Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Classic Edition · Guides

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon Classic Edition 100% guide

Published by Chubuggles

A chronological, single-playthrough route to all 19 achievements in the Xbox Classic Edition of Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, with the one missable flagged before it matters.

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  • ETA

    Estimated time, as the guide’s author estimates: 7-10 hours

  • Difficulty

    2/10, as the guide’s author rates it

Your Progress

19 achievements in this guide

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Guide contents

Before You Start

This guide covers the Xbox One Classic Edition, released in December 2021. It plays at 60fps on Xbox Series X|S. It has its own list of 19 achievements worth 1,000 Gamerscore. The 2013 Xbox 360 game has a separate list worth 400 Gamerscore. The achievement names and requirements are the same, but progress on one list does not count toward the other. There is no DLC and no title-update achievement.

  • Online: none. The game is single-player only and needs no servers, so nothing is currently unobtainable.
  • Playthroughs: one.
  • Difficulty: no achievement depends on difficulty. Play on whatever setting you like.
  • Missables: one. The Only True Stopper needs a headshot on enemy types that are only reliably found in the last three story missions. Everything else can be finished in post-game free roam.
  • Point of no return: starting Summon the Plague locks you into the story until the credits. You go straight from it into I Must Break You with no free roam in between. After the credits you return to the island with everything still available.
  • Post-game tools: after the credits you keep the Killstar. Once every garrison is liberated and the story is done, the Gameplay options in the pause menu also offer Reset Garrisons. It re-arms all 13 garrisons, so you can clear them again for money, CP and dragon spawns. Before your first reset, make sure Kill Them All and Nice Like Jesus have both unlocked. A reset turns every garrison hostile again, and its side-mission console can't be reached until you recapture that garrison.
  • Mission replay: there is none. If you miss a late-story enemy type, your best chance is the manual save you made before Summon the Plague (see the Pre-Plague Checklist and the saving note under Punch It). A fresh campaign is the reliable way to meet those enemies again.

How the Route Works

Nearly every optional activity runs through the 13 garrisons. When you liberate one, you get a fast travel point, a vending machine and a console that starts that garrison's side missions. There are 8 Predator's Path missions and 8 Hostage Situations. Vending machines in liberated garrisons also sell collectible map scans. There are four, one for each region of the island, at $500 each. A region's scan becomes available once you liberate a garrison in that region. Each scan marks every Dr. Carlyle's Note, VHS Tape and TV Set in its region, and you can set a waypoint on any marked item. Buy each scan as soon as it unlocks, then sweep that region's collectibles in one pass. They turn collectible hunting from a search into a checklist.

All 25 weapon attachments must be unlocked before you can buy them. They unlock from side missions, collectible milestones and animal-type milestones, and every vending machine sells them. That's why Tooled Up falls into place on its own at the end, as long as you never waste money.

You can do the open-world work at almost any point after the first garrison. This guide clears most of it before Summon the Plague, for three reasons:

  • Headshotting the regular enemy types early, during normal garrison clears, keeps The Only True Stopper on track.
  • The money and CP from side content carry you toward the two big totals.
  • Post-game is left for the Killstar-powered dragon cleanup.

If you'd rather blitz the story first, that works too. Just obey the Summon the Plague warning below.

Progress Tracking

The Data Console in the pause menu shows collectible counts and which animal types you've killed. It also shows a dragon kill counter (Kills > Dragons). Check it whenever you aren't sure about a cumulative achievement. For The Only True Stopper, the game has no in-game tracker. Instead, check the achievement's progress percentage in the Xbox guide or the Achievements app. It rises about 11% for each enemy type you've headshot.

Story and Open World

Prologue: Helicopter Entry and the Bunker

Welcome to the party, pal

Unlocks when you finish the opening helicopter turret sequence. You can't miss it.

After the beach tutorial you defend Spider in the bunker. Open the green loot boxes around the bunker on your way through. Money is the real bottleneck for Tooled Up, so start the habit now. For the rest of the game:

  • Open every green box you pass.
  • Don't buy ammo you don't need.

They're Heee-ere!

You pass through a cave on this mission. It holds your first Dr. Carlyle's Note, next to a dead scientist, and most of the other notes are also in caves near scientist corpses. You're unarmed in the cave, so use cyber hearts to distract the first dragons and sneak past. You pick up the bow at the shielded outpost on this mission. Then liberate the first garrison and meet Dr. Darling.

One Small Step

Unlocks when you liberate the first garrison. It's part of the story and can't be missed.

Running man

This becomes possible as soon as you've liberated the first garrison and met Dr. Darling. The description is literal: alert a dragon to full combat, then lose it until it drops back to stealth.

  1. Find a roaming dragon near a garrison or out in the open.
  2. Let it spot you, or shoot it, until its awareness meter turns red.
  3. Break line of sight behind rocks or a building, or retreat into a garrison. You can also throw a cyber heart, ripped from a dead enemy, to pull its attention away.
  4. Wait for the meter to fall back to green. The achievement unlocks when you return to stealth.

It often unlocks by accident during normal play. Do it now anyway so you don't have to think about it later.

The Only True Stopper

This is the only missable achievement, so start it now. You need a headshot kill on every Omega Force enemy type. Animals and civilian scientists don't count. Armoured heavies do count: keep firing at the head until "Headshot" appears in the top-left corner.

The Xbox achievement tracks nine categories. Its progress percentage goes up about 11% for each new one, so check it to confirm a type registered. This matters most for the Running Dead, which may give no clear feedback when you kill them.

Classic Edition reports most often put these nine in the counter: the six regular types below, Running Dead Melee, Running Dead Close Range and the Rocket Troop. Reports still conflict on a few points. Some players unlocked it without a rocket soldier, and the Molotox-throwing Running Dead and the elites may or may not count. So the guide treats the nine as the core and adds a few precautionary extras. Ten-plus targets doesn't mean ten-plus required slots.

Keep a tick list. The percentage tells you how many types registered, not which ones. Write down each type the moment you headshot it and see the percentage rise. If a headshot doesn't raise it, that type hasn't registered yet.

Regular types, found from now on in garrisons and on patrols:

  • Foot Soldier (Fazertron)
  • Sniper (Kobracon)
  • Close Range (Galleria shotgun)
  • Pyro (Molotox thrower)
  • Heavy (Terror 4000 minigun)
  • Flamer (flamethrower heavy)

Late-story types. The late story missions are the guaranteed opportunities. Free-roam sightings after the story are reported but unreliable, so headshot each one when you meet it:

  • Running Dead Melee (machete), in I Don't Deal With Psychos. I Put 'Em Away
  • Running Dead Close Range (shotgun), in Summon the Plague
  • Rocket Troop: an Omega sniper carrying an RPG-7 rocket launcher. The first chance is in I Don't Deal With Psychos. I Put 'Em Away, and backups appear in I Must Break You. Those two missions are the dependable opportunities. It's a priority target, because it's the last headshot many players need.

Precautionary extras (disputed, but cheap to cover):

  • Running Dead Pyro (Molotox), in Summon the Plague
  • Elite (yellow) versions of the regular types. Headshot every elite you meet, especially the Predator's Path elite targets and the many elites in I Must Break You.

CURRENTLY COMMUNITY-FLAGGED / BUGGY: the Xbox progress doesn't always register a type the first time. If a type you've already headshot isn't reflected, headshot another one.

The achievement unlocks when you headshot the last type you still need. Headshot the six regular types now as you clear garrisons.

Recovery: progress on this achievement is reported to carry across saves and fresh campaigns, although that isn't guaranteed. If you miss a late-story type, a replay should only need that one type, not every headshot again.

First Open-World Window

The island is now open. Liberate garrisons as you reach them. Each one unlocks:

  • a fast travel point
  • a vending machine
  • side missions from its console

Start the side missions as each garrison opens, and buy every map scan the vending machines offer. Several attachment unlocks come from early side missions, such as the A.J.M. 9 suppressor and the Galleria bandolier from the two Save a Nerd rescues. Doing them as you go keeps the vending machines stocked.

A few garrisons are offshore. Swim or drive to them like any other: Rex breathes underwater and takes no fall damage.

At this point the most efficient path is to push the story to Punch It. Its rewards make the open world much easier, so keep this first window light. Clear the garrisons on your way, run their side missions and grab collectibles your scans have marked. Leave your eighth Predator's Path mission until after Punch It, when manual saving opens up (see Kill Them All).

Way to Go, Garri-Son

Liberate all 13 garrisons. Stealth clears pay more CP than loud ones. An alarm brings reinforcements, so take out the alarm boxes or kill quietly. Any garrisons you haven't done by the end can be finished post-game. This guide leaves only Killstar dragon farming for after the credits, so aim to have all 13 done before Summon the Plague. Before you liberate the last hostile garrison, check your tick list for The Only True Stopper. All six regular types should have registered. A hostile garrison is the most reliable place to find a missing regular type, so keep one in reserve until all six show up.

Kill Them All

Finish all 8 Predator's Path missions. On the map, an available mission shows as a crosshair icon. They start from the console in a liberated garrison, and each asks you to kill a glowing target with a specific weapon.

Three targets are yellow elites: in Insurance Scammer, Hunt the Sniper, and He's Not Heavy, He's Big-Boned. Headshot them with the weapon each mission requires, as cheap insurance for The Only True Stopper.

Save your eighth mission for after Punch It. Once seven are done, make a manual save in free roam before you accept the eighth at its console. Manual saving isn't available while a mission is active. After Kill Them All unlocks, it's safe to manually save over that checkpoint.

HISTORICALLY REPORTED BUG: the Xbox progress sometimes sticks at 87% even with all eight completed in game. There's no ninth mission, so don't go looking for one. If it happens, try these in order:

  1. Check that all eight show as done at the garrison consoles.
  2. Open the achievement in the Xbox guide to force a sync. This has made a stuck unlock appear for some players.
  3. Load your manual save from the Campaign menu, choosing it rather than the latest autosave if the menu lets you pick, and complete the last mission again.
  4. If none of that works, start a fresh campaign and complete all eight again.

Reset Garrisons can't be relied on to replay completed missions, and no fix is guaranteed.

Nice Like Jesus

Finish all 8 Hostage Situations. On the map, these show as a skull-and-crossbones icon. They start from garrison consoles too. If the scientist dies, the mission fails, but you can retry it from the console.

Punch It

You'll plant charges on the dam, grab the Terror 4000 from the wall mount next to a vending machine and swim through shark-infested water to reach the locks. Leaving the mission area fails the mission, so stay inside it until you finish.

Saving. Ubisoft's Blood Dragon documentation says manual saving opens up after this mission and isn't available while a mission is in progress, so make every manual save in free roam. It lists three manual and three autosave slots. Reports from the original release suggest these are one pair per campaign, not three backups of the same playthrough, and the Classic Edition's exact behaviour isn't verified. So treat your manual save as a single checkpoint that you move forward, not as a stash of backups:

  1. Make a manual save just before a risky moment.
  2. Check that the achievement unlocked.
  3. Only then manually save again, which replaces that checkpoint.

Autosaves keep running in the background, so when you retry, load your manual save from the Campaign menu if the game lets you choose it. None of this is a guaranteed recovery.

This checkpoint habit is a sensible cheap precaution before any final activity: your last garrison, your last Hostage Situation, or the last item of a set. Save first, check the unlock, then move on. No save or Xbox sync is guaranteed to fix every glitch.

Blood Dragon Down

Unlocks when you kill your first dragon. The dragon here is optional: throw a cyber heart to bring one in, then kill it with the Terror 4000 you just picked up. If you skip it, the forced two-dragon fight at the end of I Don't Deal With Psychos. I Put 'Em Away guarantees the unlock, so it can't be missed.

Derp

Unlocks when you fall 50 meters or more. You can't die from it, because Rex takes no fall damage. Jump off the top of the dam to the bottom while you're here.

If you skip it, a forced drop down a deep shaft in I Don't Deal With Psychos. I Put 'Em Away unlocks it anyway. Either way, it can't be missed.

Murder Nature

Kill one of each of the 12 animal types. If a shark shows up in the dam water, kill it. If not, the Predator's Path mission Mind the Teeth guarantees a Cyber-Shark. The types are:

  • Black and White Tiger
  • Blood Dragon
  • Boar
  • Cyber-Panther
  • Cyber-Shark
  • Devil Goat
  • Mutant Buffalo
  • Mutated Cassowary
  • Mutated Turtle
  • Neon Snake
  • Robo-Croc
  • Robo-Dog

You'll get most of them just by roaming. No animal type is story-only. These need a bit more attention. The Neon Snake is the one with no map marker:

  • Neon Snake: rare and random, usually around the ruins where TV Sets are. It's a land animal that latches onto Rex. Shake it off and then kill it. Glowing creatures in the water aren't Neon Snakes. Check X:525.6, Y:397.6 first. If none is there, fast travel away, come back and check again, or keep an eye out while you sweep TV Set ruins.
  • Cyber-Panther: rare. Keep an eye out while you collect.
  • Mutated Turtle and Robo-Croc: the Predator's Path mission Turtle Killer takes place in a sewer under its garrison and has both. The croc is behind a broken pipe.
  • Cyber-Shark: guaranteed in the Predator's Path mission Mind the Teeth. Explosives work best.
  • Robo-Dog: shows up with Omega Force at garrisons and in some story locations.
  • Black and White Tiger and Mutated Cassowary: also targets in the Predator's Path missions Tiger Fist and Birds With Attitude.

Check the animal list in the Data Console to see which are still missing. Killing certain numbers of animal types also unlocks the elemental-round attachments, so this ties into Tooled Up.

Second Open-World Window

The Terror 4000 makes garrisons and dragons much easier. This is the main window for open-world work. Liberate the rest of the garrisons as you reach them, run their side missions and buy every map scan. Collect the notes, tapes and TV sets your scans mark. Unlocking further scans also lets you sweep each area once instead of coming back.

Just the Tip

The killing blow on a Blood Dragon must come from the bow. Arrows do very little damage, so weaken the dragon first.

  1. Pick a fight near a garrison or other cover, ideally close to a vending machine so you can restock arrows.
  2. Use the Terror 4000 or Kobracon to bring the dragon down to a sliver of health.
  3. Switch to the bow and finish it, aiming for the head or the glowing underbelly.

The achievement unlocks when the bow lands the kill. If you'd rather wait, the Killstar makes this trivial after the credits.

Dragon Slayer

Kill 25 dragons in total. Every dragon you kill during the story and open world counts, and each one pays around 5,000 CP but only a little cash (roughly $150–190). Kill the dragons you meet now. The fast farm opens after the credits (see Post-Game Cleanup). If you want to farm early, kill a dragon near a garrison, save, quit to the main menu and continue to respawn the area.

What are You Reading For?

Find all 10 of Dr. Carlyle's Notes. They're usually in caves next to scientist corpses. The scans mark the notes but not the cave entrances, which show only faintly on the minimap, so follow the waypoint and look for the opening. Collecting 3 and then all 10 unlocks Galleria attachments.

The Greatest Format of all Time

Find all 12 VHS Tapes. They're usually inside Omega Force bunkers and outposts. Collecting 3 and then all 12 unlocks Kobracon and A.J.M. 9 attachments.

The Drug of the Nation

Find all 32 TV Sets. They're often in ruins, and some are underwater. TV milestones unlock Galleria barrel attachments.

Make a manual save just before you collect the last TV Set, but only once Kill Them All has already unlocked, because this replaces that checkpoint. After The Drug of the Nation unlocks, you can save over it.

HISTORICALLY REPORTED BUG: progress has stuck at 96%. If the Data Console shows 32/32 but the achievement hasn't unlocked:

  1. Open it in the Xbox guide to force a sync.
  2. Load your manual save from the Campaign menu and collect the last TV again.
  3. If neither works, a fresh campaign is the only reported fix.

What Is This Shit?

You get the flamethrower and burn dragon egg piles, then escape in a jeep under a timer. A Robo-Dog can show up here, so kill it if you still need one for Murder Nature. Cleanup in the open world can carry on afterwards.

Set Them Free

Destroy 5 Braincages. Braincaged dragons first show up here, and there are several around the dragon-egg area. This is the best single chance to break most or all five cages.

  • One Kobracon round knocks a cage off.
  • Shoot the cage off before the dragon dies. If the dragon dies with the cage still on, it doesn't count.
  • Caged dragons ignore garrison shields and can't be lured with cyber hearts, so go to them.

Don't rush the egg objective. Burn individual egg groups without immediately finishing a whole 1/3 stage of the objective, so more caged dragons keep showing up. Burn the egg piles a group at a time, and deal with each dragon that shows up before you burn the next group. Shoot every cage off before you kill its dragon. Done carefully, this mission can give you all five.

The achievement unlocks when you break the fifth cage. If you come up short, more caged dragons appear in I Must Break You, and a few turn up near garrisons in free roam. After the credits, go to the garrison near X:476.7, Y:470.3, where a braincaged dragon is reported to appear. Shoot its cage off. To bring it back, fast travel away and return first. If that doesn't work, use Reset Garrisons, but read the warning under Killstar Free Roam first. Repeat until you have five.

I Don't Deal With Psychos. I Put 'Em Away

You glide to an island and fight through the biolab, ending in a fight with two dragons. Shoot open the green containment chambers in Carlyle's lab to release the Running Dead.

Missable: after the hang-glider approach and before you enter the lab, a rocket soldier (an Omega sniper with an RPG-7) stands in the zipline and watchtower area. Approach quietly and headshot it before it's alerted, because once alerted it can fall or become hard to hit. This is for The Only True Stopper. The rocket soldiers in I Must Break You are your backup.
Missable: headshot a Running Dead Melee (machete) in this mission for The Only True Stopper. More appear in Summon the Plague, but get one here.

If you didn't already jump from the dam, the drop down the shaft after you activate the podium unlocks Derp. The two-dragon fight at the end of the mission is the first dragon fight you can't avoid, so Blood Dragon Down unlocks here if you haven't killed a dragon yet.

There are caged tigers and cassowaries in the biolab. They're optional, because both animals are easy to find in the wild.

Pre-Plague Checklist

Do this before you start Summon the Plague. Once you enter its portal, you're locked into the story until the credits.

Must do:

  • Headshot every regular Omega Force type: Foot Soldier, Sniper, Close Range, Pyro, Heavy and Flamer.
  • Headshot a Running Dead Melee, from the previous mission. If you missed it, the early rounds of Summon the Plague have more.

Check: with those seven types done, the Xbox progress for The Only True Stopper should be approximately 78% if all seven registered, or about 89% if the Psychos rocket soldier also counted. Tracking can lag. If it's lower, find the regular types you're missing on patrols or in any garrison that's still hostile before you go in.

Optional before the story ends (all of these can be finished after the credits):

  • garrisons, side missions, collectibles, animals, braincages, dragons and attachments.

In free roam, before you approach or activate the Summon the Plague mission start, make a manual save, whatever else you've finished. It replaces your earlier manual checkpoint, and protecting the missable The Only True Stopper comes first. After that, don't manually save again until The Only True Stopper has unlocked. If it hasn't unlocked after the credits because you missed a late-story type, load this manual save from the Campaign menu rather than the latest autosave, and play Summon the Plague and I Must Break You again. As the saving note under Punch It explains, this isn't a guaranteed fix. A fresh campaign is the reliable way to meet these enemies again.

Summon the Plague

You fight arena rounds with the pistol, the shotgun, the sniper rifle and then the machine gun, and you get the Killstar at the end.

Missable: round 1 is mostly Running Dead Melee, with a few shotgun and Molotox Running Dead mixed in. Round 2 is full of Running Dead Close Range (shotgun) and Running Dead Pyro (Molotox). Headshot all three kinds in every round. This arena is the guaranteed opportunity. Running Dead are reported at some ruins and campsites after the story, but that's unreliable.

The Only True Stopper often unlocks during these rounds. If it hasn't by the end, the final mission is your last dependable opportunity.

I Must Break You

You use the Killstar on the bridge, ride the mechanical dragon and take down Sloan.

Missable: this is your last dependable opportunity for a rocket soldier (an Omega sniper carrying an RPG-7). If the Psychos one didn't register, headshot at least one here, either near the start or as part of the pair on the far side of the dock, seen from the ledge after you destroy the helicopter. Before moving past the dock area, check the Xbox progress for The Only True Stopper. If you headshot a rocket soldier and the percentage didn't go up, headshot the other one too.

If The Only True Stopper still hasn't unlocked, headshot every yellow elite in this mission; there are many. Elite flamers and elite rocket snipers are reported to appear only here. If it's still locked after the credits, keep headshotting elites in garrisons and open-world fights. Running Dead and rocket soldiers are only occasionally reported in free roam after the story, so your best chance is your pre-Plague manual save. Otherwise, a fresh campaign is the reliable way to meet them again.

If you still need cages for Set Them Free, shoot the braincages off the caged dragons here, including the one in the cliffs.

End Game

Unlocks when the credits finish and you spawn back on the island. You can't miss it.

Post-Game Cleanup

Killstar Free Roam

You're back on the island with the Killstar and full access. Reset Garrisons, in the Gameplay options of the pause menu, re-arms all 13 garrisons and their dragon master switches. Clear them again with the Killstar for $400–500 per garrison plus CP.

Before your first reset: confirm that Kill Them All and Nice Like Jesus have both unlocked. A reset makes every garrison hostile again, so any unfinished side mission stays out of reach until you recapture that garrison. Don't count on a reset to let you replay missions you've already completed.

To farm dragons:

  1. Reset the garrisons.
  2. Switch off each garrison's shield (the master switch). That spawns a dragon.
  3. Kill it with the Killstar.
  4. Save, quit and continue to repopulate the area.

Throwing cyber hearts also lures dragons. Finish any side missions you have left before your first reset. If you've already reset, recapture the garrison to get its console back. Then finish anything left over from Way to Go, Garri-Son, Kill Them All, Nice Like Jesus, the three collectible achievements, Murder Nature, Set Them Free and Just the Tip here.

Dragon Slayer

Farm dragons with the shield trick and the Killstar until the Data Console shows 25 dragon kills. The achievement unlocks on the 25th. You have to land the killing blow yourself, because a dragon finished off by friendly scientists may not count. Trust the Data Console kill counter. If it shows 25 and the achievement hasn't unlocked, keep killing dragons.

Hail to the King

Reach level 30, the maximum. You need well over 150,000 CP, but with garrisons, side missions, collectibles, headshots and story you'll be most of the way there. The fastest top-up is dragons at around 5,000 CP each, and the dragon farm above finishes this alongside Dragon Slayer. It unlocks the moment you reach level 30.

Tooled Up

Own all 25 attachments for the four upgradable weapons. They cost $43,150 in total:

  • A.J.M. 9: 4 attachments, $5,100
  • Fazertron: 7 attachments, $11,850
  • Galleria 1991: 7 attachments, $13,250
  • Kobracon: 7 attachments, $12,950

An attachment can only be bought once it has been unlocked. That means you need everything below done first:

  • all 8 Predator's Path missions
  • all 8 Hostage Situations
  • all 10 notes, 12 tapes and 32 TV sets
  • enough animal types for the elemental rounds; all 12 gets every one of them

Buy everything at any garrison vending machine. If an attachment is still locked, select it in a vending machine's weapon menu to see what unlocks it. If you're short on money, reset the garrisons, recapture them and loot the enemies. That's the main money source. Dragons are for CP and Dragon Slayer, not cash. The achievement unlocks when you buy the last attachment.

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