How to beat Mission 5 without a torch (and get all other badges) in Desperados III

This time we did start the fire.
Desperados 3

The fifth mission in Desperados III, “The Magnificent Five,” is the first time you’re out and about without the main protagonist, Connor. It’s also the first mission that really ramps up the difficulty. You’re going to have to play this one multiple times to get every badge, but it’s a welcome challenge, especially since this level gives you plenty of new tools to play around with.

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McCoy will get access to his swamp gas vial in this mission, and Hector will finally be able to use his shotgun. More importantly, this mission introduces torches and oil puddles. As you probably guessed, they combine pretty well to take down large groups of enemies. You’ll want to keep in mind that carrying a torch will make you visible in an enemy’s non-solid cone of vision even while crouching, so it’s not always a good idea to run around with one. One of the hardest badges to get requires you to complete the mission without using a torch.

Finishing the final showdown without a torch

Desperados III mission five showdown

Most of the missions can be completed straightforwardly without using the good old torch and oil trick. It will take more time and require you to be more methodical about killing the five long coats you’ll have to take out after rescuing Hector, but it’s the final showdown where things get difficult. In the last stage of the mission, the area seen above will get crowded with enemies and flooded with oil. Beating the mission normally is just a matter of one well-placed torch toss. Doing so without a torch will require you to pick off as many people in the periphery of the major shootout first. Use McCoy’s scoped pistol liberally here; there’s enough gunfire going on that the sound won’t always alarm other enemies, and there is no reason to save the ammo. Once you’ve dwindled down the enemy numbers, it’s time to position Hector so that he can take out as many people as he can with a single blast of his shotgun. You don’t need to kill every single person in the stage, just enough to trigger the final cut-scene. Make sure to save before you go guns blazing just in case you need to go back and pick off a few more of the stragglers first.

Burning 15 guards in oil puddles

Desperados III oil puddle

You’ll have to do some planning to get this badge as there aren’t enough guards who regularly walk-through oil puddles to do so through the normal course of the mission. The key here is to tie up some folks and save them for an open puddle. In the early stage—when you’re only controlling McCoy—it is pretty easy to get some goons unconscious and wrapped up. Once you’ve got a good number, the easiest oil puddle to get the bodies to is the one in the bottom-right corner of the map (as seen above). You can drag people here along the bottom of the map, and take them over the wooden footbridge to get them in position. Once you’ve got enough, light them up, and collect your badge.

Winning the bet with both Hector and McCoy

This badge will also require you to play through the mission again. After Hector and McCoy reunite, they will bet a bottle of whiskey over who can kill the most people. With each kill, the character will mention the number they are at, so keep track of what they say. If you play in a balanced way, there’s a good chance they’ll be pretty equal by the end of the mission. Choose whoever you want to win the bet to be the one to toss the torch into the final oil puddle, rinse, and then repeat the process with the other character.

All other badges

  • Kill all Long Coats.
    • You only need to kill five of them to get to the final stage of the mission, but to get this badge you’ll have to kill all seven on the map.
  • Don’t save during the mission.
  • Speedrun: Complete the mission in under 17:00 minutes.
  • Complete the mission on Hard difficulty.

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