Lazarus joins your squad in Hard West 2 during Chapter 1. You’ll meet him in Pine Falls after aiding Cla’Lish, where he’ll admit that he’s also hunting the Devil Mammon. Here’s our Hard West 2 Lazarus guide to help you with the best card skills and weapon loadout for him.
Note: For more information, check out our Hard West 2 guides and features hub.
Hard West 2 Lazarus best card skills and weapon loadout guide
Main skill: Transfusion – Lazarus can swap his current HP and status effects with another character. This can be a lifesaver at times or a game-changer for certain setups. However, it’s also fairly situational.
Weapon loadout: Any – Lazarus has bonuses for handguns and shotguns (depending on the equipped cards), though he does not excel in any particular combat scenario.
Below, you’ll see the card skills for Lazarus in Hard West 2. As usual, having a better poker hand equipped means unlocking all the lower-tier skills.
| Skill | Requirement | Effect |
| Purification | Default | Replaces Heads Down with Purification to remove all negative status effects from Lazarus |
| Horseback Riding | Default | Movement bonus and Burning/Crippling resistance when mounted; -25% reduced chance of getting hit |
| An Eye for an Eye | Loyalty – Ally | +10% bullseye chance if at least one party member has fallen at the start of the turn |
| A Tooth for a Tooth | Loyalty – Friend | +1 weapon damage if at least half of your party has fallen at the start of the turn |
| Transfusion | Pair | Swap your HP and status effects with any other party member; has 12 range |
| Fiery Sermon | Two Pair | Gain the Patching Up status when you kill someone |
| Pistolero | Three of a Kind | +1 damage with handguns |
| Transfusion II | Straight | Can now swap HP and status effects with enemies, but only living and undead humans |
| Reverse Tell | Flush | Heals completely when you have 100 Luck; loses 100 Luck |
| Shotgunner | Full House | +1 damage when using shotguns |
| Transfusion III | Four of a Kind | Increases range to 25 |
| Fresh and Vigilant | Straight Flush | Gain the Duelist status if you have 100% HP at the start of your turn |
| Armor of Faith | Royal Flush | Gain heads Down and stop Burning at the start of your turn if your HP is below 75% |
| Thou Shalt Not Kill | Five of a Kind | Gain the Cursed status if you kill someone when not in cover |
Card suit and character usage: To have the best card skills for Lazarus in Hard West 2, you’ll want to have a Pair for the Transfusion ability. You can opt to get the upgrades when you have a Straight and a Four of a Kind, but that’s entirely up to you. As for card suits, Lazarus should be fine with either Diamonds (luck/hit chance) or Spades (bullseye/crit chance). Don’t give him Hearts cards since those are better handed to Bill.
To be fair, though, Lazarus is one of the more underwhelming party members in Hard West 2. This is primarily due to the situational usage of Transfusion:
- Get Lazarus to low health, then use Transfusion on Bill. He can then deal more damage with Deadman’s Revenge.
- Use it on a tough opponent with max HP (assuming Lazarus has low health as well).
In these kinds of scenarios, there are more viable setups, such as just letting Bill tank the hits or bulldozing most mobs with Bravado chain kills. That puts Lazarus below the priority list for integral squad members. Still, you can use him as often as you’d like if you prefer his kit.
Hard West 2 is available via Steam.
Published: Aug 4, 2022 04:35 pm