Gotham Knights was released on October 21, 2022. Now is the time for fans of the DC Universe to choose their favorite character from the bat family and embark on a mission to clean the streets of Gotham City of crime.
Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing and Red Hood are the four playable heroes to choose from in Gotham Knights. Each character comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. While Batgirl and Robin have cunning, learnable abilities and rely on evasive movements and silent assassinations, Red Hood is a bit tankier (more durable) in nature.
Each hero has three unique skill trees, through which they can learn cool skills by investing Action Points earned just by playing the title. Having a balanced combination of skills in builds is key in Gotham Knights for players to advance in the story with their chosen character. This article attempts to list the best early game builds for each hero.
Note: This article solely reflects the opinion of the authors
Best early game builds for Batgirl, Robin, Red Hood and Nightwing in Gotham Knights
1) Batgirl
Barbara Gordon, AKA, Batgirl is the daughter of Gotham City’s most respected police officer, Commissioner Gordon. She has spent many years as Batman’s apprentice, and over the years she has picked up many traits from the Dark Knight.
In Gotham Knights, Batgirl has transformed into a cold-blooded, tech-savvy assassin. Her skill tree is one of the most versatile and creative in the game. Here is the best build for her during the early game:
- Momentum Ability 1: Batarang Barrage
- Momentum Ability 2: Tonfa Jackhammer
- Melee: Tonfa
- Varied: Batarang
- Suit: New guard
- Best Pairing Skills: Remote Hacking, Shocking Devices, HP + and Second Wind
Players who choose Batgirl should definitely put getting the HP Plus skill on their list. Available in the Grit skill tree, it increases Batgirl’s health by 40%.
To supplement HP Plus, players should choose Second Wind, another skill available in the Grit tree. This ability restores 50% of Batgirl’s health after her health bar is severely depleted.
To transform Batgirl into an unstoppable silent killer, players must look to the Oracle skill tree and pick up the Shocking Devices ability that overheats the enemies’ weapons, rendering them useless.
Finally, players can go ahead and invest in Remote Hacking, also available in the Oracle Tree. It gives Batgirl the ability to move past alarms and sensors undetected, and is a utilitarian early game skill to have.
2) Robin
Robin is the youngest member of the Bat-family in the Gotham Knights, and as the spiritual successor to Batman, he has many gadgets up his sleeve. He is a versatile hero and can be built in many different ways. Robin possesses a cool set of skills that can be learned from the skill tree, which include fast, evasive abilities, as well as being able to perform hidden takedowns. Here’s the best early build for the character:
- Momentum Ability 1: Avoid decoys
- Momentum Ability 2: Fireworks
- Melee: Stay employees
- Varied: Sling shot
- Suit: New guard
- Best Pairing Skills: Lightfoot, Elemental Decoy, Perfect Evade and Elemental Charge
Robin is primarily a stealth based character. Players are advised to stick mostly to the Slugger skill tree when using him. The Light Footed skill is handy to have in the early game. It gives Robin the ability to move faster around the open world and take out unsuspecting enemies silently. Perfect Evade adds some counterpower to the character’s playstyle.
Robin’s Bo Staff is a versatile weapon that can deal massive crowd control damage. Therefore, players must definitely choose Fireworks Momentum Ability to pair it with Evade Decoy at the beginning.
3) Little Red Riding Hood
Unlike Robin, Jason Todd, AKA Red Hood is a tanker character in Gotham Knights. He is an exceptional marksman and enjoys using his ranged guns.
When it comes to the early game Momentum Ability, since Red Hood lacks melee in the depot and primarily relies more on his pistols, players should go for Mystical Punch to make up for the deficit.
Spoilsport Reload is the ideal Momentum ability to choose, along with Mystical Punch, to fully utilize the firearms Red Hood possesses. Here is a great and balanced early game build for Red Hood:
- Momentum Ability 1: Spoilsport Reload
- Momentum Ability 2: Mysterious punch
- Melee: Pistols
- Varied: Pistol rounds
- Suit: New guard
- Best Pairing Skills: Focused Fire, Lucky Rounds, Large Grab and Human Bomb Enhanced
Early in the game, players should focus on investing their Action Points into the skills available in the Marksman skill tree. The Focused Fire ability allows Red Hood to lock onto targets and deal extra damage.
While the Lucky Rounds skill deals 5X more damage compared to the regular rounds. If players learn to combine these two skills, this one and focused fire, in tandem, they can transform the Red Hood into an unstoppable force in Gotham Knights’ early game.
Players should complement his abilities by learning certain skills from the Brawler tree. The Human Bomb Enhanced is a great ability to have for the Red Hood’s arsenal. Through this skill, Red Hood attaches concussion mines to the body of whoever he grabs and throws. The mine explodes as soon as the player decides to shoot at the thrown body.
4) Nightwing
Nightwing is the original Robin from the old Batman series. Mobility is the character’s greatest asset, and he’s an expert when it comes to crowd control damage.
It’s difficult to keep Nightwing still for long, making it difficult for enemies to pin him down in one spot. When it comes to the early game, players should focus on picking skills from the Raptor and Acrobat skill trees for Nightwing. Here’s the ideal build for the lesser-known hero of the bat-family build:
- Momentum Ability 1: Dart Storm
- Momentum Ability 2: Speed increase
- Melee: Escrima Stick
- Varied: Poison darts
- Suit: New guard
- Best Pairing Skills: Extra Momentum, Evade Chain, Revive Darts and Elemental Smart Darts
Extra Momentum drastically increases Nightwing’s speed, which complements his playstyle which involves constantly hitting enemies and dodging. Players may consider combining Extra Momentum with Evade Chain from the Acrobat skill tree to enhance Nightwing’s evasive nature.
By controlling Nightwing, players can deal a ton of crowd control damage through his poison darts. The Speed Boost Momentum Ability pairs perfectly with Dart Storm, and players can choose to go for the Elemental Smart Dart available in the Pack Leader skill tree to deal extra elemental damage to enemies.
