In Dying Light 2 Stay Human, the collapse of civilization has reverted the city of Villedor to a modern Middle Ages landscape. Weapons are blunt or bladed instruments, explosives are improvised firebombs, and crossbows and bows strike from long distance. There are no guns or gunpowder.
The bulk of melee combat in Dying Light 2 Stay Human is straightforward, but weapons do have some subtle applications that can be hard to pick up at first. This weapons guide will help Dying Light 2 players get the most out of their maces, broken shovels, billhooks and throwing knives.
Table of contents
- Dying Light 2 weapons: The Basics
- Dying Light 2’s Ranged Weapons
- Dying Light 2’s Pipe Bow and Crossbow
- Explosives and other Consumables
- Modding weapons in Dying Light 2
- The UV Flashlight
Dying Light 2 Weapons: The Basics
Durability points: All melee weapons have a durability rating, from 40 for the most Common weapons, up to 250 for Artifact quality weapons that are awarded for completing major missions. For all weapons, one of these durability points equals one swing that connects – whether that’s with an enemy or a solid surface.
Blocking with a weapon does not lower its durability. Power Attacks and Critical Hits only cost one durability point, too.
Your weapon will inevitably break. If it doesn’t, you’ve probably kept it well past its useful life, anyway. Weapons have a gear level that corresponds to Aiden’s current level — level 1 weapons are available first, level 2 when he reaches level 2, etc. Eventually, the weapon you’re carrying is going to be outclassed by better stuff, even if you’ve stuck three mods on it. Don’t concern yourself with preserving it. Use it while it is effective.
You can repair weapons — with big limitations. Because gear rank increases with Aiden’s level, there’s no real need to keep repairing blades and clubs you’ve been carrying since your first mission. However, if you have a weapon with mod slots, putting a tip, shaft, or grip mod on it will restore a limited amount of durability to it. A Charm Mod is cosmetic only, and does not confer any repair or offensive benefit.
Once you put a mod on a weapon, that’s it. You can’t remove it or swap another mod into that slot. So if you have a rare or unique weapon that you really want to hang onto, you may not want to put two or three mods onto it all at once. Put one mod on it after it wears down about 50 points, then another 50 points later.
You can’t craft weapons in Dying Light 2. Although you’ll be scavenging items like blades, weights, scraps, and other materials that would seem to be useful for making weapons, you can’t. You find weapons in the world, buy them from vendors, or you’re awarded them for completing certain chapters. As for finding them in the world, only rarely will you loot weapons off a corpse, and practically never from a zombie.
Dying Light 2’s Ranged Weapons
For roughly the first half of your playthrough — at least, until you meet Luwan and reach Villedor’s Central Loop — your only ranged weapons will be throwing knives, or the spears, bottles, bricks, and other one-use “opportunity weapons” you see in the world.
You can craft Throwing Knives easily, with 10 Scraps and 1 Rags (producing two knives); these are most common lootable materials in the game world. Throwing Knives are also found in the open world, usually in Renegade areas, or on their corpses. Throwing Knives are enabled by going into the Inventory tab of the menu, selecting one of your Accessories, and then having Throwing Knives in one of the four slots at the left. In combat or in the open world, cycling through your accessories with a press Left on your D-pad will bring up the Throwing Knives.
Spears are the most useful of the opportunity weapons found in the world. They can be hard to notice, however. If you are engaged in a boss or sub-boss fight, chances are there are spears in the area. Conversely, if you’re funneled into a confined space, and you see NPC corpses with spears sticking out of them, rest assured the shit is about to go down.
If you have Aim Assist toggled on in the game’s Options menu, when you ready a shot (holding L2 or R2/left trigger or right trigger) you will see a circle hovering over the enemy nearest the single-dot reticle on your screen. This circle will follow that enemy, so be patient and know who you’re aiming at before you release it. You can cancel throws with the circle/B button.
Bottles and Bricks are less useful but can stagger enemies, allowing you to execute parkour attacks or close in for a flurry of melee strikes. You can also use bottles and bricks as distractions to move zombies from an area or lure Renegades over to you for a takedown.
Dying Light 2’s Pipe Bow and Crossbow
You won’t get the Pipe Bow (or Crossbow) until you reach the central loop, so don’t worry that you’ve somehow missed their availability, or the mission where one is awarded. Progression takes a long time in Dying Light 2, and the Pipe Bow is a big example of that.
The Pipe Bow does not have a durability rating, nor can you mod it. It does have limited ammunition, whether that’s standard arrows or special arrows that apply Shock, Toxic, or other special damage. You can craft standard arrows with 10 Scraps and 1 Feathers, again, very common crafting materials, easy to find or buy. You can also buy the special arrow blueprints from Craftmasters, for amounts ranging from 700 to 1500 gold depending on their rarity.
To change arrows or bolts: This is not an intuitive process, so pay attention. Open the weapon wheel by holding Right on your D-pad. Then cycle through your arrow types with the L1/R1 (or left/right bumpers).
Explosives and Other Consumables
Aiden can buy and upgrade recipes for Molotovs and DIY Grenades from Craftmasters; these items can also be found at most any Vendor. Molotovs are the easiest to make and spread a lot of fire but cause the least damage in general. DIY Grenades do more damage but also call attention to your location for any Infected in the area.
Out in the world, you may encounter Propane Tanks, which are a helpful opportunity weapon. You need to pick up the tank, then light it (square or X button) and throw it (R2 or right trigger). The tank will travel and roll further than you might expect, so it’s a good idea to hold the flaming tank and cook the grenade, so to speak, before flinging it. Propane Tanks work as decoys for Infected, but in a much more limited way than actual Decoys that you buy or craft. Don’t expect it to draw large crowds, or even a Howler, from far away.
Modding weapons in Dying Light 2
Weapon modding comes early in Dying Light 2 and should be taken advantage of once it’s available. Modding a weapon will add a special effect to a strike, either on a critical hit (determined at random by the game) or after charging up the weapon.
Blast Mods will charge up passively over a certain cooldown time (150 seconds to 90 seconds, depending on rarity). A Blast Mod is triggered by pressing R2/Right Trigger and X/A together.
Power Mods are charged up by landing a certain number of strikes with the weapon, anywhere from 24 to 12 hits, again depending on rarity. When charged, hold R2 to execute. Power Mods deliver area-of-effect damage that can spread to other enemies.
The Critical Hit Mods will be the first ones available. Two of them on the same weapon can deal a lot of damage, even if the critical chance seems quite low. Blast Mods and Power Mods are unlocked later in the game, and also require rarer parts to build. Voltage, a Power Mod, needs 1 Battery (to go with 10 Scraps and 1 Wiring) to install, and Batteries are rarely found outside of GRE Anomalies, Loot Sources, Quarantine Buildings, or Forsaken Stores, where Aiden goes scavenging at night. But Inferno, a Blast Mod, uses 1 Oxidizers (plus 10 Scraps and 5 Resin), which can be easily found at Craftmasters and Vendors.
Use Mods wisely. If you don’t have any modded weapons, install whatever’s available, but as your arsenal grows, mix a Blast or a Power Mod with a Critical Hit Mod, so you always have a rotation of special attacks available. Attaching a Critical Hit Mod to a two-handed weapon is a good idea, as a Power Attack with a large axe deals considerable damage, and with a shock or fireball added to it, can wipe out tough enemies in a single blow.
The UV Flashlight
About two-thirds of the way through the main story, Aiden will acquire a UV Flashlight. Enable this by putting it in one of the four Accessory slots, cycling to it with your D-Pad, and then holding down L2/left trigger. This will shine a faint but effective purple light on Infected, staggering them and allowing you to execute big attacks to finish them off.
The UV Flashlight has a variable charge that drains the longer it is held, but it is passively recharging when not in use. Upgrade recipes will increase the Flashlight’s effect and decrease its cooldown. A quick burst with the Flashlight can be all you need to get the upper hand on a quick Infected, or one that uses unblockable Power Attacks. Get used to working with it in combat, especially to set up Parkour Attack moves like Grapples and Flying Kicks.