Trench Knife

The Trench Knife is a metro-made weapon that is carried by Artyom at all times throughout his travels.

Overview
Artyom carries his personal knife with him throughout the entire game. Besides its normal use, he uses it to get out of numerous situations that would have otherwise been fatal. In close combat, the knife has saved his life on quite a few occasions. Gameplay shows that Artyom seems to be well versed in knife combat. The knife can be seen in settlements, in shops, near or on corpses, and carried by certain NPCs, but in actual gameplay it is rarely used and a different variant can never be picked up. On some rare instances, an NPC can use his knife to do a finishing kill on a mutant, but usually they either shoot the mutant, or hit it with the butt of their weapon. The knife is the only weapon to be used in quick-reaction situations, since Artyom can perform an one hit knife kill when this happens.

One of the few appearances of NPC usage of the knife is when Ulman saves Artyom by stabbing two Nazis during a cutscene in the beginning of "Trolley Combat", or when an NPC kills a mutant with it.

Tactics and Use
The knife's normal use is as a melee weapon, an alternative to wasting ammo on weak or lone enemies. Artyom can silently kill some NPCs and mutants with it, but this is not recommended as he has to be very close and can easily be detected.

The knife has two attack styles, left click/left trigger is a fast attack, while right click/right trigger is a slower bash. The slower bash is the style Artyom uses when a mutant is on top of him. If the primary attack is tapped rapidly, Artyom will perform three slashes in quick succession. The secondary attack (using the brass knuckles) can instantly kill a human with one blow to the head on any difficulty, even if they are wearing a helmet or gas mask.

During quick-time events throughout the game, Artyom uses his knife for a multitude of tasks, from stabbing or bashing mutants in the head and neck who have pounced him, to breaking ice off of cables to allow him to continue climbing.

In Metro: Last Light, the knife is much easier to use and quite valuable to a stealthy playthrough. When sneaking up on a human enemy, getting close enough to them results in the sound of Artyom unsheathing the knife, as well as an on-screen prompt in Normal gameplay modes, allowing him to select between a silent assassination (via pressing the melee attack button), or a silent knock-out (via pressing the interact button). These attacks are also used in Ranger mode; the unsheathing sound remains to notify players that they are close enough for a takedown, though the on-screen prompt is removed. One exception is in the "Sniper Team" mission, where the player character can only kill. Additionally, in the mission that stealth is not necessary, the sneak attack of the Trench Knife is normally useless; the non-lethal attack does has its merits however, it counts as complete the level stealthy and in some levels the player character will still earn positive moral point if all the attacks are non-lethal.

The animations for killing/knocking out an enemy stealthily are different, depending on which angle the player character approaches and if the enemy is standing or sitting down, and if the enemy has been alerted to their presence. For example, if coming up from behind an enemy (who has not detected the player character), if one chooses to kill him, the character will grab his head, slit his throat, and then slowly put the now dead hostile on the ground. If the player character knocks him out, they will grab the enemy by the right shoulder, turn him around, and punch him in the face with the duster knuckles. Another example, if approaching from the left side of an enemy, he will either be stabbed in the back of the throat, or he will be turned around and be punched in the face with the knuckles. Sometimes, a player character can sneak up on an enemy and not see the prompt to either kill him or knock him out. If the player presses the melee button, he will simply stab him. The player will not have to worry about being spotted if this happens. The kill may seem loud, but it will not attract the attention of other enemies (unless if the player character is spotted).

Both of these attacks are almost impossible for enemies to detect if executed out of sight, allowing for a swift, effortless take down and easy conservation of ammunition. Sufficiently sneaky players characters can make their way through entire stations of human enemies using nothing but their trench and throwing knives, resulting in a tidy profit.

Knocking out an enemy does not kill but the victim will wake up soon after Artyom successfully escaped. This allows him to take ammunition from them without gaining negative moral points.

Trivia

 * If Artyom stands idle long enough with it equipped, he will check the sharpness of the edge and point of the blade, and then clean out the ring on the bottom.
 * An identical knife can be seen in the level "Dry", in the room where Artyom meets Khan for the first time and where Bourbon is killed. To the left of the door leading to the next area is a nosalis' head on the wall with the knife in its mouth.
 * Several other identical knives can be seen attached to weapons or carried by certain people throughout the game, for example Khan, who has one attached to his rifle.
 * In Metro: Last Light, Metro Redux, and Metro Exodus, Artyom's knife doesn't occupy an inventory slot, instead being used at the push of a button.
 * The knuckle duster on the knife appears to consist of bolts and nuts instead of the usual spikes, most likely due to being produced in the metro.
 * The knife is used again as a bayonet in Last Light's Faction Pack (DLC), by the twins Bar and Su.
 * In the Spider Lair mission of the Developer Pack (DLC), the stalker can use the knife before he even acquires it, but only if he is tackled by a spider beforehand. This is most likely a developer oversight.

Artjoms Messer Нож Ніж