Best forward weapons overall?

[M9A1 Gernsback]

Has anyone found a gun which would be better then Daisycutters in terms of damage, heat and overall effectiveness - before you come to ManicMiners?

I remember a time when JnG was not yet Gold and Tornado railguns were your weapon of choice for quite a bit. Nowdays they just do not cut it - too much heat, too little damage, fewer projectiles.

Superkillers? Sure, they generate no heat at all, but damage is lower than Daisies, and with no spread they also do not make the cut. (and 10k targets are not enough to measure which can whittle an enemy down faster)
Skywalkers? Too little damage, too much heat.

For me now it's basically Daisycutters -> Manic Miners -> VXes.

Did I miss something, or is this actually the optimal way?

[.!.]

I used 3 superkillers + homing missiles + bombs utill Hexagun appeared in shop. After this imba Hexagun game becomes a piece of cake.

[Leole]

Like the other guy said, Superkillers are excellent at the beginning

You can move on to Manic Miners, but then you'd have to get Rotary Cage to make them face forward. MM does crazy amounts of damage, and even with the Rotary Cage, they are cheaper and cooler (literally) than another weapon with the same damage output

Hexagun is extremely OP, you can take down bosses in one hit with it, but it's very expensive and doesn't show up until late game.

[appleon]

Stacking superkillers is a pretty good idea, before that you can try to stack the radiator mk2 because it is rly cost effecient. After you acquired some money i recommand you to buy multiple STYX and just melt everything in your way before getting the Hexagun

[Jayne_Cobb]

I've always been a friend of the chronitron rifle, accompanied by a tsunami generator.

[M9A1 Gernsback]

Originally posted by Jayne_Cobb:

I've always been a friend of the chronitron rifle, accompanied by a tsunami generator.

That's for endgamw. What about the beginning?

[Jayne_Cobb]

In the beginning I've mostly relied on multiple radiators, even as front weapons,
accompanied by a charge generator when I had the money. Heat to dmg
ratio did never work for me for superkillers. I'd only get myself killed. ;-)