There have been some significant changes to Metro Exodus weapons as compared to the previous games in the franchise. There are fewer guns overall, but the new attachments system lets you configure the guns you do have in a variety of different ways. This guide will tell you about the best Metro Exodus guns and how you should set them up.
Metro Exodus Weapons | Firearms
Revolver
The Revolver is one of the first Metro Exodus weapons that you’ll get in the game. It will come with an attached suppressor, making it a decent short-range stealth weapon. Unfortunately, it uses precious bullets to take enemies down. When used as a sniper rifle, the Revolver does far more damage than the Tikhar. However, ammunition for the Tikhar can be crafted in the field whereas you can only carry so many Revolver bullets. I think it’s best to keep this as a short-range stealth weapon until you can replace it with something else later on in the game.
Bastard
The Bastard can function as either a submachine gun or an assault rifle. It certainly does okay in terms of damage as an assault rifle. Its core strength is its fast fire rate, so I think this particular gun works best as a short-range weapon when you need to shoot very quickly. That said, ammo comes at a premium in the Metro games and the Bastard should ultimately be replaced by a rifle that does more damage as soon as you can get it.
Kalash
The Kalash is the gold standard of the Metro Exodus weapons. Unlike previous entries in the franchise, you’ll be able to get your hands on it fairly early. Its rate of fire is slightly lower than the Bastard, but its upgrades offer a little more versatility in how you want to use it. I didn’t even touch the Bastard throughout my entire playthrough, electing instead to use the Kalash until I could swap it out for the Bulldog. Otherwise, the Kalash makes for a nice middle ground weapon.
Bulldog
The Bulldog is effectively an upgraded Kalash. It has a slower fire rate, so this is a poor gun to pick if you’re looking for putting out a lot of shots very quickly. However, it does more damage and is more accurate out of the box overall. Making every bullet count is important in a game with such limited resources, so I strongly recommend the Bulldog as a weapon you should keep with you at all times.
Ashot
The Ashot will be your shotgun for a good portion of Metro Exodus. Thankfully, you can upgrade it to double barrels fairly early on and even quad barrels later in the game. The quad barrel version gives you excellent burst damage potential when fighting mutants at extremely close ranges.
Shambler
You’ll get the Shambler around halfway into Metro Exodus. While the Ashot makes for great burst damage, the Shambler does a little better for sustained fire. If you have a pack of mutants bearing down on you, you’d much rather have a Shambler than you would an Ashot. The extended magazine will make this even more useful for dealing with mutants, whether you have to fight a crowd or fight
Valve
The Valve is the unparalleled king of sniper rifles. This gun should be your choice when you want to do a lot of damage from very far away. The optional 6x scope is pretty much a necessity to get the most bang for your buck out of this gun.
That said, crafting ammo for the Valve is rather expensive and you can just as easily kill an enemy with a headshot from the Kalash or Bulldog if you get a little closer. The Valve is ultimately an extremely niche weapon that I can’t recommend you use just because of the costs.
Gatling
The Valve may be the king of burst rifle damage, but the Gatling handily beats it for sustained rifle damage. This gun is an absolute beast at putting bullets downrange and you’ll only encounter a handful of them throughout the game. This is, in my opinion, more of a novelty weapon than anything else. Its usefulness is severely brought down by the limit of ammo you can carry and how much it costs to craft it.
Metro Exodus Weapons | Pneumatic Weapons
Tikhar
You’ll get the Tikhar at the beginning of the Volga. This classic weapon of the Metro is helpfully supplied to you by Tokarev and upgraded over the course of the game. The sheer economic value of this gun cannot be understated. It’s one of the few firearms that you can craft ammo for in the field and a stealthy headshot can drop most enemies.
In terms of its attachments, I think its best to treat this as a rifle or sniper rifle over an assault rifle. While you can put out a lot of shots very quickly, it’s better to just use something like a Kalash instead. Stick with the Airtight Pneumatic System and use it to get headshots at a distance.
You’ll also pick up the ability to craft Incendiary Rounds at the beginning of The Caspian. These are incredibly useful, allowing you to one-shot the zombie-like creatures that are all over this level. Unfortuantely, the fiery pellets are also very expensive so I don’t recommend using them too often.
Helsing
The Helsing becomes available to you at the start of The Taiga (the Autumn level in Metro Exodus). This is unequivocally the most economically-efficient weapon to use in the game because you can recover the regular bolts after you fire them. As soon as I got the Helsing, I never picked up the Tikhar again.
The explosive bolts are useful for doing some extra damage, but I just don’t think they’re worthwhile to craft them. Use the ones you pick up, sure, but your material is better spent on crafting regular bolts since you can’t recover explosive bolts.
Much like the Tikhar, I think the Helsing might work best as a sniper rifle. If you need to fire a lot of shots quickly, you’d probably want to switch to a gun instead.
Metro Exodus Weapons | Thrown
Decoy
The Decoy is a tin can. No seriously, it’s just a tin can that you throw to get someone to look the other way. You can craft them, but you’ll also easily pick them up by disabling noisemaker traps throughout the game. As a bonus, you can recover them and use them again because, again, it’s just a tin can.
Decoys are very cheap and simultaneously very useful for avoiding combat or getting a stealthy takedown on an enemy. Don’t underestimate their utility!
Throwing Knife
The throwing knife is an excellent short-range stealth kill weapon and that’s how most people tend to use it. However, don’t forget that it can work perfectly well as a weapon in open combat. For example, the various humanoid zombie enemies can be dropped with two body shots from the knives and you can recover them later. If you’re only dealing with one or two of these enemies, don’t hesitate the make use of the knives and save your ammo.
Molotov Cocktail
Molotovs are great for inflicting damage over time on crowds of enemies. However, it may be even more useful as a form of zone control. Throw a Molotov or two into a choke point or doorway and you’ll either stop enemies from running through or set them on fire as they do. You’ll also find more than a few of these for free throughout the game.
Grenade
The grenade is fantastic for taking out crowds of enemies in one go. Grenades hit like a dump truck going downhill, but they’re pricey to craft. I personally like to reserve these for situations where I can instantly take out a crowd of bad guys or when I need to disable a very large, very dangerous target.
