There’s not a ton of call for stealth as you play most of Spider-Man on PS4. It’ll come up from time to time and it might help out at the start of a particularly tough fight, but you’re not going to be using it as much as, say, swinging or punching. That means, unlike Drone Challenges or Combat Challenges, you’ve got a little more to think about when you take on Taskmaster’s Stealth Challenges.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to get gold (or three stars, as we like to think of it) in these Stealth Challenges using the Upper East Side Stealth Challenge as an example. You can apply the same thoughts and tactics to the Upper West Side Stealth Challenge, and two Hell’s Kitchen Stealth Challenges — and you can see us doing exactly that in the video above.
- Pick a path. The score you get on a Stealth Challenge is most strongly influenced by your combo and your time. In other words, the speed and flow with which you dispatch the baddies. That means the best approach is a constant line that passes by each enemy, moving from A to B to C, etc. until they’re all knocked out or webbed up. It’ll take you a couple of tries to get a line you’re comfortable with for each challenge, but generally speaking you’re going to make a spiral. Start at the perimeter of the arena and work your way all (or most of) the way around, then head into the middle.
- Head to the high ground first. There are two reasons for this. First, enemies up high can see more of the arena. But more subtly, it’s easier and faster to drop down a level than it is to climb or web up to one.
- Never punch. This probably goes without saying, but starting a fistfight is not stealthy. Instead, you’re looking to get into a position to perform a Web Strike Takedown — hitting Triangle, then zipping over to an enemy to dispatch them with one hit. You can even think of this as an extension of the first point — takedowns are a quick way to move to the next target on your path.
- Web Strike Takedowns are faster than Perch Takedowns. As awesome as it is to yoink a baddie up to the top of a lamp post and leave him hanging there, it takes time. Instead, like we said above, use the Web Strikes to zip from one enemy to the next, dispatching each with a kick .
- Get to even higher ground. There are a couple of Stealth Challenges where you need to slow down for a second and wait for your enemies to get into a better position. Look for something to climb on top of — Spider-Man’s baddies tend not to look up.
- R3, R3, R3. You want to be aware of where ever enemy is at all times — even the ones on the other side of walls. Hit R3 every chance you get to keep track of them. When you’re close, R3 also lets you know if your safe to attack or in danger of being spotted when you take out the enemy you’re targeting.
- Gadgets are quiet. It might not be the most logical thing, but webbing an enemy to a wall doesn’t violate the stealth condition of the Challenge, so it’s a valid way to take out enemies — especially when they’re in a group. Trip Mines are great for this — especially for patrolling enemies — and Impact Webs work as well.
- Jump to get an angle. The Stealth Challenges involve a lot of slinking around on top of roofs or boxes. That keeps you out of sight, but sometimes it means you don’t have an angle for your Web Strike Takedowns. Get close, then just hit X to jump up in the air. Most of the time, this will get you the takedown prompt.
