Pistol Whip: How the Scoring System Works

Every time you fire a shot that successfully connects with an enemy, there are two factors you’re judged on which determine your score: Timing and accuracy. Each of these can award a maximum of 100 points, for a max of 200 possible score per hit.

Every song has its own beat, reflected both in the music itself and in rhythmic pulses in the environmen, HUD,t and your gun. If you turn on Metronome in the options, you can feel this beat in your controller. If you fire a shot perfectly on the beat, you’ll get 100 points for timing, while being off-beat will give you a penalty depending on how far off you were.

⚫The Pulse Sigil will appear to the right of your score for shots that are on-beat.

By default, Pistol Whip gives you a somewhat generous aim assist so any shots that would normally be a near miss are instead counted as a hit. However, scoring one of these “near-miss” hits will give you a score penalty, making it impossible to score a perfect 200 even with a perfectly timed shot. An accurate shot that doesn’t require auto-aim (would have still been a hit with Deadeye enabled) will give you 100 points for accuracy.

There is no extra bonus for headshots, so aim for the torso.

As of the High Priestess update, Deadeye mode will now also subtract points from your score for any missed shots.

⚫The Bullseye Sigil will appear to the left of your score for precise hits.
⚫in Deadeye mode, these are the only shots counted as hits.

You’ll need to be both on-beat and on-target to get the max possible (200) points out of each hit.

Pistol whipping an enemy will award you points based on the speed of your punch when striking the enemy. A sufficiently powerful strike will always award the highest possible score you could’ve gotten out of that enemy.

Normal enemies – 200 Points (1 shot)
Kevlar enemies – 400 Points (2 shots)
Heavy enemies – 800 Points (4 shots)

Pistol whipping will also automatically reload your gun, and will also instantly restore your armor if you’ve been hit.

Sadly, you can’t farm more points out of armored enemies by shooting them several times and then pistol-whipping them. If you pistol whip an already-hurt enemy, it can only award you the remaining potential score for that enemy.

Your multiplier multiplies your score at the end of the stage. You can increase your multiplier with successive perfect shots.

Your multiplier will go down if you get hit, but you can still build it back up afterwards.

Try not to get shot near the end of a stage, so you still have time to regain your multiplier.