A sort of scientific-ish tier list with each weapon tested independently.
Rules
Each weapon was tested by itself within mortality 0-12.5. Testing ended early if I was confident that testing was no longer needed (which happened typically ~mortality 6, due to the how fast weapons scale in Overdrive 5).
– Overdrive 5.
– No drills.
– No blackholes.
– No statues.
– Take easiest enemies available (for close-ish comparisons between runs).
– Auto-aim on.
– Fast forward on unless in danger.
Since this guide ignores passives, stat changes, etc., results may be inconsistent with their effectiveness on actual runs. Some weapons are HEAVILY impacted by stats, so they massively underperformed (such as Hydroscillator) without them. Take results with a grain of salt.
(And, obviously, passives and other ‘untestable’ weapons are not included).
How to test weapons yourself
1. Toggle debug mode – Tab+F1 (Will disable achievements).
2. On the start of a run, press F1 to open the console.
3. Type “set obj_control bans 999” to enable infinite weapon bans.
4. Type “set obj_control max_items 1” to limit yourself to only one weapon.
5. Ban weapons until the one you want shows up, then pick it.
6. Toggle debug mode again with Tab+F1 to disable invincibility.
– Optional, but I recommend turning on auto-upgrade in the settings since there will only be a single option to choose from.
You can also just, like, look at damage numbers at the end of your run. But that’s for stinkers.
Rankings
Horde combat ranking
S: Unkillable
A: Near untouchable
B: Easier run than normal
C: Had to try
D: Harder than normal
F: Run is almost or completely unbeatable
Boss combat ranking
S: Melted
A: Quick defeat
B: Above average defeat speed
C: Average defeat speed
D: Below average defeat speed
F: Took an eternity
Average rankings
S Tier
1 Demon Wings : Once you get the ball rolling you are completely immune to melee enemies if you move around in a circle. Absolutely shreds the boss if they touch the trail. I can see this being close to invincibility with higher weapon size. Hard/annoying to use, though.
A Tier
2 Parasight : Oh ma lord.
3 Static Satellite : Did insane single-target but was lacking in horde. Also melted worm-man which was interesting considering its weakness in horde.
4 Horns : Absolutely insane crowd control and boss damage. Only issue in horde was the animation ocassionally taking too long before the enemy touches me. Definitely only becomes viable once the radius grows beyond 2 nanometers, similar to the Chainbelt but moreso.
B Tier
5 Chainbelt : Performed similarly to the Slime Spike. Did less DPS, but didn’t have a deadzone which made things a lot easier. Does slightly less DPS than the Slime Spike for bosses, but shorter range so harder to use.
6 Slime Spike : Absolutely shredded everything in horde – only problem was that the range got so big things would get through and I’d be defenseless. Did surprisingly okay boss damage.
7 Missile Pack : Weirdly sub-par crowd control and weirdly good single-target.
C Tier
8 Flame Thrower : Did great damage in lines but struggled a lot when surrounded. Missed almost every shot against bosses but had a lot of damage potential.
9 Legsaw : A lot higher boss damage than I expected.
10 Yo-Yo Rack : Not great horde damage as expected. Boss damage was as expected: did absolutely no damage most of the time due to the yoyos missing, but when you get close to the boss their health gets shredded.
11 Shinobi Equipment : Same issue as flamethrower in horde, but with a bit less damage. Could actually hit the boss but the damage potential wasn’t as good.
12 Eye2 : Worse than I expected but not bad.
13 Hunter’s Bow : Perfectly mediocre.
14 Core : Used reversal upgrade. Was still super mediocre.
D Tier
15 Strike Call : Performed like a slightly better Soul Spear.
16 Frost Globe : Bad damage, good status effect. Defensive tool, so the damage was pretty impressive.
17 Dagger Glove : Decent crowd control and terrible boss damage.
18 Soul Spear : Surprisingly sub-par horde control. Stinky boss damage. Does crap damage on a long cooldown.
19 Plasma Lamp : I don’t think anyone is shocked. Primarily a defensive tool.
20 Hydroscillator : Genuinely surprising. I thought the balls did a lot more damage than they do.
F Tier
21 Ultrabuster : Used reversal upgrade, Somehow still really bad single-target, misses constantly vs. boss, and terrible crowd control.
22 Wicked Walkman : Why does it suck so bad??
23 Defense Turret : Did absolutely horrendous DPS in every situation AND required careful positioning. Beyond terrible.
Horde rankings
S Tier
1 Demon Wings
2 Chainbelt
A Tier
3 Slime Spike
B Tier
4 Horns
5 Legsaw
C Tier
6 Strike Call
7 Eye2
8 Hunter’s Bow
9 Missile Pack
10 Parasight
11 Soul Spear
12 Dagger Glove
13 Core
14 Static Satellite
15 Frost Globe
D Tier
16 Flame Thrower
17 Yo-Yo Rack
18 Shinobi Equipment
19 Hydroscillator
20 Plasma Lamp
F Tier
21 Wicked Walkman
22 Ultrabuster
23 Defense Turret
Boss rankings
S Tier
– Demon Wings
– Parasight
– Static Satellite
– Horns
A Tier
B Tier
– Missile Pack
– Flame Thrower
C Tier
– Yo-Yo Rack
– Slime Spike
– Hunter’s Bow
– Shinobi Equipment
– Eye2
– Core
D Tier
– Legsaw
– Chainbelt
– Plasma Lamp
F Tier
– Strike Call
– Soul Spear
– Frost Globe
– Hydroscillator
– Ultrabuster
– Dagger Glove
– Wicked Walkman
– Defense Turret
