Niko Bellic's grounded, weighty Liberty City — the franchise's most grown-up entry.
GTA IV's weapon list is smaller than GTA V's by design, and that is the point. The 2008 game's gunplay leans on weight, recoil, and the cover system Rockstar built for the RAGE engine. The right loadout in Liberty City is shorter than the catalogue and far less generous than later games allow. Below are the ten weapons that carry the original game and the two episodes (The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony) where Niko's no-nonsense pistols sit alongside Luis's gold-plated SMGs and Johnny's pipe bombs. Ranked by reliability under the GTA IV cover system.
The Carbine Rifle is GTA IV's M4 stand-in and the rifle that makes the mid-game playable. Tight recoil, accurate at long range, and the weapon that closes out most of Niko's later missions. Pick one up off a NOOSE officer in the back half of the game and never put it down.
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The base Assault Rifle is the AK-47 of Liberty City, the weapon the Russian and Faustin factions hand out to anyone who shows up to a meeting. It is hard-hitting up close, kicks harder than the Carbine, and feels right for the half of the game where Niko is still working for Eastern European bosses.
The Combat Sniper (the PSG-1 analogue) is the precision rifle you want for the highway-toll, rooftop and Algonquin warehouse sniper missions that GTA IV runs more than people remember. Fast reacquisition between shots, large magazine, and the only sniper in the base game that scales up to the harder side missions.
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GTA IV's Pump Shotgun is the close-quarters baseline. One-shot kills at point-blank, slow pump animation that the cover system rewards, and unmissable inside the apartment and bar interior missions Niko spends half the game cleaning out.
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The Combat Shotgun (an SPAS-12 analogue) is the upgrade pump from a different family entirely. Semi-auto fire, faster follow-ups, and the answer to every NOOSE breach mission in The Ballad of Gay Tony. Heavier on ammo consumption, but the right pick for any mission where the second shot decides the firefight.
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The Combat Pistol in GTA IV is a Glock 17, plain and serious. Larger magazine than the base pistol, faster reload, and the sidearm that quietly carries the early game until the Carbine Rifle starts dropping. The default 'civilian Niko' pistol for any free-roam play session.
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The Pistol .44 is the Desert Eagle analogue, the high-caliber sidearm that turns hostage and chase missions into a single trigger pull. Slow rate of fire, brutal damage, and arguably the most cinematic gun in GTA IV. The hold-up-the-deli-counter pistol for the times that calls for it.
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The RPG is the GTA IV explosive of choice, although the game is much stingier about ammunition than later entries. Save it for the helicopter chases and the second half of The Lost and Damned, where a single rocket finishes encounters the rifle would grind through. Best paired with cover; reloads leave you exposed.
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The Grenade Launcher (an M79-style break-action introduced in The Ballad of Gay Tony) is the underrated heavy weapon. Tight arc, fast reload by GTA IV standards, and the only sensible answer to the Triathlon and Drug Wars missions that pile enemies into rooms faster than rifle fire can keep up.
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Sticky bombs in The Ballad of Gay Tony turn vehicle chases and convoy missions into solved problems. Stick one to a car, drive past, detonate. The closest GTA IV gets to the toy-box explosive freedom that GTA V's Online side later runs with, and the weapon every Luis Lopez playthrough leans on.
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