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|  PAINKILLER GUIDE / WALKTHROUGH  |
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Guide author: Useless
E-mail: utuselessut@hotmail.com
Guide version: 1.10
Game version: 1.0
System: PC
Copyright: Useless 2006
This entire document is (c) 2006 Useless. All trademarks are property of
their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my
permission. This includes, but is not limited to, posting on your website,
making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making
reference to any material contained within.
Please do not email me to ask for permission to host this guide, as I will
be unable to give it to you. I don't have enough time to manage and upload FAQ
versions at any sites other than the two listed below. These sites are
therefore the only ones permitted to host this guide:
GameFAQS.com
NeoSeeker.com
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. INTRODUCTION
||
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
1.3 CONTACT ME
2. GAME
||
2.1 MENUS
2.2 MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
2.2.1 MOVEMENT
2.2.2 COMBAT
2.3 GAME FEATURES
2.3.1 WEAPONS
2.3.2 PICKUPS
2.3.3 HAZARDS
2.3.4 SECRET AREAS
2.3.5 MISCELLANEOUS
2.4 TAROT CARDS
2.4.1 GOLD CARDS
2.4.2 SILVER CARDS
2.5 MONSTERS
3. WALKTHROUGH
||
3.1 - LEVEL 1/1 CEMETERY
3.2 - LEVEL 1/2 ATRIUM COMPLEX
3.3 - LEVEL 1/3 CATACOMBS
3.4 - LEVEL 1/4 CATHEDRAL
3.5 - LEVEL 1/5 ENCLAVE
3.6 - LEVEL 2/1 PRISON
3.7 - LEVEL 2/2 OPERA HOUSE
3.8 - LEVEL 2/3 ASYLUM
3.9 - LEVEL 2/4 SNOWY BRIDGE
3.10 - LEVEL 2/5 TOWN
3.11 - LEVEL 2/6 SWAMP
3.12 - LEVEL 3/1 TRAIN STATION
3.13 - LEVEL 3/2 ABANDONED FACTORY
3.14 - LEVEL 3/3 MILITARY BASE
3.15 - LEVEL 3/4 RUINS
3.16 - LEVEL 4/1 CASTLE
3.17 - LEVEL 4/2 THE PALACE
3.18 - LEVEL 4/3 BABEL
3.19 - LEVEL 4/4 FOREST
3.20 - LEVEL 4/5 TOWER
3.21 - LEVEL 5/1 CITY ON WATER
3.22 - LEVEL 5/2 DOCKS
3.23 - LEVEL 5/3 OLD MONASTERY
3.24 - LEVEL 5/4 HELL
3.25 - FROM NIGHTMARE TO TRAUMA
4. CONTRIBUTORS / CONTRIBUTIONS
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5. VERSION HISTORY / UPDATES
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|    1. INTRODUCTION    |
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1.1 INTRODUCTION
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Welcome to my Painkiller guide. This is my sixth guide, and since I was
getting tired of the format I used in my first five I decided to change it to
some sort of barbed wire thing. Not quite convinced it works, but it's meant
to suit the feel of the game. Or something. Who cares.
Before I go on: if you're reading this guide for no other reason than to get
help with secret areas, please skip to section 2.3.4 now.
My guide to Painkiller's expansion, Battle Out Of Hell, is available at the
usual two sites.
---
In Painkiller you play the role of generically named Daniel Garner, who gets
killed in a car crash along with his wife, Catherine, in spite of having the
requisite stubble, dark hair, leather jacket and pissed off facial expressions
you'd expect of any car crash survivor. Daniel spends thirty years battling
countless demons in limbo, until Sammael, an angel from Heaven and a hot
basketball prospect, offers him a chance to redeem his sins and escape from
his torment. Daniel could also be reunited with his wife, who after thirty
years of waiting could reasonably be expected to have shacked up with someone
else by now. But anyway.
Daniel only has to do one piddling little thing to get his afterlife sorted
out once and for all. Fight his way through over twenty of Hell's realms -
which, by the way, are all based on things which can be found in human
civilizations - in order to rid the place of four of Lucifer's horriblest
generals, not to mention Lucifer himself. Because, frankly, demons of their
sort are just not welcome in Hell.
There are certain things Sammael isn't telling Daniel; such as whom to trust
and whom not to trust, where Daniel's supposed to go, and where Sammael gets
his hair done.
Daniel will have to figure these things out with the help of the people he
will meet along the way, be they friend, foe or barber. So get on with it.
---
Painkiller is not a complicated game. You run, you shoot, they die. The game
it reminds me of most is not Doom or Hexen, but a game called Smash TV which
used to be on the SEGA Mega Drive years and years ago. The premise of Smash TV
was that you got locked in a room on your own (topdown view) and you ran
around backwards with your finger pressed on the firing button while tons of
enemies swarmed mindlessly at you. You erased everything from one room and you
moved onto the next. And that was it.
You might not run around backwards quite so much in Painkiller, but there is a
lot of moving from area to area, eradicating everything you see until the game
lets you move on. The only requirement for being able to complete this game is
an ability to point your crosshairs at monsters and fire at them until they
die, while simultaneously avoiding death yourself. If this sounds like
something you might find entertaining then please read on - I was pleasantly
surprised by how cool this game is, and hopefully this guide will help other
people appreciate it too.
---
I've loved FPS games ever since I first played Doom, and I've spent far, far
too much time playing past greats such as Heretic, Duke 3D and Thief. Merely
for the sake of it, I've decided to list here the games that Painkiller
reminds me of, and has probably borrowed from - if you like or love Painkiller
then you will definitely want to check out some or all of the following games:
Doom
Duke Nukem 3D
Halflife
Heretic
Hexen
Quake
Return To Castle Wolfenstein
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Undying
Unreal Tournament
---
I've tried to bung in as much as I can about the game, but I'm no expert. I've
never gone to any Painkiller sites or forums, or even discussed the game with
anyone else, so if I make any huge errors it's because practically everything
I know about the game has come from playtesting it and reading the manual.
I know it's an old game by now, and I also know (though I haven't checked)
that there may now be a hundred guides and walkthroughs for it. Always the
optimist, I've decided this means that another one won't hurt.
I played the game on Nightmare difficulty when writing this guide. For this
guide to make total sense, and also for a proper challenge, I suggest you
start your game on Nightmare too. Your game experiences will more closely
mirror mine, you'll get to play the Prison level, you'll meet the same enemies
in the same places, etc.
I'm also assuming that you're approaching each level with a view to obtaining
the tarot cards, so that's how I've arranged them. If you already have the
tarot cards you can totally ignore my salient advice, as many have before you.
I have to play the unpatched game, as many other people using this guide may
not be able to obtain patches but will still be looking for help. Patches are
available however, and you should get the most recent patch if possible; just
bear in mind that your game experiences may differ from mine if you're using a
patch when I'm not.
Finally, here is a link from which you can download the latest patches (the
game has reached version 1.64 as I write this), but bear in mind you will need
to install each patch in release order - each patch patches the previous
patch, if you follow me:
http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/dci/support/pc/patches/pk.php
I hope you enjoy this guide and that it helps you out. Thanks for reading :)
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1.2 USING THIS GUIDE
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Please view this guide in a text viewer / editor with a set fixed-width
font, or else it might look a mess. I use Courier New, Size 10.
Use the Find command (CTRL + F) with the numbered contents menu at the start
of the guide, in order to quickly jump to the section you want.
I have put the main walkthrough section of the guide towards the end, after
all the other game information. This is not a design flaw - it's deliberate.
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1.3 CONTACT ME
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This guide has reached Version 1.10 and is now nearly two years old, therefore
it is considered finished. Many thanks to all those who contributed; however,
this guide is now closed and will not be revised again, unless only to make
corrections.
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2.1 MENUS
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Before you begin playing Painkiller you'll probably want to customise it so
you can get the most out of it. Here are some notes on things you might want
to look at in the Options menu.
CONTROLS > General
------------------
Arrange your keys so that they are pretty close together - this will make it a
lot easier to manoeuvre through the game.
You can pretty much ignore the next / prev weapon keys, as they are far too
sensitive.
Make sure you put distance between your quicksave and quickload keys - the
defaults are fine. This is in case you accidentally hit one when you're trying
to hit the other. Quickloading when you don't want to is not fun.
Mouse sens. was a bit high for me - I put mine down to 33, though this is
subjective and depends on your style, make of mouse, etc.
For once in a FPS game, mouse smoothing is a good thing.
CONTROLS > Advanced
-------------------
Assign a number key to each of your weapons and select them this way during
the game. I recommend making the electrodriver number four instead of five, as
it's the fourth weapon you'll find in the game.
Make sure you have a key for the flashlight, and remember what it is. The game
often turns the light on automatically in certain dark levels and areas (eg.
Cemetery, Asylum), but your game tends to suffer from frame loss while the
flashlight is on, so you'll want to be able to turn it off. If your game is
slow, it might be because of the flashlight.
CONTROLS > Weapons
------------------
Configure your primary and secondary weapons for yourself in here; though I
suggest you swap the chaingun and rockets around, so that the chaingun is the
primary.
Turn off Pickup Priority if you don't want the game to automatically switch to
every weapon you pick up.
HUD
---
Take headbob all the way down to 0, as anything else will affect your aim
while moving. Plus it just looks bloody stupid.
I tend to go with a bright green cross for a reticle, as this colour is
probably the easiest to see against Painkiller's background colours.
SOUND
-----
Turning off battle music will allow you to hear the sound effects and great
ambient music better; but leaving it on will give you advance warning every
time you're under attack. Now that I know from long experience where every
enemy is I tend to turn if off, but suit yourself.
VIDEO
-----
This is where to sort out any speed issues you're having. The lower the video
settings the faster the game will play. Just don't disable stuff if you don't
have to, because Painkiller is a good-looking game and you'll want to
appreciate it.
Some levels and areas are much more likely to slow up than others. The rule
is: the more polygons on screen at once the slower the game will move. So big,
wide open areas with falling rubble, monsters everywhere, weather effects,
lots of buildings standing around the periphery - these areas will move pretty
sluggishly if, like mine, your computer is not quite up to the task.
Three of the bosses' arenas are also pretty dodgy at times, since there's a
lot going on and the boss sprites are so enormous. Try to find a nice balance
between looks and speed, though this depends on your own system.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION_______________________________
jetscope
"in the beginning, when you're explaining about the video settings, you say
that the boss sprites are really big. Actually, the bosses use models, not
sprites - sprites are two-dimensional (they have only one side and rotate with
your view), as opposed to models, which are fully three-dimensional. Doom used
eight main sprites for each enemy, to create the illusion of them being three-
dimensional - when you walked around them, different sprites switched on and
off."
-=#=-
Yep, I remember that from Doom. I also remember thinking "how clever!". I was
young and foolish then; now I'm less young and more foolish. Doesn't seem
fair.
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2.2 MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
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This section is here to help any new players deal with the basics of
Painkiller - how best to move through the levels and kill the monsters
populating them.
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/================\
| 2.2.1 MOVEMENT |
\================/
Movement is important in combat - covered below - but it's also vital for
progression through each level. You will encounter plenty of obstacles
in this game: some can be ignored; some will need to be overcome to proceed;
some will let you reach secret areas or bonuses.
It's easy enough to jump over small gaps, or to aim to land on sloped areas
while dropping through the air to avoid taking damage, etc. But other barriers
are more complicated, and you'll need to practice certain things before you
can get by them with ease.
For example, some ladders are buggy and they will only let you climb on at a
certain angle. Some conveyances move while you are standing on them, and
you'll have to compensate in order to avoid falling off. Some routes are very
narrow and can cause you to slip off either side, meaning you'll have to go
all the way back to the start and try again.
It's important to know how to jump properly. It's not quite as simple as
jumping forward or sideways and then landing. There are a couple of other
factors: one is that you slide a little when you land after a moving jump, so
if you land on an edge you could well fall off; another is that if you jump
forwards off an edge and press backwards at any point of the jump, you will
suddenly stop moving forwards and simply drop straight down. This is good if
you need to land on a certain spot underneath you, but bad if you mistime it.
Quick-jump:
The most important thing to know about is the quick-jump (my name for it -
dunno if other people have a different term). To quick-jump you just keep
running and jumping, but press jump every time you land, so that you do a
series of long skips in quick succession (remember this from Thief: The Dark
Project?). You get a great speed and distance increase, you can get past any
nearby enemy before its melee attack has a chance to hit you, and quick-
jumping can also let you jump up slopes and ledges to reach places which
normal jumps can't.
Try to jump onto a low, sloped ledge with just a normal jump. If the ledge is
too high you won't make it, but if you quick-jump onto it you can get all the
way to the top. There is a great example of the difference between jumping and
quick-jumping in the Docks level: there is a part of a crane which is almost
vertically sloped - one normal jump would barely let you get off the ground,
but if you quick-jump onto it and keep pressing jump while you move up, you
can reach the very top.
Quick-jumping off an edge can let you soar a great distance to reach a ledge
opposite; whereas one normal forward jump would never be able to scale many of
the gaps in the game.
Throughout this guide I refer to quick-jumps; and also standing quick-jumps,
which is my term for the quick-jumps you have to do when you have no space for
a run-up. To do a standing quick-jump you just jump straight upwards and then
press forwards and jump as you land - this lets you do a forward quick-jump
which will reach farther than a normal forward jump.
If ever you find yourself unable to reach a certain area, try experimenting
with the quick-jump. Every single level has places where quick-jumping will
greatly benefit you, and most secret areas are only accessible through quick-
jumping.
Directional arrow:
The arrow at the top of your HUD points to the nearest enemy. When there are
no enemies left in the current section, it turns red and points to the next
checkpoint.
When there are still some enemies remaining in the current area but none of
them are near enough, the bloody thing breaks and points due north. This means
that you're going to have to hunt in every corner until you find those hidden
monsters and kill them off, at which point the arrow should work again.
The tiny red arrows above or below the main arrow tell you whether your target
monster or checkpoint is laterally above or below you. So if you're on a cliff
and the arrow has a red arrow under it, you'll have to get all the way down
the cliff until the small red arrow disappears and you know you're level with
your objective.
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/==============\
| 2.2.2 COMBAT |
\==============/
The most important thing to learn if you want to stay alive right to the end
of Painkiller is that you have to keep moving while in combat. Unlike in
certain other FPS games, Painkiller's monsters are almost totally inept at
hitting moving targets, even at Trauma difficulty.
If you want to just stand still and fire you will find it easier to hit the
monsters teeming around the place, but you yourself will be much easier to
kill. You can often find vantage points where the monsters can't reach you (at
least the melee ones), and you can get sniping or chucking grenades down on
their heads.
However, the majority of the combat will come in areas where you'll have to
run around constantly, keeping out of the way of any monsters while doing your
best to create big problems for any chasing you.
Running is good, but quick-jumping is unparalleled when it comes to avoiding
enemies. No monster who moves along the ground is as fast as you while you're
quick-jumping.
Avoiding missiles is a little more difficult than avoiding melee attacks, but
all missiles in the game fly in horizontally straight lines (some arc through
the air but none can change direction), so predicting their flight paths is
easy. Some are faster than others (zombies' missiles are much slower than
vamps'), and some have limited range (they'll evaporate before reaching you if
you put enough distance between you and the monster firing at you).
Use your weapons intelligently. Using stakes against big groups of skeleton
soldiers is just dumb - break out the rocket-launcher and remove them all with
just three or four rockets. Use instant-hit weapons like the shotgun and
chaingun against fast-moving monsters. Quick-jump around in circles, drawing
lots of monsters into one tightly-packed group so that they're easier to take
out at once with a few grenades.
Use as much cover as possible too. Let monsters come to you if you can,
letting them walk around a corner and into a shotgun blast or a burst of the
electro. You don't have to run around in big open areas where you're
vulnerable: peek around corners instead and eliminate one monster at a time.
Hide behind non-explosive objects and shoot out the explosive ones when the
monsters get near them.
Basically, just think about the monsters you're meeting and the area in which
you're meeting them. Gain any advantage you can by using the terrain, and
remember each weapon's capabilities and each monster's vulnerabilities.
Strolling around mindlessly while you empty your shotgun is not a technique
conducive to easy completion of this game.
______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________V1.8 CONTRIBUTION______________________________
Thomas Tarpey
"if you are about to be trapped by melee creatures (the skeleton troopers from
the Train Station and Abandoned Factory, for example) you can bunny-hop
(quick-jump) onto the monsters - it'll give you a much larger jump than a
regular quick-jump, one large enough to even get you onto a building if one is
close enough, and certainly big enough to get you out of the group."
-=#=-
Nice trick, I don't know why I didn't think of this :)
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2.3 GAME FEATURES
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This section describes most of the things you're going to find in the game, as
well as how to use, destroy, or avoid them.
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/===============\
| 2.3.1 WEAPONS |
\===============/
Painkiller has five weapons for you to eradicate beasties with, and each
weapon has two modes of fire (the painkiller and electrodriver have three).
Once you pick up a weapon it will stay in your arsenal from then on, which
includes being carried over into future levels. Even if you don't pick up a
weapon when it first occurs, you will be given it in the next level. For
example; the rocket-launcher appears for the first time in the Train Station,
but you can avoid it and yet still be carrying it from the beginning of the
Abandoned Factory.
The weapons each have primary fire and secondary fire, but each will activate
only if you carry the appropriate ammo.
It's important to know not only which weapons to use in each level, but which
to use in each section of each level. You may find yourself swapping weapons
constantly in each map, once you learn where the monsters are and what the
level's layout is.
---
PAINKILLER
----------
The painkiller is your default weapon - you have it from the very start of the
first level and onwards.
Primary:
The primary mode of fire creates a whirl of blades spinning in front of your
face, which can cause severe damage to any monster who tries to hit you in
melee combat. As cool as it looks, this is only something to fall back on when
all else fails, such as when you're trapped in a corner. The best way to use
the blades is to hold down the fire button and strafe your enemy in circles,
hitting him on his sides and back before he has time to react.
The blades can also be used to quickly reposition certain indestructible
objects found in the game, which is easier than simply pushing the objects.
Secondary:
This launches the killer, a warhead which flies straight ahead until it
impacts on a wall, object or monster. If it hits an object the object will
explode.
If it hits a wall (within a certain range) the killer will stick to the wall,
and then, when your crosshairs are pointing roughly at it, a yellow beam will
be drawn between your hands and the warhead. This beam will cause damage to
any monster passing through it, even killing the weaker ones altogether.
If the warhead hits a monster before it hits anything else, the monster will
take damage and the warhead will return to your hands. Sometimes the monster
will be thrown in the air, taking damage or dying; sometimes the monster can
be thrown far across an area, though this only happens if you hit it over a
great distance with the warhead. This feature is useful to spring otherwise
unreachable enemies in close, so you can finish them off and collect their
souls.
Don't ignore the killer - it is a fantastic weapon, and also the most
satisfying to become good with. Later in the game you will get tarot cards
which allow you to deal double or quadruple damage, and the warhead is
fantastic when used in conjunction with such cards. Plus you'll save a lot of
ammo.
The killer has another use in relation to gold - see section 2.3.2.
______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION______________________________
Earnest Shadie
"The painkiller weapon has three modes. (1) Hold primary fire, spins primary
blades. (2) Secondary fire, fires killer warhead. (3) Secondary fire while
holding primary fire, launches spinning blades for a short distance then
returns ah-la boomerang in Zelda."
-=#=-
Nice one, I never knew about this at all.
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_______________________________V1.5 CONTRIBUTION______________________________
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_______________________________V1.7 CONTRIBUTION______________________________
Saraphan
"World-objects that are moveable using the secondary fire of the painkiller
weapon, can act as a sort of catapult or personal elevator. Examples of such
objects are the cart in the beginning of the Town level, the light fittings at
the Train Station level, but rubble from destroyable objects also work (but
they disappear so you have to act quickly). Stand on the object in question,
and hit the middle of the object with painkillers secondary fire (the killer
part). If the object you're standing on is very small and light, you might get
catapulted upwards immidiately. If it's a heavier object, just reapeatedly use
the secondary fire and notice how the object carries you upward (or sideways
if you didn't hit the middle of the object). Using this method, you can get to
some secrets areas in an unconventional way, or reach areas that are otherwise
unreachable. This trick is rather hard to to control and the practical use of
it is minimal, but it can be fun to play around with regardless.
Depending on the object, you hardly bob up or you can reach the ceiling of the
level (in outdoor levels) but the height of the jump is very unpredictable and
I can't seem to get all the influencing factors thought out. Like I said, tiny
objects may launch you up high with a single shot. Using one of the tiniest
pieces of the rubble coming from the strange cube-shaped thingies (when you
destroy them) in the cathedral level, I managed to catapult myself on the
ledge with the holy item. So yes, it may be practical in that situation. Since
there are several of them objects, you have several tries. I tried the same
thing with the chunks of pottery on the bottom of the same area in order to
get on the ledge where the superhealth lies. I wasn't able to pull that one
off. Perhaps it's the shape of the pottery, or perhaps I just had to try
harder (read: longer) but I'm pretty sure you just can't catapult yourself
that high.
It is, however, possible to get that high with other objects. For example, the
cart in the beginning of the Town level can get you to great heights (if
you're good and lucky). Because it's larger and you can actually step inside
of it, it won't slip from under your feet so easily. Shooting it continuously,
I managed to get on the balcony in the very first area where the cart lies. I
also managed to get over the right wall (immidately to your right when you
start the level and face the enemies in the second area). There's nothing
special there, but many gamers experience a small thrill visiting areas that
weren't meant to be visited. I also managed to get to the first secret area
using the cart (using my way, not yours :P). I didn't try any more, but the
cart might actually take you to some nice places.
In the train station level, you can reach the superhealth on the ledge where
the maso commando is using 'my' trick on the light fittings. With some
practice, this is actually one of the easier ones since the fitting doesn't
dissappear and you have relatively few choices of shooting it (aim down as far
as you can, and make sure the killer hits the middle of the fitting and shoot
repeatedly. You may have to move around a bit to get the balance as well as
your direction right.). You can also use this trick fairly easy to get the
holy item atop of the room that appears to be some kind of cantina (lot of
tables lying around)."
-=#=-
I tried this in the Town, bouncing up and down on the first cart, and I
managed to send it right over the wall and into oblivion, which wasn't much
good. I can see how this would be very useful for reaching quite a few
secret areas in the game, though I'd stress that none of the secrets are
unreachable without it. If you practice with it it could do you big favours,
and anything that helps people reach tough areas is surely a good thing.
Good luck in the Forest though, har har...
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SHOTGUN / FREEZER
-----------------
This is a useful weapon, available from the first level of the game. It never
stops coming in handy, and you will probably use it a lot until you get the
chaingun.
Primary (100 ammo):
This is the shotgun and it's pretty basic. Point and fire it at close to
medium range and it will drop most of the lesser minions and severely
discommode many of the bigger guys. If the monster is close enough when you
hit it, the shotgun blast can thump it backwards into the air, gibbing its
remains all over the place.
It's probably the most efficient weapon in terms of how much ammo it can
carry, and its only downside is that it's virtually useless at anything
greater than medium range. Its spread becomes much narrower when you are
carrying a quad damage, however, which in turn increases the shotgun's
accuracy.
Secondary (100 ammo):
This is the freezer, blatantly nicked from Duke Nukem (though improved upon as
well), and it's the weapon to go to when nothing else seems to be working. All
the non-boss monsters in the game can be frozen with just one shot, leaving
them very vulnerable to a simple blast of the shotgun or a few rounds of the
chaingun.
The freezer has a horribly slow reload rate, but it's not often you'll be
using it anyway. Most of the monsters just don't need to be frozen for you to
take them down. If you run out of freezer ammo then you're over-using it.
The freezer is useless against bosses and mini-bosses.
STAKEGUN / GRENADE-LAUNCHER
---------------------------
This is the closest thing you'll get to a sniper rifle. It becomes available
in the Atrium Complex level.
Primary (100 ammo):
The stakegun is the second best long-range weapon in the game, but it's the
most satisfying one to score hits with. Its reload rate is slow, so don't rely
on it in close-range melee battles; but one stake can impale and kill all but
the most powerful enemies, which does you a favour when you're trying to
conserve ammo for your other weapons.
The stakes can often stick enemies to the walls or spear two monsters at a
time. The stakes will burst into flames during flight if your target is far
enough away, doing more damage and therefore making them more effective at
destroying far-off monsters than closer ones.
The stakes fire in parabolic arcs, so you do have to adjust your sights and
aim just above your target. The quad damage removes the stakes' flight arc
and lets you fire them in straight lines, which comes in handy once or twice.
Secondary (100 ammo):
The grenade-launcher is probably going to be the most overlooked weapon in
your arsenal, with the possible exception of the painkiller. It becomes a
little redundant when you finally get a hold of the rocket-launcher; but the
grenade-launcher's reload rate is surprisingly quick, and it often pays to
dump several grenades into groups of enemies, rather than just one at a time.
I recommend it be your first choice weapon against bunches of templars.
The grenades bounce off walls and objects before exploding (though they
explode on impact with a monster), so make sure they don't bounce back and
smack you in the face. Unfortunately, their range is pretty limited, though
the splash damage is of course considerable. The grenade-launcher uses the
same ammo as the rocket-launcher, so try not to go overboard with the ammo.
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rofl pwn
"When you have the stakegun equipped, if you shoot a grenade and time it
right, you can hit the grenade with a stake from the gun and it makes your
steak explode wherever it hits. It's not too useful because of the timing
involved, but I thought I should let you know about it to help improve your
guide."
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CHAINGUN / ROCKET-LAUNCHER
--------------------------
This is pretty certainly the most effective and efficient of your weapons.
There are very few situations that this weapon can't handle on its own. It's
just a pity that you get it so far into the game, but I guess that's the point
- it's too powerful for the early levels. It first appears in the Train
Station.
Primary (100 ammo):
This is the rocket-launcher, though I suggest you swap it to secondary.
Anyway, it fires rockets fast and in straight lines, and the rockets explode
on impact with anything. The reload rate is really good, and you can get great
results against groups of minions by firing the rockets at the ground in the
middle.
Be careful with the rocket-launcher, as it's the weapon most likely to do you
return damage if your target is too close. It's not a close-range weapon, so
whatever you do don't use it as one. On the other hand, it has a limited
range, and the rockets will just burst harmlessly once they've gone a certain
distance without hitting anything.
There's a bind available in the Controls menu for rocket-jumps, but they only
ever seem to shoot me in the feet. If the bind works for you then it might be
worth adding it to your repertoire, though as far as I know there are no
secret areas which can only be reached by rocket-jumping, so you'll never need
it in single-player.
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Saraphan
"Using the rocketjump hardly bobs you upward, but it does hurt you a lot -
don't use it... in singleplayer! In multiplayer, the rocketjump certainly can
be useful. Using the rocketjump key, you make a big jump but it does hurt you
a little. Not as much as with SP, though. Strangely, using the primary fire of
the rocketlauncher does not get you as much height as the rocketjump key. I
suspect the rocketjump key means both a jump and shooting a rocket. For that
reason, jumping and using the rocketjump key at the same time does not get you
any higher. So for best results, just walk or run, aim downwards and press the
rocketjump key."
-=#=-
Meh. Knew it wouldn't work in single-player. Sod it.
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Secondary (500 ammo):
The chaingun, the best weapon in the game. There's nothing this thing can't
do, other than take out more than one enemy at a time. It has unlimited range,
tons of ammo, extreme accuracy, fantastic reload rate, no return damage and
even cool sound effects. Combining this thing with certain tarot cards can
transform you into a one-man death machine, especially versus bosses.
You'll find that the freezer is better for certain high-level enemies, but I
would otherwise recommend the chaingun for just about every combat situation
in the game.
ELECTRODRIVER
-------------
This is one of those weapons that polarise opinion - you'll either use it as
much as possible or forget all about it until your other weapons run out of
ammo. You can find it in the Snowy Bridge.
Primary (250 ammo):
The driver's shurikens are like chaingun rounds, but without a lot of the best
features. Reload rate is slower; range is far from unlimited; ammo is at half
the capacity; perfect accuracy, but why use the driver when you can use the
chaingun? Great against bones and maso commandos though, especially if you can
get a quad damage, at which point your shurikens will explode on impact,
dealing even more damage.
Secondary (250 ammo):
The electro is the better half of this weapon, and should not be ignored if
you find yourself surrounded by melee enemies. In fact this is the best weapon
versus large groups of monsters running at you - even better than the
chaingun, as you can take out multiple minions at once without having to be
accurate at all, though you do have to be very close for the electricity to
reach them.
The ammo capacity is pretty decent, since you won't need to use the electro
very often, so you should always have the ammo available when you do need it.
The electro is also the one to use against those tough guys at the back end of
the game, especially if you've run out of freezer rounds. This is particularly
true at the beginning of The Palace.
Electroburst (10 ammo):
Like the painkiller, the electrodriver is set apart from the other weapons
by virtue of its special attack feature: you can dump an electrically
charged shuriken into a group of tightly packed enemies (make sure it hits
one of them - if it hits a wall or the floor it will stick there for a
while, acting like a landmine), and watch the pathetic minions spark and die
on the deck. This is immensely useful against every single type of non-boss
minion (well, except witches).
To launch a special shuriken, hold down the secondary fire - electro - and
press the primary to fire the shot. It takes a while to recharge, uses 25
shuriken ammo rounds at once (hence the 10 shot limit), and is useless if it
misses the monsters. Use with caution, but keep it in mind as an option. And
don't go too near any dying enemies quivering and sparking on the ground, or
you'll take damage.
DEMON MORPH
-----------
I've lumped the Demon Morph in with the standard weapons because it is
basically a weapon, with the souls of your enemies as its ammo. Collect 66
souls (or 50 if you have the Dark Soul card equipped) and you will
involuntarily transform into an indestructible juggernaut. All enemies
(including minibosses) become killable with just one shot of your weird,
ranged energy blast attack, and you cannot take any damage from anything
except Lucifer and his attacks (unless you're daft enough to jump into
oblivion or water).
You will see everything in black and white while Morphed, which makes it
difficult to see the souls of the enemies you are killing; though living
monsters are easy to spot, glowing bright orange.
The Demon Morph will wear off after about thirty seconds, at which point you
will have to collect another 66 (or 50 with Dark Soul) to reach another Morph.
You can collect souls while Morphed, which helps a bit.
Unless a tarot card condition demands otherwise - as some do - you should try
to plan your Morphs to coincide with your entrance into areas where you're
going to meet a lot of enemies. Using a Morph in an empty hallway is a total
waste, so try to avoid any stray souls which will push you over the limit, and
control your Morphs to maximise their effect in each level.
I've encountered a bug (only once) in the Abandoned Factory, where I Morphed
and then quickloaded. When the game was reloaded my FOV (Field Of View) was
extended the way it is when you're Morphed, even though I wasn't Morphed on
reload. To fix this I just reloaded while not Morphed, and the FOV sorted
itself out again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/===============\
| 2.3.2 PICKUPS |
\===============/
Painkiller is littered with things you can pick up to help you progress
through each level.
---
GOLD
----
The only purpose of gold is to allow you to mess about with your tarot cards
between levels. Gold is less important if, like me, you never use gold cards,
though you'll definitely want to use the silver cards. The more gold you pick
up from each level the easier it will be to manipulate your cards. Gold will
vanish from the ground after a while, so pick it up when you see it.
Gold is most important in level 1/4 Cathedral, as collecting 500 gold from
that level will unlock the tarot card.
Gold can be collected by smashing breakable objects and then running over the
coins scattered on the floor. The game uses each coin to represent any amount
between 1, 2 and 3 (I think); so you may pick up 6 coins but find yourself up
by 15 gold.
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Tiit Teder
"Hi! I just read your walkthru. In the gold section,You say, that special gold
are spawned randomly, but it isn't. These random times are,when You hit them
hard with a granade or a rocket. And you can get up to 4 pieces of special
gold per body. When they die,hit them rapidly with the PAINKILLER weapons
secondary fire and gold keeps appearing."
---
Thanks for this, as I believed they were purely random. I was amazed to
discover that this actually does work - I hardly use the painkiller, so maybe
that's why I never found this out earlier. The most I've ever gotten out of
one body was two trinkets, but if someone wanted to take the time to bounce a
lot of corpses around then they could really rake in the gold.
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Once in a while you will find special gold items lying around, dropped by a
vanquished enemy (who of course normally wouldn't drop gold). They'll look
like gold circlets or bangles, and they're worth 20 gold each. You'll know
when you've picked one of these up, because there will be '+20' or '+40' or
whatever, written in grey after the gold count in your stats window - 20 gold
per trinket.
HOLY ITEMS
----------
These are always hidden in secret areas, and are shaped as either crucifixes
or cups. They glow a golden colour, and you can see them easily even at a
distance.
Each holy relic will give you 100 gold upon pickup, though they're usually
hard to find or reach.
AMMO
----
The game contains boxes of ammo for all weapons except the painkiller, and
each type of box is pretty distinctive from the others. See section 2.3.1 for
more information about weapons and ammo capacities.
Ammo also comes in megapacks - big boxes which give you small amounts of ammo
for each weapon (though not beyond capacity).
SOULS
-----
Green souls are dropped by all killable minions, and each one will boost your
health by 1 point. As far as I know, souls ignore your base health limit, so
if you start off with 250 health (health pickup max) and then collect 50 souls
your health will be a huge 300. I'm unaware of whether there is an upper limit
on the amount of health souls can give you, but I've managed 415 health and
190 armour in City On Water.
Like gold coins, souls will disappear after a few seconds, so pick them up
while they're available.
Some monsters - lepper monks, executioners, skulls, minibosses - drop red
souls instead of green ones, and these rare pickups will give you an extra 6
health points.
Bosses don't drop souls, and neither do ghosts (which can't be killed anyway).
Some minibosses do drop souls, and these are always red.
Picking up 66 souls will allow you to Morph into a Demon: see section 2.3.1
for information on the Demon Morph.
HEALTH
------
There are two types of health pickup (other than the souls).
One is a swirling ball of pale gold, and it will give you a half-decent boost
to your health points, up to base level.
The other is the super-health, a swirl of green and red resembling a soul.
This will give you 100 health up to a maximum of 250.
ARMOUR
------
Armour comes in three types: the light armour will set your armour rating to
100; the medium will set it to 150; and the heavy sets it to 200.
Try not to pick up armour or health if you don't currently need it. If you
have 150 armour and you've just found a heavy armour, wait until your 150 is
mostly gone, then come back for the heavy armour later. This is much more
efficient than wasting the heavy for the sake of 50 extra armour points.
QUAD DAMAGE
-----------
You won't find this very often - it only appears a few times around the last
few levels in the game. It's a big skeleton helmet thing with glowing eyes,
and it will quadruple the damage you do for about thirty seconds, while
surrounding your HUD with a red border.
The quad damage makes stakes fire in perfectly straight lines; shotgun blasts
much narrower for greater accuracy; and gives shurikens an explosive
component.
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Taylor
"I've got additional info about how certain weapons are different when you
have the quad-damage powerup.
Painkiller: With the killer stuck in the wall, the energy beam allows you to
be pointing at it very loosely; I think about 70 degrees off, instead of
about 10.
Chaingun/Rocket Launcher: Rockets travel at about 1.5x speed."
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