded human/elf mage with the pistol. If you're lucky, you'll get the 2x crit for 20 damage and subsequently get the achievement. If you get the 1.5x crit or miss and don't want to wait for the cooldown, reload and try again.

If you don't get it this encounter, two more places I've found this doable are another mage inside the warehouse and a surgeon and mage on the bottom floor of Mercy Hospital. After Mercy Hospital, I believe the Colt M23, which does 15 base damage, becomes available for purchase. This makes it possible to get this achievement on 30 health enemies, but a lot of enemies have at least one point of armor at this point too. Armor will reduce the damage done even on crit, so bring along a mage that can strip armor too.

ABOVE ALL, make sure you get this achievement before the final battle. the lowest health I saw for anybody in the final battle was 40, and the highest damaging rifle, the Ares Alpha, is 16 base, which means it is IMPOSSIBLE to get this achievement at this point in the game.
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10 Oct 2023 16:08

3 Comments
+1 for me. I did the quickness build and farmed all the available karma up to Return to the Docks but did not get the opportunity outside so I tried inside. The last possible enemy in the second room was an Adept who ran straight towards me and I popped him in the head for the achievement.

Also to your above point, humans have a +3 karma to start the game.
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By Or1g1nal S1nn3r on 04 Feb 2024 10:35
The absolute lastest mission you can get this is the run against Telestrian to retrieve the Aegis sample. Some of the goons there that attack you while your decker does his thing in the top floor will have only 30 HP, so you can kill them with one shot if you have bought the best rifle (which does 16 base damage) and have a companion who can cast destroy armor. (There is a support mage from the nephylim network who has destroy armor and ALL the useful support spells - haste, heal, armor up, aim up - so that one is a good choice to bring. By the time of that mission I had also upgraded the pistol skill so I could do the chainshot achievement in the same mission. I also had brought my int and biotech up to 2 so I could see the exact hitpoint numbers).
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By Hirntoht on 15 Feb 2024 01:17
There is another way to do this easier that seems overlooked. Put one point into summon, use one of the consumable fetishes to summon any level 1 spirit, and I personally used fire, but I don't think it much matters. Wait one turn, the totem should escape almost immediately and become hostile. Target and listen to that achievement music.

You can do this at anytime, any level, so long as you have the points to spare for the requisite skills and a sufficient assault rifle.
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By J Hart 52 on 06 May 2024 00:17
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One of the latest skills called 'Headshot' available in Rifles skill. For that you will need to spend your Karma on Quickness, Ranged Weapons and Rifles. After acquiring needed skill just kill an enemy with full healhbar, best to do it on mages since they have only 20 hp. I was able to do it on a mission in
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30 Jun 2022 13:02

6 Comments
Is there a way to get this achievement after the final time you visit the estate? I saved around 80 karma points before I started the final mission. Unfortunately I don't have enough karma points on the save that is close to the mental hospital.
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By VirusTk GaMBit on 15 Aug 2022 13:28
I don`t think so. There are only 2-3 times in the game, if I`m not wrong, that you encounter enemies with initially low hp for that achievement. So it basically easier to start a new game, choose your own archetype and spend all karma on this skill. It took me a little more than an hour to get it from the new game and on easy difficulty. Although it was kinda hard and annoying since my character was dying from almost every shot
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By Olesia1337 on 20 Aug 2022 15:52
I managed to get it in Renraku labs. There's a guard with 30 hp. I had the ares rifle and headshot skill obvs, but also took the for hire mage with dissolve armour spell. Got behind the guard, cast dissolve armour 3 times until it said armour broken, then headshot him flanked for 2x damage and got the kill. Hopefully this helps someone.
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By Lonewolf470 on 08 Oct 2022 14:33
Don't usually like to post to two solutions, but there is another way to do this easier that seems overlooked. Put one point into summon, use one of the consumable fetishes to summon any level 1 spirit, and I personally used fire, but I don't think it much matters. Wait one turn, the totem should escape almost immediately and become hostile. Target and listen to that achievement music.

You can do this at anytime, any level, so long as you have the points to spare for the requisite skills, a level one fetish, and a sufficient assault rifle.

I imagine some of the shadowrunner shamans have the fetish as well or you could equip them if necessary.
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By J Hart 52 on 06 May 2024 00:20
I loaded up an earlier save at the location you mentioned, and I'm about 26 Karma short at this point in the game, despite not spending much as I played... Did you invest most/all of your Karma up to this point in to Quickness? Was there an archetype that helped? Am I missing a way to earn Karma?
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By V1 Rage on 29 Jul 2022 10:19
Yeah, I`ve spent basically all of Karma points only on Quickness and "Headshot" skill. All other skills were on 1. I choose my own archetype when I was creating a new character and spent all of the available points only on Quickness. Then going through the game I spent Karma only on skills that were necessary for Headshot, randomly throwing a few leftovers for the character`s health
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By Olesia1337 on 08 Aug 2022 09:03
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