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The best Metro Exodus guns and attachments give you the strongest tools to survive in this apocalypse. From stealth to raw damage, you need a few options at hand depending on the situation. Alongside the best Metro Exodus upgrades and gear, a decent selection of weapons means you can take down enemies a lot more easily, whether you want to do it quickly, quietly, or as messily as possible. To help you out with this, I've got details on all the Metro Exodus guns you should be looking for and prioritising, as well as what attachments to combine them with, and advice on how to best use them.
Our Metro Exodus tips will improve your survival odds as you explore.
Ashot
The Ashot is technically a pistol but fires shotgun shells. It'll be single-shot when you find it which is limiting, but once you get the double barrel it really comes to life. You can reload and fire both barrels quickly, and for that reason I recommend the double over the single, suppressed barrel. You generally only need one suppressed weapon for stealth, and shotguns are mainly used for things charging at your face, so it's worth having that extra round in the chamber. That said, I wouldn't recommend the quad-barrel. It is very cool but fires two shells for every pull of the trigger, which tears through your limited ammo. One shell is usually enough to kill, so there's no reason to pump two into everything.
Recommended attachments: Double-barrel, reflex sight and any laser.
Shambler
You won't get the Shambler until later in the game, but once you do it's better than the Ashot in almost every conceivable way. The Ashot technically deals more damage per shot, but with a larger magazine and better stability the Shambler is much more well-rounded. It'll chew through anything at close range and, unlike some weapons, it has sharp iron sights and feels great with a laser attached.
Recommended attachments: Short barrel and suppressor, default iron sights, 10-round shotgun magazine and any laser.
Revolver
The Revolver is one of the best candidates for a suppressed weapon as its higher-level barrel options don't add that much damage and accuracy compared to a suppressor. It's also pretty accurate by default, so the 4x scope is a great fit. You'll find a six-round chamber for it early on, and you'll also get an eight round chamber and rate-of-fire upgrade a bit later, which is when the Revolver really starts to come into its own. It might not have the best damage but you can carry a lot of rounds for it and it goes great with a double-barrel Ashot.
Recommended attachments: Eight round cylinder, Suppressor, 4x scope and no laser (clashes with scope).
Valve
The Valve is a beautiful sniper rifle you'll find in the Caspian Sea, and you'll have a hard time putting it down once you get it. Snipers have always been powerful open-world options simply because they enable you to clean out enemy camps from disgustingly far away, and that tactic works wonders in Exodus. The Valve is more accurate than the Revolver, deals more damage per shot, and supports more powerful scopes like a 6x. Its native bolt-action reload makes it a little awkward initially, but you'll quickly unlock an expanded five-round magazine which really lets this sing. I paired it with the Shambler in my playthrough, and I felt untouchable.
Recommended attachments: 6x scope, 5-round column magazine, long barrel and no laser (clashes with scope).
Kalash
The Kalash is essentially the gun of Metro. It's ol' reliable, and a flexible and effective mid-range weapon. With a suppressor and a reflex sight, it's perfect for cleaning up groups of mutants without drawing the attention of everything around. The Kalash also has the added advantage of being extremely popular with bandits so you'll scavenge parts and ammo for it in most firefights, making it a great choice for many missions.
Recommended attachments: Suppressor and long barrel, reflex sight and any laser.
Bastard
The Bastard submachine gun is in the unfortunate position of losing out to both the Kalash as a mid-range weapon and the Revolver as a suppressed stealth tool. The Kalash is more powerful and reliable, the Revolver has better accuracy and ammo efficiency, and as if that weren't enough, the Bastard is also prone to jamming (hence the name). For those reasons, I never really touched it in my playthrough. It does sound cool, though.
Recommended attachments: no suppressor
Gatling
The Gatling shoots lots of bullets very quickly and... that's all it does. You can't mod it at all so while it is fun to pick one up off a downed armored guard and channel your inner Schwarzenegger, it's not the most practical weapon.
Bulldog
The Bulldog and the Kalash have a similar relationship to the Shambler and Ashot: the former is unquestionably better in both cases, but appear later in the game. The Bulldog has the same flexible sights and high-capacity magazines that make the Kalash deadly at medium range, but it's more accurate and deals more damage per shot. It's also much more powerful when fired in controlled bursts.
Ammo is scarce in Metro Exodus, and even though it's cool, laying on the trigger and dumping rounds into your targets and everything around them is just inefficient. (This is largely why ammo-hungry guns like the Bastard SMG and the Gatling Gun don't rate highly.) This is where the Bulldog's slower rate of fire shines. By pacing your shots and treating the Bulldog like a semi-automatic rifle, you'll get more mileage out of your limited ammo reserves. You can even put a suppressor on it if you're worried about noise; otherwise, its accuracy-boosting long barrel will do just fine. That said, the Bulldog can still be used as a bullet hose if a mutant gets up in your grill.
Recommended attachments: Suppressor and long barrel, 6x scope or reflex sight, no laser (clashes with optics).
Tikhar
For most of the game, the Tikhar rifle will be your best friend. It's quiet by default, accurate enough for a 4x scope, you can craft ammo for it on the go, and it'll take down common mutants and most bandits as long as you land those headshots. It just needs a little extra upkeep as far as air pressure goes. With that in mind, I used the airtight pump for most of my playthrough so it never lost pressure until I fired a shot, allowing me to overcharge the pressure and keep it. The automatic pump, which keeps the pressure in the green when you have it stowed, is easier to use, but I preferred the persistent overcharged rounds of the airtight. I also found the 27-round mag superior to the 36-round mag - I never really needed the extra BBs, but I did notice the stability decrease that comes with the larger magazine.
Recommended attachments: Airtight pump for overcharged shots or automatic pump for ease of use, 4x scope or reflex sight, and 27-round mag for more stability.
Helsing
I have a lot of love for the pneumatic Tikhar rifle, but the Helsing crossbow you can get in the Taiga stole my heart. As a crossbow, it's silent, accurate, and efficient, even more so than the Tikhar. You can craft new bolts for it on the go, just like the Tikhar's BBs, and you can even retrieve those bolts from defeated enemies like you would throwing knives. It can also fire exploding bolts, although you can't retrieve those from targets afterward. Not surprising when they can powderize anything they hit. I think that's a fair trade.
You might think that the Tikhar, with its large magazines and higher rate of fire, would be better at medium range, but you'd be all wrong - the Helsing has an optional pneumatic attachment of which increases its rate of fire dramatically. Paired with an eight-bolt drum magazine, this turns it into a freaking Needler.
Recommended attachments: Twin bow frame for sniping, or pneumatic bow frame for fast firing, 4x scope or reflex sight.
