User:Alqualos/Highland Park Iron Man guide

This article is a part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Iron Man Guide. It covers Highland Park, including the first boss fight. Be sure to have hacking level 2 and turret domination by the time you get to Barrett. Not to mention handling heavy items which you should have by the start of this mission.

Entering the main building
First, when you get outside, turn the cloak on so the guys nearby don't spot you, and hide behind cover. Wait for recharge, then proceed carefully from cover to cover, keeping to the left until you reach a truck with a guard patrolling next to the left of it. You can take out this guy if you wish, but I wouldn't recommend it since there are other guys nearby and they can see the body even if you take out the guard when he's close to you. So just leave him alone, wait until he turns his back to you, crawl to the nearby heavy crate, move it and get inside the scaffolding. Once inside, you may wish to turn on the cloak while you move along the corner because you can actually be seen there.

Now move along the scaffolding to the other end. But if things get hot, do not wait inside the scaffolding. These guys can turn invisible and you may feel like you're safely waiting for them to calm down and the next thing you know is that someone shoots you with a shotgun at point-blank range. These guys aren't called "sneakers" for nothing! So if things do get hot, turn your cloak on, keep on crunching those candy bars hoping you don't run out of them, and continue along the route described below real fast. Otherwise, continue anyway, but slowly.

Whether things got hot or not, you emerge at the other end of the passage, next to an entrance to the main building. There is a guard patrolling next to the entrance. Leave him alone and wait until he and the guy you left behind both turn their backs to you. It's easy because the guy you left behind spends most of the time near the truck and the other one often looks the other way or even walks somewhere where you can't even see him. If you're paranoid, turn on the cloak before proceeding further. Continue along the left-hand map border and In a couple of seconds you'll be behind the containers where they will never see you.

Behind the containers you find some mesh-wall with a gate. If things got hot this is where you should get as fast as possible, then use an AUD on the door and get on the roof. If you have the hacking skills to match and are not running for your life, just hack the gate and climb the ladder.You may wish to turn on the cloak when climbing the ladder, just to be sure. Once up on the roof, you may wait until the alarm calms down if you screwed up something. But that's really unlikely because this is actually one of the easiest parts of the mission, even if it sounds messy.

Now crawl along the wall and enter the building through the door on the roof.

Entering the secret base
This part is actually the easiest one. Crawl inside, take cover and choose what to do with the sniper. He is probably absolutely harmless to you, so you may wish to leave him alone. I usually take him down if only just for fun because it's absolutely safe. To do it, just crawl along the railing, jumping from cover to cover when the sniper is looking away, then just crawl behind him at the right moment and take him down.

Whether you took down the sniper or not, enter the air duct on the wall and get down. You emerge right next to the base entrance! Now just wait until camera looks away and enter the elevator. Use the cloak, by the way, since you'll have more than enough time to recharge inside the elevator. You even get the ghost bonus if you didn't screw up outside.

Passing through the large areas
Now this part is definitely one of the trickiest in the game. Hide behind cover and take the goodies. Move carefully to the left and jump inside that structure at the right moment. Do not hang around there, head directly to the grate and hide below. Even if you screwed up something you should be able to wait inside.

You emerge under that platform with a guard on it. You can be seen while under the platform, so as usual take double measures: use the cloak and emerge from the air duct only when the bot and the guard (not the one on the platform) are looking away. Your goal is to proceed towards the exit door (across from where you entered) and emerge from under the platform. The cloak must be on when you emerge since otherwise you could be seen by the guy on the platform. So you may either use a candy bar or maybe only turn the cloak on just before you get outside from under the platform.

If everything went right, you should now be taking cover right next to the platform so that the guy on it stands almost directly above you when he is the closest to the exit door. This feels very funny and exciting at the same time. Wait until your battery recharges and everyone is looking away, then turn the cloak on and carefully go through the exit door. You've just completed the hardest part.

Once inside the passage move along the right wall and listen to the guys talking about the Dutchman and the flight. Once they finish talking, take down the one remaining there, drag his body around the corner where you came from (but close to the wall so that the guys in the previous area don't see it) and go up the ladder.

If you can, hack the armory, then move to the next large area. There, use the cloak before you emerge from the entrance room out into the open area. Hide behind the railing and recharge. Now your goal is to take out the guy patrolling the center catwalk right in front of you. You should either headshoot him with the 10mm pistol or (my favorite way) use the tranquilizer rifle with the target-leading system. You should take him out while he's roughly in front of you, far away from the camera and not at the crossing. The best moment is probably just after he looks in your direction while walking to the right. Just make sure you don't shoot him while he's looking at you. If you make that mistake, everyone turns hostile, so turn your cloak on and run back to the armory where it is reasonably safe to wait out while they are looking for you out there.

If you succeeded at taking out that guy, proceed to the left, then across the room, crossing that central catwalk where the guy was. Leave his body alone for now. Your goal is to visit the security room on the other side (which is similar to the room you came from) and take out the remaining guards. You can do it in any order you like. If you decide to take the security room first, use an AUD on the security hub when nobody is looking, and turn off the cameras. As for the guards, one is easily taken down when he's around the corner where nobody else can see him, and others are very easy to get with the tranquilizer rifle. Now go through the exit to the stairs and carefully proceed down.

Getting to the boss
This area has no guards, but there are some cameras (which are easily avoided) and two FEMA rats. If you were detected earlier, do not even let them see you because they now know you're an enemy and will alert the guards. If you were a ghost inside the base then just don't enter their room and don't let them see you hacking anything. Obstructing their view with boxes while you're hacking into Barrett's room is the canonical way of doing it and you could use some XP. If you screw up, just run to the boss area quickly and you'll be safe.

If things are calm, be sure to search everywhere for goodies, then continue on.

Barrett
The first thing you need to do is to stun him. The best way seems to be to hide behind the concrete block and throw an EMP grenade at him. While this almost always works, there's a risk that he will throw a frag grenade at you first which is not so good for Iron Man. So I suggest you sprint like mad at him instead and stun him with the stun gun. He may get a few shots at you, but will hardly kill you even if you didn't use that medicine from the medical bay (which you really should have). If you're fast enough, he won't be even able to shoot.

While he's stunned, run across the room to the far right corner. On a side note, if you used the stun gun you now have the advantage of being closer to your destination. Either way, go there and up the ladder. Now you're safe for the time being. Hack the hub while Barrett throws grenades at you, turn off the cameras and open the doors. Now proceed along the passage, enter the air duct behind the crate and crawl to the other side. The good news is that Barrett is probably at the opposite corner now, where you climbed up the ladder. If he's not far away (which sometimes happens), you should probably backtrack and lure him away somehow (be careful), although if you were quick enough it shouldn't be necessary.

Once you have decided it's safe to go down, do so and quickly run through the nearest door you opened from the hub above. There, enter the vent behind the boxes (practice run comes in very handy here) and follow the air duct to the left. Hack the hub there, switch the turrets to enemies and go back. Watch your radar when you decide where to emerge, but Barrett should still be very far away. Now carry one of the turrets outside. When it starts shooting, put it down and run back. While Barrett is fighting the turret, grab the second one just to be sure and carry it outside using the other path so Barrett is getting cross-fire now. He'll be dead within a few seconds, maybe even before you manage to bring out the second turret. If this is your practice run, keep doing the whole thing again and again until you're comfortable with it. I suggest about 10 reruns.

Now go up, mumble something about why you couldn't go straight to Barrett using that elevator right away, and continue on to Detroit City. When there, tie up loose ends and get ready to fly to Hengsha.