Red Dead Online Legendary Bounty 12/11: How to Catch Red Ben Clempson

The newest legendary bounty in Red Dead Online is all about catching the well-dressed and well-protected train robber, Red Ben Clempson. We'll show you how to catch him, and what it'll take to bring him in for a bonus reward.

When Does a Legendary Bounty Start and How Long Does it Last?

Legendary Bounties usually last for one week, and to our experience they can be accessed every Tuesday morning from about 3:00AM PT, or 11:00 GMT. However, there is some unreliability here - many have found that legendary bounties don't always show up instantly or can vanish without warning, likely due to some system or game error. We ourselves have found that completing a bounty causes it to mysteriously disappear for an hour or so about half the time, so don't expect any hard-and-fast rules.

Where Do I Start This Legendary Bounty?

Like all the legendary bounties before, Red Ben is less of a standard bounty target and really a self-contained mission, one you can start by going to any bounty board in the game (marked with a pink symbol of a bounty poster). Clempson’s bounty should be up there, though you’ll need to be registered as a bounty hunter first (see more about how to become a bounty hunter and the other roles available here).

What Should I Bring With Me?

Expect fast shootouts against lots of enemies, as well as more than a little dashing through enemy fire. A good repeater rifle can be helpful for taking enemies off horses, something you'll need to do quite a lot, and lots of health tonics can make the difference between living or dying. This mission also takes place in hot terrain, so light clothes might make a small difference.

Otherwise we found that the true hero of this bounty was the LeMat revolver, which can switch nearly instantly between being a decent pistol and a powerful shotgun, affording both medium and short-range superiority. It's a perfect sidearm for a mission like this, and can be gotten early in the game too.

The only other things you might want are the obvious, though none of them are mandatory and you likely carry them around anyway. A fast horse, bounty hunter's gear like the reinforced lasso and a few friends to watch your back are all pretty good in circumstances like these.

How Do I Catch Red Ben Clempson?

With haste. Clempson is wanted for being a notorious train thief and when the mission starts, him and his gang are already on a train headed for Armadillo, having killed the occupants and now making off with several hundred tons of stolen lucre. Like many bounties, Clempson can be taken alive for an additional reward, and considering that there's no real difference in how to go about the mission either way, it's probably best to try and keep him breathing, at least until you hand him over to be hung.

Meeting the Contact and Paying the Bribe

When the mission begins you'll start off in the sun-blasted deserts of New Austin, going to meet a contact who knows Clempson's location. He'll tell you about the train, but not in any detail, simply saying that the train is moving north up the track and you'll have to search to find it.

However, he does have more info - he's just holding out on you for some money. Choose to pay him and you won't lose the money there and then, the game will just deduct a small amount from the final reward when you bring Clempson in.

If you pay the bribe, finding the train is a lot easier, with a moving icon on the map appearing and moving in real time along with the train's location. With this marker in play, don't bother following the track, simply cut across the desert straight towards it, taking the quickest path and shoving an oatcake down your horse's neck whenever it starts flagging. That being said, we tried this mission several times, and whether you pay the bribe or not, the train was usually in the same place, marked on the map below. You can use this as a frame of reference if you want to save your money.

Getting Onto the Train

Once you see the train in the distance, draw a weapon with decent range in case of a sudden firefight and prepare to get on board. The enemies won't actually attack you until you provoke them, either by getting too close or just opening fire, so use this window of piece to draw up alongside the train. We recommend getting on at the very back, for reasons we'll get into momentarily.

Pull up alongside the last carriage, riding in the same direction alongside it, while getting as close as you can get. If you do all three, you should see a prompt to press Square, allowing you to jump from your horse onto the train. Once you do, draw a versatile weapon (this is the LeMat's time to shine) and prepare to move forward. This is where things get violent.

Fighting Your Way to Clempson

The train Clempson's taken over is full of bad guys, all dressed fairly similarly to him. For that reason, taking him alive requires a certain amount of care, as the game won't highlight which bandit is him until you get fairly close. There's also nothing particularly special about his placement on the train either - we found he was about two thirds along in a sheltered carriage every time we saw him.

Instead, simply move your way up the train, killing any bandits in your path and taking care not to get killed. It's important to remember that more will start to show up on horseback, riding alongside the train, and that these are the real threats, able to flank you at a moment's notice. Keep a close eye on your health and mini-map, and make use of the covered carriages - being out in the open is far too dangerous. You should get a feel for it before long - take cover in the doorways, shoot everybody on the open platform in front of you, then dash forward to the next carriage, ideally with a shotgun ready just in case anybody's waiting for you there. If there's a group of you working together, use it to have eyes in all directions.

Bringing Down Clempson

Once you're close to Red Ben, you should hear him shouting, and he'll be marked by the usual bounty icon on his map. If there are other bandits in with him, kill them, as well as any others who might threaten you, then run in when he stops shooting and tackle him to the floor. DON'T do this if there are still enemies who can kill you, as the game will lock you into a long animation during which you might get shot to pieces. Pick your moment, and if all goes well, you now have one rather stylish train robber ready for delivery. Now you just have to bring him back to Tumbleweed jail.

Getting off the Train

Getting off the train isn't quite as easy as getting on it, mainly because you now have a large man to bring with you. If he's dead, this is no problem - just sling his corpse off the edge and jump down after it.

However, if you want to keep him alive, you have a difficult choice to make. You can either drop him off the edge - something we found he has about a 50/50 chance of surviving - or you can play for his guaranteed safety. Leave Clempson where he is (you don't want him getting shot by accident) and keep working your way up the train as you were before, keeping an eye out for horseback bandits all the while. Once you make it to the driver's cab at the front, drag out the man driving and slam on the break. Now the train's stopped, you should be able to run back to where you left Red Ben, whistling for your horse all the while. Throw him on the old nag, and now it's time to bring him, literally, to justice.

Bringing Clempson In and Getting Your Rewards

At this point you should've made your way through the whole train, starting at the back and fighting your way to the very front, and consequently every gang member on board should be little more than a blood splatter and a hat. However, the riders are still going to be an issue, spawning in and following you even when you've put some distance between you and the train, making the flight to Tumbleweed jail another chase. Use a repeater or bolt rifle to bring them down from a distance; if they get too close they'll open fire and run the risk of accidentally killing their old boss.

Before too long you should've made it back, then simply stop off in front of the sheriff's office to receive your reward and finish the mission. You can always pick the bounty again to try it at a higher level, with a higher reward too.

Now that you've brought this outlaw in, why not take a look at some of our other helpful pages? Those sharped-eyed treasure vultures among you will want to take a gander at this guide on finding the elusive Madam Nazar. But those split-tongued sidewinders among you who revel in bloodthirsty combat, we've put together this piece on dual-wielding online and how to unlock it. And of course, any damn cowpoke worth his spurs should have his eye kept on our Red Dead Guides Hub here.