Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles/Weapons

Handguns
Depending on the Level and Character you chose, you will carry a different Primary Weapon. This is always some kind of Handgun, but their Power, Clip Size and Reload Speed may vary. As opposed to other Resident Evil Games, you always have an unlimited amount of Ammo for your Primary Weapon at your disposal. The Handgun is ideal for destroying objects as you can fire as often as you want to. Insects, Bats, Dogs, and early Zombies can also be defeated quite easily with your Primary Weapon, and even if later enemies can take a lot of normal damage, almost any Monster can be killed with these if you know their weak Spot. As a matter of fact, only the Handgun can hit a Zombi's Weakspot for a critical Hit. If you are going for the S-Rank in Headshots, you should only weaken Zombis with the secondary weapon and use the Handgun for the kill.

Note: Not all Handguns are created equal. Although you won't notice the difference between most of the primary weapons, two of them stand out. In his last scenario, Wesker is infiltrating the complex and therefore uses a silencer. This gives the weapon a different feel and can throw players of at first. More importantly in 'Death's Door' Ava is using a 'Burst Handgun'. If you hold the trigger a little longer than for a normal shot, a burst of 3 shots will be fired, which makes for slightly different playing.

Knife
The Knife has had its place as the basic form of defense in Resident Evil since the first Game. With unlimited ammo for your Handgun, it would seem that the knife plays a less important role in Umbrella Chronicles, but as usual, this old standby shows itself much more effective than it looks at first sight.

In the first scenario, you will use the knife frequently to get rid of those pesky Leeches that jump you at every opportunity. Continuous swiping will pretty much guarantee that you don't lose any health, and rack up your kill score at the same time. Chances are that once the leeches are gone, you will forget about the knife, but this would be a mistake. The knife can be used effectively against any number of swooping enemies, such as crows, bats, bees and even snakes if you get the timing right. But the most useful ability of this weapon is to block attacks from zombies lurching at you. Of course, it is generally no problem to free yourself with the Active Time Event that follows, but this will kill the Zombie and ruin your chance for a Critical Hit. Stunning the Zombie with the knife will make it an easy target for a Headshot.

Grenades
Grenades in Umbrella Chronicles can be surprisingly versatile. Here are some of the uses you can put Grenades to:
 * Kill hundreds of small enemies (insects, leeches etc) at a time, almost giving you a guaranteed S-Rank in 'Enemies killed'.
 * Destroy all furniture in a room, racking up your score in 'Objects Destroyed' and finding hidden files.
 * Clear out a horde of Zombies (and even some stronger enemies) when you are being crowded.
 * In some Levels, where the conditions for an S-Rank in 'Enemies killed' are tight, you can use Grenades to kill some enemies that you would miss otherwise, by throwing the grenades just before you turn around (a good example for this is 'Beginnings 2')
 * Deal Medium to High Damage to some (although not all) Bosses if placed correctly.

It is important to note, that you start every Level with 3 grenades, and while you can find more in almost every Stage, you cannot carry over any leftovers, so use them where you can.

Secondary Weapons
At the beginning of each Mission, you can choose one secondary Weapon to start out with. When you start the game, you can only select one of two Weapons (Shotgun & Submachine Gun). The other 13 Weapons have to be unlocked in the Game. You can unlock a Weapon either by simply reaching a certain Mission, in which case it becomes selectable at the beginning of the Mission, or by finding it hidden inside a Level. Once you have found the Weapon, you can select it at the Beginning of any Mission.

 Ammo By and large, secondary Weapons are stronger, faster, and generally more desirable than your handgun. The big drawback is that (barring the unlockable Upgrade 4), you will run out of Ammo. Ammo for the secondary Weapons can be found inside the different Levels. It is important to note, that you carry over unused Ammo to the next Level. You can use this by going through fairly easy Levels using only the Handgun to collect Ammo for more difficult Levels and Bosses.

Upgrades Each Secondary Weapon can be upgraded a total of 4 times, using Stars gained by accomplishing missions. The Upgrade Cost depends on the weapon, but the effect of each upgrade is the same for all of them.

Upgrade 1: Total Amount of Ammo that can be carried doubles.

Upgrade 2: Clip Size of the Weapon increases between 30% and 50% depending on the Weapon type.

Upgrade 3: Power Level increases by one Step (D to D+, D+ to C etc.)

Upgrade 4: You have unlimited Ammo for this weapon.

Note: Upgrade 4 has to be unlocked by getting an S-Rank on all Missions in Hard Mode

Shotguns
These Weapons are great for dispersing groups of Enemies if you are surrounded, or to kill stronger Enemies with one or two shots. More than any other weapon type, Shotguns work best at close distance. Don't try to use a Shotgun on a distant enemy, as this will only be wasting ammo.

Shotgun
This is the weakest of the Shotgun Type Weapons, but you can equip it starting the first Stage. While this weapon will serve you well, early on, it loses in appeal as soon as you find the Assault Shotgun, which has the same Max Ammo, a bigger Clip Size, and is a lot more Powerful.

First Found: You can select this Weapon as of the first Mission 'Train Derailment 1'

Assault Shotgun
This is the most Powerful of the Shotgun type Weapons. It can kill pretty much anything other than Main Bosses with one shot. Its biggest disadvantage is its long reload time, which can be a problem on the first two levels. Once you upgrade to Level 3 though, your Clip Size is 10, and you rarely get more than 10 strong opponents in a row without some reload time.

First Found:  If you follow only the Main Storyline, the Assault Shotgun will become selectable in the first Chapter of 'Raccoon's Destruction'. If you follow the Sub Missions however, you can find it as early as 'Nightmare 1'. If you miss it there, it also becomes selectable in 'Rebirth 1'

Shotgun S.A.
This is the last Shotgun you will find in the game. It might come as a surprise that it is a little bit less powerful than the Assault Shotgun (especially before you upgrade to Level 4), but it makes up for it with much faster Reload times, which can save your life on many occasions. You can also horde more Ammo and use it instead of your Handgun if you feel you are in danger of dying.

First Found:  You cannot get this Weapon without playing Side Missions. It becomes selectable either in 'Death's Door' or 'Umbrella's End 1' for which you must have beat several Side Missions.

Rapidfire Weapons
These Weapons might seem weak, but they have many uses in the Game. You can use Rapidfire Weapons to stun groups of opponents, giving you time to switch to your Handgun and go for a Critical Hit. They are also great for canceling attacks, especially during Boss Battles. Hunters and other stronger Monsters can be defeated with Rapidfire Weapons if you have nothing else left, but Shotguns or Magnums are more appropriate for this job.

Submachine Gun
This is the weakest of the Rapidfire Weapons, but that is not always a bad thing. If you need to stun large groups of Zombies several times, to get a large Number of Headshots, you Risk killing them off too fast with any stronger Weapon. The Submachine Gun also has great Reload Time, and a larger Clip Size than the Stronger Version.

First Found: You can select this Weapon as of the first Mission 'Train Derailment 1'

Submachine Gun HP
If your goal is to survive a difficult Mission and possibly do some more serious damage to the Boss, this should be your Rapidfire Weapon of choice. At Level 4, its C+ Damage is equal to that of the Assault Shotgun, which makes this a reasonable choice for Hunter and Crimson heavy Levels. You cannot stun most Zombies more than once with this without killing them.

First Found: If you do Side Missions, this Weapon becomes selectable in 'Nightmare 1'. If you stick to the Main Quest, you will have to wait until 'Raccoon's Destruction 1'

Automatic Pistol
The Automatic Pistol is certainly the most well balanced Rapidfire Weapon in the game. Its C Damage is enough to keep almost all enemies at bay long enough to switch to something stronger to blast them, or the Handgun to go for a Critical Hit. In later Levels, you will find enough Ammo for this Weapon, that you can keep it equipped full time if you want to.

First Found: The Automatic Pistol first becomes available in the selection screen of 'Umbrella's End 1'. You cannot aquire it in any Side Mission before that.

Grenade Launchers
These are your Room Clearing Weapons. You can deal a lot of damage with these weapons, if your opponents stay still long enough. Against most Monsters, Grenade Launchers are simply overkill. There are only a few situations where these weapons are useful. Some slow Bosses can be easily killed with them. Whole rooms of zombies can be destroyed, which is good to tally up your kill score if you only pass the room. By the same token, you can destroy whole rooms, find files and improve your score on Destroyed Objects. As a rule, you don't have much Ammo for Grenade Launchers, and Reload times are incredibly bad.

Grenade Launchers AT
This weapon is comparatively weak, but it has decent Ammo and Reload time. At full capacity it can be used to destroy every Room in a given level in order to look for missed files.

First Found: This Weapon can first be unlocked in 'Train Derailment 3'

Grenade Launcher
This is the most balanced of the Grenade Launcher Type Weapons. While this is usually a good thing, here it is the worst of both worlds. If you want to use a strong weapon to fight a boss battle, you will take the HP, and if you want to just fire away, the AT is going to be your choice.

Grenade Launcher HP
This is the third strongest Weapon in the game, and has a horrible Reload time. This Weapon is perfect for Boss fights where the enemy is slow and not too far away, but pretty much useless for anything else.

First Found:  The Grenade Launcher HP can only be found in 'Death's Door'

Magnums
A Magnums most useful ability is to kill Hunters fast. Other than that, they are a mixed bag. While they can be very useful against Giant Spiders, most enemies simply don't need that much firepower to finish them off. Magnums are the only secondary weapons that cannot help you when large groups of enemies are starting to crowd you. On the other hand, Magnums can be very strong against Bosses that have a clearly visible weak spot (4 - 5 hits from the Magnum Revolver will kill the Tyrant at the end of 'Beginnings 1')

Magnum AT
This is the weakest Magnum and consequently has a higher Ammo Storage, Clip Capacity and firing rate as well as fast reloads. If you need to dispatch a group of Crimson Heads, this will give you a good shot, while they could probably attack you between two shots with the Magnum Revolver. Basically, this is a very strong Handgun, and its use will come naturally.

First Found: This Weapon can first be unlocked in 'Beginnings 1'

Magnum Revolver
Since the Hand Cannon cannot be unlocked until very late in the game, this will be your 'strong Magnum' early on. Ammo and Capacity are a little low compared to the Shotguns, but only slightly lower than the Magnum AT. The Magnum Revolver should kill any non-Boss with one well placed shot.

First Found: This Weapon can first be unlocked in 'Nightmare 2'

Hand Cannon
The name says it all. This is the second strongest weapon in the Game, only surpassed by the Anti-Tank Gun, which has less than a quarter of Max Ammo compared to the Hand Cannon. The downside is that there really aren't that many places to use it. Most non-Boss Monsters can easily be dispatched with the weaker Magnums which have advantages in Speed and Capacity and carrying the Hand Cannon through the whole Level just to defeat the Boss is a little annoying. On the other hand, it is very satisfying to defeat the Twin Igors with a few well placed shots.

Of course, given where it is found, this is really more of a Bonus Weapon anyway.

First Found:  The Hand Cannon can only be found in 'Fourth Survivor'

Heavy Weapons
These Weapons basically have all the advantages and disadvantages of the Grenade Launchers, only magnified. Very slow, with virtually no Ammo to be found, they are all but useless against normal enemies. Even if you have a whole room to clear, you will feel guilty about wasting the precious Ammo. On the flip side, any Boss Monster will run scared when you show up armed with Heavy Weapons. No need to worry about weak points, just point and shoot. For maximum efficiency, wait for your opponent to be as close as possible.

Rocket Launcher
The Rocket Launcher is the first Heavy Weapon you encounter in the game, and also the weakest. As you would expect, it has slight speed and Ammo advantages over the MRL and Anti-Tank Gun, but realistically, the pros don't outweigh the cons. Even with 12 Rockets (instead of 8 for the MRL), you will hesitate each time before using the Rocket Launch against normal foes. It will serve its purpose early in the game, but don't expect to break it out often after you have access to the MRL.

First Found:  This Weapon can first be unlocked in 'Beginnings 2'

MRL
This is what you call a well balanced Heavy Weapon. You won't use it often, but when you use it, it serves it purpose. The big advantage of the MRL does not lie in its power (although it is the 4th most powerful Weapon in the Game), but in its capacity. You don't have to worry about reload time, because all you Ammo fit in one clip. In a fast paced Boss Fight this is invaluable.

First Found:  This Weapon can first be unlocked in 'Mansion Incident 3'

Anti-Tank Gun
This is the most powerful Weapon in the Game, with all the disadvantages that come with that. Technically, this should be the best Weapon to take on a Boss Battle, but you only have half the Rockets that the MRL offers you, and you have to reload after half of those. Basically, at full strength, the MRL lets you shoot 8 rockets without interruption, while the Anti-Tank Gun gives you 2, then reloads, then another two.

Much like the Hand Cannon, this is more of a Bonus Weapon, although you can at least find this one before the closing Credits.

First Found:  The Anti-Tank Gun can only be found in 'Dark Legacy 2'