Worms 4: Mayhem/Weapons Guide

Bazooka1.jpgBazooka
The most basic of weapons, but also one of the most effective weapons if used by a skilled player. If a worm can not be shot in a straight line due to an obstruction, it is possible for you to bend a shot round the obstruction by using the wind.

Just because the Bazooka is usually in infinite amount does not mean you should overlook its great versatility.

Homing Missile
'Good tone, Fox one'. The Homing Missile is an effective weapon to reach those hard to get targets. It is usually in short supply, so only use it when you really need it.

Remember that when you fire the Missile it will take about a second or so to lock onto the target. Be sure to use this time to fire the Missile away from or around any possible obstruction between yourself and the target.

Once locked on, the Homing Missile will only search for the target for about 5 seconds, after this it will lose power and drop to the ground gradually, so make sure your target isn't too far away.

Shotgun
'I call shotgun'. The Shotgun is the only weapon in the game which can be fired twice in one turn. You should try and use this to your advantage.

Shooting barrels will result in a large explosion, so bear this in mind if an enemy worm is situated near them. Also if enemy worms are residing near the edge of a big fall, the Shotgun can be used to push worms over the edge.

The Shotgun can be used to move mines, so bear this in mind when an enemy is around or simply if the mine is in your path.

Sniper Rifle
If you can see your long distance enemy in a straight line then this is the best weapon to use. Even though you can have a couple of efforts with the Shotgun, the Sniper Rifle offers a far higher level of accuracy with its zoom feature.

When in First Person view it is easier to zoom as far as you can outwards, find roughly where your target is, then zoom inwards as far as you need to.

Poisin Arrow
'Who broke my heart? You did, you did'. If there's a large group of enemy worms very close to each other, 'Shoot that Poison Arrow'. Try to shoot the Arrow into the middle of enemy worms, or as near as you can. The ten points a worm will lose in between turns can soon add up quickly.

Also the Poison Arrow can have a great deal of power when launched over great distances. Try using this when an enemy target is out of reach of a lot of other weapons.

Grenade
'Fire in the hole'. Remember these Grenades will not explode on impact, so if you can't see an enemy directly, try bouncing a Grenade off a wall to get around an obstacle.

If the player puts the Grenade fuse on 5, the Grenade can be used like Dynamite, simply aim straight down and tap the fire button and then runaway. This guarantees a direct hit to the opponent.

Cluster Bomb
When throwing the Cluster Bomb, try timing it to detonate over your target as it's often hard to get them to stop dead on the ground. Always remember that the spread of the clusters when the bomb is set off is fairly random and widespread so make sure your worm has made a safe retreat.

Banana Bomb
You don't have to live at 29 Acacia Road to use this little contraption. The Banana Bomb works in the same way as the Cluster Bomb; however, it has far more of a kick. The spread of bananas after the initial blast will be a lot larger.

This weapon is ideal for shifting low land and making it harder for the enemy to avoid the drink. If an enemy worm is in a compacted space, this weapon may deliver quite the punch in an attempt to finish off your opponent.

The Banana Bomb is unpredictable and will bounce off anything, so if your enemy is not in sight, try bouncing the Banana off a wall.

Fire Punch:
Finding the range on the Fire Punch is very important. It can be used to knock worms into the water and off high edges.

Have you also tried hitting the worm onto a mine? Another great idea is to knock mines over to your enemy, doing this can be risky and its better if you know the mines have a bigger fuse time.

Prod
The Prod may not seem useful if you've also got a Fire Punch and a Baseball Bat in your arsenal. However if an enemy worm is situated next to a pool of water with land on the other side, using the Fire Punch or the Baseball Bat may knock the 'baddie' over the pool and onto dry land.

The Prod however will only move the worm slightly, perfect if the enemy is very close to the waters edge.

Baseball Bat
The beauty of the Baseball Bat is you can accurately aim where you want to hit your enemy worm to. With the Prod or Fire Punch, you can never be sure where your enemy will go, the Baseball Bat will offer more accuracy for this.

Also you can more accurately hit mines towards your enemies; again there is an element of danger as to what the fuse time might be.

Mine
The strategists delight! This is the ultimate weapon for the people who want to have a cold, calculated game. These nasty little blighters can be placed anywhere on the landscape and will stay there until a worm treads that little bit too close.

A good tactic is to mine teleport pads. These won't activate the teleportation but will sit there until a worm teleports on top of it (the random nature of the devices means that there is a chance the worm will land on the mined pad). Of course, you could always mine all the teleport pads, as the ultimate act of spite, so no-one can use them!

Another good thing with Mines is that they can be dropped into small indentations in the landscape; this means it will be harder for enemy players to spot them, and they might "accidentally" get hurt when one is set off.

Dynamite
This is one of the "essential" weapons in the game. These little sticks cause a lot of damage on their own, but used in combination with other things they can become that little bit more deadly. This only has a 5 second timer, so before dropping it, make sure you have an escape route, you don't want to get caught up in the explosion.

A new trick to try out would be, if an enemy worm is stood near a teleport pad, drop the dynamite and then make a run for the pad. While you are transporting away to safety, the enemy will be being blown up by the Dynamite, and the subsequent explosion from the teleport pad. For max explosion fun, try saving the Dynamite for worms that are situated near objects (mine factories, barrels etc).

This weapon can also be dropped from a Parachute, so as you are sailing through the skies, try to judge the drop and you can land some Dynamite right in the enemy's lap.

Air Strike
The most accurate way to see where your Air Strike will explode is to try and use a straight down vertical angle when going into the overhead view. The Air Strike also has a handy zoom feature, to make aiming that bit easier, this helps if some of your worms are close to your intended target.

Sheep
Assuming there is a solid piece of land between you and your enemy, this is a good long range weapon. Make sure the direction is set and then launch this fluffy device of destruction.

Be careful with the manual detonation though, as the Sheep will try to jump over the enemy (he just wants to keep on running!), so trying to pre-empt the jump before the worm is essential, if you can drag it out to the last possible moment, maximum damage will be achieved.

Old Lady
This old dear is good for getting those "hard-to-reach" foes. Her ability to cunningly navigate (albeit very slowly) around parts of the landscape, with your aid should cause more chaos than pension collection day!

Since there is the ability to manually navigate it is always better to try and get your explosion to occur on the side which is facing away from a high ledge or watery front, this way when she pops her clogs the enemy should be propelled to certain doom (be it off a cliff face or into the water, dependant on the enemy locale).

Inflatable Scouser
A bit of a weird one the this, to use the Inflatable Scouser; you'll need some help from the elements. The Scouser is dependent on the wind speed, let him lose and he'll pick up an enemy worm and float upwards with him. Used on a worm near the water, with the wind blowing towards the water, your Scouser will fly up and drop the worm to his doom.

Skilled players can even use the Scouser to move their own worms around the landscape, but be careful of the drop.

Super Sheep
During the day he's a mild mannered reporter for the Daily Flock, But once battle commences he don's his cape and takes off.

Can't get an enemy with the Bazooka or Shotgun, then the Super Sheep is the weapon for the job, able to move across the landscape in seconds, and cause mass damage.

And remember, the Super Sheep can also used to do a bit of shopping before the fireworks, take the Super Sheep in low to collect the crates, but take care; you don't want to waste it.

Tail Nail


This has to be one of the cruellest weapons in the game. Once this has been inflicted upon an enemy they are stuck, and you can use this to wear them down.

The most effective use of this weapon is if you can lure an enemy worm to a very difficult part of the landscape and then Tail Nail it in place whilst you then set about the rest of its team.

Also having an enemy worm stuck in place gives you the opportunity to practice pulling barrels and Mines towards them using the Ninja Rope (see Ninja Rope section). Pulling barrels around a nailed worm stops them from trying anything silly as they "might" blow themselves up in the process. This also gives you the chance to cause maximum damage using a low damage weapon!

Weapons to avoid using against a nailed worm are things like the Fire Punch, Prod and Baseball Bat.

Starburst
Made to make your mouth water. This is the last option, if you've got a couple of worms on your team, and one of them is on low health, strap a rocket to its back, and let it fly.

This is a one way trip, the worm attached will not be back to fight another day, but will die in a huge explosion, that will cause huge amounts of damage.

Jet Pack
This is the ultimate in mobility; you can reach great distances very quickly. This should really be saved for occasions when you need to get to that hard to reach enemy.

Using this utility quickly will leave you at a disadvantage as it will then limit your movement around a particular landscape. You never know when that last minute Jet Pack can get your wriggly behind out of a sticky situation and into the perfect hiding spot, so you can gather yourself and form your counter attack.

Certain weapons can be dropped whilst under the power of the Jet Pack, the trick with those is to make sure you are heading in the right direction and try to anticipate the drop as it has to fall down before hitting the enemy. The easier solution is to try and save fuel (don't always hold the power buttons down; try to fly using bursts of power and direction).

Ninja Rope
The Ninja Rope is back, your friendly neighbourhood worm has the ability to swing around the landscape with gay abandon once more.

This time however there is an added feature; you can drag or push objects if you aim your crosshair and fire the rope at them (mines, barrels and crates). This opens up the potential for collecting items without moving (i.e. if you're in a good hiding spot and you don't want to expose your worm). Also this opens up the opportunity to move objects around an enemy worm to make that explosion that little bit bigger.

Moving barrels next to an enemy and then either firing a weapon or dragging a mine close and then blow them sky high.

Icarus Potion
The only real piece of advice for this utility is to pace yourself, when lifting off the floor maintain a steady rhythm and don't get excited. As soon as you start to flap faster you'll lose the rhythm and start to sink. Steady presses of the button will provide enough speed for your requirements and get you where you want to be.

Parachute
One of the better things about this is that you have the ability to drop weapons whilst in flight. Be warned however, once a weapon has been dropped, you only have the time of the fuse to reach your landing spot, so choose your targets carefully!

Another thing you can practice is trying to increase your descent speed. If your worm is placed high up and your only means of getting down is the Parachute, you'll want to do it quickly before your turn runs out and you plummet to your doom.

When swinging the Parachute left and right (as if to turn left or right) you'll notice that it rocks a little, if you can rock the Parachute left and right enough you can go inverted for a brief time, this accelerates your worms falling speed and may get you down faster. This is something that you need to practice; otherwise your worm will be decorating the ground with its head!

Girder
This has been restricted for this version of Worms; it's now more of an aiming aid, allowing you to get a better angle, to fire from. If you are presented with a large hill in front of you which needs to be aimed over then situating a Girder to help get up the slope is always useful.

It is still useful as a pseudo-shield from the enemy, merely placing it above your head (or statue, depending on your game mode) will give you that extra one or two turns which you may need to turn the tables on the baddies.