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(click here to learn more)Heat is a way that the game shows you how much of an effort the law enforcement is putting into stopping the criminal activities of the controlled character (Rico), in the Just Cause game series.
A Black Hand Bloodhound Siege Heli over Casquillos Vacíos, along with a massive battleground underneath.
This article is about the heat in Just Cause 4. See Heat (disambiguation) for the other games.
Description[]
Compared to previous games, Just Cause 4's heat is significantly more difficult.
Just Cause 4's heat system is different from the previous games in that there are no heat levels. The Black Hand are the only enemies in this game so they are the ones who chase Rico, but the heat system is very different from previous games. What is sent depends on how long the player has survived heat, the player's location (near water or in the sky) and the vehicle/mounted weapon the player may be using. There are also other factors or parts that are seemingly random.
At the top right of the screen where the chaos bar is, if you are in sight of Black Hand forces, a black figure with a white screen appears. This icon means you are within sight of the Black Hand, but you have not done anything illegal yet. This is similar to the "In view of authorities" in Just Cause 3. This same icon appears if you are in a Black Hand military base or outpost. In military bases or outposts, the Black Hand will initially warn you to leave, but if you do not, then full heat appears. Full heat is marked by the white and black icon turning into a red "2X" appearing where the icon was. If the Black Hand loses visual, the icon will turn from a red icon with a "2X" to a soldier with two yellow lines circling it. This means that the Black Hand are searching for you. If found within the search timeframe (which depends on heat level), the Black Hand will continue harassing you; otherwise, the icon will disappear and a radio message will play, saying something about you escaping and telling the Black Hand to keep their eyes open.
A loading screen actually reveals the "2X" to be a chaos multiplier, in which if Rico is in heat and destroys Chaos Objects, 2 times the chaos points given by that destructible will be given. That being said, it seems like double the chaos points is not given.
Heat levels[]
There are no heat levels. However, deployed Black Hand forces start off as a few grunts in bikes and trucks at a low heat level, but gradually transition into enormous swarms of tanks, helicopters, and jets that obliterate everything in their way at the highest levels.
There are few ways to clear the heat. One of them is to simply flee until out of sight. The other is to start a mission (not a side mission). Attacking the Black Hand until all of them are eliminated is not an easy way, but still possible. The last possible way is to Fast Travel to any location, even the location the battle took place at.
On land[]
If Rico attacks the Black Hand on land, the Black Hand will usually dispatch additional soldiers who arrive either on Próspero Hunter Bikes, Warrior Offroaders, Vagabundo Buggies or Dropzone Choppers. Often, a Firebrand Scout Chopper will arrive to assist the Black Hand. If Rico does not run away but instead retaliates, the Black Hand will send more soldiers. Light armed vehicles like Cavalry Armored Trucks become common.
If Rico attempts to run on land, one Black Hand soldier will usually appear down the road with either a Próspero Hunter Bike or Warrior Offroader parked in an attempt to stop Rico. This may change to a Vagabundo Buggy with a machine gunner and RPG unit on medium heat or a convoy of parked Warrior Offroaders and Cavalry Armored Trucks during low-medium levels of heat.
If Rico continues to retaliate, more APCs including the Reptile AAV are deployed. Along with this, the more powerful Spectre Attack Heli is deployed. They are equipped with missiles that deal very high damage to Rico (if he's on foot) should he be hit by them. If Rico still fights back, Pointman Scout Tanks, and Falconer AA Tanks arrive. These light tanks are dangerous to Rico unless he's in a heavily armored vehicle.
If Rico still manages to survive and take out attacking Black Hand forces, Prizefighter Tanks and Bloodhound Siege Helis are dispatched. In appearance, the Prizefighter is pretty heavily armored, but still can only survive three explosive rounds. Its cannon can heavily damage Rico if the tank shell manages to connect with Rico or explode in his immediate vicinity. The Bloodhound has missiles and machine guns, which are dangerous to Rico, even if protected by some armored vehicle.
If Rico is still alive and continues to retaliate, Warchief Assault Tanks, Longbow Cannon Trucks and PA Microfighters arrive. The Warchief is very well armored and can survive a lot more damage than most vehicles. Its gun is powerful against vehicles and its machine gun is lethal to infantry. The Longbow Cannon Truck has a huge cannon that fires shells that deal an enormous amount of damage to everything caught in the explosion. The PA Microfighter is small, agile and fast, making it hard to take down. Its strafing runs are ineffective against armored vehicles but very much effective against Rico if he's on foot.
If Rico survives the previous heat level, Fellhawk Jet Fighters and Thunderhead Bomber Jets appear. The Fellhawk is armed with missiles that can deal heavy damage to vehicles and a machine gun that can mow down infantry with ease. The Thunderhead flies to Rico's location and carpet bombs the area. If Rico is on foot and gets bombed on, he will almost die. The bombs deal high amounts of damage to armored vehicles, even heavily armored tanks like the Warchief Assault Tank.
At maximum heat, expect over 5 fighter jets, 8 helicopters, 8 tanks, countless APCs and armored trucks, as well as several drones will chase after Rico at the same time, which makes survival very difficult unless Rico is high up in the air or is behind some indestructible cover. At this point, any Army of Chaos rebels that happen to be nearby will be decimated and will not help feasibly.
At this point, it is extremely difficult to survive on foot. To survive for as long as possible, hijack the most heavily armored and/or well armed vehicles around you. The best land vehicle for surviving max heat would probably be the Warchief Assault Tank, with its heavy armor and firepower. When the vehicle you're in is about to blow up, hijack another one.
On water[]
If Rico attacks the Black Hand on water, the Black Hand will dispatch 2 or more Daggershark Jetboats to Rico's location which can be easily dealt with. If Rico continues to fight them, a few Stormwater Patrol Boats will show up. The Stormwater Patrol Boat has a mortar wirh 30 rockets which can cause heavy damage to small boats. A Dropzone Chopper will spawn with Black Hand snipers at medium heat and/or a Spectre Attack Heli.
If Rico gets up to high heat on the water, more of the same ships from medium heat will spawn as well as one (occasionally two) Conquistador Warship(s). The warships can cause a lot of damage with only a few shots and your best bet to fighting these is to fight it with another Conquistador yourself. Aerial support during high heat will consist of PA Microfighters and Fellhawk Jet Fighters which will do low passes and attack your ship. If you're in a Conquistador, pay no attention to the Microfighters as their machine guns will deal virtually no damage to your boat. Drones will also spawn. While they don't do a lot of damage to armored vehicles, they can be very pesky. In addition, it is very difficult to hit them with the Conquistador's slow-firing cannon.
The best naval vehicle for surviving critical heat is probably the Conquistador Warship due to its very heavy armor and high firepower. When the vehicle you're in is about to blow up, hijack another one.
If Rico attempts to escape on the water, Daggershark Jetboats will attempt to intercept and chase Rico as well as a few helicopters (and jets if at high enough heat), in some cases. At low to medium heat, you will most likely get away if you're in an agile boat.
Your best bet when it comes to losing the Black Hand on the water is to simply fast travel as most ships won't be able to outrun a chopper of any sorts and attempting to swim away will almost certainly result in Rico's death. A Daggershark Jetboat might be able to outrun choppers.
In air[]
Heat in the air is very different from heat on land and on water and is more complex, too.
Getting heat in a helicopter is very similar to getting heat on land, except helicopters are immediately dispatched even at the lowest levels of heat. This is pretty much equivalent to a medium to high closer to a high end level of heat. Additionally, if the player is at a high altitude, ground and naval vehicles will not spawn in, even if the Black Hand radio states that said vehicles have been dispatched. For example, the radio might say "Tanks are deployed, on our way." but you won't see any tanks because they are too far away to spawn in.
Getting heat in a fixed-wing aircraft is very different. If the Black Hand sees you in a Black Hand marked plane, low level ground heat will be triggered, but planes will instantly spawn. Ground heat will continue to escalate as usual - motorcycles and buggies, then armored trucks and Dropzone Choppers, then APCs and light assault helis, then light tanks, then medium tanks and heavy helis, and finally main battle tanks and artillery trucks. However, a PA Microfighter instantly spawns about a hundred meters above the player, where it can't be seen spawning in, regardless of the player's current ground heat. This can result in fighter jets going after the player in the air, but motorcycles, buggies, trucks and other low-end ground vehicles chasing the player on land.
In conclusion, ground heat and air heat seem to be considered separate by the game. That being said, air vehicles will be sent at high level ground heat and vise versa.
Maximum air heat replaces most ground vehicles with air vehicles, meaning there can be over a dozen Black Hand aircraft after you. If in/near liberated territory, some Army of Chaos fighters will show up in low-end fighter aircraft (microfighters and scout helis), resulting in a battle. Do note that you are still the Black Hand's priority target, so they will ignore the rebels and focus on you as much as possible. Army of Chaos Fellhawks and Thunderheads may appear as well, and even though they are more combat-effective than the low-end aircraft the AoC more commonly sends, they still rarely fill a role other than distraction.
The best air vehicle would likely be the Fellhawk Jet Fighter, since it's very fast (for Vehicles in Just Cause 4), incredibly agile and has lots of firepower (when used by a skilled pilot, the Fellhawk (when controlled by Rico) can be incredibly difficult for the Black Hand to hit). When the vehicle you're in is about to blow up, try hijacking another one. You can try hijacking enemy (or friendly) jets mid-air, but this is incredibly difficult as they are very fast. You can instead try to find one parked on the ground and take off in it.
Spawning[]
In Just Cause 3, enemies would only ever spawn (fairly) logically.
Just Cause 4 is drastically different. With heat, enemies do not follow normal, logical spawning rules. They will spawn wherever the player cannot see them, usually less than 100 meters away. Enemy boats can spawn in landlocked lakes, completely isolated from any military installation or the ocean. Aircraft will spawn in as soon as the player gets heat in an air vehicle, and typically roughly/less than 100 meters away from the player, outside their field of view. Tanks can be seen on remote islands with zero connection to the mainland (apart from the sea). The Black Hand can also continue chasing Rico deep inside liberated territory under control of the Army of Chaos, which makes no sense at all, as they won't have any way to get there.
Not only do enemies spawn in with no regards to logic, they can also disappear similarly as well. The moment Rico loses heat, basically every unit that was chasing him will despawn, except the ones close to him. So will any Army of Chaos resistance that spawns in alongside the Black Hand.
One more thing: even if the Black Hand says they lost visual and are searching for you, enemies will spawn right next to you, even if you're miles away from where they last saw you - so in-universe, the Black Hand knows where you are (some sort of satellite tracking?), they just don't have anyone who sees you. This makes escaping at high heat very difficult without fast travelling.
Run and hide if you want, but it will not help you most of the time.
As of Summer, 2019[]
Some patch has made heat significantly more difficult.
For example, tanks start showing up at a low heat level and stay all the way to a high heat level. Tanks start from Pointman Scout Tanks to Warchief Assault Tanks in a matter of minutes if retaliation is constant. Damage seems to have been increased significantly.
In some areas, fighter jets will start arriving as early as a low level of heat. This probably makes the heat in this game the most difficult in the history of the Just Cause game series. Before the patches that reworked the heat system, tanks remained very rare until late in the game and could normally only be found at a few bases and at the front. Similarly, fighter planes were very rarely seen, but now there is often one in the sky. If a fighter plane, or helicopter spawns in the sky, it is normally accompanied by an Army of Chaos counterpart for an instant small NPC battle.
As of December, 2020[]
Some patch has changed the heat slightly.
In-game, Dropzone Choppers are apparently much weaker (have lower HP) now, being capable of surviving only one explosive round (and barely, too) instead of the original two. However, Black Hand damage output seems to have been significantly increased.
As of August, 2021[]
Some patch has changed the heat significantly. Note that the patch has been released long ago (the last one was over a year ago), it's just that only now did someone report this to the wiki.
The Pointman Scout Tank cannon damage seems to have been increased slightly in that three hits will destroy most armored vehicles, like all other standard explosions. Prior to the patch, it was slightly inferior to some of the other explosives in the game.
On the other hand, the Falconer AA Tank seems to deal less damage to the large helicopters now. Where it used to be three cannon shells on larger helicopters now seems to be four. Very strangely, tanks still get destroyed from three rounds from this tank.
Unless it was always like this, the missiles from the Fellhawk Jet Fighter (when used by AI) seem to have been heavily nerfed. When used by Rico, the Fellhawk missiles are unchanged.
While extremely difficult, it appears to be possible to out fight the Black Hand now.
As of September, 2023[]
It seems the heat system has changed again.
One cannon round from the Conquistador Warship is capable of damaging a Bloodhound Siege Heli into the red warning zone. Conquistador Warships still take 3 cannon hits to blow up.
Also, strangely, it's possible to lose heat in the middle of a battleground.
New Game+[]
This is the "hard mode" of Just Cause 4. In NG+, heat is even more difficult than before. Enemies spawn in even higher numbers, soldiers have better aim, and search time (when the Black Hand has lost contact with Rico) seems to have been increased as well.
Privates are replaced by elites during heat and in patrol.
See here to learn how to play the game in NG+.
Agency heat[]
The Agency heat (heat gained at the Agency submarines) in the Danger Rising expansion is programmed as exactly the same as Black Hand heat. This means that if the player leaves a submarine at a slow to medium speed, they can lose heat by the time they're back on the mainland, but rushing back at high speed can result in the Agency heat seamlessly carrying over as the usual Black Hand heat, with some Black Hand units arriving.
On rare cases, a Black Hand chopper can attack Rico while he is at a submarine. That probably only happens when a player has unknowingly left the Agency territory limits for a moment.
DLC vehicles[]
- If the player is using any "toy vehicles" during heat, the Black Hand will also send toy vehicles after Rico. The Toy Offroader was added for everyone.
- If the player has a Prospero Shade DLC, they may see the Black Hand using it on lower levels of heat.
Trivia[]
- There are no obvious heat levels, making this game the first of the series to be so.
- With this heat system, Just Cause 4 is probably the hardest game in the Just Cause Game Series.
- Black Hand grunts and rarely machine gunners and elites spawn in heat, but they seem to have near perfect accuracy in combat. This is of course assuming you're not behind cover or otherwise evasive.
- There is always a tank no matter what heat level it is, and at higher difficulties, Prizefighter Tanks and Warchief Assault Tanks can almost kill Rico with a single tank shell should it connect.
- The return of fighter jets in heat had been unseen since the days of heat in JC1. As such, the heat in this game is significantly more dangerous than the heat in JC2 and heat in JC3.
- Expect all of the above to escalate in under five minutes of continuous retaliation. The Army of Chaos will update their arsenal fittingly, sending Pugilista SUVs to Cavalry Armored Trucks to eventually Warchief Assault Tanks of their own. They might send a Firebrand Scout Chopper as well, but eventually they can send Spectre Attack Helicopters. But when the player reaches maximum heat (which actually isn't too hard), any Army of Chaos that stands in the Black Hand's way will not stand a chance against them. At the very most, they will provide an opportunity for Rico to escape (if he wants to, obviously).
- With all of the above, Rico's chances of survival when fighting the Black Hand in heat are very low if he continuously fights the Black Hand, tries to be evasive, or tries to flee. No matter how good a player you are, it is inevitable that eventually, you're bound to slip up sooner or later. Often, the player will fail to dodge an explosion and Rico will be put into ragdoll by it, and then he'll be killed by a second explosion or some more gunfire.
- To put it simply, "The only way to win is not to play."