How Stalk tiers and executions work

Stalk builds in tiers, and Tier 3 is a gate

Stalk builds on a specific target, not globally. Reaching Tier 3 on that target is what unlocks the named executions: the cash register, the shelf, the campfire, the weight bench, the motorcycle. Below Tier 3 the prompt does not appear at all.

This is the most useful thing to know about the story mode, because it turns a whole class of apparent bugs into a timing problem. If a challenge names both a victim and an object and nothing happens when you get there, you have not finished stalking. You are probably in the right spot.

It also explains the pacing. Chapter 2 has three challenges gated this way, which is why it feels slower than Chapter 1 despite having the same six-challenge structure.

In multiplayer the same tier decides grabs. Since Patch 1.0.4 a civilian below tier 3 usually struggles free before the execution lands; the full breakdown of Stalk tier against Bloodthirst is on the grabs page.

Bloodthirst is a separate meter

Bloodthirst has its own levels and its own gate: Level 3 unlocks the Bloodthirsty execution, which is its own challenge in Chapter 4. It is a different resource from Stalk and fills differently.

The two are easy to mix up because both gate an execution behind a threshold. A challenge asking for one will not accept the other.

In multiplayer, Bloodthirst also makes Michael tougher: he takes less damage at every Bloodthirst level, more so since Patch 1.0.3.

The same meter sits behind most execution objectives in the timed Prestige Challenges, and those add a trap of their own: when there is not enough room, the game plays a bear hug that does not count. The objectives, and how to get round the bear hug, are on the Prestige Challenges page.

Context executions and weapons

A Context Execution is the environment-aware kill: grab a target, move them next to the right object or surface, and the prompt changes. Chapter 1 teaches it against a wall; the prologue teaches it against a telephone pole and a railing.

Michael has five starting weapons: kitchen knife, hatchet, wood axe, pickaxe and pitchfork, and unlocks more executions through progression. The game shows no damage or speed numbers for them. The wood axe and pickaxe were toned down in Patch 1.0.3, with slightly lower light and heavy damage and slower combos, which gives civilians more time to shove you mid-combo.