A lycanthrope or more commonly known as a werewolf is a creature that is both man and wolf. In folklore, the full moon would cause the change and the creature wasn’t in control of it’s action. As time has evolved the werewolves have changed as well. Now they can change at will and keep all the intelligence that they had in their human form. Like many other creatures, werewolves work on the principle of a blood born pathogen, Zombies and vampires are similar in the process of turning humans into the new creature. This process would be biting the victim.

Like any good soldier or hunter will tell you, it is a must to know the enemy that you are hunting. You have to know their habits and weaknesses. One thing about modern werewolves is that even in human form, they keep the pack mentality. This is important because most of the time you will not just be fighting one, but the entire pack.

The one thing that has remained the same throughout the history of fighting werewolves is that silver is poison to them. Since we are discussing the weapons that you will be using, there is an important aspect to this fact. While a bullet may pass through the creature, if it exits then the amount of poison introduced to the blood stream is minimal. The tissue damage that would kill a human will quickly heal a lycan either in human or wolf form.

Traditionally you would use a silver stake. The problem with this is you are within attack range of a much stronger creature. The chance of your death or becoming a werewolf is very real. For this reason, try to use modern weapons. While with most dangers, a long range rifle is a good weapon. The problem with this is the ballistics of a high powered rifle. The velocity of the projectile will often go completely through the creatures body.

Because of this you will need to pick different form of weapons. Firearms will still work very well. Silver bullets have always been the “magic weapon” of choice. You need to examine the different types of firearms and their projectiles. What you are going to need is a weapon that has a high rate of fire that will penetrate the body, but not pass through it. Luckily in our extensive history of warfare, there is no shortage of such weapons.

You could use a shotgun that is loaded with pellets that are made of silver. You can find automatic shotguns that will hold 9-12 shells before reloading. They have a high rate of fire and the relatively small (but many) projectiles will enter the body but not pass through. In this way, the poison will enter the blood stream at many points. Since there are many pellets, removing them before the the silver poison will take time, time is never a commodity in a battle. If you have a high capacity shotgun, you will be able to engage several targets without having to reload. Since they attack in a pack, you will have to shoot several of them to survive.

Other options, if available to you, would be sub-machine guns. Assault rifles tend to go through the body, so their effectiveness is lessened as mentioned above. Sub-machine guns on the other hand will use pistol ammunition. They are usually fully automatic and have a magazine capacity of around 30 bullets. A semiautomatic pistol will work as well, but you need to be more accurate and a lot closer. If you are not a proficient shot, this is not a first weapon of choice. When facing a hunter that is stronger, faster, and more dangerous to you, the farther you are when you are engaging the enemy the better.

With either the pistol, or submachine gun hollow point silver bullets would be a better choice. Technically they will have less silver, but the way they are designed, they expand on impact and will lodge in the body.

If they have gotten too close to you, there are still other weapons at your disposal. A crossbow or bow and arrow will work if the arrow is silver. The amount of arrows you can shoot will lessen your chance of survival. The same goes if they get really close. A silver spear, stake, or even sword or knife will work but the poison isn’t instantaneous so you need to leave the weapon in their body and find a new one very quickly.

Technically unless you are trained in combat, your chances will be slim, especially on your own. If you use their tactics and get your own “pack” of hunters and soldiers types you will make your survival more likely.

To sum it up, silver is poisonous to a werewolf. You need to get some sort of silver projectile into the body. The more the better. The death is not instantaneous, so be on your guard. Invest in silver (real and high grade) and hope for the best. It is possible to win against these creatures.