Resident Evil 4/Weapons and upgrades: Difference between revisions

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These are Leon's weapons.  The weapons used in Mercenaries, Assignment Ada, and Separate Ways are not covered.

Leon starts with the Handgun, others must be bought from the Merchant.  All handguns use 9mm Handgun ammo, found in red boxes (and sometimes as red-aura drops from slain enemies).  Handgun ammo is stored 50 rounds per two spaces.  With the exception of the Red9, all pistols take up a 2x3 space in your inventory.

This is Leon's starting pistol.  Weak power, but when given its exclusive upgrade will cause critical hits from headshots (Either instantly killing a human enemy, or destroying the head and bringing the Plaga within to near-death) five times as often.

A pistol that is able to pierce through two enemies at once (Five with the Exclusive Upgrade).  Any handgun ammo saved by the piercing ability, however, tends to be negated by the lowered Firepower.  It could be said that the gun's name may be a reference to the comic book anti-hero "The Punisher".  A special objective in the main game both allows you to have the Punisher for free if 10 blue medallions are found and shot, while shooting all 15 before visiting the Merchant allows you to buy it with a free firepower upgrade (which, in this case, is a clear upgrade to the original Handgun).  You may buy this the first time you meet the Merchant.

The Red9 is, shot for shot, potentially the single highest firepower Pistol you may possess.  The drawback to this is the smallest clip size, slowest reload time, slowest refire rate, poor recoil, and a larger inventory footprint (2x4) than other pistols.  While a stock can be bought to negate the recoil, this increases the inventory footprint to 11 spaces (2x4 for the weapon, 1x3 for the stock).  However, the Red9's firepower surpasses any low-level shotgun.  You may buy this weapon once you find Ashley, and the stock just before the rope bridge.

The Blacktail is the most well-rounded pistol possible.  It has the same reload time as the Handgun, fires even faster, has roughly twice the Firepower, and a larger clip.  However, it falls behind the Red9 in pure firepower, even after its Exclusive upgrade.  You may buy this weapon once you enter the castle.

A gun capable of firing three bullet bursts.  It is unlocked for purchase after beating the main game.  It is also the same gun that Leon used in Resident Evil 2 when you found upgrade parts for his handgun.  It has somewhat average Firepower (on par with the regular Handgun), reloads quickly, and can belch out its bursts very rapidly.  With its Exclusive upgrade, it gains a 100 round clip.  The Matilda occupies a 2x5 space in your inventory.

Your shotgun is, in general, considered a crowd-clearing weapon.  Even the weakest one has a penchant for being able to catch large groups in the blast radius of its shells.  Note that, while the weapons are all hand-loaded weapons, the reload animation only has you loading two shells to get a full clip.  With the exclusion of the Striker, shotguns have a 8x2 inventory footprint.  Shotguns use Shotgun shells, which use 2x1 spaces to hold 20 rounds.  All shotguns can be bought from the Merchant.

The Shotgun is your basic shotgun, of course.  Average attack power, good spread.  Unfortunately, it tends to be slower than other weapons.  Good for knocking ganados off their feet.  The Exclusive upgrade for the Shotgun allows it to do full damage from any range.  You can pick up a free shotgun off the wall of the trap house, in Chapter 1-1 - and you will need it, to fend off the chainsaw ganado.

The Riot Gun is a very, very slight improvement on the Shotgun.  Larger clip size, same spread, slightly greater attack power (unless you fully upgrade both weapons, but then don't get the Exclusive upgrade on the Riot Gun).  It has a unique trait in that it actually aims slightly faster than other weapons (this is what "easy to handle" means).  You may buy the Riot Gun when you enter the Castle.

An automatic, drum-fed shotgun.  The Striker is, in essence, the best of all worlds - highest attack power, highest refire rate, fastest reload, and a relatively massive clip.  The Exclusive upgrade for this weapon is a 100 round magazine - perfect for those huge crowds.  The striker has a 5x2 inventory footprint.  You may buy the Striker when you are partway through the Island.

Your Magnum is, to be blunt, your heavy hitter.  Even chainsaw ganados will drop within three rounds of a high-level Magnum.  Magnum ammo comes in boxes of 12, and both Magnum pistols take up 4x2 spaces of inventory.

The Killer7 is the second version of the Magnum - a Desert Eagle-style automatic.  Without the Exclusive Upgrade, the Killer7 is flatly superior to the Butterfly - the weapon does not kick as harshly, the raw firepower is superior, its clip size is greater, and it reloads much, much faster.  The counterweight to this is the fact that the Killer7 possesses no Exclusive upgrade.  The gun itself is a reference to another Capcom game called [[Killer7]] - this weapon, with a sniping scope attached, is Kaede Smith's favored weapon.  In that game, Kaede is the only character with any form of sniping weapon.  You may buy the Killer7 at the first Merchant on the Island.

Unlocked after beating the Mercenaries minigame with all unlocked characters on all 4 levels with 5 stars on every level.  While it is, to be blunt, an astoundingly powerful weapon (even unupgraded), it has the annoying disadvantage of requiring .50 caliber ammo, which never appears within the main game - this means you must find it via enemy drops, or Random Item barrels.  Of course, after upgrading it all the way to Exclusive, this weapon gains the advantage of unlimited ammo...

These weapons possess a unique advantage over the other weapons - a zoomable scope.  Unfortunately, this comes with a nasty drawback - these weapons fire very slowly, and can take up plenty of room.  The primary advantage of the sniper rifles is long-range precision - with a little practice, you can take out targets from great distances.  They can also penetrate.  The rifles possess two drawbacks, however.  When aiming, you have a very, very small line of sight, and the firing speed can, at times (especially with the bolt-action) be somewhat glacial.  All rifles, and their unique scopes, must be purchased from the Merchant.  Both scopes occupy a 1x3 footprint in your attache case.  Rifle boxes hold a maximum of 10 rounds, and, like all other ammunition, take up 1x2 spaces in your inventory.

The Bolt-Action Rifle is the weapon for those who value power over any other statistic.  Reload?  Slow, especially if your clip is not empty - as you have to pull back the bolt, then jam the cartridge in, then rework the bolt, then you will raise the weapon again.  Accuracy and refire?  The bolt-action will have you needing to reaim after every shot, because you will lift your eye away from the scope to manually work the bolt and chamber the next round.  Magazine size starts at 5, and remains much smaller than the semi-auto.  In exchange for this, an Exclusive Bolt-Action will do as much damage as a fully-upgraded Killer7 magnum.  The Bolt-Action Rifle and its scope may be bought from the Merchant from your first visit.  The Bolt-Action rifle occupies a 9x1 space in your inventory.

The Semi-auto rifle is the well-rounded rifle.  Two rounds per three seconds firing rate, a much faster reload (drop clip, jam a new one in), no need to work the bolt, and magazine sizes starting at 10 rounds.  Until the Exclusive, the Semi-Automatic Rifle is also a far more powerful weapon, as well.  Instead of increasing the Firepower of the weapon, though, the Semi-Auto's firing rate rises to around two shots per second.  You may buy this weapon and its scope once you reach the Castle.  The Semi-auto rifle has a 7x2 inventory footprint.

You will find this in the Freezer on the Island.  This can be attached to either rifle (which is why it's being listed separately), and casts the world in an infrared light when you aim.  You may zoom, while this is in use, though it is not as effective as the special buyable scope.  While you can, if you're willing to burn lots of ammunition, kill Regenerators without it (LOTS of ammunition.  As in full clips of Magnum ammo.  Multiple clips.  You have been warned.), adding this to your rifle allows you to see the leeches on the Regenerators' bodies.  Sniping them off will kill the Regenerator with much less wasted ammo.  Like the other scopes, the Infrared Scope occupies a 3x1 inventory footprint.

These special weapons include both unlockable weapons and weapons that do not fit into any other category.

Never discount the knife.  It is always instantly available, and does okay damage, for a weapon with infinite ammo.  By knocking down an enemy, then slashing them, it is possible to save a fair amount of ammo, and you will find your knife has applications even in boss fights.

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| style="background:#56B4E5"| <big>'''Level'''</big> || style="background:#56B4E5"| '''Firepower''' (cost) || style="background:#56B4E5"| '''Firing Speed''' (cost) || style="background:#56B4E5"| '''Reload Speed''' (cost) || style="background:#56B4E5"| '''Capacity''' (cost)

===Magnum===

====Killer7====

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