Thief
37 Achievements
1,000
40-50h
Hail of Glass
Shot a bottle in mid-air with an arrow
10
How to unlock the Hail of Glass achievement in Thief - Definitive Guide
You will need to play up until you have the box, and have picked up a bottle. Now find an open area without enemies, arm the bottle, and then save the game. If you miss, you can "Load Last Save" from the menu, and you will be put in the exact same spot.
Note: This achievement can be easier after upgrading your character, increasing his bow skills, and bottle carrying capacity, so keep that in mind if you are stuggling.
Now that you are set up, aim directly up, press the trigger to throw the bottle, press the trigger again to take out your bow, and then aim for the bottle and use the trigger once again to shoot the bottle. It is easiest to hit the bottle as it is falling and directly in front you, although it still is a trial and error process. Video below:
If you are still having trouble with the achievement you could always spend a couple focus points on the marksman ability as this will slow everything down around you while the bottle is in the air, although if you're going for the no focus play through this method would have to wait until the last chapter, but the achievement is extremely easy this way, just push Y, throw the bottle, and fire away. You should be able to fully draw the arrow and release it in time to hit the bottle, althoughI would still recommend using the blunt arrow for the surface area factor. All credit for this method goes to DeutschZuid.
In this video I talk in Spanish but I can be understood just watching it.
I hope it's usefull, and If anyone vote negative I'd like to know the reason so I can improve in my future videos.
However, when I saw your video, I realized your technique was much more elegant. You press RT and turn to the left more than 90 degrees. This has the effect of making the bottle's trajectory more vertical than if you throw it straight above you without repositioning. This eliminates the requirement to use RS. Also, because targeting is less important, you don't have to worry about which arrows to use. When you're out of bottles, RT immediately switches to the bow and defaults to the sharp arrow if you have any.
In summary, once your are in position by turning to the left while holding RT, the button sequence is as follows:
Release RT, press & release RT.
The timing is the only hard part of your technique. You have to release RT just before the bottle enters the targeting reticule. Very elegant solution. Using it, I am successful about one out of three times playing on Master Difficulty with no focus. Some of the misses are due to my missing the timing. Most, however, are due to the inaccuracy of the weapon since you do not have time to charge the bow. On Master Difficulty, the bow is very inaccurate when not fully charged.
I would highly recommend using blunt arrows with this, as they have the largest tip to them, and either upgrade your draw speed for your bow or try and upgrade your focus to slow time, I ran through the first chapter and still managed to have enough to give the Beggar Queen 150 gold for a second focus upgrade, I would recommend spending both the points on Speed as it slows time. As soon as chapter two starts you should get down into the sewer and either find a bottle or equip your bottle and hotkey your blunt arrows to the left or right button, activate focus before you throw the bottle and when you throw it, step a little to the right and wait until the bottle is very close to you before you shoot, giving you time to draw the bow and reducing the distance the arrow has to travel, as when I got the trophy the bottle exploded right above my head when I shot it.
The video should offer more help if you need it.
Thanks to Maka91Productions for making the video.
Before you can attempt this trophy, you will need to have unlocked at least one level of Speed as part of your list of focus upgrades. This is because this upgrade "slows down" time when you're aiming with your bow or picking a lock.
Once you have purchased at least one Speed upgrade (II is obviously preferred), find a bottle if you don't have one already, aim straight up and throw it. As the bottle is in the air, quickly switch to your bow (any type of arrow works) and wait for the bottle to appear just over your reticue before you fire. With any luck you should have hit the bottle unlocking yourself the trophy. Obviously, you will want to make a quick save before you attempt this not only to save yourself a bottle, but allowing you to restart right away from a quick load and try again.
For those who prefer visual aid, please refer to the video below courtesy of PowerPyx:
This can be done at any time during your playthrough. The first opportunity you will want to attempt this achievement is when you are venturing near the Clock Tower Plaza of the open world in between Chapters. If you need help locating this area, it is in front of a shop called "Reynard's Coffeehouse".
You will find various glass bottles scattered around the tabletops on the street in this area. Equip the bottle and aim your reticle into the air right above you. Toss the bottle up and attempt to put an arrow through it before it hits the ground.
Also, make sure to save your game before throwing the bottle and attempting this. If you miss your shot, simply reload the last checkpoint and keep trying.
This can be done at any time during your playthrough. The first opportunity you will want to attempt this achievement is when you are venturing near the Clock Tower Plaza of the open world in between Chapters. If you need help locating this area, it is in front of a shop called "Reynard's Coffeehouse".
You will find various glass bottles scattered around the tabletops on the street in this area. Equip the bottle and aim your reticle into the air right above you. Toss the bottle up, and you will have all but one minute to shoot the bottle before it crashes onto the ground.
Also, make sure to save your game real quick before throwing the bottle and attempting this. If you miss your shot, simply reload the last checkpoint and keep trying.
It's easier to do this:
Learn to slow down time when shooting for concentration points, throw a bottle, turn on concentration and calmly aim and shoot.
PS: Since it didn’t work out as stated in the video, I spent about 20 minutes. According to my method, it took 10 seconds the first time. Draw conclusions.
In fact, this is actually the easiest trophy. You don’t need concentration and, accordingly, pumping it up; improving your bow is also not required! So, where is all the salt? We find an open area, i.e. you should see the starry sky. We look as high as possible and throw the bottle above us. At the same instant, the empty slot is automatically replaced with a bow and the cheapest arrows, if available. Let's shoot. Profit!
ZY I hit it the second time and took a step back after throwing the bottle. Beaver everyone.