Playing Michael: the mechanics the campaign never teaches

Before the match starts

Two decisions are made before you touch the map: which civilians are going to be hard to grab, and what you carry.

• A pocket knife makes a grab far easier to escape

  Holding one makes it much easier to break out of Michael's grasp, and it all but guarantees a grab will not kill you. The break-free minigame is slightly harder than it used to be, which gives Michael a little more time to land a context execution.

• Pocket knives can be a civilian's starting item

  Because civilians can start with one, fewer pocket knives and ice picks spawn on each map.

• Read the lobby for the knife

  Civilians' starting items show in the pre-game lobby. A closed hand suggests a pocket knife. Against those players, slash instead of grabbing so you are not stabbed.

• The kitchen knife is a weak starting weapon

  It does little damage, takes too long to break things and cannot be thrown. Its one advantage is a fast execution. Take the hatchet, the fire axe or the pickaxe instead.

• Michael is never weaponless

  If you miss, you still get a kitchen knife back.

• The pickaxe is a gamble

  It is amazing when the hit lands and bad when it misses. Its light and heavy hits do slightly less damage than they used to, and its combos are slower, so civilians get more time to shove you mid-combo. The wood axe got the same treatment.

• Grabs are easier to escape at low stalk tiers

  At stalk tiers 0 to 2, civilians break free from a grab more easily, and a failed grab knocks them back less, so they have a better chance to slip away. At Bloodthirst 3 grabs are strong but escapable, and a civilian who struggles free on uneven ground takes no fall damage.

The Ice Pick is the other starting item there are fewer of on each map, and the patch notes have the rest of that change.

Light, power and getting inside

Shape Jump is the whole killer kit, and light is what stops it. Most of the depth is in how to get rid of the light or get round it.

• You cannot Shape Jump in direct light or in view

  Michael cannot enter or exit Shape Jump in direct light or in a civilian's line of sight.

• Michael can put the lights out

  Lights, fuse boxes and power lines can all be broken, and there are Blackouts on top.

• Break the light with a weapon

  It is the easier and more effective way to turn the lights off. Hitting one sabotages the power grid, so civilians need a repair kit to get their electricity back.

• Break the radio too

  In a house with the radio that calls Loomis, breaking it makes civilians spend two repair kits to use it.

• Hits to break the power depend on the weapon

  The kitchen knife takes two hits. Two-handed melee weapons take one, and Shadow Strike breaks it too. The hatchet has an awkward hitbox up close, so throw it.

• Blackout switches everything powered off

  It is a localised blackout that disables anything powered for a short time.

• Blackout unlocks every locked door

  You can walk into the house easily and stealthily.

• Blackout knocks civilians off bikes

  Use it next to a bike and the rider falls off. Break the bike afterwards so it cannot be used again.

• Blackout cancels blinds and stuns

  It instantly cancels blinds from flare guns and flashlights, and stuns from firecrackers.

• Standing in light shows you, even in Shape Jump

  If Michael glows orange while in Shape Jump, civilians can see him on the minimap. It works through an open interior door with a line of sight.

• Teleport into a closet from mid-range

  Look at a hiding spot while stalking and press the prompt when it is not red. The best use is the closet of a lit house, which puts you inside without going through the doors or windows.

• An open window beats a lit doorway

  A lit doorway blocks Shape Jump, but a window that is open or broken lets Michael in even when the room is lit, including one a civilian opened and left.

• Hide inside a car when you are being watched

  While civilians can see you, you cannot enter Shape Jump unless you spend Reality Tear. Hiding inside a car makes you disappear so you can.

• Shape Mine no longer roots you

  Placing a Shape Mine does not bring Michael to a complete stop any more. Shape Jump and Killer Sense also no longer get stuck on cooldown for the rest of a match.

Blackout is one of Michael’s three level-gated abilities; the abilities page lists all of them, and Blackout’s effect on the car exit is on the escapes page.

Points, Bloodthirst and finishers

Scoring decides who you chase, and Bloodthirst decides how hard you are to stop while you do it.

• Special targets are worth less than they were

  Killing a Special Target scores less than it used to, and saving or killing ordinary Residents scores more. Special targets still matter to both sides, but they no longer decide the score on their own.

• Do not walk past Residents

  The old plan was to ignore everyone except the three priority targets. Residents now score more for both kills and saves, so ordinary townsfolk on your route are worth taking, and every one a civilian saves costs you more.

• Execute at stalk tier 3 for Bloodthirst 1

  Stalk a priority target to tier 3 and execute them. That gives Bloodthirst 1, and with that power Shape Jump shows the priority targets as yellow markers in the sky.

• A tier-3 execution earns more Bloodthirst

  Executing at stalk tier 3 rather than lower gives more.

• Each tier makes you sturdier and harder-hitting

  Higher Bloodthirst means you take more punishment and deal more. It also strengthens your grab, shortens ability cooldowns and speeds up Shape Jump. Michael's damage resistance is higher at every Bloodthirst level than it used to be.

• Going down at tier 3 costs you a tier

  Downed by civilians on Bloodthirst 3, you fall back to tier 2 with only a little needed to climb again.

• Stalk the body after an execution

  It pays something extra. Players disagree on whether that is an extra Bloodthirst power or extra points.

• What a finisher needs

  Bloodthirst 3 for you, and a civilian who is stalked to tier 3 and almost dead.

• A finisher gets past a pocket knife

  Nothing is grabbed, so there is no stab to risk. It is the answer to the players you scanned for in the lobby.

• Do it in the open

  In a more compact space the game does not offer the finisher.

• Injure them first, but not too much

  Wounding a civilian before you fully stalk them frightens them into standing still, which is the easy way to set one up. Wound them too much and they bleed out.

• A stumble lets you finish from behind

  When a civilian stumbles, from Reality Tear, a push or Evil Presence, come up behind and finish them without a grab.

How the stalk tiers themselves build, and which executions each unlocks, is on the stalk and executions guide. You will also hear Bloodthirst called Bloodlust, and special targets called orange, gold or yellow. They are the same things.

The car and the street

Michael can drive, which the game never mentions.

• Michael can drive

  Get into a car and you can drive it like the civilians do.

• You can run civilians over

  A hit does heavy damage or kills outright.

• It doubles as an escape from an ambush

  When civilians are closing in to arrest you, get in the car.

• Get in, turn the motor on, go

  One is spawned somewhere on the map. Getting in and starting the motor is all it takes.

• It cannot take you out of the match

  Drive to the edge of the map and the car hits an invisible wall.

• The merry-go-round is not a safe spot

  Michael can reach civilians standing on the merry-go-round in Orange Grove Estates.

• Hide bodies from the street

  Hiding the bodies of civilians you kill in the street, for example in a parked car, prevents the police from calling the escape van.

When you are down

Being downed is not the end of a chase, and there is more to do from the floor than press the button.

• Do not hurry to stand up

  Instead of mashing the get-up input, edge it along and watch for civilians who come close to taunt you. You can grab and kill one on the spot before you stand.

• Reality Tear works from the floor

  You can use it while downed, and using it as you get up puts you into Shape Jump.

• Against aggressive civilians, never engage without it

  It makes you disappear while downed so they cannot arrest you with Loomis or the police.

• Getting up makes you tougher for a moment

  For a short time after you stand up, Michael is immune to Stagger and has more Damage Resistance, Melee Damage and Melee Attack Speed, plus faster Health Regeneration and more Daze Resistance. Use that window to hit back at whoever is crowding you.

• A downed Michael can be arrested

  It is quite hard to pull off, but a team that downs you four times in a row, for example Bobs backed by Loomis, can get you detained.

• Go down where they have to go

  Downed at a closed exit or a car, civilians have to be greedy and die trying to open it or leave, which buys you time to defend it.

• Civilians hit softer than they used to

  Civilian melee damage is lower, most of all from Bob, Laurie and perks that boost a drunk civilian, and civilians wait longer between Staggers. A squad can no longer down you in one quick burst as easily.

• Fewer big weapons on the map

  Heavy melee weapons, rifles and shotguns spawn less often on every map, and melee weapons break sooner. A shotgun still hurts at close range, more than it used to, so do not rush one head-on.

Grinding the challenges

Private matches are the fast way through.

• Private matches keep the progress

  Progress and XP from a private match are kept, so the Michael challenges can be done there.

• Against NPCs only

  You can play a private match with no player civilians at all and still keep both the challenge progress and the XP.

The timed challenges are listed objective by objective on the Prestige Challenges page, how prestige itself works is on the prestige page, the story-mode ones are on the challenges hub and you can tick them off on the challenge tracker.

Two questions with more than one answer

Watch the tips

He shows each tip in play, which is worth seeing for the closet teleport and the get-up trick, where a description does not do the timing justice.

Scoring and grab balance have changed since it was filmed: special targets are worth less, Residents more, and Michael now gets a short buff after getting up.

Questions people arrive with

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