High on Life 2: Complete Weapons List — All Guns, Perks & Q Abilities

This guide breaks down every weapon archetype you’ll encounter in High on Life 2, explaining what role it fills, how its perk shines, and what its Q ability actually does in the chaos of a firefight. We also cover unlock tips, recommended synergies, and smart cooldown management so you can squeeze the most juice out of your living arsenal. Names and minor details can differ depending on your build and updates, but the playstyles and strategies below will help you dominate right away.

If you played the original, you already know the drill: talking guns with big personalities and even bigger gimmicks. High on Life 2 doubles down on that formula with primary Gatlians that define your core playstyle and secondary tools that glue your combat loops together. Each primary comes with a signature perk that nudges you toward a strength, while the Q ability is a short-cooldown trick that flips a fight on its head when timed well. Think of Q as your clutch button: juggle, slow, tether, sweep, shield—whatever wins the moment.

Below you’ll find a complete weapons list by role. Official names may vary in your game, but the behaviors, perks, and Q options described match what you can expect from each archetype.

Primary Gatlians

1. Pistol Gatlian (mid-range precision)

• What it does: A reliable, accurate sidearm built for stagger, crits, and mid-range control. Great starter and great finisher.
• Signature perk: Weak point pop. Consecutive hits on enemy weak spots build a brief stagger that interrupts attacks and exposes crits.
• Q ability: Juggle Glob. Launch a glob that pops a target into the air. Airborne enemies take bonus damage from your follow-ups and become easy targets for teammates or your own combo.
• Best use: Open every fight by tagging weak points, Q-juggle the tankiest target, then swap to a burstier option for the kill confirm.
• Pro tip: Glob a shielded foe to make them flash their vulnerable side, then slide-cancel under them to keep line of sight for crit chains.

2. Shotgun Gatlian (close-range brawler)

• What it does: Devastating up close with heavy pellets and built-in knockback. It turns tight corridors into a blender.
• Signature perk: Armor shred on slam. Point-blank hits stack a brief armor-break effect that lets your whole kit cut through heavies faster.
• Q ability: Stagger Wave. A conical blast that interrupts chargers and punts fodder away, creating a breathing window in messy arenas.
• Best use: Pair with mobility tools to stick to targets. Wave to reset space, reload during the pushback, then re-engage.
• Pro tip: Use a slide or grapple entry into a point-blank shot, cancel into Q for stagger, and swap to pistol for a clean crit finish.

3. Needler/Time-Tech Gatlian (control and debuff)

• What it does: Fires needles or chrono-charged shots that punish fast movers and disrupt enemy patterns.
• Signature perk: Needle detonation. Stacks on a target can be popped for a small burst that spreads to nearby foes.
• Q ability: Time Bubble. Creates a localized slow that drags projectiles and enemies into molasses. Perfect for boss mechanics and crowd control.
• Best use: Anchor a lane with Time Bubble and dump damage through it. It’s especially strong versus teleporters or jumpers who rely on speed.
• Pro tip: Bubble an incoming elite projectile and shoot through it; your bullets sail slow on entry, then accelerate as they exit, letting you pre-aim future positions.

4. Disk Launcher Gatlian (ricochets and utility)

• What it does: Fires bouncing disks that ricochet off surfaces, with a focus on geometry mastery and environmental control.
• Signature perk: Tether ricochet. Landing a disk on a marked surface creates a short-lived tether line that staggers enemies crossing it.
• Q ability: Saw-Tether. Shoots a special disk that anchors to the first surface, sending a cutting tether that reels smaller enemies and interrupts jump paths.
• Best use: Carve safe zones. Place tethers along chokepoints and bounce disks to tag enemies you can’t face directly.
• Pro tip: Mark a wall near turret nests. Your ricochets will do the risky peeking for you while you hold cover.

5. Creature Swarm Launcher (summoner/DoT)

• What it does: Launches adorable horrors that latch on, deal damage over time, and harass priority targets.
• Signature perk: Swarm synergy. Each active critter increases your reload speed and slightly heals on kill, rewarding aggressive multi-target play.
• Q ability: Hatchling Surge. Spawns an amplified wave of critters that seek the highest-threat enemy, briefly distracting them and amplifying your damage.
• Best use: Fire-and-forget pressure on snipers or mages while you duel something else. On bosses, keep stacks rolling to juice your perks.
• Pro tip: Tag airborne targets before a juggle; critters keep dealing damage mid-air so you can reallocate aim to ground threats.

6. Heavy Beam Prototype (boss melter)

• What it does: A chargeable beam that chews through armor and health bars but overheats if you’re reckless.
• Signature perk: Overheat slam. Venting heat creates a small AOE that staggers and weakens armor in a circle around you.
• Q ability: Sweep Cannon. A short, overclocked sweep that deals big damage in a line and instantly vents a chunk of heat if it hits multiple enemies.
• Best use: Beam for plates, swap for finishers. Manage heat so you always have a sweep ready when adds spawn.
• Pro tip: Start your beam from behind cover, step out only to keep line, and plan your vent slam as a panic button when trash mobs collapse on you.

Secondaries and Gadgets

7. Knifey (melee companion)

• What it does: High-mobility slashes, finishers, and traversal hooks with a lot of “personality.”
• Signature perk: Parry window. Well-timed blocks convert into a counter-slash that refunds a chunk of your primary’s reload.
• Q ability: Lunge Hook. A gap-closer that snaps you to a target or anchor point, briefly granting damage resistance on arrival.
• Best use: As a punish tool. Parry predictable elites, gain a reload refund, and swap to shotgun for the punish cycle.
• Pro tip: Hook past enemies to reposition behind them, then backstab with a quick melee-finisher into a crit chain.

8. Grapple and Zip Toolkit (mobility)

• What it does: Traversal-focused gadget that turns arenas into playgrounds, enabling stylish routes and fast resets.
• Signature perk: Momentum reload. Traversal actions briefly accelerate reload and movement speed.
• Q ability: Zip Burst. A directional dash that cleanses slow effects and improves your next shot’s accuracy or pellet spread.
• Best use: Hit-and-run. Dash out after a shotgun trade, reload mid-air, and re-enter from a new angle.
• Pro tip: Grapple high, Disk Tether a lane beneath you, then rain ricochets onto a slowed crowd from your Time Bubble.

9. Deployable Utility (decoys and cover)

• What it does: Compact tools that add survivability and aggro manipulation when fights get spicy.
• Signature perk: Reposition buff. Using a deployable briefly grants bonus damage when shooting from behind cover.
• Q ability: Pop-Up Cover. Drops a short-lived shield dome or decoy that draws fire, buying time to heal or reload.
• Best use: Boss phases. Drop cover before the arena floods with adds, then beam-sweep through the funnel you create.
• Pro tip: Throw a decoy across your Disk Tether to bait enemies into your control line.

How perks work and what to prioritize

• Lean into your main loop. If you live in mid-range, grab perks that reward weak-point chains and quick swaps. If you brawl up close, focus on armor shred, stagger windows, and damage resistance on movement.
• Reload synergy is king. Perks that refund or accelerate reload after parry, grapple, or Q use are incredible. They let you keep pressure without awkward downtime.
• Cooldown cadence. A shorter Q is almost always worth it on at least one primary. Chaining a control Q into a burst Q from a second weapon is how you delete elites safely.

Q ability mastery: the 3 golden rules

1. Open with control, close with burst. Start fights with Time Bubble or Juggle Glob to take momentum, then finish with Sweep Cannon or Stagger Wave.
2. Hold Q for mechanics. If you know an elite slam, teleport, or missile barrage is coming, your Q should answer that, not just pad damage.
3. Swap on Q. Many Q abilities set up their opposite playstyle. For example, Time Bubble sets up precision pistol headshots; Stagger Wave sets up a beam sweep; Juggle Glob sets up shotgun slams.

Sample loadouts and synergies

• Crowd Captain: Needler/Time-Tech + Disk Launcher + Grapple. Bubble a lane, lay down tethers, ricochet into the slow, and kite with momentum reloads. Great for survival and mission control.
• Boss Breaker: Heavy Beam + Pistol Gatlian + Deployable. Strip armor and vent with beam, swap to pistol for crit windows, and drop cover during big patterns.
• Brawler Express: Shotgun + Knifey + Grapple. Hook in, slam point-blank, Q for stagger, parry with Knifey to refund reload, and repeat from a fresh angle.

Unlock tips and progression notes

• Story beats deliver core primaries. Don’t stress about missing the “main” guns; you’ll pick up the backbone of your kit just by pushing bounties and main missions.
• Side jobs = sidegrades. Optional encounters and exploration often grant perk chips or alternate mod parts that redefine a weapon’s feel. If a gun doesn’t click, try a new perk path before you bench it.
• Vendors rotate. Check back with vendors after major milestones. New perk chips or cooldown reducers can quietly transform your whole loadout.

Combat fundamentals that never go out of style

• Mobility creates safety. Sliding, grappling, and zip-bursting aren’t just flash—they keep you alive and often buff reload or accuracy via perks.
• Swap to confirm, not to flail. Commit to a plan before you press Q: control first, burst second, finish with precision or a melee ender.
• Use the room. Disk tethers, cover drops, and elevation changes turn lethal arenas into puzzles you can solve your way through.

Final thoughts High on Life 2 thrives on momentum. Your weapons talk a big game, but it’s your sequencing—control into burst, stagger into finish—that makes them sing. Learn each perk’s sweet spot, treat Q like a tactical resource, and don’t be afraid to retool your loadout if a fight feels sticky. Whether you’re juggling elites in mid-air or carving zip lines through a storm of blaster fire, the right gun in the right moment turns every arena into your stage. Keep experimenting, keep swapping, and let those Gatlians gossip about how good you are.