In this Red Hood build guide, I will help you make your Red Hood the best melee brawler out there. Making sure that when you use this Gotham Knight, you stay true to the comics and lore from the Batfamily.
Red Hood is an interesting character in the Batfamily. He is a great melee fighter but relies on guns regardless. He’s quite clunky to play with at the start, but once Red Hood gets started, you better start running. Red Hood is a lean mean knock-you-out machine.
Table of contents
Introduction to the Red Hood character
Red Hood was a mysterious character who closely matched the brains and brawn of Batman. He set up his own criminal network in order to have revenge on Batman.
In the comics and movie, it took a long time for readers to guess who Red Hood was. He had the same fighting skills as Batman but he would continue where Batman would stop: Red Hood would murder whereas Batman would rough up criminals but never kill them.
Red Hood had an extensive arsenal of deadly weapons next to being a hand-to-hand combat expert. He also had access to cars, planes, and motorcycles. But of a little bit lesser quality than Batman’s.
This indicated that Red Hood had money but not as much as Batman, who is ofcourse a billionaire. But Red Hood came close.
In the end, Red Hood was unmasked by Batman and he turned out to be Jason Todd. Jason Todd was the Robin who came after Dick Grayson who went on to become Nightwing. And right before Tim Drake.
Jason Todd’s Robin was everything Dick Grayson wasn’t. He wasn’t as lighthearted as Dick for instance. His fighting style was already on edge from what Batman wanted. Which caused friction between the two. Also, Jason considered being a costumed hero a game. A trait that would ultimately cost him his life.
In the comic “A Death in the Family” was about the death of Jason Todd. After a long search for his biological mother, Jason finds her. He’s overjoyed because he’s reunited with her. But his mother is being blackmailed by the Joker. She has embezzled funds and the Joker found out about it. When Jason arrives, she hands him over to the Joker.
The Joker beats Jason Todd to a pulp and his mother too. Once Batman arrives to free both mother and son, he is too late. A bomb goes off killing both Jason and his mother.
Batman vowed to never go in the field again with an untrained Robin.
Little did he know that Rha’s al-Ghul would use one of his Lazarus pits to revive him. Jason Todd then became The Red Hood and vowed to kill Batman until somebody got through to him and he became one of the good guys once more. The mental scars are still visible.
In reality, the Jason Todd character was immensely unpopular. People loved Dick Grayson and wanted him to stay Robin instead of Jason Todd. DC opened a special phoneline where people could vote on whether or not to keep Jason Todd alive. The fans said no and thus Jason was killed by the Joker. By the fans, for the fans. Let’s call it that.
Skill Trees Choices and Recommendations
Below in the next few segments, I have all Red Hood Skill Trees and choices explained with tips on which Skills to pick first and why.
Best skills to pick from the Marksman tree of Red Hood
The Marksman Tree from Red Hood is the tree that consists of Ranged Abilities that augment his bombastic gunnery. Red Hood is an expert marksman in the game and he uses that to his advantage at both long range and short range. You can use his ranged abilities to knock out your opponents using his guns and inflict severe damage.
The following are the skills to pick for the Marksman Skill Tree.
| Icon | Name | Effect |
 | Perfect evade | Red Hood performs a perfectly timed evade that generates Momentum and allows for a perfect attack follow-up. (Unlocks Marksman Skill Tree) (1 point) |
 | Focused Fire | Red Hood can aim longer at a target to deal 4x more damage. (Needs Perfect Evade) (1 point) |
 | Lucky Rounds | Every round Red Hood shoots has a small chance to deal 5x the damage. Only applies to Ranged Attacks and Precision Aim. (Needs Perfect Evade) (2 points) |
Perfect Evade
A mandatory skill. It is the first skill you can pick in Gotham Knights and there is nothing else that you can pick. You can also say that Perfect Evade is the very backbone for every fighting style in-game. Simply because it is mandatory.
Focused Fire
Being able to aim longer and doing 4x more damage has saved my character many times at this point. The problem with it however is the following: You need to be in a position where you can aim your guns long enough to actually be able to get a shot.
Lucky Rounds
I picked Lucky Rounds because of the 5x extra damage you can put in. If you combine that with Focused Fire, you get to have 9x extra damage even if it is a small chance. Yes, I am that kind of optimist who would gamble on the 9x rather than going consistently for 10% crit damage. Which ofcourse is nice, but as I said; I am a gambler.
I don’t use my ranged abilities very much in-game. I like the fights up close and personal. Which is why I haven’t picked many ranged skills in the first place. The moments I do use my ranged abilities are mostly the moments when I see a laser scope aiming for me and I need to interrupt that mob.
I also use it to stop a robbery. For instance, if the mission objective is to keep 50.000 credits then I defend the doors of the armored truck that is under siege during a heist of a premeditated crime and make sure that if mobs do get away with big bags of money, I can shoot them and make sure they drop it. Staying close to my objectives as much as possible.
Other uses of ranged abilities are boss fights where you have to maintain a certain distance. For example, the fight versus Clayface. During that fight, Clayface makes use of his extended arms quite a bit. You can evade those moments using perfect evade but then what? You can’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Instead, you can use your ranged abilities to still inflict damage and on top of that using your ranged abilities will build up Momentum that you can use for your character’s unique skill set.
And the last use of ranged abilities is when you fully charge it to knock down a Talon. The Talons are masters of evasion and the only way to inflict damage is when you knock them using a charged version of your ranged ability. In order to use that use your button for quick range ability but press it longer and a small cone of Area of Effect damage will hit everything within that cone.
Best skills to pick from the Brawler Skill Tree of Red Hood
The Brawler Skill Tree of Red Hood consists of Melee Abilities. This is the bread and butter of Red Hood’s melee fighting style. Even though Jason Todd is a very intelligent character, he also has a lot of brawn. His streetfighting style combined with guns makes him an adversary who adversaries wished they hadn’t encountered.
The following are the skills to pick for the Brawler Skill Tree.
| Icon | Name | Effect |
 | Human Bomb | When Red Hood throws an enemy, he attaches a concussion mine to them that explodes when shot. (Unlocks Brawler Skill Tree) (3 points) |
 | Large Grab | Red Hood can perform grab moves on large enemies. (Needs Human Bomb) (1 point) |
 | Extended Grab Window | Extended Grab Window – Enemies can now be grabbed at 50% health or less. (Needs Human Bomb) (1 point) |
 | Human Bomb Enhanced | Increases damage and radius of the concussion mine explosion. (Needs Large Grab or Extended Grab Window) (2 points) |
 | Grip Expertise | Increases Red Hood’s damage when performing a grab move by 10%. (Needs Human Bomb Enhanced) (1 point) |
 | Iron Grip | Grabbing an enemy prevents Red Hood from being interrupted by most attacks. (Needs Human Bomb Enhanced) (2 points) |
 | Human Bomb Multiplied | Detonating the concussion mine deploys 6 additional concussion proximity mines on the ground. (Needs Iron Grip or Grip Expertise) (2 points) |
From the Brawler tree, I have simply picked everything. It is the most powerful tree for melee for Red Hood and on par with the Knighthood tree.
Human bomb combined with Human Bomb enhanced as well as Iron Grip and Human Bomb Multiplied and you have yourself a party. On a serious note, you will come across a lot of fights where a mob will attack you. And not just one wave but multiple waves. Fighting them off, if you are a single target bruiser like Batgirl, can be quite risky. You will be attacked from left, right, front and center.
With Red Hood, it is different. You grab a villain, throw him in the middle of a mob coming at you, shoot the villain you just threw in, and boom! The mob that was attacking you will be either stunned, frozen, or poisoned. I would go for concussive rounds if you can craft those in your guns.
Using Human Bomb Multiplied and 6 additional concussion proximity mines will explode. Stunning any other mob coming after you and giving you time to pick them off one by one. So in short, with Human Bomb in all variations, you buy yourself a lot of time.
During fights where it is still crowded and you don’t have enough time yet to grab a mob to throw it, having Iron Grip is a very reasonable solution, to put it nicely. You can barely be interrupted and if you are fast enough, the throw is almost always on point.
I also picked Large Grab to be able to grab mini-bosses. The advantage of using Large Grab on mini-bosses is that you can use it multiple times in multiple waves. For example, I was trying to stop a hackathon from the list of premeditated crimes. Multiple waves came in and I tried to detonate a mini-boss. Much to my surprise, I could do that and do it over up to 2x. The same goes for Giant Talons when you throw them at the Talons.
There are some disadvantages; depending on gear, the Brawler tree is a bit overpowered. So if you are facing a wave of mobs and want to detonate it then you are better off picking a bigger one. The smaller mobs go down before you can detonate them. But that’s about the only disadvantage I could find with my build.
Best skills to pick from the Vengeance Skill Tree of Red Hood
The Vengeance Skill Tree is exactly what it says: It’s all about vengeance. Vengeance against the Freaks, Regulators, and Mobs. The skill tree pretty much augments your damage output for both melee and ranged abilities.
What skills to pick from the Vengeance Skill Tree of Red Hood
| Icon | Name | Effect |
 | Coup de Grace | Red Hood inflicts 10% more damage on enemies with 30% health or less. (Unlock the Vengeance Skill Tree) (1 point) |
 | Freak Justice | Increases Red Hood’s damage by 15% and critical damage by 5% when fighting Freaks. (Needs Coup De Grace) (1 point) |
 | Regulator Justice | Increases Red Hood’s damage by 15% and critical damage by 5% when fighting the Regulators. (Needs Freak Justice) (2 points) |
 | Mob Justice | Increases Red Hood’s damage by 15% and critical damage by 5% when fighting the Mob. (Needs Freak Justice) (2 points) |
 | Combined Fire | Red Hood and his allies inflict increased damage when focused on a single target. Only applies to Ranged Attack combos and Precision Aim. |
 | Unrestricted Fire | After using Two-Fisted Reload, Red Hood can shoot unlimited rounds for a short period of time. |
 | Double Vortex | After using Two-Fisted Reload, Red Hood shoots double the number of rounds for a short period of time. |
I have picked these particular skills and chose them to augment Red Hood for the premeditated crimes. Often enough you will be outnumbered but by using these skills you will never be outgunned.
There are several Burroughs in Gotham where you will find Freaks, Regulator, or Mobs. But also during boss fights like when you trail Mr. Freeze. Which is basically fighting through a lot of Regulators with their high-end tech gadgets such as the Homey Pigeon or the many many ice guns. And I have had particular issues with them.
After playing Multiplayer in Gotham Knights, I decided to add Combined Fire, Unrestricted Fire and Double Vortex.
You can lead an attack with those particular skills as well as support your fellow teammates when you have unlimited bullets and double the number of rounds to shoot with. It is very powerful and borderline overpowered.
The Regulators come in large numbers, in several waves, and with powerful weapons. And I have often found myself outnumbered and at times even a little desperate because of that.
When I finally got the skill points, I specced into Freak Justice, Regulator Justice, and Mob Justice. The faster you can take them down, the better and all damage inflicted is good damage in desperate times.
Best skills to pick from the Knighthood Skill Tree of Red Hood
The Knighthood Skill Tree is a true marvel and it is one of the strongest skill tree that Red Hood has. Almost every skill you pick inflicts fear. And Red Hood is a scary character.
The following are the skills to pick for the Knighthood Skill Tree.
| Icon | Name | Effect |
 | Mystical Leap | Red Hood traverses through the air using spirit platforms. |
 | Ranged Terror | Every shot that knocks out a target inflicts Fear in nearby enemies |
 | Weak Spot Damage+ | Increases headshot and weak spot damage by 15% |
 | Grab Dread | Grabbing a target inflicts Fear in nearby enemies |
 | Combat Mastery | Increases the number of attacks in Red Hood’s Ranged Attack combo by 1. The last hit is a knockdown |
 | Ducra’s Training | Mystical Rounds requires 50% less time to lock on targets |
I can’t emphasize enough that you need to unlock the Knighthood Tree as soon as possible. The skills that you can choose from are so very needed when you take on the hardest bosses in the game.
Mystical Leap will make sure that you can get where needed at a high pace. Having unlocked most of the Knighthood trees in my game, I can tell you that Mystical Leap is the fastest one and Nightwing is the slowest. Batgirl is somewhere in between.
If you have read my previous Brawler skill tree then you see that I have picked the entire tree. So when you pick Grab Dread, imagine the morale going low the moment you grab one of the villains who are trying to knock you down.
While they go low, you go high by throwing them into the crowd of mobs and shooting them. So what you have is a mob that is stunned and the surrounding mobs in fear. Imagine that, all of them stunned and the rest cringing in fear. It makes life a lot easier.
Weak Spot Damage augments the ranged skills you have picked from the marksman tree as well as the melee tree when you slap them in their weakest points.
Gearing Recommendations
For my build, I went for the Legendary Linked Suit at level 40. Simply because it is an all-round suit that can be used in any situation such as versus the Regulators, Talons, Freaks and Mobs.
Sure, you will have less resistance versus Elemental Damage such as Cryo and Poison but you are well protected from concussives. And what you make up for that is increased Momentum generation.
And Momentum is what you need to use your Momentum abilities. So almost always having your bar filled to use Momentum abilities is a nice trade-off.
What suit and mods to use
The mods I would use for the legendary suit would be the legendary +40 health and you can stack it up to 3x and give 43% extra health so that’s 129% extra. A real winner right there.
Linked Suit description
Legendary suit that covers all basic stats and provides increased Momentum generation and resistance against Concussive Elemental build-up.\
Gear Properties:
- Counterstrike Protection – Knocking out an enemy with a Perfect Attack cancels the damage taken on the next attack.
- Revived Stalwart – Instantly grants health to the wearer and their allies after reviving an ally.
- Ultimate Power – Increases damage for a short duration after using an Ultimate Ability.
What mods and legendary to use for ranged
For my Melee Guns, I use Critical Momentum Rounds. They provide faster Momentum Generation and Crit for a short duration after I knock out an enemy with a ranged ability. I used Legendary Crit mods to increase critical damage. It 43% extra damage per mod and it stacks.
The official description is as follows:
Critical Momentum Rounds
Legendary non-lethal rounds that increase Critical chance and Momentum generation for a short duration after knocking out an enemy with a Ranged Ability.
Gear Properties:
- Knockout Rally – Knocking out an enemy with a Momentum Ability increases Critical chance and Momentum generation for a short duration.
- Exploit Bullseye – Headshots significantly increase Critical chance for a short duration.
What mods and legendary to use for melee
As stated before, I went for a melee build with the guns as support instead of the other way around. Given the history of the Gotham Knights from the lore, melee was the way to go because the experience is that you come closest to what the Red Hood character should be.
For my build I used Critical Momentum Pistols. It is direct damage and you can stun large groups. Especially when you go for schematics of any kind then you will come across heavy mobs with usually 1 or 2 mini-bosses.
Also using a momentum ability will increase your Momentum generation and Crit for a short duration. And it stacks with your Linked Suit and Critical Momentum Rounds.
The official description is as follows:
Legendary pistols that increase Critical chance and Momentum generation for a short duration after knocking out an enemy with a Melee Ability.
Gear Properties
- Knockout Rally – Knocking out an enemy with a Momentum Ability increases Critical chance and Momentum generation for a short duration.
- Exploit Bullseye – Headshots significantly increase Critical chance for a short duration.
How to get Legendary Schematics in Gotham Knights
When you are going for Legendary schematics, go through all of the Premeditated Crimes that are labeled Very High and that is the highest gradation in Gotham Knights.
The Very High difficulty level is the only one in the Premeditated Crimes series that gives you a bigger chance of dropping Legendary items.
For example, the mob composition is as follows:
2 mini-bosses, 1 reviver, 3 snipers, and 5 brawlers. If you look at my example then you would see that a single target build such as the Gold Guns with the Gold Rounds would take ages to get that group down.
On top of that, the brawlers and mini-bosses are all melee. Try and stay away from ranged weapons. I can almost guarantee you that won’t work sufficiently enough for you.
Punches coming in from left and right. Mini-bosses from behind and upfront. If you use Concussive Armor plus critical damage mods, you can punch out the entire group before they can even blink.
Conclusion: why this Red Hood Build is the best
This is my Red Hood Best Build Guide. As you can see, I rely heavily on Momentum Generation for every skill that I use. And my build is a heavy crit build because of the Legendaries that I use. The more crit the better and there are no diminishing returns on crit either so stack it for this build as much as you can.
This entire build is to keep Momentum Generation and Crit going. All of the gear pieces stack and thus whether you are using your ranged abilities or your melee abilities, you will always generate Momentum and when you use your Momentum abilities it will just keep generating more. You can’t ever run out of Momentum this way and thus keep using your hardest hits.
Just like in the comics, Red Hood is formidable in hand-to-hand combat but also formidable at using pistols, guns, automatic weapons, and sniper rifles. Although you can only use pistols, the Red Hood from Gotham Knights manages to capture the essence of his comic book counterpart: Kick ass with martial arts while shooting non-lethal rounds into his enemies in order to incapacitate them so they can’t escape justice when the police arrive.
