The smoke bomb is a crafted sack of sugar and explosive that blinds and stuns enemies instead of hurting them. You first come across it in Pittsburgh, and it is your best escape tool when a fight goes wrong.
Throw one near the hunters' Humvee in Pittsburgh so the gunner hesitates, against the military sniper in The Suburbs, and against squads armed with assault rifles. Hiding in the smoke also lets you launch your own attack on blinded enemies.
2x4
The 2x4 is a plank of lumber and the most common melee weapon in the game, especially in Boston and Pittsburgh. It reaches farther than your fists, stuns a human with one hit and lasts four swings before it breaks.
Hatchet
The hatchet is a one-handed camp axe that kills any enemy except a bloater in one hit. It is the last bladed weapon you find, first turning up just after you leave Ish's abandoned settlement in the Pittsburgh sewers during The Suburbs.
Machete
The machete kills in one hit and swings faster than the hatchet, but breaks after three uses. The first one is in Ish's settlement in the Pittsburgh sewers during The Suburbs.
Military sniper
The military sniper is a tripod-mounted bolt-action rifle you only use once, in The Suburbs. A hunter uses it to pin Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam down in the street; once Joel reaches the house and kills him, you man the rifle to cover the others.