Tricks of the Trade

Besides the normal Controls and the few single buttons you press Agent 47 has quite a few tricks up his sinister sleeves. If you fail to grasp these basics fully, then that Silent Assassin rating will always be out of reach (was that too melodramatic? Discuss). 47's various techniques sit in the categories of attack, defence, and movement. Learn to master each one and learn to apply them effectively each time... or something like that.
Hopefully the following movelist comes in handy for you.

Melee Attack
Giving Them a Push
Elevator Action
Lock and Roll
Disarming
Human Shield
Disposal of Bodies
Diversions
Costume Changes
Navigating the Environment

Melee Attack

If you push the

button while standing in front of a budding victim, you'll deliver a grappled headbutt. Pressing

against the newly stunned victim will follow that up with a knock-out blow. This is probably THE most sought after addition to the franchise, the ability to fight back without the aid of weapons.

The headbutt/punch combo is as violent as it sounds, and once you headbutt someone, they're unlikely to forget you (or forgive you, but that's an entirely different matter). If you're in a secluded spot and you actually intend to finish them off, then by all means, do it (the bloodstains can give you away when hiding a body, so keep that in mind).

Giving Them a Push

A tap of the

button while standing behind someone will give them a push. Not too great on its own, but if you push them downstairs (a personal favourite) or off a ledge, you can fake an accident. Sometimes you can score multiple kills by pushing one punk on top of another, although that requires near perfect timing. Another important use for the push is that you can shove someone so that they knock themselves out on a hard surface (such as a desk or a door frame) - very handy when you're out of ways to put someone to sleep in an unconventional manner.

Elevator Action

In some elevators (okay, most), it's possible to climb through the service hatch and out onto the roof of the car. If there happens to be someone standing directly below the hatch, you can equip the Fiber Wire and use the context menu to strangle them while pulling them up. It's a silent kill with instant concealment, dandy, eh?

Lock and Roll

All doors have locks and Agent 47 has guns - nope can't think of a thing. Oh, wait - if you fire at a door lock (preferably in first-person view), it'll break. The benefit of which is that you can avoid picking locks altogether. The bad bit is that it makes quite a bit of localised noise and even leaves a physical mark on the door. Doors that are opened via Keycard can't be picked or shot open (unless you possess a card to the door, which is just odd).

Disarming

If you push the

button while standing near to an armed opponent, you will perform a grapple for their firearm, of which there are two outcomes. You'll either successfully win control of the gun, causing a small localised noise (and stunning your target), or you'll win control of the gun and it'll go off in the struggle, creating a lot of noise. There is also a shooting disarm, but that's purely limited to the AI. If it happens to you, then you'd better pull your finger out and pick up your gun.

Human Shield

If you can manage to get behind someone with an appropriate gun drawn (single-handed use only), you can use the

button to grab them as a human shield. A human shield by definition should be quite handy - angry men with automatic weapons evidently don't read the dictionary. If you cause too much trouble or kill too many people while you have a shield, people are likely to shoot back. When you are done with them, you can shove them to the floor with

or knock them out with the

button. Alternatively, you can fake an accident by pushing them from a high ledge (good for the stats and your rating).

This button will discharge your chosen firearm.

Reload - that's it, just a reload button. When reloading with a human shield, 47 will drop into a kneeling position to do so - this leaves him momentarily vulnerable to being flanked (the enemy gaining ground behind him and then, well, you know).

47 will shove his victim to the ground, a shove near some railings or stairs will result in a fatal experience. If no-one is around to witness this, it will be classed as an accident.

Pushing this button will pistol-whip your hostage's lights out in what can only be described as the painful alternative to sedation.

Disposal of Bodies

Even when going for a Silent Assassin rating, the bodies can mount up ridiculously fast. To gain the Silent Assassin rank, you need to be able to hide and dispose of bodies when necessary. Every mission contains a dumpster, a hopper, or a chest freezer (basically the same, if not a little colder or smellier than the last). As long as you put the lid down, they should provide an adequate hiding place for anyone you need to inhume/incapacitate.

It's worth mentioning, however, that dumpsters outside of cafés/restaurants are used frequently by Waiters and the like, so any body hidden there won't remain that way for long. Darkened areas will do when it comes to stashing bodies - the darker the better. Regardless of how dark an area is, sooner or later, someone will see something if the area sees even the slightest of use.

Permanently disposing of bodies can be a godsend when faced with the prospect of multiple targets. Places like swamps, the back of garbage trucks, and even furnaces will do the job nicely; although the more unpleasant ways of disposal tend to add to the violence rating rather quickly. In most cases, it's purely a case of using your best judgement - get discovered or be a little rough.

Diversions

It isn't all about shooting people in the face or pure stealth - sometimes to succeed, you need to be able to cause a diversion. The obvious choice of diversion is to use the Coin. Simply toss it, and with a bit of luck, your target will wander off to investigate. This gives you the chance to eliminate them quietly or simply sneak on by.

Coins are great, but for a longer lasting diversion, you can actually use your Rifle Case. If you throw it in a similar manner to a Coin, your chosen target will pick it up and take it to the nearest security room (any Civilians will run off to let someone know about it - win/win).

A firm favourite of mine is just to simply toggle a light switch. When someone comes to turn the lights back on, you can use the opportunity to sneak past or take them down when they turn their back. You're not purely limited to the basics, either, as in some missions there will be specific diversions, like fire alarms and security systems that can be exploited.

Costume Changes

Mr. 47 may be good, and indeed, he may have a bald, bar-coded head, but there are times when even he needs to acquire some new pants (and the rest) to be able to achieve his mission objectives without raising suspicion of an undue nature. Obtaining a costume is as simple as smacking someone across the back of the head, selecting it from the drop-down menu, and then bundling the naked guy into a box.

Different costumes yield different levels of access (e.g. an FBI Agent can walk unhindered just about anywhere without question - even bypassing metal detectors and checkpoints) and allow you to openly carry certain weapons unhindered (e.g. a Worker can carry a Hammer or Nail Gun without getting his face blown off).

Providing that you don't keep trying to enter unauthorised or restricted areas, or do uncharacteristic things (waving a firearm at party-goers usually does it for me), your cover should remain intact. Only people wearing the same threads as you can become suspicious and blow your cover (unless you're doing something really stupid, but that almost goes without saying).

The best way to completely obliterate your cover is to have a body discovered and identified - this tells everyone on the mission exactly who they should be looking for. Even the smallest amount of suspicious behaviour will no doubt plunge you into the red.

A neat little feature that's new to Blood Money is that the changing of costumes will now lower the suspicion meter. This in no uncertain terms is an absolute lifesaver should you screw up but still be on track to complete a mission. Retrieving your suit is vital to obtaining a Silent Assassin rank. On Expert and Professional difficulties, try and leave it somewhere secluded but accessible for when the time comes.

Navigating the Environment

Evidently, Agent 47 has been on an outward bounds weekend in-between games, and it shows. I want to make this sound technical and cool, but it basically comes down to pushing forward for everything. If you want to climb something (trellis, drainpipe, etcetera), just push towards it; pushing up goes up, and pushing down goes down (well, I never).

If you're in a hurry to get down, push

to drop straight to the ground (depending on how high up you are, you'll suffer varying amounts of damage). The same goes for jumping from ledges - push in the direction that you want to go, and Mister Hitman will do the rest.

To traverse ledges (in a wall-hugging fashion, no-less), simply push towards the ledge and 47 will automatically do what needs to be done (shimmy-shimmy). Should someone see you and raise the alarm, then you'll be unable to defend yourself (the whole balancing precariously bit puts pay to that).