Watch Dogs 2 multiplayer modes tips: Cooperative Operations, Free Roam, Hacking Invasions and Bounties explained

Watch Dogs 2 multiplayer is coming online after an absent launch week, allowing players to team together to work on missions and events.

Here's a guide to what's available, and how to best approach them to pick up those remaining Watch Dogs 2 Trophies and Achievements you might have left to collect.

[4K] Watch Dogs 2 PS4 Pro Gameplay - First Look/Analysis

Cooperative Operations in Watch Dogs 2

These missions can be played solo or in two player co-op, and are randomly generated with a handful of categories available - (Un)Lawful (Dis)Order missions face you off against the FBI, CTOS Haxx put you up against Umeni-Zulu, and Crime Hunt has you dealing with gangs - but other than the type of enemy you face all the missions are drawn from the same pool of basic types, and if you've played the story mode then the mechanics of them will likely be instantly familiar.

• Steal a vehicle from a restricted area. Making a clean getaway pays dividends here - you need to take the car to its designated location in more or less one piece so escaping without triggering a chase is preferable - so assigning one person to distraction duties whilst the other takes care of the car is a decent strategy.
• Download some data from a restricted area. You'll need to stick fairly close to whatever it is you're downloading from while the data is transferred, but having both players in proximity to it will increase the download speed.
• Steal one or more items from a restricted area. These lend themselves well to you and your partner splitting up to minimise the amount of time you spend behind enemy lines.
• Destroy multiple items in a restricted area. Unless you can get lucky and goad an enemy into throwing a handy grenade at least one of you will need need shock or explosive charges for these.
• Release a prisoner from a restricted area. The prisoner is always behind a door locked by a panel that requires physical access and is usually located some distance from the door, so a practical strategy is for one player to make their way to the prisoner whilst the other deals with the locks. Thankfully the prisoners don't need escorting after they're released, so as soon as they're untied you can beat a retreat.

The tasks vary in difficulty, with harder challenges providing greater reward, and usually feature additional objectives for a small bonus - completing it within a certain amount of time, for example.

As with the story mode you can approach these missions in a variety of ways, but it's important that you and your partner agree on a strategy beforehand - if one player tries to approach it through stealth and the other just rushes in guns blazing things will go horribly wrong pretty quickly. Ideally you also want to be able to co-ordinate during the missions so voice chat is highly recommended, particularly if you're attempting to complete your tasks without confrontation.

Free Roam in Watch Dogs 2

You can team up with another player and just explore the world, collecting items and causing chaos as you go. If you're hunting for KeyData, RP, or other loot both players will need to pick them up, but this could be a handy way for new players to get a bit of a head start - if you can recruit someone with a full arsenal of tricks they can be a great help in securing the path to a hard-to-reach item if you're a little underpowered.

DedSec events in Watch Dogs 2

While free-roaming in co-op mode you will occasionally be alerted to a DedSec event. These are short tasks such as hacking a hostile NPC and require much less planning than the specific missions - as long as you and your buddy are agreed on what sort of approach you're going to take when they appear then they're easily dealt with.

Want more tips? Our Watch Dogs 2 walkthrough and guide provides an overview of everything you can do in the open-world game, from all finding all Key Data locations, unique vehicles and finding hidden gnomes and gnome outfit, through to tips on races, ScoutX, Driver SF and multiplayer. We also have walkthroughs on Trophy and Achievement specific side-quests Ubistolen, $911 and Shadows as well as how to get more Followers and how to make money.

Hacker Invasions and Bounties in Watch Dogs 2

Hacker Invasions and Bounties work in similar ways, in that there is the hunter and the hunted. The in-game phone app can help you become the former, while the latter can take place as you're exploring the world or get a high wanted level from the police.

If you don't want these multiplayer distractions, however, you can easily turn them off - go to Game Options (it's an app on the phone) then Settings, and Online Preferences to toggle them.

Once you've started the hacking process you need to avoid detection while the download completes - you can use height differences to your advantage, set up a distraction (put a gang hit out on a handy policeman, for example) and then lose yourself in the chaos, circle a building to keep the target on the opposite side, or you can try simply blending in with NPCs if your target is in a crowded area.

You're under no pressure to start the hack quickly, so if your target isn't in a great location just tail them until they've moved to better surroundings.

Regardless of your strategy, a combination of NetHack and the quadcopter can make it tricky to avoid being spotted so sooner or later you'll be discovered at which point you need to escape.

The target is free to use any means at their disposal to eliminate you, but any attempt on your part to harm them will cause you to fail, so getting a significant distance away is your only chance.

As soon as you're notified you're being hacked (or sooner; see below) deploy the Quadcopter if you have it, switch to NetHack, and look for anyone behaving oddly - that guy on the roof, the one walking at a slightly different speed to everyone else, or the one crouching behind a bush is going to be your opponent, and if there are no obvious suspects then simply make a methodical sweep of the area.

Once identified your job is to eliminate them, and you have the distinct advantage of them being unable to retaliate, so feel free to use weapons, explosives, environmental hazards, and every other trick in your arsenal.

It's possible to know you've been invaded before the hacker is even anywhere near you - while they're invading you're unable to fast-travel or initiate an intrusion or bounty hunt, and attempting to do so will result in the hacker's general location being displayed on your map allowing you to make your move well in advance!

You can approach this in two ways - find yourself a defensible position and settle in for a siege, or try and make a run for it. Either way, your exact position will be visible to anyone hunting you down so breaking line of sight is not enough to escape - you need to eliminate all the human participants and then hope you can evade the police before another hunter spawns in, a circumstance than requires more than a little luck.

It's worth bearing in mind that each human opponent you eliminate earns a bonus Follower reward regardless of whether you manage to escape, so simply hunkering down and picking people off as they approach until you run out of luck or ammo can be more profitable than actually achieving your goal of escape.

Depending on where you are in relation to the target and whether they're on the run or holed up somewhere will dictate your strategy, but broadly speaking you just need to get close and take them down. If they're on the run this can be a long and drawn out process, particularly if they're a long way off when you start, and you may need to rely on some good fortune to close the gap.

Also note that the police will be involved and - for once - they're on your side so injuring them (deliberately or accidentally) is off limits, so drive carefully and mind your aim.