Unarmed Combat
You can do quite a lot of damage without weapons. You can choke enemies to knock them out, snap their necks, or just beat them up if you need to make a quick getaway.
Controls
- Circle (repeatedly) - Snake unleashes a three-hit combo. Raiden unleashes a four-hit combo.
- Square (repeatedly, while standing still) - Grabs a nearby enemy and eventually snaps their neck.
- Square (once, while running) - Grabs and throws an enemy. Useful for quick getaways, or throwing people over ledges.
- Square (hold) - Grabs an enemy so you can drag them away. If the enemy is dead or unconscious, this will grab their body to drag around. Grabbing and dropping a body repeatedly may cause it to drop ammo and supplies, but doing this too often to knocked-out enemies will cause them to wake up.
Non-Lethal Weapons
Non-lethal weapons can be identified by the color of their icon in the inventory menu. If the icon is blue, then it is non-lethal.
Beretta M9 Tranquilizer Pistol
Otacon modified this military handgun to take knockout rounds, which will put an enemy to sleep. Aiming at the head, heart or crotch will knock them out instantly - anywhere else results in a delayed effect. This weapon is suppressed, but enemies will be suspicious of ricochet sounds made by its bullets hitting walls. It also has a lasersight, so aiming is somewhat easier. Snake begins the Tanker mission with this weapon. Raiden can find this weapon on the bottom level of Strut A.
Used Magazines
You'll recieve these automatically as you use your weapons. They're empty clips, so they won't do you much good for their original purpose - but throwing them will produce a small noise that will come in handy for distracting guards.
Dirty Books
Leave these in the middle of patrolled hallways, and whatever guard sees them first will walk right over and become absorbed into the...um...interesting articles.
Heckler & Koch PSG-1T Tranquilizer Rifle
About the same as the normal PSG-1, with the exception that it shoots tranquilizer darts at high velocities. These have the same effect as the M9's knockout rounds, so aiming for the head is still a very wise idea. It's also advisable to pop some Pentazemin before you try shooting, otherwise your caffiene-induced jitters might throw off your aim.
Stun Grenades
These "flashbangs" are designed to disable human targets with a simultaneous blast of light and sound. The flash will blind them, and the loud explosion will deafen them; while the actual blast will render anybody nearby temporarily unconscious.
Chaff Grenades
These grenades unleash tiny fragments of metal into the air, which works quite well in disabling electronic equipment - cameras, radars, targeting systems, anything.
High-Frequency Blade
While a katana probably isn't the first choice to knock a man out without killing him, it works - so long as you're using the flat end of the blade. Doing this reduces the damage by a little over half, but it's silent, and as long as the enemy doesn't see you administering this beatdown, you're okay. Pressing Square will toggle the blade between lethal and non-lethal modes.
Lethal Weapons
These weapons are identified by their red icons. With lethality also comes a degree of loudness, so be careful!
Heckler & Koch USP Handgun
A powerful handgun that can be fitted with a suppressor. While it has a lasersight, it is not used in first-person mode. Instead, you must aim using the weapon's iron sights. This weapon also has an attached flashlight which is used automatically in dark areas. Enemies will take notice if the light is shined on them. Snake picks this weapon up from Olga Gurlukovich on the top deck of the Tanker.
Heckler & Koch Mark 23 SOCOM Handgun
This weapon is mostly the same as the USP handgun, except its clip does not hold as many bullets and it lacks the attached flashlight. It can still be fitted with a suppressor. Raiden recieves this weapon from Lt. J.G. Iroquois Pliskin in Strut B.
Hand Grenades
These fragmentation grenades are designed to eliminate small groups of enemy soldiers. They aren't good for stealth at all, but you might want them for boss fights or alarm situations.
Colt M4 Assault Rifle
This rifle is the official weapon of SEAL Team 10. It has a large clip and a good amount of power. It's very effective for groups of enemies, or taking down those CYPHER sentries on the EF Connecting Bridge.
AKS-74U Assault Rifle
The guards on Big Shell's two cores are equipped with these rifles. A derivative of the original Kalashnikov rifle, these are dependable weapons with good power, accuracy, and fire rate. This variation can also be fitted with a suppressor.
Heckler & Koch PSG-1 Sniper Rifle
These are great for taking out foes from afar.
RGB-6 Grenade Launcher
A revolving 40mm grenade launcher that launches explosive rounds a fair distance. Great for single targets (i.e. bosses) but the blast radius makes it very difficult to use against groups of enemies, and the volume of the blast makes this not too useful against guards.
NIKITA Remote-Controlled Missile Launcher
You'll need these. Like the last three Metal Gear games, these are essential for destroying power boxes through air vents. Launch a missile and control it with the left analog stick. Be careful about the fuel remaining though - it's not unlimited.
Stinger Surface-To-Air Missile Launcher
A lock-on missile launcher. This is very useful against bosses, particularly the Harrier on the Shell 1-2 Connecting Bridge. Can be aimed manually, or (preferably) with a lockon. You can still lock on to targets after the round has been fired, which is useful for guiding the missile around obstacles.
High-Frequency Blade
Swing this thing around. Cut some poor fools. Trust me, you'll like the feel of it. You can also try and block bullets with it - it'll actually work for a little while.