User:Alqualos/Deus Ex: Human Revolution Iron Man Guide

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution Iron Man Guide aims to provide advice to those brave enough to attempt to finish Deus Ex: HR in Iron Man mode. You screw up, you bear with it and move on. You die, you start over. A variation is Semi-Iron Man mode (Copper Man mode or something?), when you load last checkpoint only if you die, and you do your best to stay alive. Note that it is very different psychologically from true Iron Man mode, and it's not even remotely as exciting.

Practice run
The main thing about Iron Man mode is practice. Nobody attempts a blind Iron Man run, where you play the game first time, you never saw anyone playing it, and yet you plan to complete it without ever reloading. If you were an augmented player yourself, then maybe, just maybe it would be possible, but if you are just a regular human being, forget all about it, and do a practice run. Try to complete the game without dying, saving as often as possible, and reloading each time you feel that you aren't quite sure you'd be able to repeat that last stunt as many times as possible without ever dying.

During the practice run, ask yourself, which augmentations and/or items would make this particular part easier? Is it possible to acquire those without sacrificing something more important? Wasn't it a pure chance that you had just barely enough Praxis Points to activate that augmentation that just saved your life? Remember that when you do the real thing, you may not have enough experience or ammo due to some earlier screw-up.

The hardest places
The places which require special attention are:
 * Sarif Plant—the last large office, including the hallway that leads to it, after stairs.
 * Sarif Plant—confronting Zeke.
 * Detroit—the police station (if you manage to screw up the conversation with Haas, but still want to complete Mrs. Reed quest).
 * Detroit—the MCB hideout (for the O'Malley quest).
 * Detroit—the Derelict Row sewers, where there are three guys.
 * Highland Park—the large open space at the beginning.
 * Highland Park—the two large areas inside the secret complex, especially the first one.
 * Highland Park—Barrett.
 * Hengsha—inside Windmill's apartment.
 * Hengsha—Alice Garden Pods ambush.
 * TYM—the large restricted area inside the lower tower.
 * TYM—the data core room.
 * TYM—getting to the penthouse elevator from the data core room.
 * TYM—Zhao Yun Ru panic room incident.
 * Montreal—the first large office.
 * Montreal—the TV news room (where the only door to the basement is).
 * Montreal—the large room on the upper of the two secret levels, where the stairs to the lower level are.
 * Montreal—Fedorova.
 * Detroit—getting into Sandoval's secret office.
 * Detroit—dealing with the Men in Suits (Radford's quest).
 * Hengsha—getting into Tong's hideout, especially the last part.
 * Hengsha—incapacitating the terrorists (Darrow's quest).
 * Hengsha Port—the admin building (entering and getting to the admin office).
 * Hei Zhen Zhu—getting your gear.
 * Hei Zhen Zhu—the CIC "building" (or whatever it's called on ships).
 * Hei Zhen Zhu—getting from the aft cargo hold to the lowest level, where the sally port is.
 * RBS—the loading bay 2 (where you start).
 * RBS—the loading bay 1.
 * RBS—the loading bay 2 (after Burke discovers you).
 * RBS—the loading bay 3 (confronting Burke).
 * Singapore—getting through the large open area.
 * Singapore—Namir.
 * Panchaea—talking with Sarif (just because of the frag mines).

Choosing the version and difficulty
If you're playing the Director's Cut version (which you probably should), then consider that energy management is pretty much broken except on the highest difficulty. If you don't mind having infinite cloaked take-downs, then choose whatever difficulty you like. Otherwise, you have to stick with Give Me Deus Ex. I have completed the Director's Cut game in Iron Man mode on Give Me Deus Ex, so it's definitely possible, and this guide mainly covers this choice. If you're playing the original version, then maybe you should choose the easiest difficulty instead if only because of the annoying boss fights.

Stealth
The best tactics almost everywhere is stealth. If they don't know you're there, then they won't kill you, and you'll only have to worry about frag mines and falls (until you get Icarus, that is). However, it also makes sense to get rid of those enemies you can get rid of easily, because if you get rid of them, they can't kill you either. During the practice run, you should pay close attention to each situation where you confront some enemies and decide for the best tactics for that particular situation.

Use extra levels of protection when sneaking around. Time your movements carefully and use the cloak at the same time if you aren't absolutely sure you can't be seen where you are. The only point in not having your cloak turned on is to save energy so you can turn it on in case you are noticed so you can run away safely. But if there is nowhere to run away in particular, that doesn't apply so you should concentrate on not being seen instead.

Be careful when backtracking. If there were no guards when you passed there, it doesn't mean there are none now as well. Sometimes they just pop out of nowhere, possibly because of some long patrol route or some of your actions, or just because they are scripted that way. Never let your guard down!

Not being seen is one thing, not being heard is yet another. Crawling around is safe, but when you plan to dash from one place to another you should either make sure that every guard is far away enough or turn on silent run/sprint/jump.

Think what will happen if you're seen. If you have some place to hide quickly, do it immediately if things get hot, using the cloak if you have energy. If you have no such place, plan your escape ahead. It often makes sense to run forward rather than backward in such cases. If you almost reached your goal, you can probably sprint to it with the cloak on, possibly eating a couple of candy bars on the run, and then you'll be safe.

In places of high risk, it probably makes sense to get seen on purpose during the practice run, if only to make sure you practice dealing with that situation too.

Stealth vs action
Sometimes you have to choose between being sneaky or just killing everyone around using a bot or a turret or just shooting them down. In all such cases, choose the less risky way. I give some recommendations throughout this guide, but you should adjust them to your playing style.

You are not always forced to choose between stealth and action, though! Sometimes it makes sense to use both. If you aren't sure whether to sneak past guards and leave them alone, or take them down stealthily, you should probably always choose the latter, provided that the risk level is the same. There are two reasons for that. One is that you can then safely run back in case you mess up somewhere ahead. Another is that take-downs give you a lot of XP that can be used to make the rest of the game safer. But never take additional risks just to get that XP. Think what you gain and whether it's worth the risk. Usually it isn't.

Exploration
Exploration gives you additional XP and goodies, so it is a good idea to explore as much as possible. However, if going to some place poses a risk, avoid it. Avoid exploring high places until you get Icarus. Avoid entering rooms with multiple guards unless you learned a guaranteed way to take them out during your practice run. Remember that things are not always the same during replay. For example, if you trigger an alarm in the FEMA facility, the FEMA employees alert the guards if they see you instead of talking to you. Some guards may change their patrols depending on what they saw or heard. So even if you are already familiar with many places already, on your real run you should still proceed carefully and study your surroundings before doing anything rash.

Health and energy management
Use those hypostims and painkillers! Try to keep your health at 200 at all times. It can save your life, really. I once somehow managed to screw up trying to save Malik and one of the bad boys started shooting at me and not her for whatever reason. When I was done with him, I had only 80-90 health left. If I had less than 180 to begin with, I'd be dead. I also once managed to trigger a frag mine, in Panchaea, of all places! That would be one epic Iron Man screw-up if I didn't have 200 HP, which I fortunately did and therefore survived.

Energy is different. The energy management is as screwed up in the Director's Cut version as it was in the original (if you're playing on Give Me Deus Ex, otherwise it is screwed up even more). And those candy bars are really precious, so don't use them unless necessary. On the other hand, if you're doing something really risky (which you sometimes can't avoid), it's better to charge up beforehand. It's a good idea to keep candy bar count above 10, and you may spend them more freely towards the end (Singapore and further). If you have spare inventory space, pick up those packs and jars and use them to save candy bars as candy bars occupy much less space and have pretty much the same effect if you only have two cells (like I always do). And last, but not least, if you spend your last cell, wait for it to recharge before proceeding further.

Weapons and other equipment
I have Iron Manned the game with the stun gun, Zenith 10mm pistol and tranquilizer rifle, additionally using the grenade launcher to deal with Namir and the laser rifle to deal with Zhao. Other possibly useful weapons include the revolver to deal with bots and enemies around corners, and the shotgun to deal, again, with enemies around corners. But I tend to avoid those because they are too noisy. Whatever weapons you choose, try to get lots of ammo for it. 150 10mm rounds, 60 stun darts and 60 tranquilizer darts are a good amount to have.

Among grenades, the most useful are gas grenades since they provide a quiet and efficient way to deal with a lot of enemies in one blast. Frag grenades are also useful in such situations, and they also can be used to deal with bots and turrets, but I find gas grenades more useful for humans and EMP ones for bots and turrets, so frag grenades are mostly useful to deal with human and mechanical enemies at the same time. Concussion grenades are mostly useless and can be used as poor man's grenades in the beginning, allowing you to use the stun gun or 10mm pistol on stunned enemies. I usually try to keep at least 3 grenade of all types except concussion, giving preference to additional gas and EMP ones if I have inventory space to spare.

AUDs are very useful even when you become a full-fledged hacker. They give you what the best hacking skills don't: time. You need only a fraction of a second to put it onto some security hub and then duck somewhere and wait for it to do its job. Once it's done, you turn on the cloak and quickly use the hub to turn all bots and turrets on the enemies and viola! Having 5 AUDs at the beginning and 10-15 as you upgrade your carrying capacity is a good idea.

In addition to that, keep all the candy bars you find, and minimum amount of hypostims and painkillers (5 of each will do).

Weapon upgrades
Install the silencer, laser aim and armor-piercing upgrade on your 10mm pistol as soon as possible. You should get the laser aim from Carella, armor-piercing upgrade from your apartment and buy silencer from Seurat. Among regular upgrades, damage upgrades should go to the 10mm pistol and reload speed to the tranquilizer rifle first. Other regular upgrades can be redistributed according to your preference. I usually prefer to upgrade the 10mm pistol first. Once you get to Highland Park, you should buy the target-leading system from the MCB guy, and that about covers it.

Augmentations
Your top priority augs should be the radar upgrade, heavy items handling, punching through the walls and cloak. It is also a good idea to get Icarus as soon as possible, and absolutely necessary to get it by the time you get to Hengsha. When you have Praxis Points to spare, get see-through-walls, double takedown, toxic gas and electricity protection, then flash suppressant. The electricity protection and Typhoon level 2 should be activated by the time you get to Fedorova. And after you get electricity protection you might as well get the last armor upgrade, who knows, maybe one day it saves your life? Silent motion of various levels can be useful too, but I suggest you upgrade it as practically needed. The same goes for sprint enhancement and longer sprint which also works as longer cloak in terms of invisibility per distance covered, not per time.

You should upgrade hacking to level 2 in Detroit and to level 3 by the time you get to Highland Park. If you're not playing the Director's Cut version, then you should probably upgrade it to level 4 by the time you reach TYM and level 5 somewhere later. In the Director's Cut version you may still want level 5 sometime to save AUDs. Upgrade hacking stealth as you see fit, especially if you feel running out of hacking software. Get turret domination by the first boos fight, and robot domination by the time you need to get out of TYM.

Upgrade your inventory as needed. I usually upgrade it by one level in Detroit, and fully upgrade it by the time I get the grenade launcher from Tong.

Get faster energy recharge when you have spare points. I never upgrade energy cells because only one recharges (or two, depending on the game version and difficulty). If I need more, I simply eat those candy bars as the energy level drops down, but it can be distracting.

And when possible, try to keep a few spare Praxis Points. Who knows what augmentation you'll need next. This doesn't exactly apply to Hei Zhen Zhu, though, too few points there, but in RBS I usually have about 8 points by the time things get hot.

I suggest you totally avoid stealth enhances (which doesn't enhance stealth at all), hacking fortify and analyze, CASIE (except maybe for Taggart), cooldown timer, recoil compensation and aim stabilizer (unless your playing style requires them).

Confrontations
While it is best to avoid confrontations, sometimes it is best to clear an area than to leave enemies behind you. When you have to get rid of some enemies, these simple tactics can help:
 * When shooting at enemies, try to do it when they aren't looking in your direction, even if you're cloaked. They may not see you, but will see your shot. Even if you don't miss, they can alert other enemies.
 * Headshoot enemies with the 10mm pistol. This one is hardly worth mentioning, but very useful nevertheless. The good thing about the pistol is that it kills even heavies thanks to the armor piercing upgrade. Try to avoid shooting moving targets for obvious reasons. A very good tactics is to take down one guy while the other walks away at some distance, then headshoot the other guy before he turns around. It is also a good way to deal with two guys that can't alert other guys for whatever reason (no alarm panels nearby, for example). Shoot one down from cover and immediately hide again. The other one starts looking around. When he turns away from you, quickly shoot him too. This approach is risky, however, so you better only use it when you have an escape plan ready in case things get hot.
 * When confronting a group of enemies, shoot the farthest one with the tranquilizer rifle. Someone will try to revive him. Shoot that one too. Repeat until all down. The caveat is that while one guy is trying to revive the incapacitated one, someone else may be looking at you. Cloak helps in such cases, but keep an eye on the energy level! Works miraculously when there are only two guys to deal with, but you can't get close enough for a personal take-down.
 * If you need to take down multiple guys at the same time, use a gas grenade, but beware that they will turn hostile when you do so. If there are other guys around, they may react. One specific case where it can be especially bad is the loading bay 1 at RBS where you can use a gas grenade to take down the guys inside the security booth. Better to do so when all other guys are down. Or use the next approach.
 * This one is tricky, so it is best used sparingly. Take cover near a door to a room where one guy is looking at the door. Open the door. The guy goes to investigate. If you didn't do it on purpose, stay calm—nothing bad happened yet, but be ready to turn on your cloak and to run for your life. When the guy gets very close, shoot blindly (without leaving your cover) at him with the stun gun. If you do it at the right moment, the guy drops down without alerting anyone else. If there is another guy looking at the door, he will try to revive the first one. Repeat the trick with him. Don't do it for more than two guys, though, because it will be harder to hit as the line of bodies builds up. Don't try to do this trick when the guards are hostile or on high alert because it is much harder to hit them blindly in that case (probably because they are assumed to dodge your shots or something, or maybe because they don't get as close to the door).

Walkthrough

 * Prologue and Sarif Plant
 * Detroit (part 1)
 * Highland Park
 * Hengsha (part 1)
 * Tai Yong Medical
 * Montreal
 * Detroit (part 2)
 * Hengsha (part 2)
 * Hei Zhen Zhu
 * Rifleman Bank Station
 * Singapore
 * Panchaea

Video walkthrough
My Let's Play on YouTube follows this guide and was completed without reloading (except to exit the game and continue later). There were two major screw-ups that could easily resulted in death: one at the very end of Hei Zhen Zhu, and another one with Typhoon turrets between the loading bays 2 and 1 at the beginning of RBS (and the turrets themselves were deployed because of the first screw-up). Both were easily avoidable. In Hei Zhen Zhu I should have waited until the other guard walks away far enough, and in RBS I should have eaten some candy bars and keep the cloak on to get past those turrets.