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Completion bonuses
Successfully complete story mode to unlock Magruder's seven barrel Nock gun.
Successfully complete story mode and all side missions (100% completion) to unlock Reed's armored horse and Magruder's Cannon Nock gun.
.69 Ferguson Rifle
Defeat Hollister.
Apache Shirt
Successfully complete the Hunting missions..
Cavalry Sword
Defeat Reed.
Dual Peacemakers
Defeat Reed.
Silver Spurs
Successfully complete the Pony Express missions.
Ammunition cache
Take a barrel of TNT from the Badlands mine. Find the abandoned house in the Badlands where the buffalo graze. Go to the back of the house on the outside. Face the chimney (looking west) and place the TNT barrel on the left side of the chimney. Blow up the TNT barrel to open a hole in the ground with ammunition for all weapons. The ammunition will reappear over time after you leave the area.
Whiskey cache
Go to Dodge City. Go to the lower part of the bridge. Follow the path on the other side to reach a beach cave. Look inside for whiskey which will reappear over time after you leave the area. Note: The cave also contains ammunition and money.
Go to the Indian Hunter's hut, which you can find on your map. Once there, go to the building to the left of the hut, with the stairs going up the side. Go up the first set of stairs, and continue going straight. You should see a spout-type object coming out of the side of the building. Jump onto that spout, and walk toward the wall of the building. If done correctly, you should go through the wall, and into the inside of the house. There is only a small ledge for you to drop onto inside, so move slowly. Once inside, look to your left and you should see three whiskey bottles on the ground. You can pick these up as many times as desired and they will never go away.
For unlimited health, go to Hecht Ranch. Go to the shack next to the windmill. There you will find three whiskey bottles to restore your health.
Defeating Dutchie
After talking to Soapy, run to front of train towards the water. Leave your horse behind the rock near the bridge. Run back to the engine of the train and stay in front. Wait for the two riders to come through. Use your quick draw to take them out. Take their horses and leave them with your horse. Take cover in front of the engine again. Two more riders will appear. You can see them riding quickly around the train on your map. Use the same method. Then, go to one of the horses and ride him around the rock towards the cannon. Use quick draw to take out the two men on either side of Dutchie. Your horse will probably die and you will have to take a shot or perhaps two, but keep moving towards the back of the train and into tunnel until you find cover behind it. Sneak around to the right on the same side you started on. Kill the man on top of the car first, then the man standing by the rail on the same car. Next, squeeze between the two cars and aim directly for the end of the cannon with whatever weapon desired. Shoot Dutchie until he is dead.
Defeating Hollister
Sneak up on him and shoot him once. Then, run off and get behind a rock on top of risen ground in the middle of the arena. When he is circling the rock your are behind, you should also circle as well. He will eventually stop and yell at you to come out. He should pace back and forth slowly while you hide behind your rock. When he stops and is not facing you, shoot him in the head. Perform this until the point that he becomes too smart to fall for it again. By then his health should be low enough so that you can run out and keep shooting while strafing. After you have gotten his health down all the way there will be a intermission sequence. Look at your compass at the bottom of the screen. He is the red dot. Find him and he will run at you. Run, but keep firing at him with your pistols and he will blow up
Use Quickdraw with your Dual Peacemakers and he will explode.
When you start this mission, you will be looking at the Indians and Soapy. Start going to the right. All the way to the right is a ramp-like hill. Go up it a short distance. He will first throw TNT, then will just stand there and not do anything. When you are in a crouched position, start shooting him and he will not move. Until his health is all the way down and it will go to the next part of the mission where you must blow him up.
Sneak up on Hollister and shoot him in the head. Then, run to the boat by Soapy and the Indian and hide behind the rudder. Face Soapy and the Indian. If done correctly, Hollister will not be able to shoot you before you shoot him. Hollister will try to walk around the boat to find you, and you can keep shooting him in the head every time he comes into view. Once shot, he will back off. After a few seconds he will try again, Keep shooting and you will defeat him easily.
It would help if you have purchased the shotgun speed loader, extra shotgun ammunition capacity, and the extra health slot upgrades. When you start the fight. Hollister knows where you are. Sneak up into the rocks. He will not know where you are until you reveal yourself for the first time. Once you do, he will know where you are for the rest of the fight. Keeping that in mind, sneak up on him without being seen with your shotgun equipped and fully loaded. Once you are behind him, get as close as you can without being seen, as shotguns do the most damage when up close. Then, just fire away with your shotgun as fast as possible. Do not forget to drink your whiskey when your health gets low. Note: This works under the normal and easy difficulty settings with no shotgun upgrades purchased.
Defeating Reed
Never let Reed out of your sight. If he is by himself and you cannot see him, he gains life.
This is very difficult at first. Before you start the mission, go back to Empire City and Dodge City and get as many weapon upgrades as possible. Do about 60 to 70 percent of the side missions beforehand. Use the upgrades for mostly the rifle and bow, and the health upgrade for your horse. Once you bring these stats up, go to the mission and defeat Hollister again. Then, defeat Magruder's riders. Once that is done, open the safe and Reed will show up. You will start behind a rock. Take out the newly acquired rifle obtained from Hollister, get on the horse to the left, and chase after him. Keep shooting him. It will take about three minutes to kill him. Do not lose sight of him, or his health will go up.
Use the bow and arrows. Make sure you are full up on whiskey. When you hit him with the first arrow, he will not run. He will continue to fire at you, though not nearly as often. Just launch one arrow after another (several are required) until you drain his life and he falls off the horse.
Corner Reed while he is on his horse. Quickly get of your horse, then run up and start using the melee. Make sure to heal and he will die quickly.
Make sure that you are full on whisky and shotgun ammunition. Stay behind Reed and aim for his head with the double-barreled shotgun.
Magruder's Mine mission
At first this mission may seem difficult, but it really is not. In the first part, get your bow ready. Every time Magruder is eater next to or on top of the holes in the ground with the blue green gas coming out of the floor, shoot an arrow into it. When it blows up, it will take some health from Magruder. This will take a few times. To better judge where Magruder is, look on your radar when you are standing by one of the holes on the floor with the blue green gas. When you see a red arrow by you and it is near the hole in the floor, shoot the arrow. When it explodes, run. If you take some hits from Magruder, run for a flask to repent your health. You will most likely run out of arrows, but can find more in the back by the big entranceway opposite of the platform and big pillars that you will need to destroy in the second part of the mission. Keep shooting the arrows at the gas in the floor until Magruder's health bar turns red. After that the second part of the mission begins. To save a lot of your health during the first part, crouch and stay near the outer ring of rocks. If he stands directly in front of you, shoot about one or two arrows at his feet. This will cause him to lose health. If you got hit by his fire, run and find a flask. The second part of the mission is to collapse the cavern on Magruder. Save the game when you get to this part. Do not worry about replenishing your ammunition. Your sniper rifle, regular rifle, and six shooters will suffice. In order to keep one flask and your health to where you do not need to replenish, stay ducked behind the big rocks where you start. Magruder will throw TNT. Use Quick Draw and shoot the TNT. Then, pull out one of your rifles. Use the sights on them. The only way you are going to get Magruder to throw TNT is to hit him in the head. However, it is recommended that you stay and shoot at him from the right hand side of the rocks. That gives you more cover than the left hand side. The trick is how skilled you are at Quick Draw. This is the only way to get past it this part of the mission. Try to hit all the TNT when he throws it. Try hitting the TNT that looks pudgy -- they provide a bigger boom. The small TNT sticks are good, for when hit they will spread out. You can blow the two pillars by Magruder's platform up with them. When he says you are blowing this mine apart, you are half way there. When Cole says there is no one left to help you, the mission is about over. When he throws the three sticks of TNT and you miss and they land by you, run to the opposite side, and then go back to continue. You have two big rocks to blow up to collapse the cavern. The best way to do this is to hit the TNT when it is thrown when they are close to the rocks above Maruder. By doing this you will complete the mission faster. When the second big rock falls, the mission is over and you have completed the game.
Magruder is impossible to kill by shooting, as he is wearing armored plating. Instead, use the bow with exploding arrows. Get Magruder to chase you. As you are backing away from him, shoot an arrow at a geyser as he walks over it. The flammable gas coming from the geyser will explode and damage Magruder until he is almost dead. Then, when he is on the higher level, shoot him in the face with the rifle until he yells then get into quickdraw mode. Get ready to shoot the big package of dynamite when he throws it. After shooting a few sticks of dynamite, the roof will collapse on him.
The easiest and fastest way to complete the first part of the mission is to remain crouched. Magruder is unable to see you, and becomes very vulnerable to sneak attacks. Keep reloading the whisky and fire arrows and you will have the mission completed quickly.
The easy way to defeat Magruder in the second part of the Mine Mission is to stand beside each pillar. Stand by the left one and when Magruder throws dynamite at you. He will blow up the pillar. Do the same for the pillar on the right. This also works when blowing up the two remaining boulders. You must shoot Magruder in the head to get him to throw the dynamite.
Use the center rock as a shield and try to keep it between you and Magruder. Stay in the inner circle, close to the center rock, and circle around constantly moving away from Magruder. Stop when a geyser is almost out of your view. Take aim at the geyser with the dynamite bow. Just as Magruder is coming around the corner (watch the compass), shoot an arrow into the geyser. Time your shot correctly and he will take a hit. Immediately after the shot, run and jump over the outcropping of rock so that the center tall rock is between you and Magruder again. Continue this until his health gets low enough that an intermission sequence showing him jumping on to the ledge between two big stone columns plays. You must shoot him in the head so that he throws dynamite at you. Use the rifle. When he throws the dynamite, shoot it out of the air shortly after it is released from his hand. The ensuing explosion starts to deteriorate the columns. Aan easy way to avoid getting hit by his dynamite and also make it impossible for his henchmen to shoot you is to park as far away from Magruder as you can, directly under the ledge where the henchmen appear, so the ledge is to your left. Use the rifle, zoom in, and shoot him in the head. The henchmen are directly above you, so they cannot shoot you. You are too far away to use quickdraw, so you must have skills and shoot the dynamite out the air with the rifle just after he throws it. It actually is very easy. If the dynamite is anywhere in your crosshairs, it will explode when shot. Do this a few times to defeat him.
Hunting side missions
When doing the hunting side missions, on the third animal to hunt (should be a wolf), just go to the Indian salesman. Talk to him (you do not need to buy anything). Exit from the conversation, then immediately crouch. You should get a message stating that the wolf is near. Walk toward the lake and he should be on your right hand side. If not, he is somewhere close.
Easy poker game wins
When you are playing Texas Hold 'em inside the Alhambra, you can easily win with or without a good hand. Raise the bid to the maximum. This should make at least one to three players fold. You can then cheat to make your hand better, and if it is a worse card, forget about the cheat card and go back to your original hand. Afterwards, keep checking your hands until one of you wins. It should be you most of the time. Do not worry if you lose; the tournaments are free.
The betting works as follows. Each player is part of a small blind and big blind. The one with the biggest blind starts the betting first, and four steps are performed. The first is called the starting card. You can choose to raise your money to the highest bidder and you must get at least one of the winning hands to get a good suit of cards, not forgetting your community cards. You can choose to fold or to hold onto your better card. Be careful, because sometimes this makes the other players win. It is not just about betting. It is about making decisions on how to create the best hand of the cards. Whoever gets any of the winning hands first wins the pot and gets some money from the players. The four steps to do this is are Start, The Flop, The Turn, The River. Once you are the on The River, you finally get to reveal your last card. You can go all in once you have raised enough chips. If you win you will get a good money bonus. Sometimes you can call and check, but do not raise too much money even if you know you still have a good hand as that will make the game difficult.
End of poker cheating
When playing Texas Hold 'em after the tournaments in the Alhambra, you will no longer have the option of cheating.
Easy money
You can make more money on the bounty hunter side missions by capturing bounties alive. When you find a wanted poster that offers more money if you capture them alive and are having trouble doing so, use the following trick. Kill all gang members or bodyguards (if any). If the bounty is on a horse, kill the horse. Get close and melee attack. This will stun the fugitive and present an opportunity to grab them. Then, subdue the fugitive. This awards you more money for each bounty. If you accidentally release him, you can try to melee him and grab him again. However, if you do this too many times or if he has been shot, you may kill him and get less money.
Desecrate Hoodoo's corpse
After you defeat Hoodoo, there will be a intermission sequence showing him dead standing up in a coffin. After the sequence, he will still be in west empire standing in the grave. You can take out your double-barrel shotgun and shoot him a few times in some areas. You can shoot off his head, arm, and both of his legs. leaving a corpse floating in an up-right coffin.
Use the following trick to completely destroy Hoodoo's corpse. After you defeat Hoodoo and after the short intermission sequence, his corpse will be in front of his bar. Not only can you desecrate his corpse with the shotgun, but if you throw a stick of dynamite in his coffin, he will be completely blown away.
Faster riding
Hold [Dash] while repeatedly jumping your horse to travel about double the speed.b
When you mount your horse, before you get all the way on it, press [X]. This will make your horse sprint without taking off any health.
Glitch: People still alive when shot in the head
Find a bald headed person or any person that shows visible damage when you shoot them in the head. Although you can do this glitch with anybody, those types of targets allow you to actually see the full effect of the glitch. Also, use quickdraw. It will make performing this glitch much easier. While in quickdraw mode, shoot a person anywhere but the head so you do not kill them. Then, just before or as the person hits the ground, shoot him in the head. If done correctly, the person will have a chunk missing from their head, but will still be alive.