$1000 to unlock
It’s time to hit the streets of Emporia for the final 15 waves. This area plays like a slightly more spread-out version of the Emporia section that you visited on your way to Comstock House in the campaign. The key feature of this map is the large drawbridge in the center of the map that isn’t always closed. You need to carefully use the freight hooks to cross from one side to the other at times, since even the Sky-Line is absent during some waves. It’s also worth noting that the Sky-Line dips beneath the bridge in areas—place Vigor traps on the underside of the bridge to trap Soldiers on the Sky-Line. Although the waves that take place at Emporia Arcade are certainly among the hardest in the game, there are plenty of Health Kits and Salts phials scattered about, particularly on the side of the bridge opposite the mansion. Look for them wherever you see a tipped-over cart.
Wave 1
Enemies Present: Soldiers, Patriots
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat an enemy affected by Bucking Bronco with a possessed Motorized Patriot.
This challenge isn’t as simple as it may at first sound, because there are a number of enemies present, including two Motorized Patriots. Stick close to the spawn point at the start of the wave and use the RPG or Volley Gun to take out one of the Motorized Patriots and several of the Soldiers. Be careful not to accidentally destroy a second Motorized Patriot. Don’t worry about leaving any of these initial Soldiers alive because another group will arrive aboard a gondola. Kill off one or two of them. Make your way to the Motorized Patriot and lure the Soldiers within sight. Possess the Motorized Patriot, then cast Bucking Bronco on the Soldiers. Continue to cast Bucking Bronco as long as the Motorized Patriot is Possessed. Get some Salts and cast Possession again if necessary.
Wave 2
Enemies Present: Soldiers, RPG Soldiers
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat two enemies who are riding Sky-Lines with traps.
Since you can’t actually set traps up on the Sky-Line itself, you need to place your Vigor traps on a surface that lies very close to the Sky-Line. The best place to do this is on the underside of the bridge. Immediately ride the Sky-Line downward to the right, hop off, and set up multiple Devil’s Kiss traps on the underside of the bridge, just above the Sky-Line. With some luck, two Soldiers will ride the Sky-Line after you, set off the traps, and die within the first few seconds of the wave. If not, leave the area and punish the RPG Soldiers on the rooftop across the bridge. Use Undertow to knock them off the ledge so you can focus on baiting the remaining Soldiers into following you on the Sky-Line. Set up more traps as necessary and slowly ride the Sky-Line around the track (Booker won’t trigger the traps) until the Soldiers trip the traps and perish. RPG Soldiers won’t chase you on the Sky-Lines.
Wave 3
Enemies Present: Soldiers, Volley Gunners
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat wave with hazards or support brought in through tears.
This wave contains 11 Soldiers and Volley Gunners, which is a lot of enemies to kill using a Tesla Coil or Gun Automaton. You should definitely buy a Continue before leaving the office. Open the Tesla Coil Tear at the start of the wave and use the Sky-Line to reach the bridge safely. Lure the enemies toward the Tesla Coil while relying on the Return to Sender shield to keep you safe. Remain facing the hotel to lure the enemies toward the Tesla Coil, but watch your health. Ride the Sky-Line over toward the street and down the stairs to the right of the hotel to find multiple Health Kits and Salts should you need them. Use the Tesla Coil for cover once there are only a couple of enemies remaining. Strafe around it ensuring the Soldiers don’t slip away while the Tesla Coil is shocking a different enemy.
Wave 4
Enemies Present: Soldiers, RPG Soldiers
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat the wave using a different weapon or Vigor on every enemy.
Equip the Hand Cannon, Volley Gun, and have Devil’s Kiss and Charge ready at the start of the battle. Eliminate the first Soldier with the Hand Cannon, then use Devil’s Kiss on the next. Make your way around the map toward other enemies while using Return to Sender for safety. Find a lone RPG Soldier and use Return to Sender to catch and fire its rocket back at him. Locate another and use Undertow to throw him from the ledge. Consider using the Volley Gun on the next enemy, provided he’s isolated from other Soldiers. Save Charge for the remaining RPG Soldier. You can either pick up a dropped Machine Gun or RPG for dealing with the other enemies or, if they are lowly Soldiers, you can use Shock Jockey or Murder of Crows to kill them. Save Murder of Crows for the last enemy, so you can be sure the crows don’t spread to other nearby foes.
Wave 5
Enemies Present: Handyman
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat both Handymen while they are electrocuting a Sky-Line.
Ambush one of the Handymen at the start of the wave with the Hand Cannon and Devil’s Kiss or Undertow to deal as much damage as you can quickly. Ride the Sky-Line away to allow your Shield to recharge, then continue the assault from afar. The idea is to try and whittle the Handymen down, one at a time. They need to be low enough on health for you to kill them while they are electrocuting the Sky-Line. This is very similar to the wave in Duke and Dimwit Theater, but there are two Handymen attacking simultaneously. Stay on the move and use the numerous Health Kits around the map (and via Tears) to keep you alive. Switch to the Volley Gun when the Handyman is on the Sky-Line and blast him as fast as you can to finish him off. This wave gets much easier once there is only a single Handyman left to deal with. Employ the same tactics—using a fully upgraded Charge attack also works well—and continue to bait him into leaping onto the Sky-Line.
Wave 6
Enemies Present: Soldiers, Snipers
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat all enemies using only the Shotgun.
Equip the Shotgun and ensure that the Gear you have equipped does not deal any elemental damage, as it will cause you to fail the challenge. Take off running across the bridge with Return to Sender’s shield out because you’ll be completely exposed to sniper fire. Have Elizabeth open the freight hook Tear and leap across the gap in the bridge. Drop down to the lower level and continue using the Return to Sender shield while you run back and forth taking out Soldiers and Snipers as they attack on either side of the lower level. Use the upper freight hook to go after the remaining enemies up high.
Wave 7
Enemies Present: Soldiers, Firemen
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat two enemies with the Fireman’s suicide attack.
Understand that you don’t need a single Fireman to kill two enemies. You can complete this challenge by having two separate Firemen kill one enemy each. The best way to do this is to use Undertow to pull multiple enemies together near your position. Yank them from the gondolas as they approach and open fire on the Firemen with a precise, fast-firing weapon like the Machine Gun, Hand Cannon, or Carbine. Use Undertow to keep them all together while the Fireman receives enough damage to initiate its self-destruct explosion. If the enemies are already close together, you can achieve the same result by using Bucking Bronco. Just knock them into the air and open fire on the Fireman.
Wave 8
Enemies Present: Soldiers, RPG Soldiers, Patriots
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat the wave within 1:20.
Equip the Volley Gun and Hand Cannon, then sprint up onto the bridge with your Return to Sender shield equipped. Use Undertow to pull as many enemies down onto the bridge as you can, then knock them off with a blast of Undertow. Watch for the two Motorized Patriots; you’ll be able to pull them toward you with Undertow, but you can’t knock them backwards off the ledge. Switch to the Volley Gun and fire away at them or stun them with Shock Jockey, flank them, and open fire on their gears. Having a Continue purchased will surely help if you accidentally find yourself taking fire from an RPG Soldier and a Motorized Patriot simultaneously. The easiest way to handle this wave is to use Undertow to eliminate all of the Soldiers and RPG Soldiers first, so you can focus on the Motorized Patriots without worrying about incoming rockets.
Wave 9
Enemies Present: Soldiers, RPG Soldiers, Patriots, Siren
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat the Siren before destroying the zeppelin.
The Siren is inside the zeppelin and, in order to complete the challenge, you need only refrain from destroying the zeppelin until after you kill her. You don’t need to kill the Siren to complete the wave, but you’re also in no hurry to destroy the zeppelin. You can essentially choose whether or not to complete the challenge—you’d only fail the challenge willingly or by dying without a Continue. Start the wave by using Undertow or the RPG to clear all of the Soldiers and Patriots from the two gondolas that appear. We recommend pulling them toward you with Undertow and then knocking them to their death. Not only is this faster, but you want to ensure there are no corpses lying around the map for when you initiate combat with the Siren. Once you’ve defeated the enemies from the gondolas, make your way to the top of the building and use the hooks on the gondolas to reach the zeppelin. Eliminate the Soldier on the walkway and use Return to Sender to defeat the Motorized Patriot also on the walkway.
The enemy counter will indicate zero enemies remaining at this point. Head inside with the Volley Gun and Charge equipped. Have Elizabeth open the Decoy Tear as you run across the ship. Look for the Siren to appear above the engine and Charge up to her position. Attack her repeatedly with Charge and your Volley Gun to defeat her. If you’ve managed to leave no corpses around the map, she shouldn’t be able to escape your attack. Kill the remaining enemies in the ship, cut the engine cables as you did at Duke and Dimwit Theater, then leap out of the zeppelin to complete the wave.
Wave 10
Enemies Present: Soldiers
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat all enemies using only the Sniper Rifle.
Before you begin the wave, make sure that you have purchased the available Sniper Rifle upgrades, particularly the Fire Rate Boost. Also make sure to have Ammo Cap and Bullet Boon equipped, while ensuring that Tunnel Vision is not equipped, since you’re going to be firing from the hip a lot. Purchase a Continue before beginning. There are 15 Soldiers in this wave, most of whom attack with batons. This means that they are going to continue to pursue you and not hold their ground. It’s a lot harder to zoom in and pick off moving targets, especially when they’re charging your position. For this reason, you may want to just back away from your enemies while firing from the hip. Aim for the head and gun them down. With any luck Elizabeth will send you some ammo, but don’t count on it. Unless you’re a very efficient sniper, you’ll likely need to allow the Soldiers to kill you, use your Continue to respawn with full ammo, and then finish the wave.
Wave 11
Enemies Present: Handyman
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat all enemies while they are distracted with a Booker Decoy Tear.
There are two Handymen on this wave and two Decoy Tears, one of which is on the bridge and the other slightly below it. Make your way onto the bridge and open the Mosquito Tear for some early assistance in whittling down the Handyman’s health. Open fire with the Hand Cannon and Volley Gun on the Handyman’s heart, while sporadically casting either Devil’s Kiss, Undertow, or Charge, the last of which replenishes your Shield. Activate the Decoy Tear as soon as the Handyman is low on health, wait for the Handyman to face it, then open fire on it with the Volley Gun. Repeat this process for the second Handyman.
Wave 12
Enemies Present: Soldiers, Zealots, Patriots
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat all Soldiers and Zealots with Bucking Bronco, followed by Charge.
Unequip any pieces of Gear that inflict elemental damage such as Burning Halo, as it could negate the challenge. Begin the wave and move to the edge of the bridge. Use Undertow to pull each of the Motorized Patriots up to your position and shoot them with a Shotgun or Machine Gun while the Undertow current yanks them toward you so they fall from the ledge. With the two Motorized Patriots killed, you’re free to focus on the Zealots and Soldiers. Refrain from using any weapons and equip Bucking Bronco and Charge. Isolate the enemies one at a time—the Zealots will fly to your position, you’ll have to go after the Soldiers using the freight hooks—and attack them with Bucking Bronco and then Charge. Try to attack them while facing a building, so they don’t fly across the map when you hit them with Charge while airborne. Remain on the initial side of the map until all of the Zealots have been defeated and then use the freight hook to cross the map to deal with the two Soldiers.
Wave 13
Enemies Present: Soldiers
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat each enemy with the same weapon-type it wields.
There are 15 enemies in this wave, many of them arriving on separate gondolas. The first gondola carries one Shotgun-wielding Soldier, two with the Pistol, and one with the Machine Gun. Take out the Shotgunner first while using Return to Sender for protection, then take aim at the Pistol-toting Soldiers with the corresponding weapon. Leave the Soldier with the Machine Gun for now and, instead, move out onto the roof to intercept the second gondola as it arrives. Target the Shotgun-wielding Soldiers on this next gondola, then make your way across the four gondolas that dock next to one another to board the one with the Machine Gun Soldiers. Locate the Machine Gun and Hand Cannon near the railing closest to the building where you began and swap out your weapons for those. Eliminate the Soldiers with the Machine Guns, and then swap to the Hand Cannon. The final enemy, provided you didn’t accidentally kill him earlier, will have a Hand Cannon.
Wave 14
Enemies Present: Handyman
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Defeat the Handyman with a Motorized Patriot Tear.
The Handyman won’t waste any time in attacking you on the roof of the building adjacent to the four gondolas. Don’t worry about the Motorized Patriot Tear for now, since you need to weaken the Handyman first. Instead, open the Tear for the Mosquito hovering above. Run laps around the rooftop, using the skylights for cover from his attacks while you continue to pepper him with Hand Cannon, Carbine, or Volley Gun attacks. Aim for the heart whenever possible and watch his health meter closely. Use the Sky-Hook to make your way across the gondolas in a clockwise direction to reach the one with the Motorized Patriot. Open the Tear for the Decoy on the upper gondola and flee to the safety of a different gondola. Open fire from the hook, then open the Tear for the Motorized Patriot and watch as it puts the final shots in on the Handyman.
Wave 15
Enemies Present: Siren
Blue Ribbon Challenge: Knock four corpses off of Columbia before the Siren can resurrect them.
This is very similar to the challenge from The OPS Zeal because you’re going to have to use the RPG or Undertow to knock the corpses off the city before the Siren can resurrect them. The trick here lies in knowing where the corpses are. Make your way out onto the bridge and wait for the two gondolas to appear from the left. Each gondola has a group of corpses on it. Blast each of the gondolas with Undertow once they are in range to knock the corpses off the boats and into the abyss. This is all you have to do to complete the challenge. But to complete the wave you must defeat the Siren. Use the Volley Gun and the Charge Vigor to defeat the Siren just as you did earlier. Swap to Undertow to dispense with any Soldiers she manages to resurrect.