There are 76 weapons in Remnant 2, including regular ones you can purchase from Brabus and the boss variety you can claim after fights. Special armaments are harder to obtain, but they’re typically much better than the base options, thanks to their unique modifications only found by defeating the game’s toughest foes. Our Remnant 2 best weapons tier list weeds through the choices to help you pinpoint the top choices for your build and playstyle. Unless listed alongside a quest or event, these can be crafted by visiting McCabe in Ward 13.
Remnant 2 Best Weapons Tier List
Here’s a snapshot of our Remnant 2 best weapons tier list, with links to jump to specific weapons and guns. The choices below also include each weapon’s stats and whether they come stock with gun Mods or not.
- S-Tier
- A-Tier
- B-Tier
S-Tier Weapons
Deceit
- Damage: 120
- RPS: 2
- Magazine: 6
- Accuracy: ~99%
- Ideal Range: 28m
- Falloff Range: 75m
- Max Ammo: 30
- Critical Hit Chance: 15%
- Weak Spot Damage Bonus: 90%
- Stagger Modifier: 5%
- Mod: Ouroboros
- How to get Deceit: Craft at McCabe using x1 Imposter’s Heart, x7 Lumenite Crystal, and x650 Scrap.
Deceit tops our Remnant 2 best weapons tier list because it has the highest base damage of all special weapons. At base, it deals 144 damage, and at +10, it can deal 360 points of damage. Of course, there’s Ford’s Scattergun, a regular starting weapon for the Explorer class that has a base damage of 130. But it has almost zero critical hit chance and no weapon modifiers.
Deceit has a high 15% chance of scoring a critical hit and an excellent Ouroboros mod that turns every hit into a weak spot hit. On top of that, Deceit is the most accurate Long Gun in the game.
Pulse Rifle
- Damage: 16
- RPS: 7.8
- Magazine: 30
- Accuracy: ~75%
- Ideal Range: 22m
- Falloff Range: 65m
- Max Ammo: 210
- Critical Hit Chance: 10%
- Weak Spot Damage Bonus: 105%
- Stagger Modifier: 5%
- Mod: N/A
- How to get Pulse Rifle: Behind the doors downstairs in Abyssal Rift, right below The Custodian. You’ll need Decorum Cipher and Memory Core II to unlock both doors.
The Pulse Rifle is probably the second-best gun to have in your kit, putting it barely behind Deceit in our Remnant 2 best weapons tier list. This weapon can be hard to get, but once you do have it, you may not want to get anything else. It’s carried me into and through the end-game. It doesn’t have the highest damage 16, but its RPS and three-round-burst are great, and a 30-round magazine helps. Upgrade it to +20 and use a mode like Corrosive Rounds or Hot Shot, and the Pulse Rifle will let you stand toe to toe with any boss, including the last one.
Stonebreaker
- Damage: 103
- Critical Hit Chance: 4%
- Weak Spot Damage Bonus: 95%
- Stagger Modifier: 10%
- How to get Stonebreaker: Craft it at McCabe using x1 Hollow Heart, x7 Lumenite Crystal, and x650 Scrap.
Stonebreaker is the most powerful special melee weapon because of the Faultline weapon mod, which creates shockwaves that hit enemies for an additional 115 damage. When fully upgraded to +10, it does 309 points of damage. Among the regular weapons, the only possible alternative to Stonebreaker would be the Iron Greatsword, which can be purchased from Brabus 13 for 500 Scrap. But the Iron Greatsword has no modifiers of its own, even if its base damage is slightly higher than that of Stonebreaker.
Enigma
- Damage: 22
- RPS: 4
- Magazine: 30
- Accuracy: ~60%
- Ideal Range: 12m
- Falloff Range: 12m
- Max Ammo: 120
- Critical Hit Chance: -10%
- Weak Spot Damage Bonus: N/A
- Stagger Modifier: -15%
- Mod: Chaos Driver
- How to get Enigma: Craft it at McCabe using x1 Cipher Rod, x7 Lumenite Crystal, and x650 Scrap.
I’m making the argument that Enigma is better than Sorrow (listed further below) because of its ability to control and devastate large groups of adds at a single time. While Sorrow requires a specific playstyle to use effectively, Enigma is a great crowd-control option for any player and class. Its base damage is a little low (22), but it makes up for it by arcing electricity between enemies at once.
The Chaos Driver mod turns into Destiny 2‘s Anarchy, shooting rods into enemies to tether them, dealing 20 shock damage. Those hit by the rods receive 50 shock damage, multiplied by 1.5x if linked to another rod.
Related: Remnant 2 — All ring locations by PCI
A-Tier Weapons
XMG57 “Bonesaw”
- Type: Long Gun (LMG)
- Damage: 12
- How to get the Bonesaw: Medic Archetype starting weapon; can purchase for x1,000 Scrap from Brabus.
With such low base damage output, why does the XMG57 Bonesaw make it on our Remnant 2 best weapons tier list? Especially so high? Well, because this weapon is viable from the beginning of the game to the very end. I continuously found myself returning to this reliable LMG throughout my 50 hours with the game, even after I had other weapons on this list.
You’ll need to upgrade it a bit to start really driving the damage up (+7 and higher), but even if every bullet is doing 40 Crit damage, the gun has a 150-round magazine — and the numbers add up. It’s also incredibly accurate, and it can be devastating with the Hot Shot, Corrosive Rounds, or Overflow mods.
Nightshade
- Type: Melee (Claws)
- Damage: 47
- How to get Nightshade: Requires x1 Nightweaver’s Finger (Nightweaver), x7 Lumenite Crystals, and x650 Scrap.
Nightshade is a pair of fast-striking claws that may not hit as hard as the Stonebreaker or Iron Greatsword, but they sure are fast and can quickly stack up tons of damage in the right hands. This melee weapon also has the highest critical hit rate in Remnant 2, and its unique modifier (Beyond the Veil ) grants you the power of Lifesteal after each successful neutral dodge. I’d recommend this weapon for any evasive melee build, such as the Invader archetype.
Feral Judgement
- Type: Melee (Gauntlets)
- Damage: 53
- How to get Feral Judgement: Requires x1 Ravager’s Maw (Ravager), x7 Lumenite Crystals, and x650 Scrap.
Feral Judgement is another pair of gauntlets, and though it isn’t as fast as Nightshade, I was very impressed by its powerful mod, Death Sentence. If you want to squeeze every single bit of damage out of the weapon, try to get at least six consecutive strikes in less than 10 seconds. Doing so empowers the gauntlets and allows you to apply the mod, which strikes an enemy with 10 phantom hits for a total of 250 damage. Finally, if you cause Bleeding, your damage is further increased by another 25%. I highly recommend this weapon for the Challenger class.
Sagittarius
- Type: Long Gun (Bow)
- Damage: 98
- How to get Sagittarius: Solve the mini-game puzzle in the Cathedral of Omen in Yaesha. To solve it, turn the triangular lever southwest. Then turn the four levers (Death, Life, Sun, and Moon) around the circle. Place Death closest to where you stand. The Death and Moon levers should be outside the circle.
Sagittarius has the highest weak spot damage among all ranged weapons in Remnant 2. You can also charge it for maximum damage, which can reach up to 294 points when fully upgraded. Its weapon modifier is Starfall, which serves as an AoE attack. You can shoot a charged arrow, which opens a portal above enemies and showers them with multiple star fragments for six seconds, with each causing 50 damage.
B-Tier Weapons
Sorrow
- Type: Hand Gun (Crossbow)
- Damage: 45
- How to get Sorrow: Defeat Kaeula’s Shadow in Yaesha (Kaeula’s Rest) and trade the Tear of Kaeula Ring to Meidre (who is the glowing blue entity at the glowing tree in Yaesha’s Dappled Glade).
Weapons that deal damage are great, of course, but how about a weapon that can heal its wielder? Since there are plenty of healing options across Archetypes in Remnant 2, Sorrow comes in lower on our best weapons tier list, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored for certain Archetypes and builds or those multiclassing those that can’t intrinsically heal.
Sorrow has the Eulogy weapon mod that shoots bolts, striking enemies for 32.44 damage and then returning back to its owner, healing them for 2% of their max HP. What I find really interesting about this little handgun is its ability to store all unused bolts in reserve for future use. It’s a really nice touch for such a seemingly insignificant weapon.
Nightfall
- Type: Long Gun (Semi-Automatic Rifle)
- Damage: 31
- How to get Nightfall: Craft with x1 Cursed Dream Silks (Nightweaver), x7 Lumenite Crystals, and x650 Scrap.
Nightfall has the highest stagger modifier of all special weapons in Remnant 2. It also has the Dreadwalker modifier, which turns it from a semi-automatic rifle into a fully automatic machine gun. On top of that, you gain infinite ammo, and your rate of fire is increased by 35%.
I also suggest moving around when utilizing this weapon mod, as you get a higher chance of evasion and a 10% chance to gain Lifesteal. But there’s one drawback: while the Dreadwalker is active, all other skills and weapons are deactivated for about 10 seconds. But it’s no big deal, taking into consideration all the benefits of such a mod.
Atom Smasher
- Type: Melee (Warhammer)
- Damage: 72
- How to get Atom Smasher: Complete the Train event at Terminus Station in N’Erud. Go to N’Erud Station. Inspect the final wagon.
If you want to stagger enemies with the melee weapon, I’d suggest going for the Atom Smasher. Although its base damage may seem a bit low for a special warhammer, you can effectively triple it when fully upgraded to over 200 points of damage.
It also has the Accelerator modifier, which increases the speed of Atom Smasher’s moves, which is absolutely necessary in certain situations as the hammer itself is quite heavy and slow.
That’s our Remnant 2 best weapons tier list and how to get them. There’s plenty more to learn about Gunfire Games’ sequel to From the Ashes, and we’ve got plenty over in our R2 guides hub, including how to get specific Archetypes, such as the Alchemist, and how to beat bosses like Primogenetor.
