Prey Weapons and Combat Guide
WRENCH
Just like Bioshock and Half Life pretty early on you get introduced to the wrench. If you have the preorder bonus the game hooks you up with a really cool Shotgun and medkits and such. But you cannot access these goodies until you get to your Office which is far away from the apartment. You will need that wrench. Holding down the attack button will power up your wrench, when you release your swing will cause more damage. DO NOT MISS because it uses quite a bit of stamina. I use the wrench for EVERYTHING. You cannot upgrade the wrench but you can get nuromods that make you cause more damage with it, that’s for sure! I HIGHLY recommend the Pulverize Neuromod. Use your wrench for wasting mimics. Mimics are not worthy of a single bullet, no not even greater mimics. Use GLOO to slow down mimics. Also, I use the wrench on rogue operators and turrets (though usually I try to hack them first if I can). Ammo is so hard to come by at a certain point, you want to save that ammo! I have literally hundreds of rounds for my pistol because I value my wrench skills. The wrench can even take down a Phantom. If you can sneak up on a Phantom, wrench him then run away, and repeat, if you are low on ammo. Sometimes Phatonms fall down, use the opportunity to GLOO and wrench him! Hold down that attack button!!!
GLOO
This is more of a tool but this is the second “weapon” you find in the game. Most people immediately make the connection to Half-Life’s Gravity gun though I think the Leverage ability is more akin. The GLOO gun IMO is more like that Gun from Portal 2. Not the Portal gun but the gloop gun that makes you bounce, slide really fast, etc. The GLOO looks just like the white stuff from the Portal 2 end game gun. GLOO has many uses. Someone even built a GLOO snowman! With glue, you can seal off doors if enemies are chasing you, though this is a more advanced frantic option. The more conservative uses of GLOO include slowing down enemies, killing Cystoids and nests, sealing up broken gas pipes, saking up oil spill fires, temporarily blocking electric surges, sealing open spaces, exposing mimics and creating stairs. Seriously, you can create stairs to get anywhere you need to go. And GLOO canisters are everywhere. So like a Democrat with KY jelly, APPLY LIBERALLY. I wouldn’t waste neuromods on upgrading the GLOO gun, base upgrades are fine. You can also use GLOO to weigh down healing operators if they are floating around the Arboretum ignoring you, though this will cause damage.
SHOTGUN
This should be the third weapon you find. There is one in your safe in your office, if you have the preorder bonus. I actually prefer this shotgun merely for the aesthetics. There is another shotgun under the stairs that leads to your office in the Security room. You can easily break in by climbing the pipes and crawling into the hole above the locked door. There is a shotgun and ammo here. Shotguns are for close range. They are not rifles. Get up close with the shotgun. There are chipsets that make you more likely to get critical hits with the shotgun, if you find it install it and keep it there. The shotgun is your best friend. To conserve resources I carry a fully loaded shotgun and a single box of ammo. I never craft more than one or maybe two boxes, depending where I’m going. I only use shotguns on Phantoms, though I try to fight off Etheric Phantoms with the wrench. Upgrade everything, but only upgrade range once or twice. You don’t need a fricking low range rifle.
PISTOL
Fourth Weapon you find in the game. The pistol is a P22 with a built in silencer, kinda like the one in Hitman. It looks like a big gun, but it’s actually very small. Even the NPCs complain! I’ve heard of people using these to kill mimics. Blasphemy! I use them to do sneak attacks. I’ve accumulated hundreds of bullets by being ultra-conservative with my ammo. I’m Tea Party when it comes to my guns, son! I’m Bill O’Reilly with my P22, I pick the b!@#$es off with mine!
Sorry, I suck at political comedy, and I do this for a living? What?! You can zoom in with the pistol by pressing z. Use the mouse wheel to scroll when you get the psycho-scope. The aesthetics with the psychoscope are distracting but it actually comes in handy. I don’t believe that headshots do enough extra damage. It’s all about sneak attacks in this game, the pistol makes it possible to STACK sneak attack multipliers. The multipliers themselves don’t “stack” or roll over, but you can get a lot is what I’m saying. Crouch, and hide and pick off enemies that you don’t want to tango with. I highly recommend using the pistol on stubborn Phantoms that refuse to get close, or on telepaths and Nightmares. The Gold Gun you find during a side quest is a Pistol. It’s the same Pistol it’s just GOLD and it is a level 2 Pistol at BASE level, this means it is MUCH stronger than the regular pistol when fully upgraded. Because of this I suggest maybe only upgrading your regular pistol in the area of firepower? Just the one upgrade. Save your kits for the Gold Gun.
BOLTCASTER
It’s a toy! And it takes up three squares including ammo. UGH! But I take it everywhere with me because it makes breaking into rooms easily. You can sometimes shoot computers and door buttons through a broken window or through those little security holes that are used to pass objects. It’s kinda hard for the latter but it CAN be done, on some of them. Like the Armory outside Aaron Ingraham’s cell for example! I’ve done it. Best part is you never run out of nerf darts. They fall on the ground, and you can reuse them. So you should never waste time fabricating these damn things! Yes, they work with computer screens! The range is limited. You can also use these to make NPCs yell at you, or to make Typhon walk in a different direction (even into an open flame cuz they’re stupid). I’ve made Typhon actually go down stairs by shooting these things off of a balcony, great for stealth runs, though I’m an RNG type of guy. Shoot and Scoot! Spray and Pray, baby!
STUN GUN
You have to charge this for it to work. Press F in the middle of a charge to cancel it. I highly recommend upgrading only range and power, maybe reload. Some people use these on Typhon but I only use the very precious batteries to disable operators, turrets if I can’t sneak up on them, and humans. Then I wrench them to death! I don’t believe in stunning Typhones because, well, the GLOO is more effective IMO. Never use a stun gun on an electric enemy, it’s not a nullwave, it will charge them. I was stupid enough to do this to an electropath. I died. Yeah…
QBEAM
This is a midgame weapon if you don’t do side quests. Basically you shoot an enemy until the health bar turns green then it explodes. What I do is I use the Pistol or my alien abilities to bring their health down as much as possible before it becomes tedious, THEN I qbeam them to conserve ammo. You will find a bunch of Qbeam ammo early in the game. Save it by stashing it in your safe or something. You will be tempted to recycle it, don’t. I only use on telepaths, and Nightmares. I’ve seen people use on Phantoms, such a waste. Phantom fights are fun. Telepath fights were designed FOR the Qbeam! Upgrade everything!