Grappling Hook (skill)
- For the item, see Grappling Hook (Dying Light).
Grappling Hook is a Survival skill and equipment item available in Dying Light.
Overview
The grappling hook is unlocked at survivor level 12 and can be used to quickly travel large distances. Using the grappling hook initially depletes a significant amount of its meter, which recharges over time.
There is no hard/full cooldown period unless the player fully exhausts the meter, which will result in the hook being unusable for a few seconds until Crane winds the hook up fully. The meter and recharge rate of the hook are increased once the player reaches survivor level 25 and thus enables Crane to use the hook more frequently and be less conservative with the hook's meter.
This skill is particularly helpful in speeding up the player's time in getting from one area of a map to a desired location. It is also useful for escaping hordes of undead, especially from the more agile and aggressive infected such as Virals/Night Walkers and Volatiles that have the ability to climb structures and keep up with Crane when giving chase. As a result this really helps the player to almost easily escape pursuits at night plus when coupled with near-flawless parkour skills and navigation can mean a rapid coverage across an area in such a short time.
The Hook is also helpful for the player when they need to chase enemies i.e. catching up with Bolters and Night Hunters, can help close the gap between the player and a Toad, and can help the player to catch up with Rais' men who are running away. Without the Grappling Hook, evading pursuers like Volatiles as well as chasing after targets/prey such as Bolters is far more difficult and time-consuming.
The grappling hook can also be used as a weapon to shoot at enemies, however, it is quite weak in that regard not doing much damage at all albeit it is very likely to cause critical/fatal damage to weaker enemies such as Toads and Screamers.
For the player to use the hook it must be equipped in one of the equipment slots as well as be an active equipment item. It is worth noting that with how fragile Bombers are, the Grappling Hook will cause them to explode on contact/as soon as the Hook hits them.
Tactics
- When first unlocked, try to avoid spamming/overusing the Grappling Hook — Completely depleting the meter means having to wait to use it again.
- Try to be conservative/careful on when and where using the Hook, especially if being pursued or pursuing targets.
- Ledges of buildings, rooftops, higher pathways and fences/the top of most walls make complimentary use of the Hook.
- Whilst climbable sides to buildings i.e. window frames can be grappled to, it is often better to grapple up to the highest part or ledge possible.
- Note that some building walls won't always allow Crane to properly grab onto them, so you might have to grapple again if Crane starts falling.
- The Hook can be used to grapple from a rooftop down to the ground without sustaining damage at all. This is very useful for when needing to get to ground or lower rooftop levels in Old Town.
- Even when reaching Survivor Rank 25 where most players will be liberal in their use of the Hook, try to only use it for when you need to.
- Make use of the Hook for enemies right near the edge of rooftops or high ledges — The Hook may not do much damage but the fall damage that many enemies will sustain often kills them instantly.
- This does require the Hook's HUD crosshairs to be on the targeted enemy first, otherwise you may end up accidentally grappling yourself right to where the enemy is.
- If the player somehow loses their Grappling Hook, they can get a new one from the Quartermaster
Trivia
- The Grappling Hook meter isn't affected by the distance of which the Hook is used. However the game does still acknowledge that there is a limit to how far the grappling hook can reach