The Molotov cocktail is a crafted firebomb made from alcohol and a rag, the same ingredients as a health kit. One hit kills almost any enemy outright, and the pool of fire it leaves kills anyone who walks through it.
The crafting choice is health or fire, so weigh it before each fight. Against clickers, throw one into the middle of a group: the breaking glass pulls them into the flames. Against bloaters, open with a Molotov, then follow with a nail bomb or shotgun. Burning infected scream and can draw others to you.
Lead pipe
The lead pipe is the toughest breakable melee weapon in the game, lasting nine hits. Joel can first pick one up in The Outskirts while clearing infected on his own, and another lies where Ellie drops it after hitting Bill in Lincoln.
Revolver
The revolver hits harder than the 9mm but fires slower, and it is the pistol Joel draws in scripted scenes. You pick it up in The Outskirts from a dead soldier in downtown Boston, next to his field ops log.
Bolt-action rifle
The bolt-action rifle, also called the hunting rifle, is Joel's long-range gun, taken from a dead Firefly on the second floor of the Capitol building in The Outskirts. Its armor piercing upgrade makes it one of your best answers to armored soldiers and bloaters.
2x4
The 2x4 is a plank of lumber and the most common melee weapon in the game, especially in Boston and Pittsburgh. It reaches farther than your fists, stuns a human with one hit and lasts four swings before it breaks.