1. Act Like an NPC
When invading another player in Watch Dogs 2, it’s important not to make it obvious to them that you’re there. On their screen, you appear wearing your current clothes and with the face of whatever online avatar they have set.
With that in mind, it’d be in your favor to wear more muted colors that blend in better with civilians. The same goes for your vehicle; a sportscar with an elaborate DedSec-themed paint job sticks out like a sore thumb. When you’ve got those down, get used to not driving like a maniac when you’re around the target. Drive close behind other NPC’s and don’t give yourself away by crashing into street lamps.
When you’re following on foot, walk. NPC’s don’t jog or sprint. If you do all this, your target will be far less likely to see you coming.
2. Be Careful With Drones
Marcus’ two drones are one of the greatest additions to Watch Dogs 2, but when invading other players, they can give you away just quicker than anything else. Using the quadcopter is the best way to get a view on your target without showing yourself, but it’s a big problem if the player spots it.
In the default view, the player can’t gather much from your drone in the sky, but when viewing your drone through hacknet, a red line will run between your drone to your location, and that’s a big problem. It’s best to not leave either drone in the area for the player to see, and the same caution extends to hackable infrastructure like scissor lifts, forklifts, cranes, etc.
What you can do, however, is use your quadcopter to initiate the hack. Find a nice hiding spot, launch the quadcopter, and begin the hack with it instead of having to close in on foot. Call back the drone immediately after, though, to avoid detection. This gives you an extra edge at the outset.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Wait
Watch Dogs 2 gives you as much time as you need to find your target and initiate the hack, and you’d be smart to use it. If your target is in the middle of nowhere with no other NPC’s around, it’s going to be tougher to blend in when you need to most. This also goes for when there’s no buildings or good spots to hide in or break line-of-sight with the target. So don’t be afraid to hang back and wait until the right time.
You can also have some fun by screwing with the target in smaller ways in the meantime, like opening doors after they close them, calling the cops on people around them, etc.
4. Improvisation is Key
Sometimes, the best-laid plans go all wrong. You’ve acted the part of the NPC, stalked your target to a good spot, found a choice hiding place, and the target still closes in on you. This is where improvisation is required. If you see your target getting closer to you, it’s probably time to move. As long as you keep acting like an NPC or dash quickly to a new spot, there’s still a good chance that they won’t find you.
You can also get extra risky with it and constantly move between spots to really confuse them. If you transition into a part of the searchable area that they’ve already checked, they probably won’t come back to check again before their time is up.
5. Always Have an Escape Plan
This might be the most obvious tip one can give for hacking invasion, but it’s a really vital one. It only takes a second for the target to profile you, and if that happens, you want to be ready to gun it out of there. If your target is a heartless monster, they’ll surely have guns that carve right through Marcus, so getting caught close up is a bad deal.
You have a better chance of losing your target if you take to freerunning across rooftops. You’re a smaller target, harder to shoot, and you can break line of sight long enough to get to a car and get out quickly. All of the options are risky, but this is the way to make the best out of a bad situation.
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