There are many annoying enemies to deal with in the Batman: Arkham series. While the Joker and Mr. Freeze both prove challenging in their own right, their fights are usually some highlights of the games. To reach the highest levels of annoyance, players must look to the common thugs that litter Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Gotham. While many are there bearing only their fists, the ones that bring new tactics to the table seriously interfere with a perfect freeflow combo and can ruin them in an instant.
There are many types of thugs throughout the Batman: Arkham games. After all, most all of them involve a section of Gotham or the city as a whole being turned into a playground for its villains and their henchmen (like Rocksteady's version of Harley Quinn). With so many thugs out on the streets, their combat strategies start to vary. Some thugs begin picking up weapons to use against Batman, while others take a more defensive approach. No matter what, any thug that goes above and beyond to try and beat the Bat just adds more annoyance to his already busy night as he has to make special effort to deal with them.
The most annoying thugs in the Batman: Arkham games are the ones that have the potential to quickly and easily break a combo by means that require split-second timing to counter or avoid. These thugs can be wielding knives, shields, or even stun batons reminiscent of Nightwing's Escrima Sticks. All of these tools can instantly end a combo and break Batman's flow like Bane breaks Batman's back.
Gun-Wielding Enemies In Arkham Break The One Rule
Guns are a quick way to get on Batman's bad side in the Arkham games. Encounters can start with some or all of the thugs armed and dangerous (like Deadshot, one of Gotham's villains playable in other games), and the armed ones must always be prioritized lest they detect The Dark Knight. Once they do, they can unleash a swarm of deadly accurate bullets that will cut down Batman in seconds if not dodged. Even if he manages to just take one or two hits, that is still enough to send any combo Batman had building back down to zero, so firearms must be dealt with swiftly to avoid sending both Batman and his combos into the ground.
Stun Batons In Batman: Arkham Are Ultimate Combo Breakers
Nightwing's weapon of choice in the Batman: Arkham is a pair of Escrima Sticks with stunning capabilities. Apparently, some thugs of Gotham City have seen this and adopted the stun baton as their own weapon of choice. Hitting a stun baton-wielding enemy head on will result in an electric shock, damage, knockback, and a dead combo. The stun batons prove Nightwing is one of the best playable characters in the Batman: Arkham series, and best way to deal with them is to get behind them or use an advanced ability to yank the batons out of their hands. This renders them normal again and safe to pummel. The amount of effort this one enemy requires to safely neutralize, combined with the fact that they are usually found in crowds with other, non stun baton-wielding enemies, means that they are one of the easiest ways to break a combo, and one of the most annoying enemies to have to deal with.
Riot Shield Arkham Enemies Prioritize Defense Over Offense
Batman is stated to be at the peak of human perfection in the Batman: Arkham games, meaning his fists hit with a force not unlike that of a speeding car. Thugs who have witnessed Batman's powerful punches and kicks have adopted a more defensive approach, bringing shields into combat with The Dark Knight.
These shields will instantly kill a combo if hit, and require a multi-step process to disarm (akin to the multi-step process to enjoy the entire Batman: Arkham series in order). Being caught between two shield enemies and a horde of regular thugs means prioritizing the shields if players ever want to build up a nice combo. These guys must be taken down or avoided to keep that combo high.
Batman: Arkham's Medic Enemies Keep The Fight Going
Batman: Arkham's medic enemies are annoying not from a combat standpoint (they bear no special combat abilities themselves), but from a hard work standpoint. Batman could spend the time to down a stun-baton or a shield thug before moving on to their unarmed friends, only to notice in the background a medic running over and quickly reviving them and sending them back to the fight. This means that above all others, medics must be prioritized if Batman doesn't want to be fighting the same enemies over and over again. Thankfully, they are easy to take down themselves, but multiple medics means that one could continually revive the other, but not in the same way a character is revived in Batman: Arkham Knight's biggest story twist. First priority in any fight is making sure all medics are safely neutralized before dealing with the rest of the crowd.
Brutes Can Hit And Get Hit In Batman: Arkham Games
Brutes are the heavy hitters of the Batman: Arkham hordes. They're immune to basic attacks, and hit about as hard as the dump trucks they often resemble. In order to damage them, Batman must either find a melee weapon lying around and use that until it breaks or stun them until they're quite literally seeing stars, at which point they're safe to attack and can be used to build a nice combo. Woe be unto any player who attacks them after their stun ends though, as they'll find punching a brick wall to be an easier feat, with the same results in terms of losing a combo.
Knife-Wielding Thugs Cut Combos To Ribbons
Knife wielding enemies are a tricky encounter in any Batman: Arkham fight, much trickier than Black Mask, Batman: Arkham's biggest running joke. Not only will they dodge strikes and ruin combos, their knife strikes require several perfectly timed dodges to avoid taking serious damage. Only by stunning, attacking from behind, or attacking with a melee weapon will Batman be able to land hits on them without taking one in return. Another annoying factor these enemies have is that, unlike the other thugs wielding blunt weapons, Batman's code of ethics prevents him from picking up these thugs' weapons upon defeating them.
The most annoying enemies in the Batman: Arkham games are the ones that require more complex tactics than simply mashing square to build up a combo. The more complicated the method of dealing with these enterprising n'er-do-wells, the more annoying they are to fight. Ultimately though, no matter how many tricks and tactics they use, Batman will always be one step ahead and ready to pummel them into submission.