Casualties Unknown weapons and armor

Combat is deliberately rough, and it is not the main way to survive. The developer says combat is “less finicky” in the full game than in the demo. confirmed

What weapons are in Casualties Unknown?

Official screenshots show a titanium machete and a rifle as held items. confirmed Recordings show a wide spread of found and crafted weapons.

Weapon	Where it comes from	Notes	Status
Claws	Always available	Enough for shade crawlers	confirmed
Flimsy knife	Crafted early	Mostly a tool	confirmed
Machete	Found or crafted	Players call it a run saver	confirmed
Rake, cleaver	Found	Early melee	confirmed
Pickaxe	Crafted	Also a digging tool	confirmed
Pistol, rifle, shotgun	Loot and traders	Ammo is the limit	confirmed
Dynamite	Crafted	Dangerous to you as well	confirmed

How do you fight in Casualties Unknown?

The enemy guide’s summary: all enemies behave more or less the same, and you can punch them until they die. confirmed Tactics that work:

1. Let them come to you. Most enemies bite and retreat.
2. Use terrain. A wall stops a sand stalker reaching you at all. confirmed
3. Keep weapons accessible. A digging tool in hand is not a machete in hand when something jumps you.
4. Retreat from swarms. Cave ticks are not worth fighting. confirmed

Scrap you can place as a block doubles as instant cover. confirmed Getting shot while ragdolled no longer destroys you, thanks to a 6.0 fix. confirmed

How do guns work?

Guns need matching ammo. Players often find themselves with a gun and nothing to load, and recordings show people buying a shotgun from a trader with no ammo to go with it. confirmed Treat ammo as the real limit, and do not spend it on small enemies.

Shooting a trader or survivor turns them hostile, and traders notice when you hold a gun. reported Some recordings also show players using dynamite to open sealed rooms that normally need red blood, though it can destroy the loot. confirmed

When should you get a weapon?

Players recommend having a good weapon by layer 5. reported Before that, most fights can be avoided or won with claws, and you will likely want tools instead. Layer 5 brings thornbacks in numbers, and an elder thornback that hunts you down. See enemies and traps.

How does armor work in Casualties Unknown?

Armor covers individual body parts. Switching the health panel to armor view shows how much protection each limb has. confirmed Armor can be damaged or destroyed: a turret breaks any armor it hits in one shot. confirmed

Slot	Examples	Notes	Status
Head	Helmets, crafted head armor	Head armor needs a shade crawler carcass	confirmed
Thorax	Carapace	Community rate it highly	reported
Abdomen	Belly armor	Pair with thorax armor	reported
Arms, legs	Arm warmers, limb wraps, kneepads	Light protection, some warmth	reported

Crafting risk matters here. If your Intelligence is one level short, the armor you make can come out damaged. confirmed

What is the most effective armor in Casualties Unknown?

Players search for this constantly, but we have no reliable numbers yet for the full release, since balance changed. Reported priorities are to protect your head first, because of brain damage, then your thorax. reported Thigh and arm coverage matters less unless you often run through barbed fences. Armor also interacts with warmth, which matters on cold layers, and weight, which matters always. reported

How do you maintain weapons and armor?

Everything with durability loses condition. Keep a little scrap and materials for repairs, and check condition in the top left of the screen. Combine scrap in your inventory to raise its quality for recipes. confirmed A 100% tool is worth more in a trade, too.

Do not hoard broken gear. Items at low condition may only be worth what you can salvage from them. Weight adds up fast, and being overloaded costs energy and slows you down.

Which Casualties Unknown weapons are in mods?

Mods add many more options, including new weapons and explosives. See the best mods list. Compatibility with the full game may vary. If you want to try different weapons without finding them, the console can spawn them on a throwaway run.

Which combat changes should you know about?

The patch notes contain a few details that affect how fights go. confirmed

• Turrets take longer to fire at you when you are off screen.
• Dynamite can no longer be stalled forever.
• Crystal shards and glass shards were both rebalanced.
• The elder thornback gained new effects on the player in 6.0.