Resident Evil 2 Weapons List - The Best Weapons for Claire and Leon in Resident Evil 2

While Leon and Claire start out with only a pistol in Resident Evil 2, there are tons of additional guns hidden throughout the game for you to find. In this Resident Evil 2 weapons guide, we'll be walking you through a complete list of the best guns in Resident Evil 2 for both leading characters.

Resident Evil 2 Weapons List

As we mentioned at the beginning of this guide, both Claire and Leon only start with a pistol in Resident Evil 2. Claire starts with her revolver, while Leon starts with a pistol that he’s named ‘Matilda’ for reasons unknown (bit weird). From there, each character can unlock weapons throughout Raccoon City police station, and the rest of the game.

In the lists below, we’ll be revealing all the character-exclusive weapons that we’ve found for Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield so far in Resident Evil 2.

• Resident Evil 2 Weapons List
• Leon’s Weapons in Resident Evil 2
• Claire’s Weapons in Resident Evil 2
• Best Weapons in Resident Evil 2

Leon’s Weapons in Resident Evil 2

• Matilda - The starting pistol for Leon Kennedy that fires standard 9mm bullets. If anyone knows why Leon named his pistol, please let us know in the comments below, because it’s a source of confusion for us.
• Shotgun - Thankfully this weapon isn’t named, but it’s available to be unlocked from the weapons locked within the Raccoon City police station.
• Magnum - Now this weapon packs a punch. It’s a long road for Leon to unlock the magnum, but it can take out any standard zombie with a single shot.
• Flamethrower - You won’t be able to unlock this weapon for Leon until you’ve made it through the sewers area, but it’s essential for dealing with some late-game zombie types.

Claire’s Weapons in Resident Evil 2

• Revolver - Claire hasn’t named her starting weapon in Resident Evil 2 because she’s not weird.
• Grenade launcher - Whereas Leon gets the shotgun in the police department weapons locker, Claire instead unlocks the grenade launcher.
• SMG - This weapon can be unlocked for Claire in the STARS office in the police station, but like the magnum, it’s a long process to unlock the weapon.
• Spark shot - In what might be the most unique weapon in Resident Evil 2, Claire can charge up shots with this experimental weapon, unleashing bolts of energy at zombies.

Best Weapons in Resident Evil 2

Now that we’ve given you a walkthrough of all the available weapons in Resident Evil 2, which ones are the best? For Leon, there’s absolutely no contest, as the magnum is the undisputed king of firepower in the entire game. As we said above, it’ll kill a zombie in a single hit, and even on the harder difficulties it can take out creatures like the sludge monsters in the sewer pretty quickly.

As for Claire, we’d honestly have to go with the grenade launcher. Ammo for Claire’s grenade launcher isn’t actually overly rare, like it sort of is for Leon’s shotgun. Acid rounds are excellent for stopping a group of zombies in their tracks, and the fire rounds can take out strong monsters like the Lickers in as few as two hits.

If it's more content for Capcom's remake that you're after, head over to our essential Resident Evil 2 tips page. Alternatively, you can hit up our page on how to unlock Fourth Survivor in Resident Evil 2 with the enigmatic Hunk, our article on how to unlock the magnum in Resident Evil 2, or our Resident Evil 2 Leon's desk locks guide. If you want more Resident Evil goodness, check out our definitive ranking of the best Resident Evil Games.