Enemy types and general premises of Charlie's missions | Mission 12 - Site F Splinter Cell: Blacklist Guide

Each of the missions received from Charlie consists of, at most, twenty rounds and, individual stages can be completed after the completion of five rounds and evacuation (more about it further in the text). Completing a round means knocking down, or killing, every enemy that appeared in the area. The difficulty level increases, of course, with each promotion to the next round. This can be seen in, first of all, more elite types of enemies but, you will also keep in mind that you will have to eliminate more and more enemies. For example, even though the initial missions may require killing only several enemies, throughout the game, this limit may rise to as many as 50. This doesn't mean, of course, that there are several dozens of people wandering around the map at the same time but, after the first wave is eliminated (usually waves don't exceed 10 enemies), the next one appear almost immediately. Fortunately, breaks between main rounds are discernibly longer which allows your character to regenerate health and supplies, or to return into the favorite spot.

The important dependency isn't only that you don't have to complete all of the rounds but, you don't have to do that at one take. It is, absolutely possible but, this process is very much time-consuming and even if you play on a lower difficulty level, this may take as much as several hours. Every five completed rounds, you will be asked about whether you want to retreat (blue flag) or remain in the battlefield (red flare). If you simply want to complete a given mission, you can leave the theater of operations right after the five rounds. Yet, if you are trying to earn as many points as possible, thou should try to remain on the map for as long as possible, which will win you additional bonuses. Fortunately, even if you retreat, the next time you launch this mission, you will have the opportunity to decide if you want to start anew or continue. Speaking of which, when it comes to repeating missions, it is worth noting that, regardless of the difficulty level, the progress is saved every round so, even in the case of death of the player (or players if you are playing a co-op) means that you start the same round over again, without the necessity of replaying the rounds that you have already completed.

Battles with enemies wearing heavy armor tend to be demanding

It has been already stated that the consecutive rounds mean not only the necessity to deal with more enemies, but also with new "varieties" of these. The below list presents the probable order in which they appear, including a commentary concerning the easiest elimination of these:

• Standard enemies
• Armored enemies - remember that many armored enemies wear headgear so, one headshot fired from a pistol will not do the trick. If you still want to use pistol, fire series of two shots, thanks to which the first one will destroy the helmet, and the other will reach the head. Still, it is much better to make use of the heavier rifles that will pierce the armor without any problems. When it comes to the non-aggressive solution, to stun the armored enemies, you can use the crossbow or all the typical grenades.
• Guard dogs - try to maintain advantage of height over dogs, so that they can't locate Fisher easily, and/or alarm the enemy to his presence. The best way to eliminate dogs is to land on them or by using proximity shockers, thanks to which the moment of stunning the dog will not alarm the others.
• Mercenaries - you can tell them by their goggles and, as a result, you can't effectively hide from them in darkness. Additionally, the durability of their armor is comparable to that of the armored enemies'.
• Heavy armored enemies and enemies with shields- these enemies are way tougher than their colleagues. What is more, using the crossbow against them, or throwing grenades at them will do them no harm because they are immune to that kind of attacks. If you have nothing against killing your enemies, I recommend that you use proximity mines, frag grenades and incendiary grenades. Otherwise, await occasions on which you can sneak up to them from behind.
• Reconnaissance drone operators- I advise against selling these dudes short because they keep sending out drones on a regular basis and with several operators, it is very difficult to stay in hiding. Keep watching out for the operators at the brinks of maps by listening to their comments and using the radar to your advantage. It is also worth noting that, if you are spotted by a drone, you need to move away from it because it may explode after alarming the enemies and this may inflict heavy damage.
• Snipers- the presence of snipers always makes it more difficult both to clear the area, and to move around, especially that, since they occupy rooftops, it isn't easy to get to them. This means that the best weapons against them are the crossbow and the sniper rifle/machine gun. Also, remember to restrict the amount of time that you spend out in the open so you don't make a target for several snipers at once.

Effective elimination of high-value targets is the key to success

The high-value targets require a separate mention. The enemies of this kind make an appearance in rounds 5, 10, 15 and 20 and the rules for their elimination differ from those in single-player campaign mode. Capturing each high-value target is compulsory and they can't die. What is even more, this must be done within a specified time limit. I recommend that you compromise between the elimination of the high-value targets (especially if there are more people to capture than one), and conducting your operations from hiding. Causing the alarm to be raised may make it much more difficult to neutralize the high-value targets, especially if it is , e.g. a heavy armored enemy that can't be stunned with crossbow of sleeping gas grenades.