In addition to the platforming and occasional spell of problem solving, Rise of the Tomb Raider also has a fairly big focus on its combat system. As this is the case, there are quite a few achievements/trophies (15 in fact!) tied into finding, unlocking and playing around with the game’s various weapons and techniques.

Below you’ll find a list of all of the combat-related achievements/trophies in the game and how to unlock each of them:

Bar Brawl¶

Description: Melee kill an enemy using a bottle.

In order to unlock this achievement/trophy you’ll need to first unlock the ‘Deadly Force’ Skill in the Brawler Skill Tree. Once you have that, wait until you are in a stealth section and locate a bottle. Sneak up and perform a silent takedown whilst holding a bottle to unlock the achievement/trophy.

Glub Glub Glub¶

Description: Drown 3 enemies using a water finisher.

This achievement/trophy is fairly self-explanatory. Whilst in the water, simply approach an enemy on ground above and when you see the silent takedown button prompt appear over their heads, hit the button to pull them into the water for the finisher move. Do this three times to unlock the achievement/trophy. There are plenty of opportunities to do this throughout the latter half of the campaign, particularly in The Flooded Archive and the Research Base regions.

Renegade¶

Description: Melee 5 enemies off a ledge.

This achievement/trophy requires us to knock enemies from ledges using melee attacks. To do this, you’ll want to approach enemies by the edge of platforms/cliffs and use melee attacks (but not finishers) to push them back until they tumble over the edge. It should be noted that the fall does not need to kill them, simply to knock them to a platform below.

Fearless¶

Description: Defeat a Deathless Swordsman using only melee attacks and a finisher.

In order to unlock this achievement/trophy you’ll need to first unlock the ‘Dodge Counter’, ‘Dodge Kill’ and ‘Dodge Kill Mastery’ Skills in the Survival Skill Tree. You’ll take on the Deathless in combat for the first time as you work your way through the Path of the Deathless region and afterwards, they will also be found wandering about The Lost City region as well.

In order to earn this achievement/trophy, you’ll need to take on one of the Deathless Swordsmen (those are the guys with the swords!) and use your dodging and counter attacking skills to take him out. It will take 2-3 dodge counters to finish a Deathless Swordsman off, but may take even more on higher difficulties.

Blade of Justice¶

Description: Perform 25 special stealth kills with the knife.

Lara will acquire the Combat Knife soon after arriving in the Abandoned Mine region. Once you have the Combat knife, she’ll use this during silent takedown attacks to kill enemies. To earn this achievement/trophy, you’ll need to perform 25 stealth kills after receiving the knife.

Firestarter¶

Description: Defeat two enemies or more using a single Molotov Cocktail.

During your foray through the Copper Mill during your first visit to the Soviet Installation, you’ll acquire the Molotov Cocktails. We’ll need to kill two enemies with one of these at once. Fortunately this is super easy - immediately following the scene introducing the Molotov Cocktails, sneak into the next room and toss one at the pair of dudes standing together to get the achievement/trophy.

If you miss this opportunity, there are plenty of other stealth scenarios throughout the campaign with bottles and enemies standing grouped together. You can also Replay levels in Expedition Mode to find some acceptable targets.

Chemical Warfare¶

Description: Kill 5 enemies with one Poison Arrow.

You’ll receive the Poison Arrows during your time early on in the Siberian Wilderness and our goal for this achievement/trophy is to kill five enemies with a single arrow. It can be tricky to have that many enemies close enough together to pull it off, so I’d therefore suggest trying to do this in Expedition Mode.

The start of ‘The Acropolis’ level is especially good for this achievement/trophy. If you run up to the first gate to trigger the Trinity forces in the courtyard beyond it there will be six of them wandering about. Fire a few shots in the air with your firearm of choice to get their attention and then run away and hide behind one of the tents in the previous area. As they chase, they should stack up on one another as they approach your position via the path. Simply time a Poison Arrow to hit them as they come to unlock the achievement/trophy.

English Pedigree¶

Description: Headshot an enemy with an arrow from a distance beyond 25m.

As the description suggests, you’ll need to headshot a guard from a pretty decent distance using the bow. There are a couple of Skills that will help you get this done a little easier: The ‘Breath Control’ Skill will allow you to hold your arrow in place for longer without it loosing so that you can line up your shot, whilst the ‘Dead Eye’ will give you an indicator on the reticule when you are successfully targeting an enemy’s head. Both of these skill can be found in the Hunter Skill Tree.

You can earn this achievement just about anywhere in the game where there are unaware enemies and a lot of open ground. During the walkthrough above, I have pointed out a simple place to unlock it during the Prison escape section at the Soviet Installation. It is however possible to simply load up most levels in Expedition Mode (‘The Acropolis comes to mind). Spawn enemies and move back as far as possible before head shotting them.

Dead Ringer¶

Description: Get 25 headshots using the Bolt-Action Rifle.

The Bolt-Action Rifle is a long range, highly accurate, single shot rifle that is highly effective at head shotting enemies from range. Unfortunately, the weapon needs to be found first before we can use it for the purpose of this achievement/trophy. It is located in four parts which are distributed in Strongboxes located throughout the game. The Strongboxes can be found in the following locations:

• Strongbox 01 – Soviet Installation - Can be found as you climb the Copper Mill during the first visit to the Soviet installation. It is locked and requires the Lockpick to open.
• Strongbox 02 – Geothermal Valley - After the first scene in the Geothermal Valley, Lara will be standing directly in front of this Strongbox.
• Strongbox 03 – Geothermal Valley – On the hunting platform in the valley beneath the guard tower at the northern end of the ‘Valley Farmstead’ area.
• Strongbox 04 – Geothermal Valley – After defeating the flamethrower enemy, you’ll find this on the ground by the broken bridge heading south (The ‘Catacomb of Sacred Waters’ Challenge Tomb) can be accessed from the water below.
  After acquiring all four pieces of the Bolt-Action Rifle, head to the nearest Base Camp and equip it. Use it to perform head shots on 25 Trinity Soldiers to unlock the achievement/trophy.

A Trusty Old Friend¶

Description: Kill 5 enemies within 10 seconds using any rifle.

Once you have a rifle, your goal for this achievement is to kill five people with it in under 10 seconds. You can do this in most large-scale firefights but let’s face it, this isn’t exactly easy when fighting Trinity forces as they love hopping in and out of cover. The start of ‘The Acropolis’ level in Expedition Mode is especially good for this achievement/trophy.

If you run up to the first gate to trigger the Trinity forces in the courtyard beyond it there will be six of them wandering about. Fire a few shots in the air with your firearm of choice to get their attention and then run away and hide behind one of the tents in the previous area. As they chase, they should stack up on one another as they approach your position via the path. Simply pull out your Rifle of choice at this point and spray it around their heads to unlock the achievement/trophy. This becomes much easier if you play on Adventurer difficulty and put on a ‘Big Head Mode’ Card!

Triple Threat¶

Description: Kill 3 enemies with 1 Shotgun blast.

Once you have a shotgun, your goal for this achievement is to kill three people with a single shot. The start of ‘The Acropolis’ level in Expedition Mode is especially good for this achievement/trophy.

If you run up to the first gate to trigger the Trinity forces in the courtyard beyond it there will be six of them wandering about. Fire a few shots in the air with your firearm of choice to get their attention and then run away and hide behind one of the tents in the previous area. As they chase, they should stack up on one another as they approach your position via the path. Simply pull out your Shotgun of choice at this point and charge them until you are in range, line up a few heads and fire away to unlock the achievement/trophy. This becomes much easier if you play on Adventurer difficulty and put on a ‘Big Head Mode’ Card!

Laying Down The Law¶

Description: Kill 6 enemies with the Revolver without reloading.

Lara will pick up the Revolver early on in your first visit to the Soviet Installation and afterwards you’ll be free to pursue this achievement/trophy. This one is particularly difficult as it requires you to kill six enemies without reloading – which means six headshots in a row without dying or missing at all. As such you are very unlikely to earn this one whilst playing through the game normally. Fortunately, Expeditions Mode once again has us covered.

The start of ‘The Acropolis’ level in Expedition Mode is especially good for this achievement/trophy. Make sure that you stick on a ‘Big Head Mode’ Card and play on Adventurer difficulty.

If you run up to the first gate to trigger the Trinity forces in the courtyard beyond it there will be six of them wandering about. Pull out your Revolver and shoot all six of them in the head – this should be quite easy with the big heads. Once you have killed the first six enemies, the achievement/trophy should unlock.

Fall Guys¶

Description: Kill 10 enemies by shooting them in the leg.

This achievement/trophy is fairly self-explanatory, simply kill enemies by shooting them in the legs. If this is not unlocked by the end of the first play through, either revisit some of the map regions where Trinity patrols spawn post-game or head into Expedition Mode and shoot legs until it unlocks!

Siberian Ranger¶

Description: Beat 15 combat encounters after completing the game.

Once you have completed the main game, Lara will be allowed to fast travel and continue exploring the world map so that you can tidy up any remaining challenges, side-missions and collectibles. During this post-game exploration, you’ll still occasionally bump into Trinity patrols. In order to complete the requirements for this achievement/trophy you’ll need to hunt down and kill 15 different patrols.

Patrols will not always appear in the same locations, so it is a good idea to fast travel between maps in an attempt to find them. Whilst they will appear almost anywhere enemies have appeared before, some places seem to have them appear much more frequently. For me, the most common locations that I found Trinity forces were in the Siberian Wilderness, Abandoned Mines, Flooded Archive and Soviet Installation (Saw Mill and Gulag).

Rapid Recovery¶

Description: Heal yourself in combat 3 times.

After your first encounter with the Bear in the Siberian Wilderness map, you’ll be tasked with hunting down the ingredients to make yourself a Medkit and bandage yourself up. After this point you’ll then be able to hit the LB/L1 button when you are damaged during combat and if you have a sufficient amount of resources, Lara will craft and apply a bandage. Doing this three times will unlock the achievement/trophy.