The Hunting knife is a melee weapon featured in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat.

General characteristics Edit

The weapon has a single-edged blade, the blade has a "clip point" on the top of the blade which is typically utilized by Bowie knives, this brings the point slight lower than the knife's spine to produce a more pointed edge, which allows better control of the knife as well as better penetration. The grip is made of a metal and synthetic finish with the hilt sporting a bayonet lug. The other edge of the blade is serrated which is typically used for cutting objects rather than for combat. Oddly, the Hunting knife combines several features of different knives which includes the blade of a bowie knife in tandem with a sawback (typically utilized military-wise by combat/survival knives) and the hilt of a bayonet. It looks similar to the Smith & Wesson Special Ops SW3G Bowie.

The weapon possesses two attacks: "slashing attack" and "stabbing attack". The "slashing attack" is a quickly performed attack which slows down the player if performed while running. If targeted at the head it would disorient the target and two slashes at the head can put any human opponent down. The "stabbing attack" deals the most damage and can slay targets in one attack if stabbed at the head or disorient the target if stabbed at the body. Though, this attack performs slower than a "slashing attack" and has a slightly lower range compared to the "slash". On the other hand, when this attack is performed it does not slow down the player while he's running.

The knife is not only useful as a potent weapon but also a tool as it can be used to destroy locks off doors and lockers and be used to bust open boxes. The weapon cannot be dropped or sold and is always bound to the player.

Appearances Edit

Shadow of Chernobyl Edit

The weapon can be acquired from Wolf, along with a PMm and a box of 9x18mm ammo.

In Arena Round six, the player is tasked to kill an expert stalker equipped with an Exoskeleton and an FN F2000 with only a knife and four F1 grenades.

Due to the type of damage the "stabbing attack" does in Shadow of Chernobyl (wound_2) it is capable of destroying any destructible object in one hit, regardless of damage. This includes crates, boxes, cars (when reinstated by mods), the wall into the Freedom base (along with the explosive originally meant to destroy it) and the APCs outside the Chernobyl NPP.

Clear Sky Edit

The weapon is acquired from Docent Suslov along with a basic equipment kit. The knife's range is slightly lowered compared to Shadow of Chernobyl but becomes more powerful by comparison.

One of them can be picked up in a truck along to road to the Duty base in Agroprom Research Institute, but is non usable.

Call of Pripyat Edit

The knife has had some changes from the previous games - it becomes substantially faster with both swings, capable of swinging nearly instantly or with little delay. The stabbing attack is still extremely powerful, capable of killing most stalkers no matter where it is placed, and the primary slash can bring a lightly armored stalker to a critically wounded state in just a single well-placed swing - a slash to the head for nearly any stalker is fatal. Very Effective against some types of mutants at point blank range

Behind the Scenes Edit

Depiction Edit

• In Shadow of Chernobyl, Marked One's stab attack shows him putting both of his hands at the hilt and thrusting the knife to the target. In Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat: Scar and Major Degtyarev has a different stab attack where they raise their hand and rapidly drops it down like an overhead chop.
• Stalkers never use the knife in combat - in Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky, they instead try to get distance, but will fire at point-blank if necessary. In Call of Pripyat, they may rarely riflebutt the player, resulting in a brief but usually fatal stun.
• Despite Scar and Degtyarev doing very different attack moves than Marked One does: They have the same motion and shadow when attacking if they are viewed from 3rd person.

Development Edit

• Originally the Hunting Knife was an inventory item back in the beta-phase of Shadow of Chernobyl, similar to the Binoculars. If using the version 1.0000 of the game, one can see this item while fighting in the Arena in his inventory labeled as "Hunting Knife". In the Russian version, the knife doesn't disappear from the inventory even whilst using the 1.0006 version.
• In Build 1935 of Shadow of Chernobyl, the stab in that version is where Marked One moves both hands to the left, and then quickly jabs with his right arm.