Gotham Knights' Case File 8: Head of The Demon starts with three Man-Bats and the League of Shadows letting loose and wreaking havoc on Gotham City. In many of the comics and other DC media, Dr. Kirk Langstrom is the true identity of Man-Bat. However, in Gotham Knights, Langstrom is only one of the multiple Man-Bats resulting from Talia al Ghul using Dr. Langstrom's research to build violent, powerful monsters to take over Gotham and enter a war with the Court of Owls. Man-Bats are one of the most formidable mini-bosses in Gotham Knights and will challenge players to use all their combat skills and abilities to defeat them.
Where to Find the Man-Bats
The very first Man-Bat players will encounter is at Arkham Asylum during Case File 7. After that, there are three locations where players must hunt down and defeat the Man-Bats to move forward in the storyline. The Man-Bats are found at the following locations:
- Waynetech in the Southside
- Gotham City General Hospital in the West End
- Elliot Center in the Financial District.
Each of these buildings is labeled on the map and will have a small orange triangle on the top where the Man-Bat is after players find them. Even though the Case File recommends players to be level 24-25 before attempting, the Man-Bats at Waynetech and Gotham City General are level 28, and the one at Elliot Center is level 30.
How to Beat the Man-Bats
Utilize Dodges and Grapple Points
Man-Bats are tanky in nature, being able to move fast and hit hard at the same time. They have five attacks in their arsenal: a mix of lunges, slashes, grabs, and a sonic screech. These deal large amounts of damage, so avoiding getting hit is imperative to maintaining health packs. Man-Bats will spend time in the air to avoid taking any hits, but when they land and go on the attack, be quick and evade constantly.
A particularly tricky attack is the sonic screech, which causes devastating damage in three sound waves and is hard to escape once in rage. However, this attack is easy to spot as the Man-Bat will rear its head back, giving players time to put enough space between them. Players can also maintain a reasonable distance with grappling points on Elliot Center and Gotham City General Hospital roofs. Waynetech will require a different strategy since it has no grappling points, but staying along the edge of the building is an excellent way to avoid some attacks.
Use Ranged Attacks and Momentum Abilities
Since getting close and personal with Man-Bats is a quick way to lose health, and they have high defense from their bulk, there are better courses of action for taking them on than melee attacks. Players will benefit significantly by using ranged attacks and momentum abilities, allowing them to deal damage from afar. Red Hood and Batgirl are good candidates for these battles due to their arsenal of ranged weapons. While Red Hood has more ranged weapons, he moves slower, so players must ensure their dodge timing is on point.
Red Hood's momentum ability, Portable Turret drops a small turret that focuses its shots at nearby enemies and is almost impossible to dodge, even for the Man-Bats. His Knighthood ability, Mystical Rounds, is also an immensely powerful ranged attack, but it has a short load-up period before firing as it locks on. Batgirl's ability Second Wind+ will grant her health once she gets below 50%, gives her a momentum segment, and boost her critical hit rate for 15 seconds. Her speed allows her to get in and hit hard with less risk of getting caught in Man-Bat's attack.
Watch Out For League Assassins and Rocketeers
Man-Bats will call on the League of Shadows for help when it takes a lot of damage. Assassins and Rocketeers may appear, so players must be ready for either. Assassins are agile and use lots of sword combos or ranged attacks. Rocketeers are larger and slower but have rocket launchers that track and lock onto the player. The upside to the League showing up is players have more opportunities to gain momentum while fighting them. They also deposit a health pack whenever they are defeated.
Gotham Knights is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.