Get all 10 Ranks completed with this Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge Guide. You can accomplish these challenges any way you wish — from completing them in free roam, or by playing or replaying story missions. The game will track your progress across it all.
The earliest that you can complete this challenge is Chapter 2: Horseshoe Overlook. Pouring Fourth Oil is the key story mission that needs complete in order to unlock the Incendiary Buckshot and Poison Throwing Knife recipes from the Fence. Watch the video guide below to see how all Weapons Expert Challenges are done.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 1
Rank 1 – Kill three enemies with a knife. You’ll likely do this naturally by playing the game, but it helps to know what the challenge stipulation is to get it going.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 2
Kill three enemies 10 seconds using only throwing knives. Throwing knives are unlocked during Chapter 2 Story Mission: Paying a Social Call. This rank doesn’t require active engaging enemies — it seems you can kill three random citizens and it will count. Valentine is a good town to do this quite early, at the poker table in the saloon, although you will have to evade the law.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 3
Kill three birds of prey using only a tomahawk. Tomahawks are unlocked during Chapter 2 Story Mission: Americans At Rest. You can purchase tomahawks at all fences after this point. When you think of birds of prey, the eagle or hawk is usually what comes to mind. But the vulture or the more common Western Raven also qualifies for this challenge.
Hunt some game like a deer or buck. The manner of kill doesn’t matter — all you need is a fresh carcass. Place it out in an open field during the daytime, and move away from it. Some Western Ravens will swoop down to feast. Repeat this two more times for a total of three birds. From my experience, you’ll need a new carcass every time, since birds of prey won’t return.
The American Crow also works — but it’s difficult since it flies away quickly. There is always a crow perched on the fence of the Larned Sod homestead, west of Emerald Station. You can force it to respawn by moving out a ways and returning. You will be visiting Larned Sod again for the Hunting Requests needed for the It’s Art Trophy.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 4
Kill 10 enemies with a shotgun using crafted ammo. You have two choices for the shotgun crafted ammo: Incendiary Buckshot or Explosive Slug. Incendiary Buckshot requires shotgun shell + moonshine. Explosive Slug requires shotgun shell + animal fat. You can buy both recipes from the Fence once they become available. Incendiary Buckshot recipe is available after Pouring Fourth Oil (Chapter 2), and Explosive Slug is available after A Short Walk in a Pretty Town (Chapter 3). Alternatively, you can find the pamphlets.
It’s not enough to simply purchase the recipe — you must open your satchel to the Recipe Pamphlets and read it. Animal fat resource is from hunting animals like pig or boar. Moonshine can be purchased from the Fence. If you have a lot of money, it’s easier to acquire the crafted ammo via moonshine.
For this rank, you actually need to engage in some enemies for the tally to count. Disturb the peace and get the lawmen after you to make some enemies.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 5
Kill five mounted enemies, using one throwing knife per kill. You can patrol the main paths around Valentine looking for folks riding horseback. This challenge is more strict on what it considers enemies.
Pull out the knife and aim it at someone. If they reach for their gun, you can kill them. If they don’t, then the kill won’t count and you should save the knife. You can also try to antagonize people to turn them into enemies.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 6
Kill four enemies at the same time with a single stick of dynamite. This one can be difficult to do outside of the story missions. There are only a few bandit or gang camps in the world, and it’s tough enough to group them closely together. I’ve also attempted to hogtie enemies and put them together, but they’ve always escaped before I can get all four. Getting a huge bounty and hiding in a building could also be an option.
One reproducible method is to head up Fort Wallace and cause some trouble. You can’t get in, but you can lob a stick of dynamite over the wall and get four kills. To funnel them together, take cover at the left corner of the front entrance. They will group up on the left high side, since that will be the only position they can attack you from. Wait for four or more of them to group up, shooting in their general direction. When you’re ready to lob the dynamite, aim for the center man in the group, aim up slightly so it hits his face and drops to his feet.
Make a save before attempting, to retry again. If there seems to be few guards, head down to the river nearby and come back to attempt to respawn them.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 7
Kill four consecutive enemies by throwing and retrieving the same tomahawk. The actual in-game description doesn’t mention enemies, but only enemies apply — as in human enemies. Animals don’t count towards this challenge. Just like the throwing knives challenge, you can aim the tomahawk at a person to turn them aggressive, or antagonize them.
For this challenge, I recommend tossing all but one of your tomahawks away to ensure that it is the same one used. The “consecutive” part means that you can’t miss at any time — it has to be four dead enemies in a row. Van Horn Trading Post is a great place to do this challenge since the folk there are easily antagonized. Don’t forget to re-equip the tomahawk every time it’s thrown. Using Dead Eye is key — it makes sure your tomahawk hits it’s target.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 8
Kill 15 enemies using a long-barreled sidearm. Not a difficult challenge to complete. It seems any kills will count, including non-aggressive citizens. You can purchase a long-barrel by customizing any sidearm at the gunsmith.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 9
Kill nine unaware enemies from behind, using the bow. This is difficult to do outside of replaying the story missions, since there are few enemies prowling about unaware of your presence. The few unaware enemies are those in the bandit camps or gangs. There are some post-game unaware “enemies” per se; some leftover guards that still patrol Caliga Hall. But they won’t become enemies until they tell you to get off their property, at which point they become aware. Also, the guards at Sisika Penitentiary have advanced AI and know your presence.
Paying a Social Call (Chapter 2) is a good early stealth mission you can use the bow on. However the beginning of the mission takes a long time to get to the actual combat (about 5 minutes). You can take out at least 7 enemies with the bow before being alerted. Remember it must be from behind — shots from the side or front don’t count. You’ll have to play this through at least twice if you need all 9 kills. You must complete the story mission for the progress to be saved, if you are replaying it.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Weapons Expert Challenge – Rank 10
Kill a grizzly bear without taking damage, using only throwing knives. Okay so you’re gonna need the Poison Throwing Knives for sure. I’ve tossed up to four throwing knives at a charging grizzly bear and it didn’t phase it one bit — it took one swipe at me and I died.
Head over to the area between Grizzles West and Big Valley, northwest of Wallace Station. Put out some Predator Bait during the day time, out in a good clearing, preferably on low ground. Crouch and wait until the grizzly bear arrives. Usually you won’t have to do this if you come during the morning or noon, since there will be a grizzly bear around that time. You can also use the spawn/respawn trick by moving away and returning to the area.
One Poison Throwing Knife is all it takes. Once hit, the bear will lumber off and slump down prone. You can end it’s suffering by switching to regular throwing knives and complete the challenge.
Check back for more guides and articles on Red Dead Redemption 2. I am currently working towards a 100% Completion and Collectibles guide.
#2 – You can kill 3 chickens! I read a YouTube comment and it was true! Not sure about other animals.
#4 – Ducks are the best source of fat, as flocks of them just sit by water, especially the large island you once camp near on Flat Iron Lake. They quickly respawn or fly overhead too, and the Varmint Rifle can kill them well.
#9 – Aren’t any O’Driscolls facing the wrong way at Hanging Dog Ranch? Or the guards at the Cornwall Kerosene & Tar base?
I’m not sure if the O’Driscolls come back after you kill them. I didn’t check. That Cornwall base might be worth looking into, though. Thanks for the tip about the ducks!
Yes, the Hanging Dog Ranch O’Driscolls respawn after about 3 days (after the explosive shotgun attack from #4) and the man on the lookout tower has his back to you from a southern approach – he’s the perfect target for #9’s stealth bow – the gang is alerted after he dies, so just ride south till the red map haze disappears, and then ride back to him (he respawns) and kill him again.
#8 is laughably easy as I think any (long barrelled handgun upgrade) kill counts – I got underneath birds on my horse, but I think anything counts!
#6 I blew up the O’Driscolls that have a hideout inside the Valentine Dr’s – but it was fiddly, as the female pretends to not be hostile until provoked, and I couldn’t figure out how to punch her, so chucked my lasso at her, by which time the 3 men were shooting me. By the time I threw the (volatile) dynamite my exit was blocked and the fuse is stupidly short and I died with them, but when I respawned to 4/4 notification popped up, and I had no bounty or decreased honour, so I settled for the botch job.
P.S. The Cornwall factory men aren’t enemies – I tried them – and neither are the Fort Wallace guards, so they don’t count.
O’Driscolls mini camps, or other gangs with red dot men, with the rising fire smoke count, but you can only kill one, so you’re better off at #HangingDogRanch and riding off to make the lookout tower guard respawn each kill.
That’s just the kind of thing an O’Driscoll would say, O’Driscoll.
Here is what worked for me with the dynamite challenge: I was in Valentine at night, and found a group of 4 men gathered in the alley between Smithfield’s Saloon and the building to the right of it (if you are facing the saloon). Apparently the people you blow up don’t need to be enemies (unless seeing you toss a stick of dynamite at them instantly makes them your enemy), but it definitely has to be people–I tried it on sheep and ducks with no luck.
I did challenges 2 and 7 while getting jumped by those damn Murfrees–since they’re never on horses and they often ambush you in the woods, it’s not too difficult to run around tomahawking/knifing them without taking too much damage.
Thanks for the tip about the poison throwing knife on the bear–I was hoping that a poison knife would count!
Fort Mercer guards that stand outside. You can stealth approach at an angle for the kill from the back. Then ride the horse away until the music stops and return for the next kill.
If you arent worried too much about morals, you can throw a stick of dynamite in Van Horn’s bar then run outside, and get the 4x kill quite easily.
For some reason the kill 3 players with a throwing knife challenge isn’t working for me. I think it’s broken. It’s always worked in the other playthrough’s.