Overview
This guide is an in-depth analysis of the abilities of the enemies found in Mark of The Ninja, as well as the properties of the equipment at your disposal.
Introduction
Hi and welcome to my enemies guide for Mark of The Ninja. This guide lists specific traits of the enemies you’ll encounter in the game, and some miscellaneous information.
In the interests of keeping this guide as spoiler-free as possible, I’ve decided not to put up screenshots of enemies. Even so, I would recommend playing through the game once before reading this guide to avoid spoiling anything. This guide isn’t intended for perfect stealth runs where you’ll either slip past everyone or kill them undetected. Instead, it’s so that you can experiment further with Mark of The Ninja and make the best of your gaming experience by seeing what the enemies really have to offer.
This guides assumes you’re already familiar with the game system. For new players, I highly recommend reading this guide first Scoring System guide .
Enemy Basics
– Guards stroll around slowly when patrolling, They only run when alerted or alarmed.
– Guards can climb over low obstacles, and will do so if suspicious or alarmed.
– With the exception of snipers, guards who are stationary will look behind them every now and then. Keep that in mind when setting up stealth kills.
– Guards can see you from much further away if you are within the radius of a light source. On the levels with a thunderstorm, the periodic flashes of lightning will reveal your position to guards looking your way unless you are hidden.
– Throwing a body to terrify a guard will work only for that single instance, unless you’re playing Path of Nightmares. This means if you failed to scare a guard, or another guard stumbles upon it, he’ll just raise the alarm instead. In contrast, any susceptible guard who sees a hanging corpse will always be terrified. To properly terrify a guard, be sure to throw the corpse into his vision/flashlight radius.
– Once terrified, a guard will not resume his original patrol/post and will wander off randomly, unless you get his attention. Throwing a regular dart will get a terrified guard to shoot at your direction, then walk to your last suspected area.
– A terrified guard will shoot at the slightest provocation. He can be goaded into firing shots every time he sees a dead body at a new location, even if he’s seen the same body before at another place.
– Unless you’re playing Path of Nightmares, guards will not be terrified if you throw a dog’s corpse into his line of sight. He won’t raise the alarm either.
Hessian Mercenary
Appearance: These are the first and most commonly encountered enemies throughout the game. Dressed in light body armour, and carries an assault rifle,
Behaviour: Although having poor vision range normally, mercenaries carry a flashlight. When alerted or terrified, they will switch it on, giving them substantially longer vision range. Some guards actively patrol with their flashlights on. If a guard is posted near a light source, and you destroy it, he’ll switch and leave his flashlight on.Their primary attack are rifle shots, though they will smack you with the rifle butt if you get in close. Mercenaries will roll to dodge your melee attacks during an open fight
Addendum: The bandits in the third act and A Tale From The Past share the same traits as the regular mercenaries, riot guards and snipers. Therefore, they will not have their own entry.
Hessian Riot Guard
Appearance: A burlier guard that carries a high powered handgun and riot shield.
Behaviour: Riot guards will block all melee attacks from the front, which also makes them immune to special knockdown attacks. If terrified, they will drop their shield. Riot Guards don’t have flashlights, but launch flares instead when alerted. Flares will light up a significant portion of the surrounding area, giving all nearby guards improved vision for approximately 10 seconds.
Addendum: Some special enemies, such as the courier and pilot are essentially riot guards without the shield.
Riot guards can block a frontal takedown from Path of Wisdom.
Dogs
Appearance: A German shepard
Behaviour: Dogs patrol an area while sniffing. They can detect you even when hidden if you happen to be in their path, though it takes a long time for one to sniff you out. Dogs are unable to raise the alarm, and instead will bark loudly to draw the attention of nearby guards. The barking has a large sound radius, and dogs are never out of earshot of guards. If it sees you, a dog will pounce at you and bite, but is fairly easy to knock down otherwise. The dogs’ fast attacks make them substantially more dangerous in New Game Plus mode, since they can kill you in one hit.
Addendum: If struck with a Terror Dart, a dog will hold position while barking and biting away. The bite is fatal to regular and riot guards that wander into its range (Elites require 3 bites). If using an upgraded dart, it will bite its neck and drop dead once the timer fills. Dogs cannot be terrified.
Guards will not raise the alarm if they see a dog’s corpse. This also means you can’t use a dog’s body to scare guards unless you’re using Path of Nightmares.
Due to their heightened senses, dogs will notice if you try to sneak up on one. You usually have enough time to disable it before it reacts.
Turrets
Appearance: Mounted machine guns normally recessed inside walls. When recessed, it looks like a circle with yellow striped markings.
Behaviour: Turrets are concealed and harmless unless you cross a laser tripwire. If triggered, the turret will pop out and fire relentlessly until you leave the screen or are killed. Turrets are invulnerable. You can use a smoke bomb to slip past laser tripwires.
Addendum: There are several turrets that launch missiles instead in The Fall Of Hessian Tower. These missiles do 4 blocks of damage per hit, and are unguided (the turret will fire at your current position, but has a slow rate of fire). The missiles can be detonated using darts, but the explosion can damage you if you were inside its detonation radius.
Sniper
Appearance: Is dressed like a regular mercenary (or bandit if you’re in Act 3), but carries a sniper rifle with a laser pointer instead.
Behaviour: The sniper’s view is indicated by his laser pointer, which has far longer, but narrower sight range than the regular guards’ vision cones. They can also see you in total darkness. Unless distracted or terrified, snipers will not move from their spot. A sniper’s shot is instantly fatal at any difficulty if the laser sight comes into contact with you.
Addendum: Due to their tunnel vision, it’s easier to terrify snipers than other guards. Simply toss a body just as the laser pointer is sweeping over an area, and you can scare a sniper from a good distance away.
Gas masked guards
Appearance: Dressed in black with yellow stripes and wearing a gas mask.
Behaviour: First encountered in the underground levels, these masked guards are similar to mercenaries with some significant differences:
1. They use night vision, giving them far longer sight range that work in total darkness.
2. Their gas masks make them immune to the effects of smoke bombs, upgraded or otherwise. They will not be stunned, and can see through the smoke.
3. Due to their night vision however, they are very vulnerable to distraction flares. If a distraction flare is triggered inside their vision radius, it will stun them.
4. If a masked guard is actively searching for you, he will toss a poison gas grenade to flush you out, even if you’re hiding inside a ventilation duct. Naturally, the guard is immune to poison gas.
Hessian Elite Guard
Appearance: You’ll know one when you see them. 🙂
Behaviour: Elite guards carry a sawn-off shotgun that does 3 blocks of damage upon hitting. Elites are also much better at melee combat with a greater variety of moves: a kick that does 4 blocks of damage. an elbow bash, and a shoulder charge. They cannot be stealth killed normally, and must be stunned first. If you input wrongly when stealth killing a stunned Elite, he will recover and counterattack instead.
Addendum: Elites cannot be terrified. If struck by a terror dart, he will go berserk with his melee attacks before committing suicide when the timer fills.
Stalkers
Appearance: Again, you’ll know one when you see them.
Behaviour: Arguably the most dangerous enemy in the game, Stalkers carry wrist-mounted lasers that drain your health very quickly. They possess night vision and a proximity sensor that makes it impossible to sneak up behind one. Stalkers are also very quick and agile , able to enter vents and not needing to use stairs to access higher/lower levels. Last but not least, Stalkers cannot be stunned by melee attacks, only knocked down.
Stalkers cannot be stealth killed or taken down normally. Even when stunned, Stalkers cannot be stealth killed: only disabled with Path of Wisdom. The only way you can only kill a Stalker up close with your sword is to paralyze one first with the Terror Dart.
Addendum: As with gas masked guards, Stalkers are immune to smoke bombs, but vulnerable to distraction flares and dusk moths.
– The proximity sensor is keyed to detect YOUR movement around the Stalker. So long as you remain hidden while inside the radius, you won’t get caught. While any of your movements inside sensor radius will alert the Stalker, other movements will not. This means you can safely throw an object into the sensor radius.
– Stalkers are immune to terror. If struck by an upgraded Terror Dart, a Stalker will reel in pain until the timer fills up, then commit suicide. You can approach and kill a Stalker when in this state, but it will result in a Peasant’s Death.
– Stalkers rarely hunt alone, so be careful in how you avoid/dispatch one.
– Be careful not to use the Mark of Serenity teleport into a Stalker’s proximity sensor range, or you will be detected instantly.
Traps & Hazards
Lights, lightning, chandeliers and spotlights: These pose no direct threat to you, but makes you much more visible to guards if caught in one. Standard lights can be disabled by darts, though doing so creates some noise. Tossing a dart at a chandelier will cause it to fall, and any enemy unfortunate enough to be below one will be killed. However, doing so will also create a lot of noise. Spotlights can be still or moving in a fixed pattern. Unlike regular lights, spotlights cannot be destroyed with darts, and have to be avoided or temporarily concealed with dusk moths. Lightning flashes intermittently during the thunderstorm levels in Act 2. If you were out in the open during a lightning flash, you will become visible to guards looking your way. Thunder will rumble shortly before a lightning strike, so get in cover as soon as you hear it!
Laser tripwires and traps: A Laser tripwire will sound the alarm if crossed, alerting all nearby guards. They are also usually connected to a concealed turret, which if triggered will track you down and fire away relentlessly until you are dead or out of range. Laser tripwires can be bypassed with smoke bombs. The tripwires will automatically shut off when they detect a guard within range (dead or otherwise), so you can drag a guard’s body to safely bypass them. Alternately, you can leave a body at where a laser tripwire/trap is to shut it off permanently. Laser traps are almost identical to laser tripwires, except instead of being connected to turrets, they are instantly fatal if crossed. Laser traps also have larger beams than tripwires.
Motion sensors: Unlike laser tripwires, motion sensors have a larger scan radius. As the name suggests, it works by detecting motion, so if you move while being inside the radius it will sound the alarm. Smoke bombs will NOT conceal you from motion detection. Motion sensors that sweep back and forth an area can be bypassed by remaining motionless as the sensor sweeps over you, then getting away as soon as it moves past you. However, sensors that are fixed will usually need to be disabled (look for a switch) or bypassed completely, since there is no way for you to slip past it without being detected.
Poison gas: Poiaon gas is indicated by a green fog. Being inside its radius does no harm to you initially, but once you are out of breath, you will take damage rapidly. Enemies without gas masks are also vulnerable to poison gas. Gas masked guards can produce a similar effect with their gas grenades.
Explosive crates: In the third act and DLC level, you’ll find red hanging crates of explosives that detonate on contact. Besides doing a lot of damage (or outright killing you in NG+ mode), the explosion also gets the attention of enemies in a large radius. You can toss a dart at the crate to make the explosive fall to the ground, allowing you to safely jump over it. Note that breaking the crate doesn’t disarm the bomb, which will still explode upon contact with you or an unwary enemy.
Other traps and hazards: Later in the game you’ll encounter other forms of traps, such as spike shooters that can kill you with one hit, falling traps as well as spike pits, crumbling ledges and subway trains to name a few. Environmental hazards and traps are indiscriminate, and will harm or kill anyone coming into contact with them.
Paths
Note: The default Path of The Ninja will not be covered. All alternate paths need to be unlocked first before they become usable. Path of The Mark is unlocked through the story, Path of Wisdom becomes available in the main game after finishing the DLC mission ‘A Tale From The Past’. The other paths are unlocked by getting 3 seals of each corresponding type. These seals are acquired by completing secondary objectives in every level.
Path of Might
Pros: You start with two extra blocks of health (allowing for 8 maximum with upgrades). Enemies become easier to knock down with melee attacks, and performing a stealth kill will replenish your health.
Cons: Using Focus will no longer pause the game.
Path of The Mark
Pros: You gain access to Mark of Serenity, a teleport move that allows you to safely bypass traps and most enemies. Mark of Serenity cannot be used to go past closed doors. You will automatically hide if you teleport to a hiding spot.
Cons: You have no Distraction Items.
Addendum: The final two levels of the main game require that you start in this path in Normal. In New Game Plus, you can start the final level using any path.
Path of Silence
Pros: You can carry two different Distraction items, and running makes no noise.
Cons: You have no sword (therefore no stealth killing) or Attack Items.
Addendum: You are not silent when using your grappling hook. Although without your sword, you can still use other melee attacks to stun most opponents.
Path of The Hunter
Pros: You can carry two different Attack items. Stealth kills succeed automatically.
Cons: You have no Distraction Items. Your items will not be replenished at checkpoints, and can only be refilled at weapon caches.
Path of Nighmares
Pros: Vulnerable enemies will become terrorized upon seeing any dead body (even if it’s a dog’s corpse), without needing you to hang or throw it into their vision radius directly.
Cons: You have no Distraction Items.
Addendum See the ‘Bugs’ section for specific peculiarities when using this path.
Path of Wisdom (DLC Only)
Pros: You can carry twice as many items (except for the Cardboard Box), and you gain access to a non-lethal takedown. The takedown has a longer distance than a regular stealth kill. Note that you cannot use the takedown from above or below a guard, nor can you use it while dangling from your grappling hook or from behind a door, even if you had already bought such stealth kill abilities. Unlike a stealth kill, a takedown can be used on enemies from the front (though it’s possible the enemy will raise the alarm first). Not all enemies are vulnerable to a frontal takedown however.
Cons: You lose Far Sight and your sword. Using Focus will not pause the game. You aren’t awarded any points for takedowns, though you can still get relevant points such as Body Hidden and Oblivious.
Addendum: Enemies taken down can be woken up by other guards, but no alarms will be raised. You can hang/throw a knocked out guard to terrify other guards. Although mostly a non-lethal path, you can always toss knocked out guards off cliffs or into traps and hazards for kill bonuses.
Items
Note: You will replenish one of each item whenever you reach a checkpoint, unless playing Path of The Hunter. When playing Path of Wisdom, you can carry twice the amount of items. Using a weapons cache will fully restock your items, and can be repeated as needed. When Focusing, you can throw up to three different items simultaneously
Common Abilities
Darts: Used to break light bulbs/circuit boxes and sound gongs. Spotlights cannot be broken with darts. Darts can also be thrown at a hanging corpse to drop it. Hitting an enemy with a dart will draw their attention to your location without sounding the alarm. Using it on a terrified enemy however, will have him firing wildly in your direction first before inching your way to investigate. You have an infinite supply of darts which are usable in all Paths.
Far Sight: Allows you to see beyond your normal vision range while highlighting traps, enemies and connections from switches, laser tripwires and circuit boxes. You cannot use Far Sight in Path of Wisdom.
Distraction Items
Noise maker: Distracts any guards that hears it. Works against any type of enemy, but has no other additional effect otherwise. When upgraded, the noise maker can be triggered at will. You must trigger a previous noise maker before you can throw another, In general, throw it at where you want guards to be, but not so far away to be out of earshot when you trigger the noise maker.
Item limit: 3
Smoke bomb: Prevents enemies from seeing through the smoke radius, and temporarily allows you to go past laser tripwires and traps inside the smokescreen. When upgraded, the smoke will also stun enemies, leaving them open for stealth kills. Gas masked troops and Stalkers are immune to smoke bombs and can see through the smoke.
Item limit: 3
Distraction flare: Used to attract guards that see them. Also lights up a small area around it, which can stun enemies with night vision. As with the noise maker, upgrading it allows you to trigger the flare manually. Distraction flares create a temporary light source, so be careful not to accidentally reveal yourself with it.
Item limit: 3
Cardboard box: A mobile hiding spot. Enemies that see the box moving will become alarmed. When upgraded, you can stealth kill from within the box. You will not get the ‘Body Hidden’ bonus from such a stealth kill however. Remember to retrieve your box after making a stealth kill from it, or you will leave it behind! You will also lose your box if you guards expose you while hiding inside.
Item limit: 1. You won’t start with 2 boxes in Path of Wisdom, Checkpoints will replenish your box if you left it behind.
Note: When playing Path of Wisdom, you can take down enemies from within a cardboard box, but you won’t hide knocked out guards in them.
Dusk Moths (DLC only): Temporarily conceals light sources within a radius without distracting guards. Can be used on spotlights. Also can be thrown directly at guards to stun them,
Item limit: 2
Attack Items
Any lethal attack item will terrorize any vulnerable guard(s) witnessing its effects on another.
Spike Mine: Kills any enemy that steps on it. You can retrieve an unused mine. When upgraded, they make no noise when thrown, and guards will no longer destroy a mine they come across when suspicious.
Item limit: 2
Hisomu Terror Dart: Terrifies a targeted guard, with the exception of Dogs, Elites and Stalkers. When upgraded, the dart will cause the affected enemy to commit suicide after the timer fills up. A guard witnessing a suicide will become terrified (or alarmed).
Item limit: 2
Caltrops: Temporarily stuns a guard that walks over them, leaving them open for a kill or takedown. A single use launches 3 caltrops. Dogs are immune to caltrops. Since they are non-lethal, other witnesses won’t become terrified, and are distracted instead. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as they might walk into the remaining caltrops and get stunned too.
Item limit: 3
Ravenous insects: Kills any enemy while distracting and terrifying other guards that witness their comrade being devoured. Since it leaves no body behind, enemies immune to terror will not sound the alarm. It can also be used to remove a dead body, but that’s a huge waste of its potential.
Item limit: 2
Fungal spores (DLC only): Kills an enemy in its radius, then infects the body with poison. Guards coming into contact with the body will trigger the poison, which kills anyone in its radius. Useful for killing guards that cannot be terrified. The initial throw can only kill one target, but the infected corpse can kill multiple enemies bunched together. Keep in mind that you cannot infect a body directly: you have to use the fungus to kill a live enemy for it to be infected.
Item limit: 2
New Game Plus
1. In New Game Plus mode, you’ll die from a single hit from any attack or trap. This means your health indicator is mostly useless, as are any health upgrades and the extra 2 blocks of health from using Path of Might. The only time your health has any use in NG+ mode is when resisting poison gas.
2. Your vision radius is limited by obstacles, and you lose the ability to see behind you. You’ll need to manually look up/down more as well. This makes Far Sight a far more vital ability in NG+ mode.
3. You can no longer see your own sound radius when running. That goes for enemies’ vision cones and the Stalker’s proximity sensor radius too. You can still see the ripples from enemies’ footsteps and the sound radius when aiming darts at lights and gongs however.
Bugs and glitches
Here are several oddities I encountered in the AI patterns, which may or may not be glitches.
1. When using Path of Nightmares, guards will become terrified if they walk past a dumpster or door that contains a body (when trying to get the Oblivious bonus). If you look out from a vent, it’s also possible to scare a guard during the levels with a thunderstorm as they see your mask during the lightning flashes.
2. In the final level, not all guards will become terrified if you throw a corpse at them (or leave a corpse while using Path of NIghtmares). This may not necessarily be a bug, since the guards are hallucinations.
3. When playing A Tale From The Past, I encountered a glitch with hiding bodies inside a vent. Simply moving the body into the vent wouldn’t grant me the ‘Body Hidden’ bonus. Instead, I had to drop the body, then move it again to be awarded the points.
4. The game inconsistently awards points for hiding enemies taken down with Path of Wisdom: sometimes I would be credited, other times I wouldn’t.