Ranged and close combat | Combat Watch Dogs Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
In Watch_Dogs, nearly every crisis can be solved in two ways - forcibly and by means of stealth (the mechanics of that have been presented in the chapter entitled Stealth). IF you have nothing against eliminating enemies, you should remember about several important things. One of the most important things is that Aiden is not immortal and, in himself, he is not protected with any additional armor. This means that it is imperative that you use covers. Also, what speaks for this is that the game itself, actually, encourages you to use covers and always locks on the nearest ones, which you can dash to, with the pressing of a button. It is just as easy to dash from cover to cover. If you can see that the enemies are trying to corner you, or if you are in a disadvantageous position, this issue is a key to success. While choosing covers to hide behind, always try to make them fit your current needs - if the line of fire is obstructed by large obstacle, search for vantage points located above. If, you are fighting against a chopper, hide behind big pillars or inside buildings.
The majority of covers that you find throughout the game cannot be destroyed so, you do not need to worry that you will find yourself, out of a sudden, without proper protection. What is even more, thanks to hacking, (more about this in the next chapter of this guide) you can, for example raise metal barriers, which creates a completely new cover for you. I strongly recommend that you search for opportunities to do that, especially that the "initial state" of a location (still before you start hacking) does not offer too many covers to conduct fire from.
During ranged combat, it is a good idea to pack a firearm and, if you are going to play aggressively, I recommend that you often visit the gun stores all around Chicago. Each one of such stores offers a wide variety of tools of destruction so, it is worthwhile to get your hands on, e.g. a good, versatile assault rifle.
Paying visits to gun stores is not the only way to obtain guns. Some of the enemies that you defeat drop weapons and it is worthwhile to look around for these, in order not to miss them. The main upside of collecting weapons from the deceased is that they are permanently added to Aiden's inventory so, starting with the moment in which you obtain a model of a weapon, the only thing you need to worry about is replenishing ammo.
Taking a good firearm is not the only thing that it is good to make provisions for. Enemies can be eliminated effectively in a variety of other ways. First of all, I recommend that you look out for the interactive elements in the environment - ones that can e destroyed, as a result of a well-aimed shot (e.g. a fuel tank) and the ones that you can hack into (e.g. a generator incorporated into the ground, a transformer or a valve on a hot-steam pipe).
A separate category are all sorts of explosives, like e.g. frag grenades, which you can craft on your own (more about this in the chapter entitled Crafting). A skillful throw of an explosive apple is capable of eliminating several regular opponents, or of an armored opponents, who is invulnerable to regular firearms. If you do not want to rely only on explosive consumables, you can invest in a grenade launcher, later into the game, thanks to which you will escape even the tightest of situations, with your life, and eliminate even several groups of enemies within a narrow time window.
What is also helpful, while eliminating enemies is Focus, i.e. time-slowing ability. It is not available by default so, you need to buy an appropriate ability first (they have been listed in the chapter entitled Abilities). Actually, it is a worthwhile to upgrade it later into the game, thanks to which the time-slowing effect is stronger, the duration expanded, which will allow you to eliminate more enemies, within the allotted time. Focus is also useful in situations in which you want to score more frequent headshots, because the overwhelming majority of them (apart from the heavily-armored enemies) can be eliminated with a single bullet to the head.
Ranged combat is not the only method of eliminating opponents, because Aiden can also deal with them in melee. The mechanism here is not too complex and it is easy to operate because you simply need to approach the enemy and press the knock down key/button. For quite obvious reasons, it is a good way to clear the area if you want to operate from shadows (more about this in one of the following chapters of the guide). While eliminating an opponents in melee, you risk little that the other ones will e alarmed. In the case of open attacks, this option is of secondary importance. I recommend that you stun an opponent, in such situations, only if you are cornered (e.g. right next to an armed opponent that is about to attack your character), because the process, in itself, takes around two seconds and during that time, Aiden is defenseless against enemy fire.
Note - by default, you cannot eliminate the Enforcers in melee, i.e. the enemies wearing the heaviest armors. You can remedy that by unlocking one of the additional abilities. T learn more about that, see the chapter entitled Abilities.
Note - if an enemy is hiding behind a cover (e.g. a low wall or the hood of a parked car) you can try hopping over the obstacle. This will allow you to perform an automatic melee attack and you will not have to get around the obstacle, which would expose your life to threat.