How to Unlock the Perico Pistol in GTA Online

Image: Rockstar North, Rockstar Games via HGG / Koby Gibson Ross

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Penned by Gibson Vasela

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

One of GTA Online’s strongest aspects is the amount of weapons players have access to. The game offers everything from powerful shotguns to versatile assault rifles, to explosive RPGs and everything in between. It shouldn’t be a surprise then that Rockstar regularly adds new weapons to GTA Online often.

One such weapon that was added to the game post-launch is the Perico Pistol. This is a powerful and unique weapon that fires a single bullet before needing to be reloaded. In this article, we are going to be giving you a complete walkthrough on how to unlock the Perico Pistol in GTA Online!

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How to Get the Perico Pistol in GTA Online

With that introduction out of the way, let’s get right into the guide!

Cayo Perico Pistol Location: Find the Sleeping Guard Random Encounter

First, before you can collect the pistol from the place it’s located at, you are going to need a key. You can get the key that you need by looting it off of a sleeping Cayo Perico guard. The only way to do this is by finding one in a random encounter. As you drive around the map, you may see a small blue dot appear on your map. This means that a random encounter spawned there. The sleeping guard random encounter specifically can only spawn at a select few locations.

For a full list of these locations, check out this GTA Wiki article by clicking the link posted here. Once you see a blue dot spawning at one of those locations, go check it out to see if it’s the sleeping guard random encounter. If it is, you’ll see a guard passed out on the sidewalk and a button prompt will appear on the screen telling you to loot the guard. Walk up to him and press the displayed button to loot the key off of his body. This should be ‘E’ if you are playing on PC.

Since this random encounter is pretty rare and isn’t always guaranteed to spawn, I do not recommend going out of your way to visit all of the locations to try and get this random encounter to spawn. Instead, I think that you should just play the game like normal — complete missions, free roam events, and other activities. Eventually, you should just happen across this random encounter while you are just playing the game normally.

Unlock the Lock Box during the Cayo Perico Heist

Now for the most important step in unlocking Perico Pistol in GTA Online — collecting it during the finale mission of the Cayo Perico heist! To do this next step, first head to the website Warstock Cache & Carry. From this in-game website, you can purchase the Kosatka submarine, which is needed to launch the heist. It will cost you exactly $2,200,000. Once purchased, head inside the submarine and start up the Cayo Perico heist.

After you complete all of the scouting and prep missions, you’ll be able to do the finale. You can do the finale solo or with a friend, so don’t worry if you don’t have anyone to do it with. During this finale, you will be directed to go into a multi-story building located at the center of the compound. Go inside this building and head to the top floor to reach El Rubio’s office. You’ll know you are in the right spot when you see an elevator, desk, and fireplace in the same room.

Now just walk behind El Rubio’s desk and you should see a white lockbox. Walk up to it and interact with it to open it up using the key you stole off of the guard. Your character will pop open the box and inside will be the Perico Pistol! Now you can just complete the heist. When you re-spawn in free roam after finishing it, you will now have the Perico Pistol inside of your inventory, ready to be used!

Is the Perico Pistol Any Good?

Now for the million-dollar question — is the Perico Pistol any good, and is it worth unlocking? Well, yes and no. The weapon does good damage with each and every shot. However, as previously mentioned, it needs to be reloaded after each and every pull of the trigger. Because of this, it makes the Perico Pistol a weapon that is very punishing to miss with. Therefore, it’s not really a weapon that I recommend the average player use. This is because it takes a good amount of skill to use effectively.

The weapon does not beat out the current meta pistol in GTA Online, that being the AP Pistol. The AP Pistol is fully automatic with a massive clip size (for a pistol). This makes it a great drive-by weapon, which is the strongest feature that pistols have. Because of this, I recommend getting the AP Pistol over the Perico Pistol if you could only use one pistol.

This doesn’t mean it isn’t worth unlocking the Perico Pistol, however. It’s good to unlock for the sake of completionism, and if you want a new toy to play around with. The gun is fun to use in PVE, and I think it’s a nice novelty item more than anything. So by all means, if you are looking for something fun to do in GTA Online, then unlock the Perico Pistol and play around with it a bit. Just don’t expect it to be the new meta weapon for the pistol category.

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We hope that you found this guide for how to unlock the Perico Pistol in GTA Online informative! What are your thoughts on the weapon? Do you think it’s good? Be sure to let us know down in the comments section below. Make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more great content!

Happy gaming!