Hello. My name is Neonetik. Well, that's not my real name. If it was, I'd probably have killed myself a long time ago. Who am I? I'm just a guy on Steam who really likes the video game Far Cry 2 for a lot of different reasons. For once, I decided to do something useful, and help the people who give Far Cry 2 a try by giving a guide on its weapons. This is my first guide, so if you see any problems with it, tell me in the comments, and I guess I'll feel bad about making a mistake and then change it. Yeah, that seems like a reasonable way to go about things.

Far Cry 2 is a pretty big game, and offers players a lot of weapons to tackle its harsh environment. This guide will cover every weapon in the game in a decent degree of detail. I won't go into every single possible nook and cranny of a weapon, but I will cover what I feel is important to help you make the right decision and not waste diamonds.

This guide is for single player only. Multiplayer weapon stats differ from single player ones heavily. Most of the stat images online are of the MP versions. Please keep that in mind.

Much of the information on this guide was adapted from the ZSG network Far Cry 2 weapons guide, located here. http://farcry2.zsg.dk/Equipment_Weapons.php
As such, a special thanks to Thomas Rose (DawnRazor73) is in order for his work and effort into ensuring I can obsessively analyze weapon stats in games I enjoy.
The ZSG guide focuses mainly on statistical information, so I thought I'd give my own views at to what weapons are good and why.

To simplify things, every single weapon description here assumes that you have purchased both the accuracy and reliability upgrades for a weapon, and are using it at its full potential.

And finally, thank you all so much for the various awards and stuff! I do like buying cosmetic items on Steam with the points I get from them, so just know that your support is much appreciated! I'm just glad you found my work helpful.

NeonJackal away!

As you will have no doubt learnt from the tutorial, you acquire weapons from the weapon shop and pay with diamonds that you can earn, as well as find. Just before you complete the tutorial elements of the game, the game will force you to buy SOMETHING from the weapons shop, even if you don't want to buy anything yet. Your selection is VERY limited at this point, so just buy the cheapest item, which is either the homeland, or the Makarov. To be honest, the only choice that's even worth anything is the Makarov, since it at least has SOME practical use at the beginning of the game as a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ short and long range weapon. Sadly, the homeland is objectively outclassed by a free weapon you get at the start (though the homeland would be fantastic if the DLC didn't exist). Neither the homeland or makarov are good weapon choices in the main game, but yeah, you'll at least get something out of the Makarov.

When you begin the game (after finishing the tutorial), you have a fairly small selection of weapons to choose from, but you get more by completing convoy missions. These missions are given to you by the weapons dealer who hangs around weapon shops. In both acts of the game, he offers 4 missions, each one unlocking new weapons. As such, as soon as you finish the tutorial, you can do the first 4 weapons shop missions and unlock a bunch of neat stuff to play with for the first act of the game, but the rest of it has to wait until you are half-way through the game. However, if you don't bother doing any of these missions, you will automatically unlock all act 1 mission weapons as soon as you start act 2. I still advise doing them to give yourself options and make the game more fun at the start, but if you want to speed through things and have everything available to you ASAP, then you might want to consider skipping these missions.

The weapons are bought by using the computer within the weapons shop, and once bought, will appear in your armory. The weapon shop can also unlock other neat stuff like crates, but that's not the focus of this guide. Once a weapon is bought from the shop, both the upgrades are unlocked, and you need to open up the computer again to buy them. You can also buy ammo upgrades from the weapons shop, which are fairly important depending on what weapons you intend to use, and what difficulty you intend to play on. Other stuff can also be bought, like a camo suit and syrette upgrades, but that's not the focus of this guide.

Far Cry 2 allows you to carry 3 weapons of your choosing as well as a machete, but you can't just carry any 3. Your character has 3 slots, a primary slot, a secondary slot, and a special slot. Each weapon falls under one of these classifications, and you'll need to keep this in mind if you want to pre-plan a loadout ahead of time. While this may seem annoying, it's really not too bad, as there's plenty of variety to be had in each slot.

As mentioned before, I will cover all weapons with the assumption that both the accuracy and reliability upgrades are in effect.

• Fits into machete slot
  
• Costs dignity

Ahhh the Machete. The only weapon in the entire game that will always stick with you. Not because you want it to, but because you literally cannot unequip it, just like your malaria! This is your emergency weapon, and I do mean emergency. This hunk of junk isn't particularly useful. If you think you can do a stealth approach with this, you'd be wrong.

The machete usually takes two slices to kill an enemy, and it's rarely silent, as enemies scream out in pain as soon as you slash at them. If you manage to get close to an enemy and attack, your character will do a sort of lunge attack, where they jump forward and slice at the enemy, downing them. Once they are on the ground, you can perform a downwards stab to kill them for good, or spit in their mouth to give them your malaria. At least, I THINK you can do that second one.

There's not much to say about the machete. It's the only melee weapon you have, and while it is absolutely hilarious to run around slicing enemies with it while pretending to be a crazed African tribesman, it's anything but practical. It's not useless, but if you're playing on harder difficulties, using this means you're in a really bad shape. Use it for breaking open planks, chasing around animals, or killing the last enemy, but not much else.




THIS, is a KNIFE.

Pistols are all secondary weapons. While each pistol does have it's own pros and cons, I do believe there is a pretty clear winner in terms of which one is the best. Your pistol ammo reserve is not that high, even with the ammo upgrade, but it's more than enough to suit each pistols role. Each pistol holds 8 rounds.

• Secondary slot
  
• 6 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The makarov is one of the first pistol weapons you'll find/use in the game. It's a very basic pistol. It has low damage, low range, perfect accuracy, a decent fire rate and good reliability. It's also garbage. Compared to most other weapons, even pistols, there is little reason to use this. I mean, it IS the ONLY secondary weapon with 100% accuracy, along with the silent version, and it IS super cheap, but it's still not much. Don't waste the diamonds.

Wait, no, actually, as I mentioned at the start, this is the best weapon to LITERALLY waste the diamonds on. Despite everything I've said, it still has practical usage as a purchase at the start of the game. Taking it along with the silenced shotgun and explosive crossbow is far better than taking the double barrel (seriously, you already have a shotgun, you don't need 2), due to the perfect accuracy giving it genuine long range use. So I guess, buy it (because you have to), use it for the first 4 convoy missions, then immediately ditch it after buying something better, like the silent version, or the M-79.

• Secondary slot
  
• 10 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The silent makarov has the exact same stats as the regular makarov, but it has one massive difference. It's silenced (well it's also more expensive but shhh that's not the point here). It's one of the only 4 silenced weapons in the entire game, and it's the only one that you can use in your secondary slot. This may seem like a minor change, but it transforms the useless gun into something amazing. While stealth may not seem to work all that great in Far Cry 2, it is absolutely possible to take out entire camps, taking out one guard at a time, using this gun. The accuracy on this gun is perfect. Wherever you aim, it WILL hit. Since every single enemy dies in one headshot, this makes this weapon fantastic, especially when used with the camo suit, if you want to do some stealth gameplay. Even if you are not good at stealth, this can easily let you take out one or two guards before you get found out. A worthwhile tool for any player. Highly recommended.

• Secondary slot
  
• 10 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

Fairly similar to the makarov, but slightly higher firepower and range, and slightly lower firing speed. It's also cheap. Sure, it's more reliable than the makarov, but compared to other secondary weapon options, it's still pretty useless. The silent makarov is just too good. Avoid.

• Secondary slot
  
• 16 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

The eagle is the most powerful pistol in the game, much more so than the others. If you manage to hit an enemy right in the chest, you can potentially down them in a single shot, or even kill them! Sounds pretty impressive, right? Well, yeah, it does, but in reality, it's not as easy as you might think to do that. First off, the chance of it downing/killing an enemy in a single shot in not guaranteed. Secondly, hitting them in the chest is harder than it may seem, seeing as usually they are shooting at you, and their arms are in front of their chest, which means they usually take 3 shots to put down. Seeing as the eagle fires slowly compared to other pistols, this is not good. The accuracy is ok, as is range and reliability, but it's nothing special. I'm certain some people can use this weapon well, but really, it's just not all that flash. If you want a powerful secondary weapon, go for the Uzi. The only real upside is that the eagle is half the price of the Uzi, so if money is a big deal, you may enjoy this. Otherwise, it's a bit overshadowed, though not quite as much as the Star or Makarov.



The clear winner of the bunch is the Silent Makarov 6P9. It's available at the start, is relevant throughout the whole game and has it's own place amongst the weapons of Far Cry 2. The Eagle 50 can just barely be a justifiable purchase if you're trying to save diamonds, but you still want a powerful side arm. The other pistols just don't do nearly enough to be worth it.

Submachine guns similar to your typical assault rifles, but are incorporated in a way to allow more variety into your Far Cry 2 loadout. One again, there is a clear winner. Each submachine gun holds 30 rounds in a clip.

• Secondary slot
  
• 16 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The Mac-10 is the fastest firing weapon in the game and has great accuracy, but the damage and range is low. It's not all that reliable either. It's a pretty ok spray and pray weapon, but it's almost completely outclassed by the Uzi. If I was forced to try and look for an upside, I suppose that since headshots kill enemies in one hit, firing twice as fast as the uzi allows for a higher chance of instantly killing your enemy, but let's be honest. You're not going to try and be a master marksman with a weapon like this. I'd avoid it.

• Secondary slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

Now we're talking. The Uzi is the big brother to the Mac-10. While it only fires half as fast, it does double the damage. Now, I know what you're thinking. If it's double the damage but half the speed, that's the same DPS. Why would I spend 30 diamonds on something that I can get for half the price? Well, for one thing, since you have the same amount of ammo as the Mac-10, this means that this thing lasts twice as long, since each bullet does double the damage of the Mac-10, which means only half the clip size is required to do the same damage that a Mac-10 would do. Seeing as submachine guns use ammo quickly, this is REALLY helpful. Less reloading, more power, more death. The uzi isn't quite as accurate as the Mac-10, but it has more range, and being a spray and pray weapon, accuracy isn't that vital, though the uzi does have good accuracy as well, so, yippee I guess. It's also much more reliable than the Mac-10. All in all, the Uzi is a fantastic weapon. Highly recommended.

• Primary slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

Being one of the only two silenced weapon to go into the primary slot (the other being the silenced shotgun), you'd think this would have some good use, but here's the thing. The MP5 isn't a particularly bad weapon, but you can do much better. As a primary weapon, when compared to the assault rifles you could be using instead, it's damage is downright pitiful. Sure it's accurate and reliable, but you can easily use the Silent Makarov and get the same effect instead of spending 30 diamonds on this. Enemies scream out in pain if the first shot doesn't hit them in the head anyway, so really, what's the point of using this? It also has a nasty glitch with half the characters in widescreen mode where you can see the edge of the characters arm jutting out the side of the screen when using it, which is incredibly annoying. Don't buy it.



Once again, a clear winner stands above the rest. The Uzi is the master of submachine guns, and a good weapon all around. I wouldn't bother with any of the act 1 submachine guns.

Assault rifles are often the bread and butter of any FPS. While this is not quite the case with Far Cry 2, assault rifles still prove to be useful primary weapons that fit into a variety of situations. Keep in mind, while most of them are pretty good, you really only need one. There's no great reason to buy more than one good assault rifle, so pick well. Each assault rifle contains 30 rounds in a clip. Unlike the last two categories, there's actually a pretty good reason to want to use every one of the assault rifles! Well... except one, and that is...

• Primary slot
  
• 12 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

Being one of the first weapons you get your hands on in the game, it can be hard to see why this weapon is so bad. But it is. Oh so bad. Compared to every other assault rifle, it has lower damage, lower range, lower reliability, lower firing rate, lower accuracy... and lower recoil. That's right. Literally every stat on this weapon is lower. The only positive one being the lower recoil. I don't even want to talk about this weapon anymore. Avoid at all costs.

• Primary slot
  
• 14 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

Do I even need to introduce this weapon? The AK-47 is one of the most well known guns in the entire world, known for being cheap, powerful, and reliable, and every single one of those things comes true in Far Cry 2. The AK 47 has the same good damage as every other assault rifle (minus the awful G3), it has decent range, great accuracy, a good firing speed, and amazing reliability. You'll be hard pressed to ever have this weapon fail on you. It's also got better iron sights and less recoil than the FAL. It's a good purchase.

• Primary slot
  
• Found

In the world of Far Cry 2, there are 8 golden AK-47's. These can be found in various hidden places, 4 in each act of the game. The Golden AK's are exactly the same as the regular AK's, except for 3 main differences. One, they are even more reliable, lasting even longer than the regular AK, which already lasts ages. Two, they are completely free, and don't require anything other than time to find. And three, they DON'T RESPAWN! Once you pick one of these bad boys up, you can forget about ever finding it in that location ever again. There is a trick you can use to hold onto one of these guys forever without it losing durability, but if you want to use it, you'll have to use the Golden AK for the rest of your entire playthrough, which totally sucks. I don't use these, but for a casual playthrough, they could be fun.

• Primary slot
  
• 16 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

The FAL Paratrooper is, in my opinion, the best assault rifle in Far Cry 2. Good damage, great range, great accuracy, great reliability and a good firing rate makes this assault rifle one of the most versatile in the game. The only complaint I've heard is that the iron sights are a bit harder to use compared to other assault rifles, and I can understand this, but it's a small price to pay for something so useful. To be honest though, I have to wonder how useful that extra range really is, seeing as you'll probably be at mid range most of the time with it any way, but hey, still, that range means it can reach places other rifles cannot and lets it act as a sort of awful sniper rifle, and that's always cool. HIGHLY recommended.

• Primary slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

The AR-16 is the black sheep of assault rifles. The thing that makes this one different from the rest, is that this assault rifle has a 3 round burst firing mode rather than the fully automatic firing mode of every other assault rifle, as well as having a reflex sight for better aiming. Speaking of better aiming, if you want accuracy, this is your rifle. Having the perfect accuracy that no other rifle has, along with the added help from the scope, you'll have a hard time missing your target. While this weapon has good range, its precision is what makes it stand out (though to be honest, the other rifles are all so accurate already anyway, it hardly makes a difference). The burst fire shoots bullets quickly, allowing for quick kills, but the lack of full auto can hurt in crowds. Even if it can't reach quite as far as the FAL, nor can it fire one shot at a time, it still proves to be a fantastic rifle. If you want it, get it.




There's no real winner in this category, only a clear loser. The G3 is awful, but the rest are great. For my diamonds, I'd go with the FAL Paratrooper, but really, this is all personal preference. Want full auto easy aiming reliability? Get an AK. Want full auto long range accurate versatility? Get a FAL. Want fast firing easy aiming accuracy? AR is your best bet. You can't lose! Unless you pick the G3 like a filthy casual noob scrub. If you wanna use a rifle from the start of the game, the AK is totally solid. Don't be a fool, grab the right tool.

Shotguns are not quite as useful in Far Cry 2 as in many other FPS's, seeing as the game takes place in wide open Africa, but if you change your playstyle a little bit, shotguns are still a fun set of weapons that can do some pretty neat things that other weapons cannot.

• Primary slot
  
• 6 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

Writing this section makes me depressed. This used to be what I would consider the best shotgun in FC2, but this changed once I started writing this guide, all because of the DLC. I did not just follow the stats posted on various INCORRECT wiki's (seriously, so many guides out there all parrot the same WRONG information about this game, like stating that the Dragunov has a higher firing rate than the AS50 and stuff), and I did weapon testing myself, so I could be accurate. I tested accuracy my placing myself against objects and shooting at walls, taking screenshots of the bullet holes, and comparing them, and I tested power by moving point blank to a car and shooting it until it blew smoke. I did both these tests multiple times. What I found was most upsetting. As it turns out, the Silenced shotgun, which you get with the DLC, is not only more accurate than the Homeland, not only is it silent, not only is it more reliable (though the reliability might have just been chance), but it's also more damaging. As a result, the homeland is completely outclassed when compared to the Silenced Shotgun. If you don't count the DLC, then it is amazing. Not only is it incredibly cheap, it's also a weapon that holds its own even in end game! The homeland shotgun has high damage as you'd expect, but it's also one of the most reliable weapons in the game, tied with the AK. I've never had one jam on me in my entire time playing Far Cry 2. While it may be pump action that only carries 6 shots and fire/reloads slowly, the one thing that sets this weapon apart from other shotguns it that it has both damage and range. The homeland is surprisingly effective in mid range encounters, while both other non DLC shotguns suffer greatly. It doesn't sacrifice range for damage or vice versa, and considering the price, it used to be a pretty worthwhile gun. However, the DLC renders it completely moot, and basically worthless as a choice.

• Primary slot
  
• Free

As a DLC weapon (which comes automatically with the steam version of the game), the silenced shotgun is a free weapon available at your armory. The silenced shotgun is most similar to the Homeland, holding 6 shots and being pump action, but, as I mentioned before, it's better in pretty much every single way. It has more damage, higher accuracy, higher reliability, and even has more ammo without needing any sort of upgrade. The most obvious difference is that it's silenced. Even though its a shotgun, stealth kills with this weapon are relatively easy, though your range is limited. Seeing as the Homeland was already a damned good weapon before the DLC pack came out, and the silenced shotgun is better in pretty much every single way, as well as being completely free, this weapon comes HIGHLY recommended.

• Secondary slot
  
• Free

Once again, as a DLC weapon (which come together with the steam version of the game), the craftsman shotgun is a free weapon available at your armory. The craftsman shotgun is both the slowest, and most powerful shotgun in the entire game, at least on a per shot basis. The craftsman shotgun is a double barrel shotgun that can only fire once before needing to reload. As a result, it's very slow, and the accuracy on it leaves something to be desired, but if you're close to an enemy, one shot is all it takes to kill. Being a secondary slot weapon, the craftsman shotgun really is a backup weapon for turning corners, and shouldn't really be used much. Against multiple enemies, you're kind of screwed if this is all you have. Still, its power is something to fear. If you already have a full auto weapon in your primary/special slot, you might want to consider using this.

• Primary slot
  
• 16 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The Spas-12 is one of the most annoying weapons in the game on harder difficulties. Enemies make your life a living hell with this weapon, as turning a corner only to get blasted in the face twice with this will leave your character... less than happy about the situation. While the Spas 12 does have a faster firing speed than the homeland, as well as carrying 12 shots, its range is only half that of the homeland, and it still does less damage than the silenced shotgun. While this weapon excels in close combat scenarios, that's ALL it excels at. Anything further than a couple of feet away, and you may as well be throwing dust at your enemies. Still recommended though. It's powerful in the right situation, even if that situation can be limited, but it's not necessary.

• Primary slot
  
• 51 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

At 51 diamonds, the USAS-12 is one of the most expensive weapons in the entire game. Is it really worth it? Well, maybe. See, the USAS fires fast. Twice as fast as the spas. Like the spas, it carries 12 shots, though the USAS reloads all of them at once through a drum magazine. It also has the same range and accuracy as the homeland. So what's the downside then? The damage. Per shot, the USAS is weaker than all the other shotguns. This means that if you want to be killing your enemies in one shot, you've got to aim into the upper chest area, and be close. Even then it can take two shots to kill an enemy.Though it has the same range as the homeland, the lesser damage still forces you to get close to make the most of the smaller damage. Taking that into account, it's still a good weapon. Is it good enough for the price? Maybe, maybe not, considering the sort of limited use of shotguns, but I'll be damned if this isn't the best room clearing weapon in the entire game. Shame most of the fighting isn't done in a room. It's up to you if you want it or not. If you LOVE and MUST use shotguns, consider it.




While all the shotguns are good weapons (except for the homeland, for reasons already explained), I have a strong appreciation for the silenced shotgun, being free and available from the start, working pretty darn well for mid-range encounters, being the strongest primary shotgun per shot and being study enough to never let you down. But hey, most of the options are decent. If not using the DLC weapons for whatever reason, then I absolutely give the highest ranking to the Homeland. Once again, it's all up to you though. The Spas is pretty good value for money, the speed of the USAS should not be underestimated, and the Craftsman is fun.

Sniper rifles in Far Cry 2, for my money, are probably one of the more useful weapon types in the game, especially on higher difficulties. The provide an easy way to pick off enemies at a distance, and are some of the most powerful weapons you can use. There's are 3 primary ones in the game, as well as one special one, and the choice really comes down to what kind of a player you are.

• Primary slot
  
• 16 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The M1903 is the first sniper rifle you can get, and in my opinion, the worst. The M1901 is a bolt action sniper rifle that carries 5 shots in a clip, and needs to have each round re-chambered each time you fire a shot. This makes it slow. Painfully slow. FATALLY slow. Being a sniper rifle, you don't especially need a fast firing weapon, but every time you re-chamber the next shot, you need to leave your scoped view, which makes tracking enemies a nightmare. While the M1903 has the highest accuracy of all sniper rifles, every sniper hits where you aim your shot in the scoped view, so its high accuracy doesn't really change anything. Its damage is pretty high as well. Not high enough to guarantee a kill with one shot on every single enemy, but high enough to do that most of the time, especially if you aim at the upper body, which is pretty much always a kill. It's also decently reliable. For the price, it's a pretty good weapon, but there are better options.

• Primary slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

A massive improvement over the M1903. With a 10 round clip that doesn't have to be re-chambered each shot, a much faster firing speed and better reliability. Damage however, is low. The SVD is the least powerful sniper rifle out of them all. While it can kill enemies in one shot if you aim to the upper body, it's quite likely that more than a few of your shots will only wound enemies rather than kill them, and they will require a second shot to be put down for good. This weapon was promoted in some advertising for the game as allowing a degree of tactical use. For example, you could shoot an enemy in the stomach, leaving him downed and calling for help. Eventually, his buddy might come along out of cover and pick him up, giving you the chance to shoot and kill both. While this sounds really neat, it's not something I ever find myself doing, which is probably because it's a lot faster to just shoot the next enemy rather than wait for that sort of thing to happen. Besides, you can do this with pretty much any sniper rifle if you aim in the right spot, like shooting at the legs with the AS50. Still, with the high clip size and reliability, it's pretty good anyway.

• Primary slot
  
• 51 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

Another expensive weapon. The most expensive sniper rifle there is. But my oh my, is it worth it. This thing is a beast. While the AS50 may only have a 5 round clip, half that of the Dragunov, it not only fires faster, which lets you take out groups of 5 enemies or less more quickly (and yes, despite the fact that seemingly every single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ FC2 guide says the SVD has a higher firing rate, it's complete ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, this fires way faster which you can EASILY test, so I figure none of them even played the damn game, either that, or they assumed that the MP stats were the same as the SP stats, but clearly never bothered even testing), but in addition damage is legendary. One shot to the torso is all it takes to kill an enemy. No more. In fact, why stop at one shot, one kill? How about one shot, TWO kills! That's right! This baby penetrates! Line up your targets, and BOOM. There are few greater feelings than making this happen. The AS50 makes it easy to set up the perfect shot with the highest magnificational scope in the entire game. Not only is it effective against living targets, but vehicles will be blowing black smoke after only a few bullets, so if you see a car fast approaching, this will make short work of it. This baby is amazing. Truly. What could possibly drag it down? Well, it has a pretty long reload time of 4 seconds, but that's only one second more than other sniper rifles. It's pretty loud, but so are all weapons. Really, there's no good reason I can think of not to use this, unless your aim is so godlike that the 5 round clip actually hinders you, and you can do more with the dragunov. If that's the case, why limit yourself to a sniper rifle? Why not just take it a step further, and run around headshotting everyone with a machine gun if you're so good? Huh? Huh? Huh? Yeah, though so. Get this abomination of nature and destroy everyone.

• Special slot
  
• 16 diamonds
  
• Available in act 1

While the Dart rifle is not really something to be used as a main weapon, it is still effective as a stealth sniper. Being silent, as well as a one shot kill ANYWHERE on the body, it's not too hard to find use for this weapon. However, it doesn't carry much ammo, isn't all that reliable, fires slowly, and unless you hit your enemy in the head, there's a good chance they will scream out in pain and alert everyone around them anyway of some jerkass hiding in the bushes shooting at them. It's a good weapon, but you wouldn't be missing much if you skipped it. Good for stealth though.




Without a doubt, I believe that the AS50 is the best sniper rifle in the entire game, and honestly, the best primary weapon. The AS50 has advantages that the other sniper rifles just don't have. If you don't wanna wait until act 2, the Dragunov is absolutely serviceable and is a good weapon throughout the entire game. Many even prefer it! Honestly, both are pretty fantastic, and you can't go wrong with either. Dart rifle is a great stealth weapon, so if that's your interest go right ahead and pick that up too.

There's only two machine guns in Far Cry 2, and both of them go into the special weapon slot, both hold 100 rounds per clip. There's not all that much difference between them, nor are they particularly intricate weapons, though one is better than the other.

• Special slot
  
• 16 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The PKM is a pretty darn good special weapon. With it's high clip size, good damage, good fire rate, good accuracy and INCREDIBLY high reliability, with only low range to sully its record, the PKM is a great weapon to hold off a large amount of enemies with its giant clip size. It also sounds baller, which is neat as all hell. If you're trying to save diamonds, this is a fine piece to purchase instead of the SAW.

• Special slot
  
• 30 diamonds
  
• Available in act 2

The SAW is the next level up from the PKM. While it has lower reliability than the PKM and is liable to jam if used constantly during one long mission or two, it boasts a slightly higher accuracy and a slightly higher firing rate, as well as a lower recoil. You should absolutely buy it.




Unless you REALLY value the reliability or the neat weapon sound of the PKM, the SAW is a pretty clear upgrade and a great special weapon. However, the SAW isn't that much better than the PKM, so if you're trying to save diamonds and wanna use a machine gun from the start of the game, it's still totally solid. The SAW can also fairly easily stop being reliable near after a mission or two if you use it a LOT, so if you like using a machine gun and find armoury visits in between missions annoying, once again, you won't suffer much going for the PKM, just slightly lower accuracy and fire rate, and higher recoil.

There are only two grenade launchers in Far Cry 2, but both can be used effectively.

• Secondary slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The M-79 is a pretty great weapon for blowing up cars, but not all that much else. It doesn't carry all that much ammo, only a few grenades, and it is a single shot weapon with a long reload. However, considering how often you come across cars in Far Cry 2, the weapon still gets a lot of use as a secondary item. It's incredibly easy to use, as the grenade will explode on contact with anything. However, this also makes it somewhat dangerous to the user, as you could potentially blow yourself up if you're not careful. It has high damage, good range, and is pretty darn reliable. The weapon has a somewhat noticeable arc to it, but it's nothing that can't be compensated for, and it's one of the easiest ways to deal with any annoying cars that come your way. Being a secondary weapon, it's pretty useful in making a versatile loadout. Go ahead and buy one.

• Primary slot
  
• 51 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

The MGL-140 is the final weapon that you can unlock in the game. It is one of the most expensive weapons in the game. This is not without good reason. The MGL-140 is a monstrosity. The MGL has a clip size of 4 grenades, which it can fire in a semi-automatic nature. These grenades are fast. These grenades are accurate. These grenades can hit both hit near and far. The damned thing even has a scope. This thing is a weapon of mass destruction, limited only by its small amount of total ammo capacity, and difficulty in finding more. Keep in mind, any camp you attack with this weapon will have nothing left in it afterwards. No cars, no weapon piles, nothing. The MGL is accurate, powerful, reliable, and absolutely 100% deadly to every single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing in the area, not least of all you. While all these pros make it sound amazing, the low total ammo count can be very annoying at times on harder difficulties (you get a whopping 12 shots total on infamous difficulty WITH the ammo upgrade, WOW), as can the awfully slow reload speed (8 second long, the highest in the game), and wasting ammo on single targets is ill advised as long trips will use up ammo fast and can get you killed. But really, it's a fair price to pay for something so incredibly strong. It can also be difficult to hit enemies hiding in cover, and I know what you're thinking, it's a grenade launcher, just blow up the cover, but sadly, it just doesn't work like that. The low ammo amount really is a big issue on high difficulties, and it's much harder to find explosive ammunition in the game than other types, and the reload time in PAINFULLY slow, but is it strong? Oh, GOD yes. If you like explosions, then this is the weapon for you. If not, hey, you can still make it work if you want, or just use one of the other great primary weapons.




Both of these weapons are good, but only the M-79 is something I would never consider skipping. The MGL is strong, but it has so many downsides that I find myself easily avoiding just by using a good sniper rifle, and since it's only available in act 2, same as the AS50, I see no reason to buy it most of the time. M-79 FTW.

Far Cry 2 has two Rocket Launchers, both of which fit into a special slot. I don't recommend either of em. Why? Read on!

• Special slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

High damage? Check. High range? Check. Good accuracy? Check? Good reliability? Check. Fast fire rate? Che-cross. Well, 4/5 aint bad, right? It's a damned RPG. It's pretty obvious what it does. It blows things up. So, it's pretty good all around the board, right? Right. So, I recommend it, right? Wrong. Why? Because the main thing you use rocket launchers in this game for is blowing up cars coming towards you, or softening up a base. However, these things are expensive, and don't carry much ammo. Considering the fortune pack DLC (which comes with the game on steam for free) already grants you free access to an explosive crossbow that does both these things AND offers a scope, I find little good reason to buy this thing.

• Special slot
  
• 51 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

Jesus that price. 51 diamonds again. Tied with the other highest priced weapons. But hey, it must be pretty good to be worth that much, or at least have something special about it, right? Well, yeah, it does, but special does not necessarily mean good. The Carl G is pretty similar to the RPG except for two main differences. Once fired, the Carl G can have the projectile it fires be guided by using the scope, meaning this is the only weapon that you can change the direction of after you fire it! Pretty neat, I gotta say. On the other hand, the blasted thing blasts fire out its backdoor every single time you use it. So, what the hell? What kind of a weapon tries to bloody hurt you just for using it? This one does. The fire easily leads to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hell on earth happening behind you if you're in a forest when you use it, which engulfs everything around you, as well as you. The rocket also travels quite slowly in order to make aiming easier. It's an interesting weapon, sure, but for 51 diamonds and the self harm, along with the same downside as I mentioned for the RPG regarding the explosive crossbow, I, once again, find little good reason to use the damned thing.




Don't bother with either of these things. It's a waste of diamonds. Just use the free crossbow.

Far Cry 2, while containing all the basic weapons of a modern day FPS, also carries several unique items that you don't usually find in this sort of game. These are interesting to say the least, and while not all that useful, are totally fun and should be checked out.

• Secondary slot
  
• 6 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The flare pistol is exactly what it sounds like. A flare gun. A gun that shoots flares. Only instead of calling people to rescue you, it calls Africans to come beat your ass. No joke, enemies see it and run you over. Can't say it's what I hoped for, but it's not a bad little thing really. It doesn't hold a huge amount of ammo, but it holds enough. It's slow and not particularly accurate, but it's a one shot kill if you manage to hit an enemy, it starts fires like nobodies business, and I hear if you manage to get it to hit a car in the right spot, it will kill everyone in the damned thing. This fact alone makes it a darn cool weapon and worth your time. The cheap price doesn't hurt either. Not a vital tool, but fun.

• Secondary slot
  
• 10 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

IED's (improvised explosive devices), are bombs that you can place on objects, such as cars, or onto the environment, like the ground. They don't explode automatically, and you must instead press a button on a remote to detonate them. You can place several and detonate them all at once if you want. These can be useful for setting up traps, but the truth is, it's usually a long and boring process doing this, and it's much easier to just lob a grenade. I wouldn't bother with em.

• Special slot
  
• Free

The explosive crossbow is a free DLC weapon that will appear in your armory, much like the other two. Being an explosive weapon, it will destroy all vehicles in a single shot, and even has a magnifying scope on it! As it's free, this is a fine weapon to use if you want something that can blow up vehicles from far away, and helps you save diamonds by not making you buy a rocket launcher. Great weapon, this one.

• Special slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 1

The flamethrower of the game. How else are you going to take advantage of the games fire physics and burn everything down? Well... actually, there are a lot of ways to do that without this stupid thing. It costs a lot, it has short range, and frankly it just isn't all that good. Unless you are quite literally a pyromaniac and need fire to get your rocks off, ignore the hunk of junk.

• Special slot
  
• 30 diamonds total
  
• Available in act 2

Boy oh boy, do I love this gun. I mean, do I REALLY love this gun. For those who have not had the pleasure of knowing what a mortar is or how it works in Far Cry 2, let me explain. The mortar is the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ frustrating piece of equipment in all of Far Cry 2 that most people can't even figure out how to fire. But really, it's simple. Here's what you do. First, you find a good spot. Maybe somewhere where you can see the enemy base, or maybe somewhere you can't. Doesn't matter, just make sure there's space over your head. Then, aim in the general direction of the enemy base. Next, you hold the aim key, this positions the mortar on the ground. Next, you adjust your aim by using the notches on the mortar. Each notch adds about 80 metres or so to the final location of the bomb. Next, you decide if you want to use one of your unlimited smoke bombs to judge the distance, and have everyone realize you're about to shell them, or if you want to use the actual explosive round and just start shelling death from above. You change between these 2 by pressing the reload key. PLEASE remember this vital step. Don't just keeping using the smoke bombs. They do no damage. it's not gas. Finally, you click your fire key, and either keep holding aim and watching, or high-tail it out of there. There. You have successfully learned how to use the Mortar. Being effective is a whole different story though. The damned thing is nightmare to use, but it's also one of the most fun things in Far Cry 2. The Mortar is incredibly powerful, limited by its rather small ammo capacity and difficulty of use, BUT it's also one of the few weapons you can attack with from a mile away behind cover (seriously the range on this thing is crazy), it has the biggest explosive radius in the entire game, and its explosive sets the ground on fire, unlike most of the other explosive weapons. If you can aim it, there is no better weapon for a first strike, and you can use it from behind rocks, cliffs, and wherever else you want. Not for everyone, but if it's for you, it's amazingly fun.




These unique weapons may not be quite as practical as most of the other weapons in Far Cry 2, but they offer a good amount of extra variety in terms of how you tackle your objective. For my diamonds, I'd use the crossbow, CONSIDER getting the mortar, CONSIDER getting the flare gun, and avoid the rest. But hey, that's just me. Honestly, you could just skip everything except the crossbow, which is free anyway, and be fine.

In Far Cry 2, your character can carry around both grenades and molotovs. Both can be useful for spamming when in trouble, and can be used tactically. These both fall under their own slot, much like the machete, and are a useful addition to any player.

• Grenade slot
  
• Picked up.

They're grenades. If you need an explanation, I have no idea how you've made it this far in the world without dying from sticking a fork into an electric outlet or something. You pull the pin, throw them, and they go boom. Don't be close. High damage and explodes vehicles in one shot. Enemies will run away from them. Simple.

• Molotov slot
  
• Picked up

Like grenades, only instead of exploding, they cause a fire that spreads for a while. Can be pretty useful for spreading panic as well.




Just don't forget to use them and you should be golden.

Yes. Cars are a weapon. No. Don't try to argue. I'm right, you're wrong. No shut up seriously.

• Cars slot
  
• Probably costs some lives or some guys happiness or something.

If you run into people, they die. 10/10 weapon.
If people run into you, you die. 10/10 obstacle.
If you run into animals, they die. 10/10 Zerba massacre tool.
If you get shot for more than half a second with anything other than a pistol, you need to get out of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ car and repair it for 5 minutes. 0/10 transportation tool.

Cars also usually have a machine gun or the occasional grenade launcher on top of them. These are pretty useful for doing things that machine guns and grenade launchers do.

Boats also have guns but boats suck even more than the deadly African water.




Don't text and drive kids.

The truth is, while Far Cry 2 does give you plenty of weapons to work with, several of them are outright worthless, and, on the infamous difficulty, your options are even more limited if you want to stay effective. A good Far Cry 2 loadout should be set out in a certain way. It's best to always have a weapon for every situation. If you're playing on infamous, I'd go so far as to say that a Sniper playstyle is mandatory. I guess that's fairly accurate to the real world as well, if you were one dude against a dozen, you'd be screwed in most cases.

If you want to have the most effective loadout. then there's a certain criteria you will want to meet. You will want to have a weapon for every situations. A weapon for long range combat, a weapon for short range combat, and a weapon for vehicles.

My favourite load-out that I use most commonly and find most effective consists of...

As I mentioned before, the AS50 is insanely good. It kills everything in a single hit to the torso, it has the highest magnification in the game, it penetrates stuff, it fires fast enough to be a good emergency weapon if someone does get close, and can even destroy vehicles super quickly. To me, this is the ultimate long range weapon and fulfils that need perfectly. It may not have the raw destructive power of the MGL-140, but at least it doesn't run out of ammo after being fired a dozen times, isn't impossible to find more ammo for, and doesn't kill me if I misfire once. If you wanna save diamonds or don't want to wait until act 2 of the game, the Dragunov is fine though. In fact, some people prefer it, due to the higher reliability, and the clip size. I'm a bigger fan of the fasting firing speed, the extreme damage, the zoom, and the penetration, but the Dragunov is still great, just as long as you aim to the upper chest.

The M-79 is small, simple, and is an incredibly quick way of dealing with any vehicles coming your way. Just pull it out, aim in the general direction of the vehicle, and fire, all in about a second of time. Works great on boats, as well as denying enemies cars. It doesn't carry that much ammo, but it's enough to deal with most of the cars/boats that you will encounter in an emergency situation during any single mission, and hey, it's available in act 1! Bonus!

For anything that comes in close, I find the SAW to be a great weapon for dealing with the trouble. The massive clip size, coupled with fast firing speed, decent accuracy, and good damage, makes this a great weapon for when you are surrounded by tons of enemies and need to unload onto all of them quickly. It's not shabby at medium range either. It also works good against vehicles in NON-emergency situations, which allows you to use this instead of the M-79 for most random car encounters, saving M-79 ammo for situations where you NEED to blow up a car as fast as possible. Reliability CAN be an issue occasionally, but if you spend a little extra time to replace it at an armoury between missions, you'll be fine in the majority of situations. That said, the PKM is only slightly worse than it in general gameplay, especially when you already have a sniper rifle, so if you want to save some diamonds, and not need to visit armouries so often, you can totally just take the PKM instead, which is available in act 1.

While this is what I find to be the most quick and effective way to take out a camp/deal with road trouble, there's still a good amount of loadouts you can choose to use if you want to be effective, not just one. Save your game before buying weapons, and try them all out.

If you want a stealthy loadout, I'd recommend taking the Silenced Shotgun, Silent Makarov 6PN and Dart Rifle, though to be honest, crazy as it sounds, it might actually be worth taking an AK47 or the MGL-140 instead of the silenced shotgun, since the Silent Makarov still kills in one headshot and has perfect accuracy, so you could take the AK/MGL as a sort of "I ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and now need to kill everything urgently" kind of weapon. The silenced shotgun is good anyway though. So yeah, primary weapon choice is between the Silenced Shotgun and AK (and POSSIBLY the Spas) in act 1, then you can add the MGL to that list in act 2, and for secondary and special, Silent Makarov and Dart Rifle, no exceptions.

Basically, see what works for you! What you enjoy and are effective with may be completely different from me!



(Picture taken from Aeon.net, please don't sue!)

So yeah, there you go, a pretty damn complete guide to the weapons of Far Cry 2. Hopefully you learnt a thing or two, and hopefully I didn't horribly anger anyone by calling their favourite weapon a piece of garbage or something.

Actually, if you did get offended at me calling your favourite weapon a piece of garbage, good. I'm glad. Your favourite weapon IS a piece of garbage and you should feel bad for using it. Nah, I kid, I kid. Put down that G3 :^)

Though I hate to sound like a desperate youtuber, giving this guide a good rating helps keep it easy to see for other people who wanna enjoy the game, so if you think I did a good job, consider taking a second out of your day to click on that like button if you think I deserve it for this couple of days of work. Also, if you'll allow me just a little self-promoting, feel free to join my own personal group/curator page.
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If you don't care about the group stuff, or just want some more proof of my quality, check out some of my other guides! I update this list whenever I make a new guide (or just started doing so from the 14th of January, 2021), so yeah, it's all here.
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You are now ready to tackle the world of Far Cry 2. Have fun, and hope to any god you may or may not believe in that Africa is kind to you, and pray that fate smiles upon you.

Good luck.