Tips for Surviving Arkham City

Written by Craig Will (puffkix) Monday, 31 October 2011 09:30

Batman: Arkham City can be a tough place. I mean, it’s full of the seediest lowlifes that Gotham could spit out AND it’s run by a devious, malicious, fascist dictator. Like I said, it can be tough. Add to that the lack of an instruction manual in the game box and it’s fairly easy to feel overwhelmed by the little things. That’s why I’m here to give you some tips for making your way through the wilderness that is Arkham City. Hopefully, spoiler free.

100-dollar-amazon-gift-card Enter to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card.

Batman: Arkham City Multiple Counter Attacks

Combat It took me a while to figure out that multiple attacking thugs can be countered at the same time. I know there’s a loading screen tip that can pop up, but for me it came late in the game, after I had already figured it out the hard way. So if you see a baddie coming at you with the blue squigglies over his head press the counter button once. If there are two baddies, press it twice. This formula works no matter the amount of baddies and in fact there is a portion of the game where it will be necessary to counter almost 20 guys simultaneously. Don’t know how I would have made it past that part if I was still getting frustrated that goons were cheating by attacking at the same time when I could only counter one of them.

Freeflow combat revolves around your ability to hit the attack button rhythmically. Sprinkle in counters when necessary, stuns when fighting armored guards, dodges, and gadgets and combat is more like a choreographed dance. Which, is exactly what the developers were going for because well, martial arts is like a brutal ballet.

If you don’t have rhythm then the best thing you can do is upgrade your gadgets. Especially when it’s time to face the gun-toting bad guys. The disarm bat claw is the greatest gadget in your arsenal for that, with a simple press of L2 + Triangle (LT + Y) in the middle of combat, a previously terrifying armed enemy turns into a whimpering pansy just begging for a beatdown. It’s the simplest way to take care of armed guards and it doesn’t require a cooldown, plus it’s available early in the game.

Batman: Arkham City Exploration

Exploration There is no greater sense of being the Dark Knight than zipping around town and gliding to your next destination with your cape outstretched like the wings of a bat diving into a group of goons, a riddle trophy, or just a door to the next building. There are two convenient ways to travel long distances:

The Grapnel Hook allows you to zipline to nearby surfaces/gargoyles quickly and efficiently. Great for travel and for combat. Its abilities are greatly enhanced once the Grapnel Boost is unlocked, allowing to grapnel to glide without ever stopping. This useful for both tricky pressure plate Riddler challenges and for getting to your next stop quickly.

Dive bombing is accomplished by holding R2 (RT) while gliding and it can either end with Batman hitting the ground with supersonic force or, by pulling back on the stick, soaring back up with greater speed than before. It’s a little tricky to master but keep practicing and you’ll have it under control soon. It’s required for some of the side missions and Riddler trophies.

Batman: Arkham City Riddler Trophies

Line Launcher Speaking of Riddler trophies, I waited until the end game to try and collect all of them. Doing so allowed me to avoid the frustration of not having the right gadgets for the job but it also created a frustration with trying to remember where I saw the trophies. There are two ways around this: Holding L2 (LT) while looking at a trophy will add it to your map so you can find it easier later. The second option is hopping around town after a certain event to find guys that are glowing green, they work for Riddler; beat up the rest of their crew and you will have the option to interrogate them. Interrogating them reveals the location of trophies, breakable objects, and the answers to geographic riddles to the map. Anybody that spent hours tracking down all the Joker teeth in Arkham Asylum will definitely appreciate the breakable objects being painted on the map.

Sometimes the trophies seem to be in incredibly impossible locations. I spent a while trying to get my Line Launcher lined up perfectly in order to spray explosive gel on a breakable wooden panel, only to realize that you can’t use the gel while on the line. Turns out all I needed to do was hop onto the building across the street and glide into it and the wood will break. This works with the Grapnel Boost too, if the wood panels are on the ceiling.

There are some pressure plates with question marks spinning inside them that deactivate the cages that some Riddler trophies are trapped in. Occasionally, there are multiple pressure plates that need to be activated to release the one trophy. This needs to be done without touching the ground or all the pressure plates reset. In these situations it’s important to remember that Batman can glide off walls. So hop onto a high building and glide onto the first pressure plate, glide off the wall and hit the second pressure plate, glide off the wall and land on the third pressure plate. Ta-da. There are two instances where I remember using the Grapnel Boost to zip up and over a ledge and glide back around to land on a new pressure plate, rinse and repeat. Sometimes this can be accomplished by using the Line Launcher, hitting R2 (RT) to hop up onto it, position yourself above a new plate, and drop off of it.

While Batman can't pick up Catwoman trophies (they're red), Catwoman can pick up Batman trophies (green). Use this to your advantage when playing as Catwoman, there are a couple of green trophies that were easier to get to after climbing on the ceiling with Catwoman.

This tip ties into some other puzzle aspects of the game but is really used for the trophies: Batarangs can store electricity! If there is a pair of exposed wires with electricity arcing between them, chances are you need to throw an RC Batarang through that and guide it to a power box somewhere nearby in order to overload it and gain access to a new area.

And the final piece of advice for the Riddler trophies is this nugget of knowledge: spraying multiple (up to three) sets of explosive gel and zooming in on one (by clicking the right thumbstick) will allow you to detonate just that one.

That about does it for tips on getting through Arkham City (relatively) unmolested. If you have your own tips or even questions about specific trophies or riddles feel free to post them in the comments or drop me a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , I’ve spent a lot of time in the City and plan on spending much more.