This guide contains tips and personal opinions about all Primary, Secondary and Melee weapons (not archwing), based on the testing done in simulacrum and high-level missions. Archwing may be included later.
Status: WIP
I’ve been playing on and off since the closed beta and now that I’m this far, I thought that I could make a guide since a lot of new mods have been introduced and players might want more tier lists to choose from… so I will try to finish this one.
In the guide contents you first find a tier list and then an explanation for each weapon, organized by the weapon name.
Warframe synergy:
Teammate synergy:
Tier list
Top tier:
1. Rakta Cernos
2. Sancti Tigris
3. Vaykor Hek
4. Lanka
5. Tonkor
6. Dread
7. Synoid Simulor
8. Soma Prime
9. Quanta Vandal
10. Torid
11. Vulkar Wraith
12. Paris Prime
13. Dex Sybaris
14. Zhuge
15. Attica
Great:
16. Phage
17. Drakgoon
18. Amprex
19. Strun Wraith
20. Ignis
21. Daikyu
22. Hek
23. Secura Penta
24. Cernos
Very Good:
25. Latron Prime
26. Boltor Prime
27. Kohm
28. Opticor
29. Synapse
30. Sybaris
31. Braton Prime
32. Supra
33. Vectis Prime
Good:
34. Boar Prime
35. Convectrix
36. Ogris
37. Prisma Gorgon
38. Grinlok
39. Buzlok
40. Burston Prime
41. Telos Boltor
42. Glaxion
43. Harpak
44. Penta
45. Prisma Grakata
Decent:
46. Karak Wraith
47. Dera Vandal
48. Gorgon Wraith
Not Worth:
49. Panthera
50. Mutalist Quanta (special mention)
AMPREX
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #18
+ Good AoE damage.
+ High critical chance.
+ High status chance.
+ Innate Electricity damage, meaning it can be typically built against all factions.
+ Hits chain on enemies for fast crowd clearing.
+ Good range and can be modded for higher range.
+ Can kill enemies up to level 100 with relative ease.
– Not ammo efficient. Usually needs a maxed ammo mutation mod and careful usage of the ammo agaisnt higher level enemies.
– No innate punch through. If you want to hit a enemy behind your dead main target, you have to move around to hit them for higher damage.
– Low base damage.
– Low object-based damage.
– Requires 5-6 forma to really shine.
ATTICA
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #15
+ High base damage.
+ Auto-trigger.
+ Ammo efficient.
+ Silent.
+ Good object-based damage.
+ Great base accuracy.
+ Viable for a Thunderbolt build.
+ Can be built for both critical and elemental damage, but crit is more viable.
+ Potential for very high DPS (26k crits on bombards, 54k on paper per headshot).
– Just by adding shred, the firerate increase gives the gun a high, but manageable recoil (hold down to autofire and after 2 or 3 shots the gun fires somewhat accurately).
– Low status chance.
– Reload speed is a bit slow.
– Decent projectile speed, but can be inaccurate at long range when enemies move around quickly.
– If shooting very close to an enemy or another player’s frame, shots tend to miss.
BOAR PRIME
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #34
+ Viable for an elemental damage build.
+ Wide spread, good base damage and multiple pellets allow for fast killing of crowds and nullifiers.
+ Good base damage.
+ Good object-based damage.
+ Good status chance
+ Good DPS (viral/radiation kills LVL100 bombard in about 7 shots).
+ Fast firerate helps with killing more targets and applying more weapon procs.
– Inaccurate at medium to long-range.
– Crit/status isn’t effective enough in most builds (other than viral + something) because of no innate elemental damage
– Decent ammo economy against medium-level enemies,
– Does not scale far in damage compared to other shotguns.
– Low reload speed (but good if considering the magazine size)
BOLTOR PRIME
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #26
+ Very low recoil.
+ Good base damage.
+ Uses bolt ammo, knocking back the body of the enemy that was killed, pinning the bodies on walls or damaging enemies who get hit by them.
+ Good DPS/firerate (30k+ with punchtrough from shred).
+ OK status chance for a full-auto assault rifle; Especially great if paired with viral + other elemental combo so that the weapon doesn’t need to use status mods.
– Not very effective against infested or corpus.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Low magazine capacity.
– Doesn’t scale far. LVL100 bombard takes about 5 seconds to kill later on.
– Because of not scaling very far in damage, it has poor ammo economy against higher level enemies.
BRATON PRIME
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #31
+ Great accuracy.
+ Low recoil.
+ Good base damage for an accurate assault rifle.
+ Good sustained DPS.
+ Decent object-based damage.
+ Good firerate.
+ High status chance.
+ Good reload speed for an assault rifle.
+ Full-auto trigger.
+ Good against all factions.
+ Very effective against corpus if using Toxin/status build with Continuous Misery (which seems to significantly add damage).
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Lacks damage against most high-level enemies.
– Needs extra ammo against most higher-level enemies, which may be hard to get depending on how far you are in a mission.
– Requires 4-5 Forma to really shine.
BURSTON PRIME
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #40
+ Good base damage.
+ Has AoE from augment.
+ Low Recoil.
+ Great accuracy.
+ Good status chance.
+ High firerate helps with nullifier bubbles.
+ Fast reload speed.
+ OK DPS (40 ammo to kill a LVL100 bombard).
+ Good ammo economy.
– Augment is useful, but against armored enemies and in missions where enemies aren’t near each other, the Gas proc might be less useful than an extra damage mod (if using heavy caliber, split chamber, serration, shred/metal auger, 90% mod, 90% mod, augment, bane mod).
– Low critical chance & damage.
– Lacks damage against higher level enemies.
BUZLOK
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #39
+ Good base damage.
+ Ammo efficient.
+ Firerate and accuracy are OK.
+ Can fire homing rounds on any bodypart after marking enemy with secondary fire.
+ Decent DPS (kills LVL100 bombard in 40 hits).
+ Decent status chance.
– Slow reload.
– Inaccurate at long distance without homing rounds.
– Low critical chance & critical damage.
– Doesn’t perform well against higher level enemies.
CERNOS
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #24
+ Very good base damage.
+ High critical chance and critical damage.
+ Fast charge attacks.
+ Innate punchthrough on charged shots.
+ Silent.
+ Good accuracy even with R8 Heavy Caliber installed.
+ Works well against all factions, but mainly Corpus.
+ Fast reload speed.
+ Fast travel time.
+ Ammo efficient.
+ High damage potential (can hit about 60k+ crits on head against abating linked LVL100 bombard).
– Lower stats and no syndicate effect compared to it’s syndicate counterpart.
– Requires 5 forma to really shine.
– Low slash damage and proc chance.
– Somewhat long charge rate and no space for Speed Trigger/Vile Acceleration if building for red crits
CONVECTRIX
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #35
+ Works decently with a punchthrough build.
+ High base damage.
+ High DPS (24-48k if mostly shooting at head).
+ High status chance for slash/elemental procs.
+ Good ammo economy.
+ Good accuracy if fully aimed.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Ammo consumption might become high against higher level enemies without punchthrough.
– Have to wait for aim to adjust if you stop aiming before changing target.
– Limited range (good for close to medium range).
DAIKYU
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #21
+ Very high status chance.
+ High base damage.
+ High damage potential (40-100k crits + 9*100*0.5/8 = 56.25k DPS for 8 seconds from following toxin proc).
+ Silent.
+ Fast flight speed.
+ Fast reload speed.
+ Charged shots have innate punchthrough.
+ Decent fire rate (Good with Speed trigger).
+ Good enough critical chance for a crit build.
+ Can be great against corpus with a crit + toxin build.
– Toxin/elemental procs are somewhat rare because of multiple damage types on the weapon.
– Low crit chance compared to other bows.
– Has to be charged fully to fire.
DERA VANDAL
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #47
+ Decent base damage.
+ High firarate, effective against nullifiers.
+ Good status chance.
+ Very accurate.
– DPS doesn’t scale very far (full clip to kill LVL100 bombard).
– Low critical chance & critical damage.
– Low magazine size for a low DPS weapon.
– Projectiles have some travel time.
DRAKGOON
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #17
+ Very high burst/charge damage.
+ Very high base damage.
+ Innate punchthrough on charged shots.
+ High damage potential (Charged shots do about 100k, 1 hitting LVL100 bombards).
+ Shots ricochet off walls once.
+ Very ammo efficient.
+ No damage fall-off.
+ Charging scales very well with damage and accuracy.
+ Multiple build paths.
– Slow charge without firerate mods.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Projectiles have some arc and travel time.
DREAD
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #6
+ Very high base damage.
+ Very high critical chance and high critical damage.
+ Very high damage potential (140k+ hit and slash/elemental proc).
+ High status chance for slash procs.
+ Charged shots have innate punchthrough.
+ Accurate even at long range.
+ You can use a dual elemental mod for higher bleed proc chance, but a bit lower damage than from Bladed Rounds (Kill buff is additive).
+ Silent.
– Requires a firerate mod to be in top tier as the base firerate is slow.
– Low object-based damage on a critical chance build.
GLAXION
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #42
+ Very good against most light units, especially Corpus (Gas + Status).
+ High object-based damage and elemental damage.
+ Works well against crowds if using Shred.
+ High status chance.
+ High firerate.
+ Reload speed.
+ Very high damage potential (Gas build kills LVL130 Corpus Warden in seconds with 40-100 ammo).
+ Can make good use of Continuous Misery in certain builds.
– The gun isn’t very accurate, you have to move the end of the beam carefully when shooting.
– Runs out of ammo without Ammo mutation.
– Has no innate punchthrough.
– Needs to make use of DoT’s and status chance to be effective.
– Requires 5 forma to really shine.
GORGON WRAITH
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #48
+ Decent DPS at full spool (15-20k depending on if you use punchthrough or not).
+ Decent base damage.
+ Can be built for critical chance and critical damage.
+ Can be ammo efficient against low-medium level enemies.
+ Good for bossing because of highly sustained DPS.
– Low ammo economy against higher level enemies.
– Slow reload.
– Critical chance and critical damage are still somewhat low.
– High recoil.
– Somewhat low accuracy.
– No innate punchthrough.
GRINLOK
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #38
+ Can use augment for increased single target/aoe damage.
+ Viable for a crit build.
+ Good base damage.
+ Good single-target damage potential (35k hits on LVL100 bombard head, 70k on Ancients).
+ Good accuracy up to medium-long range.
+ High status chance and decent chance for slash proc.
+ Great ammo economy.
+ Decent reload speed.
– Low magazine size.
– Inaccurate at long range.
– Multishot rarely crits together with the main shot.
HARPAK
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #43
+ Decent damage potential (18k+ on head per hit).
+ Alternative fire attack ragdolls enemies and pulls them to you for a finisher.
+ Fast projectile speed.
+ Burst damage and decent base damage allow you to get rid of bubbles pretty quick.
+ Somewhat crit viable.
+ Good firerate.
+ Ammo efficient.
– High recoil on burst shots.
– Low accuracy on burst shots.
– Medium range on alternative attack.
HEK
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #22
+ Can use augment for increased single target/AoE damage.
+ Very high base damage.
+ Accurate.
+ High damage potential (almost 1 hits LVL100 bombard if shot close to head – some pellets might miss – hits about 50-70k+).
+ Good reload speed.
+ Very good status chance.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Low magazine size.
– Some pellets tend to miss headshot even if pretty close to the target.
– Has some damage fall-off over distance.
IGNIS
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #20
+ High damage potential (big AoE and about 10-30k dps per target w/ bane mod).
+ Good ammo economy.
+ Good firerate.
+ OK single target damage.
+ Can deal headshots and target weakspots for increased damage.
+ Aoe goes through objects/big walls.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Some damage fall-off at the very edges of the cone (?).
– Less effective against most corpus because of having innate fire damage (toxin or magnetic is recommended).
KARAK WRAITH
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #46
+ High accuracy.
+ Decent base damage.
+ Good firerate.
+ Low recoil.
+ Good status chance.
+ Decent damage potential (Radiation/Viral kills LVL100 bombard in about 25 shots).
– Low magazine size.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Doesn’t have much damage against higher level enemies.
KOHM
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #27
+ High damage/DPS potential (25 ammo to kill LVL100 bombard with radiation build, 30 with viral/radiation against enemies in the void).
+ Good accuracy.
+ Decent firerate, Great at full spool if adding one firerate mod.
+ Good status chance.
+ Has innate punchthrough.
+ Good at destroying nullifier bubbles.
– Not as efficient against the corpus because of usually needing both blaze and vicious spread in the build.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Low initial damage.
– Has damage fall-off if shooting from long range.
– Not very ammo efficient against higher level enemies.
LANKA
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #4
+ Innate electricity damage (making building easy against all factions).
+ Electricity procs stun enemies close to main target, giving some CC to the weapon.
+ Innate punchthrough of 5 meters, making it great against lined enemies.
+ Zooming in increases critical chance by 20%/30%/50%.
+ Highest single-target damage potential of any weapon with and without zooming(AFAIK).
+ Long shot combo reset time and low minimum shot combo.
+ Good firerate.
+ High status chance.
+ You can release the shot before it’s fully charged.
+ Charge can be stopped with a melee strike.
– Has some recoil even on fully charged shots when using heavy caliber – quite a lot more if just charging a little bit.
– Has some travel time.
– Highest levels of zoom are troublesome to use in most cases.
LATRON PRIME
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #25
+ Good base accuracy.
+ High damage potential (50-100k+ dps).
+ High base damage.
+ Good critical chance and critical damage multipliers.
+ High status chance.
+ Great ammo economy.
+ Decent reload speed.
– Has some recoil and becomes quite inaccurate over medium range if using Heavy Caliber
– Base firerate is somewhat slow, kind of needs Shred
– No innate punchthrough
OGRIS
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #36
+ High base damage.
+ High AoE range.
+ High damage potential (can hit 20-40k+ in big AoE).
+ Decent reload speed.
+ Decent status chance.
– Low magazine and ammo size.
– Low accuracy if using Heavy Caliber.
– Long charge time without a speed trigger mod.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Can kill the user if shooting enemy too close or if using Heavy Caliber to keep damage high.
OPTICOR
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #28
+ Very high base damage.
+ High damage potential (about 40-100k hits with full charge + punchthrough).
+ Very accurate even with Heavy Caliber.
+ High puncture damage, works well against armored targets.
+ Very ammo efficient.
+ Very high charged shots.
+ Has some AoE in it’s shots.
+ Silent.
+ Very effective against lined enemies if using a punchthrough mod.
– Slow charge time, requiring firerate mods for optimal use.
– Charged shots can’t be held and are released immediately after reaching full charge.
– Shots tend to miss against the sides of ancients, charged fully or not.
– AoE damage on the weapon is pretty low.
– No innate punchthrough.
– Low firerate.
PANTHERA
Tier: Not Worth
Tier list rank: #49
+ Decent status chance.
+ Decent damage on secondary fire.
+ Only effective against medium level enemies or lower.
– Wth a multishot mod and Heavy Caliber installed, the primary fire can be rather inaccurate against a single target.
– Low range on secondary fire, making it hard to use.
– Requires a lot of forma to be somewhat useful.
PARIS PRIME
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #12
+ High base damage.
+ High damage potential (50-60k crits on LVL100 bombards/heavy gunners).
+ Good status chance.
+ Silent.
+ Great accuracy.
+ Charged shots have innate punchthrough.
+ High critical chance and critical damage.
+ Charge can be canceled or shot before it fully finishes.
+ Fast reload speed.
– Arrows have some travel time, but hardly arc at all.
– Deals puncture damage, rarely slash procs.
PENTA
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #44
+ High AoE damage.
+ Good AoE explosion range.
+ High base damage.
+ Remote-controlled explosion.
+ Accurate.
+ Grenades bounce off walls, allowing for easier positioning of the explosion.
+ High damage potential (20-35k hits).
– Low status chance.
– Slow reload speed.
– Can’t proc syndicate effect like Secura Penta can.
– Lower stats compared to Secura Penta.
– Not recommended against corpus because of low firerate and status chance.
– Low firerate, making stacking of grenades take long.
– Low Ammo/Magazine size and possibly ammo economy.
PHAGE
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #16
+ High damage potential (Viral proc + 30k+ DPS on LVL100 bombard, killing them with 3-5 ammo or 15ish ammo against LVL130 bombard).
+ Works well against all factions (didn’t test corpus though).
+ 0.5 meter Innate punchthrough.
+ Good accuracy after aiming.
+ Good base damage.
+ Good ammo economy.
+ Good status chance.
+ Innate viral damage.
– Have to aim to increase accuracy.
– Not crit viable and DPS stays low without using firerate mods.
– Goes back to full spread if stopping to aim/shoot.
– Limited range.
PRISMA GORGON
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #37
+ Decent accuracy & recoil.
+ Good damage potential (max DPS on Ancient Healers = about 200k, but no punchthrough and does less than half that on other enemies).
+ Good for bossing because of highly sustained DPS.
+ Good firerate & control.
+ Good base damage.
+ High magazine size.
+ Decent critical chance and critical damage multipliers.
– Low status chance.
– Low accuracy at full spool.
– Inefficient ammo economy against higher level enemies because of lacking innate punchthrough and accuracy.
– Slow reload speed.
PRISMA GRAKATA
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #45
+ Good DPS (25k+ against napalm).
+ Decent ammo economy.
+ Decent against the grineer and infested.
+ Good status chance.
+ High magazine size.
– No innate punchthrough.
– Compared to the secondary weapon “Twin Grakatas”, Prisma Grakata does less damage and is less efficient.
– Requires you to carefully burst enemies to keep up accuracy and ammo efficiency.
– High recoil.
– Requires 5 forma to really shine.
– Doesn’t seem very effective against corpus.
QUANTA VANDAL
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #9
+ Very High damage potential especially if shooting or hitting secondary fire Cubes for 2x damage on explosion (15-30k DPS with primary, 60k+ explosions with viral/radiation build).
+ Great ammo efficiency.
+ Pinpoint accuracy even with Heavy Caliber.
+ High AoE range on secondary fire explosions.
+ Innate electricity damage.
+ Long beam and secondary fire range.
– No innate punchthrough on primary fire.
– Sometimes enemies get in the way to prematurely explode cubes.
– Secondary fire uses 10 ammo per shot (multishot cube doesn’t use extra).
– Low crit chance, have to aim cubes on top of enemies for headshot.
RAKTA CERNOS
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #1
+ Very high damage potential (Viral AoE + fast charge speed/high damage, 90k+ crits)
+ Effective against crowds and lines of enemies.
+ Has innate Blight effect that applies Viral status to enemies in range, effectively doubling this weapon’s damage.
+ Punchthrough on charged shots.
+ Fast reload speed.
+ Very Fast charge speed.
+ High critical chance and critical damage.
+ Accurate even at long range.
+ Good status chance.
+ Good ammo economy.
+ Toxin build works nicely against the Corpus (90k+ crit and small proc chance for about 270k toxin dmg over 8 seconds).
– Blight effect alerts enemies from stealth, which can be troublesome for spy missions.
– Projectiles have a slight arc and some travel time.
– Has multiple damage types on the weapon, making it less effective for consistent status effects.
SECURA PENTA
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #23
+ Works well against all factions, but mainly Grineer because of syndicate proc.
+ Innate Sequence effect, dealing radiation damage on nearby enemies and boosting your shield.
+ High base damage.
+ High explosion radius.
+ Remote-controller explosions.
+ Grenades bounce of walls.
+ High damage potential (radiation AoE + explosion AoE – explosions dealing up to 50-100k damage).
+ Decent status chance.
+ Decent magazine size.
– Crit build isn’t very stable.
– Rather slow reload speed.
– Can hurt self badly if explosion is triggered at close range.
– Ineffective at close range combat.
SOMA PRIME
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #8
+ Large magazine size.
+ Very high damage potential (up to 14k crits per shot on LVL100 heavy gunner. 14k*15=210K DPS).
+ Great sustained DPS.
+ Can be built for crit.
+ Scales far into the endgame.
+ Occasionally procs slash for some extra damage.
+ Works well against all factions, especially the corpus if using Hammer Shot and Malignant Force.
+ High accuracy.
+ Great ammo economy against enemies under level 100 or so.
– Requires good ammo management against very high-level enemies who don’t drop much ammo.
– Slow reload speed, but good for the magazine size.
– Pure elemental build is not as effective, so typically the object-based damage is low.
SANCTI TIGRIS
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #2
+ Highest burst damage of all weapons.
+ Very ammo efficient.
+ Extremely quick burst.
+ Effective against crowds and lined enemies with a Shred or equivalent installed.
+ Innate Purity effect which deals a corrosive proc around the player for 1000 damage.
+ Second shot can be held and released whenever for increased control.
+ Very high single target and AoE damage potential (90k per shot/180k per burst against LVL130 napalm, up to 500k on ancient healers if shooting at limbs and head.
+ Works well against all factions.
+ Great status chance.
+ Mainly does slash damage, giving a lot of bleed procs.
– Needs a little bit of reload speed, Seeking Fury is perfect for the job, getting rid of 2 disadvantages.
– Shots are not very accurate if shooting from further than medium range.
– No innate punchthrough.
– Has damage falloff over distance.
STRUN WRAITH
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #19
+ Viable for a crit damage build.
+ Great status chance.
+ Very ammo efficient.
+ Very high damage potential even with punchthrough mod installed (about 60k crits, kills level 130 heavy gunners in about 6 shots near head.
+ Good base damage.
+ Can reload one ammo at a time (useful during downtime).
– Reload speed is slow for full magazine.
– Inaccurate at long range.
– Has damage fall-off over distance.
– Just “OK” firerate.
– Is a limited time reward.
SYBARIS
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #30
+ Great ammo economy.
+ Pretty accurate even at long range.
+ Good damage potential (depending on build, 20-30k crits per burst).
+ Has a good critical chance and critical damage multiplier, making it viable to build for crit.
+ High base damage helps against object-based health.
+ Equal damage distribution, making it ideal against all factions.
+ Doesn’t have much recoil.
– Burst shots have slight delay between bullets
– Low magazine size.
– No innate punchthrough.
– Requires 5 forma to really shine.
SYNAPSE
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #29
+ The weapon has innate electricity damage, making it easy to build against all factions.
+ Has high damage potential (Shred against LVL130 bombard kills it in about 80 ammo).
+ Can be built for crit, has the highest crit chance along with Amprex and Dread.
+ Good magazine size.
+ High firerate.
+ Good enough beam range.
+ Effective against lined enemies or crowds.
– Not very effective against spread enemies.
– Requires an ammo mutation mod.
– Beam range is limited to about medium range.
– Low object-based damage.
– No innate punchthrough – it’s recommended to use a rank 4 or 5 Shred.
– Requires 5 forma to really shine.
SYNOID SIMULOR
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #7
+ Very high damage potential (40-55k crits, 5 firerate .. 250k+ AoE DPS).
+ High base damage.
+ Ammo efficient.
+ Innate magnetic damage, effective against corpus.
+ Orbs can be manually detonated.
+ Works well against all factions even though the base damage is magnetic.
+ Orbs have 100% chance to do critical headshot damage if detonated close to enemy’s head in the air.
+ When manually detonated, the orbs inflict an electricity proc, stunning enemies for some time.
+ Orbs travel pretty far (12+ meters?), making the simulor work well in medium to low range combat.
+ Has innate Entropy effect.
+ Decent status chance.
+ Good reload speed.
+ Orbs stay in midair for 8 seconds.
– Enemies are knocked back from the orb explosions and might need to be slowed for the weapon to really shine.
– Elemental build is not very viable compared to crit build.
– The innate magnetic base damage doesn’t work well against all enemies.
– Because enemies are knocked back from the blast, you might have trouble killing them with critical headshots. Orbs can travel too far or too close from the target, lowering the damage output by a lot.
TELOS BOLTOR
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #41
+ Good base damage.
+ Decent damage potential (kills LVL100 bombard in 45 ammo with radiation/viral).
+ Effective against grineer.
+ Low recoil.
+ Great accuracy.
+ Innate Truth effect.
+ Good magazine size.
+ Decent reload speed.
+ Uses bolt ammo, capable of pinning enemies on walls and knocking them back on death, dealing damage to other enemies with the body.
– Low status chance.
– Not as effective against Corpus or infested.
– Not very ammo efficient against higher level enemies.
– Small travel time.
– Low critical chance and critical damage.
– Lacks damage against higher level enemies.
TONKOR
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #5
+ Very high damage potential (can 1 hit LVL130 Bombard with 100+100k crit).
+ High AoE radius even without Firestorm mod.
+ High base damage.
+ High critical chance and critical damage multipliers, making it viable for a crit build.
+ Zooming in shows you where the grenade will most likely land.
+ Can be used to rocket jump while killing enemies near the landing or takeoff area.
– Grenades bounce a bit too much from walls and enemy auras.
– Grenades might have to be detonated by shooting them at your feet or stepping on them in many cases (enemies can spread or move a bit too much in certain missions).
– Can be hard to hit moving enemies with (even if aiming near legs and body, grenades tend to bounce from the floor between enemies legs).
– Grenades can’t be remotely detonated.
– Grenades travel in a heavy arc.
– 4-5 forma to max.
– Only 2 shots per magazine.
– Grenade explosions damage the player a little bit.
– Grenades have a long fuse time if they don’t hit anything.
TORID
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #10
+ Extremely effective against corpus.
+ Can use Firestorm mod.
+ Can stick on enemies.
+ 100 Accuracy without Heavy Caliber.
+ Very high damage potential (can kill LVL130 bombard in 2-3 shots with corrosive + heat build).
+ Elemental combinations that make use of DoTs work very well on this weapon.
+ No recoil.
+ Is viable for a crit build (clouds can headshot the enemy based on critical chance).
+ Works nicely against both crowds and single targets.
– Heavy Caliber makes the weapon inaccurate. It’s suggested to use Primed faction mod instead.
– Low firerate.
– Low magazine size.
– Somewhat slow projectile speed.
– Kind of needs enemies to be slowed a bit to be effective – It takes a while for the cloud to start stacking damage.
VAYKOR HEK
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #3
+ Very high base damage (on single target).
+ Viable for a crit build (remember to aim for crit mods to work).
+ Elemental build works well too.
+ Very high damage potential (crit build: about 70-100k+ per shot, tested on LVL130 grineer).
+ Innate Justice effect, staggering enemies.
+ Great status chance.
+ Good reload speed.
+ Good mag size.
+ Ammo efficient.
+ Works well against all factions (replace Blaze with Bane of Corpus against corpus).
– No innate punchthrough against crowds, has to sacrifice 1 damage mod to make room.
– Has damage falloff over distance.
– Crit build requires you to right-click and aim at enemies to do good damage.
VECTIS PRIME
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #33
+ Good critical chance and critical damage multiplier, making it viable for a crit build.
+ High damage potential (74k+ crit with Shred/Primed bane of corpus on LVL130 corpus warden head, 1 hitting them).
+ High status chance.
+ Good ammo economy.
+ Fast reload speed.
– High and long recoil.
– Low magazine size.
– No innate punchthrough.
– Doesn’t benefit from Argon scope in a headshot build.
– Requires 4 forma to really shine.
VULKAR WRAITH
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #11
+ High base damage.
+ Viable for a crit build.
+ High status chance.
+ Manageable recoil.
+ Good ammo economy.
+ Very high damage potential (high base damage combined with punchthrough or single-target combo shots increase the damage a lot. 56k+ crits with punchthrough, 72k+ with Lasting Purity).
+ Low (2.5x) and medium level zooms are useful.
+ Works well against medium level crowds with Lasting Purity.
+ Combo shot builds up fast if using Shred against lined enemies.
– Inaccurate without zooming in.
– Slow reload speed, requiring you to shoot at an enemy quickly to continue with shot combos.
– No innate punchthrough.
– No AoE effect without Lasting Purity.
– Low critical chance for a sniper rifle.
– High level zoom usually needs to be skipped and changed back to Low (2.5x).
– Hard to make space for Lasting Purity unless using a single-target build.
– Requires 4-5 forma to really shine.
ZHUGE
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #14
+ Effective against armored targets (mainly deals puncture damage).
+ Compared to Attica, has much higher status chance.
+ Compared to Attica, has higher firerate.
+ Compared to Attica, has higher magazine size.
+ Good reload speed.
+ Great status chance and should be made use of (corrosive, DoTs.. maybe others too).
+ Compared to Attica, seems to have a bit better accuracy, shots spread less.
+ Very high damage potential (24-27k crits on LVL135 bombard with radiation build and abating link, on fully armor stripped targets, can hit 50k+ per shot at 6+ firerate).
+ Decent crit chance and multipliers make it viable to build for crit.
– Just by adding shred, the firerate increase gives the gun a high, but manageable recoil (hold down to autofire and after 2 or 3 shots the gun fires somewhat accurately).
– Low slash proc chance.
– Inaccurate at long range.
– Slightly lower max damage compared to Attica.
DEX SYBARIS
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #12
+ Great ammo economy.
+ Pretty accurate even at long range.
+ Great damage potential (punchthrough or argon scope, 15-28k+ crits on LVL135 bombard head and 40-80k+ on butcher head).
+ Has high critical chance and critical damage multiplier, making it viable to build for crit.
+ High base damage helps against object-based health.
+ Equal damage distribution, making it ideal against all factions.
+ Doesn’t have much recoil.
+ Faster reload speed compared to normal Sybaris.
+ Higher magazine size compared to normal Sybaris.
– Bullets have some travel time, which really shows in long range combat against moving enemies.
– No innate punchthrough.
– Requires 5-6 forma to really shine.
SUPRA
Tier: Very good
Tier list rank: #32
+ High DPS potential (30k+ punchthrough)
+ High firerate
+ Firerate can be spooled up and made even higher
+ Good base damage
+ Good status chance and has extra damage with augment
+ Mainly deals puncture damage, making it effective against armored targets.
+ Large magazine size
– No innate punchthrough
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Projectiles have some travel time.
– Inaccurate (high recoil), suggested to use against crowds or very close to enemies
– Because of being inaccurate and using a lot of ammo, runs out of ammo against higher level enemies pretty quickly.
– Lacks damage against high level enemies (~100+)
Secondary weapon ratings explained.
Rankings are based on effectiveness against high-level enemies and usefulness in different mission types. Stealth weapons have their own tier list at the bottom.
Testing was done with Abating Link Trinity and Maiming Strike wasn’t taken into account when ranking the weapons.
Melee tier list
Top tier:
1. War (Crit)
2. Scindo Prime (Crit)
3. Lesion (Status or crit)
4. Tekko (Crit)
5. Galatine (Crit)
6. Gram (Crit)
7. Obex (higher range on slam) (Crit)
8. Kogake (bit higher damage, but lower slam radius) (Crit)
9. Prisma Dual Cleavers (Crit, Finisher)
10. Dual Ichor (Crit, Finisher)
11. Dual Raza (Crit, Finisher)
12. Dual Zoren (Crit, Finisher)
13. Ripkas (Crit, Finisher)
14. Dragon Nikana (Crit, Finisher)
15. Jat Kittag (Crit)
16. Atterax (Crit)
17. Mios (Crit)
18. Lacera (Status)
Great:
19. Dual Cleavers (Crit, Finisher)
20. Dual Kamas Prime (Crit, Finisher)
21. Ankyros Prime (Crit)
22. Furax (Crit)
23. Broken War (Crit)
24. Serro (Status + Niche)
25. Reaper Prime (Crit)
26. Hate (Crit)
27. Orthos Prime (Crit)
28. Ack & Brunt (Crit + Niche)
29. Venka (Crit)
30. Karyst (Crit)
31. Sydon (Status)
32. Tipedo (Status)
33. Tonbo (Status)
34. Redeemer (channeling)
35. Dakra Prime (Crit)
36. Destreza (Crit)
37. Ninkondi (Status + Niche)
38. Prisma Skana (Crit, Finisher)
Very Good:
39. Sheev (Crit)
40. Silva & Aegis (Status + Niche)
41. Twin Basolk (Status + Niche)
42. Fragor (Crit)
43. Dex Dakra (Crit + Status)
44. Mire (Finisher + Augment)
45. Anku (Crit)
Good:
46. Ether Reaper (Crit)
47. Boltace (Status)
48. Lecta (Status + Niche)
49. Nami Solo (Crit)
50. Ether Daggers (Niche)
51. Shaku (Status + Niche)
52. Jaw Sword (Finisher)
53. Bo Prime (Status)
Decent:
54. Magistar (Crit)
55. Scoliac (Status + Niche)
56. Glaive Prime (Finisher, Throw)
57. Nami Skyla
58. Kestral (Finisher, Throw)
59. Cerata (Finisher, Throw)
Not Worth:
60. Amphis (low damage)
61. Halikar (bugged)
62. Fang Prime (low damage)
63. Dual Heat Swords (low damage)
64. Plasma Sword (low damage)
Stealth/Daggers:
1. Karyst (stealth + high DPS)
2. Dark Dagger (stealth + niche)
3. Sheev (stealth + good DPS)
4. Heat Dagger (stealth)
5. Ceramic Dagger (stealth)
6. Redeemer (stealth + channeling)
7. Throwing Weapons
Ack & Brunt
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #28
+ Can quickly build up melee combo by holding melee attack key to throw the shield on many enemies.
+ Mainly deals slash damage, rarely proccing slash.
+ Good damage potential and attack speed with Final Harbinger (kills level 135 tech/bombard in 35-40 hits).
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build.
+ Good against light units, especially the Corpus (Gas and toxin build works fine)
+ High blocking percentage
– Low status chance
– Can be a bit too mobile, needs good control.
– Slam attack can knock the enemy very far.
Amphis
Tier: Not Worth
Tier list rank: #60
+ OK base damage.
+ Good attack radius on slam.
+ Slam knocks down the enemy.
+ Slam deals an electric proc to nearby enemies, stunning them.
+ High range.
+ High attack speed.
– Low critical stats, not viable for crit.
– The right combos can be difficult to perform.
– Low status chance.
– Only has enough damage against lower level enemies.
Anku
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #45
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build.
+ Good damage potential (LVL100 in 20 hits, LVL135 in 40 or less depending on enemy type)
+ Good base damage.
+ Good attack speed
+ Slam knocks down the enemy
+ Charge attack causes 300% dmg slash proc.
– Combos can knock enemies behind or far away from you, which you might not want sometimes.
– Has polarity for Stalking Fan instead of Reaping Spiral
– Does not deal slash procs
– Low status chance
Ankyros Prime
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #21
+ High attack speed.
+ High finisher damage, can hit multiple enemies.
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build.
+ Good status chance
+ Slam knocks down the enemy
+ Can use Gaia’s Tragedy stance
+ Gaia’s Tragedy combos will get your combo multiplier up very quickly.
– Slam radius is low.
– Low melee range.
– Requires some formaing to really shine because Gaia’s Tragedy should be used (no need to forma stance polarity when doing this!).
Atterax
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #16
+ Very high critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Very high damage potential (25-35 hits to kill LVL135 enemies, big range)
+ Very good status chance
+ Mainly deals slash damage
+ Big range in all attacks
+ Can make great use of Maiming Strike (I need to test this)
+ Works very well against crowds
– Slow base attack speed
Bo Prime
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #53
+ Big range in all attacks
+ Can easily hit flying enemies
+ Very good status chance
+ Good attack speed
+ Slam knocks down the enemy
+ Has enough critical chance to be crit viable (should only use berserker, blood rush and organ shatter, rest damage)
– Mainly deals impact damage, so low chance to slash proc.
– Has to sacrifice range for some extra attack speed or damage from blood rush, doesn’t scale far.
Boltace
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #47
+ Good base and finisher damage
+ Has the highest base spin damage, deals 6x damage with spin.
+ Has very good status chance
+ Slam knocks down the enemy.
– Mainly deals puncture damage, so even if the finisher damage is good, it won’t proc slash for (much) more damage.
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Low slam radius.
– Short melee range and spin radius.
– Falls of against higher level enemies pretty quickly (unless using maiming strike).
Broken War
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #23
+ Good attack speed
+ Mainly deals slash damage, sometimes proccing high damage slashes.
+ Viable for a crit build
+ High damage potential (20-30 hits to kill lvl 135s, depending on if using breathless lunge or other combos)
+ Stance slot has v polarity, matching Crimson Dervish (best stance, Coiling Impale counterattacks for extra damage and ragdolls after)
+ Slam knocks down the enemy.
– Low status chance.
Ceramic Dagger
Tier: Stealth/Not Worth
Tier list rank: #6
+ Good attack speed
+ Can use Covert Lethality.
– No counterattack or lethal finisher in any combo.
– Has to be used from stealth or needs ability help (Ash Teleport, Inaros Desiccation) to be useful.
Dakra Prime
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #35
+ Good attack speed
+ Mainly deals slash damage, sometimes proccing high damage slashes.
+ Pretty good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Good damage potential (about 35 hits to kill LVL 135 enemies)
+ Stance slot has v polarity, matching Crimson Dervish (best stance, Coiling Impale counterattacks for extra damage and ragdolls after)
+ Slam knocks down the enemy.
– Low status chance.
– Compared to Broken War, 33% lower base damage.
Dark Dagger
Tier: Stealth/Not Worth
Tier list rank: #3
+ Good attack speed
+ Can use Covert Lethality.
+ Can use Syndicate Augment for occasional Viral procs (but this might not help with melee if playing stealth only, mainly helps other weapons or abilities).
– No counterattack or lethal finisher in any combo.
– Has to be used from stealth or needs ability help (Ash Teleport, Inaros Desiccation) to be useful.
Destreza
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #36
+ Combo attacks often proc slash
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Can knock down enemies with slam
+ High damage potential (30-40 hits to kill level 135)
+ High finisher damage with Hidden Flourish and ground finisher
– Low status chance
– Slam can knock enemies far away
Dex Dakra
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #43
+ Good base damage
+ Good damage potential (50+ hits to kill lvl 135s)
+ High status chance
+ High spin damage
+ OK range
+ Has good enough crit chance and damage to be crit viable
– Not as crit viable as similar weapons
– Can’t slam and knock down the enemy
– Finisher doesn’t proc slash or at least does it very rarely
– Falls off against higher level enemies pretty quickly.
Dragon Nikana
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #14
+ Good status chance
+ Mainly deals slash damage
+ Can knock down enemies with slam, doesn’t knock them far away.
+ High crit chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ High base damage
+ Very high damage potential (Breathless lunge finisher + wide arc attacks, can kill LVL135 in less than 20 hits or 2 combos)
– Decisive judgement combos can throw enemy far away and not perform the whole combo.
– Low slam radius
Dual Cleavers
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #19
+ High damage potential (Finisher slash proc, about 35 normal hits to kill lvl 135s)
+ Finisher seems to always proc slash (can crit)
+ Very high critical chance and critical damage, making viable for a crit build
+ Can use augment (blast aoe, opens enemies to finishers)
– Low status chance
– Compared to Prisma Dual cleavers, has lower status chance, lower slash damage, and slower attack speed.
– Short range on slam and normal attacks
– Somewhat slow base attack speed
– Can be hard to fit in all the best mods, have to choose between combo counter, attack speed or lower base dmg.
Dual Heat Swords
Tier: Not Worth
Tier list rank: #63
+ Good spin damage
+ Good radius on slam attacks, the AoE sets enemies on fire and causes them to panic in place
+ Ok base damage
– Low crit chance and critical damage
– Slam doesn’t knock down enemies for finishers
– Low status chance
– Lacks damage against high-level enemies.
Heat Dagger
Tier: Stealth/Not Worth
Tier list rank: #5
+ Good slam radius, the AoE sets enemies on fire making them panic in place
+ Can use Covert Lethality
+ Good animation speed
+ Enemies don’t get alerted from the slam AoE if used from stealth
– Low status chance
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Slam doesn’t knock down enemies for ground finishers.
– Short range
– No counterattack or lethal finisher in any combo.
– Has to be used from stealth or needs ability help (Ash Teleport, Inaros Desiccation) to be useful.
Dual Ichor
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #10
+ High finisher damage that always procs slash
+ Good status chance
+ Base damage is elemental, meaning that status/DoT builds can work well on this weapon (especially against Corpus)
+ Very high damage potential (finisher + kills lvl 135 enemies in 40 normal hits. combo is hard to pull off on single target, so spin and finishers should be used)
+ Spin attack hits for 6x damage
+ Slam knocks down the enemy
– Short range
– Combos have jump attacks in them, which can be troublesome against single targets
– Can’t use physical damage type mods like Buzz Kill and Jagged Edge.
Dual Kamas Prime
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #20
+ Fast attack speed, builds up combo quickly.
+ High status chance, often procs slash
+ Procs slash on finisher and charge attacks
+ High damage potential (about 40 hits to kill lvl 135s)
+ Occasionally hits enemies on the head
+ Good critical chance and damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Slam knocks down the enemy
+ Spin hits for 6x damage
+ OK range
– Needs 2 forma.
– Movement during combos is pretty slow
– Slam radius is low
Dual Zoren
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #12
+ Very high damage potential (Finisher procs crit slash, kills LVL135 in about 30 hits).
+ Can use slam attack to knock down enemies.
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Fast attack speed
+ Spin hits for 6x damage
– Low status chance
– Short range
Ether Daggers
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #50
+ Decent damage potential (gas or toxin build kills flesh (25% resist gas) / infested type unarmored lvl 135 enemies in about 35 hits)
+ Good status chance
– Low crit chance and crit damage
– Lacks damage in other builds against higher level enemies.
– Short range
Ether Reaper
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #46
+ Good status chance
+ Mainly deals slash damage, procs it every now and then.
+ Low base damage compared to other Scythes
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Good finisher damage, but doesn’t proc slash very often
– Low status chance
– Polarity for stalking fan, which is a bit too mobile
Fang Prime
Tier: Not Worth
Tier list rank: #62
+ Can knock down enemies with slam attack
+ High attack speed
– Low status chance
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Lacks damage against higher level enemies
– Mainly deals puncture damage (and procs on finisher)
– Short attack range
– Has a D polarity in the mod slots
Fragor
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #42
+ Good damage, but mainly deals impact damage on attacks and finishers
+ Good damage potential (can kill lvl 135 enemies in about 30+ hits, hard to test)
+ Slam attacks knock enemies really far
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Good slam radius, can knock enemies down (but usually too far up)
– Very slow attack speed (should use berserker, stacking can take a while to get the weapon going)
– Low status chance
– Slam attacks knock enemies too far
– Combos knock enemies away on both stances, so you will probably need something to immobilize them with (frost avalanche? vauban bastille)
Furax
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #22
+ High critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ High attack speed
+ Slam knocks down enemies
+ Can use Gaia’s Tragedy stance
+ Gaia’s Tragedy combos will get your combo multiplier up very quickly.
+ High finisher damage, can hit multiple enemies.
– Short range
– Low status chance
– Low slam radius
– Slightly lower stats compared to Ankyros Prime
Galatine
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #5
+ Very high damage potential (Cleaving whirl + broken bull kills level 135 bombard/gunner in 1 full combo, good range on Broken Bull spins hits multiple enemies at once)
+ Good range
+ Various build paths
+ High status chance
+ Good enough critical chance and damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Big radius on slam attacks
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Good attack speed for a Heavy Blade
+ Charge attack knocks down enemies
– Slam attacks can throw enemies too far
Glaive Prime
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #56
+ Throw attack is useful against unalerted/blinded enemies, giving it 4x more damage.
+ Good base damage on throw attack
– Deals low damage otherwise
– Low status chance
– Low critical chance and critical damage
Gram
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #6
+ Very high damage potential (higher crit chance = increased red crit chance, kills LVL135s in 1 broken bull combo (20 hits)
+ Good status chance
+ Fast attack speed
+ Decent range
+ Mainly deals slash damage, sometimes proc slash
+ Good slam attack radius
+ Slam attack knows down enemies
+ High critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build.
– Slam attack can throw the enemies too far
Halikar
Tier: Not Worth
Tier list rank: #61
+ Can disarm the enemy with throw attack
+ Throw attack has homing capabilities
+ Throw attack knocks down enemies.
+ Finisher always procs slash (but damage is low)
– Most of the time the weapon doesn’t return to hand after throwing, bugging it and making you unable to use melee.
– Low damage overall
– Low status chance
– Low crit chance and critical damage
Hate
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #26
+ High critical chance and critical damage
+ High damage potential (40 hits to kill LVL135 with normal attacks, less if using charge/finisher every now and then)
+ Good status chance, charge and normal attacks often proc slash
+ High slam radius
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies.
+ Sometimes procs slash on finisher attacks
+ Works well as a quick melee weapon
+ Attacks tend to hit enemies on the head
– Combos can throw enemies away
Heat Dagger
Tier: Stealth/Not Worth
Tier list rank: #5
+ Can use Covert Lethality (lethal kills from stealth finishers)
+ Good finisher attack speed
+ Good slam radius
+ Slam AoE causes enemies to panic in place
+ Slam AoE doesn’t alert enemies if used from stealth
– If not playing from stealth, slam attack can’t be used to knock down the enemy
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Low overall damage otherwise
– Short range
– Low status chance
Jat Kittag
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #15
+ High base damage
+ Big slam radius
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies or can throw them far away
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Very high damage potential (hard to calculate because of knockbacks in combos + being more about AoE “charging”, but seems to kill LVL135 in about 25 hits otherwise (from 0 multiplier to 2x).
– Mainly deals and procs impact damage.
– Slam attack can throw enemies too far
– Somewhat slow attack speed (should use berserker)
– Certain stance combos throw the enemies far away mid-combo
Jaw Sword
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #52
+ Can use Crimson Dervish
+ Deals good finisher damage with Coiling Impale
+ Good damage potential (3-4 combos to kill lvl 135s)
+ Can use Blade of Truth augment (Gas AoE)
+ Good slam radius
+ Slam attack doesn’t throw enemies far away
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Low status chance
Karyst
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #30
+ Fast attack speed
+ Good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Good status chance
+ Innate Toxin damage (makes it easy to mod for viral, corrosive and gas)
+ Can use Covert Lethality (lethal kills from stealth finishers)
– Physical damage type increasing mods can’t be used (Buzz Kill, Auger Strike, Jagged Edge, etc).
– Cant knock down enemies with slam attack
Kestrel
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #58
+ Good slam radius
+ Slam attacks knock down enemies
+ Procs slash on finisher (but damage is low)
+ Throw attack knocks down enemies
– Low damage overall
– Low status chance
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Throw attack only has 90 base damage compared to 170 of Glaive Prime
– Throw attack is pretty much only effective from stealth or against blinded/unaware enemies
Kogake
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #8
+ Has stances for both finishers and sustained DPS
+ High attack speed
+ Finishers can hit multiple enemies
+ High finisher damage
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Very high damage potential (brutal tide – 60 hits to kill heavy gunner, 50 to kill bombard, 30 for tech or 50 quick grim fury hits – charge attack does a guaranteed counterattack finisher)
+ Brutal tide combos knock down enemies opening them up for finishers
+ Grim fury combo “Fanning Flame” deals a counter attack finisher on last attack
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Decent slam radius
– Short melee range
– Low status chance
– Lower slam radius compared to Obex
– Grim fury combos can throw the enemies far away
Lacera
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #18
+ Sometimes procs slash in combos (Claws of the drake, Charge attack, Soul of the Leviathan)
+ Innate elemental damage makes it very effective for status builds.
+ DoT builds work well (Toxin or Gas, this makes the weapon effective against light units/Corpus)
+ Charge attack knocks down the enemy
+ Good range in combos and melee attacks
+ Very high damage potential (70 to kill heavy gunner, 20 to kill tech (gas + electric), 70 bombard (gas electric), 35 bombard (radiation + viral))
– Some combos can throw the enemies too far
– Low damage finishers
– Low critical chance
– Lacks damage against armored high level enemies.
Lecta
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #48
+ Long melee range
+ Innate elemental damage, works well as a status weapon
+ High status chance
+ DoT builds work well (Toxin & Blast or Gas & Electric, this makes the weapon effective against light units/Corpus)
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies for finishers
+ Good slam radius
+ Decent damage potential (about 60 hits to kill LVL135 bombard, 40 for tech)
+ Can hit multiple enemies (Burning Wasp for slow attacks but higher range, Coiling Viper for faster attacks but lower range)
– Slow finisher attack speed and low finisher damage
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Somewhat slow attack speed
Lesion
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #3
+ High status chance
+ Special toxin/attack speed buff (activated by causing a status proc on enemy) makes it great against the corpus or other light units especially if paired with Gas or Toxin mods on the weapon
+ Fast attack speed
+ Good range
+ Very high damage potential (about 20 hits to kill LVL135 enemy with status build, 25 with a crit build – crit mainly just adding attack speed from Berserker)
+ Charge attack sometimes proc slash or status effects
+ Slam attack knocks down the enemy
– Short slam radius
– Low critical chance (doesn’t benefit much from a crit build, but still seems comparable to the status build at low combo multipliers)
Magistar
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #53
+ Decent damage potential (Low base damage for heavy weapon, about 50 hits to kill lvl 135 bombard)
+ Good slam radius
+ Combos and slam attacks can knock enemies far away
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build.
– Combos and slam attacks knock enemies too far
– Slow attack speed (can take a while to get berserker going)
– Lowest base damage of Heavy weapons
– Low status chance
Mios
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #17
+ Good melee range
+ High damage potential (kills level 135 bombard in 30 hits , tech in 35, gunner in 45 (gunner and tech needing combo multiplier)
+ High status chance
+ Fast attack speed in normal/combo attacks, builds up combo multiplier quickly.
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build.
+ Charge attack knocks down the enemy, but also throws it behind you.
– Some combos can throw the enemies too far
Mire
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #44
+ Decent attack speed
+ 10% of the weapon damage is toxin
+ Good damage potential (6 combos to kill 135 gunner, but viral effect can lower this to about 4)
+ Can use Toxic Blight mod (Viral AoE effect)
+ Can use Crimson Dervish stance (counter-attack combo is strong)
– Low base damage
– Low status chance
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Low damage overall, but Viral proc makes it decent.
Nami Skyla
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #57
+ Ground finisher procs slash (but damage is low)
+ High spin damage (6x base damage)
+ Can knock down enemies with slam attacks, doesn’t throw enemies far
– Somewhat slow attack speed (might have to use blood rush + berserker)
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Low status chance
– Low damage potential
Nami Solo
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #49
+ Good attack speed
+ High status chance
+ Mainly deals slash damage, sometimes proccing slash
+ Good damage potential (LVL135 gunner needs 45 hits)
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Fast and powerful sweeping quick melee attacks (with berserker)
– Low base damage
– Can’t knock down enemies with slam attacks
Nikana Prime
Tier: ?
Tier list rank: #?
+ Need to acquire it first.
Ninkondi
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #37
+ Innate electric damage (and high status chance) makes it very effective to build for status
+ High status chance
+ Quick melee attacks, hits multiple times per attack (helps with building up combo multiplier)
+ Good enough critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ DoT or other various other elemental combination builds work well on this weapon
+ Good damage potential (40-65 hits to kill LVL135s)
– Short range
– Low base damage paired with only 10% crit chance
Obex
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #7
+ Has stances for both finishers and sustained DPS
+ Good attack speed
+ Finishers can hit multiple enemies
+ High finisher damage
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ Very high damage potential (brutal tide – 60 hits to kill heavy gunner, 50 to kill bombard, 30 for tech or 50 quick grim fury hits – charge attack does a guaranteed counterattack finisher).
+ Brutal tide combos knock down enemies opening them up for finishers
+ Grim fury combo “Fanning Flame” deals a counter attack finisher on last attack
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Good slam radius
– Short melee range
– Low status chance
– Higher slam radius compared to Kogake, but has slightly lower base damage.
– Grim fury combos can throw the enemies far away
Orthos Prime
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #27
+ Effective as a quick melee weapon
+ Fast attack speed
+ Good base damage
+ Long melee range
+ Good status chance, mainly deals slash damage
+ Good enough critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Big slam radius
+ Slam and charge attack knocks down enemies, doesn’t throw them far away
+ Good damage potential (gunner 60-70 hits, bombard 60, tech 50)
Plasma Sword
Tier: Not Worth
Tier list rank: #64
+ Innate electric damage
+ Good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
– Low overall damage (stats similar to Nami Solo, but deals less damage)
– Slow attack speed
– Low status chance (15%) for a innate elemental damage weapon
Prisma Dual Cleavers
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #9
+ Better status chance and faster attack speed compared to Dual Cleavers
+ High damage potential (Finisher slash proc, about 20-35 normal hits to kill lvl 135s)
+ Finisher seems to always proc slash (can crit)
+ Very high critical chance and critical damage, making viable for a crit build
+ Can use augment (blast aoe, opens enemies to finishers)
– Short range on slam and normal attacks
– Can be hard to fit in all the best mods, have to choose between combo counter, attack speed or lower base dmg.
Prisma Skana
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #38
+ Can use augment (Corrosive AoE)
+ Can use Crimson Dervish stance (Coiling impale does a counterattack finisher)
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ High critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build.
+ High damage potential (Coiling impale + occasional ground finisher slash procs, kills LVL135 in about 35+ hits)
+ Good attack speed
– Short range
– Low status chance
– Low base damage
Reaper Prime
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #25
+ Effective as a quick melee weapon
+ Good attack speed
+ Good slam radius
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Finishers sometimes proc slash
+ Charge attack procs slash
+ Occasionally hits enemies on the head
+ High damage potential (about 30-35 hits to kill LVL135 enemies)
+ Good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
– Somewhat low status chance
– Certain combos can throw enemies far away from you
Redeemer
Tier: Stealth/Very Good
Tier list rank: #6/34
+ High base damage on charged attack (Shoots pellets at an enemy)
+ Charged attack is affected by channeling and attack speed mods, making it viable for a channeling build
+ Charged shot is silent and counts as melee damage (4x dmg from stealth), making it great for stealth gameplay
+ Innate pucnhthrough on charged shots
+ High damage potential (abating link trin + channeling on LVL135 bombard = 10*24k damage headshot, but rarely crits – 4x this damage from stealth)
– Charged shots have damage falloff and are inaccurate at long range, but this can be countered by adding more Reach
– Charged shot rarely hits a crit on the head, even if shot right at the center
– Low overall damage in normal attacks, combos can throw enemies too far
Ripkas
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #13
+ Maiming Strike viable (with Four riders 6x spin damage instead of 3x)
+ Good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ 3 Stances (Four Riders for spin damage, Malicious Raptor for easy counterattack finishers, Vermillion storm for quick melee and DPS)
+ Very high damage potential (quick melee or aoe combos kill LVL135 enemies in about 30-50 quick hits)
+ Very effective quick melee with Vermillion Storm (might not even need to do combos)
+ Slam knocks down the enemy
+ Good status chance, mainly deals slash damage
+ Finisher hits multiple times and can hit multiple enemies
– Short range
– Somewhat slow base attack speed
– Four Riders stance combos can throw away enemies too far
Scindo Prime
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #2
+ Very high damage potential (Broken Bull AoE spin kills LVL135 enemies in 10-15 hits)
+ Very high base damage
+ Good critical damage and critical chance makes it viable for a crit build
+ Good status chance, mainly deals slash damage
+ Good slam radius
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Can use Cleaving Whirlwind stance
– Slow normal attacks
Scoliac
Tier: Decent
Tier list rank: #55
+ Long melee range
+ Good status chance, mainly deals slash damage
+ Fast attack speed
+ Decent damage potential (from 0 to 3 combo, 100 hits to kill LVL135 bombard)
– test slam and charge
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Only “good” status chance and 3 physical damage types means it won’t be very effective for a status build.
Serro
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #24
+ Innate electric damage
+ High status chance
+ Good melee range
+ High damage potential (viral/radiation kills LVL135 bombard in 55 hits, Gas/Toxin kills tech in 20 hits.
+ Gas or Toxin builds work well against light units and the Corpus
+ Large jump attack radius
+ Slam and charge attack knocks down enemies
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Not very effective against higher level armored targets because of low critical chance and critical damage.
Shaku
Tier: Good
Tier list rank: #51
+ Fast attack speed
+ Good damage potential (Kills LVL135 tech in 40 hits)
+ High status chance (only1 innate physical damage type means it’s pretty good for status builds)
+ Somewhat crit viable with blood rush and berserker.
– Short range
– Low base damage/crit chance
Sheev
Tier: Stealth/Very Good
Tier list rank: #1/39
+ Fast attack speed makes it somewhat viable to use with Blood Rush, Berserker and Organ shatter
+ Good mobility and control in attacks
+ Can use Covert Lethality (deals lethal damage from stealth)
+ Good damage potential (Fast attacks, 55 hits to kill LVL135 bombard)
+ Mainly deals slash damage, procs slash often
+ High status chance
+ Slam attack causes a heat AoE proc, causing panic on enemies
– Low crit chance
– Slam attack doesn’t knock down enemies.
– Not viable for a status build because of many physical damage types on the weapon
– Short range
– Low base attack speed
Silva & Aegis
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #40
+ Innate heat damage and good status chance makes it viable for a status build (Gas, Corrosive & Heat, pure Heat)
+ High status chance
+ Can use Final Harbinger stance
+ High blocking percentage (85%)
+ Good radius on slam attack
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Good control in attacks and mobility
+ High damage potential with niche build (quick combo attacks cause status effect on every strike if at almost 100% status with Weeping Wounds – can charge to throw shield for 6+ hits per enemy, increasing combo multiplier very quickly)
– Only deals high damage with three very niche builds (gas, corrosive & heat, pure heat+ember)
– Short range
– Low critical chance and critical damage
– Slam attack can throw enemies too far
– Falls off against higher level enemies pretty quickly (80+)
Sydon
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #31
+ Good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ High damage potential (kills LVL135 tech in 45 hits, bombard in 55 hits, gunners in 65 hits)
+ Good range
+ Big slam radius
+ Charge attack knocks down enemies
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies and destroys incoming missiles
– Slow attack speed
– Mainly deals puncture damage on attacks and finishers
Tekko
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #4
+ Very high critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Very high damage potential (2 finishers or 20 hits to kill LVL135s)
+ Fast attack speed
+ test slam and charge attack radius/effect
– Low range
– Low status chance
Tipedo
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #32
+ Very high attack speed
+ Good critical chance and critical damage, making it viable for a crit build
+ High damage potential (kills LVL135 tech in 35 hits, bombard in TEST again hits)
+ Good range
+ test slam, charge and knockdown effect
+ High status chance
– The right combos can be hard to pull off if also using berserker
Tonbo
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #33
+ High status chance, status builds (Gas, Toxin, Rad/Viral work well)
+ High damage potential (kills LVL135 tech in 45 hits, gunner in 65 hits)
+ Long melee range
+ Good slam radius
+ Slam knocks down enemies
+ Good attack speed
– Low critical chance
Twin Basolk
Tier: Very Good
Tier list rank: #41
+ High spin damage (6x)
+ Innate Heat damage, useful for status builds (Gas, pure heat, others?)
+ High status chance
+ Good damage potential with some status builds (Especially gas, kills Tech in ? hits, bombard in 75 hits, gunner in 75 hits, tech in 30 hits)
+ Slam causes enemies to panic, deals a heat proc
– Low critical chance
– Low base damage
– Low reach
– Can’t knock down the enemy with slam
Venka
Tier: Great
Tier list rank: #29
+ Good finisher damage, finisher procs slash most of the time
+ Slam attack knocks down enemies
+ Effective as a quick melee weapon
+ Finishers can hit multiple enemies
+ Good attack speed
+ Good status chance
+ Good critical chance and critical damage makes it viable for a crit build
+ Good damage potential (quick melee 55 hits to kill 135 bombard, 40 to kill tech, 80 to kill gunner test, but attacks are fast)
– Short range
War
Tier: Top
Tier list rank: #1
+ Highest damage potential (15 hits to kill lvl 135s, pretty much same as Scindo Prime, but has higher status chance, base damage and range)
+ Good range
+ Good slam radius
+ Can use Cleaving Whirlwind stance and only needs 1 forma for highest dps builds.
Excluded primary weapons:
Excluded melee weapons:
Original Link – Continuation of discussion
Apex Legends is a character-based battle royale. Apex Legends became popular because it was a…
I'm not especially good at games due to mediocre reflexes and I was having a…
A short progression guide with movement ability locations. Minor spoilers. It can be hard to…
Has anyone figured out the order of locations that NPCs show up at if you…
I honestly feel that that the ending for collecting all the grubs is an awful…
Two at a time, and can go so unsynced that they just deal unavoidable damage…