I Found The Best Ranged Weapon In 7 Days to Die 1.1

[@jake5773]

Great tests. Although it's the low end of the list as far as damage my go to for late game horde night is the smg with ap rounds. Low recoil, cheapest ammo to make, and with a killing corridor it's perfect. Shotguns and Deagle/Crossbow for general questing.

[@Firespark81]

Smg damage may be lowest but I'll be honest with head shots and the bleed I feel like it would mow them down pretty fast. I did see anything in the code that would make me think you can't stack bleeds from it either. As fast as it shoots you're looking at max bleed stacks almost instantly. Which imo is kinda interesting.

[@wolfhors3_660]

For newbies, theres a lot more to consider than just 1 shot damage. For example, even tho the smg may do less single damage, if youve got 10 or 12 zombies runnin at you being able to spray a ton of rounds down range can save your life. A shotgun doesnt fire as fast and some can get thru to you. The king of them all is the m60, trust me. Being able to spray a 120 rounds without reloading is a real blessing. There are death rooms in some POIs that will just dump a crapload of Zs at you all at once.

[@mattmcc7930]

Mowing down hords of zombies with the M60 never gets old. Well, at least until you have to reload. Waiting for the animation to finish can be excruciating sometimes lol

[@Firespark81]

Dude that thing takes 900 years to reload. It's for real over nerfed in that aspect. You could load 6 of every other gun in that time lmao 🤣

[@pApA0LeGBa]

Crossbow with hidden strike and archery maxed (which ofc means agility maxed), recog and rad remover, no other mods, does over 2400 damage. Would need Darkness Falls or any other mod with higher HP zombies to get an actual number. I don´t have any other numbers on the crossbow but the base sneak damage of x3.5 surely puts it higher than many weapons even without hidden strike, but only for single shots. Which brings me to rounds per minute, VERY important factor for finding the best ranged weapon. Should be considered.

[@Firespark81]

Oh yea sneak damage just gets silly. But also yes it's slow which is probably why it does fall in line at third. Tbh it could probably use a buff as it's painfully slow compared to the rifle and even the shotgun. Pistols once you have maxed out skills basically have no reload time.

[@stacktus9158]

I’m not surprised the shotgun wins, if you get every pellet on target it should win. Don’t forget in WW1 the Germans tried to get shotguns outlawed in war lol, shotguns are amazing and I’m happy they get to shine in this game. They should have a bit more range but at least they aren’t useless after 10 feet like most games

[@slab-dd6vj]

not really surprised. Since it lines up with the experience I get using those weapons. Sniper rifles/Desert Eagle are best-ranged weapons when using AP rounds, and I think that reverse when using regular rounds because of a book that makes regular 44 have the same damage/effect as 44 AP I don't consider the shotguns ranged weapons since they have about the same range as a spear, and don't talk about buckshot rounds because they cost to much to craft

[@Firespark81]

Isn't buckshot just paper lead and powder? I don't remember. It's been a min since I have played with shotguns or even crafted ammo for them. The game just throws so much of it at you.

[@slab-dd6vj]

@@Firespark81 It's the regular ammo that uses paper, lead and gunpowder. If I remember right the buckshot uses paper, Forged steel and gunpowder. when the game trow me enough shotgun ammo, I put more shotgun turrets and SMG turrets for horde night

[@Xendrasch]

@@slab-dd6vj Buckshot ammo is the red "regular" shotgun ammo, with multiple small lead pellets. Slug ammo it the green one, that just shoots one big slug, in this case made from steel.

[@slab-dd6vj]

@@Xendrasch I got the 2 mixed, thank you for the correction. tho I still stand by my original point: the shotgun range is way to short to consider it a range weapon with regular ammo. And the green ammo is too expensive to make in large qty

[@Xendrasch]

@@slab-dd6vj You have a point, there. The range of buckshot is unrealistically abysmal. I notice it especially when I want to defeat vultures. I often intuitively try to use a shotgun with buckshot, since in reality it would be the best choice to hunt birds, but it does nothing, because its range is just 5 meters. Because I find it so annoying, I usually mod it to have the same range as 9 mm pistols.

[@leenomedal-lafon5994]

This was about what I have experienced.. of course, damage over time is another thing, and the SMG and auto Shotty definitely exceed in this arena in my opinion.

[@Firespark81]

I really didn't think the shotgun would pull the numbers it did. I totally expected the .44 to hit harder. Was very surprised it did not.

[@forstirling484]

a shotgun with shells for me is the most fun i can have doing melee, because that is how close you need to be

[@Andreas-pt8le]

Pretty sure electric wire, head-shot base with sniper rifle is the most efficient horde night build for ammo use. According to the wiki there is a significant headshot bonus damage, before the crit multiplier, to the rifle series. two tapping demos without the chance of touching nipples is pretty good as well.

[@catrinastewart7190]

Another really informative video. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge and skill. Your list confirmed much of what I suspected. The damage done by the shotgun is great, but you need to be closer than I like. I am not as skilled at dodging zombies while running and gunning. My accuracy drops significantly when I try. So, for now anyway, I prefer to keep my distance and use range to my advantage whenever possible. I too was impressed by the damage the compound crossbow can do. I carry one to kind of snipe and sneak damage zombies while questing. The Desert Vulture and SMG are my other go to weapons while questing. The .44 magnum and 9mm stack at 300, so I can carry more and take up less inventory space. I do carry a shotgun with Breaching Slugs, but really rarely ever need to use it. Again thank you for doing these videos. I learn a lot from each one.

[@RHButler22]

Don't forget that the .44 Desert Vulture (with a particular book) allows you to shoot through multiple mobs so ...

[@grumpynomad3551]

I use the .44 for hoard nights. It works great for the tight rope I make the zombies walk.

[@xpatches13]

My shotgun shells don't list a buckshot, I'm assuming this this the base shotgun shell? (Red one)

[@TheKronikSpliF]

Yea the basic red ones

[@Tyrael538]

only thing that surprised me are the buckshots with the shotgun, gonna switch from using slugs to using buckshots.

[@Firespark81]

It's crazy how much damage they do when you land all pellets on the target and you don't need brass for them so kinda a win win.

[@blainebickle1178]

Keep in mind that I believe buckshots do less damage to armored zombies, but I'm not sure if it is enough to worry about

[@Firespark81]

I'm not even sure which zombies are considered to have armor. Hmmm maybe that's a video in the making. Does armor pen even matter. Could be interesting.

[@blainebickle1178]

@@Firespark81 I'm pretty sure the military and biker zombies are 2 that have armor. Last I heard, buckshot isn't as effective on those types, but that was a few alphas ago, so it may not be the case anymore.

[@matthewastle]

Seeing this video made me remember that 7 days to die existed and what got me to get back into the game again so thank you! Oh and by the way I like these videos very informational 👌

[@bobsandwichking]

Is the reflex sight considered a scope?

[@Firespark81]

You know I don't know. I'll have to look. The code for the increased damage is on the mods so it would be easy to check. Will do so and get back to ya.

[@Firespark81]

I looked it up. It does not have the code for the extra damage only 2x 4x and 8x scopes have it.

[@nico_zip]

The video title is not consistant with the contents, which makes me fairly dissapointed of this video. Highest Damage per 1 bullet/bolt isn't nearly equal to Best weapon at all. The clearest point to notice this is your surprise to see the crossbow dealing more damage than the SMG and the M60, it is like those 2 weapon are made to dish out more damage per magazine than the crossbow which can only hold 1 bolt, no one is grabbing an automated weapon to shoot only 1 bullet afterall, which is why rounds per second is an ingame weapon stat. This is a good video for weapon damage but its not a good criteria to rank weapons at all, it misses cadency, recoil, max size. There are far too many other factors to consider tbh, so the actual criteria used to define which weapon is the best is very important

[@attackanddestroy]

Dunno, the fact you can kill most zombies with 1 click to the head kinda make the tricked out auto-shotgun the best weapon. Is it the best in every situation? No. No weapon would be. I still roll with the smg, even in T6 infested because it's the most satisfying to use. I could clear things faster with the auto-shotty though.

[@Firespark81]

Best in terms of damage. Sometimes I don't know what people expect from thumbnails and titles. If I put some long titles like "I ran a test on all guns to figure out which one can do the most damage with a single shot" and something similarly long and boring on the thumbnail not a single one of you will click it. So this is what you get twisted hyperbolic phrases that make you wanna click. You have no one to blame but yourselves lmao.

[@Firespark81]

And also if you can reload super fast and 1 shot most zombies in a 4th of a second what does any of that other stuff matter? Go watch my last video to see how fast you can reload a sniper rifle. Hint it's like lightning. Sometimes the simplest measurement is all you need to find the answer you seek. 😁

[@Happylachia]

Even though the Ext. Barrel isn’t coded to add damage, doesn’t it technically add it because every mod you put on adds a little bit to damage. That’s still a thing right??

[@Firespark81]

Yea but none of the others say that they add damage even though they do. So for it to say adds damage makes ya think it adds damage on top of that. Know what I mean?

[@Happylachia]

@@Firespark81 heard! I must’ve missed that part. Great vid, brother!

[@thealchemist3575]

Hmm what are you sayin, 9mm perk books give 10% more damage with weapons that use 9mm and all the perks do "point blank shots ignore armour" , what bleeding you talking about.

[@Firespark81]

9mm guns stack bleed at point blank.

[@thealchemist3575]

@@Firespark81 From what exactly ? I am trying to get my head around this. The deep cuts doesn't mention it gun slinger doesn't mention it, so is it something that is not mentioned ? Also there is no bleed mod for fire arms... I mean I do not check the xmls so were is this from ?

[@Firespark81]

Its bonus you get for reading all the pistol pete books. It tells you right there in game ignores armor and at point black causes bleed.

[@thealchemist3575]

@@Firespark81 Then I have the wrong game cuz in mine doesn't says anything about that, added a picture but dissapeared

[@Angelo._]

Expect nerfs in the future, everyone. Unfun Pimps will see the acronym OP, and completely ruin it, even if it doesn't hurt anybody who uses it. Can't have fun around these parts, no sir. Just like stealth

[@MikeUlstrup]

Maybe I'm wrong, but my mind is telling me pumpaction does more damage per shot then autoshotgun

[@Xendrasch]

Might have been the case very long ago. But in the past all guns from one category (e.g. all 9 mm pistols) did the same dmg. then they changed it a while ago, so that each weapon tier steps dmg up. sniper > lever action > hunting rifle > pipe rifle SMG > 9 mm pistol > pipe pistol desert vulture > .44 revolver auto shotgun > pump shotgun > double barrel > pipe shotgun M60 > assault rifle > AK47 > pipe machinegun compound bow > bow > improvised bow compound crossbow > iron crossbow

[@jan7392]

i like the shotgun in this game. only Rust has better shotguns. :) For me the machineguns are the best weapon in the game because they just have the best mix of range, precision and dps.

[@MarcusBrutusPL]

"Gameplay balance perspective" are you sure you want to bring that up talking about 7DtD? ;)

[@TizonaAmanthia]

My current build is fortitude, so I'm going deep into the machineguns and knuckles. so with the M60 being an excellant midrange with solid close range damage...I'm tryin' to decide if I want the combat shotty for great upclose damage....or the sniper for great long range. I feel like i have the most danger from getting ganged up on, so I might lean into the shotty, but...also pondering the vulture, for the trader bonus. MAN they jacked up the prices on solar cells! I'm just starting to get into that...and they changed the way draw bridges are made...costing less and unstackable....so I have to decide on a new sellable.

[@whyismynametaken123]

Auto shotgun is the most fun. My last run through I did max int focusing on stun batons/turrets, then got the healing / damage reduction perks from fortitude, then maxed out shotgun damage. At the end I stopped using the baton / turrets and solely relied on shotguns w/ special food/drinks for mobility .. mind you all the medic perks from int still helped a ton because you can stack first aid kits and they add to health counter instead of over writing it. I play single player btw and not online if that changes anything.

[@TheLizzerazu]

This is not the best ranged weapons, this is the weapon that deals most damage in one shot. Rate of fire and reload speed should be considered. Also range from target should have been in there. Make 3 catagories, close, medium and long and give each one points and then compare at the end.

[@Firespark81]

Depends on if you consider the weapon that does the most damage the best or not. Its subjective.

[@TizonaAmanthia]

thank you SO much for doing this! I don't know yet if you've considered but I NEED to know what the stealth damage multipliers can be! does the crossbow pull ahead when the max stealth bonus is factored in? cause stealth weapons get a higher sneak multiplier. getting that stealth kill on sleeping radiated wights, and unalerted zombie bears in the wasteland... if I can ONE SHOT either of them with a crossbow...but NOT with, say a desert vulture....that's valuable distinction.

[@sociallyferal4237]

I imagine it would. Sneak rifle damage starts off at like 1.5 times damage, compared to 3.5 of the bow. And even with just the couple of hundred hours I have played I have had bow sneak up to like 4 or so compared to 2.3 on the rifle side. Your bow is also less likely to alert other zombies vs a silenced sniper rifle if I recall a previous youtube video on the stealth topic.

[@Firespark81]

Oh yea dude if you are doing stealth a cross bow will legit 1 shot anything if you have all the right skills perks and armor. Heck you can one shot most things with a primitive bow. It's silly.

[@TizonaAmanthia]

@@Firespark81 yaaaah, that's what I was wondering. it's haaaaard to replace the crossy for getting that "stealth potshot" on a critter what will mop the floor with you. it does make me wonder what that damage number is with all the perks and a stealth headshot. like. what IS that stupidly high number?

[@Firespark81]

Not sure but considering irradiated wights have over 2k and it can one shot them I can tell you its well over 2k. But I would need to do some testing to be sure. Just not sure that's worth a video to its own as other than those lucky shots every now and then stealth kinda sucks now. Id much rather use another build that just exploits zombie AI and such.

[@TizonaAmanthia]

@@Firespark81 that's fair. I suppose knowing that it's easily doing over 2k damage on a sneak head...that's probably enough right there...

[@HayleezPoppee]

Love the dig into the xml files. Can you do a dig for info about treasure maps? Im on day 70 and have only found 2. Does a point into something raise the chances? Love the content!

[@starfuryms582]

Afaik, there is no damage threshold for "popping heads". Every attack has a percentage chance to dismember when hitting anywhere other than the torso. If the hit rolls a dismemberment on a headshot...Pop!

[@Firespark81]

Dismemberment has a damage threshold and every limb is a different amount and it's based on hp loss. This is why things with 100% chance to dismember don't instantly kill or dismember zombies. Covered it in my best melee weapon video.

[@azuredrake8294]

hrmm, for single shot damage it would have been nice to see how the order would play out if you had also checked sneak damage in there.

[@andrewc.4279]

If we're talking about lethality and effectives per bullet, nothing beats sniper rifle without a scope, mods: reflex dot, silencer, extended mag, rad remover. With penetration perk zombies fall like dominoes, it's both good in close and long quarters and arguably the rifle is just better version of desert vulture

[@Firespark81]

reflex sight will not get you the 10% bonus damage. Use x2 scope

[@andrewc.4279]

@@Firespark81 true, but this mod makes the weapon much easier to aim from the hip or go for headshots and 85% of all encounters happen in close quarters. 10% is better only when it's not a missed shot. No one argues that long barrel is technically better than silencer, right? you can get even more damage, but in reality no one wants to fight hordes of screamers after every fight, the same goes for reflex dot, it transforms the sniper rifle into all-purpose weapon for all distances

[@zazoreal5536]

Dmg per bullet is fine and all... but DPS is king. Crossbow vs SMG or LMG...who would actually win that battle?

[@Firespark81]

Shotgun. Who cares about your DPS when you're doing kills per second lol

[@Xendrasch]

Rifles deal +10% dmg per Dead Eye stack, up to +30%. Each kill grants one stack for 6 seconds. So on horde night, when you quasi continuously kill zombies, you essentially have permanent +30% dmg.

[@Firespark81]

This is true but it's still not consistent any other time. But also them being second is also kinda being first because if you want real range they are the best. If you don't care about range then and only then do shotguns become the best.

[@Xendrasch]

@@Firespark81 Agreed. I usually also feed all my 9 mm and buckshot to my auto turrets. So the 7.62 remains. And since the M60 is such an ammo hog, and consumes more ammo per dmg dealt, the sniper rifle is late-game king. It also works best with my usual corridor horde base builds.

[@Prismwind]

So. The Sledgehammer is the most powerful melee weapon overall... single target, machete and spear kind of win, but against more than one zombie the sledge comes out on top easily. And the shotgun is the most powerful ranged weapon. Meaning both of the most powerful weapons in the game are Strength skill point weapons. This honestly feels kind of bad in terms of balance.

[@SpennysGamingChannelPS3PS4]

I assume the red dot doesn’t count as a sight?

[@TheMrgbms]

Are we just going to ignore that this man has a jiggle physics mod...

[@jamal69jackson77]

Yeah, your results sound about right in practice. Only thing I didn't know is that slugs cause less damage than buckshot, which is nonsense, but I never use slugs in 7d2d, so I never noticed.

[@Firespark81]

Right! Like a slug should do massive damage it's kinda silly it doesn't do more than buckshot. But then again you do gotta be pretty close to land that kinda damage with buckshot.

[@jamal69jackson77]

@Firespark81 bro, I'm always kinda up and close with them zambys whether I like it or not lol.

[@michaeldooley8744]

Sniper. Yes it does less damage than the magnum. But the knockdown carries any run.

[@stefanbehling4251]

It would be interesting witch gun has the most Damage per Minute including the reload time. I would go for the SMG with drummag. My best expirience is two fully loaded SMG's.

[@ZergTolerance]

The best weapons for all occasions in 7 Days to Die are the SMG and the hunting knife.

[@W1se0ldg33zer]

You forgot some additional bonuses you can get from edibles. Such as +1 fortitude for eating a Sham Chowder. Plus the helmet mods. You can get a +2 strength buff from the helmet mod plus the cigar - don't know what that does to ranged weapon damages though. So now you need to do a DPS test to get a better overall damage stat. Shotty does a lot of damage but its rate of fire doesn't help it. Then you also need to take into account how many rounds you can shoot before you reload and how long it takes to reload. I would test it over a 5 minute period to get a good test done. I like 5 M-60's with drum mags - that's 600 rounds before I need to reload.

[@W1se0ldg33zer]

I can tell you from playing this game since it came out that the majority of people die when they get cornered and have to stop to reload. Your reloading strategy is super important and keeping your weapons fully loaded at every chance is important too. Does you no good doing 1,000 damage when you have more zombies in your face than what you have bullets in your magazine and having a slow reload time.

[@W1se0ldg33zer]

The SMG has low damage per shot but it has a very high rate of fire and a very fast reload. Which is why it's a late- game weapon most of the time. Its magazine size limits it though. But that's one you do need to do a DPS test on. I do believe at one point the weapon with the highest DPS used to be a purple machete but I doubt that's the case now. Mainly because you could easily decapitate zombies with one.

[@honza7466]

Im surprised my beloved ammo muncher (M60) is that low comparatively. What it lacks in damage ti more than makes up for with insane fire rate tho :)

[@Melsharpe95]

Same as the SMG. Low single shot damage but you can empty an entire mag in a couple of seconds. That's why it's my go-to for Stealth builds when the fit hits the shan.

[@mr.snacks482]

I haven't checked this in 1.0 yet, but the Magnum used to do more damage per shot than the Desert Vulture; it's drawback being it only has 6 shots before reloading and there was no way to increase that. Does the Magnum still do more damage per shot in 1.0 or have they changed it so the Desert Vulture does more damage per shot?

[@PutkisenSetä]

Vulture is a straight upgrade.

[@mr.snacks482]

@@PutkisenSetä Ah, thanks.

[@markouseasterling9376]

curious about explosive crossbow there are perks that increase explosive damage also beyond the archery stuff do they stack? do the explo candies help or recog?

[@Kenderkin]

You can put the 2x scope on the Auto Shotgun 😊

[@Firespark81]

Nope. It would not go on there.

[@Kenderkin]

@@Firespark81 I could have sworn you could. I remember having had a scope on an Auto Shotty and been gleeful with how stupid that was.

[@Firespark81]

@@Kenderkin Yup you could at one point. I use to do it as well. No idea when they removed it or why. But its dumb you cant.

[@Icebear2012]

There is no best weapon for everyone. Use what feels best for you. If i want it easy way then i take m60 combined with sniper rifle. All weapons works just fine. Just depends what you like and how you play.

[@SpennysGamingChannelPS3PS4]

I think it was obviously the red shotgun shells would be stronger as the slugs are listed as for blowing down doors i.e blocks

[@Firespark81]

You are thinking of breach ammo

[@SpennysGamingChannelPS3PS4]

@@Firespark81 ah right haha! Over 600hrs in 1.0 n never realised that lol

[@user-kg6qe4jg6z]

Toilet gun ftw

[@Firespark81]

Always toilet gun!

[@wolfhors3_660]

Did he factor in fire rate?

[@Seyuzlaun]

I run with a shotgun. but I’m thinking of pairing up a machine gun.

[@jeremiahthompson9367]

Forgot the rocket launcher and junk turret.

[@lil-_-somalians9937]

I mostly use the sniper and it's a beast and on horde night lol

[@Firespark81]

Sniper is kinda nuts tbh. You see my last build video? It uses the sniper like a pistol lol

[@anthonygianettino2557]

Not surprised at all. I use shotguns quite a bit and I'm well aware of how they perform versus other weapons. If you run a horde base with electric fences and line up the zombies on approach, the shotgun has no equal.

[@ironchest2]

Devs never get slug ammo right.

[@LifeofCooper]

Auto shotgun all you need

[@LifeofCooper]

Tactical Assault Rifle number 2

[@nicod686]

I just don’t really ever see how you can clear high level POIs with Sniper rifles so yeah Shotgun’s are king.

[@zaprothe0verlord]

Its actually quite pleasant. With mods that improve accuracy, handling and hip-fire, you get a weapon that is surprisingly good at just casually clearing out POIs. Personally I prefer the feel of the sniper to the auto shotty. I'd say give it a try.

[@Firespark81]

You treat it like a pistol lol

[@josheoXD]

I don’t understand how you set this up. Shouldn’t the desert vulture be the most powerful from the pistol class of firearms?

[@Firespark81]

One uses 9mm and one uses .44 cal. Both pistols, 2 different guns. They each have their own perk books.

[@goygeous]

Erm not to be that guy, but what about the compound bow ??, ive not played the new builds so has it been removed from the game or something ?

[@Firespark81]

The crossbow is the upgrade to any of the bows. It does more damage than all of them so I did not do the bow. I know one uses bolt and the other arrows. But bolt = arrow for this test lol.

[@goygeous]

@@Firespark81 i can see where your coming from, but i think your confusing bow and compund bow. Compound bow has floated up and down and skills and skill books have dif effects because of patches.

[@bombchus]

Pump shot is kang

[@Xendrasch]

Nowadays, the Auto Shotgun has 33% higher base dmg, than the pump shotgun. In the past all shotguns did the same dmg per shot. Maybe in the very distant past, the pump shotgun had higher dmg?

[@EZXG2077]

why not play Once Human ????

[@Yojimbo1961-t7h]

Chinese free game 🤢

[@EZXG2077]

@@Yojimbo1961-t7h it is better than many survival games now

[@Firespark81]

Cause I find it boring AF and I hate all the limits they put on crap. If I wanna make 50k whatever I should be able to make 50k of whatever.

[@EZXG2077]

@@Firespark81 what limit you are talking about ?

[@Firespark81]

They literally limit everything. Lol

[@Ajgor_Wygoda]

Comment for algoritm : )

[@IngoAUW]

ak?

[@redstain9641]

The only thing I was surprised about test, It recog finally works with Shotguns.

[@Firespark81]

It didn't at some point? That's just silly lol