General Strats

Last Man Standing (Easy/Hard)

One of the biggest hidden aspects of the fight mechanics is the last enemy standing will always have 1 health, meaning your next attack on the last thug will immediately be a knockout blow. The only exception is if you drop the combo. If that's the case, it'll take 2 attacks instead of 1.

Ground Pounds + Combo Breaking (Easy/Hard)

As long as Batman is in the middle of a combo, many of the regular attacks will be replaced by flashy combo attacks. While most don't waste much time, there are quite a few that can, and the biggest one is the combo ground pound. Instead of simply knocking the enemy out, Batman will execute either a spinning backflip with a half-twist or a short hop to first land on the enemy, then deliver the final blow. If an enemy is close, it's always faster to break the combo before executing a ground pound.

1. Knock down an enemy (make sure nobody else is standing if you have Combo Batarang upgrade)
2. Throw a quick Batarang to break the combo
3. Ground pound

While not as effective on Easy mode due to the Combo Critical Strikes upgrade, on Hard it can drastically shorten the duration of a fight.

Fast Ground Pound

As mentioned, during a combo Batman will do a flashy version of the standard ground pound that can be canceled by intentionally missing a batarang. However, with really good timing and setup, the fast ground pound can be executed during a fight without dropping the combo. There are numerous ways to set this up, and none of them are 100% effective. Regardless, all of these methods require that the duck key is held early to prepare for the actual ground pound.

1. Perfect combat timing/Animation cancel: Immediately as an attack lands, press the counter key. The chances are slightly higher to work if Batman is in the middle of a long animation (like a cape stun).
2. Aim somewhere else: During combat, make sure your intended target to ground pound is not being aimed at. Instead, keep the target behind or to the side of where the camera is aimed.
3. Stay close: Stand as close as possible to the target or partially on top.
4. Don't move: During the fight, let go of the movement keys/analog stick before pressing counter

2 Thugs (Easy/Hard)

Many of the transition fights in the game happen in the hallways between major fights, with the earlier encounters against 2 thugs.

1. Attack the first thug with a flying kick (knockdown)
2. Cape stun the 2nd thug (stun locked)
3. Ground pound the 1st thug
4. Last attack on the stunned thug will finish the fight