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Saint's Row

How to Complete the Desert Daredevil Challenge

By
Nathan Garvin

Information about how to unlock and complete the Desert Daredevil Challenge in Saints Row, including how to find an Ant and a Sandstorm Elite.

How to Unlock and Complete the Desert Daredevil Challenge

Desert Daredevil is a Challenge in Saints Row that will unlock after you complete the mission [Body of Evidence]. It tasks you with completing three objectives:

  • On a Sandstorm Elite get 2 consecutive backflips
  • On a Sandstorm get (180 seconds of) airtime
  • In an Ant get (5 seconds of) airtime in a single jump

How to Find a Sandstorm Elite in Saints Row

Two of this Challenge’s objectives require you to use a Sandstorm Elite to perform various vehicle tricks, and while the tricks themselves aren’t difficult, finding a Sandstorm Elite can be a pain if you don’t know where to look. The Sandstorm Elite is a motorcycle that can be found in the outskirts of Kavanagh Country, beyond the confines of Santo Ileso. If you look around enough, you’ll probably find one on your own, but there’s a spot where a Sandstorm Elite is likely to spawn - near the Pony Express Side Hustle in Rojas Desert North. This is Diamond’s fourth job, so you’ll need to complete the previous three to get the markert to appear. If that’s too much bother for you, good news! You don’t have to complete Pony Express jobs to get a Sandstorm Elite to spawn, it’s just a convenient map marker - you can also find the right area by following the road west from the Kavanagh County Park Service shop until you find a bridge spanning a shallow river.

Near the river, north of the road, you’ll find two vehicle spawn points, one on either side of the shallow river, where you’ll also find some people fishing. A Sandstorm Elite is one of the vehicles you’ll usually find parked at these spots. If you don’t find one (Skorpio and Bullpup vehicles can spawn here, instead), just drive down the road a ways and return to respawn the vehicles.

Once you have a Sandstorm Elite we can get to these objectives!

How to Perform 2 Consecutive Backflips with a Sandstorm Elite

The Sandstorm Elite is, fortunately, a fairly nimble bike, so performing two backflips during one jump shouldn’t be that hard, if you get enough airtime. To perform a backflip, get airborne, then simply hold the right analog stick either up or down DualSense-Stick-R-UD. This also unlock the Sandstorm Elite’s Signature Ability, “Air Control”, which will make it easier to perform vehicle tricks going forward.

There’s a complication with this objective, however: You must perform this trick in the Rojas Desert North or Rojas Desert South regions. It’s not stipulated in the objective anywhere, but if you try to do this at the usual spots (the ramps near the cemetery along the northern end of East Providencia or the hill/cliff ramp southeast of the Lone Wolf Fast Travel in Badlands South) you won’t get any credit… although it’ll still unlock your Signature Ability, which might still make it worthwhile.

If you unlock Air Control before attempting two backflips in Rojas Desert North/South, you probably don’t need to find a good “spot”, as Air Control makes even a moderate amount of airtime sufficient for two backflips, just hold down DualSense-L1 / Xbox-BumperLeft when you’re airborne to activate Air Control.

Should you still want a promising spot to perform these tricks, you can find one in Rojas Desert South. In fact, you already went over this ramp once, during the Mission Making Rent! North of the Ringers shop along the southeastern end of Rojas Desert North you’ll find a water tower, and beyond it, a cliff. Drive east around the mesa near this cliff (follow the highway and turn left off-road between a billboard sign and a farmhouse) then circle around south under a rail bridge to find a hill that’ll serve as a ramp which will give you plenty of time to perform two backflips, whether you have Air Control or not.

How to Get 180 Seconds of Airtime with a Sandstorm

Getting airtime is easy - any time your wheels aren’t on the ground, this counter should increment… if you are wary of the unmentioned exceptions for this objective, of course. Just like the backflips, only airtime gained in the Rojas Desert North or Rojas Desert South regions will count. Also, there’s no “normal” Sandstorm - a Sandstorm Elite is the vehicle you need. With that out of the way, just take a Sandstorm Elite and drive over off-roads in the desert. The difficulty of the terrain will actually work in your favor, as you’ll find yourself gaining airtime just by bouncing around the dunes and hills.

(1 of 3) You’ll get FB’s Buggy - a customized Ant - for completing Diamond’s first Pony Express job.

Where to Find an Ant in Saints Row

The [Ant] is an excellent off-roading vehicle that can obtain the “Air Control” Signature Ability, making it a fine choice for performing vehicle tricks. This is fortunate, since you’re tasked with getting five seconds of airtime with one to complete one of this Challenge’s objectives - no mean feat. The Ant can be found in… economically disadvantaged areas in the outskirts of Kavanagh County; we’ve seen them spawn near the Startlite Star Trailer Court southeast of the Lone Wolf Fast Travel in the Badlands South region (there’s a [Weather Station] nearby) and near the Abandoned Mine along the northwestern corner of the Badlands North region. These can be somewhat uncommon vehicles, however, and if you want a guaranteed spawn, you’ll get one for completing the first Diamond job for the Pony Express Side Hustle.

How to Get 5 Seconds of Airtime in an Ant

One you have an Ant, it’s time to find a suitable ramp to perform this stunt. Five seconds is a long time, and while there are a few places that will work, our favorite is actually near the aforementioned Starlight Star Trailer Court. From the Lone Wolf Fast Travel, follow the road southeast. As you drive, note the guardrail to the right, and when it ends turn left. Off the road to the left here you should spot a large hill that culminates in some jagged cliffs - these all effectively form one giant ramp, and will get you plenty of airtime with which to do various tricks. This will be easier if you fully upgrade the Ant and install Nitrous, just to give yourself a little burst of speed just before you hit the rocky improvised ramp.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Deep Silver
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, XB One, XB X|S
  • Genre
    Action Adventure
  • Guide Release
    22 August 2022
  • Last Updated
    24 September 2022
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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