Enemies – Gotham Knights

There is a lot of enemy variety in Gotham Knights, with each of the many factions in the game having multiple variants of unique baddies. As such, it can be easy to feel lost or overwhelmed when fighting some of these enemies, some of whom end up being more difficult to face than some of the bosses in the game (and that is saying something). And, what’s more, your strategy has to be malleable and applicable for fighting these enemies in groups, something the game itself can leave players ill-equipped for. So what is someone to do, if they find themselves stuck on a hard encounter or enemy? Well, the answer is before you! In these guides, we will walk you through the best strategies to defeat every single non-boss enemy in the game, so that you can become the hero Gotham needs.

Check out our individual Faction guides below if you plan to pit off against enemies from one of the gangs of Gotham, or read on in this guide if you simply want to know how enemies function, or strategies to combat general, universal enemies like Brawlers and Shooters.

Freaks

Court of Owls

League of Shadows

GCPD

Regulators

The Mob

How Enemies Work

Enemies in Gotham Knights are incredibly varied, with even low-level enemies adding a nice degree of complexity to the combat. However, there are some hidden mechanics that make them more than meets the eye. These include things like elemental damage, the ability to use uninterruptible Armored Attacks, resistances, and weaknesses, all of which can be seen on an enemy’s profile in the Batcomputer Database (under “Profiles”, then “Factions”). While this guide will give you the general strategy for dealing with any given enemy, if they are giving you too much trouble it can be good to check these profiles in order to make sure you are using the best damage types and resistances against them.

Level and Rank

You’ve probably noticed that the difficulty of enemies is determined by their level, which is the number displayed next to their health bar. But, when patrolling Gotham, the level of most enemies is within one or two of levels of yourself. If you are level 5, then the enemies will mostly be level 5 and 6. However, an enemy’s type and level are not the only things that determine their difficulty, nor even the most important. Instead, the way that enemies can really scale up in difficulty is due to their rank.

Every non-boss enemy (minibosses included) comes in three ranks: Regular, Veteran, and Champion. Regular enemies are what you are going to fight through most of the game, and are the enemy type at their most basic, easiest version. Veterans and Champions are upgraded versions of these enemies (with Veterans being stronger than Champions); they always have more health and damage, and usually get some upgrades to other abilities and attributes. This additional upgrades can include turning their attacks into Armored Attacks, gaining resistances or Elemental Damage types, or even gaining new moves and abilities. A Champion of any given type will represent the most powerful version of that enemy, and even basic enemy types should be considered dangerous as Champions.

The fastest way to differentiate ranks is by looking at the symbol behind their level number, a regular enemy will have a square shield icon behind their level number ( ), a veteran have an indented shield (), and a champion will have a crowned shield (). You can also tell the difference between enemies by looking at their color scheme and armor since each rank of each enemy has a unique skin. GCPD Officers are the only exception to this, with their badge-shaped shields ().

How to Read Enemy Profiles

Below is a key for how to read enemy profiles.

1. Rank: The difficulty of this enemy variant
2. Damage: Status Effects that the enemy can deal to you
3. Resistance: Status Effects that require more hits to cause on an enemy
4. Immunity: Status Effects that an enemy is completely immune to
5. Weakness: Status Effects that an enemy is especially susceptible to
6. Status Effect Symbols: Represents one of the five Status Effects:
   • Bioelectric
   • Concussive
   • Cryogenic
   • Incendiary
   • Toxin
7. Abilities an enemy possesses. This can include:
   • Evade Flurry: Avoids most attacks, must be stunned with Heavy Ranged Attack, or hit with Momentum Abilities
   • Armored Attack: Does Red attacks, which can only be interrupted by Piercing attacks
   • Guard: Blocks attacks until Guard Broken or countered
   • Vanish: Disappears into a cloud of smoke, to reappear later to attack (Exclusive to League of Shadows)
8. Faction Logo

Note: This guide is intended to give players a basic understanding of the tactics to expect from regular variants of these enemies, so that you can get your footing against those that give you trouble. However, as the game progresses, more and more veteran and champion variants will show up in Gotham, requiring you to be able to adjust to their new abilities and tactics. However, the general strategy for any enemy type remains roughly the same, even against champions.

General Enemies

These baddies show up in several factions. While some very minor details for these enemies differ between gangs, such as their damage types and resistances, they are similar enough that the general strategies to deal with them will remain the same regardless.

Brawler

The Brawler is the standard-issue mook, showing up in every faction (except the League of Shadows). They are weak and easily dispatched, and can do nothing to fight back against vigilantes one-on-one. Even in a group, some deft dodging will be more than enough to counter however many are thrown at you, to say nothing of your Momentum Abilities, which can wipe out entire legions of Brawlers on easier difficulties, and substantially weaken them on higher difficulties.

However, these goons aren’t total punching bags. Instead, their real purpose is to distract and interrupt you in order to protect their heavier-hitting minibosses. When there are goons around, you risk any of your attacks being interrupted by their basic attacks, causing you to stumble, and possibly even be hit by their more powerful allies. Meanwhile, if you focus on clearing out Brawlers, you might miss an attack cue from those same powerful hitters. The best thing to do, therefore, is to make sure to eliminate these weak targets immediately in a battle, while still keeping an eye on minibosses and other threats.

Shooter

Shooters are essentially the same as Brawlers, but with guns! As such, they are easy to deal with, deal little damage, and have even less health than their melee-oriented counterparts. Their ranged attacks take a bit more getting used to dodging, but once you do they are easily dispatched, and they even might shoot their friends a few times in the process.

That said, Shooters’ real purpose in the various gangs of Gotham is the same as brawlers: distract and interrupt. And their ranged attacks make them even better at it. If there are any Shooters left in combat, you can rest assured that they will fire whenever you are in the middle of a combo, have just grabbed someone, or are forcing you into cover when all you want to do is press the attack. As such, they should be dealt with immediately, alongside Brawlers, in order to prevent interruptions while you are fighting more imposing foes.

Sniper

Rounding out the list of “generic baddies,” we have the Sniper. I’m sure you can guess what they do from their name: they stand on rooftops, providing overwatch and covering fire to support their forces on the ground.

If a Sniper manages to hit you, they do deal massive damage. But, so long as you checking your surroundings before jumping into a fight, they never will. This is because the best way to deal with them is by stealthily eliminating them before a fight. Their isolated positioning atop rooftops makes it easy as pie to notice them, get behind them unseen, and to eliminate them with absolutely no risk of other enemies noticing. While Snipers are potentially deadly if they are alive during a battle, a good vigilante will have cleared them away long before one begins.

Now that you have this comprehensive list of enemies, you are ready to take on the mean streets of Gotham! If you still find yourself struggling, make sure to check out our combat guide. And, if you are having trouble with a boss, our boss guide should be your next stop!