Half-Life 2/Weapons

Half-Life 2's weapons are, while not as varied as the original game's, fairly diverse. Just about every weapon has advantages and drawbacks, and knowing what weapon to use in what situation is very important.

Crowbar
Range: Close Max Damage: 10 per whack Alternate Fire: None Magazine: N/A Reserve Capacity: N/A Best used against: Clearing obstacles, Headcrabs (all types), Zombies

The crowbar is the first "weapon" you find. It comes in quite handy for smashing obstacles, breaking glass, opening crates, or killing headcrabs and normal zombies. It's not much useful for anything else, though.

Zero Point Energy Manipulator (Gravity Gun)
Range: Close to Medium Max Damage: Varied Alternate Fire: Tractor beam Magazine: N/A Reserve Capacity: N/A Best used against: Clearing obstacles, Headcrabs (all types), Zombies, Combine Soldiers

Not technically a weapon, the Gravity Gun essentially allows you to pick stuff up and blast it away at high speed. This is useful for everything from physics puzzles to actual combat. Primary fire fires a beam of energy at objects that knocks them away (This also works on headcrabs and scanners). Alternate fire grasps objects (provided they are light enough), allowing them to be fired with great accuarcy.

Bugbait
Range: Medim to Long Max Damage: None Alternate Fire Call Magazine: N/A Reserve Capacity: Unlimited Best used against: Combine Soldiers

Like the Gravity Gun, Bugbait isn't really a weapon at all. Gordon uses it for a much better cause however: to summon Antlions. That's right, Bugbait is actually used to call the Antlions to attack any enemy in the vicinity of the Bugbait's range; in other words, where ever you throw the Bugbait, the Antlions will go there and attack anything in sight. You'll have an infinite supply of Bugbait (and of course, an infinite supply of Antlions). Think of the Antlions as shields and defenders for you, as you'll need them throughout the entire Nova Prospekt scenario. Alternate fire allows you to call the Antlions to you to defend yourself and regroup.

9mm Pistol
Range: Medium to Long Max Damage: 5 per round Alternate Fire: None Magazine: 18 rounds Reserve Capacity: 150 rounds Best used against: Metro Police, Headcrabs (all types), Zombies

The first firearm you find. While not very powerful, this weapon can be fired very quickly, allowing rapid discharge of it's 18 round clip. With good aim, this gun can dispatch even the mighty Combine Elite with relative ease.

.357 Magnum
Range: Medium to Long Max Damage: 40 per round Alternate Fire: None Cylinder: 6 rounds Reserve Capacity: 12 rounds Best used against: Combine Soldiers, Fast Zombies

A very powerful weapon, this handgun fires the most powerful conventional round in the game. A shot to the head with this baby will kill any humanoid enemy. Unfortunately, ammo is scarce, fire rate is slow and reloading is slower.

Submachine Gun (SMG)
Range: Medium Max Damage: 4 per round, 13 per second Alternate Fire: Grenade launcher Alternate Fire Damage: 40 per grenade Magazine: 45 rounds Reserve Capacity: 225 rounds and 3 grenades Best used against: Metro Police, Combine Soldiers, Antlions

A rapid-fire assault weapon for which ammo is common. It's not at all accurate, and it is even less powerful than the pistol, but it spits rounds out so fast that you'll wonder where that 45 shot clip went. In addition, this gun has a grenade launcher - capable of clearing groups of soldiers in an instant. Because of all these attributes, the Submachine Gun remains a useful gun throughout the entire game.

Pulse Rifle
Range: Medium to Long Max Damage: 8 per round Alternate Fire: Combine orb Alternate Fire Damage: Instant death Magazine: 30 rounds Reserve Capacity: 60 rounds and 3 orbs Best used against: Combine Soldiers, Combine Elite, Antlions

An assault rifle that is mostly used by Combine units, this weapon can handle much better than its other counter-part: the SMG. It's moderately powerful and can be used effectively against any Combine Soldier or Elite as it fires very quickly. The alternate fire is somewhat useful but it is very hard to control, as the orb will rapidly bounce around the room and will explode on contact with any organism, including you.

Shotgun
Range: Close Max Damage: 48 per shell (8 damage per pellet) Alternate Fire: Double-barrel blast Alternate Fire Damage: 84-100 per shell (12 damage per pellet) Magazine: 6 shells Reserve Capacity: 30 shells Best used against: Zombies (all types), Combine Soldiers, Combine Elite, Antlions

A pump-action shotgun. It looks powerful, sounds powerful and, most importantly, is powerful. This gun is poorer than the pistol at long range, about as good as the SMG at medium range, and is incredibly effective at close range. Aim for the head at close range and for centre mass at medium range. Don't even bother using it at long range. Notably, this gun reloads shell by shell. 6 shells can be loaded into the shotgun at once. Primary fire launches 1 shell, alternate launches 2.

Crossbow
Range: Long to Extreme Max Damage: 100 per rebar Alternate Fire: Scope Alternate Fire Damage: N/A Stock: 1 rebar Reserve Capacity: 9 rebars Best used against: Combine Soldiers, Combine Elite

The crossbow is HL2's sniper rifle. It's silent, it has a scope, and it's capable of eliminating almost anything in 1 shot. Despite it's power, this "gun" does have a few drawbacks. First of all, the projectile is not even close to instant, so it is hard to hit moving targets. Next, it can only load 1 bolt at a time, so it takes some time to reload. Lastly, ammo is very scarce.