The best horror games make the player feel weaker, or at least at a disadvantage, against the already terrifying enemies they come across. Some decide to take away any option for the player to fight back at all, forcing you to either run or hide from any threats, while others give you a chance to defend yourself. Resident Evil Village isn’t afraid to give you a wide arsenal of weapons to find, purchase, and unlock as you play the game. You’ll need every gun and weapon you can get your hands on, too, since the creatures stalking you throughout the village and surrounding areas are numerous and resilient.
In total, there are 17 weapons you can acquire through various means in Resident Evil Village, though some have specific requirements to unlock, and there is one extra weapon that has to be bought as DLC. Most are found in the game itself but are still very missable; some have to be purchased from the game’s resident merchant, Duke; some require beating the game on specific difficulties; and finally, a few make you spend Challenge Points to unlock them. Sure, knife-only runs have been a thing in Resident Evil games since the beginning, but why restrict yourself from turning the tables on the game by picking up some powerful hardware. Here are all the weapons in the game and how you can get them.
Note: There will be some minor spoilers below, including boss and location names, regarding what sections of the game you need to beat in order to access some weapons, and there will also be some information on secret weapons themselves.
Further Reading
Knives
Karambit Knife
The standard knife is more of a tool than a weapon, or at best it’s a last resort if your ammo runs dry. The Karambit Knife isn’t going to make a knife run easy by any means, appearing to only swing a bit faster, but it at least looks nice. This is Chris’ knife, and you will have to beat the game once to make it purchasable in the extra content store. It costs 10,000 Challenge Points, and once unlocked, you can buy it from Duke for just 100 Lei.
Pistols
LEMI Pistol
This is the one completely unmissable gun in Resident Evil Village. It will be given to you during a cutscene very early on in the game, and thus it is one of the weakest weapons you can get. You can get two attachments for it, a recoil compensator and a high-capacity magazine, which will increase the LEMI’s damage and ammo capacity, respectively. The base power is 100 and can only be upgraded to 130. The only upside is that you can boost the ammo capacity up to 16, making it at least a reliable gun when you have a lot of enemies to deal with. Odds are that you’ll want to toss it aside once you get a better pistol.
M1911 Pistol
Speaking of a better pistol, the M1911 starts out with some stats higher than a fully upgraded LEMI. It is very hard to miss picking up as well — as long as you take an extra moment, that is. When you’ve finished exploring the castle and have given the flask to Duke, you will need to find a jack handle. Head to the Maiden of War statue located in the middle of the village. From there, head toward the well on your map and through a gate. Go through the building on your left until you hit a locked door you can now open, and then go through the door on the left. Use the jack to open up the passage, take out the enemies that appear, and continue on to a padlock. The code to open it is 070408. Open the locker and pick up your brand new M1911 just beside the jack handle you’re looking for.
V61 Machine Pistol
If you want a pistol that can run through your ammo faster than any other, eventually turning into an equivalent of an SMG after upgrading, then put the V61 Machine Pistol on your shopping list. And you may want to put it on your list early, because Duke is the only one selling this gun, and it isn’t exactly cheap. If you happen to have a mere 120,000 Lei in your pockets after you reach the factory area, then don’t hesitate to grab this amazing pistol. It has incredible damage, a high rate of fire (obviously), and three attachments that can reduce recoil, further boost damage, and bump up your ammo capacity. Fully kitted, this is far and away the best pistol in the game.
USM-AI Pistol
The of the more standard pistols is another one of Chris’ weapons, the USM-AI. This is a semi-auto, silenced pistol that, at least in terms of raw power, is the best pistol in the game — with one exception to follow. Just like Chris’ knife, the Karambit Knife, you have to first beat the game and spend 20,000 Challenge Points in the shop to unlock this bad boy. Once you do, Duke will let you have it for a very reasonable 350 Lei. You can’t upgrade it, and it has no attachments, but it has a base damage of 270 and can hold 17 rounds, so there’s not much you’ll be wanting for once you get your hands on it.
Rocket Pistol
Finally, and arguably not even a pistol, is the Rocket Pistol. You can probably guess what this gun does just by the name, and you’d be right. Basically, yes, this is a hand-held rocket launcher, but that kind of power isn’t just tossed your way for free. No, you’ll have to first beat Resident Evil Village on the Village of Shadows difficulty, which is one of the toughest challenges in the game. Once you manage that task, though, and save up 80,000 Challenge Points, you can blast your way through your next playthrough once you pick it up from Duke for 1,500 Lei. It deals 500 damage in an area of effect, naturally, but has its own special ammo type that you need to buy from Duke as well. Or, if you have extra Challenge Points laying around, just unlock the infinite ammo version of it right away and reign fire down upon the village.
Shotguns
M1897 Shotgun
This is the standard shotgun of Resident Evil Village and can actually be found or purchased. Obviously you should look to pick it up rather than spend your money on it. Not long after the game starts and you get the LEMI pistol, you will be overrun by werewolves and, hopefully, retreat back into a house up the hill. As long as you’re not too distracted fighting for your life, look to the table to grab this basic shotgun. Like the starter pistol, it isn’t worth much once you find a better option, so don’t feel the need to spend resources upgrading this one.
W870 TAC Shotgun
Next up is a nice, old-fashioned pump-action shotgun. You’ll need to progress the game until you defeat Donna Beneviento before you can pick it up on the map, but again, it can be purchased from Duke if you happen to miss it on accident. Once you’ve killed the doll, on the path back to the village there will be a single house on the left side of the path. Go inside and grab this shotgun before moving on. Aside from a somewhat slow rate of fire, this is just an overall better shotgun than your M1897. It has two attachments to improve the fire rate and dampen recoil, and once you upgrade the damage a bit, this thing will kick like a mule.
SYG-12 Shotgun
The final shotgun is the SYG-12, which is exclusively sold by Duke for a hearty 180,000 Lei. It won’t be up for sale until very late in the game, as in after getting to Heisenberg’s factory, so by then you may not even want it. The only thing it really has going for it is being a semi-automatic shotgun with pretty good damage, but if you’ve already invested in your W870, then there’s not much reason to start over with this one so late in the game. If you really like having a fast-firing shotgun, though, then this one is here for you.
Rifles
F2 Rifle
Technically, this is a sniper rifle, but considering it’s the only one the game, why not put it in with the other rifles? There’s just one place to pick up this bolt-action sniper rifle, and it is after you solve the Atelier Bell puzzle in the castle and are allowed up to the rooftops. The F2 is basically impossible to miss at that point. It packs a nice punch and is more versatile than you might expect from a sniper rifle, especially against the game’s bosses, thanks to it being able to hit precise areas with high damage. The initial scope leaves a lot to be desired for long range, which isn’t really an issue most of the time, but there is an attachment for that if you really want to pick off foes from across the map.
WCX Rifle
These last two rifles aren’t obtainable until after beating the game, so they’re more for fun than anything else. The WCX is a fully automatic rifle that, thanks to being upgradable, can be the best rifle in the game if you invest in it. You can slap on a red dot and foregrip for more damage, rate of fire, and recoil reduction for that true FPS experience. After beating the game, unlock it in the extra shop with 30,000 Challenge Points and then pick it up from Duke for 400 Lei.
Dragoon Assault Rifle
Yet another one of Chris’ guns is the Dragoon Assault Rifle. This gun is as cool as it sounds, but with the only major downside being, like all of Chris’ other weapons, it cannot be upgraded in any way. That said, it is plenty strong enough to serve you on a normal difficulty run, but if you want to take on harder challenges or just outclass the enemies even more, the WCX is the way to go. It also costs 30,000 Challenge Points in the menu and 400 Lei from Duke.
Magnums
M851 Wolfsbane Magnum
Magnums have always been the peak of Resident Evil weaponry you can get during a normal playthrough. They’re strong, cool, but incredibly light on available ammo, forcing you to think twice before firing off a shot. You can pick up this revolver-type magnum after beating the third boss and taking the elevator back up to ground level. Use the crank to open a door on your right, go down the path and up to a treasure chest. Take a path leading to a big house on the map, go inside through a hole next to the front door, and find the Wolfsbane inside a gun case on a table. If you miss it there, Duke will sell it to you for 120,000 Lei.
S.T.A.K.E Magnum
A fairly comparable magnum to the Wolfsbane, the S.T.A.K.E is only unlockable once you beat the game for the first time and spend 300,000 Lei to take it off Duke’s hands in your next playthrough. This magnum does scale far better than the Wolfsbane, starting out with generally better stats, but it is an absolute beast when upgraded and kitted out with its attachments. If you plan on doing a run on the higher difficulty levels in Resident Evil Village, you’ll want a powered up S.T.A.K.E by your side for sure.
Handcannon PZ
This magnum will be the biggest test to unlock. You need to beat the game on the Hardcore difficulty level, which is a monumental task for most players. If you manage to pull it off, you can head to the extra shop and unlock it for 80,000 challenge points and then pick it up from Duke for a small fee of 1,500 Lei. This magnum has one major positive and one negative. The positive is, despite being a magnum, it doesn’t use magnum ammo. Instead, the Handcannon uses the comparatively more common sniper rifle ammo, meaning you could double up on magnums without drawing from the same ammo pool. The downside is, even with upgrades, this is still a weaker magnum than the S.T.A.K.E in just about all regards.
Other
GM 79 Grenade Launcher
You get only one grenade launcher in Resident Evil Village, but one is all you really need. The GM 79 is quite missable, at least compared to the other weapons found during a first run through the game. It is obtainable only after you meat Moreau, the third boss, and get back to the village hub. The red gates will now be busted open, allowing you to reach a door on the south side of the Maiden of War that leads to the Waterwheel Hut you can unlock with the Iron Insignia key. Go inside and grab this power weapon for yourself. The GM 79 can’t be upgraded but does allow you to swap between two different ammo types: Traditional explosives and flashbangs. Explosives do exactly what they sound like, and launching a flashbang can stun a group of enemies for you to either pick off or run by without any danger. Plus, the explosive rounds can also break enemy armor and cracked walls and get rid of pesky green goo, too.
LZ Answerer
The final non-DLC weapon on the list, and likely the last one you’ll get due to how difficult it is to unlock, is the LZ Answerer. This is basically just a lightsaber in all but name, and it is as awesome as that sounds. The first step to unlocking it is to just beat the campaign at least once to unlock the extra content shop, but you won’t see the LZ on the list just yet. First, you need to unlock Mercenaries Mode for 100 challenge points. This is where things get really tough. You have to beat every single Mercenaries mode level and achieve a rank of SS or better for the lightsaber to become purchasable. Once your scores are high enough, you can unlock it for 70,000 Challenge Points and then buy it from Duke for 200 Lei like any other weapon.
Aside from how awesome a lightsaber is, you can even change what color the blades are, with red, blue, and green being obvious inclusions.
Samurai Edge — AW Model-01 Handgun (DLC)
The only DLC weapon in Resident Evil Village is the Samurai Edge, which fans of Resident Evil 7 may recognize as Chris’ default pistol. Unlike in that game, however, it is quite weak in Village. If you invested in the Trauma Pack DLC, you can pick it up for just 185 Lei from Duke, but it really isn’t worth it. The base stats are okay for the early game, but it can’t be upgraded at all and is larger than most pistols in your inventory. It could be fun to mess around with, but rest assured this DLC weapon is not something you’d miss much if you didn’t pay up for it.
