Weapon ranking

[Birdy]

What is your favorite to least favorite, and why?
Mine is
6. Bow, thing is wonky i hate it
5. Default sword, I always die with it
4. the gun, its okay, doest feel right to use. Much rather have some scythe type of thing. Or a chain.
3. The spear, fun to use
2. Gloves, they do great dmg and i like how fast you have to play with them.
1. The shield, thing feels super OP and I love it.

[Suzaku]

6) Spear. I've never been able to do decent damage with it. It's always my slowest clear times.
5) Gloves. They hit decently, but feels very boring to me for some reason.
4) Gun. Feels like it's only actually strong if you get triple bomb.
3) Sword. Excalibur aspect is great, but other swords feel weak.
2) Shield. Love playing Zeus aspect, tossing the shield out and watching it chainsaw anything foolish enough to get caught in it.
1) Bow. Aspect of Chiron. Easy mode targeting, high damage, safe distance.

To clarify, I really like all of the weapons except the spear; I think it just plain sucks. All other weapons are in a very tight race, though.

[Birdy]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

6) Spear. I've never been able to do decent damage with it. It's always my slowest clear times.
5) Gloves. They hit decently, but feels very boring to me for some reason.
4) Gun. Feels like it's only actually strong if you get triple bomb.
3) Sword. Excalibur aspect is great, but other swords feel weak.
2) Shield. Love playing Zeus aspect, tossing the shield out and watching it chainsaw anything foolish enough to get caught in it.
1) Bow. Aspect of Chiron. Easy mode targeting, high damage, safe distance.

To clarify, I really like all of the weapons except the spear; I think it just plain sucks. All other weapons are in a very tight race, though.

Interesting you like bow, I like to play faster pace so maybe thats it? I feel I was getting hit by other things when I would try to time the shots. And the special feels awful to me, they dont go very far.

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by Birdy.:

Interesting you like bow, I like to play faster pace so maybe thats it? I feel I was getting hit by other things when I would try to time the shots. And the special feels awful to me, they dont go very far.

Bow is fast-paced. Dash attacks keep you mobile and firing constantly, and with Chiron's homing special effect, you just spam special and 8 arrows fly across the entire screen to hit your target. Bonus points if you get the hammer upgrades for +4 special arrows and piercing shots with +400% armor damage. It just shreds everything.

[pi73r]

I like using all the weapons except for the shield since it's kinda boring. All the weps are fun and good but for beginners I'd say the fists could be probably the hardest to use.

[Daynov]

I like them all, except for the Spear, which with the right hammers can be fun, but I'd rather have a weapon that I enjoy without the need for a specific upgrade.

If I have to list them, it should be something like this:

1.Bow / Rail / Shield
2.Fists / Sword
3.Spear

[akaPhantastic]

Here's my basic tier list:

1: Bow
2: Gloves
3: Gun
4: Shield
5: Spear
6: Sword

Why, just in case your interested:

1 Bow: No contest, fast damage, safe distance. Hera aspect is OK, Chiron is amazing, Rama is amazing. Slap Zeus on Chiron or Rama's special attack and enjoy. I see a lot of bow hate, don't focus on perfect shots, its a fool's errand. With the basic bow, use the special right next to enemies for a great shotgun spread attack. You can stack 5 debuffs at once if you get it right. Use the special to stack debuffs and you'll be gold.

2. Gloves: Enkidu is broken, slap Zeus on the dash, hold dash and attack at the same time. Zag go brrrrr. Demeter is amazing as well. Get a meaty boon on special, Aphrodite/Poseidon/Artemis and you'll be amazed at the damage. Magnetic gloves are great too. Any of the fast weapons play well with hangover, chill, or weak.

3. Gun: Same deal as with the bow basically. Either build a big slow special build or an attack build, but not both. Most of the best gun builds are built around the specials. Don't attach the damaging nuke ability to Eris, you'll want the damage buff from the special more than the damage.

4. Shield: Once again, all the damage here comes from a commitment to either stacking up attack damage, or special. Chaos is a great weapon to aim for special damage and stacking debuffs since its basically a shotgun. Zeus is a chainsaw. Get something like Zeus' boon on the special and watch the sparks fly. Or get Dionysus on the special, recall it, and play keep away from collecting your shield while dashing through groups of enemies. The weapon upgrade that makes a explosion when you collect your special attack is powerful on Zeus. Beowulf is all about big slow damage. Pick a good cast, stack the attack, and shot to the middle. Or build special, which hits pretty hard, and let loose with strong attack buffs.

5. Spear: Probably the most underused weapon. The secret to great spear use is mastering the sweeping attack. You need to learn to shimmy attack (dash right before attacking and you will dash+complete your charged attack) Great for moving a big damaging attack. Default and Achilles are basically the same. Build a strong hitting attack + a debuffing special ability. Hades aim for the fast sweep hammer upgrade and shimmy attack like a mad man. Use special to spread debuffs, or finish pesky enemies at a distance. Guan Yu, BIG damage, low health, charged sweep is replaced with a thrown attack similar to Zeus aspect of shield. Build up this attack like the bow special attacks for good damage. You can use the shimmy attack to keep the 3 hit combo going, and its really important.

6. Sword: Dead last. Basically like the bow and spear, but you have to be on top of enemies to get attacks in. Excalibur is the only big stand out here. Shimmy attack that 3 hit combo like you mean it, or throw it in the never use pile. The aura will slow enemy projectiles, this is so you can destroy them with the big sweeping attack. Nemesis is interesting with Artemis builds. It's fast nature plays well with debuffs.

[TommyEV]

My tires after 20 hours or so: Shield/Sword > Bow/Railgun > Spear/Fists.

But they do seem very balanced anyway, I'm having decent runs and fun with whatever weapon has the darkness bonus.

[Birdy]

Originally posted by akaPhantastic:

Here's my basic tier list:

1: Bow
2: Gloves
3: Gun
4: Shield
5: Spear
6: Sword

Why, just in case your interested:

1 Bow: No contest, fast damage, safe distance. Hera aspect is OK, Chiron is amazing, Rama is amazing. Slap Zeus on Chiron or Rama's special attack and enjoy. I see a lot of bow hate, don't focus on perfect shots, its a fool's errand. With the basic bow, use the special right next to enemies for a great shotgun spread attack. You can stack 5 debuffs at once if you get it right. Use the special to stack debuffs and you'll be gold.

2. Gloves: Enkidu is broken, slap Zeus on the dash, hold dash and attack at the same time. Zag go brrrrr. Demeter is amazing as well. Get a meaty boon on special, Aphrodite/Poseidon/Artemis and you'll be amazed at the damage. Magnetic gloves are great too. Any of the fast weapons play well with hangover, chill, or weak.

3. Gun: Same deal as with the bow basically. Either build a big slow special build or an attack build, but not both. Most of the best gun builds are built around the specials. Don't attach the damaging nuke ability to Eris, you'll want the damage buff from the special more than the damage.

4. Shield: Once again, all the damage here comes from a commitment to either stacking up attack damage, or special. Chaos is a great weapon to aim for special damage and stacking debuffs since its basically a shotgun. Zeus is a chainsaw. Get something like Zeus' boon on the special and watch the sparks fly. Or get Dionysus on the special, recall it, and play keep away from collecting your shield while dashing through groups of enemies. The weapon upgrade that makes a explosion when you collect your special attack is powerful on Zeus. Beowulf is all about big slow damage. Pick a good cast, stack the attack, and shot to the middle. Or build special, which hits pretty hard, and let loose with strong attack buffs.

5. Spear: Probably the most underused weapon. The secret to great spear use is mastering the sweeping attack. You need to learn to shimmy attack (dash right before attacking and you will dash+complete your charged attack) Great for moving a big damaging attack. Default and Achilles are basically the same. Build a strong hitting attack + a debuffing special ability. Hades aim for the fast sweep hammer upgrade and shimmy attack like a mad man. Use special to spread debuffs, or finish pesky enemies at a distance. Guan Yu, BIG damage, low health, charged sweep is replaced with a thrown attack similar to Zeus aspect of shield. Build up this attack like the bow special attacks for good damage. You can use the shimmy attack to keep the 3 hit combo going, and its really important.

6. Sword: Dead last. Basically like the bow and spear, but you have to be on top of enemies to get attacks in. Excalibur is the only big stand out here. Shimmy attack that 3 hit combo like you mean it, or throw it in the never use pile. The aura will slow enemy projectiles, this is so you can destroy them with the big sweeping attack. Nemesis is interesting with Artemis builds. It's fast nature plays well with debuffs.

Wow, thanks for the great answer!!!

[myhr2]

6/ Fists. You have to be super close, no good ranged option outside of one hammer, almost no aoe. I always feel like I have to compensate for the base moveset with some great boons choices.

5/ Shield. I just don't like Blocking, it is a powerful mechanic, but I'm so used to dash around with the other weapons, blocking feels very unintuitive now. Also it's less focused than other weapons, you have a block, base attack pushes, special is kinda spammable. Ironically, it makes me more confused when I have to choose boons.

4/ Rail. Reloading is a bit annoying.

3/ Sword. It's a bit plain, I'd say, good, but plain.

2/ Spear. Now that's a weapon I like. Good range and aoe with the dash-attack, has a ranged special if needed, deals good damage on its own with medium speed, meaning I can select any attack boon and be happy with the result.

1/ Bow. I just love the feel of dashing around, spotting lone enemies to snipe them with a powerful blow.

[wpegg]

1. Fists - I like the speed, keeps enemies off balance unless they have armour, but breaching cross melts that in 1 shot. With Athena on the fists you can just dash around enemies deflecting any attack they do manage to get in. Range attacks get rebuffed while you're doing it by the attacks. Easiest one for me to use, can beat the final boss without taking more than 5 or 6 hits, acorn means I don't even lose health.

2. Bow - as others said, Chiron does make it easy, and even without having that range makes things much more straight forward to avoid enemy damage.

3. Rail - similar to the bow, but the lack of ability to knock attackers off balance leads me to make the odd mistake, and I get caught out reloading. Also it's incredibly weak. I've found that if I absolutely pom up hangover then I can just kite the enemies while that does its work, but definitely requires Hermes to give you some additional dashes in order to stay out of people's way.

4. Spear - I abuse the special and don't use it as anything other than a slower bow. It works in this way, but is not as powerful, and is boring to play.

5. Shield - I really can't get into bull rushing, which makes it just a slower version of the other weapons. I find it boring. Only plus point is Theseus can't block both directions of the special so it's more consistent for wearing him down.

6. Sword - I just cannot find anything good about the sword. Dash strikes leave you vulnerable for too long afterwards, the normal attacks require too close range, and the special takes too long so that if you mistime it you're set upon by the thing you missed. I always just take Poseidon aspect and make a cast build if I use it.

[chris.ferrantegerard]

I find I tend to prefer the ranged options in the game so my personal ranking is slanted towards them. All weapon are pretty well balanced overall through and it really comes to personal choice than any one weapon actually being superior to another.


1 - Gun (Eris): Mostly play with special as primary attack for the big hits. Has some of the best hammers in the game I think, cluster rockets is nuts. Eris got nerfed in last patch I think through.

2 - Bow (Chiron's): Lots of fun sniping and the special is amazing

3 - Shield: Blocking can be very powerful mechanic

4 - Sword (Poseidon): I mostly use it for cast oriented builds instead of actual melee which is why I have this above the bottom two.

5 - Spear: I don't like base special and find spin attack ability kind of clunky. Only reason I have above fists is because I love the Exploding Launcher hammer which makes it a top tier weapon.

6 - Fists: Attack range is just too short for my liking, makes flaming chariots super annoying

[Ordemarebys]

In order of "easiest to win with": (first 3 - safe playstye, last 3 - very unsafe)
1 Rail Gun - cuz Dedalus mods like cluster bomb or triple bomb are always autowin.
2 Shield - Fast and you have the option to nulify the damage
3 Bow - safe playstyle but lacks damage and croud control compaired to other weapons, or I should say - not the most convinient weapon
4 Spear - the fatest run I ever did was with this weapon. All thanks to the amazing dash attack, thou I dont know any other good combinations with it exept for cast builds
5 Fists - magnetics are the best for easy and fast clear but i cant figure the best combination for Hades specifically, exept ofc Dionysus' cast
6 - Sword - In my opinion in terms of safety the worst one
In order of "fastest to clear with": (first 3 - clear is good with any boons, last 3 require specific setups)
1 Magnetic fists - just spam special
2 Spear - spam dash attack
3 Sword - dash attacks + crits
4 Shield - Ares' special is nice but if you're not going for that then its a hussle
5 Bow - I always have a feeling that the damage is lacking or is done not fast enough
6 Rail - if you dont get "right" upgrades early on its a hussle too, mainly cuz of reloads

[Fourlamas]

1. shield, just block everything, dash-strike too strong
2. bow, chiron is auto-pilot
3. sword, middle ground, dunno
4. gun, strong but slow and boring, need hammer to make it good, auto attack is garbo
5. fists, dangerous melee weapon, need to hug enemies to deal some decent damage
6. spear, basic attack way too slow, spin situational, meh

[Nathaniel Prime]

I love how everyone has a different list. I think the devs really nailed it, with different weapons being suited to different playstyles and such.

[/Gquit]

I'm pretty new- 44 escape attempts, last 14 runs have been clears, heat 2 or less (grinding Titan's Blood), only 1 aspect unlocked for each weapon. Would love to hear some thoughts on alternative build routes that could shake up this list. These are all extremely close, and honestly, I swap my weapon based on Thirst every run.

EDIT: I was way off on Rail (ERIS), the premiere speed run build is no joke- and that along should have it much much higher.

6. Shield (Aspect of Chaos). I used the shield for my first clear, but as I've improved I've become less and less fond of this weapon. Very one-dimensional, the worst boss killer in terms of speed. Feels counter-intuitive to the rest of the game that's based on fast dashing; standing still and blocking doesn't feel as safe in practical application. Seems like one of the least impactful Aspects. I don't dislike it, but something has to be at the bottom of the list.

5. Fists (Aspect of Zagreus). Pretty one dimensional, not super fun to play but very fast and effective- wear Plume and dodge your face off. I'm not sure what the best attack boon is, but that's pretty much all the variety I can get out of this route (Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, Ares?). I think the other fist Aspects would probably move this up for me, but I don't have them and can't comment.

4. Sword (Aspect of Poseidon). Caster Sword, that leans very heavily into Zeus. To be fair, I've been unlucky with Poseidon Boons and have yet to "go off" with the knockback synergies, but Spear seems like a stronger/more flexible caster weapon/hybrd, where the play style of Aspect of Poseidon is just spam cast, special, collect, repeat.

3. Spear (Aspect of Achilles). This Aspect feels so powerful and adaptable. Dionysus Cast is insane (1k hits!) and I'm sure it works on melee builds as well. It's not easy to play but feels similar to Rail's Eris Aspect as a payoff, just less awkward to use once you get used to it.

2. Bow (Aspect of Chiron). Not much to say, fairly versatile and very forgiving play style. Great Boss Nuker, and solid even if it's a single target ability. I didn't understand why people recommended the bow as a beginner weapon until I discovered this Aspect- it's not even the same weapon. This is #1 for me if we don't count Aspect of Eris build listed next because it's a little hardrt to force.

1. Rail (Aspect of Eris).
EDIT: The damage is just too nuts when this comes together with Zeus/Posideon/Artemis/triple bomb and/or Rockets. I hadn't seen any speed runs or tried the build when I originally wrote this, but it's way too strong not to be top tier. Maybe too niche, or fall off on high heat to be #1, I have no idea, but it's silly strong.

Powerful, just feels a little awkward relying on standing in your special, particularly when it can bounce off walls/pillars and end up landing in a completely different area than you intended. The range is also a bit too short to really love it. I'm guessing this was nerfed, video that convinced me to try Eris showed an 8-second duration, but I'm at lvl 4 and it's still only 4 seconds. The hammer that stops you from reloading feels almost mandatory.