Tier list

Weapon tier list

All 25 guns ranked for the endgame: fully upgraded, and how well each handles a horde. It’s worked out from the game’s own numbers, so it changes when the game is tuned.

Full ranking

Rank	Gun	Tier	Type	Grade	DPS fully upgraded	Crowd bonus	Score
1	Storm Caster	S	Chain	Prototype	1,060	chains to 5, shock	2,734
2	Railgun	S	Heavy	Prototype	1,003	pierces	1,404
3	Desert Hawk	S	Pistol	Elite	1,218	–	1,218
4	Dragon's Breath	S	Shotgun	Elite	831	9 pellets, fire	1,143
5	Storm Scepter	A	Rifle	Elite	764	3 pellets	955
6	Breacher	A	Pistol	Military	561	pierces	785
7	Rocket Launcher	A	Explosive	Elite	526	explodes	737
8	Spore Launcher	A	Explosive	Elite	375	explodes, toxic, heals	635
9	Rotary Cannon	A	Heavy	Elite	605	–	605
10	Riot Shotgun	A	Shotgun	Military	483	8 pellets	604
11	Tactical DMR	B	Rifle	Military	601	–	601
12	Tesla Rifle	B	Chain	Military	302	chains to 3, shock	586
13	Longrifle	B	Rifle	Military	583	–	583
14	Leech Rifle	B	Rifle	Elite	469	heals	516
15	Ember Launcher	B	Explosive	Military	324	explodes, fire	498
16	Grenade Launcher	B	Explosive	Military	288	explodes	403
17	Twin Revolvers	B	Pistol	Standard	372	–	372
18	Arc Pistol	B	Chain	Standard	211	chains to 2, shock	343
19	Cryo Projector	C	Rifle	Military	278	frost	306
20	Assault Carbine	C	Rifle	Standard	250	–	250
21	Needle SMG	C	SMG	Standard	220	–	220
22	Arcane Bolt	C	Rifle	Standard	205	–	205
23	Scattergun	C	Shotgun	Scrap	143	6 pellets	179
24	Service Pistol	C	Pistol	Scrap	81	–	81
25	Junk SMG	C	SMG	Scrap	73	–	73

Best early guns

Guns that drop in your first few levels, ranked as they drop, before any upgrades. The best of them carry you until the higher grades start dropping.

Rank	Gun	Early tier	Type	Grade	Drops from level	DPS as found	Crowd bonus
1	Breacher	S	Pistol	Military	4	120	pierces
2	Tactical DMR	S	Rifle	Military	4	129	–
3	Twin Revolvers	S	Pistol	Standard	1	128	–
4	Riot Shotgun	A	Shotgun	Military	3	102	8 pellets
5	Longrifle	A	Rifle	Military	3	124	–
6	Ember Launcher	A	Explosive	Military	3	80	explodes, fire
7	Arc Pistol	B	Chain	Standard	1	74	chains to 2, shock
8	Scattergun	B	Shotgun	Scrap	1	96	6 pellets
9	Assault Carbine	B	Rifle	Standard	1	84	–
10	Needle SMG	B	SMG	Standard	1	74	–
11	Arcane Bolt	C	Rifle	Standard	1	67	–
12	Cryo Projector	C	Rifle	Military	4	58	frost
13	Service Pistol	C	Pistol	Scrap	1	56	–
14	Junk SMG	C	SMG	Scrap	1	51	–

Best sidearms

Your sidearm can be any pistol or SMG, or the Arc Pistol. Switching to it (Q) is quicker than reloading, so a strong sidearm is extra damage in every fight. Ranked against the other sidearms:

How the ranking works

Each gun’s score is its damage per second with every upgrade part at its grade’s cap (counting reloads and crits), multiplied by a bonus for guns that hit more than one enemy at a time:

Shotguns and other multi-pellet guns: ×1.25
Piercing every enemy in a line: ×1.4
Chaining: ×1 plus half the damage of all its jumps
Explosions: ×1.4
A built-in element: ×1.1
Healing: ×1.1

The top 15% by score are S tier, the next 25% A, the next 30% B and the rest C. Higher grades take more upgrade levels, so they rank higher; a lower-grade gun you’ve upgraded can still beat a fresh drop of a better one.

Every class can use every gun. See the builds for the best pairings, and the class tier list.

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