Batman: Arkham Knight: Complete Walkthrough & Boss Guide
0% complete
🗺️ Main Story Walkthrough
Tick off each step as you go — your progress saves locally, no account needed.
Batman: Arkham Knight opens on Halloween night with Scarecrow threatening to detonate a city-scale fear toxin bomb. The first mission sends Batman to Ace Chemicals plant to neutralize the threat and introduces the Batmobile in earnest — both in its standard driving mode and its Battle Mode, where it locks to a lower profile and fires cannon rounds at armored militia vehicles. The chemicals plant interior is a traditional Arkham stealth arena: use Detective Mode to track guard patrol patterns, pick off isolated sentries with silent takedowns, and use the Explosive Gel on cracked walls to create new traversal routes. Before leaving Ace Chemicals, find the first Riddler trophy in the lower cooling chamber; they are much easier to collect on the first visit than to backtrack for later.
Gotham's three islands — Founders' Island, Miagani Island, and Bleake Island — are under Arkham Knight's militia occupation. The main story tasks Batman with locating Scarecrow's safe house by interrogating militia commanders, each requiring a Batmobile roadblock intercept followed by a hand-to-hand interrogation. The militia introduces the Counter-Surge enemy, who flashes blue and cannot be countered normally — dodge away from their charge and follow up with a Cape Stun to open them to a Beat Down combo. Upgrade the Batmobile's EMP Burst early in the upgrade tree; it is the most efficient way to instantly disable Arkham Knight drone tanks before they can call reinforcements.
Batman races to protect Oracle (Barbara Gordon) at her Clock Tower headquarters when the Arkham Knight launches a targeted strike on her servers. The Clock Tower defense sequence is a hybrid arena fight with twelve militia enemies spread across multiple floors; prioritize the two heavy gunners on the upper walkway immediately as they cannot be hit from ground level once they assume their firing positions. After the Clock Tower, the main story pivots to locating the Cloudburst — the Arkham Knight's WMD tank. Use the Batmobile's sonar pulses from elevated highway sections to trace the tank's underground tunnel route across Gotham.
A major side-story that feeds directly into the main narrative involves dismantling Penguin's weapons cache network, which is supplying the Arkham Knight's militia. Batman must interrogate Penguin at his nightclub, the Iceberg Lounge, and then systematically destroy five weapons caches across Gotham in Batmobile tank battles. Nightwing assists in this questline — the game's dual character team-up mechanic activates here, allowing synchronized beatdowns that instantly defeat up to two enemies simultaneously. The final cache fight introduces a Cobra tank variant that can one-shot the Batmobile; use short boost-and-fire bursts from behind cover rather than direct engagement.
Throughout the main story, Scarecrow periodically floods sections of Gotham with fear toxin, triggering mandatory Nightmare sequences that place Batman in surreal psychological horror scenarios. These are largely linear, atmospheric walking segments that advance the story and reveal Batman's inner conflicts about the Joker's legacy. They cannot be failed in combat terms but watching carefully during Nightmare sequences surfaces several audio logs and environmental story details that provide context for the Arkham Knight's identity. After each Nightmare sequence, Batman gains a new Fear Takedown charge, capping at five enemies eliminated in a single Fear Takedown chain by the endgame.
A critical mid-game revelation involves Batman deducing the Arkham Knight's true identity. The game builds toward this through a series of missions across Miagani Island, culminating in a confrontation at the Arkham Knight's HQ. The HQ section is a four-phase stealth chase where Batman must reach a sniping observation post while the Arkham Knight scans the room; use the ventilation shaft network visible in Detective Mode to navigate to each objective without crossing the sniper's sightlines. Each successful phase transition requires reaching a new observation point before the Arkham Knight resets his scan pattern. Fully upgrade the Remote Hacking Device before this mission — it is essential for the HQ objective sequence.
The Cloudburst fight is the game's largest set piece: Batman must first destroy six Cobra drone tanks protecting the Cloudburst, then engage the Cloudburst itself in a sustained tank fight. After the Cloudburst is destroyed, Scarecrow retreats to Stagg Enterprises Airships for the game's final straight. The Stagg airship sections combine platforming, stealth, and combat across two connected dirigible structures; use the Line Launcher to traverse between airship sections quickly and pre-mark all sentry gun positions with Detective Mode before advancing. The true final encounter with Scarecrow requires a specific gadget: the Batmobile's explosive gel remote detonation to break the final barrier.
Batman defeats Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight in sequence, triggering the Knightfall Protocol — Bruce Wayne's identity being publicly exposed and a final confrontation that has two distinct outcomes depending on whether you have completed enough of Gotham's Most Wanted side missions. The standard ending plays with as few as zero side missions completed; the true Knightfall ending that shows the Batman Beyond-style epilogue requires completing all main Most Wanted missions including Deathstroke's tank campaign, the Riddler challenge, Two-Face, Firefly, Penguin, and Man-Bat. Prioritize the Riddler trophy quest throughout the game — it requires collecting all 243 trophies and is the longest single side activity by far.
⚔️ Boss Guides
The Arkham Knight (HQ Stealth Confrontation)
Attack Patterns
The Arkham Knight fights with a sniper rifle from an elevated observation post and continuously scans the floor with a precision laser sight. He is accompanied by armed militia soldiers who patrol the ground level and respond to any noise or visual contact. In each of the four phases, he occupies a progressively higher vantage point with a wider scan angle. Batman cannot engage him directly in this sequence — the entire encounter is a stealth navigation puzzle requiring reaching each observation point without entering his sightlines.
Strategy
Memorize the ventilation shaft locations using Detective Mode before moving — each shaft entrance glows yellow and connects directly to each phase's observation point destination. The Arkham Knight's scan has a brief lateral pause at the far edges of its sweep; this is the safe window to cross open ground. Use the Remote Hacking Device on wall-mounted switches to create distractions that force militia guards to investigate, clearing the path to the next shaft entrance. Never use a Batarang for distraction in this room — the sound alert it creates reaches the Arkham Knight's guard range and accelerates his patrol cycle. Complete all four approach phases to trigger the confrontation cutscene.
Cloudburst Tank (Arkham Knight's Super-Weapon)
Attack Patterns
The Cloudburst is the game's signature tank boss. Phase one features six Cobra drone tanks escorting the Cloudburst; Cobras have 360-degree vision cones and a one-shot cannon that destroys the Batmobile if they achieve lock-on. The Cloudburst itself uses a triple-missile barrage, a building-leveling main cannon, and deploys a fear toxin cloud that slows the Batmobile's boost speed. After all Cobra escorts are destroyed, Detective Mode scanning reveals four glowing weak points on the Cloudburst's hull that must each be damaged with direct cannon fire while the Cloudburst is not facing the Batmobile.
Strategy
For the Cobra escort phase, always approach each Cobra from its rear blind spot and fire once from short range, then boost away immediately before it rotates. The Cloudburst is passive during this phase — ignore it entirely until all six Cobras are down. For the Cloudburst itself, use the northwest building block on Miagani Island to kite the tank in a circle; the building's geometry forces the Cloudburst to rotate its turret rather than track the Batmobile's full movement, creating predictable gaps. Scan the weak points quickly with Detective Mode, boost to the opposite side of the tank when it begins its missile barrage, and fire one cannon burst at the exposed weak point before repositioning again. The EMP Burst cancels the fear toxin slow — use it the moment the toxin cloud touches the Batmobile to restore full boost speed.
Deathstroke (Tank Rematch — Campaign for Disarmament)
Attack Patterns
Deathstroke returns as the final Campaign for Disarmament boss in his own custom tank on Miagani Island. Like the Cloudburst fight, his tank is initially escorted by five Cobra tanks that must be cleared first. Deathstroke's tank has an EMP that temporarily disables the Batmobile's cannon, a three-pronged Diamondback shell attack (three shells fired simultaneously in a spread), homing lock-on missiles, and grenades with a wide blast radius. Unlike standard tanks he actively repositions and does not hold a static patrol.
Strategy
The Cobra escort phase is identical in approach to the Cloudburst fight — sneak each Cobra from behind and single-shot from close range before boosting away. Once all five Cobras are down, engage Deathstroke's tank by using the northwest corner building on Miagani Island as cover. Circle the building continuously while firing the cannon each time Deathstroke's rear flank is exposed. When he fires the Diamondback spread, boost perpendicular to the shell fan — the outer shells diverge quickly and the gap between them widens at distance. His EMP has a wind-up sound cue; immediately boost away the moment you hear it to exit its range. Approximately fifteen to twenty direct cannon hits end the fight, depending on upgrade level.
Penguin (Arms Deal Confrontation)
Attack Patterns
Penguin is encountered at his weapons cache hub surrounded by heavily armed militia soldiers. He himself is not a skilled combatant but directs his men to use disruptor-equipped mercenaries alongside standard enemies. The disruptor users target Batman's gadgets, temporarily locking out the Remote Batarang and Explosive Gel if not neutralized quickly. Penguin stays at the back of the room and retreats behind militia cover throughout the encounter. Two Brute-class militia soldiers with stun staffs protect him directly.
Strategy
Open with a Fear Multi-Takedown aimed at the two disruptor mercenaries at the room's edges — removing them first ensures your gadgets remain available throughout. Use the Nightwing dual takedown on the two stun staff Brutes simultaneously; the synchronized animation bypasses their staff defense and stuns both. With the Brutes down, Penguin is exposed — approach and initiate a Beat Down combo (repeated strike input) on him. He will shout for additional backup after the second Beat Down; use a Cape Stun on any new arrivals and resume the combo. Do not let Penguin reach the weapons cache room at the back — if he locks the door a new sequence triggers. Completing this encounter successfully advances the Nightwing companion questline and reveals the final arms cache location.
Arkham Knight / Red Hood (Final One-on-One)
Attack Patterns
The final hand-to-hand confrontation with the Arkham Knight takes place after his identity is fully revealed. He fights with a combination of standard Arkham combat mechanics but at higher speed and aggression than any previous human opponent — his counter windows are shorter, his combo-break attacks are faster, and he uses a double-lunge that cannot be countered with a single button press. He periodically creates distance and fires precise shots that must be dodged rather than countered. In phase two he equips a shock blade that deals damage even through a successful counter if Batman's timing is slightly late.
Strategy
Treat this fight as the game's ultimate expression of its core combat system. Counter the double-lunge by pressing counter twice in rapid succession rather than once — both inputs must register within the counter window. When he creates distance to fire, dodge sideways twice rather than once; his firing pattern has a slight arc toward Batman's first dodge position. For the shock blade phase, use Cape Stun to create a safe Beat Down window rather than relying on pure counter timing. The Ground Takedown combo finisher is available each time you land six consecutive hits — use it whenever it charges to prevent him from entering his own Beat Down sequence. The fight ends after reaching a specific health threshold rather than depleting his full bar.