Dying Light encourages avoidance over combat, with the walking dead having the advantage of not being afraid to die. At the start of the game the only weapons that you'll have access to is a wrench, wooden plank, and probably if you get lucky a crowbar. However, later in the game you get access to a bunch of different cool weapons including pistols, shotguns, and rifles. 

Weapon Basics 

First, weapons have durability and each strike with a melee weapon will eat away. You can "hold R" to repair the weapon or do so in the menu. Each weapon is repaired using crafting materials like metal parts and the such. When a weapon has lost its durability, it has lost its effectiveness. Weapons can only be repaired so many times, and once all repairs are exhausted you'll need to dismantle the weapon. 

This makes you have to constantly grind new metal parts to repair, in addition to new base weapons to keep upgrading, and makes for those rare weapons... even rarer. Now, understanding that weapons can break and lose durability, it's important to note that the weakest zombies don't ever need to be fought or even fought with strong weapons, so it's best to keep a "trash weapon" slot on hand at any given time for something you don't care about. 

Weapons can be dismantled for some parts (generally 1 to 2 metal parts), which means that you'll have a surplus of metal parts throughout the game as weapons are everywhere. 

Obtaining Weapons 

You can find them either by looting the dead and previously living, in containers, in the open world, or crafted from various blueprints (with the rarer/more powerful weapons usually requiring Bolter flesh). 

Weapons are also a popular sidequest reward, making sidequests super attractive for gearing up in Dying Light. 

Crafted weapons and crafted mods often require a base weapon. 

Melee Weapons 

Melee weapons come in either one handed or two handed varieties and come with a variety of stats and rarity. Just because a pipe or cleaver or table leg is out there, doesn't mean that there isn't rare and powerful version of these weapons in the world. You can have both a weak and a strong Katana drop in the world. You can tell the rarity of an item by looking at its color: white, green, blue, purple, and orange going from least rare to most rare. It's safe to say orange are the best weapons in the game while white are items you can easily dismantle to your hearts content. 

Near the start of the game, single digit damage numbers may be common, but as you level your Survivor skill tree, the game will produce higher level weapons and more high level weapons will be available in the store. Gimmick weapons like Korek Machete (kicking a box 70ish times on the roof of the building between the two centerish north safe houses in the Slums on the roof a building near the overpass) and the EXPCaliber (four minutes of pulling the sword out on the southeast island on the Slums) are very powerful early game, but as you obtain upgrades and higher level weapons, their performance levels out. 

Two-handed weapons have longer swings than one-handed weapons and less mobility, but often do more damage. 

Most melee weapons, unless noted in the game, do not make enough noise to summon a viral, however, hitting any infected is enough noise to bring the attention of nearby infected on you. 

Ranged Weapons 

Guns come in either rifle, shotgun, or pistol and require ammunition which is scarce or hard to come by (Rai's thugs with guns often drop some, along with their gun). They have very long range, very good accuracy (for the most part), and do insane damage (especially with a head shot). However, they are very loud and if used outside, will no doubt summon a viral. If used at night, it will probably bring every volatile in a 200 mile radius at you. 

Ranged weapons do not have durability and can not be repaired / broken, however, again, they require ammo which can be found or bought. 

Throwable / Equipment 

A special weapon type, throwable weapons come in a few major categories. Explosives, throwing stars, molotov cocktails, and support items like flares, firecrackers, and the flashlight. 

  • Throwing stars, tomahawks, etc. are ranged throwing weapons that can be aimed and used to take enemies out silently from a distance. They are silent and do not summon virals, unless you use them to ignite a gas tank. 
  • Explosives are either in the form of grenades (thrown and explodes) or bombs (which attract then explode). The "air strike" is a similar item, once thrown, an "air strike" explodes at the target. Then there is items similar to the "Right Hand of gloVA" which act as small grenades. They all cause noise and attract virals. 
  • Molotov cocktails spread fire where they're thrown and will ignite the infected. Can often spawn virals after using. 
  • Support items each have their own role, flares repel zombies, firecrackers distract them, and the UV flashlight for stunning infected at night. There is less used items like the Pyza Suit which lets you glide. 

Melee Upgrades 

Melee weapons can be upgraded in most statistics, including some not listed (like stamina use) through upgradable items and crafting. As you progress through the game you'll find item upgrades throughout the world rarely, with many of them crafted from blueprints. 

Each upgrade requires a base weapon type, apply the upgrade for the desired effect. 

That's pretty much everything you need to know about weapons in Dying Light! One last tip - don't stress about getting a gun, their use is in the later game when you do a lot of work inside against other enemies with guns, in the early game just focus on finding the biggest stick you can swing. 

 


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dying Light Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

Comments