Starting tips and difficulty levels in BioShock Infinite BioShock Infinite guide, walkthrough

Last update: 05 February 2020

BioShock Infinite can cause players problems for the first hours of the campaign where you learn all of its mechanics. This page of the guide has starting tips that can help you within the first hours with the game. In addition, we have also explained the differences between the available difficulty levels.

• Starting tips
• Difficulty levels and the main differences between them

Starting tips

1. Fire short bursts to preserve good accuracy. This will also help you to conserve ammunition.
2. You can change difficulty level from the options menu at any time. This may help you complete an extremely difficult battle, but keep in mind that changing the difficulty level will block access to certain trophies.
3. Think before you shoot. Not every situation has to end with a battle! Avoiding unnecessary confrontations is especially important when you are playing at higher difficulty levels.
4. Choose the gameplay menu to learn the details of your current assignment. Some missions also have additional objectives.
5. If you'll hold the trigger while using the Hail Fire weapon, then the projectile will explode after you've let him go. This way you can prepare for the perfect moment to shoot the projectile.
6. Aim for the hearts of every Handymen (a round hole in the middle of the chest) to increase the amount of damage they receive.
7. A Handyman can electrify the sky-lines for a short period time, inflicting damage to anyone that is using them. Stay away from the sky-lines if there's a current running through them!
8. Elizabeth can read ciphers that describe the locations of secret Vox Populi stashes. Find the cipher and a corresponding code book to uncover the hidden treasure.
9. You don't have to protect Elizabeth during combat, because she can take care of herself. The game cannot end due to her death.
10. Elizabeth can sometimes find useful gear and suggest to throw it to you during the battle. Use this feature frequently, especially if you have low supplies and/or are playing at one of the higher difficulty levels.
11. You can ask Elizabeth to use lockpicks to open doors protected with padlocks. But remember that the number of lockpicks is limited, and if you do not get enough of them, then opening locks won't be possible.
12. Use the Possession power to temporarily make any of the enemies your ally. The earliest you can get this vigor is in the Welcome Center.
13. The possession ability works on only one target at a time. You should possess stronger enemie. Possessing a new opponent results in losing control over the previous one.
14. Once the possession has stopped working your victim will commit suicide. Tears are located in specific places. Explore each location to find and check them all.
15. One of the Elizabeth's abilities is to open tears (portals) and it can be used to summon new equipment, new allies or additional shields. Always choose the Tear that can help you the most during a fight.
16. Shoot patriots in the back to inflict extra damage!
17. Once you've been saved from certain death you will regain some of your health, but the same thing will happen to your enemies. You'll also lose some money.
18. You can detonate Shock Jockey's crystals from chapter 11 (Hall of Heroes Gift Shop) by shooting at them.
19. The faster you are on a sky-line, the more difficult target you are for your enemies.
20. Using the aiming devices while travelling on sky-lines allows to easily track your targets.
21. Stealing from others can have some very unpleasant consequences... Be careful in neutral places where there are police officers. They can attack Booker if they notice a crime.
22. Elizabeth can open only one tear at a time. Opening a new tear automatically closes the previous one.
23. Enemies drop their weapons when they die. Test these new toys.
24. Remember to use vigors! Just like plasmids from previous BioShock games, they can be very helpful in eliminating enemies and complement or even sometimes replace the traditional weapons.

Difficulty levels and the main differences between them

Changing your difficulty level results not only in the amount of resources (ammunition, cash etc). you find, but also affects many of the player's statistics and it's not that obvious. As a result it's recommended that you take a look at the table seen below, especially if you're planning on finishing the game on the 1999 difficulty setting. Here's a list of the modifiers affecting the gameplay depending on the current difficulty:

Difficulty level	Damage dealt	Damage received	Resurrection cost	Shield regeneration delay	Shield regeneration speed
Easy	125%	50%	$5	3 seconds	1 second
Normal	100%	100%	$25	4 seconds	2 seconds
Hard	60%	170%	$50	5 seconds	3 seconds
1999 Mode	50%	200%	$100	6 seconds	4 seconds