mgs2_difficulty_differences

From right to left: Very Easy, Easy, Normal and Hard/Extreme.


The enemy range of vision is very long on E-Extreme.


From right to left: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard/Extreme and E-Extreme.

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtremeE-Extreme
Health200120100755030
  • On Very Easy, rations are a full heal
  • On other difficulties, rations heal half of max health (37 points on Hard)
  • E-Extreme has no rations at all

General damage table:

  • Guard Shot: 10
  • Guard Melee: 5
  • Explosion (Further): 20
  • Explosion (Closer) / Shotgun: 40
  • Bleeding: 1 / 3s at 1/3 health (rounded down if necessary)
  • Smoking: 1 / s
  • Choking: 1 / 0.25s
  • Chaff/Stun explodes in player's hand: 10

Damage dealt by bosses often varies by difficulty.

Weapon/ItemVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtreme/EEPickup
M910661464646+15
USP6146463116+15
Socom12173616137+12
M4/AK-74u30124121115191+30
PSG1(-T)10181614141+20(/+5)
RGB66042302418+6
Stinger/Nikita10050403020+10
Grenades503020106+2
Magazine2001501005010+1
Claymore/C41616161612+4*
Book108553+1
Rations106532(/0)+1
Pentazemin20151055+5
Bandage10101053+1

*Planted claymores picked from the ground give +1

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtremeE-Extreme
Sleep time9 min9 min5 min3 min3 min40s
KO Time60s60s30s30s30s30s
Tranquilizer onset time, limb0s14s22s22s22s22s
Tranquilizer onset time, body0s6s9s9s9s9s
Punches to KO4810152025
Rolls/flips to KO133577
HF Blade hits to KO122333
Body shots to kill3334610
HF Blade slashes to kill 112233
  • Chokes to KO = Punches to KO - 1 (e.g. Normal guards take 9 chokes to KO)
  • Pistol punch = 2 punches (only the second punch has increased damage)
  • Rifle punch = 3 punches
  • Roll = 3-4 punches
  • Kick = 4 punches (Raiden's double kicks combined still equal 4)
  • Nikita punch = 10 punches
  • Limb shot = 0.5 body shot
  • Explosion = 3 body shots
  • A rifle punch to the head immediately knocks an enemy out.
  • Additional tranquilizers halve the time to go to sleep.
  • Waking guards up: shooting > coolant spray > pick up & drop

Olga

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHard(E-)ExtremeSnake Tales
Attack - USP558153045
Headshot323232323224
Body shot242020202515
  • Olga has 128 health on all difficulties
  • Olga cannot be auto-aimed on Extremes
  • On Easy and Very Easy, she will bleed 4HP/s after a hit until 64HP.
  • Meryl replaces Olga in Snake Tales

Fortune

  • Her railgun deals 40 damage from Very Easy to Extreme
  • On E-Extreme, it actually deals less: 27 damage
  • She fires two shots at a time on Extremes

Fatman

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtreme/EE
Health256256256384512
Shots to trip34456
Max bombs active22334(/5)
Max M9 Headshots54322
DifficultyVery EasyOthers
Headshot6040
Body shot141
Punch142
Kick213
  • Fatman's attacks (pistol/bumping) deal 5 damage from Very Easy to Hard
  • On Extremes, his attacks deal 6 damage
  • Also on Extremes, Fatman ambushes the player at his bombs much more actively.
  • He deals double damage if he bumps into the player while spinning
  • On Normal and below, first person shooting locks on to his head
  • Fatman sometimes drops Socom ammo when knocked down on easier difficulties.
  • Fatman's boss fight in Snake Tales in the same as on Hard, except first person locks on to his head and 3 M9 headshots are possible

Harrier

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormal / Snake TalesHardExtreme/EE
Health22503250350040004750
Vulcan cannon36101418
Missile4060606050
Missile Barrage1722263050
  • The Stinger deals at base 175 damage to the Harrier regardless of difficulty
  • On Extremes, the cluster bomb always leaves the player on 1 HP and on fire
  • Also on Extremes, the vulcan cannon attack includes a missile

Vamp

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormal / Snake TalesHardExtreme/EE
Knife throw510182224
Melee knife412242630
Head wound shot4840322416
Headshot211714107
Limb shot98643
Explosive242014128
Explosive in water (Stamina)168422
Punch1210442
Kick1614664
  • Vamp has 128 HP on all difficulties

Vamp 2

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtreme/EE
Head, tranq.20201088
Body, tranq.1010766
Head, lethal10050251612
Body, lethal20101087
  • Vamp 2 has 100 HP on all difficulties

Tengus 2

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtreme/EE
Tengus to defeat48486496128
  • Snake can take 15 hits during the first fight and the second on Normal and below
  • On Hard and up, Snake can take 13 hits during the second Tengu fight
  • On Very Easy, the player gets full ammo before the Tengu 1 fight.

Metal Gear RAYs

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormal / Snake TalesHardExtreme/EE
Total HP3072512071681024020480
DifficultyVery EasyOther
Stinger (open mouth)1280320
Stinger (closed mouth)400100

On all difficulties:

  • A single RAY has 1024 HP
  • A RAYs machine gun deals 16 damage (halved by Body Armour)
  • Water cannon deals 24 damage
  • A RAYs stomp deals at least 48 damage

Solidus

DifficultyVery EasyEasyNormalHardExtreme/EE
Health751001009595
Katana57787
Strong slash2024242612(/26)
Missile2242424644
Tentacle throw1012121312
HF Blade4+5+73+3+43+3+42+2+31+1+2
  • Punches deal 1 damage to Solidus on all difficulties
  • Kicks deal 2 on Normal and below, 1 on Hard or higher
  • Solidus's tentacle sweep deals 1 damage on all difficulties

Bottom of strut A

Normal and below (The player goes to the south end of the room)


Hard (The player goes to the space with the scuba gear by hanging)


Extremes (On the west wall)


Added on Hard & Extreme

Roof of strut A. The red dot. Sprayed through the fence


Strut E. Attached to the northern part (Extreme) or eastern part (Hard) of a moving box.


Strut D. Under the hatch at the northern part of the room.


Extreme bombs

Strut D. Eastern part of the room under the platform. NG and NG++


Strut D. Northern part of the room under the platform. NG+


On Hard and below, the strut F bomb is against the wall.


On Extreme, the bomb is attached to a box making it possible to spray it from the ground.

DifficultyVE/EasyNormalHardExtreme/EE
Deep Sea Dock Bomb400s400s300s200s
Heliport Bomb500s400s300s200s
Fatman's Initial Bombs60s47s47s47s
Emma Bleeding1200s/600s300s240s180s
Solidus's Torture* (~)10s15s20s25s/55s

*In the HD version, Solidus's torture only lasts ~10-15s on all difficulties.

  • Enemies don't quit a hold up on their own from Very Easy to Normal. They do from Hard to European Extreme.
  • Some cameras now rotate.
  • Deck B Hatch no longer opens.
  • On Extreme, the player cannot shoot the tarp or the lamp during the Olga fight.
  • Strut B has cameras when it's entered after meeting Stillman.
  • On Extreme, there are already ciphers on the EF connecting bridge when it's first entered.
  • Strut E contains extra cameras.
  • The president is sleeping and he has to be woken up with explosives.
  • On Very Easy, the player doesn't have to log on to a node for the radar.
  • The M9 can be obtained at strut A on Very Easy and Easy.
  • On Very Easy, alert/evasion/caution goes away after entering another room.
  • Guards don't come to check the situation after the Harrier fight on Very Easy.
  • The Nikita's locations varies slightly by difficulty.
  • The time Snake appears to help Raiden during the sniping section varies by difficulty.
  • On easier difficulties, the floor boards on the EF connecting bridge respawn for when Shell 1 is re-entered.

The following table shows the maximum stats you could have for the top ranks from the difficulties Easy to European Extreme on Tanker-Plant only (Very Easy does NOT have a Rank 1). These were taken by bmn from the PC Port of Substance:

DifficultyEasyNormalHardExtremeE-Extreme
Rank NameHoundDobermanFoxBig BossBig Boss
Time 3:00:003:00:003:00:003:00:003:00:00
Saves88888
Continue 00000
Alerts33333
Kills00000
Rations00000
Special ItemsUnusedUnusedUnusedUnusedUnused
Max damage taken (DMGA MMOUNT)1270 (~10.6 bars)1050 (10.5 bars)775 (~10.33 bars)500 (10 bars)280 (~9.33 bars)
Shots Fired700700700700700
RadarOffOffOffOffOff

Return to Metal Gear Solid 2

  • mgs2_difficulty_differences.txt
  • Last modified: 2024/03/15 12:32
  • by Lucky Rapidflower