How to get Heartshots in Nightingale

Nightingale Heartshots
(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

Nightingale Heartshots are a special high-damage ranged attack done when, unsurprisingly, you put a bullet in the target's heart, immediately doing massive damage to them. However, that's not easily done - the target area is tiny, and ranged weapons in Nightingale are not the most accurate to use. Still, Bass Reeves demands you get two different Heartshots in Nightingale after you meet him, so we'll explain how it's done below.

How to get Nightingale Heartshots

Nightingale Heartshots

(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

To get a Heartshot in Nightingale you need to hit a target in the middle of the chest with a ranged attack, doing massive damage. This is actually illustrated by the damage icon coming up in gold instead of white, much like a headshot does, and is usually enough damage to kill the target immediately - it can be ten times that of a headshot.

As far as we can tell, most enemies can be hit with a Heartshot, though we can't say if it applies to all of them. However, standard enemies and creatures like Bound, wolves and deer can all be heartshot - though that won't make it easy with such a small target area.

To get a Heartshot, it's easier to attack from stealth, in the hope that the enemies will be moving around less. Depending on the enemy you might need to fire from a different angle - we had more success Heartshotting wolves from the side, for example, rather than from head-on. Experiment around, and remember that the quality of enemy you shoot doesn't matter for the challenge, so don't feel the need to chase down tough foes to complete this particular challenge.

Nightingale Heartshots

(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

Keep in mind that this is a hard challenge to do, and it's easy to get discouraged at first. You can't just shoot the target in the chest, you have to hit dead-centre, and ranged weapons like the Slingbow are not the most accurate devices at the best of times. Just try being a ranged fighter for a while as you generally play the game, and you should eventually rack up the two Heartshots (and three headshots) for Bass Reeves. 

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.

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