In Mayhem Mode, The Joker and Harley Quinn receive something Batman never does: a payroll. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight separates the crew system into two nearly identical pause-menu counters, and mixing them up is an easy way to burn through studs. One tracks the squad available for summoning during a run; the other records the henchperson varieties permanently added to the hideout gym.
Quick answer: Rescue detained Arkham inmates during Mayhem Runs to unlock all 12 henchperson types, then buy and recruit each one at its gym workstation — one recruit per free crew locker.
Henchmen Recruited vs. Henchmen Type Unlocked
Open the pause screen to find two crew symbols side by side. On the left, Henchmen Recruited counts the goons occupying your lockers, with a maximum of 10. On the right, Henchmen Type Unlocked shows how many varieties are available, up to 12. After leaving Arkham, Joker and Harley each have 2 recruited henchmen and 1 unlocked type.
These recruits serve a real purpose. A henchman assigned to a locker can join a Mayhem Run and fight beside the pair’s existing equipment: the mallet, Fun Gun, Paintball Pelter, and hyenas Bud and Lou. Brutes produce a very different crew from Rapid Fire shooters, making the complete collection worth pursuing.
Unlock the crew system: find the Hench Master
Mayhem Mode is its own save file, picked from the main menu rather than loaded out of a campaign save. It opens with a story mission covering Harley’s origin and the Arkham Asylum breakout, and only after that do you land in the Amusement Mile hideout where the gym, the planning table, and the crew lockers live.
The Hench Master manages hiring, and he is the brute first encountered in Arkham. He becomes available in the hideout gym only after your second Mayhem Run. Then the Mayhem Prep list gains a “Talk to Hench Master” objective. Until you speak with him, the gym machines are merely decoration and no one is available to hire.
All 12 henchperson types and their gym workstations
Every rescued type moves into a fixed spot in the hideout gym and stays there. Learning the layout saves a lap of the room every time you want to swap a crew around, since the weights, treadmills, targets, vending machines, locker corner, and boxing ring each house a different goon.
| Henchperson type | Gym workstation |
|---|---|
| Basic (starting goon) | Weight bench |
| Ranged Henchperson | Shooting targets |
| Rapid Fire Henchperson | Treadmill |
| Stun Baton Henchperson | Punching bags |
| Blunt Weapon Henchperson | Melee practice area |
| Sword Fighter Henchperson | Locker corner |
| Scattershot Henchperson | Vending machines |
| Demolitions Henchperson | Boxing ring area |
| Brute Henchperson | Boxing ring |
| Armed Brute Henchperson | Boxing ring |
| Bulwark Shield Brute | Boxing ring |
| Shielded Henchperson | Corner lockers |
Prices vary wildly by type. The Rapid Fire Henchperson, billed as the one with the most shots per minute, costs a token 1 purple stud at the treadmill. The Stun Baton Henchperson on the punching bags runs to 25,000 studs. You buy a type once, and after that it respawns at its workstation so you can keep recruiting more of the same kind.
How to unlock new henchperson types during Mayhem Runs
The gym does not generate new types on its own. Every variety belongs to an Arkham inmate held somewhere in locked-down Gotham, so you must retrieve each one during a run.
The inmate may occasionally lack a visible Rescue prompt. Move a short way away, then approach again; it will usually return.
Crew lockers, the 10-slot cap, and Full Crew errors
Each locker provides one slot, so carrying extra studs cannot help when every slot is occupied. Joker and Harley maintain completely separate crews and locker sets, and each begins with the same allowance.
- Lockers unlocked by default: 2 per character.
- Extra locker cost: 10,000 studs each.
- Recruited cap: 10 henchmen per character.
- Crews and lockers do not carry over between Joker and Harley.
Additional slots are bought at the Joker Crew Locker and Harley Crew Locker stations, each listed as one more slot on that character’s crew, at the same price either way.
Attempting a hire at capacity produces a Full Crew message that directs you to purchase more crew lockers. You can resolve that in three ways: spend 10,000 studs on another locker, change to the other villain and use their separate slots, or dismiss a crew member so the occupied slot becomes available.
How to recruit a henchperson at the gym
Since a type returns to its station after use, you can revisit the same treadmill or punching bag as often as needed and assemble multiple copies of one variety in a crew, as long as your purchased lockers provide enough room.
Confirm the recruit and the unlock registered
Afterward, pause and match both crew symbols with the action you performed. A completed rescue increases the right-side count for unlocked types, while a completed hire raises the left-side recruited count. If both numbers remain unchanged, repeat the purchase or rescue because it failed to register.
While paused, inspect both villains. Unlocking a type applies it to the whole save, making it available in the gym for Joker and Harley, but hiring a recruit uses a locker belonging only to the villain you controlled during that action.
Plan your spending carefully: lockers and hires use the same studs needed for permanent upgrades, customizer props, and the pair’s 30 new outfits. An additional locker and one Stun Baton recruit cost 35,000 studs together, so bank the proceeds from a couple of profitable runs through Gotham before outfitting either character.
