List of Challenges and Perks - Saints Row Guide - IGN (2024)

Saints Row features a list of optional challenges that can unlock special passive perk abilities - this page includes a list of known challenges and perks, tips for unlocking them, and the best perks to equip.

Soon after starting your adventure, you'll find that in addition to your Main Mission list, you can switch a list of challenges that are tracked as you explore or take on missions. For each of these challenges you complete, you'll unlock different kind of Perks. They come in three tiers - Minor (green), Major (purple), and Elite (orange), and cost different amounts of money to unlock. Once done, you can equip up to two green and purple perks, and one orange perk.

As you complete more main missions, and unlock Criminal Ventures, you'll get new related Challenges that will appear over the course of your playthrough. If you appear to be running out of challenges to complete, simply play more of the story to get more to show up.

List of Perks - The Best Perks to Equip

Below you'll find a list of perks you can unlock in the order you complete challenges. As you progress, you'll gain access to many more perks to use, and we reccommend the following:

• In the Flow: Having Flow is essential to being able to take down overwhelming odds using your skills and abilities, and you don't want anything slowing you down. This perk will only reset your flow after using a skill, ensuring you can get hit and still come out on top.
• Shock Tactics: In the thick of battle nothing is more annoying than trying to snipe enemies only for someone to ambush you with melee attacks. Shock Tactics allow you to get back at these melee ambushers by shocking them, even if it is on a cooldown,
• Loot Grab: The more carnage you unleash, the more ammo and cash will be dropped in your wake, and having to run around to collect it all can be a slog. With Loot Grab, you can keep raking in money and ammo without having to stop, which is also great for @tcha Missions.
• Dual Wield: Possibly one of the most important Major Skills to unlock, Dual Wield allows you to use a second pistol or SMG of the same type in both hands, effectively doubling your damage output - but will use up more ammo.
• Full Contact: Just like Skills, Takedowns are important to ending fights quickly and getting some health back. Full Contact allows you to spend less time between Takedowns using well timed kicks before killing an enemy to reduce that cooldown.
• Back Off! - Excellent when paired with Full Contact, Back Off! allows you to deal more damage to targets with your bullets after you've kicked them away, ensuring an easy finish to your target.
• Saving Throw - Well worth the high price to unlock an Elite Perk, Saving Throw is great for taking on tough challenges where you might not make it out alive, as it will heal you when your health is depleted.

Below you'll find a list of all known challenges as you can unlock them over the course of playing the main missions and unlocking Criminal Ventures in Saints Row. All challenges reward 1,125 XP (with the exclusion of a few that award double).

Nothing Stronger Than Family

• Sideswipe kill 15 enemy vehicles with Neenah
• Kill 5 notoriety minibosses with Kev
• Kill 100 enemies with Eli

A long challenge that may take some time grinding, as you'll either have to get lucky during main missions or repeatedly summon your crew using the Contacts app and undertaking specific actions to increase notoriety so that more enemies come to get killed by you.

The Tourist

• Make a purchase at an outdoor shop
• Find and start a Hidden History

An easy challenge to complete, you can look on your map for shops to purchase clothing from, and as you explore, look for the yellow discovery markers that note a Hidden History, and find all five interactive modules to complete it.

Target Practice

• Find and start a Shooting Galley
• Headshot kill 15 enemies

For this challenge, you need to find the Discovery points marked as a Shooting Gallery, which can be found at various places on the map - like the hydroelectric dam to the South of Smelterville, and also get headshots on enemies, which you can easily get by quickly zooming in on enemies and taking shots.

Lost Wheels

• Carjack 5 vehicles
• Investigate a pinwheel in the desert

This challenge requires you to run up to any vehicle being driven by someone else and press Y/Triangle to get in forcibly. You can also find Discovery nodes called Lost Wheels in both deserts by looking for distant blue glows.

Fashionable

• Buy a Hat
• Buy a Shirt
• Buy a pair of Pants

Since all clothing stores are marked on your map, you need simply go to one of the bigger stores like Trending to find a good selection of clothing and buy one of each.

Sightseer

• Travel 1,000 feet on foot
• Drive 10,000 feet

A fairly self-explanatory challenge, just move around and explore and you'll unlock this challenge in no time.

I Know A Shortcut

• Unlock a Fast Travel Location
• Discover 5 New Districts

To get this challenge, simply drive around Santo Ileso for awhile to tour each area. While exploring, check our guide on Fast Travel Photo Locations to see how to find a landmark and take a photo of it to unlock fast traveling.

Arm Yourself

• Obtain an Idol Lite Pistol
• Obtain an MDI-77 Auto Rifle
• Obtain a Sawed-Off Shotgun

For this challenge, you can head to any Friendly Fire store to buy the pistol and shotgun, while the Auto Rifle will be obtainable later in the main story.

Close Call

• Drive into oncoming traffic for 120 seconds
• Get 20 near misses in a vehicle

This challenge merely requires you to drive on the wrong side of the road for a bit. Even empty roads count for driving into oncoming traffic, but to get near misses, just drive on the bridges!

It's a Living

• Complete a Crime of Opportunity
• Rob an armored car
• Find 2 things in a dumpster

Golden dumpsters can be found by exploring Santo Ileso and looking for the yellow Discovery icons. Crimes of Opportunity can be spotted on your minimap as money bag icons, and Armored Trucks as truck icons - kill the people committing the crime to take their money, and blow up the truck to help yourself to the contents.

The Collective

• Kill the 6 Collective

This challenge is a long-spanning one, requiring you to kill all the Idol Collective bosses. One is defeated early in the story during the Be Your Own Boss mission, another during the Idol Threat, and 2 in the Main Mission Going Overboard. In to these missions, 1 more can be killed as part of the Wanted Target - Litterbugs Side Mission, and the final will appear when clearing out one of the Threats in Old Town West.

Shots Fired

• Take a Photo Hunt Picture
• Find an HQ Collectible

This challenge requires shots of the photographic variety. The Photo Hunts can be found all across Santo Ileso as Discovery points of interest, while HQ Collectibles appear as various objects that you can track with our guide.

Off-Roading

• Equip a vehicle with an off-road kit
• Drift for 60 seconds in the Badlands South

This easy enough task can be started by stealing a good off-road vehicle like a buggy or truck and bringing it back to JimRob's, and then paying to equip it with an off-road kit. After that, find a nice stretch of desert in the Badlands to drive until you complete the task.

You Are Already Dead

• Perform 10 Takedowns on enemies
• Melee kill 15 enemies

Another self-explanatory challenge, you just need to kill a lot of people - try using the @tcha missions to spawn quick waves of enemies to take down.

Nice Shootin' Tex

• Headshot kill 30 enemies
• Groinshot kill 15 enemies

Aiming is crucial to complete this challenge, which you're likely to accomplish over the course of the story - or by triggering enemy waves in the @tcha repeatable missions.

Disturb the Peace

• Get two-star Panteros notoriety
• Get two-star Marshall notoriety
• Get two-start Idol notoriety

An easy enough challenge to accomplish, you need only patrol the haunts of the various gangs and piss them off by attacking patrols until they chase you with enough force.

Fight Fire with Fire

• Kill 15 Idols with an Idol Lite Pistol
• Kill 15 Marshalls with an MDI-77 Auto Rifle
• Kill 15 Panteros with a Sawed-Off Shotgun

An extension of the Arm Yourself Challenge, you just need to use the weapons you've gained on specific gangs - which can quickly be accomplished either through story missions or repeatable @tcha missions.

Take Care of Business

• Melee kill a Gigante
• Kill a Wrangler with the MDI-85 Carbine
• Perform a takedown on a Raver

This task requires you to take down tough targets with very specific methods. Ravers are the most common, usually appearing with 2-star notoriety attacks from the Idols (they us their glowsticks as shields). Wranglers also appear in later notoriety attacks, while the Gigante's are the large Panteros women using giant sledgehammers with a miniboss icon, and only appear in certain missions or high notoriety attacks.

Van Vandal

• Carjack a Barracus
• Carjack a Sojourn
• Carjack a Porter

This challenge requires you to find and steal various vans from around Santo Illeso (and must be driven by other people). If you're having trouble figuring out which is which - the Barracus are large vans often with decals for plumbers/businesses. Sojourns are the large minivans driven by civilans, and Porters are larger vans like the ones used by news teams.

Finish 'Em!

• Perform 15 Takedowns on Panteros
• Perform 15 Takedowns on Idols
• Perform 15 Takedowns on Marshall

Like other kill-specific challenges, this one can easily be gained over the course of the story, or by repeatedly triggering @tcha Side Hustle missions to fight specific gangs over and over again.

Wing It

• Bounce Boost off 6 people in 30 seconds
• Wingsuit launch off 12 vehicles.

This challenge can only be taken after upgrading your Saints Empire to Level 2 and completing the Drawing Heat Mission, as it will unlock the Bounce Boosting technique. When wingsuiting, hold LT/L2 to slow your descent and movement so that civilians on crowded streets, and tab LB/L1 to bounce off them continually. You can also start driving most cars to a certain top speed and quickly move onto the roof - where you'll be able to wingsuit launch if you don't wait too long.

They See Me Rolein'

• Kill 20 enemies with the Dustlander Revolver
• Kill 20 enemies with the Dustlander Shotgun
• Kill 5 enemies with the Dustlander Crossbow

For this challenge, you'll need to undertake the Dustmoot Mission with Eli and then build Castle Kraken as a Criminal Venture to unlock more Dustlander missions, where you can unlock these LARP weapons to defeat enemies with.

Badlands Badass

• Perform a backflip in Badlands South
• Get 60 seconds of airtime in Badlands North

For these challenges, find a good off-road vehicle and look for large sand dunes or jump points to get plenty of airtime, and hold back on the control stick when jumping to perform a backflip.

Cranked

• Stun 15 Marshalls with a Stun Baton
• Stun 15 Police with an Electrostun P-1200

Like most combat challenges, you'll need to buy specific weapons from the Friendly Fire shop, and then engage the gangs or cause general havoc to alert the Marshalls and Police to use these weapons on.

Santo Ileso's Most Wanted

• Get Max Panteros Notoriety
• Get Max Marshalls Notoriety
• Get Max Idols Notoriety

This challenge will require you to get into extended conflicts with each gang until you get rank 4 notoriety with each gang - though the Marshall one can be instantly gained by stepping foot into the Frontier prison in the desert.

Have at Them, Boys

• Kill 8 enemies with a Longsword
• Kill 8 enemies with an Axe
• Kill 8 enemies with a Bone Club

Like other combat challenges, you need to find specific weapons to kill enemies with. The Axe can be bought as normal, while the Longsword is a Visual Mod for the Pickaxe unlocked by the 1-Star @tcha review for the Santotel Motel in West Providencia, and the Bone Club is unlocked by doing Dustmoot missions.

Terminal Velocity

• Free fall 5,000 Feet
• Get 600 seconds of airtime in Lakeshore North
• Wingsuit 1,000 feet in Lakeshore South

This challenge is best done by using a helicopter or hijacking one, and then launching yourself out to wingsuit around the Lakeshore area.

Fists of Fury

• Perform 10 takedowns on Marshall Specialists
• Kill 20 Idols with Pugnus Sanctus Dei
• Shove 8 enemies and kill them while they're reeling

Cop the Cops

• Carjack a Police Shield
• Carjack a Police Vigilance

You can complete this challenge by driving around Santo Ileso and looking for cop cars to carjack - both the smaller cruisers and large police vans.

Arm Day

• Kill 20 Panteros with El Lanzador
• Kill 15 Marshall with a Sledgehammer

Pace Car

• Continously speed for 80 seconds in a vehicle
• Drive 1,000 feet in 25 seconds

This challenge is best done by upgrading certain vehicles with a boost that can have the unlimited boost ability - like the Kenshin Motorcycle. Find an empty stretch of straight road lining the cities and boost for as long as you can without hitting anything to get these completed.

Kart Life

• Kill 10 enemies with a Shifty Kart
• Sideswipe 30 vehicles with a go-kart
• In a go-kart, continously drive for 45 seconds into oncoming traffic

• All Shifty Karts found at the Go-Kart track in El Dorado have a kneecapper ability to shred through people nearby, and afterwards you can take it on the bridge heading east to easily dodge incoming traffic.

The Old Ball and Chain

• Kill 5 Panteros with a towed object
• Kill 5 Idols with a towed object
• Kill 5 Marshalls with a towed object

Simply build the Wuzyerz Repo Yard Criminal Venture for easy access to tow trucks, and then tow and object to crash into gangs that chase you.

SUNDAY

• Crush 15 Panteros vehicles
• Crush 15 Marshall vehicles
• Crush 15 Idol vehicles

The easiest way to achieve these challenges is to get yourself a Gargantua Monster Truck, which you can spot by getting Panteros Notoriety up to Level 3 or 4 and finding them parked at road blocks when they try to stop you fleeing.

Tanks for Playing

• Crush 30 vehicles with an Adversary
• Kill 30 enemies with an Adversary
• Kill 25 Marshall with an MDI-344T

In order to get an Adversary Tank, you'll need to get max Notoriety with the police until they send in a tank to stop you. Once you spot one, snipe the gunner and carjack the tank to make it yours!

Gang Ganking

• Carjack a Panteros Snake
• Carjack an MDI-525C
• Carjack and Idol Skorpio

Out to Launch

• Kill 20 enemies with an AT Rocket Launcher
• Kill 5 Panteros with a single RPG rocket
• Kill 5 enemies in 6 seconds with a Flash Cannon

Downtown Daredevil

• In a single dive free fall 400 feet in Lakeshore North
• Backflip a Fer de Lance in Lakeshore South
• Low-fly a Helicopter for 90 feet without stopping in Lakeshore North

Death by 1000 Darts

• Take out a Gatling Gunner with the Crossbow
• Defeat a Raver with a Dustlander Shotgun
• Defeat a Thumper with a Dustlander Revolver

Agent of Chaos

• Destroy 25 enemy vehicles with an RPG
• Kill 20 enemies with a vehicle
• Kill 10 Specialists with the Thrustbuster

Fiestivities

• Kill 30 enemies with a Pinata Gun
• Kill 20 enemies with a Pinata Stick

Desert Daredevil

• On a Sandstorm Elite get 2 consecutive backflips
• On a Sandstorm get 180 seconds of airtime
• In an Ant get 5 seconds of airtime in a single jump

The Most Dnagerous Game

• Kill 15 Marshalls with a .585 Safari Express Rifle
• Kill 10 Idols with a Machete
• Kill 3 Panteros specialists with a .585 Safari Express Rifle

Insult to Injury

• Kill 12 enemies with a Cactus Bat
• Kill 12 enemies with a Crutch
• Kill 12 enemies with a Toy Hammer

Feeling Perky

• Vacuum up $300,000 cash with the Loot Grab perk
• Kill 50 enemies while dual wielding
• Use 50,000 Health with the Blood and Guts perk

JimRob's

• Equip 3 vehicles with an off-road kit
• Store 10 vehicles in your garage
• Equip 3 vehicles with boost

Chalupacabra

• Get 240 seconds of airtime with Sammy's Food Truck
• Drift for 180 seconcs in Twisty's Food Truck
• Sideswipe 50 vehicles with Weenie's Food Truck

Shady Oaks

• Ragdoll 5,000 feet
• Bounce boost off 30 people
• Revive 20 allies

While ragdolling is easy enough to do with repeated insurance frauds, you'll have to wait until you unlock rank 2 of your Empire to get the Bounce Boost ability while using a Wingsuit. Reviving allies will require you to summon your roomates and get them into trouble.

Bright Future

• Complete a perfect toxic barrel delivery
• Deliver 60 toxic barrels

Making a perfect delivery isn't easy, so try finding a truck closest to your Venture, and very slowly making the drive and obeying all traffic rules to get to your base unscathed. If you run out of missions, you'll find the trucks being driven all over Santo Ileso

Wuzyerz Repo

• Tow vehicles with a two truck for 3,000 feet
• Destroy 3 enemy vehicles with a towed object

Castle Kraken

• Wear a Dustlander Outfit
• Defeat 30 Dustlanders
• Kill 30 enemies with a Dustlander Sword

While one of these objectives you'll claim naturally doing the Venture missions, the others you'll have to wait until completion and also finishing the Dust Moot quest chain to get the last unlockable weapon.