Overview
A complete guide on everything GTFO.
Intro
This guide is a continuous work-in-progress due to the game being an Early Access game
EDIT: Guide is in progress of updating, I am currently going through Rundown 4 to see all new events, enemies, weapons, etc. As of now, I have completed A1 High, A2 PE, and B2 PE.
So, you have bought and downloaded GTFO and are playing it only to discover that this game is quite different from the other games that you have played. GTFO does not tell players how to get through its levels, meaning a lot of trial and error is required.
Not to fear! I am here to help you shorten that process of trial and error so that you can get through the rundown with ease!
Thank you to ‘Kaith’, ‘Trypan’ and ‘< Blank >’ for giving tips in the comments!
Weapons
Some of the most important decisions that you will make in this game happen before you are even dropped into the nightmare pit. The weapons that you and your companions (if you have any) bring with you will decide how you go about things.
Choosing your primary is up to you, choose whatever gun you feel you’re the best with
Primary Weapons Include:
Malatack LX Assault Rifle:
- Is average in all aspects (according to the game)
- Holds 30 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 265 bullets
- Rate of Fire is 560 RPM
Malatack CH 4 Burst Rifle:
- Similar in damage and range to the Malatack LX
- Three bullet burst per fire (9 bursts per mag)
- Holds 27 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is unknown at the moment to guide maker
Shelling S49 Semi-Auto Pistol:
- Decent damage but fire rate is a bit low
- Holds 15 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 168 bullets
- Rate of Fire is 430 RPM
Raptus Treffen 2 Machine Pistol:
- Amazing damage at short range but drastic dropoff
- Holds 50 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 500 bullets
- Use at short range, it is useless at long distances
TR22 Hanaway DMR:
- High damage but low max ammo
- Holds ten bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 67 bullets
- Do not ADS when enemies are close to you when using this gun
- Rate of Fire is 200 RPM
Van Auken LTC 5 SMG:
- Lowest damaging weapon but makes up for it in high ammo capacity
- Holds 40 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 393 bullets
- Advised when using this gun to shoot in short bursts to ensure best accuracy
- Rate of Fire is 630 RPM
The secondaries vary greatly, as some strategies require one person to holster the sniper
Secondary Weapons Include:
Buckland S870 Semi-Auto Shotgun:
- High damage but low ammo cap and low rate of fire
- Holds 9 shells per mag
- Max ammo is 29 shells
- Can one-shot a sentry if you are close enough
- Rate of Fire is 110 RPM
Buckland AF6 Combat Shotugn:
- High damage paired with good rate of fire
- Holds 10 shells per mag
- Max ammo is 56 shells
- Rate of Fire is 250 RPM
Koning PR 11 Sniper Rifle:
- Very high damage with the downside of very low ammo capacity
- Holds 3 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 11 bullets
- Can one shot a Scout/Sentry
- Rate of Fire is 160 RPM
Mastaba R66 Revolver:
- High damage with medium rate of fire and painful recoil
- 6 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 52 bullets
- Rate of Fire is 570 RPM
- Able to one hit grunts, but be wary of how many bullets you have in the mag
Techman Arbalist V Machine Gun:
- Average damage and good for crowd control but with low rate of fire
- Holds 25 bullets per mag
- Max ammo is 107 bullets
- Rate of Fire is 410 RPM
- Note that this gun has a small charge-up time before firing
Melee weapons are up to personal preference as they do the same amount of damage and have the same charge-up times. The only difference in the melee weapons is how they look. For maximum efficiency with them, charge up the weapon and then swing at the enemy. Don’t charge for too long though as it will auto-swing if held long enough. Melee weapons are the only silent weapon as of now (mines are too while in stealth, but I’m pretty sure the devs will change that) so use them a lot
More Weapons
Van Auken CAB F4 Carbine
4-shot burst SMG
Max Ammo 393 rounds (40 round per mag)
Can be used in the same way as the SMG
Has medium to short range
Burst Cannon
5-round burst
Charge-up weapon
Can one-shot scouts and brutes
Tools
Another decision that you will be making before you enter the hellhole is what tools you will be bringing. They each have a different function that will help your team in specific circumstances.
Krieger 04 Mine Deployer
- Uses mines to kill enemies (Triggers when enemies pass by it)
- Place them on doors or walls for maximum efficiency
- Can down you if you are in the blast radius
- If one of your mines explodes during stealth, it is considered a silent kill even with the excessive noise
- Does not have much ammo as max ammo is 8 mines
Stalwart G2 C-Foam Launcher
- Used to reinforce doors or can freeze enemies for a decent amount of time
- Is easily replaced by C-Foam grenades which do the same job in a shorter amount of time
- Requires a charge-up to use
- Reinforcing doors requires a significant amount of ammo
- The C-Foam launcher is a silent weapon, meaning it can be safely used in stealth
- Can be used to freeze Scouts to safely dispatch of them
- Max ammo is 60 (5 full charges and a half charge)
Mechatronic Automated Sentry Gun
- There are two types of sentry, a burst and a shotgun
- Both variant hold a max 210 ammo
- Is great for crowd control and early detection during alarm sequences
- Burst sentry uses 3 ammo per shot while shotgun sentry uses 5 ammo per shot
- Strafing enemies can easily dodge the sentry
- Placement is crucial to its effectiveness
- Can’t detect Shadows unless with the help of a flashlight
Bio Tracker
- Can be used an infinite amount of times
- Person using Bio Tracker should have a mic
- Can tag moving enemies, but after a short charge-up
- After tagging, there is a cooldown time where you can’t tag any more enemies
- Can see up to 25/30 meters in the direction you are facing
- Can help sentries kill Shadows (tag the Shadows)
Consumables
Once you and your team have finished setting up what you are bringing into the hole. You will enter the level and will find crates while progressing. These resource lockers contain resources that will help you on your journey. There are two types of consumables (Resource Packs and Utility), with you only being able to hold one of each.
One type of consumable that you will find is Resource Packs which will either refill your tools or ammo or heal you.
There are three types of resource packs: Ammunition, Medical, and Tool Refill. These amount of uses each pack has varies from 2 to 5.
- Ammunition Packs will refill both your primary and secondary weapons to an extent, it depends on what weapons you bring that will decide how much the ammunition packs will refill your guns
- Medical Packs heal you for 20% each use
- Tool Refill packs refill your tools.
- Disinfection Packs decrease your infection meter by 20% for each use
The second type of consumable are Utility items. These utility items help in various situations or areas where you might be.
- Fog Repellers do as their name says and repels fog for a limited amount of time and to a small distance. You can find these in groups of 2 to 4
- Glow sticks are used to light up dark places and locate enemies. To an extent, they can also be used to see through fog! Glow sticks are usually found in packs of twelve and can be found outside of resource lockers (if you look hard enough) Glow sticks demand praise as they are our messiah from the darkness… PRAISE THE HOLY GLOW
- C-Foam grenades have the same use as C-Foam launchers but are better than them in my opinion. With one grenade you can barricade a door or freeze a Scout/Sentry! They are found with 1 to 3 uses (though I have never found a 3-use C-Foam grenade)
- The Long Range Flashlight is an infinite use flashlight which is stronger than any flashlight auto-equipped to your guns or self. It can also be used to help sentries detect Shadows
Enemies
While your down in the darkness, there are different enemies that you will encounter and have to take care of. They vary drastically in how they function, so knowledge of what they do is crucial.
Note that any flashlight, if pointed at a sleeping enemy for long enough, will awaken and alert them to your presence
All enemies have four stages: Sleeping, Scanning, Pulsing, and Alert
- When an enemy is Sleeping, they will either be in a full fetal position or standing with their stubby hands to their mouth/head. A sleeping enemy does not glow and pulse. This is the optimal time to move around.
- When an enemy is Scanning, they will glow red and look up. If they are standing they will also extend their arms to the sides of their body. You can still move around but moving will put all enemies into the next stage.
- When an enemy is Pulsing, you can hear a heartbeat and the light inside of them quickly moving up and down. DO NOT MOVE during this stage, as moving will alert them. You can look around, just don’t walk.
- The next stage is Alert, this is when the enemy is aware of your presence and will either attack you or alert the other enemies in the room to your presence.
There are some other mechanics to the Alert system that every player should know…
- All enemies will instantly become alerted, no matter which stage they are at, if you bump into them. So be sure to look around when moving as to not bump into anyone
- If you kill an enemy and there is a nearby enemy scanning, they will become Alerted
- It is possible to kill an alerted enemy before it screams and alerts the others in the room, thus maintaining stealth. So don’t give up if an enemy is alerted to you, kill it fast enough and you can maintain stealth for the room.
A unique thing about GTFO enemies to know: Even if an enemies head/limb/torso is removed from the body, they might still be alive
The best indicator of knowing whether an enemy is dead or not is to check the crosshair to see if a broken orange X flashes across the screen
Grunts
Grunts are the weakest and most common enemy in the game. You can find them in either a fetal position or standing up. The best method of killing them is a fully charged melee swing to the head in stealth. For loud, shooting them in the head is advised but be aware that even with no head, they may still be alive. The grunt’s method of attack is to get into a certain distance of you and then use their intestinal mouth (I’m not kidding, they have that) to hit you. A person can counteract this attack by hitting them in the head, staggering them. The grunt’s attack has a small charge-up period in which they stand still and can be easily hit.
Archer/Ranged Grunts/Shooter
Archers are similar to grunts in that they are very common and are very weak alone. They can be distinguished by the bulbous outcrops coming from their head, it is also where you can see if they are scanning or not. Their method of attack is to shoot a ranged, glowing ‘arrow’ at you which can also track you. This ‘arrow’ is dodgeable if you strafe it. They will keep their distance from you if alerted, so make sure to aim your shots well. The preferable method of execution is a fully charged melee to the head. Something to remember about these enemies is that even if they are just a torso and legs, they might still be alive.
Rapid Shooter
This is a type of shooter that I have only seen during Flush sequences and nowhere else, they look just like regular shooter except that they have spike on their head and they are a bit taller than regular shooters
Brute/Melee Big One
Brutes are bigger, stronger version of grunts that have much more health, can hit you much harder and farther away, at the cost of being much slower. They are distinguishable by their size, mouth, and black stomach area. They are (personally) the most dangerous enemy in the game as they can knock 40% of your health in one hit. If you want to stealth kill this monster, have you and all your teammates surround it and hit it at the same time with fully charged swings. The stealth method can be dangerous for players under 40% health if not done correctly as the brute might flail in a circle, downing everyone. During loud sections, aim for the head and stomach to stagger it.
Ranger/Ranged Big One/Big Shooter
Rangers are the bigger and stronger versions of archers, similar to the relation between grunts and brutes. They can be distinguished by their red hue, large size, and bulbous outcrops. A ranger is stronger than an archer in its ability to shoot three ‘arrows’ at a time instead of one. It maintains the same attack strategy as archers but is a tad bit slower than them. You can kill rangers stealthily the same way you kill brutes, but compared to brutes they are much safer to kill close ranged as they don’t have a melee attack.
Scout/Sentry
The scout is a special type of enemy in the fact that it doesn’t have a sleeping state and can be pinged with the Bio Scanner at any time. While the other enemies are sleeping, the Scout patrols the room and occasionally stops and extends tendrils which, if touched, will retract and cause the Sentry to enter a state of invulnerability. During this invincible state, the Scout will turn blue and emit a loud screech which alerts all other enemies in the room and in adjacent rooms. Along with alerting all other enemies, it will also cause a wave of enemies similar to a single wave in an alarm sequence. After alerting other enemies, it apparently dies, its sole objective complete. There are two optimal ways to kill a scout. The first way is to shoot it in the head with a sniper rifle, all other guns won’t kill it in one shot. The other way is to use a C-Foam grenade to freeze the scout, approach it and kill it with a fully charged melee attack.
Bulls/Spiky Bois/Charger
Bulls are a late-rundown variant of the grunt. Bulls can be distinguished by their dark skin tone and the spikes on their head. They do not go into fetal position and are always found standing up. Due to their darker skin tone, they are harder to spot and it is harder to see if they are scanning. It is also harder to hear if they are pulsing as they are quieter than their grunt counterparts. The bull’s attack method is also different, charging you and rapidly attacking you with their fist, with each hit knocking about 5% of health from you. An important note about bulls is that they can’t be killed with a fully charged swing to the head. The way to kill a bull is to hit them in the back with a fully charged melee.
More Enemies
Shadows
Shadows are basically re-skins of grunts and archers (as of right now) as they are almost impossible to see in the dark and, when seen, look like shadows. They are killed in the same way grunts and archers are killed but are dangerous in the fact they are very hard to see. Sentries alone can’t see them, requiring someone to using a flashlight to help them spot them.
Environmental Danger
Infection Fog
Infection fog is a fog that is similar to regular fog, except that if you stay in it, it will cause your infection rate to increase and your health to decrease. Infection rate lingers with you until you can find and use a disinfection pack, which are found in lockers.
Sacks/Spitters
Sacks are annoying as hell bulbous outcrops that can be found anywhere in an area on ceilings and walls. Their danger comes in the fact that if you get too close to them without noticing, they will ‘burst’ and cause your infection rate to rise and possibly take damage. The way to deal with them is to shine a flashlight on them to cause them to shrivel up, which prevents them from bursting. Be wary though as it may take some time for them to shrivel up.
Terminals
In every zone, there are terminals that can used by all players. Only one person can use them at a time, but they are crucial for getting through missions.
There are certain codes that you need to enter to see what you want though
These codes are listed here:
Query
Query is an entry used to find items that are not in your current zone
Example: Query HSU_833
Ping
Ping is used to find the area in which an item is found. Know that ping only works if you are using a terminal in the zone that the item is located in
Example: Ping ID_654A057
List
List can be used to list all the items in the map. To see all the items in a zone, you need to be a bit more specific
Examples: List (Lists everything)
List 65 (Lists everything in zone 65)
List 65 ID (Lists all IDs in zone 65)
Reactor Codes
Reactor codes are special in that they are only used in reactor missions where you have to either turn on or shut off a reactor
Examples: REACTOR_STARTUP (used to start defences in reactor startup missions)
REACTOR_SHUTDOWN (used to start defences in reactor shutdown missions)
REACTOR_VERIFY CODE (used during defences to progress to next part of defence)
NOTE the CODE part of the reactor verify changes every time, but there will be a prompt that shows up on the screen that tells you what the code is
Alarm Sequences
Alarm sequences occur when you and your team reach a door and there is red text saying that there is an Alarm. DON’T OPEN THE DOOR IMMEDIATELY. Prepare first.
Once you have prepared (mines and sentries are placed and everyone is huddled by the alarm door), start the alarm sequence. There will be a bio-scan where everyone in the team will have to stand inside of a designated circle (it glows orange!). After this first bio-scan, there will be a white holographic line that you will have to follow. It doesn’t go to the same place every time, so make sure to keep your eye on it. Once this white line reaches a certain place, it will either stop, split off into two lines, or split off into four lines. At the end of these lines, there will be red circles that you and your team will have to stand in. The alarm sequence will continue indefinitely until you stand in these circle, so it is crucial that you get these done as fast as possible. Once you have stood in these circles long enough, they will disappear, which means you have finished the scan in that point. Once all red circles have disappeared, the white line will move to another place and you will have to repeat the process again. The Bio-scan process of standing in the red circles varies from needing to do a single round of red circles to up to four rounds.
Tips for Getting Through Bio-Scan Sequences
- Always have your gun out, you never know when the enemies will come at you
- Closed and barricaded doors aren’t safe doors, they will first break through the barricade and then break through the door
- Close all doors in the room that contains the alarmed door, the seconds that the enemies are trying to break through the door are seconds that you can use to stand in the bioscanning circles
- Place mines on closed doors, they are the best place to put your mines as the enemy bunches up beyond the door while trying to break through
- When there are only a few enemies left (usually archers), pick up your sentries and melee as to not waste sentry, primary, and secondary ammo reserves
- Enemies will spawn at a point with the most direct route to the door. So if you are in a room with two paths of entry, the enemy will spawn nearest to the point of entry that is quickest to enter (i.e. Breaking through a single foamed door rather than going through two doors)
- Spread your turrets out, so they can kill as many enemies as possible. When bunched up, they may aim for the same enemy, leading to wasted ammo
- Place sentries on the other side of doors (facing the doors) that lead to your area. Enemies bunch up on the other side of the door as to try and break it down, this helps your turrets kill more enemies.
Tips for Getting Through Flush Sequences
Flush Sequences are what I call the new sequence where, instead of having to stand in certain places, the door automatically opens but you have to defend yourself against a horde of enemies
- Flush sequences are distinguishable from sight as people can see coagulated blood on the door’s hatches
- To prepare, coordinate a fall back point to where your team will run to when the door opens, there are too many enemies for you to hold your ground safely
- Use unbroken regular doors as a fallback point, place sentries on the side of the door where the enemies come from and close the door when all team members are through
- C-Foam Grenades are very helpful in this sequence as you can C-Foam an unbroken regular door and let sentries take care of the enemies for you
- There are only a set amount of enemies, so don’t feel constrained by time to take them out… play it safe
Sting’s Tips to Beginners
- When using your weapons, make sure that your primary and secondary have about the same percentage. This ensures that you aren’t wasting the uses of your ammo refills.
- Talk! Getting through levels relies heavily on cooperation!
- Don’t excessively use your health kits, if a person is at 10% health, wait for them to regen to 20% before giving them a dose of medicine!
- Prioritize sentries before other tools! They are useful in the most amount of situations, so the person holding them should get priority when it comes to tool refills
- Praise the Holy Glow! Glow sticks are common and can help you spot enemies in the dark. Throwing a glow stick before an alarm sequence will increase your chances, but doesn’t ensure success! They also don’t alert enemies when thrown, even if the glow stick hits the enemy!
- Use terminals frequently! They can help you locate where your objective(s) is and also help you find resource crates!
- Bio Trackers can be used during alarm sequences to help the other players see where enemies are!
- A Long Range Flashlight can help sentries spot Shadows!
- Bulls are easily staggered when shot in the head
- Reload often! You don’t lose any bullets when you reload!
- C-Foam grenades can be used to freeze Scout/Sentries, allowing you to whack them with melee safely and silently
- The AI prefers to funnel than spread out, if your whole team gets close together, the AI enemies will bunch up (meaning that they will be easier to kill)
- When entering rooms with multiple security doors, always do alarmed doors first. This helps you ensure that they are only coming from one place. (i.e. Enemies can only come through one door rather than two or three)
- There are two modes to the glow stick, red or green. Green is preferably used in non-foggy areas while the red mode is used in the fog
- Stay out of infection clouds as much as possible, they damage you and there is almost always another way around
- When dealing with sacks, have a designated person using the flashlight to keep the sacks shriveled. There are sometimes regular enemies nearby the sacks so be careful where you direct your light
- Infection rates work side-by-side with your health, so if you have 23% infection rate, your health can’t go higher than 77%
Exit
So that is everything I have to teach you at the moment! Hope you learned something from this and maybe we’ll meet in game someday!
Good luck… you’ll need it…
If there is anything that I missed, please leave a comment and I will fix it!