Useful Guns
If you do not know how to unlock any of the below weapons, check Kunovega's "How to Obtain Unlocks" guide in Resources.
Ballistic Pistols
ICA19 and its variants are overall the most accurate silenced pistol. Note that the ICA 19 Silverballer's "precise aim" is a placebo and doesn't actually improve the accuracy of the gun. This is confirmed by multiple renowned speedrunners such as Mendietinha, and Foretheseven.
Krugermeier can sometimes be useful because both the gunshot and bullet impact are quieter, which can sometimes prevent panic/ getting spotted. This does come at the price of an accuracy reduction compared to ICA19.
DAK X2 Covert and ICA 19 F/A stealth are silenced handheld guns that can shoot open almost any swinging door, physical or electric lock alike. However, since they are also full auto, they are less useful for precise bullet distractions.
Sniper Rifles
Sniper rifles can also shoot swinging doors open, so you may not need a lockpick or disposable scrambler if you're already bringing a sniper rifle.
Sieger 300 Ghost is usually the best all-around sniper to to having fast unpack, maximum zoom, maximum damage (can blow up car in two shots from any distance, OHKO any NPC from any distance), and also being the most silent (subsonic perk).
However, the non-Ghost Sieger 300 variants can also be useful for times when you do not want to one hit kill people.
- Example of using Sieger 300 Advanced on Ljudmilla- Bullet does not kill Ljudmilla on impact, but pushes her into water for fall accident.
- Example of using Sieger 300 to avoid killing scientist near virus when shooting virus
Dart Guns
Kalmer does not fire bullets, but its tranquilizing effect is very useful. Besides the obvious application of public knockouts, guards are temporarily unable to frisk you or spot you trespassing while they are looking at a body unconscious from a Kalmer.
- Example of using Kalmer to avoid getting spotted for trespassing (credits to David Strong)
Sieker does not fire bullets, but its emetic effect is very useful. Besides the obvious application of making NPC's go to the toilet, it is also useful for just making NPC's blind and leave the area for more than a minute.
Bullet Distractions (1 bullet)
The most obvious use of bullet distractions is to briefly turn an NPC around, or lure them to a particular spot.
A lesser known application of bullet distractions is to shoot the top of a wall/ ceiling to lure NPC's upstairs. This can be used not only to lure NPC's to another floor, but to just make an NPC leave the area for an extended period of time.
- Example of ceiling lure (notice how lady goes upstairs)
2 shot bullet panic
A common use of 2 shot bullet panic is to panic civilians so they can't spot you trespassing.
2 shot bullet panic can also be used to keep multiple NPC's looking in the direction you shot at for longer than if you just fired one shot. Beware this is risky, as NPC reactions to two bullets can be RNG.
- Example of bullet panic to keep guards turned to the right (Credits to Omarsherriff)
Triple shot panic
When you triple shot a surface near a guard, they will home in on where you shot from. During this time they are unable to see you trespassing. Make sure you leave the area from where you shot as soon as possible, or else you may go into combat. Note that triple shot only works on guards, civilians react the same to triple shot as they would double shot. Note that triple shot blinds guards to everything, not just trespassing. You cannot be spotted wielding a weapon by guards panicked by triple shot, for instance.
Disclaimer: this technique can be rather inconsistent and doesn't always work as expected. Sometimes you spontaneously go into combat when running past guard, sometimes an NPC runs an unexpected direction and causes panic.
- Example of using triple shot panic to blind them to trespassing (credits to Futa)
Body shots
Unlike triple shot, body shot works both on guards and civilians. Body shot works pretty much the same as guards as triple shot, causing the guard to home in on where you shot from while blinded to any illegal action you perform. Body shotting civilians also blinds them to illegal actions you perform, but they will just run for a nearby guard instead of homing in on you. Note that body shotting makes NPC's blind to all illegal actions, not just trespassing. You can for example shoot a civilian so they can't spot you shooting something else.
Disclaimer: this technique can be rather inconsistent and doesn't always work as expected. Sometimes you spontaneously go into combat when running past guard, sometimes an NPC runs an unexpected direction and causes panic.
The Hitman 2016 and Hitman 2 (2018) games will be de-listed starting January 26, 2023.
If you had any interest whatsoever in trying out the 2016 and 2018 game engines, now's the time to buy those games.
Hitman 2016 is probably the most