All The Last of Us Part 1 weapon locations
Where to find every gun, item and special weapon in The Last of Us Part 1
There are The Last of Us Part 1 weapons and guns spread throughout the game as you play. You can find many as part of the story, or pick them off bodies along the way. It means most of them are unavoidable, but there are a few special guns you could completely miss. There are nine core weapons in total, as well as some special gear and equipment you can get along the way. Below we're going to explain where to find all weapon locations in The Last of Us Part 1, including what they do, and even how to reload weapons, which has been giving some people trouble.
All The Last of Us Part 1 weapon locations
There are a total of nine main weapons located across The Last of Us Part 1 which you can find here:
- 9MM Pistol (Can't be missed). Acquired when getting your gear to leave the Quarantine Zone.
- Revolver. Found on a dead soldier while exploring the tilted skyscraper during The Outskirts, after climbing on the unstable window cleaners' platforms outside.
- Hunting Rifle. After leaving Tess behind in the Capitol Building and escaping upstairs you'll jump between two buildings. Once you land there's a dead Firefly ahead, propped up between two doors with the Hunting Rifle in their hands.
- Bow. During Bill's Town exploration, you'll see an infected killed by a nail bomb. Past that you'll climb onto a semi-truck with a chair on top of it. Leaning against the chair is a bow and some arrows.
- Pump Shotgun (Can't be missed). Given to you during a cutscene in Bill's Town where you flee into a church. You'll have it in your inventory when the cutscene is over.
- Shorty/Sawed-Off Shotgun. Inside the sewers after escaping the armored car, you'll set off a noise trap when going through a door. The Shorty is on a table just ahead on a table to the left. Just ahead is also one of The Last of Us Training Manuals, so grab that too.
- El Diablo. When starting the Tommy's Dam mission you'll find a car crashed into a rock. Next to the open door is a skeleton with the El Diablo beside it. (Not to be confused with a crashed car further down the path, which holds one of The Last of Us comic books.)
- Flamethrower. When first entering the university, as you approach the first barrier you jump with the horse, turn right into the loading bay instead. The flamethrower is inside, leaning against the forklift truck.
- Pump Shotgun (again). During the section where you play as Ellie you'll have a severely reduced arsenal. After the horseback chase, kill any of the enemies hunting you to take one of their shotguns.
- Assault Rifle. During the hospital firefight all the enemies you encounter have assault rifles. Killing any of them will allow you to pick up this new weapon.
- (Special) Sniper Rifle. This is a one-use event that's less of a proper weapon and more of a mini-game. After fleeing across the Suburbs, you'll get to use this mounted rifle to pick off targets to keep your allies safe. However, there's no way to take it with you, and the Hunting Rifle will have to make do as a substitute.
All special gear, explosive and bomb locations
Aside from the weapons, players can also find special weapons, bombs and items that, once found, be crafted from the menu from basic materials in The Last of Us Part 1. Items can be crafted from materials after finding an intact version of that item for the first time - so, for example, Joel doesn't know how to craft a molotov until he finds one in the world and can see how it's constructed. But after finding it, he can make more, assuming he has the materials to do so.
Here's where to find all The Last of Us Part 1 special weapons, bombs and items:
- Health Kit. Given to you by Tess after the initial attack on the checkpoint. This is the standard health-recovery device - using The Last of Us supplements can increase the speed at which it can be used while Training Manuals can improve how much health they restore.
- Shiv. While pursuing Robert, you'll fight through a series of buildings. Not long after the brick/bottle throwing tutorial, you'll enter a warehouse - go upstairs to the office to find a shiv on a desk.
- Molotov. After dropping down through the leaning skyscraper (after getting the revolver) you'll end up in a ruined subway station. The Molotov is on a corpse ahead of you, alongside some crafting materials.
- Upgraded Melee Weapon. When you approach Bill's Town and use the plank to cross the fence, the small building you use to support the plank has an upgraded pipe on it. There's also a safe ahead, so check our page on The Last of Us safe codes to find out how to crack it.
- Nail Bomb. After fleeing with Bill into the Church, he'll make you a Nail Bomb. When he mentions it, go over to him - there'll be one on the desk. Nail bombs are more powerful explosives that molotovs, but don't do lasting damage. They can also be set up like mines for enemies to trigger.
- Smoke Bomb. This stealth device is found early on in Pittsburgh. After the initial ambush, Ellie will help you lift a metal door to reach a garage - the Smoke Bomb is on your left, along with some Tools, and will come in useful not long afterwards during The Last of Us keycard hunting section in the hotel basement. Smoke bombs harmlessly disorientate opponents, allowing you to escape while they're blinded.
- Switchblade. This effectively acts as a shiv with infinite uses, and is part of Ellie's arsenal. You'll have it for the sections where you play as her, but there's no way to pass it to Joel afterwards or before. It's technically one of the artifact collectibles in The Last of Us Part 1, if 100% completion is something that matters to you.
Of course, all those weapons can be improved with some of The Last of Us weapon upgrades, the best of which you can check out in that guide. And that in turn will require you to find some of The Last of Us tools - nobody said that equipping yourself in the fungal apocalypse was going to be easy, after all.
How to reload in The Last of Us
In order to reload in The Last of Us you just have to press the right trigger on its own without pressing L2 to aim down the sights. It's easy to miss though because it's very briefly mentioned at the start and, with ammo in such short supply initially, you might go a while before you ever get around trying to using it. It also feels... wrong, somehow, to pull the trigger to do anything other than shoot. But, that's the method Naughty Dog has gone with here - pull the right trigger solo to reload guns - Joel will then top off whatever weapon he's carrying as long as you have ammo in reserve.
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.
- Leon HurleyManaging editor for guides