Weapons

Weapons are another key element of Dead Ahead, as they are used to fight off zombies that follow the player, most notably the Boss.

Gameplay

Weapons can be used by pressing an orange-red button in the left bottom corner of the screen. Tapping it will make the player fire a shot from their current weapon at the zombies following them. Weapons are always fired behind the player and never to the front, given that all idle zombies on the road are essentially harmless. After firing up all of its ammo, the gun cannot be used for some time while it reloads. Weapons reload automatically, but will not do so until it is emptied.

Weapons cannot be fired under these conditions:

• If the player is accelerating;
• While the player is in the air after leaping off a ramp;
• While the player is on top of a vehicle obstacle;
• While the player is under the effect of either Nitro, or the 1000m boost.

Each weapon has three characteristics in range from 1 to 10 which determine their efficiency:

• Damage determines the power of a weapon's shot;
• Speed determines how quickly a weapon reloads;
• Ammo determines how many shots a weapon can fire before reloading.

Another hidden characteristic, which can't be changed for any of the weapons is firing speed. The only way to find it out is to see a weapon in action. However, it's safe to assume it depending on the gun's type.

It's important to mention that the abstract values shown in the shop can't be used as a proper reference for how strong each gun is in comparison to other options. There's no standard for the conversion from green bars to actual in-game numbers, and different weapons can have different values for individual stats while seemingly having the identical values according to the shop. For example, the Grenade Launcher and Betty Boomer both have 10 bars of damage, but in reality the former does 80-96 damage, and the latter – 60-80.

Pistols

Pistols are weapons that fire a single bullet with each tap. They usually have low-to-mid damage and ammo count, and specialize in single target prioritization.

List of pistols
Revolver	9mm Pistol	Heavy Pistol

Shotguns

Shotguns are weapons that fire a spread of pellets with each tap. They usually have mid-to-high damage, low-to-mid ammo count, slow firing speed, and specialize in making double and triple kills, and dealing burst damage to a single target.

List of shotguns
Double Barrel	Antique Rifle	Combat Shotgun

Machine guns

Machine guns are semi-automatic weapons that can be used by both tapping and holding down the fire button. They usually have low-to-mid damage, high ammo count, fast firing speed, and specialize in holding opponents back via knockback from chip damage.

They are the most common weapon type, with 6 total guns in the category.

List of machine guns
Machine Pistol	Nailgun	Submachine Gun	Assault Rifle	Vera the Shooter	Twins' Gatling Gun

Grenade launchers

Grenade launchers are weapons that shoot a powerful explosive with each tap, specializing in annihilation of large groups of enemies. The shot covers a large area the center of which is horizontally relative to a zombie closest to the bike. The explosive can target up to 6 enemies who are selected randomly, with only the closest zombie being a guaranteed hit. Zombies off-screen can also get killed.

Once a grenade hits an enemy, it's guaranteed to set them on fire, as a result instakilling them, regardless of how much health they have left. This doesn't apply to Bosses, since they are immune to the fire effect.

List of grenade launchers
Grenade Launcher	Betty Boomer

Railguns

Railguns are weapons that fire a straight penetrative laser with each tap. The shot can hit any number of enemies, and is very high-damaging.

This category is unique, as it features only one weapon with no alternatives.

List of railguns
Railgun

Each of the above categories, with the exception of railguns, has an achievement and/or an objective tied to it.

The damage, speed, and ammo of each gun can be improved via individual upgrades, which cost some coins. A total of two improvements can be made, each giving a weapon a new status: from basic, to "advanced", to "super". Upgrades don't necessarily affect all stats.

The "Advanced" upgrades always costs a half of the weapon's regular price, and "Super" upgrades are equal to it. That means that if you wish to have a maxed out weapon you'll have to spend a total of x2.5 of its initial price on it.

Additional Mechanics

Fire

It's possible to set non-boss enemies on fire. Whenever that happens, a zombie gets set on flames, and will continue running until it eventually slows down, falls to the ground, and disintegrates.

Once an enemy is set aflame, it's considered dead, with the kill adding to the combo meter. The only weapons that use this aspect are grenade launchers, as they are guaranteed to ignite any zombie they hit. The fire bullets boost allows to set enemies on fire with any weapon regardless of its ammo type, but it only triggers once a zombie's health is already near zero.

Regardless of what they actually look like, all enemies use the same animation of a burning zombie for the respective state. This creates a visual error with the Boomer, preventing the ring of its explosion from appearing.

List of all weapons

Weapon	Base stats	Price
Revolver	Damage: 1 Speed: 2 Ammo: 2	Free
9mm Pistol	Damage: 2 Speed: 1 Ammo: 4	2,000
Machine Pistol	Damage: 1 Speed: 2 Ammo: 7	4,000
Double Barrel	Damage: 5 Speed: 3 Ammo: 1	5,000
Heavy Pistol	Damage: 5 Speed: 3 Ammo: 2	12,000
Nailgun	Damage: 2 Speed: 3 Ammo: 5	16,000
Submachine Gun	Damage: 2 Speed: 2 Ammo: 7	20,000
Grenade Launcher	Damage: 10 Speed: 3 Ammo: 1	40,000
Antique Rifle	Damage: 8 Speed: 3 Ammo: 2	60,000
Assault Rifle	Damage: 2 Speed: 3 Ammo: 10	110,000
Combat Shotgun	Damage: 9 Speed: 3 Ammo: 3	130,000
Railgun	Damage: 9 Speed: 2 Ammo: 1	170,000
Betty Boomer	Damage: 10 Speed: 5 Ammo: 2	200,000
Vera the Shooter	Damage: 6 Speed: 5 Ammo: 7	230,000
Twins' Gatling Gun	N/A	Tied to Double Trouble