WD's Dead Space 2 Zealot Guide

[WytchDokta]

Guys, I've just discovered something that will help with your Zealot/Hardcore runs. I actually started my new Hardcore run today (got off work early), want to get a good few hours in before saving (I want to use my first save at Ch. 9 or Ch. 10, saving as late on in the game as possible is important for Hardcorew IMO). Just done Ch. 1 and I noticed that Necros, Slashers atleast, die quicker by removing their arms rather than legs. Try it - impale one, it won't die outright but will be knocked down. Then shoot it in the leg, it will take two shots to remove its leg. Impale the next one, and while it's down, shoot of one of its arms - this will only take one shot. Bear in mind, I'm talking unupgraded equipment.

[WytchDokta]

Bang bang, pew pew pew! I win! Just completed my Hardcore run and received my Foam Finger 'gun' (and Soldier Suit, dmg increase for Seeker Rifle FTW) as a reward. Just running through again now and messing about with the Foam Finger 'gun', instagibing everything. It's taking longer than it should because I keep getting the urge to just stand there rhythmically spamming primary and secondary fire to make Isaac beatbox. Bang pew, bang bang bang bang pew. You feel me?

[Wireman]

Congrats, just out of interest where did you save and what was your rig and weapon selection as I am starting my hardcore run tommorrow, hope it goes better then my first attempt

[WytchDokta]

After using a save at Ch. 9, I decided to load up my previous Hardcore run save file. As I stated before, I was using the Contact Beam for my main weapon, and the cost of the ammo is the most expensive in game. I couldn't get the balance right - kept either running out of ammo or creds. But today I figured it out - use the Contac Beam less and have the Plasma Cutter as my main weapon (both weapons almost fully upgraded by this point). I even factored in the Force Gun (unupgraded) as a backup weapon. Thiss allowed me to burn through PC and FG ammo first, and left me with plenty of ammo for the endgame. The Marker/Nicole only took 5 shots from the Contact Beam before death. And what I said earlier about shooting arms off does work, I tested it. On Survivalist/Hardcore you can kill enhanced Pukers/Slasher with three shots - shoot of their head then each arm. If you go for their legs it takes more shots and they can still attack you whoile crawling. It ain't what you do, it's how you do it.

On that Hardcore run I saved at end of Ch. 7, just before the CEC Door (I really wasn't confident as I hate Leapers and you get spammed by Leapers, among other enmies, on that part), then just before the Drill Ride, and next to the first Store in Ch. 13. During Ch. 13 through to the endgame, I saved ammo by legging it through the Red Room and back tracking after the first part of the Ubermorph Chase.

I used the DLC Heavy Duty Vintage Suit for the +5% CB dmg increase (Riot Suit, with the higher dmg increase for the CB, wasn't available as that is an elite suit (for which I would have needed to have completed on run first). However, prior to today, I was using the DLC Forged Engineering Suit.

Weapon selection was Plasma Cutter (PC), Contact Beam (CB), and Force Gun (FG).

So now I have completed Hardcore, I think I can abandon my other Hardcore run.

EDIT: ooops, that would be Heavy Duty Vintage Suit, not the Bloody Vintage Suit.

Edited July 11, 2011 by WytchDokta

[WytchDokta]

I just two 'secret' ammo stashes. On Ch. 6, the elementary school, there is one part where you have a vision of Nicole in the school playground. All the walls in this room are painted. If you look towards the door you're supposed to leave this area by, marked 305 followed by a load of Unitology writing, you should be able to make out the shape of painted-over vents either side of that door. Shoot those vents out and two ammo pickups will come out of each vent.

Edited July 14, 2011 by WytchDokta

[Wireman]

I wish I had read that before starting my hardcore run, I have got to chapter 7 and my nerve went and I have used up one of the saves I think I could have gone on a bit more but I have a good supply of goodies in my safe and didn,t want to push my luck,

[WytchDokta]

Ch. 7 is a good place to save at. Atleast you didn't save before that.

Seriously, the amount of times I've completed this game (must be nearing 20 completed playthroughs, true story. Can you tell I'm a hardcore Dead Space veteran) and I only just found those 'secret' stashes. There is a Power Node in that playground too, but that's common knowledge.

[Wireman]

I have just read on another forum that the hand cannon etc is not unlocked for the pc version after completion on hardcore , if this is the case Im wasting my time hope that info is wrong, can any one confirm it is unlocked for pc, thanks.

[WytchDokta]

IIRC, the patched it on PC. The Elite suits also didn't unlock in the release version on PC. It has been patched since though, so everything should unlock fine. Don't quote me on it. It may have been an old thread you were looking at.

[Wireman]

Ah thanks Wytchdokta its nice to know all this hard work on hardcore won,t be in vain, I just tried carrying on from chap 7 but died in the big room when you meet up with ellie again , I think I should have saved after doing the solar array bit so might start again and go on to that part and then save before the big room encounter

[WytchDokta]

I've just stress-tested a few weapons. Here's what my tests concluded:

- Stalkers have the most heavily armoured heads; on any difficulty above Casual, they can withstand atleast a couple of shots to the head from heavy damage weapons like the Seeker Rifle.

- Where other enemies are briefly stunned and recoil backwards from certain weapons, Stalkers do not, especially when charging; if they take damage while not charging they will seek new cover. Even headshotting them while charging will not stop them charging. This can be dcetrimental when using the Javelin Gun - I fired a Spear into an enhanced Stalkers head while it was charging and hit alt fire - the alt fire area of effect shock attack remained active as the Stalker charged towards me.

- Pukers will not spray acid everywhere when killed with the Flamethrower. Although alt fire launches the entire gas canister at enemies, it does not seem to use an entire canister worth of 'ammo' in the process.

- The Line Gun can rip off multiple limbs at once, but requires precise aiming. One shot can kill a ton of enemies if you get get them lined up single file and aim carefully. It's an effective weapon against Leapers as a single shot aimed at their head can rip off both of their arms aswell.

- It seems that if you set up more than 5 mines using the Detonator, you will only be able to deactivate the first five mines using the Detonator's secondary fire. Say you set up 7 mines, you'd have to trigger mines numbers 6 and 7 to get rid of them, only mines 1-5 can be deactivated and re-used.

- It's possible to not have the Pack attack you, or even show up for that matter, in the church, while using the Seeker Rifle. I just did this just, likely a glitch. Used the Seeker during the quick time drag event with the Tripod. It took a single shot (you'll neeed to have a fast trigger finger) to make the Tripod release me. Then in the milliseconds you get to control Isaac before the Pack were due to show up, I hit reload and no Pack came.

[Wireman]

That was a stroke of luck in the church then, I have allways used the plasma cutter on the tripod and then retreated to the ramp and took out the pack with the force gun as it stops them getting to close to you. I have never got used to the line gun and found it only anygood when fully noded up but the seeker rifle is pretty good even in its basic form, but thats just me I suppose, I think the detonator is a must as it can cover your back and works pretty well in its basic form, and I hate those leapers out of all the necros for some reason I mis time my use of stasis on them and they seem to jump and miss the stasis shot aimed at them, then when they have gotten in close they are deadly, so the battle continues on hardcore but with only 2 saves left there is alot to do

[WytchDokta]

I agree about the Seeker and Detonator, I near enough always have those weapons with me. You can drop enhanced Stalkers in seconds with that weapon combo - set up a mine and allow a Stalker to charge towards the path of the mines' trip-lasers. One mine is not enough to drop an enhanced Stalker. So, literally as the Stalker trips the mine, headshot it with the Seeker.

In fact, I've started using the Seeker in place of the Plasma Cutter ('cause you know it's hilarious to point blank range 'snipe' enemies). The Detonator also essentialy gives a good return ammo-wise, as you can deactivate and re-use any rounds that don't get tripped. The Ripper however, provides the greatest return ammo-wise as one Ripper blade lasts quite some time, allowing you to taje out many enemies with one blade. Sure, the Seeker can't one shot kill some enemies on higher difficulties, but blast off one leg then blast off it's head, job done. No worrying if you're to close to the area of effect of Javelin spears either.

Now, I've done some more testing on the Flamethrower. Looks like I'll be keeping it as my crowd control weapon/finishing off weapon from now on. That thing can drop enhanced enemies fast, quicker than the Ripper (that rhymes, check me out) and the Pulse Rifle - most likely due to the damage over time effect. Only prob for me is, it quite literally burns through ammo extremely quickly. Another thing is, the Flamethrower will not cause Crawlers or Exploders to explode. Gotta now see whether or not it causes Pregnants to release Swarmers.

I still can't get used to the Force Gun or Rivet Gun, but other people swear by them. Whatever suits your playstyle I guess. I mean seriously, fully upgraded Plasma Cutter vs fully upgraded Rivet Gun, Plasma Cutter wins hands down, 3 shots and enhanced Necros are dead. Rivet Gun can't do that. Sure, it has a larger mag and higher rate of fire, but what's the point of virtually firing blanks against enhanced Necros?

Next I'm going to try and hit the weakspot on the Tripod in the church while using the Detonator. Might even be fun.

Also, I do not recommend attempting to not make the Pack appear in the church because since I did that, the game rfuses to load that save, but loads my other saves fine.

The Noobcannon Handcannon sure is fun, but that doesn't change the fact that the Seeker and Detonator remain my weapons of choice.

Edited July 16, 2011 by WytchDokta

[WytchDokta]

Guys, it would seem that the Tormenter is scripted to take 5 shots to the arm/leg before letting you go - no matter the difficulty or weapon used. Firing during that sequence (including the outside part) only uses 1 ammo, regardless of how many rounds you fire. However, I have not tried using the Contact Beam against it yet, but it definitely took 5 shots from all weapons I used on it so far, including low and high damage weapons.

Using the Detonator as a grenade launcher is fun, and doesn't require any precise aiming. However, doing this against standard Puker or all types of enhanced enemies will require multiple shots. To put it into perspective, the original Detonator only removed a standard Pukers head when fired as a grenade launcher into its chest - which meant the Puker was still alive. In comparison, fired in the same way against standard Slashers, one shot to the chest completely gibbed them. Bear in mind, this wasn't Zealot difficulty though.

Edited July 16, 2011 by WytchDokta

[Wireman]

What I liked about the flame thrower is that even when the necro has been stasised after using flame on him he continues to burn so you can realisticly use less flame on him just a quick squirt then stasis it and watch em burn, but I agree it is very good against mobs so I am torn between the force gun or flame thower for crowd control, I too couldn,t get to grips with the rivet gun it just seemed puny and have little effect.

I use a diffferent approach to the first tripod on my hardcore run, I took both pulse rifles and seeker with me and used them so when they ran out of ammo it only took 2 shots with the plasma cutter to finish him off then I got rid of them at the next store and re brought the seeker rifle so got it back with 4 rounds and stocked up on mines via the detonator gun sell and re sell glytch, so that first tripod can be taken out without loss of ammo.

[WytchDokta]

Okay, now I'm getting different results with the Flamethrower. I just ran through Ch. 6 flaming the ###### out of the Crawlers, and the majority of them in fact exploded, this is in contrast to what wass happening when I was testing it on Ch. 13 (where the wouldn't explode if set alight.) I conclude that it is something to do with the angle the flame hits them. Yes, a little squirt of flame is enough to kill enemies, but they get dismembered by it, and take a few seconds to fall, so you can keep flaming them up thinking they're not dead when they are.

I figured one thing that could stop an enhanced Stalker from charging (headshotting it won't work) - blast off one of its legs, it will then have to crawl to reach you.

Am I the only one who snipes the birds in Watchman Howard Philips quarters in Ch. 7?

[Wireman]

I haven,t tried shooting the birds yet another good thing about flame thrower is that for just a few nodes about 6 I think, will take you to decent amount of damage and capacity for it, when it is fully charged up with full damage etc it is quite a formidable weapon, and it is easy to keep on flaming thinking their not dead when they really are, so I just use short bursts until I see them drop their goodies, its also worth while trying to keep the babies as weapons as one hit from them is usually enough to take out a necro, just stun the baby with a case or box, pick it up and enjoy the fireworks

[WytchDokta]

Short bursts on the Flamethrower is the way to go in order to conserve ammo.

Everyone will have their preferred weapon sets. But I think it's important to factor in what enemies and environments will be encountered ahead when choosing weapon sets, aswell as difficulty. I generally go for the 'more is less' approach - four weapons chosen wisely; I can cover all combat situations with my weapon set. With all combat situations covered, I don't need to swap out weapons at Stores when I reach certain levels. With the 'less is more approach' you'll surely get more ammo for your two weapons, but that doesn't help you when you've chosen the Plasma Cutter and Javellin Gun, and you've got the Pack at close range (so close that using secondary fire on Javelin Gun will kill you when you're caught in the area of effect)

My current weapon set is Plasma Cutter (now primarily for back up), Flamethrower (crowd control and finishing off enemies), Detonator (anti-Stalker and to cover my six/cover another angle the enemies can attack from), Seeker Rifle (general purpose/main weapon)

Funny thing with the Detonator - fire a round in the general direction of Tiedemann/Nicole/light source at the end of Ch. 15, just before crossing the bridge to the Tiedemann encounter. If done correctly, you (Isaac) will trigger your own mine(s) after disarming and returning fire on Tiedemann, and you will take no damage nor be knocked down.

Just out of interest Wireman, do you have a save at the start of each chapter? I do now. This allows me to track my chapter completion times, and to quickly go back through various sections in order to try out other approaches.

There's a glitch on Ch. 11 that duplicates dropped items one time only (for a maximum of 2 of each dropped item). While it's a glitch, it can help people on Zealot and Hardcore runs as there is a Diamond Semiconductor and a Ruby Semiconductor prior to this part - that's 70, 000 creds through glitching or 35, 000 creds normally. Take your pick.

Edited July 16, 2011 by WytchDokta

[Wireman]

I have got saves all through out the game but I too was thinking about redoing it in zealot and having saves from chap 2 onwards so I can go over difficult parts and try out diferent strategys.

[WytchDokta]

Surely it makes sense to have the first save from the first save station in-game, in Ch. 0.

Don't forget, you don't need start over for Zealot, you can in fact change the difficulty at any time.

I haven't been getting my DS fix lately. There's just something I enjoy about getting my Rambo on with the Sternguard in W40k Kill Team.

[Wireman]

i have found that the first part up to the bit where you crawl through to start of chapter 2 is pretty straight forward anyway. you can complete it with only shooting once at the necro on the bed once to bring the door down when window has blown out and I now take the two pulse rifles to deal with the first tripod. This saves me quite a bit of plasma ammo I,ve had to do it so many times on run throughs in hard core I could probably do it in my sleep by now

[WytchDokta]

It's odd that the spazzing out Necro on the hospital bed cannot be killed my melee NOR by impalement. Seriously, fired four Slasher claws from the two Slashers in that area into the head of the spazzing out Necro and nothing happened.

It's right about only shooting that one Necro though - you can carry (via stasis) a wheelchair with you through the hospital corridors and throw that at Necros to kill them, which will, however, take a number of direct hits to kill a Necro. But it's still hilarious.

And I found out the deal with making the Pack not spawn in the Church. According to the DS Wiki, it's nothing to do with reloading a weapon. Rather, it's to do with speed - the Pack will not initially spawn after the Tripod leaves if you blast the Tripod's tongue off BEFORE it starts dragging you. I guess that makes me a super fast shot with the Seeker. However, taking a few steps forward thereafter will cause the Pack to spawn.

Edited July 19, 2011 by WytchDokta

[Wireman]

Ah I didn,t know that, the good thing about taking on the pack though is that they leave behind alot of goodies, and talking of funny things sometimes a necro will spawn on the walkway in the first part of chap 2 so when you revisit that area, it comes to life and tries to run the wrong way up the walkway, the last time it did this I stood at the end of the walkway and just kept squirting it with the flame thrower which would knock it back and it would struggle up it again, repeat until it keels over

That was a nice find in the play room in the vents which has got me wondering if there are any more hidden goodies, trouble is surely you can,t shoot out every vent or you would soon run out of ammo looking. I also find that the dark coloured suitcases are good to use against necros and will take them out pretty quickly.

[WytchDokta]

For those worried about ammo consumption in Zealot, I'm going to conduct a little test. I'm going to run through the gane using only the Plasma Cutter along with the Engineer Suit - an homage to Dead Space which had an achievement named 'One Gun', in which you needed to complete the game using only the plasma Cutter. That can be dones easily in Dead Space, but DS doesn't have the Pack, or Stalkers for that matter. In theory, with one gun, you should be raking the ammo in left, right and centre. Plus PC ammo is very common throughout the game, most notably in the first few Chapters. However, in order to do this, a complete change in tactics, especially when facing the Pack will be necessary.

[Wireman]

Good luck, its an intresting tactic, wonder if it would work for hardcore and will the weapon and suit be enhanced from the outset

Edited July 22, 2011 by Wireman