Good morning, Mr. Freeman...
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| |  | | (_| | | |   | |____| | ||  __/  / /_
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Weapons Guide
Written for the PC
------------------------------
Written by : El Greco
Created : January 22, 2005
Version : 1.00
Updated : January 23, 2005
Contact : REMOVED
Copyright 2005 Don Fleming
------------------------------
This is currently [Version 1.00] of El Greco's Half Life 2 Weapons Guide.
*  Have a contribution?  Don't hesitate to send it in.  I will accept most
submissions sent in to me as long as I can understand what you are
saying.  To make sure I get it right explain it in full-detail before
sending it my way.
*  It is very much appreciated if you view the guide prior to asking me a
question.  Most of your questions will be answered by this guide.  Any
e-mails that ask about questions that are obviously answered in the guide
will be promptly deleted.  No exceptions. The e-mail provided should only
be used to clarify information or ask about information not mentioned
hereon after.
-----------------------------------------
---  WHAT'S NEW?  (Version History)  ----
-----------------------------------------
Version 1.00 | January 23, 2005 | 30 kb
Weapons Guide is complete.  All relevant statistics and information has been
added.  Now I need to go shovel 18 inches of snow from my driveway!
O==================================o==================================O
|                           Table of Contents                         |
O==================================o==================================O
01)  Weapons
1.1  Crowbar
1.2  Gravity Gun
1.3  9mm Pistol
1.4  .357 Magnum
1.5  Sub-Machine Gun
1.6  Pulse Rifle
1.7  Shotgun
1.8  Crossbow
1.9  Grenade
1.10  RPG
1.11  Pheropod
02)  Disposing of the Enemy
03)  Conclusion
3.1  Legal Information
3.2  Contact Information
==============================================================================
----  Chapter 1 : Weapons  ----
==============================================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                      1.1  Crowbar                         **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Manual
Maximum Ammunition : N/A
Clip Size : N/A
Primary Fire : Crowbar strike
Alternate Fire : N/A
Range : Close Quarters
First Found : Red Letter Day
Weapon Description : The classic Half Life weapon.  This was Gordon's first
weapon in Black Mesa and this incident is no different.
Barney will toss this rod of metal down to you after
you exit Kleiner's lab.  It's a simple weapon to use.
Just go up to your target and click away.  The crowbar
will come down upon your target and inflict some
damage.  It's not much use for anything larger than
zombies or headcrabs so don't try and take down any
striders with this.
**  Note **
The crowbar is an excellent all-purpose tool.  You can smash boxes, smash
wooden planks, break windows, and whatnot with the crowbar.  If you ever
find yourself in a pinch you can always rely (to an extent) on the crowbar.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                     1.2  Gravity Gun                      **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Energy
Maximum Ammunition : N/A
Clip Size : N/A
Primary Fire : Energy blast
Alternate Fire : Manipulation
Range : Medium
First Found : Black Mesa East
Weapon Description : One of the main selling points of Half Life 2 is this
weapon, the Gravity Gun.  This highly advanced weapon
allows the user (you) to manipulate almost everything
in your environment.
The primary function of this weapon is an energy blast
that will throw and object or move it around.  This
means that if a barrel or box is blocking your way you
can use the primary fire to blast it out of the way
without putting yourself at risk by manually moving it.
The secondary fire will allow you to manipulate an
object.  If there's a box off in a corner of a room or
out of reach you can use the secondary fire to draw it
near you and even pick it up.  This can even be used to
pick up health packs or ammunition from a ledge, behind
a barrier, or from behind an enemy.
You can even use these functions in conjunction.  You
can pick an object up with the secondary fire and then
aim it at something (enemy, window) and send it flying
in that direction with the primary fire.  The following
are great examples of how many different ways the
Gravity Gun can be used.
*  Pick up an explosive barrel and hurl it at a swarm of zombies. It
explodes on impact and blasts them all to bits without you having
to use your guns.
*  You're cornered in small room.  You use the Gravity Gun to pick
up a medium sized box and you can now edge your way out of the
room using the box as your cover.  Once outside the room you use
the primary fire to send the box flying into the swarm of enemies
and take some of them down.
*  You construct a makeshift bunker by dragging several boxes,
tables, chairs, and filing cabinets and use it as cover during a
heavy firefight.
*  An enemy trooper tosses a grenade at your feet.  You don't have
anywhere to run without getting blown up so you pick it up with
the Gravity Gun and throw it in is face as it explodes.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                      1.3  9mm Pistol                      **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Firearm
Maximum Ammunition : 150
Clip Size : 18
Primary Fire : Single bullet
Alternate Fire : Burst
Range : Medium
First Found : Route Kanal
Weapon Description : The standard side-armament for the Combine soldiers.
The primary fire will let one bullet loose every time
you click it.  Effective at close to medium range
combat and in the early stages of the game.
The secondary fire works as follows, hold down the
secondary fire and then at the same time hold down the
primary fire.  Hold it for a few seconds and when you
release the buttons your pistol will spit out a good
number of bullets.  Makes for a more powerful weapon in
those stages of the game where that's all you have to
work with.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                      1.4  .357 Magnum                     **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Firearm
Maximum Ammunition : 12
Clip Size : 6
Primary Fire : Single bullet
Alternate Fire : N/A
Range : Close - Long
First Found : Water Hazard
Weapon Description : A very useful weapon because it's as maneuverable as a
handgun but it packs the punch of a rifle with great
accuracy.  If this weapon had a scope you could use it
as a sniper rifle, it's got that kind of accuracy and
power.  The only problem is that the recoil is massive
and the gun only holds 6 bullets and then 12 more
beyond that.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                     1.5  Sub-Machine Gun                  **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Firearm
Maximum Ammunition : 225
Clip Size : 45
Primary Fire : Automatic fire
Alternate Fire : Grenade
Range : Medium
First Found : Route Kanal
Weapon Description : For the early parts of the game you'll be using this
quite a bit.  It's a light sub-machine gun which means
it's fast, maneuverable, and accurate but it isn't at
all powerful.  The gun is fine for encounters of 5 or
so enemies but once you get beyond that you'll want to
seek heavier firepower such as the shotgun or pulse
rifle.  At times it takes half a clip to dispose of a
single enemy, that's if you're hitting every shot. It's
grossly inneffiecient even if ammunition is plentiful.
The best strategy for this gun is to simply aim for the
head or upper torso.  That will deal out the most
damage and you might be able to conserve some ammo.
The secondary fire mode for the sub-machine gun is
lobbing fragmentation grenades.  These are self
explanatory.  The greneades explode on impact so if you
need to get around something with a grenade try and aim
it on a parabolic trajectory so it will sail over
whatever obstacle and land in the enemy's lap.  Too bad
you only get three grenades at a time.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                       1.6  Pulse Rifle                    **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Energy
Maximum Ammunition : 60
Clip Size : 30
Primary Fire : Automatic fire
Alternate Fire : Energy bubble
Range : Medium
First Found : Highway 17
Weapon Description : This is a better substitute for your weak SMG.  The
combine soldiers drop this one frequently after you
pick it up about midway in the game.  This gun has a
similar rate of fire to the SMG but it has a better
accuracy and it packs a lot more punch so you don't
have to waste bullets.
The primary fire is a typical automatic fire.  The
secondary fire on the other hand is much more powerful.
Need a room cleared out?  Simply hold down the
secondary fire and aim it at a wall or the floor
somewhere in the room and a ball of energy will shoot
from the gun.  The ball almost acts like a grenade in
that it can take out a large area of enemies rather
quickly.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                         1.7  Shotgun                      **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Firearm
Maximum Ammunition : 30
Clip Size : 6
Primary Fire : Single shot
Alternate Fire : Double shot
Range : Close - Medium
First Found : "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..."
Weapon Description : What would a shooter be without a shotgun?  This is
essentially the same shotgun that you used in Black
Mesa except that the ammunition capacity has changed
drastically.  Rather than 8 shells before you need to
reload this gun only lets you have 6.  Also, instaead
of carrying 125 shells in your pocket you can only
carry 30. This forces you to use it intelligently. Know
what that means?  Don't use it as a sniper rifle.  This
gun may work wonders at close range but it is atrocious
at long range.  The shotgun can be used primarily to
take down the frequent zombies and combine soldiers in
the game.
The primary fire is a single shotgun blast.  The
secondary fire is twice as powerful because it shoots
two shells at once.  While this attack is devastating
to the enemy you only want to use it for the real
toughies such as Ant Lions or the leaper zombies. Using
it on a headcrab is a flat out waste of your heavy duty
gun.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                        1.8  Crossbow                      **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Medieval
Maximum Ammunition : 10
Clip Size : 1
Primary Fire : Red-hot bolt
Alternate Fire : Scope
Range : Long
First Found : Highway 17
Weapon Description : This weapon acts as a sort of primitive sniper rifle.
It fires superheated rods of iron (looks like rebar) at
your enemy with deadly accuracy.  The primary fire will
shoot the bolt and the secondary fire will allow you to
look through a small scope mounted atop the gun.  It's
not necessary to make a headshot with this gun so you
can simply aim for the torso and as long as you hit
your target he'll go down.
When you reload you won't be forced out of the scope
like in Half-Life.  The only downside to this gun is
that it has a slow rate of fire, the bolts themselves
don't move too quickly, and it only carries 11 rounds
(1 loaded, 10 reserve).  This in mind you don't want to
chance it by shooting at a moving target half a mile
away.
First off, the bolt will hit where you aimed your
crosshair but by the time it reaches that point the
enemy may have moved out of the way.  Second, since
it's a heavy projectile, the bolt will tend to curve
slightly downwards at very long ranges.  It's a useful
weapon, you just need to use it intelligently.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                        1.9  Grenade                       **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Explosive
Maximum Ammunition : 5
Clip Size : 1
Primary Fire : Throw grenade
Alternate Fire : Roll grenade
Range : Medium
First Found : Route Kanal
Weapon Description : Grenades really need no further explanation so I'll
discuss the three different throws that you can do. The
primary fire is the typical overhand throw that
launches your grenade into the air and (hopefully) into
the lap of the enemy.  This is good for taking out
enemies bunkered into a turret position or taking out a
room of enemies.  This throw can also bounce the
grenade around a bit so that means you can bounce it
off a wall and around a corner.  This allows you to get
your grenade where you need it without exposing
yourself at all.
The secondary fire has two "throws" depending upon your
stance.  You can roll a grenade with the secondary fire
if you are crouched.  So you can gently roll your
grenade into the doorway of a room and wait for it to
wreak havoc.  Throwing it in some cases may not be the
best option because maybe there's a hole in the floor
or a window that it could go through.  Rolling it also
allows you to get the grenade under a barrier in some
cases.  If an enemy is innaccessible from your position
with an overhand throw you may be able to roll the
grenade to him.
The third option is useful for when you are being
pursued by the enemy.  Assuming that you are running
while standing up (why would you run while crouched?)
you can whip out a grenade and just tap the alternate
fire.  Gordon will drop that grenade like a bad habit.
Now you just need to keep running to escape the blast
radius while the enemy runs right into.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                          1.10  RPG                        **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Explosive
Maximum Ammunition : 3
Clip Size : 1
Primary Fire : Fire rocket
Alternate Fire : Laser guide
Range : Long
First Found : Highway 17
Weapon Description : Every FPS game has this weapon in one form or another
and Half-Life 2 is no exception.  The weapon will
launch a rocket propelled grenade (hence the
abbreviation -- RPG) at whatever you are aiming at. The
blast radius and damage is roughly on par with that of
the grenades but the difference here is that you can
launch it at a flying target or even hit an enemy at
very long range.
The secondary toggles the laser guide.  If you have
this turned off the rocket will travel more or less in
a straight line until it impacts something.  On the
other hand, turning the laser sight on allows you to
guide the rocket during its flight.  What this allows
you to do is follow a moving target such as one of the
Combine gunships as it circles around you.  You can
turn off or turn on the laser guideance at any time
during the flight but I suggest that you always guide
your missiles, you never know when the enemy will
suddenly move to the side.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                        1.11  Pheropod                     **
---------------------------------------------------------------
Type : Organic
Maximum Ammunition : Infinite
Clip Size : 1
Primary Fire : Throw spore
Alternate Fire : Call Ant Lions
Range : Medium
First Found : Sandtraps
Weapon Description : True, the Ant Lions were complete asshats earlier in
the game but now you can use them to your advantage.
The pheropod you get from the vortiguant allows you to
take control of swarms upon swarms of Ant Lions.  This
means that all you have to do is throw a pheropod at
the enemy or somewhere in his general area and the
Ant Lions will come right down on top of him.  You have
an infinite amount of these pheropods and you also seem
to have an infinite amount of Ant Lions for the brief
portions of the game where you can control them.
There's a tutorial in-game on how to use these suckers.
That should teach you all the ins and outs of the
pheropod.
==============================================================================
----  Chapter 2 : Disposing of the Enemy  ----
==============================================================================
*  Antlion  *  The single shotgun blast will kill an Ant Lion quickly.  You
can also use the SMG but that takes a bit longer since it
isn't as powerful.
*  Barnacle  *  If you can try and find an explosive barrel and push it over
into the Barnacle's tongue.  As the Barnacle sucks it up
just fire a few shots into the barrel so that it bursts into
flames.  if you've timed it right the barrle should blow up
just as it gets to the Barnacle's mouth.  If that's not an
option just use your pistol.  These guys don't (can't)
attack unless you walk into their tongue so there's no need
to take them out quickly.
*  Combine Soldier  *  Depending upon the situation you may have to use the
SMG, shotgun, crossbow, pistol, grenade, or Pulse
Rifle to take the Combine soldiers out.  Just use
your best judgement...or mine if you want to read the
weapon descriptions above.
*  Combine Tank  *  RPG.  Just send a few rockets into the tank and it will
esplodez0r.  You'll usually be in close quarters with
the Combine Tanks so using the laser sight won't be
necessary.  Just fire a shot and get back under cover.
Rinse and repeat.
*  Gunship  *  The RPG works best for all Combine gunships.  Just launch the
rocket and guide it to the gunship.  Just take note that the
gunships can shoot the rocket down in mid-air so it may take
a few tries to actually land a hit on it.
*  Headcrab  *  You can either use the 9mm Pistol or the Crowbar.  2 9mm
bullets and one or two hacks with the crowbar will take
these out.
*  Helicopter  *  Use the RPG.  The helicopters move around quite a bit so
you'll need to laser guide it to the target.  I don't
believe that any other weapons work for this vehicle but I
may be wrong.  I haven't had the patience to try and take
it down with a pistol.
*  Leaping Zombie  *  The double shotgun blast is the only attack you'll
need to take one of the flying zombies out. The SMG is
too slow and too weak and the rest of the weapons
should be fairly obvious as to why the won't work.
*  Manhacks  *  Use the pistol or gravity gun for these guys.  The pistol
takes them down in a handful of shots and it isn't too hard
to hit them because they move pretty predictably.  The
gravity gun is probably the best weapon because you can
snatch one out of midair and then slam it into a wall at
200 mph.
*  Queen Antlion  *  You'll need a combination of weapons to take this enemy
down.  I suggest dealing her a few founds with the RPG,
followed by some fire from your shotgun or SMG (if you
have the grenades for it use them).  The Gravity Gun
also works for this fight because you can use it to
throw a few explosive barrels on her.
*  Rollermines  *  When you see these just pop out of your vehicle, they
only appear in those levels, and grab it with the Gravity
Gun.  The you can send it off a cliff or into a wall.
*  Toxic  Headcrab  *  Same as the normal headrab except that you want to
take them out from afar.  The pistol works fine as
long as they don't get too close to you.  If they do
get close you'll want to move out of the way rather
than try and hit them with the crowbar.
*  Toxic Zombie  *  This is the zombie that hosts the toxic headcrabs. Never
take one of these out from up close.  Always try and
take it out from afar with your grenades, RPG, crossbow,
Magnum or by flinging objects at it with the gravity
gun.  They are quite resistant to death but you can
whittle them down to nothing.  Good thing for you these
guys only pop up a few times in the game, it takes quite
a bit of firepower to take a single Toxic Zombie down.
*  Strider  *  The RPG is really the only weapon you can use against a
Strider.  Make sure youlaunch the rocket and guide it to the
head with the laser sight.  It will take three or four
rockets to take a Strider down so you'll want to stay covered
each time you're reloading.  They'll start getting on your
case as soon as you fire the first rocket.
*  Turrets  *  You'll need to roll a grenade into the turret's nest.  Just
make sure you do it quickly because they turret won't waste
any time in shooting you.
*  Zombie  *  Pistol, shotgun, flaming barrels, saw blades, SMG...take your
pick.  I don't suggest the crowbar though because these guys
can take away a good chunk of your life if they take a swipe
at you.
==============================================================================
----  Chapter 3 : Conclusion  ----
==============================================================================
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                   3.1  Legal Information                  **
---------------------------------------------------------------
This document is Copyright 2005 Don Fleming.  It may not be reproduced nor
retransmitted in any form without prior consent from the author.  It may
not be altered, published, sold, given as an incentive to buy, etc. without
advance permission from the author. All outside sources which have contributed
to the making of this guide in some form have been cited in the guide.
Violation of the above terms can and will result in a lawsuit.
------------------------------------
SITES WHERE THIS GUIDE MAY BE HOSTED
------------------------------------
- GameFAQs.com
- Gamespot.com
- Neoseeker.com
- IGN
- Gamerhelp
If you are not mentioned in the sites immediately above then you will not host
this guide.
---------------------------------------------------------------
**                    3.2  Contact Information               **
---------------------------------------------------------------
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions to make
then you can e-mail me at the address provided below.  I will only accept
questions, comments, suggestions, and contributions if they abide by the
guidelines outlined below.  I do not think that I am asking much by doing
that, but if you do have a problem with that then I ask you just not send me
anything at all.  I understand that this makes me seem a bit anal but when you
get as many e-mails as I do you can't afford to deal with stuff you don't want
to.
*  El Greco  : REMOVED
SUBJECT LINE : Half Life 2
______________________________________________________________________________
Copyright 2005 Don Fleming