Tier list time... Heroes & Weapons.

[epikos77]

Heroes Tier List (Based on overall power, mobility and ease of use, updated May 8th 2024):

S+ Tier: Browny
S Tier: Bill, Probotector-Blue/Red, Lance, Brad
A Tier: Lucia, Ariana
B Tier: Stanley, Sheena

Notes:
S+ Tier: Browny
+ Simply the best hero hands down. Triple jump, Grapple, Dash and access to some of the best weapons in the game: (Alt-H) Homing Beam x2 or (Alt-H) Homing Beam + (Alt-L) Ring Laser + Hyper Overload aka bullet-time/slowdown which is saved for troublesome bosses.
+ Has access to every single defensive Overload in the game.
- 2 Points of health (totally negated in 1 Hit Kill mode)
- "Maybe this one-Change is good-Maybe this one-ItchKH..." You'll be heading over to the audio options midway through the first stage, which is a shame because he has some funny lines.

S Tier: Bill, Probotector-Blue/Red, Lance
+ Your standard Ryu/Ken heroes, safe, powerful and easy to use. Double jump, Dash and an excellent selection of powerful weapon combos with few weaknesses. (S) Spread Shot + (S) Spread Shot or (H) Homing Missile or (C) Crush Bombs, plus access to Hyper and Barrier Overloads when available lets them deal with everything the game throws at them.

S Tier: Brad
+ High health.
+ Once you get his double (Alt-H) Homing Beam online he can deal S+ Tier levels of DPS and it's GG. This weapon alone makes Brad S Tier, without it he'd be A/B Tier.
- Feels weak and vulnerable until he gets access to (Alt-H) Homing Beam.
- His mobility moves can be tricky to use safely.

A Tier: Lucia
+ Very good mobility, only missing a double jump.
+ Has access to some of the best defensive Overloads in the game.
- Outside of maybe double (C) Crush Bombs she doesn't have access to the best DPS weapons.

A Tier: Ariana
+ Has access to (S) Spread Shot and decent defensive Overloads.
- Missing a dash and the slide which is harder to use properly has recently been nerfed (no longer works uphill).
- 2 Points of health.

B Tier: Stanley
+ High health.
+ Can be fun to work out where to best use his hover ability in each stage.
~ Stanley isn't that bad, there are no trash Tiers here, it's just other heroes are generally easier to play, have better mobility and/or weapon options in this game.
- Feels very slow and vulnerable with no dash/slide.
- Limited defensive Overload options.
- In 1HK mode he loses his one plus, his 4 points of health.
- The Probotectors can give up one perk slot to enable the Hover ability and still arguably be able to fit in the S/A Tier making them the better "Hover-hero".

B Tier: Sheena
- She currently doesn't have access to the best/easiest to use DPS weapons in the game.
- Zero defensive Overload options.
- 2 Points of health.
- Just plain hard to use, especially for new players.

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Weapons Tier List (Based on overall power and ease of use):

S+ Tier: (Alt-H) Homing Beam
S Tier: (S) Spread Shot
A Tier: (H) Homing Missile*, (C) Crush Bombs, (Alt-L) Ring Laser, (Alt-C) Crush Grenades
B Tier: (L) Laser Beam, (M) Machine Gun, (Alt-M) Rapid Discs, (F) Flame Weapon
C Tier: (Alt-S) Charge Spread, (Alt-F) Flame Blast

Notes:
(Alt-H) Homing Beam is broken good. Even a Level 1 (Alt-H) Homing Beam is arguably better than most A, B and C Tier weapons. (Alt-H) Homing Beam is as easy as (H) Homing Missile to use but with the added bonus of rivalling the (S) Spread Shot in power.

(S) Spread Shot x2 or (S) Spread Shot + (H) Homing Missile/(C) Crush Bombs = the "easy" bread & butter go-to weapons for much of the cast. (Bill, Lance, Blue/Red, Stanley)

*(H) Homing Missile: While A Tier overall due to average DPS, it's S Tier outside of boss fights thanks to how easily it handles regular enemies.

(C) Crush Bombs / (Alt-C) Crush Grenades: If these weapons can consistently hit the boss, they are boss killers; crazy good DPS.

(Alt-L) Ring Laser dominates the x-axis. (Side note: I wish more of the low tier heroes had access to this weapon along with the Hyper Overload)

B Tier weapons are nice to have in a pinch but are usually just Overload fodder.

(F) Flame Weapon, while it's not weapon-swap-spamable is easy to use and can deal damage through obstacles.

And finally the C Tier, unfortunately these weapons can't take full advantage of weapon-swap-spamming (not easily anyways) and can be hard to use effectively, though they can be fun and powerful in the right hands at specific points of the game.

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Weapon Overload Tier List

Hard to come up with a list here but it's safe to say that both (L) Hyper and (M) Barrier are some of the best defensive and in a way offensive options in the game. Honorable mention the defensive overload (Alt S) Counter which can absorb bullets and then release a full screen counter attack.

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Perk combos for making the game easier:

Health Meter Mode: Wpn Durability + Overload Heal

Notes:
Once you upgrade both your go-to weapons this combo really shines. Wpn Durability prevents you from losing your upgrade when hit which gives you the option to use your secondary weapon to Overload Heal if a weapon pod isn't available. Get used to this combo and you'll be finishing the game without a single death in no time. Eventually with more experience you will just drop Overload Heal for Wpn Retention or Auto-Levelup.

1 Hit Kill Mode: Wpn Retention + Konami Code

Notes:
A broken combo which is self explanatory. Get your preferred weapons and use your 30 lives as a resource of sorts. With experience you can drop the Konami Code perk for Auto-Levelup.

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Love to hear other Tier list opinions.

[usa423]

That black hole gun is op in the hands of the og 2.

[epikos77]

Originally posted by usa423:

That black hole gun is op in the hands of the og 2.

Indeed. (C) Crush Bombs are probably the best support weapon for most of the S/A Tier heroes going into a boss fight.

I've seen speedruns with Lucia using double (C) Crush Bombs, very effective. Not the easiest weapon to use safely, it's hilarious sometimes vortexing bullets on higher difficulties and getting hit by them as you speedrun-dash like crazy.

[Jm0n]

is any use for the spread or fire variants, i mean....
charging them takes *too* long and its payoff is useless
spread charged destroying bullets is interesting but not practical
only thing id hope is they are effective on bosses but clearly they arent

but i do have to say after just trying it right now,
the alternate homing and laser attack while weapon swapping is melting bosses

[epikos77]

Originally posted by Jm0n:

is any use for the spread or fire variants, i mean....
charging them takes *too* long and its payoff is useless
spread charged destroying bullets is interesting but not practical
only thing id hope is they are effective on bosses but clearly they arent

I bet a speedrunner will prove us all wrong and showcase how great the (Alt-S) Charge Spread and (Alt-F) Flame Blast are. It would be interesting to see actually. To be fair they are fun to use when they are at level 2 and technically the (Alt-S) Charge Spread is partially weapon-swap-spamable but you have to also spam the attack button with the wpn switch button... that can get tiring.

[NeonCrimsonSkye]

(Alt-S) Charge Spread is actually pretty good, it just has a learning curve. It's really strong, especially against Beowulf, Big Fuzz, and Varanis. Pick Weapon Retention + Weapon Durability, by far the best two Perks in the game.

That said, Ariana is Trash Tier, her dive kick gets her killed while leaving you without the ability to air dash. Also, Stanley's Spirit allows him to Hover at a speed fast enough to get past obstacles others have to use dash for.

That said, I don't actually see any use for the (Alt-H) Homing Beam, it's way too slow.

[epikos77]

(Alt-H) Homing Beam is the go-to weapon for Brad and Browny when going for WR speedruns. To be fair Browny also uses (S) Spread Shot x2 in these runs when the boss is guaranteed to take all 5 projectiles while doing it safely. Against most bosses the Homing Beam hits multiple times absolutely melting them and from a safe distance. And against regular enemies (Alt-H) Homing Beam also hits multiple enemies that are close together. The only weakness it has is against a few bosses whose hitbox is too small for the multiple hits of the beam to register, for instance the final boss's red eyes.

Regarding Ariana's slide, I can see players not liking it, but for me right now I can't easily give up on the double jump, so it comes down to a preference thing. I like that she has most of the weapon and overload options of the S Tier and you're only giving up an air dash. All non-S Tier heroes are giving up something, some more than others, Ariana probably the least and it's a bit of a hit or miss whether the differences they have to the top tier are worth it.

Weapon Retention + Weapon Durability is great for speedrunning in Health mode. I've seen a few speedrunners going with Weapon Retention + Auto-Levelup, very powerful in 1HK runs and if the runs needs you to change weapon setups often. I love the perk system in this game.

[NeonCrimsonSkye]

Yeah, Auto-Levelup is best for 1HK mode. I haven't done a speedrun yet myself, I tend to play Local Co-Op with my significant other and she isn't good enough yet to play 1HK mode in this game. I tend to steamroll the game with HP turned on.

[epikos77]

The latest patch fixed the one weakness the Homing Beam had against small hit-boxes, for instance against the first boss's left and right towers and the final boss's red eyes, it now rips through these sections with ease.

The (Alt-S) Charge Spread has also been adjusted according to the patch notes but I'm not sure how exactly it has improved.

[epikos77]

I believe the latest patch also made Ariana's and Sheena's slide slightly worse. Previously they could slide during an incline but not any more. While this is slightly more realistic it makes them slower and more vulnerable in some sections.