History Main / RangedEmergencyWeapon

In movies, a character in this situation tends to rely on ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks; unfortunately very few video games give you that option.

* Throwing knives in ''MountAndBlade'' require no skill in throwing to use and take up 1 of your 4 weapon slot (opposed to a bow/crossbows 1 another for ammo) but do poor damage. Their primary use is to give a sword/shield/lance user some range. Many infantry units have a chance at having proper throwing weapons at creation.

** The Valkyries are consummate warriors in the game's universe just like in RealLife. There's a reason her FinishingMove has a bow version as well as a sword version.

* ''{{Left 4 Dead}}'' features pistols with {{Bottomless Magazines}} as your sidearms and indeed Ranged Emergency Weapons.

* DragonAge Origins uses Strength to determine whether a character can wield big melee weapons and Dexterity for bows. There are also Strength-based crossbows to provide Warriors with an EmergencyRangedWeapon. Crossbows are universally and unconditionally awful.
* ''{{Darksiders}}'' gives War a gun and a boomerang for long-range work, but there's no question that he's a meele-character - neither of them can do much of any damage, but there are a few situations where you're forced to use them on enemies you either can't reach, or don't want to be standing next to.

* In the {{Dragonlance}} video game ''Heroes of the Lance'', Flint Fireforge, similarly to the Gimli example given above, has a single axe he can throw in addition to his melee axe.

* In Rune: Halls Of Valhalla and possibly Rune itself too, any weapon can be thrown with the obvious backdraw of not having said weapon in your hands anymore. In player versus player duels, throwing your last remaining melee weapon is usually unexpected and can bring victory, but if it fails you're weaponless. You can pick up one of every kind, giving you quite an arsenal to throw with. You can also pick up chopped off pieces of enemies and throw those. Ineffective, but funny.
* {{Left 4 Dead}} features pistols with {{Bottomless Magazines}} as your sidearms and indeed Ranged Emergency Weapons.

* This sort of thing used to be ridiculously common in DungeonsAndDragons, before Fourth Edition. In all earlier editions, the main factor in hitting with a weapon is your Base Attack Bonus (or THAC0, in AD&D), which is the same value for melee and ranged attacks, so an otherwise melee-focused character could still probably hit with a bow or a thrown weapon if the situation called for it. Most characters would carry around a backup weapon, "just in case". In Fourth Edition, a character won't possibly hit with any weapon outside of that character's narrow focus, so the rules give most classes abilities that let them use their main focus somehow at range (often relying on the rule that any thrown weapon immediately reappears in the attacker's hand after it does damage, so the fighter would just gain abilities to throw his InfinityPlusOneSword in the off case that he can't get up and beat someone down with it directly). Spellcasters, who would previously carry a crossbow in case they ran out of spells, are instead incapable of running out of spells.

* In the {{Dragonlance}} novel ''Dragons of Winter Night'', when Sturm needs to buy time for Laurana to use the Dragon Orb, he decides that he needs to draw the attacking dragons toward him, and fires a bow at them to do so, even though he never otherwise uses a ranged attack.

Most {{Emergency Weapon}}s are close-ranged or occasionally small, weak long-ranged weapons used in reserve for a character who normally fights with guns or magic in case they run out of juice for said guns or magic, or perhaps for a character with breakable or disarmable weapons. However, sometimes, rather than simply being a question of weapon availability, a situation occurs where a character who specialises in melee and isn't much good with ranged weapons, nonetheless does have a ranged option open to him. They are not very effective with the ranged weapon, but if they absolutely have to do something at a longer distance than the nasty sharp thing can reach, the ranged weapon will do the job. Often not an actual gun, bombs, throwing knives and other odd bits and pieces can do for these characters.

This is fairly rare, mainly due to the story wanting to focus more on the melee action: if a guy is an awesome swordsman why make him use a gun or bow? Also, there's a tendency for good guys in fiction to be great shots whatever their melee skills. However, a handful of characters graduated from the {{Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy}} even as they kick ass at melee.

* In ''WorldOfWarcraft'' all ranged weapons are this for all classes except Hunters. They consist of guns, bows, crossbows and throwing knives for warriors and rogues and wands for mages, priests and warlocks. The most common use of them is ''initiating'' battle from a distance in order to lure mobs to a more favourable position.

* Also averted elsewhere. A few of melee powersets available to players include a ranged attack (SuperStrength, [[DishingOutDirt Stone Melee]], Spines, [[WolverineClaws Claws]] and Kinetic Melee) which is no weaker than their other attacks. Their range may be shorter than a Blaster, and they lack a full ranged attack chain, but the attack is more than capable of putting the hurt on a runner or an enemy that hangs back.

* Many melee specialists in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: DawnOfWar'' have a ranged weapon of an upgrade that gives them one.

* In CityOfHeroes when the custom mission creator was released it was possible to make custom enemies with no ranged attacks allowing a ranged character to fly up and fight them in perfect safety. Consequently all custom enemies with a melee attack set now get Throwing Knives as a ranged attack power.

* in the {{Dragonlance}} novel ''Dragons of Winter Night'', when Sturm needs to buy time for Laurana to use the Dragon Orb, he decides that he needs to draw the attacking dragons toward him, and fires a bow at them to do so, even though he never otherwise uses a ranged attack.

* ''SeriousSam'' had a pair of revolvers with infinite ammo as the EmergencyWeapon.

* In CityOfHeroes when the custom mission creator was released it was possible to make custom enemies with no ranged attacks allowing a ranged character to fight them in perfect safety. Consequently all custom enemies with a melee attack set now get Throwing Knives as a ranged attack power.

* Throwing Knifes in ''MountAndBlade'' require no skill in throwing to use and take up 1 of your 4 weapon slot (opposed to a bow/crossbows 1 another for ammo) but do poor damage. Their primary use is to give a sword/shield/lance user some range. Many infantry units have a chance at having proper throwing weapons at creation.

* Handaxes and Javelins in ''FireEmblem'' have the attack power of the most basic axes/lances with lower accuracy and much lower durability, but have a range of 1 or 2 tiles, opposed to every other melee weapons 1 (There are stronger versions with the strength of higher grade weapons, but they are rare and typically [[TooAwesomeToUse can not be bought]])

** The sequel adds an oddly low-powered Desert Eagle("Desert Cobra") as an alternative to your pistol(s), and should you decide to pick up a melee weapon to replace your sidearm? Get knocked on the ground and it BECOMES a single pistol.