Blighters

The Blighters are the Templar-run gang that controls London in 1868 and the enemy you fight in almost every street, stronghold and gang war in Syndicate. Maxwell Roth built the gang for Crawford Starrick, and a Templar lieutenant runs each of the seven boroughs.

Type: Human

Appears in

Somewhere That's GreenSomewhere That's Green is the first London memory: as Jacob you step off the train in Whitechapel, chase a pickpocket, race Evie up a factory roof and meet Henry Green, the Assassin who has been watching over the city. It ends with a carriage chase to shake off Blighters.
Gang StrongholdsGang strongholds are fortified Blighter bases you raid in Assassin's Creed Syndicate. Clear one out and it turns into a Rook stronghold, chipping away at the Templar grip on that borough; each raid also carries optional constraints for full sync.
Gang WarsA gang war is the final fight for each London borough in Assassin's Creed Syndicate: once you have weakened the Blighters enough, their Templar leader accepts a street brawl between the two gangs, and winning it makes the borough Rook territory.

Found in

Devil's AcreThe Devil's Acre is a slum in Westminster and Lilla Graves' Blighter stronghold, described in game as the most violent stronghold in London. It also features in the main story when Jacob escorts Mary Anne Disraeli through it.

Good to know

Enemy types: soldiers, brutes, watchers (rooftop riflemen), enforcers with flash bombs, lookouts and protectors.
Lookouts are unarmed and run for help, so stop them first; protectors in Templar-marked coats carry cane-swords and are the toughest.
Soldiers carry a pocket knife and brutes a butcher knife, and both also have a pistol.
Borough leaders: Rexford Kaylock (Whitechapel), Cletus Strain (Lambeth), Edith Swinebourne (The Thames), Octavia Plumb (Southwark), Bloody Nora (City of London), Victor Lynch (The Strand), Lilla Graves (Westminster).
Their headquarters is the Alhambra Music Hall.
Gang upgrades such as Poison the Well, Dull Blades and Bad Powder weaken them.

What they do

They extort businesses, kill anyone who resists and run factories on child labour. They began in Devil's Acre, the worst slum in Westminster, and spread across the city until only Whitechapel's Clinkers stood against them.

Beating them

You take each borough back by freeing child labourers, clearing strongholds, removing their Templar agents and finally beating the leader in open gang war. Blighters defect to the Rooks as you gain ground, and the Notoriety upgrade stops them starting street fights with you.

Their endSpoilerShow

All seven leaders die in gang wars led by the twins. Jacob kills Roth in a fire at the Alhambra in Final Act, and the twins kill Starrick in the Buckingham Palace vault in A Night to Remember. By the end of 1868 the Blighters are finished.

Related enemies

Human
Metropolitan Police
The Metropolitan Police are London's officers, based at Scotland Yard in The Strand. They react to the crimes you commit in the street, but through Frederick Abberline they are also allies who want the Blighters arrested.