Dead Island 2 guide - Where to find all Curveballs in the game

As you explore Dead Island 2, you’ll find various throwable weapons known as Curveballs. All of these have different but useful abilities, and will also have a cooldown timer before you can use them again. At first, you will only have one or two, but as you explore different zones in Hell-A, more of them will become available. From Molotov Cocktails to Shuriken, would-be zombie slayers will soon have plenty of weapons at their disposal to deal with the hordes of the undead.

If you’re looking for more implements to destroy the various zombies that you come across in Dead Island 2, this article will be fairly useful for you. Some of these Curveballs will simply appear with merchants, while others can be found in the game's world, waiting for you to pick them up.

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Locations of all the Curveballs in Dead Island 2

The first Curveball that you get in Dead Island 2 is free, the Meat Bait. During one of the early quests, “Call the Cavalry,” you will receive this item as a way to distract zombies. It’s a literal bomb that's filled with grotesque meat, and when thrown, it will attract zombies who rush over to eat its contents. You can then take that time to slay them or simply get away.

Regardless of which Slayer you choose, you'll be able to equip two Curveballs at a time in Dead Island 2, and they can be accessed from your inventory. When you have two equipped, you can swap between them with the Left and Right D-pad arrows or the T and Q keys.

Obviously, some of these items are going to be introduced at important points in Dead Island 2. One Curveball, the Chem Bomb, is introduced right as you’re met with a wall of flame. Throwing it into a fire will extinguish it, which makes certain Apex Zombies easier to deal with temporarily.

Meat Bait

• Location: Bel-Air, from Carlos during Call the Cavalry
• Effect: A meat bomb that attracts regular zombies

Shuriken

• Location: Bel-Air, stuck in a black car’s window. This is seen near the sign for the Halperin Hotel
• Effect: Throw at a zombie to deal physical damage

Chem Bomb

• Location: Second floor of Halperin Hotel, right before the wall of fire
• Effect: Extinguishes flames, traumatizing zombies and making them “soggy”

Caustic-X Bomb

• Location: The reward for completing Halperin Hotel side quest, “The Ravages of Caustic-X”
• Effect: Explodes after a brief delay. Deals caustic damage and melts zombies

Pipe Bomb

• Location: Beverly Hills, on the way to Monarch Studios. Right before the check point, open a yellow case to get this
• Effect: Explodes after a brief duration when thrown

Electric Star

• Location: Beverly HIlls, after completing “O Michael, Where Art Thou” in Monarch Studios. This is stuck in a metal fence at the Brentwood Water facility, where you spawn in
• Effect: Deals physical damage like the regular star, but also shocks targets. Can be used to trigger various elemental effects

Military Grenade

• Location: Monarch Studios, the reward for “Boz Makes a Bang” side quest
• Effect: A large explosion triggers upon hitting an object or zombie

Molotov Cocktail

• Location: Brentwood Sewer. When you reach the pit filled with Slobbers, you’ll see the bottle on a table right before this area
• Effect: Triggers a fire wherever it’s thrown

Flashbang

• Location: Venice Beach, at the radio tower on the military barracks. Complete the “Cremains of the Day” side quest, and she’ll sell you this for $2,500
• Effect: Traumatizes zombies in the blast, which is a free opportunity for counter strikes

Sticky Bomb

• Location: Ocean Avenue, purchased in the Serling Hotel from the trader for $1,500
• Effect: Sticks to a target and then explodes

Nail Bomb

• Location: Ocean Avenue, in the Thalia Residences. On a dresser in Apartment 2C. When working on “The Search for Truth”, you’ll visit this apartment, so get it then
• Effect: Explodes, and makes all afflicted targets bleed

Bait Bomb

• Location: Purchase the Sticky Bomb first, and complete “Search for Truth”, and return to the same trader. Costs $3,500
• Effect: A better Meat Bait, now it explodes after a brief delay

Electric Bomb

• Location: Complete “Jo’s Secret Stash” Lost and Found quest.
• Effect: Wide AOE electric attack, similar to a Shocking Walker

Clearly, Curveballs in Dead Island 2 are incredibly useful in a wide variety of ways. Those that trigger elemental effects can be used to set your enemies on fire or electrocute zombies. Whether used as a distraction or an implement of destruction, you definitely shouldn't sleep on these useful items.

In my playthrough, which you can read more about in my review, I primarily used the Caustic-X Bomb and Military Grenade, but all of these are useful.

Zombies constantly spawn in Dead Island 2, so having these on hand quickly becomes a necessity. Players can also get skill cards that can reduce the cooldown of the Curveball items, making it so you can use them far more frequently.