Atomic Heart is an action game with some of the most intense combat mechanisms. The game’s shooting and melee combat is bound to pump your heart up. But none of that would mean much without enemies.

Thankfully, the game gives you plenty of them to destroy. You’ll be taking on different types of robots, humanoid and otherwise. And along the way, you’ll also run into some other biological monstrosities!

But you’re not the only one who’ll be doing the killing. The enemies in Atomic Heart are deadly. If you don’t watch out, they will end you quickly. 

And that’s why I’ve put together this guide. Not only do I rank the enemies according to how challenging I thought they were. I’ll also write about the most effective strategies to defeat them.

12. Dandelion Security CCTV Camera

This is the simplest one. It’s just a camera, and it won’t even shoot at you. You might even wonder why I’m putting it on this list.

Well, for one, you can destroy it. Little good that does, since it gets repaired soon. But at least it lets you sneak by.

More importantly. These things are enemies because the moment one sees you, the whole area will rush to you. And now you have to fight or flee, whatever your adrenaline tells you to. 

Strategy

There’s not much you can do once you’re spotted. Destroying one is useless after that because everyone knows where you are. 

So what you should try to do is avoid them. Easier said than done, I know, considering there are so many of them. You can disable them by using Shok or by throwing stuff at it.

11. Sprouts And Mother

There’s a reason why I’m grouping these two together. And you probably know why. Sprouts are these giant flower-things that fly around and try to hurt you. They can’t hurt you too much, but that’s not the real threat.

These things can bond with dead bodies and become a zombie-like creature called Mutant. This might remind you of Half-Life.

And the Mother? It’s this organic mass stuck to a wall which pops out these Sprouts. As long as one’s around, they will keep coming.

Strategy

The Sprouts are very easy to kill. If you dodge properly, you can kill them with one or two strikes. But that won’t do you a lot of good, because they will keep coming.

You need to find all the Mothers in the area and destroy them first. They too are easy to destroy, but finding them can sometimes be a little challenging. Use your Scan ability to reveal their locations.

10. Mutant

These things are disturbing… In the last entry, I compared them to the Half-Life zombies and I still stand by that. They’re both unsettling and very aggressive. And you just have to look at the picture to see what I mean. Horrendous!

They are pretty easy to kill, and don’t pose too much danger. But they can gang up on you. And their leap attack not only knocks you down, but also does a lot of damage.

Another thing to watch out for is the Large Mutant Variant. These things are, as the name suggests, large. They shoot out Sprouts from their backs and their attacks hurt a lot. They can also be damage sponges.

Strategy

As our ancestors discovered, fire is your friend. Being plant-based, you might have figured that out. So keep your cartridges handy. Energy weapons don’t do much, but projectiles do.

Since the regular Mutants are weaker, I recommend using the PM on them. This might be the only time I would say this. Save the valuable ammo for the powerful weapons for the bigger enemies. 

Like the large mutant. This thing doesn’t have many weaknesses, so you’ll just have to keep shooting and hacking and burning it.

9. VOV-A6 Lab Tech

Lab techs are everywhere, and I don’t mean we have too many students of the Sciences. No, that’s the name of the most basic types of enemies. If you’ve already started the game, you run into a few moments after you get your weapons.

When you first meet these guys, they can be a little troublesome. But that’s because you’re still learning to play the game. Once you’ve upgraded your weapons and skills, they should give you no trouble.

But let’s look at the variants and how they can hurt you. The white are the basic versions that will try to punch you. They can dodge your attacks when you charge and will use power attacks.

The black Lab techs have more health and can shoot lasers out of their heads. They’re easy to dodge, but if you fail, you’ll take a lot of damage. And they hit harder as well.

And finally, the gray. There guys use Polymer Shields and an… energy baton? Their power attacks are much harder to dodge and can easily take you out.

Strategy

The white Techs are the easiest to deal with. You can pretty much use anything and kill them. The same can be said for the black ones, you just need to do it longer and avoid their attacks.

The gray ones are a little trickier. They’ll pull their shield up before you can do enough damage, so you need to get rid of that. It’s weakest at the center, so that’s where you have to shoot.

Having your own Polymer Shield is a great way of avoiding them. But even if you don’t have that, dodging can be effective assuming you have the right upgrades. Keep doing that and you should come out on top.

8. WSP-9 Pchela

You’d think these cute, flying drones wouldn’t do too much damage. In all honesty, you’d be right. But there’s a catch.

They come in three variants. One is a repair bot, another has a Dandelion camera attached and the last one shoots lasers. The last one will be the least of your worries, since you can easily dispatch them. It’s the other two you need to worry about.

If the camera bot sees you, it will set off the alarms and everything in the area will rush at you. Unless you’re very confident in your ability or playing with the easiest difficulty, I recommend running.

And the worst of the bunch is the repair bot. These things will pop out whenever you destroy something and literally fix them up. While these are around, you won’t be able to focus on the fight. Because if you don’t, you will be overwhelmed.

Strategy

The good news is that they have very low health. Just a single use of Shok is enough to bring one down. And with Chain Lightning, you’ll catch more than one. Anything else, I recommend shooting down with Electro.

You might also use Polymer Jet. The range shouldn’t be a problem, since they will come close to you.

These things come out of outlets and each one pops out five your way. One at a time. So you need to make sure you’re counting, and be patient as they come towards you.

7. RAF-9 Engineer

The Engineer, or Rafik, is interesting. Their purpose is to repair stuff and serve humans. And unlike the other guys here, they don’t actually stray.

On one hand, it’s a very powerful enemy. It has high damage attacks from both close and far. And it can take a beating.

On the other hand, they’re actually not hostile at all. You’ll run into a few of them, but they only attack after you’ve attacked them. 

Strategy

Strategy 1 is to not attack them at all. Why poke the proverbial bear? But that means missing out on resources. So if you really want to kill one, here’s how.

The moment it becomes aggressive, it'll charge you or spit oil in your way. Telekinesis is going to be a huge asset for you as you can lift it up and gain some time. If you have it upgraded, you can even cause fall damage.

Besides that, Zvezdochka is a heavy hitter that is right for this. And the Shotgun. Never forget your shotgun.

6. Vatrushka

You’d think these things are harmless, and you’d be almost right. But that almost makes the difference between life and death in this game. These robots were made for taking measurements, and have a lot of different tools to hurt you with.

There are three variants, and the color will tell you what they do. They can either shoot at you, use a flamethrower or laser. The last one even has a knockdown effect.

On their own, they’re easy to take care of. They move fast but don’t have a lot of health. But they will almost always come with other types and easily overwhelm you.

Strategy

I prefer taking these things out first, because they can complicate the fights. Shok is almost always guaranteed to hit. 

Freezing them is an option too, since they move around too much. That is, if you can use Frostbite before they move out of range.

Once deployed, they remain stationary while they prepare to fire. That’s when you can easily hit them. As for weapons, Electro is always a good bet.

5. MFU-68 Laborer

Atomic Heart keeps you trapped underground for quite some time. And when it finally lets you out into the open, you meet these guys.

As the name and design suggests, they were created to cut trees, among other things. These saws make them deadly opponents as they hack away at you. What makes things even more troublesome is that they will charge and close the distance.

Strategy

As dangerous as they are, they don’t have a lot of health. During the later game, they will only pose a threat if they gang up or sneak up on you.

Hitting them with Shok should do a lot of damage, especially if you have Chain Lightning and the following upgrades. After that, you can hack them up with a melee weapon easily. I find the Pashtet perfect for this job because of its incredible attack speed.

4. LUC-1 Owl

These are some fast flying drones that were meant to watch over fields. Unfortunately for us, they do a lot more than just watching. By that, I mean shooting missiles.

They’re pretty fast, and on top of that, they can easily swarm you with missiles. You’ll have to do a lot of dodging and somehow shoot them out of the air while you’re being shot at. You can see why these things can’t be taken lightly.

Strategy

Melee is out of the question, obviously. Same more or less applies for Polymer Jet and Frostbite. But there are several other ways.

Since they move around a lot, your best bet is the shotgun. The spread ensures that you will hit something. It’s the best you can hope for.

And if you’re lucky enough that they’re in moderate range, feel free to hit them with Shok.

3. MED-9 Doc

This thing might look like a cute ostrich strutting around, but don’t let that fool you. Though if you’ve read this far, you know better than to let anything fool you. They were created to help with medical operations. They’re kinda doing the opposite now, though.

These things can't take a lot of hits. But they will shoot projectiles at you. And if that wasn’t enough, they can also fire a laser. On top of that, they can rush at you, knock you down andkick you if you get too close.

Strategy

Despite the danger they pose, they are actually fairly easy to destroy. They have funky movements, so shooting them is difficult. But if you use the Shotgun or the Kalash, you should be able to get enough hits in.

Melee is also a good option, as I find them easier to hit that way. But if you’re trying that, you have to be quick. Because they’ll either kick you when you get close, or run away. Or both.

2. Plyush

This isn’t pretty to look at, is it? Looks more like a mass of tentacles made out of blood or guts rather than anything else. But as it stands, this thing is actually made out of Polymer. An attempt at making an exoskeleton.

These things are dangerous for a bunch of reasons. They’re resistant to almost every kind of attack. The only exception being their weaknesses - melee and fire.

They are fast and will attack aggressively. Getting too close might get you killed. But if you keep your distance, they will charge at you or extend their limbs and attack you.

Strategy

Since their only weaknesses are melee weapons and fire, you have very few options. Make sure you have fire cartridges on you and the necessary upgrade on your weapon. Also, having Character Skill Upgrades such as Sleazeball and Second Wind will help with dodging.

1. ARU-31/6 Rotorobot

Hello, everybody, and welcome to my nightmare. I wish I was kidding. But these machines are like the literal embodiment of death. They even have scythes!

Okay, I’m done being dramatic. This thing was designed for agriculture use, hence the scythes. There’s no justification for the sinister look, but it can’t be helped.

What makes these things so dangerous is their speed. Even though they have okay armor, they have a lot of health. And they more than make up for any lack by rushing at you. Their attacks do a lot of damage, and they attack you pretty fast as well.

Strategy

Since these enemies are very melee-focused, your best bet is using ranged weapons. Anything that has been upgraded to deal with robots will do. Keep dodging and shooting, and you should be fine.

And if you’re like me, you can try switching between the Pashtet and Electro. But it’s very risky, as the moment you get caught up in its blades, you’re done.

Frostbite is very useful if you’re going to do that. Or even without melee, it can give you some much needed breathing room. Especially if you’re surrounded.

You may also be interested in:

• All Atomic Heart Bosses Ranked Easiest To Hardest (And How To Defeat Them)

• [Top 5] Atomic Heart Best Early Game Weapons

• [Top 10] Atomic Heart Best Weapon Upgrades And How To Get Them