The Stun Baton, or Stunstick, is an electrified baton used by Civil Protection officers to enforce the law on unruly citizens, or simply to beat them. It is only seen in the first and third chapters of Half-Life 2, Point Insertion, and Route Kanal.
Overview
Stunsticks are similar in use and appearance to the batons used by police officers today, though considerably more brutal in application. Often, they are used simply to beat citizens who do not comply with Combine rules and regulations, or who disobey Civil Protection officers no matter how trivial the matter may be. For instance, Gordon receives a beating if he throws the can at or past the officer instead of into the bin, in the first chapter of Half-Life 2.
Stun Batons are also used in Civil Protection raids to subdue targeted citizens or Resistance members. Guards can be frequently observed using stun batons to restrain and harass citizens within City 17.
The small electrical device contained within the tip is used to electrocute anyone hit with the baton. When activated, the tip emits an electrical blue glow. It will stun citizens for a few seconds, causing pain and confusion.
The baton is approximately 22 inches long and is manufactured from a gray metal.
The stunstick was to be implemented within the game as a usable weapon, however it was removed in the retail version. It can, however, be used in Half-life 2: Deathmatch and various mods. The usable stun baton only has one level of damage and cannot have its stun mode toggled on or off. It is very similar in function to the Crowbar, though it does significantly more damage, and has a slower attack rate. It is given to players who spawn with Combine player models.
It is also noted that stunsticks have different settings of power. This is proven by the fact that on the streets, being hit by a stunstick only hurts and blinds Gordon for a second, however during an apartment raid, they can be seen incapacitating citizens in one hit and can kill or incapacitate the player in three hits. After Gordon gets his HEV, they only deal 10 damage per strike while still deal one hit kill on citizens or any NPCs with less than 40 health and deal massive damage on other NPCs who have good amount of health.
Behind the scenes
- There is a cut HUD icon in the Half-Life 2 files for the Stun Baton. The icons do not represent the baton but the words "STUNSTICK ICON".
Trivia
- Interestingly, while Gordon cannot use the baton as a weapon, he can pick it up and use it as a battery, recharging the HEV Suit's power by 7%. However, the stunstick will simply disappear once it is dropped if the enemy is killed from range.
- In Half-Life 2, the stunstick deals 40 damage to NPC's and to the player without the HEV Suit. If the player has an HEV Suit it only deals 10 damage, though the console says it does 40 damage.
- In Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, the stunstick will take 3 hits to kill a fully healed enemy, albeit very slow. It is statistically worse than the crowbar against fully healed enemies, taking longer to kill them, but is more effective against enemies who are already damaged.
Gallery
List of appearances
- Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
- Half-Life 2: Deathmatch (Non-canonical appearance)
- Source Particle Benchmark (Game files only) (Non-canonical appearance)
References
 The Half-Life Wiki has more images related to Stun Baton.
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