Gotham's Most Wanted - Done Quickly

A guide for Gotham Knights on how to do the Gotham's Most Wanted challenge as efficiently as possible.

Introduction

This guide will provide players with a way to complete the challenge Gotham's Most Wanted in an efficient manner. Though I'm not a speed runner, I've detailed techniques I've used to complete this challenge as quickly as possible. From the start of a New Game+ playthrough, I can usually complete this challenge before the 30th night.

I've played through several New Game+ playthroughs as it was initially the most efficient way to earn Legendary blueprints and Nth metal prior to the Heroic Assault patch. After the latest patch, it's now the most efficient way to earn level 60 Legendary blueprints that don't spawn exclusively in Heroic Assault. I've gone through at least 7 New Game+ playthroughs and 1 New Game playthrough (character levels 1 to 30) in order to verify that this method works there as well. The Heroic Assault patch released during my New Game playthrough and I was able to complete this challenge. I played 3 more New Game+ playthroughs after that patch and the one after that and was able to complete the challenges so I'm sure these are still relevant as of publication.

Completing this challenge entails taking down 32 named characters (the Gotham's Most Wanted or GMWs as I'll now refer to them in this document) in the city after which, you'll be rewarded with an ability point. Prior to the Heroic Assault patch, you'd always earn one extra ability point every time you completed this challenge but post-patch, you'll only earn the AP the first time you complete this challenge.

This guide will be told from the perspective of someone starting a New Game+ playthrough for the sake of parity. You'll have to figure out where you can insert these strategies in your playthrough in order to accomplish this challenge.

No data-mining was done for this guide. Everything is from my experiences and observations.

The process to completing this challenge requires some planning so let's start with some fundamentals.

Fundamentals

1. Gotham's Most Wanted (GMWs) won't appear until Case 5.1 - Little Birds. This means there's no point in trying to hunt for them until the story has progressed to this point. Some preparations can be made such as advancing the Clayface side mission to 1.2 - Disturbance At Dixon Docks, advancing Harley's case past 1.1 - Harley Returns and making sure you don't enter Star Labs (see below for further details on these three) but aside from that, there's nothing to do at this point.
   
   
2. Once you reach this point in the story they will start to appear in the city. You'll be given a list of names of criminals to hunt that can be viewed in the Challenges tab. They will only spawn in premeditated crimes that have a Very High difficulty rating but it still isn't always a guarantee that they will spawn under those circumstances.
   
   
3. Gotham's Most Wanted criminals spawn in premeditated crimes: both revealed and unknown. Premeditated crimes are revealed by collecting clues. Clues earned will raise your clue meter until level 12. When this level is reached, all crimes for the next night will be visible on the map. Visible crimes will dole out pertinent information such as: type of crime, the faction perpetrating it and difficulty rating of the crime.
   
   The number of crimes shown will range from 7 to 12 crimes. If the Harley Quinn case file 1.1 - Harley Returns or 1.3 - Paging Dr. Q and the Mr. Freeze case file 1.5 - On Thin Ice are active, the number of revealed premeditated crimes can sink to as low as 4 because some of what would have been normal premeditated crimes are replaced with premeditated crimes relevant to those case files; which will NEVER spawn a GMW. Thus, don't go GMW hunting while these case files are active.
   
   0 to 3 crime scenes can spawn a GMW in a single night though on average, it'll be 0 to 1.
   
   If 12 levels of clues is not reached by the time you return to the Belfry, some of the premeditated crimes will be hidden in the map but these hidden crimes will still show up as a positive number next to an inverted triangle with a question mark in it on the map's Criminal Activity section when you highlight a district that has at least one unknown premeditated crime. The number will indicate the number of unknown premeditated crimes in that district.
   
   When fast traveling to the district with unknown premeditated crimes, a number of inverted triangles with a question mark; corresponding to the number in the map's Criminal Activity section for that district, will appear on the map and highlighting it will give you two pieces of information needed for efficient hunting: the faction perpetrating the crime and the difficulty rating of the crime. You'll have to get close to its location in order to see what type of crime it is.
   
   The fact that you have to enter the district and approach it in order to get the 3 pieces of information we need to determine if a GMW CAN spawn there takes time so it's more efficient to always earn 12 levels of clues before returning to the Belfry when hunting for Gotham's Most Wanted. This will allow you to have all the necessary information at hand before you leave the Belfry.
   
   
4. There are 32 criminals in the challenge but initially, you'll only be given 10 names. If the name doesn't appear on your list, they won't spawn; ever. The Gotham's Most Wanted criminals from the Court of Owls won't appear for instance in the initial 10 names so it makes no sense to check out Very High crimes from the Court of Owls. Just ignore these in this case.
   
   Once you take down a GMW, their name gets removed from the list so this also means that once you take them down, you'll never see them again... in this playthrough.
   
   
5. To get more names to appear, you need to take down X number of GMWs AND advance the story further. It is possible for example to take down all the initial 10 names in the list but if you don't advance the story further, you won't be getting any new names and the challenge will in effect be paused. I'm not sure what the number (X) needed to advance the challenge is but for the initial 10, taking down 6 seems to do it.
   
   
6. If you take down a sufficient number of GMWs and advance the story enough, you'll receive another batch of names that will be appended to your list. You'll receive about 4 batches of names throughout this challenge in order to receive the complete list of 32 criminals.
   
   
7. Each criminal is associated with a specific criminal faction. They are:
   
   League Of Shadows
   
   • Crucible
     
   • Provenance
   
   Court Of Owls
   
   • Quarry
     
   • The Rook
     
   • Tyton
     
   • Aquila
     
   • Shriek
     
   • Crownfeather
   
   The Mob
   
   • Martin Young
     
   • Yan Zhao
     
   • Margaret Maroni
     
   • Sebastian Attuah
     
   • Pyotr Sidorov
     
   • Aiko Iwata
   
   Regulators
   
   • 3d!s0n
     
   • V1sc!ousV@l
     
   • CoP!lot
     
   • T@$3r
     
   • Tru @im
     
   • H!gh $c0re
   
   Freaks
   
   • Iron Knuckle
     
   • Sickone
     
   • The Hugger
     
   • Heretic
     
   • Napalm
     
   • Hopper
   
   Regulators (Mr. Freeeze Associated)
   
   • Samuel "Freezing Point" Russell
     
   • "Polar" Patterson
     
   • Gabby "The Snowstorm"
     
   • Billy "The Blizzard"
     
   • Arnold "The Icicle"
     
   • Victoria "Glacier" Hart
   
   
8. Not all crimes will spawn a Gotham's Most Wanted criminal. From my experience:
   
   Crimes where Gotham's Most Wanted spawn
   
   • Armored Truck Robbery
     
   • Armed Robbery
     
   • Criminal Stronghold
     
   • Illegal Hack
     
   • Kidnapping In Progress
     
   • Criminal Deal
     
   • Officers Under Attack
     
   • Owl's Nest
     
   • Prison Transport Attack
   
   Maybe
   
   • Witness Under Attack
   
   Never
   
   • Bomb Threat
     
   • Crime Scene Investigation
     
   • Organ Trafficking
     
   • Criminal In Hiding
     
   • Illegal Shipment
   
   I don't recall if I've ever had a Gotham's Most Wanted spawn in a Witness Under Attack so either it's very rare or it's a "Never".
   
   Basically, if you see a Very High difficulty crime that's in the "Never" category (and maybe the "Maybe") don't expect to find a GMW there so ignore those.
   
   
9. Given the previous information, when you return to the Belfry with a 12 level clue meter, all crimes should be visible in your Activity View (Tap the View button on the XBox One controller or F1 on the keyboard). Scan the list of premeditated crimes and try to find matches of
   
   
   1. factions someone on your list belongs to (see #7) that are doing
      
   2. crimes that spawn Gotham's Most Wanted (see #8) and are
      
   3. Very High in difficulty rating.
   
   If for example, you spot a Very High crime by the League of Shadows on your Activity View and have neither Crucible or Provenance on your list then you can skip going there because you're not getting anyone to spawn there. Also if you've taken down all of the Gotham's Most Wanted from the Mob, then you can ignore looking into any crimes by the Mob when it comes to completing this challenge because, again, no one's going to spawn there.
   
   If you do have a name on your list that matches the faction of the crime and its difficulty rating is Very high and it's the type of crime that can spawn a GMW, this is a MATCH but it's still not a guarantee that there is a GMW there. You'll have to visit the scene by leaving the Belfry and see if one did spawn.

Fundamentals (part 2)

NOTE: It seems Steam has a character limit for each section and I've hit it with the previous section. Consider this a continuation.

1. When you spot a prospective Very High premeditated crime that can spawn a criminal on your list, set it as your objective in the Activity List or the map so that its objectives will appear on the top left of the screen as you near the location of the crime. When the crime's objectives appear, check the list if one of the objectives is to Defeat the Most Wanted criminal. If you don't see it there then no GMW spawned there so you can probably move on... WITH TWO EXCEPTIONS.
   
   Quarry and Provenance are the only two I've experienced that SOMETIMES don't spawn the objective in the list despite being present in the crime scene.
   
   Quarry appears (only) in the crime Owl's Nest. This crime has you clear the nest, open a chest and defeat an ambush team that appears when you attempt to open the chest. Quarry sometimes is part of the ambush team which is why they don't show up as an objective as they haven't spawned yet. If you're hunting Quarry: i.e. their name is in your list and you're in a Very High Owl's Nest crime scene, you have to trigger the ambushers in order to determine whether or not Quarry is there.
   
   Similarly, Provenance only appears in the crime Officers Under Attack. As you approach the scene, the officers are already engaged with Rocketeers that appear and disappear as they attack. As you approach the scene, sometimes the objective doesn't appear on the list and I suspect it is because Provenance is hidden at the time the list was triggered. Regardless of why the objective doesn't appear, if you're hunting Provenance: i.e. their name is on your list and you're in a Very High Officers Under Attack crime scene by the League Of Shadows, just dive in the middle of the fray and see if you can spot their name somewhere in that fight.
   
   
2. Multiple named characters can appear simultaneously in the same premeditated crime. This was a very rare occurrence from my multiple playthroughs. This happened twice in a single playthrough and it was the New Game (level 1 to 30) playthrough and once in a New Game+ playthrough for a total of 3 times. One night spawned a crime with Margaret Maroni and Sebastian Attuah in the same scene simultaneously while another night had Billy "The Blizzard" and Victoria "Glacier" Hart spawn in the same premeditated crime. In my New Game+ playthrough, it was CoP!lot and T@$3r that spawned at the same time in the same location.
   
   Given that this happened only three times among my multiple playthroughs, I don't think this can be expected to occur on any playthrough, nor can I reliably replicate this. In summary, this isn't part of the process I use but if it happens to you, good for you; multiple names crossed off at once.

Techniques

With the fundamentals out of the way, let's talk about techniques used to speed up this challenge.

1. Draw out multiple GMWs from the same crime scene
   Multiple named characters can appear SEQUENTIALLY in the same premeditated crime. Unlike what was stated above, this one can be reliably replicated and serves as one of the pillars of this process when it comes to crossing names off the list quickly.
   
   Basically, when you approach a crime scene and you spot a GMW, immediately target and assassinate them quickly (takedowns are ideal so Robin is efficient for this because he can take down heavies but you can use whomever it is you want to). Once they're taken down, you should see the game autosave because you crossed off a name. Collect the dropped Legendary blueprint and Nth metal and immediately exit to the main menu (which should again save your game and preserve the Legendary and Nth metal you collected) and select continue. You should start near the same crime scene (still unresolved because all you did was take down the GMW). If you check your gear, you should see the Nth metal and Legendary blueprint that was dropped. If you check your criminal list in the Challenges tab, the name of the one you took down should be gone. If you approach the same crime scene again, you will *most likely* see another GMW taking the place of the old one. Again, make a beeline for them and take them down as quickly as possible and after collecting your spoils, again exit to the main menu and select continue. Repeat this process until no more GMWs spawn and optionally resolve the crime if you wish.
   
   With this method, you should be able to take down from 1 to 4 criminals on the same crime scene on the same night. Tru @im and H!gh $c0re are male/female versions of each other so they're the usual pair if you encounter either one first. Tyton, Aquila, Shriek, and Crownfeather are another group I usually take down in one crime scene in one night. Again, for these multiple takedowns to occur, their names have to be on your list so it's very important that the story is progressing in a timely manner. Prioritizing completing the story before focusing on this challenge is my usual modus operandi but I still do take them down prior to story completion if I spot them while out in the city doing other story objectives.
   
   Some GMWs like The Rook, Sebastian Attuah and Provenance have no male/female counterpart so these should be expected to NOT spawn another GMW if these are the ones you encounter at the scene.
   
   In my multiple playthroughs, I've experienced some outliers like encountering Sebastian Attuah and then Margaret Maroni as a pair like Tru @im and H!gh $c0re even though in most other playthroughs, they didn't spawn another named criminal once taken down. Margaret Maroni can usually be found in the Criminal Stronghold while Sebastian Attuah is doing Armed Roberries. I do recall though that when they paired up like this, the crime was Officers Under Attack. I guess they paired up like this because they can both do this crime but this was only once out of the many playthroughs I've done. I also vaguely recall a pair and a single GMW spawning in a crime scene making it 3 but this was in my earlier playthroughs and I wasn't paying much attention back then. Basically expect 1, 2 or 4 names crossed off per crime scene if you spot a named character there.
   
   
2. Save Scumming
   Since you're reading this on Steam, you should be able to back up your save file with file explorer. The save folder of the game is:
   
   c:\Users\<your account name>\Appdata\Local\WB Games\Gotham Knights\Steam\Saved\SaveGames\<random number>
   
   From there you can copy all three files in that folder somewhere else to serve as a backup. You can do this while the game is running by pressing Alt-Tab if file explorer is running. To restore from the backup, you'll first have to exit the game, overwrite your save files with your backup copy and then re-run the game.
   
   Save your game at crucial points in the game to save you A LOT OF TIME. Specifically, after you've collected 12 levels of clues and before you enter the Belfry, back up your save game somewhere else. After you enter you enter the Belfry, use the Activity View to scan for possible matches to the people on your list (i.e. matching faction, Very High difficulty rating and if the type of crime is in the list above (see Fundamentals #8) that can spawn a GMW in my experience). If none are a match, then exit the game, overwrite your save files with your back up copy and start the game again. If Steam complains that the local file don't match the ones in the cloud, tell it to use the local copy. After continuing the game you should load outside the Belfry with 12 levels of clues so enter the Belfry again and check your new list of crimes from the Activity View.
   
   If even one crime matches, then set the match as an objective and fast travel to it. Approach the crime scene and see if a GMW spawns. If none spawn, look for another match in the Activity View. Repeat the process until you run out of matching crimes or you find one. If none spawn, quit the game, override your save files from the backup, start the game, continue, enter the Belfry and scrutinize the Activity List again.
   
   If at least one crime scene spawns a GMW then after drawing out as many GMWs from that scene (see Techniques #1 above) continue visiting other matches in your Activity view until there are no more spawns. Now you have to earn 12 levels of clues again; and after that, back up your save game again before entering the Belfry. This will more or less be the main game loop while focusing on completing this challenge.
   
   
3. Manage when you go to Star Labs
   The list of factions has two kinds of Regulators: the normal ones and the ones associated with Mr. Freeze. Typically, when a new night is spawned, all Regulators are either one type or the other. If you see them shoot electricity then don't expect the likes of Arnold "The Icicle" and Victoria "Glacier" Hart to spawn. You could still see Regulators associated with Mr. Freeze on this night but they would be the 2nd faction of a Criminal Deal and thus will never spawn a GMW though the main faction of that crime might could spawn one of their own.
   
   If you've already completed Mr. Freeze's side mission then Regulators spawned each night will be random. This means that if you see "Regulators" as the faction in your map/Activity List, you'll still have to leave the Belfry and find a Regulator (who's not the second faction in a Criminal Deal) just to determine what kind of Regulators spawned that night. It's possible that the wrong type of Regulator spawned if you've already completed the take down of criminals in the other Regulator faction; thus this random factor is very inefficient for completing this challenge.
   
   To get rid of the randomness of what type of Regulators I'll be getting each night, I hold off of entering Star Labs until AFTER I've taken down all of the normal Regulator's Most Wanted (typically CoP!lot would be the last on that list as her name appears on the third batch of names released by Montoya but T@$3r was the last to spawn in one of my playthroughs). This is because, prior to entering Star Labs, only the normal Regulators will ever spawn thus removing the random possibility of spawning Mr. Freeze Associated Regulators when I'm hunting CoP!lot for example. After I've taken down all six of the normal Regulator's Most Wanted, then I enter Star Labs and complete it. The next time I return to the Belfry, I DO NOT conclude this case file by activating the holo emitter in the Belfry.
   
   At that point, only Mr. Freeze's Associated Regulators will spawn when crimes are marked as perpetrated by Regulators so I can be sure that Very High Illegal Hack crimes by Regulators (for example) would have a chance of spawning GMWs relevant to my list.

Techniques (part 2)

NOTE: Once again, I've hit the character limit in the last section. This is a continuation of that one.

1. Do Clayface's side mission until before Clayface 1.2 - Disturbance At Dixon Docks.
   When you enter the Belfry and can't find a match for anyone on your list, you typically have to exit and restore from a backup to refresh the Activity List's premeditated crimes but if you have Clayface's mission ready to start the Dixon Docks mission, you can instead Launch that mission and as soon as Alfred starts talking, bring up the menu and Cancel the mission to be brought back to the Belfry with a NEW list of premeditated crimes with the same level of clues as before. This loop is typically faster than the previous method which involves exiting the game, restoring from the backup and restarting the game but the downside is that if there's a match and you go out into the city and your prospect turns out to be a dud, you'll still have to resort to restoring from your backup so that you don't have to waste time earning 12 levels of clues again. Thus a combination of the two methods is the most efficient process when used properly.
   
   Basically, if you want to re-roll the list of pre-meditated crimes: if you are outside the Belfry, restore from your backup and if you're in the Belfry, use this hack.
   
   
2. The final mile.
   In my multiple playthroughs, typically the two League Of Shadow's Most Wanted are the last to be taken down. This is because League of Shadow crimes are the rarest and on top of that, they have to be Very High in their difficulty rating. Also, Crucible only appears in Illegal Hack crimes while Provenance only appears in Officers Under Attack which seems to be the rarest of the four types of crimes the League of Shadows commit (the other two are Crime Scene Investigation and Criminal In Hiding which don't spawn any GMWs). This is when Technique #4 (or #1 above no thanks to Steams abysmal character limit) can save you a lot of time but even with this very efficient game loop, it can take several hours before a match is seen. And even with a match, there's still a possibilty that they won't spawn. Of the times when they did spawn for me, the crimes took place in Old Gotham or West End.
   
   If you finish the League of Shadows faction before some other faction, then the same strategy applies for that faction: use the previous technique to look for crimes specific to that last faction and reroll quickly if absent or no good match is found until they finally show.

Final Words

With the techniques described here, I'm able to complete this challenge before the 30th night. My personal best night was 3 crime scenes where I was able to cross out a total of 7 GMWs and this happened twice among my multiple playthroughs.

If you are among those struggling with this challenge, I hope this guide can help you complete it as well as enhance your enjoyment of the game. GLHF.

[JedM]

Update: Managed to encounter another target after re-rolling the crimelist. Seems that not all targets are in the seed list in that particular save/instance until moving onto the next seed list via re-roll. I wonder if re-rolling via entering/exiting showdown is different from going back to Belfry with 12 clues.

[JedM]

I did the save scum trick, worked until I trickled down to the last 9 and it seems to stopped working. I've been reloading saves for 10 times already at this point. Either the game is bugged or the RNG gets worse the lesser target remaining.

I might try save scumming inside Belfry and re-roll the crimelist using PrincessFawna trick. If all else fails, gonna try creating a saves for next night instead.

[CourtAblaze]

If ive already done star labs, how hard is it to spawn the GMW i need? Dont want to start the game all over again 😭

[Xyngynkynyn]

You have to catch them all again from scratch.

[APTEM_L]

Hey man, I want to clarify, if I caught several GMW in the main playthrough and started NG+, will I need to catch them again or will the list be saved in NG+?

[ChangelingFox]

Cool guide. Though the only thing that I really needed is the full list of Wanted folk, cause I got a bit worried after Montoya added to it the third time. Like, I was worried that it's endless.

[PrincessFawna]

Instead of loading up the Clayface mission, to reroll your crime list for the night in the Belfry, you can load up any boss showdown and then exit the showdown.