User:Alqualos/Detroit part 2 Iron Man guide

This article is a part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution Iron Man Guide. It covers Detroit, part 2. By this time you may wish to upgrade sprint in various ways and/or get CASIE, which is very useful here.

Convincing Taggart
Pick up some goodies on the roof and go talk to Sarif. Once done, do the main quest as quickly as possible without any exploration or detours. This is because Sandoval quest is slightly bugged and he may attack you on sight even if you convince Taggart beforehand. So go talk to Taggart immediately and forget about Radford for now.

Convincing Taggart isn't that hard, but if you fail you'll have to sneak backstage which is risky. You probably have some Praxis points to spare, so using alpha CASIE pheromones is a reasonable option. If you decide to convince Taggart without CASIE, try to pick reasonable answers, change your argument if he reacts negatively, and don't mention his wife directly. When you get to the last option, choose the "You have nothing to lose if Sandoval is innocent" line. I only managed to fail this conversation once and only because I said something about his wife at the last option.

If you fail the conversation, enter the backstage through the bathroom vent and go back the same way using the heavy crate in the backstage room. Don't break the wall for obvious reasons.

Getting into Sandoval's lair
Proceed quickly to Sandoval's apartment. Enter the building using the ladder you used to get on the roof from where you took out those Derelict Row guards. Once inside, proceed until you hear two guys talking about something with the "Do you think I'm an idiot?" line. Once they pass the stairs, descend to their level, quickly crawl behind them and take them down simultaneously. Proceed to the apartment.

Be careful inside. Crawl slowly and move the corpse. Take the mines and the Praxis kit. Now arm the stun gun, move towards the door, take cover beside it and open it. Shoot Sanders with the stun gun blindly as he gets close to the door.

Go to the bathroom and use the breaker switch. Enter the secret lair. Be careful as there are two guys below and stairs provide little cover. I recommend to headshoot the guys with the pistol before proceeding. Tranquilizer rifle works too but the second guy may be in a very inconvenient position when he tries to revive the first one so you may not be able to get a clear shot at him. Alternatively, you may use silent run with the cloak to get past them, as you won't be going back the same way.

When the guys are taken care of, descend into the sewer. There is a T-intersection with one of the parallel hallways leading to the place where the most guys are. Each of these hallways is patrolled by a single guard. Be careful at that T-intersection because the guard patrolling the hallway will look in your side when passing it. So use cover and when he walks away (and not to the side where the other guys are), take him down. Drag his body inside the small crawlspace. Proceed along that crawlspace and the closed-off room until you're close to the second patrolled hallway.

Be careful with this hallway because the guard checks his six shortly after passing the entrance to the crawlspace, as he walks away from the place where the most guards are. The best moment to take him down is right after he checks his six. If you crawl out at that moment you should catch up with him just as he approaches the laser grid. Take him down and slowly push his body forward until the laser grid turns off. Or just hack it or use the code found on the guard's body.

Now you'll have to crawl very slowly because of the frag mines. Don't try to disarm them because they are located in hard to reach places and Sandoval's hidden office is very close.

Talking to Sandoval
It doesn't really matter whether you convince Sandoval to live or not except for 1000 XP bonus. He's a nice guy, however, so do your best. Or just use omega pheromones on him if you have CASIE.

If you were slow to reach Sandoval or if you took some detours or had to sneak backstage, Sandoval may try to kill you instead of himself. In such case, cloak immediately, get close to him and take him out with the stun gun.

Either way, once Sandoval is taken care of, proceed through the alternative exit. Now it's probably the right time to do Radford quest or Nicky quest. I suggest you do Radford first because it's the hardest of the two.

Radford quest
Take down the guard inside Radford's apartment. This is probably one of the few cases where lethal take-down is what the doctor ordered. There's nobody to hear the scream and the bastard deserved it. Talk to Radford, possibly using alpha pheromones to let him live.

Now go to the storage locker using the convenient crawl space in Earl's Court. This is one of the hardest places so be careful and run back to the crawlspace immediately if things get hot. The bad guys aren't going anywhere.

I suggest you take cover, headshoot the guy talking on the phone and then quickly move back inside the crawlspace. The other guys will get alarmed but you'll be long gone by the time they figure out what's going on. Now have a cup of tea while they are searching for you, then come back and shoot a tranquilizer dart into the farthest of the two guys remaining outside. The second guy will of course try to revive him so shoot him too. The last guy doesn't like to leave the locker so he won't try to revive him. Wait again until thing calm down, then just creep behind the remaining guy and take him down. This method requires a lot of time, but is very reliable in practice.

If you want to take them down faster, I suggest you use the dumpster as a cover. I mean the dumpster you have to move as you emerge from the crawlspace. Properly placed, it will allow you to stealthily take out the guard that was talking on the phone once he starts patrolling. Then proceed as described above. It is very hard to do the whole thing without alarming anyone. Perhaps it can be done by taking down the first guard stealthily, then taking down the guard inside, and only then taking out the last two guys outside. But it's more risky, so I wouldn't recommend it for Iron Man mode.

The rest is straightforward. Look at the evidence and go talk to Michelle, possibly using beta pheromones on her.

Nicky quest
Search everywhere above, then descend into the sewers from the alley. The place is filled with frag mines, so be very careful. Stay clear of those boxes and barrels and disarm every mine you see. It is easy to miss some, so do a second sweep once you're done.

Proceed along the large hallway you're in, jumping across the side passages. Once you reach the security hub, be careful. White sometimes looks this way while he patrols his area, so wait until he walks away. Use an AUD on the hub because it's easy to lose track of time while hacking. Disable the turrets. Now wait until White walks away again and get to the place where you saw him. Wait until he turns right, to the PD entrance, then gets back. He then turns right again, away from you, and this is the best moment to take him down. Use the lucky code 0000 on the bomb or just hack it.

When backtracking your way to the alley, move carefully and listen well just in case you missed one of that mines. It really saved my life once. Return to Nicky for your reward, then get back to your apartment, fly to HQ and then to Hengsha, part 2.