R.E.P.O. | Monster guide: Gnome

The Gnome is a Level 1 monster in R.E.P.O. that looks like a tiny, devilish garden gnome with a distorted face, sharp teeth, and a pickaxe it is very eager to swing. Don't let the low level fool you: Gnomes always arrive in groups, they go straight for your valuables, and they can jump into your cart and start wrecking everything inside.

Behavior

Gnomes always spawn in groups of four, unless they are replacing a Level 3 monster, in which case ten of them show up at once. While roaming, the group stays loosely clustered together and pauses at random spots. The moment one Gnome detects a valuable or a player through sight, sound, or direct touch, it alerts the entire nearby group and they all charge in to swing their pickaxes. Valuables are their first priority over players, so if you are carrying something worth money, you are painting a target on it. They can jump into the extraction cart to damage items inside, hop onto tables to reach players standing on top, and even mirror a player's jump to land hits mid-air.

Hidden usefulness

Because Gnomes weigh absolutely nothing, any player can pick one up without needing any strength at all. This means you can grab a live Gnome and use it as a blunt weapon against the rest of the group, killing both the one you are holding and the one you smash it into on impact. It is a chaotic but effective way to thin the pack using their own members. Additionally, if you hold a valuable they are targeting over a pit, they will blindly jump in after it, eliminating themselves with no effort on your part.

Weaknesses

Gnomes have only 20 HP each, so almost anything kills them in one hit. Their weight of zero means every player can pick them up regardless of strength stat. They are also vulnerable to their own environment: a Camera flash will instantly destroy any Gnome that attacks it or a cart containing one. The Pulse Pistol can wipe an entire group in a single well-aimed shot. Their biggest weakness as a group is that their attack pattern is predictable and their low health means any area-effect hit clears several at once.

Strategy

• Stay off ground level when Gnomes are lurking. Get into a chest, cabinet, or any closable hiding spot to break their line of sight and proximity detection.
• If swarmed, repeatedly jumping makes it harder for them to connect hits.
• Keep valuables elevated or held above pits to bait Gnomes into jumping in after them.
• If you have a teammate, have one player hold the targeted valuable in the air while the other picks up and discards Gnomes one by one.
• In later levels after the final extraction, Gnomes can respawn in overwhelming numbers. Running is often smarter than fighting at that point.

How to kill

At 20 HP per Gnome, killing them individually takes almost no effort. The fastest method is the Pulse Pistol: aim it at the group and fire once to eradicate all nearby Gnomes in a single shot. If you don't have a Pulse Pistol, pick up any Gnome with no strength required and smash it into another one, killing both instantly on impact. For a group, melee weapons that have any sweep or knock-back will drop them in one hit each given their fragile health pool. If a Camera is nearby and the Gnomes are attacking the cart, let them hit it: the flash destroys them immediately with zero player input. Avoid trying to melee them one by one while they are all active and jumping, as the chaotic movement makes it easy to take unnecessary hits. Isolate, grab, or blast them as a group rather than chasing individuals.