Every Weapon in GTA Vice City and Where to Find It
A complete guide to GTA Vice City weapons by slot: every melee tool, gun and explosive, where to buy each one, free pickups, and the best loadout.
Learning the GTA Vice City weapons roster is the difference between surviving a five-star rampage and dying on the first turn. The game gives Tommy Vercetti 10 weapon slots and roughly 33 weapons spread across melee, handguns, shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, sniper rifles, heavy weapons and thrown items. This guide breaks down all weapons in Vice City by category, tells you where to buy or pick up each one, and finishes with a recommended loadout.
How Vice City's weapon slots work
Tommy can only carry one weapon per slot at a time. Pick up a second weapon in the same slot and it swaps out the first. The ten slots are: fist/brass knuckles, melee, handguns, shotguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, heavy weapons, thrown weapons, and a final slot for items like the mission camera. Understanding the slots matters because you can hold one gun from each class simultaneously, so a smart loadout covers every range band at once.
You get weapons three ways: free pickups scattered around the map, store purchases from Ammu-Nation and hardware shops, and Phil's Place for the heavy hardware. Hidden Packages also unlock permanent spawns at your safehouses.
Melee weapons in Vice City
The melee slot is the deepest in the game. Free or cheap options include the Brass Knuckles, Screwdriver, Hammer, Golf Club, Nightstick and Knife. The Baseball Bat always spawns behind the Ocean View Hotel after you save, making it the easiest early melee weapon to grab.
The standout melee weapons are the Katana (sold at the Tooled Up hardware store for around $300), the Machete, the Meat Cleaver, and the Chainsaw. The chainsaw is the most powerful melee weapon in the game and a clear nod to Scarface. You can buy it at the Screw This hardware store for about $500, or unlock it free by collecting 20 Hidden Packages.
Handguns: the pistol and the Colt Python
Vice City keeps the pistol slot simple with two options:
- Pistol (Colt .45): your basic sidearm, sold at Ammu-Nation for $100 and frequently dropped by police.
- Colt Python (.357): a hard-hitting revolver that kills most enemies in one or two shots. Buy it at the Downtown Ammu-Nation for around $2,000, or unlock it free at 30 Hidden Packages.
The Python is one of the most efficient weapons in the entire game for its slot, so prioritize it.
Shotguns, SMGs and assault rifles
This is the core of any combat loadout. The shotgun slot offers three guns: the Chrome Shotgun (carried by police, sold at Ocean Beach Ammu-Nation), the Stubby Shotgun, and the devastating S.P.A.S. 12, which the in-game description jokes could "stop an elephant." The S.P.A.S. 12 sells at the Downtown Ammu-Nation for around $4,000.
The submachine gun slot holds four weapons: the Ingram MAC-10, the Tec-9, the Uzi 9mm, and the MP5. The MP5 is the best of the group thanks to its accuracy and is sold Downtown for roughly $3,000. The MAC-10 and Uzi are the cheaper run-and-gun options.
Assault rifles come in two flavors: the Ruger (renamed Kruger in later versions) and the M4. The M4 is the stronger of the two, with higher damage and a faster rate of fire, and it sells at the Downtown Ammu-Nation for around $5,000. The Ruger is cheaper at about $1,000 but noticeably weaker.
Sniper rifles round out the precision options: the standard Sniper Rifle and the laser-scoped .308 (PSG-1), which unlocks free at 50 Hidden Packages or sells Downtown for about $6,000.
Heavy weapons and thrown weapons
The heavy slot holds the Flamethrower, the M60, the Minigun, and the Rocket Launcher. These are the most destructive tools in the game and the hardest to obtain. The Flamethrower unlocks at 40 Hidden Packages, the Minigun at 60, and the Rocket Launcher at 70.
Thrown weapons fill the explosives slot: the Grenade, Tear Gas, Molotov Cocktail, and the Remote Grenade (Detonator). Grenades sell at Ammu-Nation for around $300.
Phil's Army Surplus and Ammu-Nation
There are three Ammu-Nation stores in Vice City, and stock improves as you head north and inland:
- Ocean Beach (Vice City Beach): entry-level guns like the pistol, MAC-10 and Chrome Shotgun.
- North Point Mall (Vice Point): mid-tier stock including the Uzi.
- Downtown (mainland): the heavy hitters, including the Colt Python, S.P.A.S. 12, MP5, M4 and the .308 sniper.
For the truly heavy hardware, you need Phil's Place (Phil Cassidy's Army Surplus) in Little Haiti. It opens after you finish Phil Cassidy's missions, and lets you buy the M60 for $8,000, the Rocket Launcher for $8,000, the Minigun for $10,000, and the Detonator (Remote Grenade) for $1,000. There is no other reliable store source for these, so Phil's is essential late game.
For free pickups, a Chrome Shotgun sits behind a bench by the beach in Washington Beach, and rooftops around Vice Point and alleys behind Downtown stores often hide SMGs and body armor. Check the Vice City screenshots hub if you want a visual reference for these spots.
The best Vice City loadout
If you want the strongest practical setup that covers every situation, build toward this:
- Melee: Katana or Chainsaw for crowd control.
- Handgun: Colt Python for one-shot kills at close range.
- Shotgun: S.P.A.S. 12 for raw stopping power.
- SMG: MP5 for accurate mid-range fire.
- Assault rifle: M4 as your main combat gun.
- Sniper: .308 (PSG-1) for ranged headshots.
- Heavy: Minigun or Rocket Launcher for vehicles and helicopters.
- Thrown: Grenades or Remote Grenades for area damage.
Collecting Hidden Packages is the fastest way to stock this loadout for free, since they unlock permanent spawns at the Ocean View Hotel and your other safehouses. Pair the right gun with the right job, and the best weapons in Vice City make even six-star chases survivable. For more on this 1986 classic, see our Vice City hub.
