Heat Level in Watch Dogs 2

This page is for the heat level in Watch Dogs 2. For the heat level in Watch Dogs, see here.

The Heat Level is a gameplay mechanism in Watch Dogs 2, which triggers police or other faction response accordingly.

Overview

The Heat Level is a system that indicates how much the player is wanted by the triggering faction. For the police, it is gained by having a crime reported or witnessed by the authorities, and starts at low, where they attempt non-lethal arrest to high threat which is lethal force. The police Heat Level increases as more crimes are committed by the player. Other factions, such as Umeni or the gangs, have Heat Levels that are given by them noticing the player invading a restricted area or other hostile actions, and they begin with lethal force and grow more aggressive the higher the Heat Level is. Enemies with the ability to call reinforcements can do that as many times as they want. To call reinforcements, they usually take cover in a location that is relatively far from the player or hard-to-reach. When they begin calling the reinforcements, a red upside-down triangle with what resembles a Wi-Fi signal symbol appears above the enemy's head, and the triangle starts filling from right to left. If the triangle fills, the message “Reinforcements have been called” appears, and a few seconds after, vehicles belonging to the enemy faction arrive. The higher the Heat Level, the stronger and more numerous are the reinforcements called by those factions. To cancel the call, the player has to either get close enough to the enemy, use a hack that affects their earpiece, or simply either hurt, stun, or kill the enemy.

Analysis

Police Heat Level.

There are five triangles with an exclamation mark in them and with depending colors, a black triangle with white sidebar indicates the player has committed a crime but is not being chased by the authorities, on the other hand, if the triangle is red with black sidebar, this indicates the player is currently being chased by the authorities.

CTOS Heat Level.

The heat level will be cleared completely after a successful evasion from the authorities or other factions. If the player has outstanding heat levels from authorities, they will be slowly cleared one by one as time passes by without committing another crime.

The Heat Level has been expanded to faction members as well. If a faction member(s) commit several crimes in a row (i.e Shooting and killing several police personnel) the heat level on them will be increased slowly at which point the police will send tougher forces to stop them (i.e SWAT). The player can also receive a heat level if they are actively chased by other factions such as Umeni, Tezcas, Bratva, etc which can be increased if the player kills several faction members. If two or more factions are in conflict each other, the heat level will give a hint to the player indicating the certain factions in conflict each other but will not necessarily mean the player is being chased by the factions unless the triangles are flashing red color with exclamation marks as stated above.

If an alarm in the faction's territory has been triggered, the message, "(Faction Name) has been alerted by your actions." will appear.

Aside from the Heat Level, the game also uses some symbols to indicate the state of an enemy, and what actions the faction is currently doing.

• Yellow exclamation point: The enemy has detected the player but hasn’t engaged them into combat. The enemy will hold the player at gunpoint and slowly walk over to his location to apprehend him. If the player lets the faction member apprehend him, it will be game over and the player will respawn nearby, just as if the player died. Like dying, no penalties will be issued upon the player.
• Red exclamation point: The enemy has engaged the player in combat.

When the player is engaged by the faction, the message “(Faction Name) has engaged you in combat” appears. If the enemy has detected a co-op partner, the message “(Faction Name) has engaged your co-op partner in combat” appears. During this phase, any members belonging to the hostile faction will attack the detected on sight.

• Yellow question mark: The enemy has lost sight of the player and is searching for him. When this happens, the message “(Faction Name) is searching the area for you” appears. If the enemy is searching your co-op partner, the message “(Faction Name) is searching the area for [your co-op partner]” appears. During this phase, if any member belonging to the hostile faction detects the player/co-op partner on sight, even if the player/co-op partner is outside a restricted area or is not displaying a weapon, they will engage the player/co-op partner.

In addition, when the enemy finds a knocked-out comrade, they will walk over to them and try to wake them up. If the comrade is found dead, The player will have a few seconds to defeat the enemy before they notify their partners of this. If the enemy manages to notify the other faction members, the message “(Faction Name) is searching the area” will appear, and instead of walking passively, the enemies will start actively searching the area for any threats, but they will stop searching the area if they don’t find any hostiles.

The factions and their reinforcements seem to become more powerful by default as the player progresses through the storyline. For example, in the beginning of the game, enemies tougher than a Gunman rarely appear, and each reinforcement call only brings 1 vehicle (Or two faction members) at Heat Level 0. But, by the time the player completes Motherload, Armored Gunmen, Elites and Enforcers are quite common, and each reinforcement call brings at least 3 cars or at least six faction members at Heat Level 0, and those faction members are usually Armored Gunmen, Elites or Enforcers. Marksmen and Grenadiers can never call reinforcements, likely because they are more of a specialized enemy instead of a foot soldier. The enemies summoned by a reinforcement call are unable to call new reinforcements, no matter what type of enemy they are.

Attracting the Police

Due to the persistent presence of law enforcement in the streets, attracting police attention is somewhat easy. If the player commits a crime, there is a chance a pedestrian may call the police and report him, depending on the seriousness. A call will take only a few seconds before authorities will be alerted and arrive on the scene. Another way to attract police attention is simply committing a crime in front of a police car or a police officer.

Unlike in the previous installment, pedestrians will not call the police that often - they will call the police if the player has repeatedly committed a crime (Punching up to 2-3 pedestrians at a time, for example). Pedestrians may call the police if they witness the protagonist:

• Wielding two handed weapons on the street
• Hurting or killing civilians.
• Fire weapons on the street.
• Steal a car.
• Run over one or multiple civilians in a car.

To cancel a 911 call, the player has to use distraction hack, walk to a pedestrian and drop his or her phone, driving by them too close or aim a gun at them. Killing them is an option as well but will increase the heat level if doing so.

If a patrol car or foot officer witnesses a crime on sight, they will immediately pursue the player and stop them by arresting them or using lethal force. If the player is losing them, patrol cars will drive around the player's area, looking for him.

(If the player's heat level is 0, it will be set to the heat level next to the crime.)

The following crimes will attract immediate police attention if seen:

• Wielding a two-handed weapon on the streets. (Heat Level 1)
• Running with a one-handed weapon. (Heat Level 1)
• Aiming any weapon. (Heat Level 2)
• Assaulting and/or killing civilians. (Heat Level 1)
• Fire weapons on the streets. (Heat Level 2)
• Throw an explosive. (Heat Level 2)
• Steal a vehicle. (Heat Level 1)
• Climbing on top of police car. (Heat Level 1)
• Insulting a police officer. (Heat Level 1)
• Stealing a car and escaping from the Dealership with it. (Heat Level 2 or 3)
• Driving a police car. (Only if not wearing the police uniform) (Heat Level 2)

There are certain crimes which will NOT attract police attention, but will only increase the heat level, which are:

• Killing police personnel by using certain hacks or stealth.

Crimes that will make the police go into search mode if they are nearby:

• Throwing an electro-shock on a police car. (ctOS Heat Level 1)
• Hacking an unoccupied police vehicle. (ctOS Heat Level 1)
• Hacking an occupied police vehicle 3 times. (ctOS Heat Level 1)
• Blowing vehicles with an occupant.

Police Pursuit

First Phase: 911 Callers

A civilian is calling the police.

At the first phase, Marcus has committed a crime which attracted an unwanted civilian attention; thus, civilians begin to report him to the police by dialing 911.

Marcus can stop the caller by approaching him and using a takedown action which will grab their phones and smash them, driving too close to them, aiming gun at them or using distraction hack. Shooting a witness caller may sometimes attract another civilian calling the police.

If a patrol car witnesses Marcus committing a crime on spot, this phase is skipped to second phase. If Marcus is on foot when the witness call finishes, phase 3 usually starts unless he was driving a car or had more than two heat levels.

Second Phase: Police Pursuit

During this phase, the police has received the call, located Marcus and are giving a chase. This phase is very common and happen a lot by police sight over witness calls, especially if the player is trying to do illegal activities in the public as the police patrols more often.

If the player has more than two heat levels, this message will appear, indicating the police will shoot on sight.

To evade a pursuit, Marcus has to break police line of sight by keeping a long distance from every patrol car for several seconds. Using vehicle hacks is highly recommended during this phase, as shooting will make matters worse and increase the heat level, thus bringing tougher and larger police force. Marcus can use traffic light hacks, steam pipe hack, blockers, and so on to destroy certain police vehicles. There will be automatic usage of hack by pushing a prompt button on the screen if the player has unlocked a certain skill, similarly in the predecessor. The player can also take a boat and evade on the water, but police boats will appear and give chase, making all police pursuits in water very difficult, especially since if fired upon, they will fire back. In higher heat levels, particularly at heat level 5, all officers in vehicles begin firing through their windows.

Once all visual contact on Marcus has been lost, the police will enter the third phase. If Marcus had one ctOS heat level and was on foot during witness call, the second phase is usually skipped to the third phase.

Third Phase: Search Mode

During this phase, police has lost all visual contact of Marcus and will begin a vicinity search for his sight. Police cars will slowly drive around the area looking for him. Police will also enter the third phase if Marcus was on foot with one heat level when a witness call was completed.

This message indicates the police are looking for the player.

Depending on the heat level, the higher it is, the longer time it will take for the search to be called off. Police officers will leave their patrol car if they are near the least seen area, but no police foot patrols will spawn around the area. If the player escapes a certain radius on the minimap (not shown) without being seen, the search will be called off and the player's heat level will be cleared.

Dispatched Units

• One triangle: 2 police cruisers will be dispatched. All officers will attempt to arrest the player. More police cruisers can respond in vicinity. Police officers do not wear kevlars.
• Two triangles: 3 police cruisers will be dispatched. All officers will use lethal force on the player during heat level 2 and in increasing heat levels. Roadblocks formed with police cruisers will be placed. Police officers wear kevlars.
• Three triangles: 4 police cars dispatched. Police Talos along with Police Cruisers will respond. Police Helicopter will respond as support unit and will open fire if being fired to. Roadblocks formed with police cruisers will be placed. Police dogs will also assist the police, but there will be a small number of dogs helping. Other players will be able to start a bounty hunt to kill the player that's being pursued.
• Four triangles: 5 police cars dispatched. Police cruisers will be called off as Police Talos and one or two MRAPs will respond. MRAPs are being driven by two Elite SWAT members. The Police Helicopter will begin to open fire. Roadblocks formed by Police Talos will be placed. The police dogs have a larger appearance than at three triangles.
• Five triangles: 6 police cars dispatched. MRAP are taking over the pursuit as only one or two Police Talos will still respond. An Enforcer and a regular SWAT member will be in the MRAP. All police officers will shoot through the windows at the player. Roadblocks formed by MRAP will be placed. There will be a large number of police dogs as well.

Trivia

• Although the player can start conflicts between the police and factions by hacks, most conflicts happen naturally, and the player will be alerted in the top right corner when conflicts arise across the map.
• If the police are in search mode, honking the horn will make nearby police face towards the vehicle.