I feel like this'd be a fun thread to bring back from the ancient Hitman (2016) days.

So the first Elusive Target for Hitman 3 specifically is here! You've got 10 days to off him.

I'm hoping to give this a try tonight after work. I thought the last elusive target was fairly easy if just going for the kill, so I might go for a silent assassination this time.

I got Silent Assassination on this one without much trouble (I'm the type of person who resets a lot, though).

Didn't even find the guy before my cover was blown in a very compromising way, ran out of disguises and died in a gunfight. That might be only my...third failed Elusive Target since the first game, so not feeling too bad about it!

I didn't get the silent assassination (because I was spotted trespassing and was too lazy to restart), but I was nevertheless pretty happy with my assassination method: https://gamerdvr.com/gamer/harpua418/video/131381354

Still got a decent score too because I found the painting.

Anyone else get slightly irked that you lose silent assassin the instant you're spotted trespassing, even if you leave the area before NPCs care? Seems like you should keep it until they escalate. I think that's my only (small) complaint about the silent assassin system.

I heard he was around the greenhouse so I started as a gardener and brought a lethal injection. I was trying to figure out their routine and an opportunity while they were in there but then their dialog said they were going to head to the house. SOMEHOW I got lucky with coins that I pulled his guard away and was clear enough to stab him unseen for an accident poison kill (doesn't matter if his body is found)

I realize after the fact, I should have just used the ladder to the story mission's murder scene. But I took the pipe to the 2nd floor bathroom, grabbed the walking stick, used that for the secret door to that same room and took the guard's disguise from that path. Then a pipe climb up to the painting and a "did it for style" taking the other unlockable ladder down to the 2nd floor and then the side bridge exit.

As far as SA system, it is a case of don't get caught doing anything illegal. (Someone is doing something they shouldn't). Yes you trespassed and you got caught. The punishment wasn't immediate combat but someone saw you where you didn't belong so in terms of SA, you could describe it as something a witness could go back on and say "hey, there was this one guy I saw sneaking around...".

The other side of it, if you have someone see you do something illegal but they're also one of your targets, you can actually regain your SA rating if you kill them before they can report you. This was an update that came in one of the Hitman 2 patches.

I stalked him a long time as a mansion guard. Eventually, he got tired of not being allowed upstairs, so he went into the employee locker room and changed into a staff outfit. I continued to stalk him upstairs, avoiding enforcers, until he eventually went into Alexa's office. I followed him in there as he blended in, and saw the painting on the wall of her stairs. I had actually spent about 5 minutes prior to finding Kody, searching for it on the first and second floors. Kody left Alexa's office, went down the hall to the right of her office, and started monologuing to himself. Saw no one was looking, straight shot him, positioned his body behind a couch or chair I believe, and picked up the knife and files. Cut out the painting, and got the hell out of there before someone found his body. Silent Assassin in 35 minutes, I believe. Elusive Targets are still incredibly satisfying for me.

The trouble for me on this one was just finding the guy at all (FWIW I don't look up anything about where they start, or anything else... I want to do it all myself). I found the painting quickly (I guessed correctly that it was probably located upstairs in what's-her-name's study) but wandered around for something like half an hour not seeing the target. We must have just been circling each other or something.

Eventually I found him in the main room downstairs talking to people and being escorted by a bodyguard. Then I saw the same thing HBFSDynamics described--he ditched his escort, disguised himself as staff, and headed upstairs. I love that they make some of these targets almost as devious as you are that way.

I once again did what is fast becoming my favorite method for earning silent assassin ratings on these things: I shot him with an emetic dart (i.e., the Sieker pistol) while his back was turned and there was no one else in my line of sight. He immediately headed for an empty bathroom where I promptly drowned him and hid the body. Easy peasy.

The Sieker almost feels like cheating. The only real complication to this strategy is that if you shoot your target while they're in the wrong location, in some levels they will head for a trashcan out in the open rather than a private toilet, in which case you've wasted one of your two darts.

@atheistpreacher: If you think the emetic dart is powerful, if you have the Hitman 2 DLC there is a remote emetic device you can unlock with mastery on the resort island. What people discovered you can do with it would make Dan Rykert proud.

It's illegal to be seen with it in your hand and I think people could notice it if it's placed just like some of the remote explosives. But if you conceal the device in a briefcase (same holds true with other remote devices/explosives), you keep the remote detonator in your pockets (if you start with it in a briefcase, you need to take it out then put it back to get the trigger).

The fun comes in that now you can walk up next to anyone you want (assuming you have a valid disguise) with briefcase & remote trigger in hand and set off the device to produce a "fart cloud" to make everyone close enough sick. Zero risk of suspicion (emetic grenade & dart guns can draw suspicion if people see you carrying/using them). You can even get multiple people sick if you stand just right. I did it to the water guru guy in the bonus Miami mission to get him and his guard sick and they each went two different ways.

BTW, you technically don't have to hide a body of someone you drowned. It's treated as an accident kill and bodies killed via an accident or poison don't invalidate silent assassin. It was useful during the Easter Egg escalation where you could green egg gas a target to the port-a-potties and drown but there isn't a convenient box to hid them in.

@wulfbane: Hah, that's hilarious. I did get the emetic gas device, but didn't know it could be used that way. I got really into the first Hitman and got maxed mastery on everything, but when Hitman 2 rolled around and my mastery progress didn't carry over, I didn't feel motivated to do the mastery grind again, and ended up just playing through the original release Hitman 2 levels and then not really playing again. I didn't even play the bank or the island at all until Hitman 3 rolled around, so I'm playing catchup on some of this stuff. At this point I've got maxed mastery on all the Hitman 1 levels again, but still not maxed on the two DLC levels for Hitman 2 and three levels for Hitman 3. I'll get around to finishing that eventually!

Yeah, I did know I didn't actually have to hide the target's body, but I suppose it's just my compulsive sense of neatness and the fact that there was a cabinet right there in the bathroom and no risk to taking a few seconds to do it.

That egg hunt was pretty great. "Follow the white rabbit" indeed.

@atheistpreacher: In some situations, it is still useful to hide drowned bodies. On The Stowaway (the last ET), I got him into that bathroom, drowned him, but for the ET, they intentionally removed the case. I figured I'd move his body near the door but into the corner with the idea it's less likely someone would see him as I left the bathroom. HOWEVER, someone was right in the line of sight and since I was over a dead body (even if it was an accident) it was suspicious and had to alt-F4 (yes, I'm scum). Redid it, left the body by the toilet and even though they saw the body as I left the room, I was nowhere near the body and it didn't get pinned on me (Hitman Logic)

New Elusive Targe is live in Hawke's Bay. Won't at least be difficult to find them. Active between April 23rd - May 3rd.

Of note: you can still do this one even if you already did it in Hitman 2. I can't remember if the re-run targets were like that in Hitman (2016), but neat regardless. I even still have the challenge for killing her last time, although I'm going to use the opportunity to try for SA.

Don't think I've restarted an Elusive Target before, or at least haven't done it for more than once or maybe twice. This time I think I restarted it three times, because I really underestimated the number of guards present. The actual kill wasn't very clean either, but I still did it.

Okay this seems like as good a place to ask as any - I haven't played these games because I felt like I had missed out on the coolest feature - are you all saying they're not...gone forever? Like, they're rerunning them??

Except for a few special ones like Gary vs Gary (Though I guess Sean Bean returned, but only for people who hadn’t done it yet), they’ve eventually reran them again, but I think only after they’d made the last ones for Hitman 1 & 2, so probably going to be the same for three, maybe?

New Elusive Target heading our way today (or tomorrow, depending on your time zone).

@glots: The briefing for this one made think they'd pull something like her seeing past all your disguises or something, but nope, looks like she was just paranoid about the possibility of being poisoned and stayed in or near crowds the whole time.

Spoilers for how I completed this target with a Silent Assassin rating, I guess, but I did nothing even remotely interesting or special: I started off being a waiter and trying to serve her the Malbec wine, but couldn't get it to work because only her bodyguard would ever go for it. In the end I completed it in one of the most mundane and low-tech ways possible: I lured her bodyguard into the bushes where I choked him out and replaced him, waited for the target to do one loop until she was back in the same location, and did the exact same thing to her. Then I snapped her neck and left. EZ PZ.

For the Iconoclas, I found out they added a scripted interaction you can trigger. Non-spoiler, if you observe who she talks with and then follow up with them, you can discover a mini opportunity.

I will say I did like how they added a few more waiters including an enforcer near the party level. I nearly got caught when I went in the storage behind the outdoor bar planning on an easy waiter disguise to find a pair of them canoodling.

spoiler version: She talks with a lady near the outdoor bar & food table and hands her a card. That lady walks away and if you knock her out, you can pick up the card. Show the card to The Iconoclast and she will meet you outside the entrance to the theatre where there is also a convenient box. Not a full “opportunity” since she isn’t COMPLETELY isolated but certainly away from the big crowds and nice little scripting event they included.

my method: After she came down, her guard was near and watching. I used the “fart bomb” briefcase trick to get her guard sick and distracted. There is also a guy on a phone call up nearby stairs I just had to watch. When he turned away, I stuck The Iconoclast with a lethal syringe and made my exit. I had seen a video with easier SA routes but this felt fun using a custom scripting event.

And an FYI because the non-story exits are kinda a pain on this map sometimes, I found online if you’re specifically in the Requiem suit (available if you own Hitman 1 GOTY pass), you can also use the shrine cave as a secret extra exit.

I should hop back on, I really liked the last illusive target!

My not-so-carefully crafted plan involved knocking out a bunch of people to get some disguises, finding her and then just tossing a rubber ducky at her feet from a higher ground.

Perhaps one day I'll actually attempt one with a Silent Assassin method.

FWIW next elusive target is live, you've got until June 13th:

It's an old one from the first game on the Paris map. It's pretty easy so far as ET's go, especially if you've got some mastery for the level, as there's a starting location you can pick that's practically right on top of the target.

It is worth adding that even if you don’t have the Hitman 1 access pass, Paris is temporarily available to all Hitman 3 players through June 6th.

New Elusive target's active, from today until the 28th.

@glots: I do love it when the elusive targets are people you can really feel good about blowing up with a rubber duck.

@glots: Watching that, I can't help but think "what if he really isn't that bad and just unfortunate to have inspected things when Agent 47 had a contract in the area?" Also expecting plenty of opportunities to set him up for spectacular accident kills. Nothing better than sweat irony.

This one was an extremely easy Silent Assassin. Has word not gotten around about the Juice Bar?

Another new target is up today and available through August 9th:

This is the fourth new (non-legacy) elusive target in Hitman 3, and the second in Mendoza.

Haven't tried this one yet, planning to in a few hours...

Another elusive target is live. This one's recycled from Hitman 1. Available through the end of August.