Need for Speed: Rivals Trophy Guide & Road Map

Need for Speed: Rivals
Need for Speed: Rivals Trophy Guide

Road Map

Overview:

Estimated difficulty: 4/10 (Platinum Difficulty Poll)
Offline trophies: 24 (1 , 7 , 8 , 8 )
Online trophies: 2 (2 )
Approximate amount of time to : 25+ hours
Minimum number of playthroughs: 2 (One for Racers, one for Cops)
Number of missable trophies: None
Glitched trophies: None
Does difficulty affect any trophies: No
Do cheat codes disable trophies: N/A

Introduction:

Welcome to Need for Speed: Rivals! This game is the first released by EA's Ghost Games, a rebranding of EA Gothenburg alongside Ghost UK, which comprises most of the team formerly known as Criterion Games. It also includes numerous veteran developers from DICE (Battlefield), Turn 10 (Forza Motorsport) and Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham Racing, Blur). As a result, you'll see shades of many identifiable elements: Cars that handle like Hot Pursuit, an open world approach similar to Most Wanted and Forza Horizon, tech weapons pulled almost straight out of Blur, and visuals on par with The Run (Rivals now runs on the latest Frostbite 3 engine, Black Box's The Run used Frostbite 2).

This guide was written based on gameplay from the PS4 version. Differences should be minimal, as EA has taken great strides to assure as much parity as possible in the experiences of playing Rivals across all platforms.

NOTICE: Some PS3 users have been experiencing instabilities when hitting Chapter 5, causing the game to crash out and save files to become unmanageable. If you run into this issue, changing your AllDrive settings to "Single Player" and updating to the latest patch appears to resolve it.

Special thanks to KazzyMac for verifying and suggesting various details throughout the guide, and to Clockwork Pinkie for additional input.

Walkthrough:

Step 1: Pick a side and play through it!

Upon loading the game you'll be presented with the choice of starting as Racers, or as Cops. It doesn't particularly matter which side you choose, as both will take about the same amount of time to complete and the experiences are segmented. SP earned for Cops goes only towards Cop tech, SP earned for Racers goes only to Racer vehicle purchases, upgrades and tech. Thankfully there are no collection trophies of any kind: No billboards need smashing, no driving past speed traps, no going over every jump, there are simply no requirements other than racing and busting.

For Racers, you'll aim for the following trophies:

10 Heat
Racer Rank 5
Racer Rank 10
Racer Rank 20
Racer Rank 40
Racer Rank 60
Professional Collector

For Cops, you'll aim for the following trophies:

5 Buster
8 Buster
Lcnce n Rgstrtn pls
Bust 50
Cop Rank 5
Cop Rank 10
Cop Rank 20
Cop Rank 40
Cop Rank 60
Upgrade Master

Step 2: Pick the other side and play through it!

Once you've completed the game as either Racers or Cops, flip your garage to the other side and begin working through the events on those. The format is the same, but the goals, requirements, upgrades and vehicles will be completely different.

Step 3: Win as many different events as possible

You don't need to win 100% of the events in the game, but you should aim to gold as many races labeled "New" as possible in order to reach 100 total. That will net you the following trophy:

Gold Master

Step 4: Cleanup

There are a number of trophies you can complete along the way, from either side depending on what you're comfortable with. Some may be more expediently boosted from either side, but it's really up to you.

First National
Multiplier
Bigger Points
Deep Down, You Know You Want To
5, 4, 3, 2, Mach 1!

Step 5: Multiplayer

There are only two required trophies online, and both can be boosted with one other person in a matter of minutes. The most difficult part of this will be finding someone to boost with, adding them to your friends list, and setting up the session. Seriously.

Friendly Race
Buddy Bust

Check out the boosting threads here to find someone to partner up with:

PS3 Trophy Boosting Thread
PS4 Trophy Boosting Thread

Final note: A Timesavers Pack unlocking all cars, all upgrades and all tech is available for $9.99. If you're looking to make this a quick plat, I highly recommend doing this. It doesn't make the game easier, but you're able to dive into finishing events a bit more quickly and don't have to bother with rationing tech and vehicles as you go.

[PS3T Would Like to Thank RageousX For This Roadmap]

Platinum Trophy

Earn all Need for Speed Rivals Trophies
(7)
Gold Master

Earn 100 Gold medals across both factions
There are 68 events for each faction, spread across different game types:

Racer:

Hot Pursuit (Finish the race without getting busted)
Interceptor (1v1 with a cop)
Time Attack (Time trial)
Race (Minimal police presence)

Cop:

Hot Pursuit (take down 3-5 racers before they finish)
Interceptor (1v1 with a racer)
Rapid Response (Time trial with contact penalties)

Many of these will be done as you progress through the leveling system, as certain events are part of requirements (like "Any 2 Interceptor Events" or "Gold a HARD Hot Pursuit"). But you'll be free to focus on your favorites and avoid the ones you don't like. Some are just plain faster to do. Interceptor for Racers is by far the quickest: Instead of running away, you can simply wreck the cop chasing you instead (average 30 second completion time on an event that grants gold for 2 minutes or less).

You can track your progress towards this by going to "Driver Details" in your garage. For Racers your progress will be under "Gold Medals Earned", for Cops it will say "Distinctions Earned", with progress showing xx/68. Hit the button to "Change Faction" and see the other side, add them together, and you'll have the total number for your progress.
First National

Bank your first score
The first trophy you will get and a very quick one, but it illustrates an important point: You can only collect the SP you've earned if you "bank" it by returning to a Hideout (Racers) or Command Post (Cops). If you're busted by cops as a racer, you lose all those points forever.

Side note: As a cop, it is technically possible to "wreck" yourself out by slamming into walls when on Damage Critical status. Doing this does not cause you to lose points when respawning at a garage, and in fact can be a very good way to speed things up if the closest place to bank is 2 miles away.
10 Heat

Reach Heat 10
(2)
When you enter the map, you are assigned a starting heat number between 1 and 4 based on how "hot" of a target your car is. As you progress through events, your heat level climbs as you go through more chases and evade cops. The higher your heat level, the more resources they throw at you and the harder it gets to escape. By Heat 8, cops are spamming spike strips, road blocks and helicopters at you continuously. Getting to Heat 10 while charging through the map legitimately is extremely difficult, and if you go back to a hideout for any reason (voluntarily, or getting busted) your heat level drops back to the start (1-4).

Pick a car rated at Heat 4, upgrade it as much as you can, and equip it with ESF and Shockwave. Then head to the Play For Real interceptor event in Sun Valley Run (southwest part of the map). Don't run. Just wreck the cop as fast as possible (should take about 30 seconds), then restart the event from the AllDrive menu and do it again. After 2-3 tries, head to the local repair station to top off your tech and repair your damage, then restart the event yet again. Wash, rinse and repeat. You'll have 500,000 SP in about five minutes. YouTube user Throneful did a nice video outlining the process here:

Do NOT get pinned or come to a complete stop, whatever you do. Even if a cop car is about to destruct, they can bust you simply by being in your immediate vicinity for too long. You can use this process to knock out "10 Heat", "Multiplier" and "Bigger Points" in one fell swoop.
Multiplier

Hit a X 10 Multiplier
Your multiplier is similar to your heat level (and sometimes rises at about the same time), but is scored based on your tech hits, rams, jumps, drifts and stunts while driving. Each time you fill the multiplier bar, it increases by 1. Your best bet is to go for this while going for "Heat 10", as your multiplier bar will hit 10x a little before you reach Heat 10.
Bigger Points

Bank 500,000 in one go
(1)
This is also best sorted out while going for "Heat 10", but important to remember that it will take longer than reaching Heat 10/10x Multiplier. The good news is, once you've hit that threshold during your Interceptor troll run, you should be somewhere between 250-350k SP and with your multiplier at 10x, it won't take you much longer to cover the remaining ground. Be aware of where your nearest hideout is - so once you hit 500k, you can hurry back and quickly bank the points before the legion of cops wipe out all that hard-earned SP.

PRO TIP #1: If you attempt this from the Racers' side, banking 500,000 SP will trigger the trophy. You need to take note of how many points you have when leaving the Command Post, and add 500,000 to your target accordingly.

PRO TIP #2: The safest way to go for this is to head into your All Drive options and change your session to "Single Player" instead of "Public Game". Rooms have a tendency to hang with the host leaves, and there have been reports of people losing progress while going for this trophy.
5 Buster

Bust a Racer at Heat 5 or greater
While driving around the map as a cop, you'll see AI racers populating the map on occasion, driving around. You can initiate a chase with any of them on the fly, and bust them for SP. Their starting heat level reflects the strength of the car you're using, so a low-tier cop car will spawn racers with starting heats of 1-2. Using a top-tier car (with 4 tiers of tech) will spawn racers at Heat 4-5, making it trivial to locate one and take them down. Treat it like you would a normal race - use your tech (ESF + Roadblock maxed out are best) and be aware of them trying to sneak through shortcuts, off-road sections and even u-turn sneaks after collisions.
8 Buster

Bust a Racer at Heat 8 or greater
This will almost assuredly come naturally when doing a HARD Hot Pursuit event, as there are 5 cars going through a deluge of police, tech and chases, and the racers' heat level raise quickly throughout it. Stick to sound takedown strategies - ESF + Roadblock, rear-ramming (deals the most damage at top speed), side ramming and knocking them into other cops.

If for some reason you manage not to get this by level 20, the final Interceptor event pits you against a Heat 10 car, which will guarantee you an opportunity for the necessary bust.
Lcnce n Rgstrtn pls

Bust 10 Racers in a Mustang
Once the Mustang Shelby GT500 is unlocked, equip it and do a few Hot Pursuit events. EASY Hot Pursuits have 3 takedowns for gold, MEDIUM ones have 4 and HARD ones have 5. It's a lot faster than trying to find 10 random racers on the map to chase and take down.
Bust 50

Bust 50 Racers
This will come naturally as you complete more Hot Pursuit and Interceptor events.
Friendly Race

Win a Race against a Friend
(83)
WARNING: For this trophy to actually pop, both players need to be not only on each other's friends lists but visible as well. To see your friends list you have to press press / until you get to the driver details area and the friends list is underneath. If one or other of you doesn't appear in the list, then you will have to start deleting people until they do appear (credit to Combatting for this info).

This can be quickly and easily boosted from a friends lobby. Make sure your fellow booster is on your friends list, have both of you enter the map as racers in the same place and press when prompted to initiate an impromptu race. Win the race and the trophy will pop as soon as both of you have finished.
Buddy Bust

Bust a Friend
(30)
WARNING: For this trophy to actually pop, both players need to be not only on each other's friends lists but visible as well. To see your friends list you have to press press / until you get to the driver details area and the friends list is underneath. If one or other of you doesn't appear in the list, then you will have to start deleting people until they do appear (credit to Combatting for this info).

For this, you need to enter the map as a cop while your friend remains as a racer. Ram the side of their car to initiate a chase and bust them. They don't even have to run away. Just pin them to a complete stop on the side of the road and the bust will occur. The trophy should pop immediately after.

If you need a boost buddy to pair up with for either Friendly Race or Buddy Bust, check out the appropriate boosting thread below:

PS3 Trophy Boosting Thread
PS4 Trophy Boosting Thread
Racer Rank 5

Reach Racer Rank 5
See "Racer Rank 60" for more details.
Racer Rank 10

Reach Racer Rank 10
See "Racer Rank 60" for more details.
Racer Rank 20

Reach Racer Rank 20
See "Racer Rank 60" for more details.
Racer Rank 40

Reach Racer Rank 40
See "Racer Rank 60" for more details.
Racer Rank 60

Reach Racer Rank 60
There are a total of 60 speedlists on the racer side, divided into 3 tiers of 20 each (with an additional final race). Each speedlist has a set of goals and requirements that need to be fulfilled in order to progress to the next one. You go out, finish them off, then return to the hideout to level up once they're complete. Your first time through, each level unlocks a new car for use. The second and third times through each level, you unlock liveries instead. Each tier has a slightly different focus (Race, Pursuit, Drive), and you can pick whatever one you want as you move up the levels. Early on requirements can be fulfilled fairly quickly (1-2 minutes per speedlist), though by the time you reach 15-20 you can expect to spend 8-15 minutes on each one. Here's a sample for the Level 15 speedlist on the Race tier:
- Get 5 hits with the EMP
- Gold any 2 Races
- Wreck a Racer
- Side-Slam 8 Racers
- Win 2 Head to Heads
Consolidate as much as possible. You can side slam the same driver 8 times in a row and it counts, you can hit any combination of people with those 5 EMP shots and somewhere in there you can easily wreck a racer. Focus on the goals first, and then the finish line. "Gold any two races" means they can be easy ones. Pick those if you're having difficulty. There's lots of options for getting things done.

Recommended tech loadouts:

For Hot Pursuit, Race and Time Attack Events: ESF + Turbo
For Interceptor Events: ESF + Shockwave
Professional Collector

Purchase 10 Racer vehicles
Easily boosted at the low tiers. Since the vast majority of SP in the Racers mode goes to upgrades and tech, buying the cars themselves is actually not very expensive. You'll likely own 3-5 cars while progressing through leveling up, the rest you can buy at your leisure.
Cop Rank 5

Reach Cop Rank 5
See "Cop Rank 60" for more details.
Cop Rank 10

Reach Cop Rank 10
See "Cop Rank 60" for more details.
Cop Rank 20

Reach Cop Rank 20
See "Cop Rank 60" for more details.
Cop Rank 40

Reach Cop Rank 40
See "Cop Rank 60" for more details.
Cop Rank 60

Reach Cop Rank 60
Similar to the Racer side, there are 60 speedlists for cops separated between three tiers (Patrol, Undercover, Enforcer) along with one final event your first time through. Unlike the Racer side, in which the first pass unlocks cars and the second and third passes unlock liveries, which tier you pick determines what variant of a given cop car you unlock. There are three types:

Patrol (Jack of all trades, high acceleration, average durability)
Undercover (Higher handling, lower durability and strength)
Enforcer (Higher durability and strength)

As a general rule, the patrol cars are incredibly solid machines that get the job done, and are best for Hot Pursuit events. Enforcers are also quite good, ideal for Interceptor events, and depending on your preference may be even better than patrol variants. Undercover cars, however, should only be used for Rapid Response events, if at all. They look sleek, but they aren't functional enough to be worth the trouble.

Here's an example of a cop speedlist, #18 from the Enforcer tier:
- Earn 125,000 SP in a single session
- Gold any 2 Hot Pursuits
- Gold any 2 Interceptors
- Hit 8 Racers with Pursuit Tech
- Bust 6 Racers
Pretty easy to combine these. The 125,000 single session does NOT require you to stay away from Command Posts (you can "bank" SP and it still counts towards the 125k total), which is important because returning to a post repairs your car, refills your tech and lets you easily fast-travel to the next desired race instead of having to drive to it. This is a great way to do things quickly. Also remember, your current speedlist resets to no progress if you quit out of the game. Finish what you start. Remember that.

Recommended tech loadout:

ESF + Road Block
Upgrade Master

Upgrade all Cop Pursuit Tech in one car to maximum level and equip both slots
(5)
Head to your garage, select your desired car first, then head to the menu option that says "Pursuit Tech". Buy all the available options and equip two of them.

The most cost-effective way to do this is to pick a car with only 1 set of upgrades (2 total levels), and then buy everything on that. Once you own the maximum level of all the available tech and have two of them equipped, the trophy should pop. Avoid doing this with top tier cars unless you plan on maxing them out anyway - it costs 1.2 million SP to upgrade all available tech options to level 4.

NOTE: If you have the preorder Cop Pack, you can do this immediately without spending any SP. Switch to the exclusive Nissan GT-R bonus car, and equip tech in each of the two slots - they all come fully upgraded.
Deep Down, You Know You Want To

Drive 50 cumulative minutes in any Ford then enter garage
(3)
This sounds more complicated than it actually is, and can be done either as a Racer, a Cop, or a combination in between. There are three Fords in this game:

2013 Mustang GT (Racer)
Ford GT (Racer)
Mustang Shelby GT500 (Cop)

Basically you need to "bank" 50 minutes worth of time driving around. If you get busted as a racer or wrecked as a cop, you lose that "banked" time the same way you lose the SP. Check into a Hideout or Command Post on your own from time to time to prevent losing it. Since there are other Ford-specific trophies you'll be going for, it's very likely you'll get this naturally.

Additionally if you're just lazy, pick the Shelby GT500, park the car and go eat a sandwich for 50 minutes. As a racer you have to worry constantly about being busted, as a cop you can remain idle as long as you want uninterrupted.
5, 4, 3, 2, Mach 1!

Get 50 seconds of air time in any Ford car
Like in "Deep Down, You Know You Want To" this can be achieved on either the Racer side or Cop side, as long as you're in one of the three aforementioned Ford vehicles. If you run around collecting jumps (as notated on the map) this comes pretty quickly. Alternatively if you want to quickly boost, find a couple of decent-sized drops where you can land and immediately wreck your car or go off the ledge afterward. You'll respawn back at the top of the jump, ready to go again. I wouldn't worry too much about this - you're likely to get it naturally as well.