Red Dead Redemption 2 – 100% Guide & Checklist

This Red Dead Redemption 2 100% Checklist will show you all requirements for 100% Game Completion with a full guide for each task. Reaching 100% completion in RDR2 unlocks the Best in the West trophy or achievement.

You can keep track of your progress in the Pause Menu > Progress > Total Completion. There it shows how much you have done for each task. A checkmark will be shown when the task is completed.
Nothing is missable! You can continue playing after the story to clean up what you have left. Everything is still accessible after the story.

There are 5 Completion Categories: Missions and Events, Collectibles, Compendium, Player, Miscellaneous.

The 100% requirements are very forgiving because you don’t actually need to do everything. For example, only 50 of 178 animals are required. It’s the same with other tasks, you only need to do a fraction of what the game has to offer. Other examples include that only 10 Stranger Questlines are needed, 25 out of infinite Chance Encounters, 10 of 72 equipment pieces, 5 Shacks must be found, 48 of 59 weapons, 10 of 30 fish species, 10 of 19 horse types, 20 of 43 plant types. There is a lot in the Compendium you don’t need. You do need all of the Collectibles & Challenges though, which will be the main time eaters.

100% Checklist

Missions and Events:

• Complete All Story Missions
• 10 Stranger Missions Strands
• 5 Bounties
• 25 Chance Encounters
• 1 Bushwhacked
• 6 Gang Hideouts

Collectibles:

• 1 Points of Interest
• 9 Graves
• 144 Cigarette Cards
• 30 Dinosaur Bones
• 13 Legendary Fish
• All Exotics Tasks for Algernon Wasp
• 10 Rock Carvings
• All Hunting Requests from Train Stations
• 1 Treasure Hunter Chain
• 20 Dreamcatchers

Compendium:

• 50 Animals Discovered
• 10 Pieces of Equipment Obtained
• 10 Species of Fish Caught
• 6 Gangs Discovered (Automatic from Story)
• 10 Breeds of Horses Discovered
• 20 Types of Plants Collected
• 48 Different Types of Weapons Used

Player:

• Reach Maximum Health, Stamina and Dead Eye
• Reach Horse Bonding Level 4
• 9 Challenges Completed

Miscellaneous:

• 5 Shacks Found
• 5 Legendary Animals Killed
• 4 Table Games Played
• 5 Ranters, Ravers, and Campaigners interacted with
• 1 Bath Taken (at Hotel)
• 1 Show watched
• 1 Theater visited
• 6 Recipes crafted: Craft 1 cooking recipe, 1 tonic, 1 type of ammunition, 1 hunting item, 1 horse care item, and 1 weapon
• 4 Robberies: Coach Robbery, Home Robbery, Shop Robbery, Train Robbery

100% Completion Guide

In the Red Dead Redemption 2 100% Completion Guide below we’ll go through each task in more depth:

Missions

Description: Every journey has a beginning, and an end. Complete all Missions and bring the tale of Dutch van der Linde’s gang of outlaws to its natural conclusion.

Guide: There are 104 Story Missions in total. However, you don’t even need all of them because a few are optional and can be skipped. To get a checkmark on this you only need to finish the Epilogue of the story. If you “missed” a story mission it doesn’t matter (but they can be replayed from the mission log if you want to do it for fun).

Strangers

Description: This is a land of hardship and opportunity. But not all settlers and seekers can cope with the adversity. Meet these colorful strangers who likely as not need some help. Leave your mark on the lives of 10 Strangers.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 Stranger Missions Walkthrough

You must do 10 Strangers’ quest lines from start to end (meaning complete all their quests). They have multiple parts. The good thing is, after finding a stranger once, their follow-up quests will appear on the map directly when they become available. Keep in mind that Strangers only show up on the map when you’re close to them and some only spawn at day or at night. Refer to the Stranger Missions Guide linked above for all locations and walkthroughs.

Bounties

Description: Having a price on your head doesn’t necessarily exclude you from collecting the bounty on someone else’s. Being an outlaw yourself might even help you to catch them, if folk don’t realize who you really are. Bring in 5 Sheriff’s Bounties.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 Bounty Locations Guide

5 Bounties must be completed for this. They are found as posters in the Sheriff Offices of the bigger towns. When you enter the towns, it will show the Bounty icon on the map.
There are 6 bounties, you find them in: Valentine, Rhodes, Saint Denis, Strawberry, Blackwater, Tumbleweed.

Chance Encounters

Description: Traversing the wilderness, riding through settlements, and exploring cities, you never know what you might stumble across. It could be a test of your character, or a test of your mettle. Have 25 Chance Encounters.

Guide: Chance Encounters, as the name suggests, are completely random. While riding through towns and the wilderness, you will sometimes see white dots popping up on the map near you. Those are random events. These spawn infinitely. I got 25 automatically while uncovering the whole map. The best place to farm them is Saint Denis. There are lots of beggars who you can give money, people handing out pamphlets etc.
Events you will encounter in the wilderness include women being hogtied on horses (kill the rider), horses kicking their owners to death, horses running away from their owner (catch it with lasso and bring it back), shooters who challenge you to shooting bottles, riders who want to have a race with you (accept the race), captives who have shackles on (shoot off their shackles), people who crashed with their horse (give them a ride back home), drunken people asking for directions (show them the way), sick people who need medicine (give them a cure from your inventory), damsels in distress who turn out to be robbers (shoot the bandits), and lots of other random things. Just watch out for the white dots while riding around the map. While going for all collectibles you will see way more than 25 of the chance encounters!

Bushwhacked

Description: Dutch’s gang isn’t the only one East of the Grizzlies. Others are out there and they don’t take too kindly to new competition or old rivalry. Stay alert, and be prepared to be quick on the draw. Encounter 1 Gang Ambush.

Guide: This will almost certainly come automatically as you play through the game (it was my first completed task on the checklist). Sometimes, you will all of the sudden get ambushed by enemies. For example, they might roll a burning wagon over the road to stop you, and start shooting at you. These events don’t happen often, but they do come automatically from time to time. It’s just completely random and nothing you have any control over. Explore the wilderness and enjoy the game, and this is guaranteed to come naturally.

Gang Hideouts

Description: With the law closing in, the last remaining gangs are holed up, prepared to fight, and sitting on some plunder. Find them before someone else does. One way or another, capture all 6 Gang Hideouts.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 Gang Hideout Locations Guide

4 Gang Hideouts are automatically cleared during the story. The last two “Thieves Landing” and “Fort Mercer” are found in the state of New Austin in the south of the map, only accessible after the story.

Points of Interest

Description: You’re not the first person to pass through this country, and you won’t be the last. Stop for a moment and notice the unique places and things. Find just 1 of the many Points of Interest in this world.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 Point of Interest Location

Graves

Description: Through bad decisions and bad luck, not everyone will survive this difficult journey. After they pass, pay your respects and find the graves of 9 fallen companions.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 Grave Locations Guide
This can only be done after beating the story! After the story you will unlock this task in your progress menu. See the Grave Locations Guide linked above for their locations. There are 9 of them.

Cigarette Card Sets

Description: Tobacco companies have always known how to market their wares. Be it with a billboard, or a competition to collect a full set of souvenir cards from cigarette packs. Find discarded cards or get hold of premium packs to assemble one of the sets. Collect 1 Cigarette Card Set.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Cigarette Card Sets Locations Guide
There are 144 Cigarette Cards. Refer to the guide above for all their locations. You only need ONE set consisting of 12 cards (not all 144 of them!).

Dinosaur Bones

Description: Ignore the shouts of ‘fraud’, ‘hoax’ and ‘lunatic’. Find amateur paleontologist Deborah MacGuiness in the Heartlands, and help her locate the dinosaur remains around the world to finish her project of discovery.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Dinosaur Bones Locations Guide
There are 30 Dinosaur Bones. Refer to the guide above for all their locations.

Legendary Fish

Description: Fishing is a relaxing pastime, but it can also bring fortune and fame… if self appointed legendary angler Jeremy Gill is to be believed. Find him at Flat Iron Lake, catch each of his Legendary Fish, mail them to him, and help him complete his collection.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Legendary Fish Locations Guide
There are 13 Legendary Fish. Refer to the guide above for all their locations.

Exotics

Description: No matter how humble their origins, once a criminal starts to get money, they will usually develop expensive tastes. Meet Saint Denis resident Algernon Wasp and help with his requests for the rarest and most luxurious flora and fauna in the land to help him with his remarkable creations.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Exotics Locations Guide

This is a Stranger Mission Questline for a guy called “Algernon Wasp”. His mission starts in the top left corner of Saint Denis in a garden house. He’s marked as a stranger (white “?” on map) and will ask you to get some animal materials and plants for him. Refer to the guide above for all their locations.

Rock Carvings

Description: There are strange carvings in the rocks, but what do they mean? Find Francis Sinclair in Big Valley and locate all the rock carvings, and maybe all will become clear.

Guide. Red Dead Redemption 2 All Rock Carving Locations Guide
There are 10 Rock Carvings. Refer to the guide above for all their locations.

Hunting Requests

Description: What better way to celebrate nature’s perfect creations than to kill them and stuff them into shipping boxes? Find Ms. L Hobb’s Hunters Sought Posters at train stations across the territory, and carry out all her requests.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Hunting Requests Guide

You can find posters inside train stations. Tearing down the posters will give you a Hunting Request. You must kill the necessary animal, bring it back to the post office at a train station and mail it to the stranger who requested it.

Treasure Hunter

Description: There is another way to make your fortune; by digging up someone else’s. Find Treasure Hunters around the world and follow the clues to complete 1 Treasure Hunter chain.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Treasure Map Locations & Solutions

There are some strangers around the world who want you to find a series of treasure for them. Refer to the guide linked above for these quests and treasure locations.

Dreamcatchers

Description: If you look up from time to time, you may notice something hanging in the trees. Find all 20 Dreamcatchers and note their positions, and see what you think.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Dreamcatcher Locations Guide
There are 20 Dreamcatchers. Refer to the guide above for all their locations.

Animals

Description: Learn to live among predators and prey in the wilds of America. Discover 50 animals. See the Animals section of Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: Simply kill 50 types of animals. There are 178 in the game so you only need a fraction of what’s available. Some animals are more likely to spawn at night than at day (e.g. wolves). So keep in mind that the time of day can affect what animals you encounter.

Equipment

Description: There’s more to an outlaw than the gun slung across their back. Obtain 10 pieces of Equipment. See the Equipment section of the Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: You only need 10 of 72 equipment pieces for this. 5 pieces are automatic story unlocks (Lasso, Binoculars, Fishing Rod, Lantern, Camera). You can buy additional upgrades from Gunsmith Stores (better Holsters) and from Trappers and Fences.

Fish

Description: The rivers, lakes and swamps are teeming with life. Discover 10 species of fish. See the Fish section of the Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: You need to catch 10 of 30 fish types. Fish at different locations for this (rivers, lakes, swamps) and try different bait and lures (which can be bought from the bait shop, see Red Dead Redemption 2 How to Get Fishing Bait & Lures). You get the fishing rod automatically in the story. In chapter 2 during a story mission it is explained to you how fishing works, but you can also look it up again under Pause Menu > Help > Activities > Fishing.

Gangs

Description: The time of the American outlaw might be ending, but a few gangs still survive, creating chaos and inspiring terror. Encounter all 6 enemy gangs. See the Gangs section of the Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: Automatically unlocks from story progress, unmissable. You encounter all 6 gangs as part of the story, don’t worry about this one.

Horses

Description: Horses can be found both domesticated and roaming wild. Discover 10 breeds of horse. See the Horses section of the Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: Horses are everywhere in this game. Walk up to them and press / and hold / to study it. Just walk around towns and look at the hitched horses. You can also buy rare horse breeds from stables and study them afterward. For the Wild Horse Breeds, see this guide Red Dead Redemption 2 All Wild Horse Breed Locations.

Plants

Description: The world is wild, and nature can kill or cure. Collect 20 plants. See the Plants section of the Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Plant Locations

In the wilderness, press + (Left Stick + Right Stick) to see blue “dust” over the ground that signals the location of a plant. You only need 20 of 43 available plants for this.

Weapons

Description: With 59 unique weapons to be found, the choice is yours. Use at least 48 weapon types. See the Weapons section of the Compendium to track your progress.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Weapon Locations Guide

Only 48 of 59 weapons are required. Some weapons are missable! Be sure to refer to the guide linked above for the missables. Some are dropped by enemies (so always pick up their weapons), some are bought from Gunsmiths and Fences, some are rewards for completing Stranger Missions and some are found in the open world. For example, you can find a Gunsmith and a Fence in the town Rhodes, both are marked on the map after entering the town.

Reach maximum Health, Stamina and Dead Eye

Description: Whether traveling, brawling, hunting, or relaxing by the fireside, be the best that you can be. Max out your Health, Stamina and Dead Eye.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 How to Level Up Health, Stamina, Dead Eye

RDR2 uses a “learning by doing” approach to leveling your 3 core stats – Health, Stamina, Dead Eye. You can keep track of your stat levels and progress to the next level under Pause Menu > Player > Select a Stat.

• Health: Increase your Health Level through gameplay. Fist fights, bow shots, fishing and other physical strength related activities will increase it. The fastest way is to row a boat, you gain XP for every 100 meters rowed.
• Stamina: Increase your Stamina Level through gameplay. Performing strenuous activities such as sprinting or swimming will increase is. Pressing the sprint button in quick succession until your Stamina runs out, is the fastest way to level this. The best way is to sprint, you gain XP for every 100 meters sprinted.
• Dead Eye: Increase your Dead Eye level through gameplay, and unlock new Perks. Trick shots, hunting, crafting and other survivalist related activities will increase it. The best ways are to skin large animals and complete Bandit Challenges, Sharpshooter Challenges, and Gambler Challenges.

Horse Bonding

Description: Every outlaw needs an equine companion they can trust, a mount who can be relied on to speed them out of chaos or fearlessly ride them straight into it. Reach the maximum Bonding Level with a horse you own.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 How to Increase Horse Bonding Level.

There are 4 horse bonding levels. If you stick with the same horse for the story, this will come automatically. Feeding your horse, brushing it, and riding with it (as long as it’s not out of Stamina) will increase bonding. If you want to cheat this a bit you can use the automatic horse travel (autopilot) and just put a waypoint marker anywhere to ride up and down the map without having to do anything. But really, just stick with the same horse and this will come naturally within a few hourse of gameplay. You can check the progress under Pause Menu > Horse > Bonding > Progress to next Level.

Challenges

Description: It takes skill, knowledge and a quick trigger finger to survive and thrive in this harsh land. Prove your worth, and complete all 9 challenges. See the Challenges section to track your progress.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Challenges

You can view all challenges and your current progress under Pause Menu > Progress > Challenges. There are 9 challenges, consisting of 10 tasks each. That’s a total of 90 tasks to do for this 100% requirement! This is easily the most tedious and time-consuming thing apart from collectibles for the 100% completion. To make things worse, you can only work on the current challenge tier. When you complete Tier 1 (of 10) it unlocks Tier 2 and shows you the requirements for that. Completing Tier 2 unlocks Tier 3 and so on. You should keep an eye on this from the start of the game and complete these as you play through the story. Nothing is missable though, you can still do them after the story in free roam and farm combat-related challenges by starting a shootout in towns.

Shacks

Description: Several shacks can be found across this land; unremarkable structures, but each with their own strange secret to hide. Discover 5 shacks.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Shack Locations Guide

Shacks are wooden huts that are found all over the game world. There are more than 5 of them, in fact you’ll probably get a few automatically while working on story missions. Refer to the guide linked above for the Shack locations.

Legendary Animals

Description: There are whispers of one-of-a-kind animals living out in the wilderness. Tales are told around campfires where hunters gather. Some are beautiful, some deadly, each would be a valuable prize for any outdoorsman. Track down and kill 5 Legendary Animals.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Legendary Animals Locations

There are 14 Legendary Animals. Refer to the guide linked above for their locations.

Table Games

Description: If you tire of bloodshed, there are gentler pursuits out there to engage in. Find table games in the towns, or sit down and play with fellow gang members. Play 1 game each of Poker, Blackjack, Dominoes and Five Finger Fillet.

Guide: Red Dead Redemption 2 All Table Games Locations

There are 4 Table Games: Five Finger Fillet, Blackjack, Dominoes, Poker. Refer to the guide linked above for their locations.

Ranters, Ravers, and Campaigners

Description: At the turn of the century in America, mind-sets are shifting, adapting, and breaking. The towns and wilds are filled with peculiar characters who just want to talk to you about it. Find and interact with 5 of these Ranters, Ravers and Campaigners.

Guide: As you walk around towns, you’ll encounter some people who are shouting things. They stand out because they are louder than anyone else. Most of them are found in Saint Denis. For example, a woman in front of the Outfitter campaigns for women’s voting rights. Just walk around the major towns and listen for these people, and walk up to them to interact with them.

Bath

Description: It’s a dirty, rugged existence, out on the plans and down in the streets. Luckily, a number of reputable establishments offer baths to the weary. So rest your aching bones, and try to scrub away your past. Take 1 bath.

Guide: Go to the hotel in Valentine or Strawberry and pay 25 cents for a bath.

Show

Description: Marvel at one of the technological advancements of the age. Head to Blackwater’s Imperial Theater, or the Fontana Theater in Saint Denis, for an animated motion picture. Or catch J.J. Riggins’ Traveling Magic Lantern Show in Valentine. Watch 1 Show.

Guide: The Show in Valentine is easiest for this, and available early in Chapter 2. When you enter the town of Valentine it will get marked on the map with the  icon. A ticket only costs 50 cents. Pay for it, sit down, watch the show, stand up and walk out.

Theater

Description: Saint Denis’ Théâter Râleur offers vaudeville shows for the curious and degenerate. Escape artists, fire eaters and snake dancers await. Visit 1 theater.

Guide: Go to the northern theater in Saint Denis. A ticket costs $2. Pay for it, sit down in a chair, wait for the show to end, and leave.

Recipes

Description: Those who prosper in the wilderness are skillful and self-sufficient. Craft 1 cooking recipe, 1 tonic, 1 type of ammunition, 1 hunting item, 1 horse care item, and 1 weapon.

Robberies

Description: Any thug can rob a man, but a real professional thief plots for bigger targets. Complete 1 Coach Robbery, 1 Home Robbery, 1 Shop Robbery and 1 Train Robbery.

Guides:

• Train Robbery
• Store Robbery
• Stagecoach Robbery
• Home Robbery

Those are all the requirements that go into 100% completion for Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2). For more guides check out our full Red Dead Redemption 2 Wiki & Strategy Guide.