How To Survive Ranger Hardcore

This is a guide containing a few tips I used to successfully survive Ranger Hardcore mode with next to no deaths. I'm going to try and not make it needlessly long winded; most of what I did doesn't take a guide book to follow. So read on, and good luck, Ranger.

The Essentials

Note: From here on I will be referring to Ranger Hardcore as "RHC"

If you want to survive this mode, here's what I suggest:

-Play the game at least once before starting this mode:

Personally I suggest playing the game 2 or 3 times on lower difficulties before doing RHC. The reason behind this is so you memorize where all the important supplies are: Gas masks, filters, med kits, ammunition, and Military Grade Ammunition (MGR). Air lasts longer on lower difficulties, so you can take your time and explore without too much fear of suffocating. It saves you the trouble of running around frantically trying to find a filter as you're down to 10 seconds of oxygen with enemies on your ass. Once you've got all this down, you won't have to worry about trying to survive the surface levels, because your previous playthroughs will have taught you where everything is.

Make every shot count:

In RHC you can't carry as much ammo as the other difficulties. You do lots of damage, but so do the enemies, meaning that all it takes is one well placed shot to end a confrontation in your favor or vice versa; no need to empty your gun to kill one regular enemy. You'll need to save ammo as much as possible for the Boss Battles, as the Bosses of this game are the only enemies who eat bullets and ask for more without having the courtesy of just dying.

Stealth, No Exception:

RHC is, obviously, far far more difficult than the other difficulties, and nowhere is this more evident then in the combat. You can be Russian Superhero Artyom in the lower difficulties, but RHC will show no quarter. All it takes when fighting human enemies is 1 or 2 shots to send you to the Stenno pad menu, clicking on "Load last checkpoint" likewise for fighting Nosalises, Watchmen, etc.

Your best friend for sneaking through areas is the throwing knife, which you can hold 10 of in RHC. Let's all be honest, it's pretty much OP since you can hit an enemy in the foot with it, and it will kill them. Make sure nobody is looking at the guy you're about to skewer and let it fly. Of course, you should only do this when they're directly in the path of where you need to go. This is where playing the game a few times previous comes in handy; you should know at this point where the best stealth routes are. Like in the original Metro, you can collect your knives from the body of your enemies, so unless they manage to fall somewhere you can't go, there's no reason you'll have to scrounge for more at any point in the game.

Now there are parts of the game where combat is needed, which means you'll need good weapons and plenty of ammo. Sneaking around will cover you for ammo, but as for weapons....

The right arsenal:

The right weapon will make your RHC playthrough a walk in the park. You can only carry two weapons in RHC, so it's vital you make the right choice. With this in mind, the weapon you will want to select at the beginning of the game is:

The Shambler



This 6 shot auto shotgun will get you all the way to the Undercity level, but only if you add the right attachments. You will want the long barrel attachment that turns the gun into a medium/long range hunting shotgun. The scope attachment is up to you; if you shoot better with the iron sights, that's perfectly okay.



This attachment will keep many, MANY of the enemies you'll encounter at a safe distance, namely Watchmen. Without the long barrel attachment you have to let them get moderately close to kill them with one good hit. With the long barrel, however, you can kill them from across a field with one well placed head shot, like the one in the level "Ashes". This also makes the rail section in the "Regina" level where you need to push the broken down trolley out of the way Immensely easier; the second you see them you can shoot them regardless of how far down the tunnel they are; without the attachment you'd have to let them get far too close, to the point where you might as well let them jump on the rail car before shooting them.

Now I know you're wondering, "What about that section where you have to hold off all those Nosalises? I got my ass wrecked at that part, even on the lower difficulties!"
And, to be completely honest, I thought the same thing. But my trusty old Shambler made this fight totally one sided. Just get in the corner to the right of where you start the event, and keep cool. As soon as you see them get on solid ground, nail them with a headshot and it'll be over before you know it. Throw petrol grenades and create a firewall if you're nervous. On the lower difficulties and without the long barrel attachment, I had to hit them with 2 headshots at close range before they went down. Crazy, I know, but that's what it took for some reason. Reload inbetween the short lulls after you kill one wave, and repeat.

Now as I said before, you can only have 2 weapons. The other weapon I chose besides the Shambler was the Revolver, which I never once really needed. If you want to pick something like the AK or RPK, or Bastard, go ahead; but if you play it safe you won't need em', even for the unavoidable combat sections.

But as we all know you can eventually get better weapons towards the middle of the game, so which ones should you get? Well, here's what I suggest:

The AK2012 and Saiga Auto Shogun.





You can trade in your Shambler for a Saiga in the Undercity level. When you do this, immediately buy the drum magazine as the following levels are where the game's action picks up and rises considerably. I also recommend getting a sight for it since it doesn't have Trijcon (glow in the dark) sights like nearly all the other guns, making the dark sections of levels considerably harder.

The AK2012 is the fictional Modern AK in the Metro universe. The reasoning for the gun's very high price (115 bullets) is that it was introduced right before the nuclear war, meaning there aren't many out there. However, I can reveal a vital piece of information that will get you the AK2012 as early as the "Sundown" level:

Right across from the Gas Station are a few little buildings; the only thing seperating them is a strip of water. Make your way across and you'll come upon a small room that is guarded by a trap which you will need to disarm. Once disarmed, enter the room and look left: a pristine AK2012 just for you! Here are some images to help:










Now I'm not saying the other weapons in the game are bad, but the Shambler/Revolver, then AK2012/Saiga combo is what I used to glide through RHC. Try it out and tell me what you think.

More Essentials

Don't ignore your battery:

Your flashlight and Night Vision Goggles (NVG) run out of energy faster in RHC, which means you'll want to keep an eye on how dim your flashlight gets; it's vital to your survival in the levels with spider bugs. You could jack up the gamma, of course, but where the fun in that eh? Your NVG drinks battery energy as well, which means you may want to invest in a night vision scope for your weapon, or nick it off one of your enemies. One interesting thing is that during the sections where you can't use your flashlight or NVG, you can look down the sight of your IR scope and use that to see. I only suggest using the lighter to burn cobwebs, since it doesn't give that much light. Speaking of spider bugs, one other tactic you'll want to employ is...

Save ammo when you can:

Granted I sort of went over this before, but you can save a whole lot of ammo by using your knives, both throwing and held. For the spider bug sections, flash your light on them until they go belly up then stab them; no need to waste bullets when you can do an insta-kill move.

Memorize your inventory:

In RHC there is absolutely no HUD, meaning you'll have to wait until you get to a trader to see how many bullets and inventory items you have. Some people have difficulty knowing which secondary item they have equipped since the HUD in the lower difficulties lets you see what you've got and how much you've got of it. The easiest way to know what you have is to find a quiet place and listen when you bring up the inventory menu. You won't be able to see it, but you can identify what you've selected by listening for the following sounds for which I will use onomatopoeias:

A *schling* sound is your throwing knife; like a knife being dragged across metal very quickly
A *glub* sound is your incendiary pipebomb; sounds like liquid in a drum
A *snip* sound is your regular pipe bomb; sounds almost exactly like when you bring out and light your bullet lighter, or when you light a torch
A *beep beep* sound is your proximity mine

I suggest doing this in safe areas so you won't have to frantically try and do it during a fire fight when you can't hear over the environment or gunshots; this way you'll know what you have equipped and can just toss (or place) your secondary without having to worry about what it is. You don't want to do what I did a few times: throwing a pipe bomb at an enemy I was sneaking up on instead of a throwing knife.

Filters, Filters, Filters:

This is related to the first section, but it's easily important enough to mention again. You won't last as long on the surface levels without enough air filters, even if you're speed running it. Memorize where all the filters are, and pick up filters from fallen enemies every chance you get. Unfortunately you can't buy them like you could in the last game, so never ignore or put off picking up a filter unless the game won't let you; the game won't let you pick up a filter if you've maxed out the total air time.

On the lower difficulties the maximum air time is nearly 1 hour. I'm not entirely sure how long RHC limits it to, however I suspect it's around 25 to 30 minutes. Another part of all this is always, always, always keeping an eye on your watch when in surface areas or in toxic environments in the metro. You may think it's an easy thing to remember, however it can be an easy thing to forget, especially when things get heated. If you're down to 1 minute of air and nowhere close to a safe zone then change your filter.

If you're in a safe place, feel free to change your filter if you need. Personally I wait until I'm down to 30 seconds of air when I'm exploring safe places before I change it, since those other 29 seconds of air do not transfer to the next filter. Once you change a filter, you don't get any remaining air back, even on lower difficulties. So make sure you don't hit the filter change key unless you need to change your nearly depleted filter, or you could accidentally lose 4 or 5 minutes of irreplaceable air.


-One last piece of information that doesn't fit in any of those sections is about the HUD and crosshair. As you know, RHC disables all of the HUD including the crosshair, which is hard for some people since the crosshair simplifies aiming and whatnot. If you want to over come this, you could employ an old PC gaming trick of drawing it on your screen; yes, this is an actual tactic people have used.

Play on a lower difficulty with the crosshair enabled, then get a marker (washable one) and trace + fill in the crosshair on your screen, and voila, a crosshair you can use on RHC.

Welp, that's all I've got for now. Good luck, Bratan.

DLC Addendum

Last Light will be getting a new Story and Weapon DLC(s) in the near future (or present, depending on when you read this). I do not plan on getting either, so if Ranger Hardcore is offered in the Story DLC, I won't be able to offer any new advice specific to it. However I suspect that the information/tips I presented here will apply in the DLC.

The one thing that piqued my interest is the weapon DLC that will include the belt fed auto-shotgun from the original Metro 2033. Having bought the complete edition of the original during a Steam sale I got to use it extensively, namely when you get saved by the Blacksmith. It quite frankly made 2033's mandatory combat sections downright laughable even on RHC. If it's anything like it was in 2033, then I would suggest going with it instead of the Shambler when you start a new game, assuming the game allows you to choose it during the intro in D6.

[Badass_cookie]

Why we cant see how much ammo we have in pockets? Because Artyom forgot how to count and have to ask traders to tell him how much he has))

[-Chris-]

Interesting guide, attempting ranger hardcore at present (2023)

[SigmaLX (ELK)]

this is old, update: bastard gun is actually a decent weapon, it can by itself get you to arena challenge 7

[SigmaLX (ELK)]

to be honest: throwing knives and supressed weapons will save you

[lokki]

Never had any problems with LL (or 2033) even though I went straight for RHC. Now its time to get Shadow Ranger on RHC :>

It's a nice guide though.

[Traffic Conez]

You should include the gas mask trick, basically take off your gas mask and when you hear 3 breaths equip it then take it off. Rinse and repeat.

[bausl]

beat it on the first playtrough ;)

[Voloc]

Ranger mode is easy

[MoonSparkle]

It's not that hard

[Possum Panic]

My suggested weapon is the pneumatic rifle. It's silent and always a 1 hit kill on unarmored enemies when fully pumped. Great for either taking out lights or enemies. Ammo is hard to get, but if you pick up the weapon early on and devote a good amount of your bullets to buying ball bearings then you'll be good to go.