Weapons

You can use any weapon, but to get the full benefit of it you need to have the required strength or perception listed in the item stats. Strength is never required to use a melee weapon, but to use it without penalty. If you're too weak to use it effectively, you'll do less damage with that weapon. If you're strength is greater than the requirements, you'll do a slight bit more damage with the weapon.

Melee

Hand-to-hand isn’t really an option. There are push and kick moves to move zombies out of the way if you're trying to break from a mob, but they aren't really designed to do damage.

Melee weapons have special attacks to make them more versatile/inflict statuses, which is kind of their advantage.

Aluminum Bat

Lighter than a wooden bat, the second key difference with the aluminum model is that a more moderate "crack" is replaced with a high-pitched "ping" sound when contacting an enemy skull.

Baseball Bat

The Gatesville Slugger is 38 inches of ash wood excellent for hitting small things like baseballs a great distance. It also works suitably well against human-shaped targets.

Bowie Knife

A 1-handed melee knife capable of inflicting a lot of damage.

Brush Hook

Also known as a kaiser or sling blade, this weapon looks like a vicious medieval weapon rather than something typically used to clear out brush or undergrowth. Ideally it will work just as well against enemies.

Clawhammer

A standard steel hammer with a plastic-coated grip, this tool's previous life consisted of driving in nails or prying apart sections of plywood. Still, its simplicity belies its effectiveness as a corpse-killing tool.

Cleaver

A wide-blade kitchen cleaver meant for hacking through large sections of meat and bone. Powerful but unwieldy.

Combat Knife

Made of stainless steel and blackened to prevent reflection, this knife was originally designed for trench warfare in WWI, but has been more commonly adapted for utility or tool use. Nonetheless, at close range, this knife remains a wickedly deadly weapon in the right hands.

Combat Machete

Titanium blade, carbon-fiber grip, and sharpened to a dangerous edge - this long knife is standard military issue and has been kept in excellent condition.

Crowbar

Crafted from medium carbon steel, this is an average-sized crowbar, sturdy and capable. While not flashy or especially efficient at dispatching enemies, it nonetheless is a solid weapon, and assists in opening sealed containers to boot. Somehow holding this weapon both makes you feel tough and slightly nerdy.

Hatchet

A standard camping hatchet, easily slung on a belt loop and carried in a small sheath. Lots of wear and tear have made the head of the weapon a little loose, possibly at risk for breaking if used too roughly.

Kitchen Knife

An average chef's knife, used for dicing, chopping, and cutting. While of reliable construction, combat may put too much stress on this weapon for it to last terribly long.

Kukri

A 1-handed melee knife that is great at causing limb damage.

Machete

Knife with a long, weighted blade usually used for slicing through the brush. This one was probably used for yardwork.

Nightstick

Standard police issue, this tonfa-style weapon is constructed of thick hardwood and reinforced with plastic. It may not look dangerous, but a solid hit can shatter bone.

Pepper Spray

This small container contains a highly-reactive chemical agent, causing any live creatures exposed to it to be temporarily blinded. It has a limited number of uses.

Pipe Wrench

An adjustable wrench made from heavy iron. Clatters a bit when a heavy blow is delivered, but still capable of dealing a lot of damage without too much of a racket.

Pitchfork

The pitchfork’s not the highest level of polearm, but it’s a good weapon to have equipped when you’ve got melee attackers moving on you.

Railroad Hammer

Fortified for working on metal railroad spikes and hardwood, this hammer bears a heavy steel head and fortified grip.

Sickle

The sickle has long been a tool that can be used as a weapon in a pinch. The blade can be used to cut grass, but can also be used to easily cut into limbs caught in its curve. As it is designed for garden work, it's not especially sturdy for continual use in combat.

Sledgehammer

Though the head of this weapon is rubber and perhaps not as firmly attached as one might like, this hammer nonetheless offers tremendous power.

Stun Gun

This tool fires a large jolt of electricity into an assailant, knocking them to the ground. This weapon is effective on both human and undead targets - but obviously remaining a better weapon against humans, who will remain stunned for a while after the attack.

Tiller

A 2-handed spiky melee polearm that can cause bleeding.

Wood Axe

More suited to hacking through wood than flesh and bone, this axe is nonetheless an effective weapon - if a little old and unsteady.

Wood Plank

A simple pine 2x4 - unwieldy but effective as a temporary weapon.

Ranged

Thrown/Placed Weapons

Bola

A special thrown weapon that stops targets in their tracks.

Bottle of Acid

A special thrown weapon that burns and can cause panic, also it’s acid!

Mine

An improvised anti-personnel mine. When the mine is stepped on, the pressure triggers detonation, causing an explosion. The mine must be placed, and only goes off when walked on.

Molotov Cocktail

The Molotov Cocktail is a very basic thrown weapon that is easy to create and effective as a deterrent. While not explosive, the fuel inside the bottle can sustain a small fire within its area of effect.

Nerve Gas

A muscle relaxer found in bug spray, weaponized into a homemade stun grenade. Any living thing that breathes in this gass will pass out for several minutes.

Firearms

Guns do a lot of damage (assuming you're not wearing armor specifically to block gun damage) and can take mods. They do a lot more base damage than melee weapons. The tradeoff is that they need ammo and they make a lot of noise, meaning every living and dead thing in the area will know where you are. Depending on your skill (skill equaling ability to target critical areas) you could theoretically take a weak enemy down in one shot.

Silencers will not be easy to get, they only exist for a few guns, and they reduce noise but do not eliminate it.

.38 Snubnose

This is one of the most common pistols, and is considered a very low-end model of handgun. While light and all-around reliable, its short barrel and size make it less accurate than other guns and difficult to upgrade.

.357 Magnum

This is the hand cannon of movie myth, and it truly is one of the most powerful handguns. While not as common as the other types, its power is more than enough to make up for any of its other shortcomings. Since its ammo is scarce, only experienced marksmen should wield this.

9mm Pistol

The 9mm Pistol is the standard for law enforcement and military, but also popular with gun owners. It is a decent semi-automatic handgun that is easy to mod and accurate at a respectable range. Good as a primary weapon or as a reliable secondary.

Antique Revolver

A 1-handed pistol that makes you feel like a cowboy.

Hunting Shotgun

This is the most basic type of shotgun, used by civilians for hunting or protection. It is a double-barreled model requiring no pump to fire, however as it is not for combat use, it needs to be reloaded after every two shots. Not a great weapon, but a common one and a lifesaver at close range for even a relatively unskilled combatant.

Hunting Rifle

This rifle could be used for bringing down big game or slightly modified to suit the needs of SWAT teams. While it does not feature the burst of an assault rifle, the hunting rifle more than makes up for it with its range. This is the closest thing to a sniper rifle you'd find in civilian hands. Because it requires great ability to fire accurately at its maximum range, only experienced marksman should even try to use it.

MSG-10 SMG

A 2-handed ranged weapon, unload responsibly.

Police Shotgun

This is a tried-and-true shotgun design used by police and by private citizens for defense. This is an all-around average performing shotgun with a higher ammo capacity and more power than the hunting model. Armed with a couple of these, a room can be cleared in no time.

Repeating Lever-Action Rifle

A 2-handed ranged weapon that’s all around reliable.This lever-action rifle is a classic that has been manufactured and in use for over a century. Popular with ranchers, hunters, and sport shooters, this gun is a stock rifle that can get the job done. However, it lacks the ability to be modified.

Sawed-Off Shotgun

Often used for intimidation, this weapon is absolutely useless at anything but point-blank range. However, if used in emergencies, it's the closest to a sure-thing when fired at any kind of target within a square. If kept as a backup weapon, it can be perfect for dire situations.

MS4

This is one of the more common assault rifles carried by the modern military. As the US military has always preferred accuracy and distance, it features an impressive range and a lot of punch. Unlike the AK, it can reliably be used for single shots and a burst, though to conserve ammo it lack a full automatic mode. For all-around use in the rifle category, this will give an experienced marksman the most bang for the buck, but its ammo may be harder to come by than other weapons.

AKA7

This is the most common assault rifle in the world, used as currency in some countries. It’s not the most accurate or powerful assault rifle, but it is reliable and a proven killer in the right hands. Even those who aren’t the best marksman are bound to hit something while using its fully automatic feature. The AK shoots a 3 round burst in its normal mode. In automatic mode, it unloads the entire clip in a line.

Combat Shotgun

This is a shotgun designed specifically for combat, and therefore it performs exceptionally compared to civilian or police models. It not only fires faster due to being semi-automatic, but can be modified extensively. Though this shotgun may seem unstoppable when fully-modded, it still produces just as deafening a blast as other shotguns.

Other

Bows are hard to use and not good when the enemy is in melee range. They require a lot of strength to shoot at a distance. They also have to be "reloaded" after every shot. On the other hand, ballistic armor provides little resistance to arrows.

Crossbows are a mid-range weapon with a lot of drawbacks like a longer reload time and a lack of power at a distance

Crossbow

A 2 handed-ranged weapon that is much quieter than guns.

Flare Gun

Traditionally used to send signals on ships or in emergency situations, the flare gun is not actually a weapon. Improvisation may prove otherwise. May cause a slight burning sensation.

Nailgun

While not a traditional firearm, in a pinch, the nailgun can be used as a weapon. It's a fact that this tool has caused its fair share of emergency room visits - used intentionally as a means of self-defense, who knows what kind of damage it could do.