Tomb Raiders Traveler's Guide: Tomb Raider 2

Navigate Back Contents General Guide Hints Forward Level 1 Guide Hints Walkthrough
	List of Enemies

	4. KNOW THY ALLIES AND ENEMIES	In this game, Lara will make a few allies and lots of new enemies. One important aspect of identifying your enemies is learning what they sound like. I strongly recommend playing Tomb Raider in a quiet environment with the speakers on your computer or console turned up. The sounds you hear will clue you in to what's coming up. Don't be in a rush to run/jump/fall into a room. Know what you're getting into. If you listen carefully, you can tell if there's an enemy waiting for you in the next room before you get there. In many cases, enemies will be "asleep" as you approach the room or area it is in. In fact some enemies require very specific conditions to set them off. Some enemies can be shot at while they are asleep, while others cannot be. All of this is important because, you can learn how to wake enemies up from a safe location. In this game, the action that triggers the enemies are, in general, closer to the enemies, so you have a lot fewer choices in terms of safe Some enemies don't stay at the same "level" anymore. In the past, enemies would not climb up tall steps or jump down into pits, but that has changed. Some enemies, particularly the human ones, will climb after you, so keep this in mind if you are attempting to make a getaway. One important thing to reiterate is that, although some enemies can climb up or drop down, all the enemies do not cross from dry land into deep water or vice versa. When attempting to get away from an enemy on land, try jumping into a pool of water. The same is true of underwater enemies. Although Lara can be equipped with a harpoon gun, you will find battle underwater to be extremely clumsy. Clear out enemies in water from dry land before entering. Note that in the descriptions below, though a weapon of choice may be given, you may not have that weapon yet unless you are using the weapon cheat or you're playing the second time through. It's okay, it's not like the pistol won't work, but I'm just telling you what works better. Unique enemies are labeled in red instead of blue and listed mostly in order of appearance, except where they can be grouped together for convenience.
	Tigers		The first creature you will encounter in The Great Wall is the Siberian tiger which are indigenous to southeastern Russia and the mountains of northern China. They are mean, but not real fast. However, don't waste any time standing around because they have a habit of running around behind Lara and pouncing from there. Keep your pistols trained on them and keep moving. Later, in the Ice Palace you will encounter the white Bengal Tigers. Though Bengal tigers' habitat should be exclusively in India, apparently a few of these rare animals have made their way north to Tibet.
		Spiders	What? Lara afraid of a little spider? Well these spiders are bigger than rats, drop down without warning from the ceiling. Top it all off, they move fast and make a "bee-line" directly for Lara's ankles. The spiders' first appearance is in The Great Wall. One round from the pistol will usually take them out, but you will find that their diminutive size makes them hard to hit. Keep jumping to prevent them from nipping at Lara's heels. They die with a satisfying little explosion. Later, when you return to China, in the Temple of Xian, you will come across more spiders. They are a different species of spider, with black and red markings. Aside from appearance they behave the same as the spiders you came across earlier.
		Ravens	Ravens are slow flyers, but take quite a few bullets to kill. These birds also appear in The Great Wall, and later in the Barkhang Monastery. Don't stand in one place while shooting at them, but move out of the way of their attacks. One raven may not be a big deal, but when there are two or more, you might find Lara in a bad situation.
		Tyrannosaurus- Rex	Two of these guys can be found in The Great Wall, but you'll have to find them yourself. These guys are back to satisfy those who didn't get enough of them in the first game. These T-Rex's are bigger, more fierce, and move faster than the one in the original and Lara will take damage from mere contact with these creatures. Along with their awesome bite, they can inflict damage with their claws, their feet, and tail. Conveniently for you, there are places to hide that are safe from their reach when you meet up with them. I strongly discourage a face to face battle with these guys. Not even the M-16 assault rifle takes them down very quickly. If you must do battle with these beasts mano a mano, be sure you are armed with something that has kick like the automatic pistols, the Uzi's or the M-16, and keep moving. If all you have are pistols, you will find that fighting one of the T-Rex's is a long and drawn out process. As before, be careful to avoid its head and jaws because that's where it inflicts the most damage including swallowing Lara whole.
		Doberman Pinchers	These are the guard dogs of choice for the Italian Cult, and so appear first in Venice. They're aggressive and fast. Keep moving and keep shooting. They go down quite readily with a few rounds of pistol fire. But be aware that they often occur in packs of two, so don't get so bogged down by one and ignore the other.
		Cultists	These men belong to the Bartoli's Fiama Nera cult and first appear in Venice and appear through the Opera House levels. All of the cultists wear black leather jackets but all of them wear masks over their faces and all are armed with automatic pistols with silencers, so don't stand in one place too long while targeting them. Their aim is as good as Lara's, so if she is close enough to target them, they are close enough to target her. Cultists often carry ammunition or important items. Always check their bodies for any useful items after you take one down. Their behavior varies from cultist to cultist, some are trigger happy, while others are quite timid. Three strategies are effective against them. The first is to charge them with guns blazing and repeatedly running past them while firing, reversing and repeating. The second is to stay outside their targeting range, then inch closer until Lara gets a lock on them, press and hold the fire key, and then back away out of their targeting range. Lara will maintain lock. This strategy only works if there are wide open spaces or obstacles between the cultist and Lara. However, when short on space to dodge or hide, consider using the the third strategy, which is to employ the shotgun to take them out. Two close range blasts will take down a cultist. Cultists are bad news, almost always inflict damage, sometimes come in groups, and are among the most troublesome enemies.
		Thugs	Also in the employ of the Fiama Nera cult, are thugs, which also first appear in Venice and on through the Opera House level. Thugs are big muscle-bound guys who tote baseball bats or pipes. They're fairly slow, and with all their new found intelligence, they're still fairly dumb. However, being without guns, the primary strategy is to attempt to stay out just of their reach. If you can keep some distance between Lara and the thugs you can usually take them down with sufficient pistol fire. Though, big and scary, you don't need much greater firepower than the pistols to take out a thug if you can stay sufficiently far away from them. If Lara finds herself in a tight spot with one or more of these guys attacking her, keep jumping up and down to make it harder for these thugs to hit her. If there's more than one after you and you have enough shells, you should consider using the shotgun to clear the room faster. Slow and dumb as they are, they will drop or climb after Lara to make their chase and they pursue harder than most other enemies. Don't try the "higher ground" approach with these guys, or you'll be in for a nasty surprise. They won't however enter the water. Thugs most often carry Medi Packs, so don't forget to check their bodies after you kill one. Thugs, continue to appear in the Offshore Rig and beyond, only they are dressed differently and armed with a some other bludgeoning device. Aside from appearances, they are essentially the same enemy.
		Rats	You shouldn't be surprised by the vermin problem in the canal city, however the rats around here are not as big and slow as those from the first game. They first appear in Venice. They're smaller, faster, and hard to hit. It takes three slugs from the pistols at a distance or one at close range to nail a rat. They're aggressive little critters too. They head straight for Lara's heels. Don't let them get too close, because Lara isn't willing to shoot off her own toes.
		Colt	Among Marco Bartoli's hired help, one of the tough guys is Colt. For his namesake, Colt is armed with a pair of Colt .45's. He can be found near the end of the Opera House level. He is a formidable foe, who is constantly in motion and uses his guns liberally. Two strategies have been effective against him. Several close up rounds of shotgun blasts can bring him down in a hurry, or, if conserving shotgun rounds is important, he can be taken down with lots and lots of pistol fire, but this is best done from a high vantage point out of his targeting. If you are having trouble dealing with him, try reading the Hints or Walk-through for the Opera House level.
		Crewmen	Crewmen first appear on the Offshore Rig and continue through The Deck. These bearded lugs are dressed in black shirts, with the red Dagger of Xian symbol that the Fiama Nera have adopted, and blue jeans and are armed with AK-47 assault rifles. They behave similarly to the cultists in Venice, but sport slightly more powerful firepower.
		Rig Workers	Although there are lots of enemies on the Offshore Rig, these rig workers are differentiated from the crewmen and thugs because these chaps are sporting enormous shotguns. You will continue to find them through The Deck level. Though, they are not terribly smart, they are quite liberal with their gun fire, and they have a much better recoil time than Lara does with her shotgun. A direct frontal confrontation with a rig worker is not recommended, though it may not always be possible to avoid it. Another problem is that they are rarely found alone, and often accompany other enemies, making life just a little more difficult. In the case that a full frontal assault becomes necessary, charging them with high powered weapons blazing is an effective course of action, and keep jumping because it takes time for them to take aim, and staying in the air can prevent it.
		Scuba Divers	Scuba divers first appear near the end of the Offshore Rig, and just because these enemies are water bound, don't think for a second that they are not dangerous. Not only do they fire harpoons at Lara underwater, but they are quite willing to surface and fire them at Lara when she's out of the water too. Fighting them in their home turf is a bad idea. Try to lock onto them and pick them off from above the water, being careful to jump out of the way of their harpoon attacks. If they are chasing you, swim back and forth in a zig zag pattern away from them to avoid getting skewered by their harpoons.
		Flame Throwers	Big guys armed with flamethrowers first appear in the Diving Area. However big and scary they may be they are quite straightforward to deal with. There are two key details about flame throwers that you must keep in mind. First, with all that equipment strapped to their backs, they move very slowly. Secondly, their flames only have a limited range. Your best bet is to simply stay far away from them and they will fall under minimal pistol fire. Just because they're blowing flames Lara's way doesn't mean she can't lock onto the source of the flames. There is no need for fancy foot work, just make sure there aren't other enemies nearby also ready to attack and watch where she's she's going. Flame throwers never carry any items.
		Sharks	Starting in 40 Fathoms, Lara will find herself face to face with sharks. These big mean eating machines are not terribly fast swimmers and they aren't very agile swimmers, but fighting them on their terms is always a bad idea. A good bite from a shark can inflict amazing amounts of damage, and death by shark attack is quite graphic. Actually, Lara can swim circles around them, and if you want to avoid a nasty shark bite, you'll have to. Killing them is certainly possible, but being that harpoons are few and far between, your best strategy is to run away from them.
		Barracudas	Also found in 40 Fathoms are barracudas. These ornery critters are fast swimmers, tend to occur in schools, and are much more persistent than sharks. However, they are much smaller than sharks and their bites do less damage. As with most underwater enemies, the harpoon gun is fairly ineffective against barracudas, however, unlike divers or sharks, barracudas are not discouraged when hit a few times with harpoons. If anything they get meaner. The best strategy is to get as far away from them as quickly as you can, get to dry ground and pick them off with ease with your pistols.
		Moray Eels	A sizeable school of eels can be found in the Wreck of the Maria Doria, it is hard to call these critters actual enemies. They sit in underwater caves and wait for their meal, namely you, to swim past. Don't bother wasting any harpoons on eels. They won't chase after you. Just swim past them quickly, and you'll be okay.
		Sea Snake	The rare sea snake can be found in the Living Quarters. It is much like the moray eels, in that it waits in dark caves until its prey swims within reach, and then it lunges out and strikes. Also like the eels, the snake will not leave the safety of its home to pursue its prey. However the similarities end there, this dark beast attacks with much greater ferocity and speed than eels which means it does a lot more damage, and the snake is much longer than an eels, so its reach is surprisingly far. Two bites from a sea snake will kill you, so you need to know how to avoid it. Remember that the snake would not choose a lair that would put it out of reach of its prey. Don't think by merely swimming far away from it will you be safe. Don't underestimate this deadly creature.
		Hawks	Hawks are first found in the Tibetan Foothills. These slow flyers are fairly easy to deal with, because it is fairly easy to stay away from them. However they can inflict more damage than ravens if they catch up with you and are harder to kill as well. They shouldn't be a real problem if you don't get directly underneath them or trapped in a corner. They are downed quite easily with a few slugs from the pistols, but if you are being swarmed by them and there is no place to run, you might want to use some heavier firepower to deal with them quickly.
		Mercenaries	Also beginning at the Tibetan Foothills, you will run into heavily-armed ski-mask wearing mercenaries. These guys will remind you a lot of rig workers in the way they behave, but these guys are much more active and don't need to brace themselves to fire on you. They are hard to take down, and require a lot more hits with the pistols to take. When dealing with one with nowhere to run, stronger firepower is recommended. The best way to deal with them is to simply run them down with the snowmobile.
		Snow Leopards	Indigenous to Tibet are the snow leopards, which can be first found in the Tibetan Foothills. Snow leopards, and slightly faster than tigers, but are easier to kill. However, one of the biggest differences in behavior between the two great felines, is that the snow leopard tend to occur in packs, making them much more dangerous than tigers. When cornered by a family of these beasts, use two or three shotgun blasts to bring each one down.
		Snowmobilers	In the Tibetan Foothills you will encounter some mercenaries driving heavily armed snowmobiles. Not only will you have to watch out for its powerful guns, but you will also have to stay out of its path, as being hit by a snowmobile will render you road-kill. Jumping around is not always the best strategy against these fellows. Try to find someplace to stand that will make it difficult for him to run you down. Use fast and strong weapons of your own, like the Uzis or automatic pistols, always attempt to flank him, rather than standing squarely in front of him. The sleek black snowmobile will be your trophy for bagging one of these fellows, but sometimes firepower is not the factory option you need on your snowmobile.
		Monks	In the Barkhang Monastery, Lara will meet the Barkhang Monks. These warrior-monks are sworn protectors of the Dagger of Xian, and so are enemies of anyone who would attempt to claim it. However, they will not attack Lara unless she attacks them first, and a single bullet fired on a monk will change his opinion of you. No such thing as "friendly fire" to these guys. If you pull a gun on one of these fellows, immediately, they will get into a fighting stance, letting you know that if you fire, he will fight back. The monks are dressed either in red or brown and are armed only with spears or staves. However, they are a lot tougher than they look and can both take as well as dish out a lot of a lot of punishment. When you encounter monks in heated battle with the mercenaries, it is best to wait until they are done fighting, or you are sure Lara is locked onto Fiama Nera before firing. You could take the other tack, which is to simply kill everyone regardless of whether they might be friend of foe. It is somewhat evil, but makes for more impressive kill statistics at the end of the level. If it becomes necessary to fight a monk, keep a good distance between you and them, as their reach is much longer than the thugs you may be used to.
		Commandos	Your first encounter with commandos will be in the Barkhang Monastery. Much like mercenaries, these fellows require a lot of hits to bring down, are dressed similarly to mercenaries, however do not weak ski masks over their faces. These guys are sporting more than just a bad hair cut. These enemies are armed with some kind of fully automatic shotgun, and they are quite willing to use their awesome firepower. Once they start firing, they won't stop unless you take cover or they are killed. Attempt to enlist some help or take cover when dealing with commandos.
		Yeti	In the Catacombs of the Talion, you will come across yeti, but it shouldn't be anything new for Lara Croft, as she discovered their existence a couple of years ago. In any case, these big hairy beasts can be quite a problem, as they require lots of rounds of ammunition to take down and can climb after you with great determination. For such bulky creatures, they run awfully fast, but if you keep them at arms length, and keep moving while firing, you'll do okay. Don't let them trap you in a corner or gang up on you. Keep in mind that, though yeti are not afraid of the bitter cold, they are afraid of getting wet. Getting killed by yeti is a sight to behold. They will pick you up and fling you around before slamming your lifeless body to the ground.
		Catfish and Carp	In the Catacombs of the Talion and the Ice Palace you will find an interesting breed of catfish. You're probably saying to yourself, "You've got to be kidding, right?" But this is no joke. A small school of these large aggressive toothy fish can send you searching for a first aid kit. They're big, fast swimmers, and very hungry. Later in the Temple of Xian you will come across carp, which the Chinese have been breeding for centuries. Generally carp are bred for interesting coloration and longevity, but apparently these golden fish have been bred for ferocity.
		Guardian of the Talion	The Guardian can be found at the end of the Ice Palace. It's duty through the millenia is to guard the Talion from being removed from it's resting place. This enormous creature, which has the head and feet of an eagle, and the body of a giant humanoid, is well suited to its job. If it finds you within reach, it will pound down on you with both of its gigantic fists. Although it takes an enormous amount of ammunition to finally kill this beast, its weakness is its lack of speed. You should be able to run circles around this fiend. The best way to deal with him is to find shelter or get out of its reach. Both of which should be fairly easy to find around or on the palace. If you've managed to reach a good vantage point, killing this creature is as simple as drawing your pistols and taking aim.
		Giant Spiders	You thought those little buggers were bad, you're sure to get a start when you come across these giant black widow spiders in The Temple of Xian. They are fast, attack silently, and take an enormous amount of ammunition to kill. If you spot one, move quickly and try to get away from it using jumps. Aside from their brutal bites, they don't appear to be poisonous. Pistol fire will eventually bring these monsters down.
		Xian Swordsmen	Once you arrive at the Floating Islands you will begin to encounter mystical Chinese warriors; all of which require generous amounts of ammunition to kill. The first of these warriors are the swordsmen. These warriors, clad in traditional Chinese armor, wield enormous swords, and on top of that, they have the ability to fly around on these sparkling magic clouds. Once they land, they move fast and are very deadly, but while they are still slowly floating along, they make easy targets for you to shoot at. As soon as you spot the swordsman flying towards you, ready weapons and open fire as soon as he comes into range. The swordsmen explode in an impressive display of jade pyrotechnics when killed.
		Xian Spearsmen	Also in the Floating Islands you will come across the spearsman. Statues that come to life as Chinese warriors, also dressed in traditional Chinese armor, are armed with two extremely long spears. As with other Chinese warriors, they require much ammunition to kill, but unlike the swordsman, they do not fly. Simply stay out of their reach and continue firing until they explode. Death by spearsman is particularly gruesome, as they will pick you up on their spears then fling your lifeless body to the ground. Read the footnote in the Floating Islands walkthrough for a tip on how to kill these guys.
		Cult Priests	Near the end of the Floating Islands you will encounter more of the Fiama Nera. These priests, clad in black robes, are among the cults highest ranking members. Each is armed with a bounty of throwing daggers. Alhough they are formidable enemies by themselves, are a deadly force to be reckoned with if encountered in groups. Luckily for you, they're only hurling daggers, because as fast as they can throw those daggers at you, you can easily side flip out of the way of their missiles. When fighting them, find an open area where you'll have room to dodge and continue to fire while side flipping left and right until all the priests fall.
		Dragon	Surely you were expecting the eventual confrontation between yourself and Marco Bartoli in the form of the Dragon in the Dragon's Lair. Before you charge off in hopes of slaying this fire-breathing dragon, you will need to know a few useful facts. The dragon is incredibly deadly, as it can inflict damage with his fiery breath as well as its with bites and claws. The dragon cannot be killed by any normal means. Under sufficient gunfire, the dragon will only be temporarily stunned. After a brief moment, it will get back up. Therefore, the only way to kill the dragon is to remove its source of power: the Dagger of Xian. Move quickly, and make good use of your powerful weapons. If you find that defeating the dragon is more than you can handle, then read the Dragon's Lair walkthrough.