Remnant 2 is the sequel to the fan-favorite action RPG, Remnant: From the Ashes. It takes players through terrifyingly dark worlds where they come face to face with lethal enemies and World bosses. The only way to survive in the game is by effectively eliminating any enemies that cross the traveler’s path.

Remnant-2-Hardest-Bosses,-Ranked
Remnant 2: Hardest Bosses, Ranked

Some of the bosses in Remnant 2 can pose quite a challenge, more so than all the other bosses. These are the absolute toughest of them.

Thankfully, there’s a diverse variety of weapons players can choose from, each with unique damage specs. Weapons are available for purchase from different merchants or are unlocked as players defeat bosses and get access to new locations. There are three main types of weapons in Remnant 2, namely Handguns, Long Guns, and Melee Weapons. This guide compiles a list of the best weapons in each category, ranked according to tiers.

Updated October 14th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter: Now that all three of Remnant 2's DLC expansions have come out, with the Awakened King, the Forgotten Kingdom, and the Dark Horizon, it's time to take another look at where all the weapons fall. The dev team at Gunfire Games put a lot of work into Remnant 2 and has been constantly and consistently updating the game since its release with patches, bug fixes, and more. So, the rankings of a good number of weapons on here have been changed, and for good reason. First, let's break them into tiers, and then rank all the DPS options from S to D Rank.

Weapon Tiers Overview

How the Weapon Tiers are Judged & Separated

Remnant 2 Pathway Of The Fallen secret hedge maze path

All Weapon types in Remnant 2 can be divided into the following ranks, with the efficacy of weapons decreasing down the hierarchy. The scale for these weapons differs a bit depending on whether they're Long Guns, Hand Guns, or Melee Weapons, of course.

With Long Guns, sustained damage, mod utility, and burst damage are incredibly important. Hand Guns are typically backup damage and are rarely built around entirely, so their burst damage and support abilities are very important. Lastly, Melee Weapons are difficult to build around and are best used for crit damage or with high attack speed. So, let's break down what exactly each Tier typically encapsulates:

Weapon Tier

Explanation

S-Tier

The S-Tier of weapons in Remnant 2 are the ones that hit the hardest, have the most damage sustain, or work well in tons of different builds. Depending on the weapon category, the most important 'part' of the weapon changes, but overall these are the weapons that make the most impact.

A-Tier

Where the A-Tier of weaponry differs from the S-Tier is they're commonly not described as 'overpowered'. These are weapons that are great to slot into tons of different builds but aren't the 'best choice' for many of them. They're the sort of 'old reliable' choices players can always fall back on.

B-Tier

B-Tier weapons typically are incredibly strong in very specific builds and are decently strong otherwise. These are the weapons that sort of require being built around, but as long as the player does so even slightly, they'll usually prove their worth.

C-Tier

The C-Tier is pretty similar to the B-Tier of weapons, but where they fall short is that they have even fewer builds they're the best choice in (or even a good choice in). C-Tier weapons can be worth using and are commonly decently strong, but there are almost always better options than them in most situations.

D-Tier

Last up is the lowest tier, the D-Tier of weapons, and these are basically just fully not worth using. In very rare circumstances players can make a build work with these weapons, but even then there are almost always stronger build variations that are much better than the ones using these weapons. Overall these are typically weapons with unique ideas or designs but poor execution of these ideas.

Long Guns

The Strongest Long Gun Options in Remnant 2

The Hunter Archetype from Remnant 2 holding a rifle

In Remnant 2, long Guns are the primary weapon type. These serve as the backbone of a player’s build as they venture into the dark realms. Long Guns, like rifles and shotguns, are capable of dealing significant damage to enemies, even from a distance, due to their impressive range and firepower. Most Long Guns have innate Boss Mods that can't be switched out and are the go-to weapon choice when players face off against lethal world bosses.

Long Guns are almost always the 'core' of a build or at the very least their attached Weapon Mod is. With the Dark Horizon DLC now out, let's also take a second and talk about the new Long Guns added with it, the Genesis and the Monorail

  • Genesis: The Genesis is by far one of the strongest weapons in Remnant 2, hands down. The raw damage output, accuracy, and reliability are all top-class. Plus, the Mega Drive Weapon Mod is just straight-up absurd and makes aiming even less of a factor.
  • Monorail: The Monorail, at least as of the current patch (this was written on October 14th, 2204) feels like it has to be bugged. The damage of this weapon in no way makes up for the risk, low magazine capacity, or long reload speed. Compared to most other Long Guns in the game, the Monorail just falls incredibly short.

For these rankings, we took their overall damage, sustain damage, attached Weapon Mod, and more into account, and these are where the weapon rankings fell:

Tier

Weapons

S

  • Alpha-Omega
  • Nightfall
  • Genesis
  • Sagittarius
  • Widowmaker
  • Monolith
  • Monarch

A

  • Merciless
  • Aphelion
  • Deceit
  • Thorn
  • Corrupted Deceit
  • Pulse Rifle
  • Sporebloom
  • Savior
  • Plasma Cutter
  • Corrupted Aphelion

B

  • Sparkfire Shotgun
  • Corrupted Savior
  • Starkiller
  • Crossbow
  • Chicago Typewriter
  • XMG57 Bonesaw
  • Twisted Arbalest
  • AS-10 Bulldog
  • Crescent Moon
  • Blackmaw AR-47
  • Royal Hunting Bow

C

  • Corrupted Merciless
  • Rusty Level Action
  • Huntmaster M1
  • Wrangler 1860
  • Repulsor
  • Trinity Crossbow

D

  • Corrupted Arbalest
  • Coach Gun
  • Ford’s Scattergun
  • Monorail
  • Polygun

Handguns

The Most Reliable Handgun Options in Remnant 2

Remnant 2 - Corrupted Meridian Being Used In Practice Range With Corrupted Meridian PNG on Top

Handguns, such as pistols and SMGs, act as secondary firearms, essentially providing support to Long Guns. They're meant to be used as opposite weapons to a player's Long Gun for the most part. If a Long Gun is a high single-target weapon at close range, then a good Hand Gun would typically be a lower-damage AoE weapon or one good at long range.

As far as Hand Guns in the Dark Horizon DLC goes, the developers at Gunfire Games only added one, but it's a fantastic one, the Redeemer. The Redeemer is one of the most unique weapons in the game now, synergizing with so many different Relic Effects, giving players the ability to heal allies, deal damage, or trigger any effect relying on Relic Use.

For Hand Guns, the important stats tend to be unique Weapon Mods, sustainable ammo count, reliable damage, fast reloads, or high-capacity magazines. The weapons below were ranked taking these statistics into mind:

Tier

Weapons

S

  • Rune Pistol
  • Anguish
  • Redeemer

A

  • Nebula
  • Sorrow
  • Star Shot
  • Double Barrel
  • Corrupted Meridian
  • Cube Gun
  • Hellfire
  • Meridian
  • Corrupted Sorrow
  • Tech 22
  • Silverback Model 500
  • Bolt Driver
  • Enigma
  • MP60-R
  • Rupture Canon

B

  • Corrupted Nebula
  • Corrupted Rune Pistol
  • Repeater Pistol
  • Western Classic
  • Sureshot
  • Service Pistol

C

  • Corrupted Cube Gun

D

  • Rusty Repeater

Melee Weapons

The Most Versatile Melee Weapon Options in Remnant 2

Hero's Sword Weapon Statistics

Compared to its predecessor, Remnant 2 has revamped its Melee Weapons collection. There are many more viable and versatile options for players to choose from. Most of these weapons come with special skills that can transform all regular attacks into unique, highly destructive special attacks.

Melee Weapons fall into a unique sort of area in Remnant 2, as they're typically used for high crit builds or on players who want to try and do a full melee playthrough. There are a rare few Melee Weapons with ranged options, but for the most part, these are used for mob clearing without wasting ammo, high damage at close range, or burst damage using crits.

The Dark Horizon DLC adds three new Melee Weapons into Remnant 2, and all three are pretty fantastic. Because this is the newest content in the game, let's go over all three of them a bit more in-depth:

  • Dark Matter Gauntlets: The Dark Matter Gauntlets are the viable full-run Melee Weapons that Remnant 2 fans have been asking for since the game came out. Finally, players have a weapon that works up close and at range incredibly well outside of the World's Edge. The Darkness Beam in particular is just absurd in terms of damage. As long as players get used to the specific mechanics of this weapon, it's incredible.
  • Black Greatsword: This can barely be called a weapon, it's more like a hunk of iron. In any case, outside of being an incredible reference to Berserk, the Black Greatsword is incredibly powerful, works well in Charged Melee builds, and the animations of the weapon itself are incredible. That said, it's not recommended to use on any 'glass cannon' builds, as a lot of the viability of this weapon comes from tanking some hits from enemies and unleashing a massive Charge Attack.
  • Harvester Scythe: An incredibly unique weapon, and one that is absurdly powerful when used in combination with the Shocker Melee Mutator. Very fast, the Phantom Blade Weapon Mod is a ton of fun to use, and just a great option overall.

These are, in our opinion, where the Melee Weapon rankings fall:

Tier

Weapons

S

  • Dark Matter Gauntlets
  • World’s Edge
  • Stonebreaker
  • Atom Splitter
  • Hero’s Sword
  • Krell Axe
  • Godsplitter
  • Wrathbringer
  • Dreamcatcher
  • Royal Broadsword
  • Huntress Spear
  • Spectral Blade
  • Crystal Staff
  • Black Greatsword

A

  • Harvester Scythe
  • Shovel
  • Mirage
  • Bone Chopper
  • Abyssal Hook
  • Red Doe Staff
  • Iron Greatsword
  • Knuckle Dusters
  • Blade of Gul

B

  • Steel Flail
  • Rebellion Spear

C

  • Assassin’s Dagger
  • Feral Judgement
  • Ornate Flail
  • Ornate Blade
  • Edge of the Forest
  • Ritualist Scythe
  • Smolder
  • Nightshade
  • Decayed Claws

D

  • Gas Giant
  • Labyrinth Staff
  • Vice Grips
  • Atom Smasher
  • Steel Katana
  • Rusted Claws
  • Steel Sword
  • Scrap Hatchet
  • Scrap Hammer
  • Scrap Staff
  • Steel Spear
  • Steel Scythe
Rating block community and brand ratings Image
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Remnant 2
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7 /10
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Released
July 25, 2023
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
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Developer(s)
Gunfire Games
Publisher(s)
Gearbox Publishing
How Long To Beat
20 Hours
Genre(s)
Soulslike, Third-Person Shooter