Watchmen: The End is Nigh on PC: Combos, Disarms, and Split-Screen Co-op Explained

Fast and Heavy Attacks: Building Combos

In Watchmen: The End is Nigh, both heroes share a natural ability to string fast and heavy attacks into combinations that add extra damage. The two strike types pull in opposite directions. Fast attacks are quick blows that deal little damage but work well for landing a few hits to stun an opponent, while heavy attacks are slower and more powerful, offering good damage but leaving them easily defended against. On the default keyboard and mouse setup, fast attack is the Delete key or the left mouse button, and heavy attack is the End key or the right mouse button.

Improved combos unlock as play continues, and the manual states they can stun, knock down and destroy enemies more quickly, and can even strike several enemies at once. Holding the defend button performs a block or dodge, which the manual describes as a strong way to open a counterattack against an enemy. Rorschach has a specific deadly move, the Bull Rush, that charges him forward at blinding speed, knocking down any foes in his path and causing great damage. He can also enter Rage Mode, unleashing his anger into a blind fury of brutal bone-crushing combat.

Lockpicking, Climbing, and Nite Owl's Grappling Gun

Rorschach handles traversal and locked obstacles through the Use button. At key moments he can find an alternate route by climbing: approaching a brightly lit drain pipe and pressing Use begins the climb, an action the manual frames around his speed and agility. His lockpicking follows a similar trigger: he approaches a locked door or gate and presses Use, then moves the lockpick with the W, A, S, and D keys or the left control stick, working each tumbler up into position. Pressing E, or pulling the X button, sets a tumbler in place, and clearing every tumbler opens the lock. The manual notes the picks suit optional areas off the beaten path or finding things that ought not to be found, and that patience can be rewarding.

Nite Owl's grappling gun is a gadget built on compressed carbon dioxide, propelling a hook and line so he can reach normally unreachable areas. To grapple, the player looks at a grapple hoop and presses the Use button, which fires the apparatus. The manual treats the gun as the very essence of necessity among his array of technological devices, fitting it into the same Use-button framework as Rorschach's climbing and lockpicking. Each mechanic therefore starts with the same interaction input, but the grappling gun belongs to Nite Owl while the drain-pipe climbs and tumbler puzzles belong to Rorschach.

Disarms, Counterattacks, and Rorschach's Picked-Up Weapons

Disarming sits alongside the combo system as something the heroes learn over time. To trigger a counterattack, the player must first block or dodge an attack, then perform a fast attack on the enemy, and the manual stresses that timing matters. The block-or-evade action maps to the Spacebar in the default keyboard and mouse layout, while the fast attack that follows is the Delete key or left mouse button. This sequence is also how the heroes disarm opponents carrying deadly weapons, separating a thug from his armament before striking back.

When thugs and other enemies are disarmed or knocked down, they drop their weapons, and Rorschach alone can exploit this. He walks over a brightly lit weapon and presses the Use button, which is F on the default keyboard and mouse setup, to pick it up. These weapons deal considerable damage but break after a few hits, and Rorschach may also be disarmed by the very enemies he fights, so caution is warranted. Pressing the throw button, the Page Down key or middle mouse button, drops the weapon.

Split-Screen Co-op and Solo Play

Watchmen: The End is Nigh offers two modes: Story Mode and Co-op Play. In Story Mode you work through six chapters of street-fighting action, with battles that pit you against up to twenty enemies at once. Co-op Play uses split-screen on the same machine, and each of the two players chooses to play as either Rorschach or Nite Owl. Characters cannot damage each other in co-op, so the screen-sharing fight stays focused on the criminal scum of the city rather than on friendly fire between the heroes.

Running co-op on a PC carries its own hardware rule. At least one game controller must be connected to the computer to play in Co-op Play, so a keyboard-and-mouse setup alone is not enough for the split-screen mode. The default keyboard and mouse layout still documents the full move list: running on W, A, S, and D, fast attack on Delete or the left mouse button, heavy attack on End or the right mouse button, block or evade on the Spacebar, Use on F, and Throw on Page Down or the middle mouse button. Controller configurations vary across PC-based game controllers, so the controller manual covers setup.

First published Oct 19, 2026.