Ranking All Weapons in Kenshi

I'm ranking all weapons in Kenshi!
Check out my Project Zomboid weapons ranking video: • Ranking All Melee Weap...
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#Kenshi #KenshiWeapons

[@Haru-spicy]

Topper is the thing you pull out when your katana guy wants to fight robots. I'd put it at least B tier just for that.

[@warlerker]

Topper also has less of a debuff for armor pierce, and does the same damage as other katanas on the same tier. so its good against heavy plate in general.

[@RomaCHEIMS]

Topper is the superior katana, can be used against warriors instead of just cutting random naked people

[@cavemanbonk8320]

Topper is by far the best katana class weapon imo, besides training, they're just always super uncommon for me unfortunately

[@tprimmers9360]

@@cavemanbonk8320 using katana to counter armored Skeleton is a no-no. But Topper in other hand. I like this one like topper is like sabre-looking katana. Same reach with nodachi, but yeah late game using nodachi on naked bandit is over kill.

[@Krugmatik]

@@tprimmers9360 Yeah I feel like all weapons are viable until robots are involved, my army of straw hat ronins wearing rags using katanas and trader robes struggle. I dislike the meta though and went for a "theme" instead. Waaay more fun.

[@williamlampke8083]

1:10 blunt 4:59 hackers 9:19 heavy weapons 11:49 katanas 16:36 polearms 21:22 sabres

[@TheEpicSpire]

you are made of win. thanks!

[@brandonreed9508]

Thank you!

[@grimsgraveyard3598]

You had me at blunt.

[@brianshissler3263]

Hero

[@berserkerpride]

The benefit of sidearms is that a crossbow can be used as well. Short cleaver is a great sidearm for a hybrid fighter.

[@KokoplaysMB]

Longswords would be my preferred sidearm for crossbow users, but short cleaver can be decent as well.

[@informitas0117]

Short clever looks so good, it's minimalistic in its design and pretty good overall.

[@Arbaaltheundefeated]

I like Jittes for my crossbows, with the caveat of having enough frontliners that crossbowmen having to defend themselves in melee is the exception rather than the norm. For smaller groups I would probably say that just having everyone with crossbow mains and hacker sidearms is probably the strongest generalist play (long term, since armor tends to become a bigger factor in your enemies later on), yeah.

[@DarkSpiritZypher]

I tend to prefer side arms with indoor bonuses so when I'm in ruins and stuff I'm not dicked over

[@MrKaiyooo]

For my crossbows I usually give them runner legs and make them skirmishers. They run ahead of the pack at 34kmh in stealth and snipe the scariest guys. Then when they follow them I lead them to my defensive team

[@Kelmire1]

Technically the most powerful weapons in the game are those fucking orbital lasers. They're fast, unpredictable and devastating. Plus it's an orbital weapon,so it's reach is insane.

[@indracatraarccipasa5770]

One of the member in my squad had 78 str, and 40 dex, I equipped him with falling sun handmade by my best smith with 59 weapon smithing. He's a monster.

[@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290]

Kenshi is a character skill based game, so all weapons are viable if the character using it is skilled enough. But yeah, I love the falling sun too, so much more usable than the fragment axe for example.

[@tylermitchell185]

Also, great for killing beak things solo

[@Chadius_Thundercock]

@@boneman-calciumenjoyer8290 ok but crippled crumbledjon with the worst posture in kenshi swinging a big ass sword like guts makes it worth it

[@hedgeearthridge6807]

I am glad the Coolness Factor is a part of this, that's part of the fun of Kenshi is taking a random loser and turning him or her into a full blown anime protagonist. The aesthetics are important for that, especially since it's an aesthetic game (once you get used to the weird artstyle and graphics, and see the beauty of the worldbuilding and music and whatnot)

[@KokoplaysMB]

I'm glad more people think like that! Getting a nobody to an amazing badass is the most satisfying thing ever!

[@robertwildschwein7207]

The weapons in this game don't look that cool though. Even the fragment axe looks more like a boring sword than an axe or club.

[@jonathanpilcher337]

@@robertwildschwein7207 plenty of katanas, polearms, and sabres look pretty badass though, as do falling suns. Even if you're super stingy though you gotta admit that at least the desert and foreign sabres are cool looking. They're top tier weapons as well

[@robertwildschwein7207]

@@jonathanpilcher337 The game lacks proper axes, maces and hammers. The closest you get to a great hammer\mace is a long metal rod with a fancy handguard, which is admittedly very hilarious, but not that awesome.

[@jonathanpilcher337]

@@robertwildschwein7207 that doesn't mean the existing weapons all look bad. To add though, the game is called kenshi which means swordsman in japanese, so the game is really all about swords

[@secretname2670]

Long cleaver is like THE weapon and I'm surprised it isn't higher. While my favorite paladin's cross falls behind heavy weapons (if you can grind enough strenght to use heavies that is) long cleaver statistically is the best weapon in the game considering all statistics, swing speed and edgewalker version. Only thing it is missing are cool looks.

[@giltheb3173]

Long cleaver is my favorite weapon, it is the most balanced one.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Falling Suns have better reach and block, though that's for endgame with cyber limbs only. Paladin's Crosses are the weapon of choice for dueling Cat-Lon and other endgame murderbots.

[@NotLordAsshat]

@@giltheb3173 exactly. It has no meaningful weakness, and only gets better relative to the other weapons the more armor an enemy has

[@Aereto]

Long Cleavers are still aesthetically nice, since it's a blade meant to cleave armor and machine alike. Short Cleavers are also good if they are meant to use heavy hitting crossbows against armored targets and wildlife, but need a sidearm expected to face machines and armor. Heavy Weapons rely heavily on the wielder's stats. Hacking weapons fare poorly against wildlife, so a mixed weapons party can benefit with the right weapon. Falling Sun is the lightest among heavy weapons, but also provides damage bonus against Leviathans, Beak Things, and Gorillos. It is indeed an appreciable weapon.

[@bluenova123]

@@JoshSweetvale Falling Sun and Long Cleaver have the same reach, and both out reach the Paladin's Cross. When your stats get into in the 50s you should use a Long Cleaver for general use as it is that good. Granted the Paladin Cross is the best at killing armored robot enemies though, and the good news is that both use the hacker weapon skill. The Falling Sun is the endgame weapon when your stats are around 80. It is pretty much just as good as the Paladin's Cross at killing robots thanks to its massive base damage. That said you can get away with any weapon class as long as your stats are high enough and your gear quality is good enough.

[@senjubunny]

the falling sun is absolutely amazing as soon as any of your characters have 30-40 dex and str it starts dealing over 90 damage consistently

[@fang4223]

Falling sun is, rightfully, at the tip top of S-tier for reasons like this. It really shouldn’t be so easy to get into using the “suicide blade”.

[@jessed2282]

my 100+ str and high dex guy uses meitou falling sun, with str robot arms and deals 300+ dmg cleave to many enemies. its nuts

[@Life-pq6lz]

@@jessed2282 Basically- Guaranteed OHKO or 50% to kill. His damage in Blunt and Cut damage is insane(Edge Type 3~Meitou) Is 1,5+ in cut and blunt. Combining BOTH stats. On dex and str. Its like a canon.

[@jonathanpilcher337]

I usually equip all my standard melee troops with desert sabres and give anyone who I bothered to train stats super high on falling suns

[@hideshisface1886]

Jitte and Heavy Jitte are perhaps the best weapons for your non-combatants, along with foreign sabres, because of their inherent defensive bonus - set them on block and in case of raid, they will survive significantly longer in case some stragglers pass through your defenses. They are also good for all sort of guards or dedicated tanks for the same reason. Merc and Spiked club are not bad, but they are too heavy and sluggish, while there are simply better weapons in other classes. Hackers - most are rather heavy, and generally work very well against skellies and armour. Flesh cleaver kind of sucks - very short range, but it is the only hacker with bonus against humans. Combat cleaver is what I would say... the very default cleaver - it is good, it gets the job done. Moon Cleaver - it has some tiny defence penalty but it is substantially heavier than combat cleaver. Long Cleaver - this is a good potential alternative to Paladin's Cross, a very, VERY underrated weapon - it trades the defensive bonus for LACK of penalty against humans. Otherwise, it deals the same damage. Paladin's Cross - unless you are fighting robots, where this weapon shines and has no equal - Long Cleaver may actually be better, because Paladin's Cross still has -10% penalty against humans. Short cleaver - kind of sucks, but as a side weapon, it gets the job done against armoured and skellies as far as side weapons go. Heavies - let's start with the disclaimer - you probably won't be carrying meitou versions without augmentations. They tend to be too heavy to give you a decent enough buffer for losing strength due to damage taken. Falling sun is just insane - it may be the lightest heavy weapon, but is still heavy - and let's be honest - damage output it offers is a bit on an overkill. Still, a very good weapon. Due to the proportion of cutting damage, it requires high dex and str both to wield properly, though. Plank - the most versatile heavy weapon - good balance of blunt and cutting. Simple, plain, but effective. Fragment Axe - a good weapon, but with a caveat. Unless you have some massive lifter arm prosthetics, and close to 100str - you will simply not wield the highest quality versions of this with any solid effectiveness. Let's be honest, you won't be using Meitou realistically. For unaugmented characters - without lifter arms, that is, I personally don't consider weapons above 36kg to be truly viable - it just leaves you with too little str buffer for damage, before the weapon becomes sluggish, and truth is - Fragment Axe just doesn't... cut it. 36kg frag axe is Skeleton Smiths 1 - this is equivalent to Edge 2 crafted Plank - which will deal the same blunt damage, but substantially more cutting. But if you have this one character with massive base str, best quality lifter arms, and you just want to show off - this weapon will do. Fragment Axe will still outperform it in every regard except range. Katanas - not much to say about them - most are very similar to one another - they make excellent sidearms, and are fantastic against lightly armoured opponents. They fall against late-game enemies. For sidearm - gardless katana is probably the best, due to massive bleed damage. Topper and Nodachi are worth discussing. Nodachi shreds lighter foes, but Topper mitigates most of the Katana's weaknesses - it has relatively small penalty against armour, zero penalties against robots, but also no real bonuses either - making it very versatile. Polearms - very good weapons, very underrated. Naginata Katana is basically a Nodachi with slightly lower damage, and lower armour pen penalty, lower robot penalty, better bonus against humans and bonus against animals. These are fine. Naginata - simple animal killer, not much else to add. Polearm - same bonus against animals as Naginata, but armour pen bonus as well - very good and versatile. Heavy Polearm - good armour pen, lower bonus against animals, lower indoor penalties. Probably the best one out there for endgame areas. Staff - short range, low damage, good attack bonus, but others are better. Sabres - there are no bad sabres - let's start with that, but some are strictly better than others - still, if you have no choice, any sabre will do well enough. Horse Chopper, Holed Sabre and Foreign Sabre basically just increase defensive bonuses without losing anything. Foreign Sabre is THE best defensive weapon, tied with jitte. Ringed Sabre lowers the attack penalty and has the best damage. Desert Sabre has this fun bonus against some very nasty critters out there. Looks awesome as well. And longsword is basically a katana in disguise - decent enough sidearm, but not much else.

[@darkranger116]

Huh, i think i have to agree with most of this. The only thing i would change with my own tier list, would be to put Desert Sabre in S tier where Foreign Saber is. I ALWAYS have a Desert Sabre in nearly every single run i've ever had, and they save my bacon many times with having no negatives and having bonuses vs wild life.

[@Aereto]

Desert Sabres are great against spiders, bonedogs, and skimmers, the lighter group of wildlife. Falling Suns are for the Beak Things, Leviathans, and Gorillos, the heavyweights. Crabs are only affeted by generic wildlife bonus damage. Because they are crabs.

[@goergebobicles1351]

The only downside I can think for it is that it's only cross variant is on Eye Gore, who only appears in a specific base assault that requires you to really piss off the UC. Makes it a lot more difficult to obtain than the others

[@fuckyoutube420]

@@goergebobicles1351 it really depends where you put your base, i built near the skimsands so i was close to the UC and Heft which is where Emperor tengu is, once you kill tengu and have a base then Eyegore raids, so i got eyegore to raid by day 28, although he wiped my 5 people as i was maxing stealth and thieving and assination to kill tengu :(

[@goergebobicles1351]

@@fuckyoutube420 This is kinda my point though, any other Meitou you need only do assassination on one schmuck either undetected or just escaping afterward, the desert Sabre requires you to: 1. have a base that can be aggroed by the UC 2. Either to kill/imprison Tengu or have extremely low relations with UC and endure several noble hunter raids 3. have the forces/defences/maneuverability to take down eyegore while his forces are attacking. That being said after playing more of the game I realize that the desert sabre having the most range out of any other sabre makes their side swipe attack really good at dealing with clumped up groups

[@kazumablackwing4270]

Desert Saber is also a must-have for the zombie mod, namely for their damage bonus against brutes and mutated brutes, which swarm the deadlands, and the mutated ones have near capped toughness, so any little bit of extra damage helps

[@herpderp7114]

Plank has much higher range than Falling Sun, but the weight is also very high - using it is difficult. If you have a character with high attack speed and enough strength for an exile plank, you'll easly chunk several enemies at once for 250+ dmg. I think it does more dmg than falling sun against heavily armored enemies, but less against low armor enemies. Not that it matters at that point with top grade heavy weapons, since even a catun no 2 or 3 plank will 1 shot most low armoured enemies. Never mind meitou. Falling sun is superiour from a purely gameplay perspective, you can use a meitou grade one with very low strength compared to the plank and the quality does make a difference.

[@JinFreeks]

Exile Plank vs Falling Sun (both Meitu, for what ever reason the Meitu FS just gets a *massive* boost) EP: 1.76 cut 2.4 blunt FS: 2.64 cut 2.0 blunt Both get multiplied by your dex and str respectivly. With a "decently common" endgame 80/80 you have: EP: 300 damage FS: 371 damage This is not the whole truth as the damage calculation is not that easy and blunt is usually resisted less than cut, but that difference is honestly marginal. Usually armor will only provide 3-5% more "true" bleed resist after keeping it's bleed efficiency in mind. It may not look like it, but they have the exact same reach. FS will outperform the Plank in most cases. The Planks upside is that dex degrades a lot faster than str so after a few hits FS will loose a lot more damage than the Plank. But due to it's way higher base it will take quite a beating for it to even out. FS will, in most cases, be the superior weapon. Biggest downside of the Plank is that you need to stay over 96 str to use it at full speed while FS "only" needs 80. But with two industrial lifter arms and good base you have to take a hell of a beating to fall below 96 str in endgame. I tend to run one Lifter, one Skelly arm with FS for a more balanced spread of stats, tho Skelly arms are a lot more squishy. Only speaking of game mechanics. Please use what you like and honestly, any Meitu heavy weapon is a beast if you can wield it.

[@CatacombD]

@@JinFreeks I'm not sure where you got the info about reach, but everything I've been able to find says you're wrong. Falling sun has 25 reach, plank has 30. Because of how hard all heavy weapons hit, I tend to find that reach is the most important stat, which is why (late game) I actually prefer planks over falling suns.

[@NotLordAsshat]

My man is sleeping on the Long Cleaver. Shit smacks hard and is the best anti heavy armor weapon in the game

[@uncorr6982]

Desert and Foreign sabres are probably two of the best weapons to smith in-town for profit.

[@Aereto]

Though for weapon training, katanas are go-to, and can sell more for less materials but requires more time to craft them.

[@uncorr6982]

Yes, the Falling Sun is the best melee weapon! My best shek had been using meito plank for a long time and it hadn't been dealing a lot of damage, but after I've equipped him with an Edge type 1 Sun, the damage became insane, and he've finally fulfilled his dream of defeating the Bugmaster solo. Now he can defeat a gutter in two swings!

[@WiseArkAngel]

I managed to steal a Edge Type 3 from the Skeleton Smiths in the Black Desert City, and my Shek warrior is finally managing to chop off limbs now (assuming her opponent doesn’t die immediately after 3 hits to the chest.)

[@Holacalaca]

The topper is such a better weapong than the nodachi, the combat cleaver is also sick and easy to use. Overvaluing the early game enemies like hungry bandits puts you at a big dissadvantage vs the really strong robots and armored soldiers of the mid to late game.

[@Aereto]

There's also the Naginata Katana for polearm users who are facing wildlife and bandits alike. For more armored targets, the polearm has 30% penetration with the attack bonus and reach to swipe crowds. The Naginata Katana has been the standard weapons for base personnel and gate guards in anything that do not have machines, as that extra 25% against humanoids that the -10% penalty against armor can be overlooked against enemies with gaps in their armor. Should you be as insane as I am and build a base in Sonorous Dark, a sufficiently light Paladin's Cross will take on armored humans and robots while base defenses provide the burst DPS necessary to down groups.

[@jonredcorn862]

Agreed why he put the topper so low is retarded, its basically a better nodachi.

[@Pwnicus187]

Right. You *will* be fighting a ton of robots if you want to actually get stronger than 40s - 50s in a reasonable amount of time. Fighting weak bandits gives weak exp gains. Skeleton Legion, on the other hand...

[@bknight3391]

In one of my best games I have an Edge Type 3 Iron Club that I found in a ruin, so I put it on one of my char that's wielding the Meitou Falling Sun. Whenever that thing comes out she's just bonking people in the head repeatedly. I guess any weapon looks pretty good when you have 60+ attack/defense and 70 strength/dex.

[@Wasted_spaceman]

I would definitely watch one of these for the armor sets. I found the armor more confusing than the weapons my first few times playing kenshi. It's kinda hard to understand even still.

[@KokoplaysMB]

I'll see what I can do.

[@Wasted_spaceman]

@@KokoplaysMB I trust your judgement. An angel in disguise

[@matthewlake2813]

I equip my base defense guards with naginata katanas (against bandits and beak things) never seen them injured and they leveled quite fast at polearm and strength (sadly not toughness because they never get injured much).

[@vietphamquoc8536]

10/10 great content especially since you showcase the weapons in game and the coolness factor by the way maybe a skills tierlist would be fun too

[@KokoplaysMB]

Cheers!

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

I actually like the combat cleaver, since the big robot fights are often indoors (just started game), and it doesn't have indoor penalties.

[@diegonunez3492]

2 months later, hows your kenshi game doing

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

@@diegonunez3492 oh hello there :) Been a lotta fun. Got me quite a humongous base at a lake, with the gate In the lake, for obvious reasons ;-) Hopefully Kenshi 2 will be just as good

[@cdgonepotatoes4219]

I found a lot of success myself with the Horse Chopper and variants by focusing on melee defense. Even with a mod that increases attack slots, my solo guy could easily block all hits and add his own. I also consider that line of swords to be fairly cool, easily identifiable even from the bird's eye view you have 95% of the time. The jitte is then my favourite backup, because once you reach a certain level it becomes quite hard to hit things less than lethally, you still have a great defensive bonus which I enjoy for the reasons above and overall it looks better than the other clubs.

[@Rocki008]

Awesome, i'm new to the game but already addicted, this tier list helps a lot as I want each of my fighter characters to specialize into a specific type of weapon just for the extra coolness, and only my main character is going full martial arts as multiple martial artists would break the game

[@KokoplaysMB]

Glad I could help!

[@littlemac1735]

As soon as you said “coolness factor” I was like this guys him and subbed. Your personality’s great man

[@KokoplaysMB]

Thanks man!

[@BeeptheLesser]

Excellent research of the deep lore and ancient knowledge KoKo! I’ve been loving the adventures of The Swamp queen. I actually got to experience KoKo’s rage, which doesn’t exist, at the historic onslaught of Skinner’s Roam in the year of 2022 beep b.k.t. (Before kenshi two) by the hand of the Shek! Would it be too haughty of an endeavor to do a tier list with modded weapons and just be excessive, due to the vastness?

[@BeeptheLesser]

I just watched Road to Pain! I’m down for watching new weapon dissemination mod tier list! Let’s goo

[@KokoplaysMB]

I was thinking of ranking new weapon dissemination mod weapons, but there's just SO many

[@method1313]

Nice list. The staff being that useful was new to me. Great to see an old game still getting content. My personal would be something like this: Overall: Falling sun, Paladins Cross/Long Cleaver, Polearm/Heavy Polearm, Martial Arts Situational:, Nanginata (cat/bleed), Sabres, Heavy Jitte/Jitte, Topper/Nodachi (great for stun locking). Endgame: Fragmented Axe for max strength characters. + the stuff from above. Early game: Katanas, Sabres Sidearm: Short Cleaver for general purpose. Katana for Range users. Or just use any class that you want to train. Lazy version for large squads with no micro: Crossbows + Short Cleaver all game, kite or swap to heavy for very tough enemies.

[@siddislikesgoogle]

I was thinking that race and role determine the best weapon ranking. Eg. Scorchlanders level dex really fast and strength slowly, which means if you equip xbows and katanas theyre always training dexterity, which means theyll always have a the highest attack rate of the team, and since katanas are 100% cutting damage, maxing dex, maxes damage with those weapons. If youre a greenlander though, being dex and str balanced, going with weapons doing some cut and some blunt damage, makes more sense

[@patostrophia2948]

Oh boy here we go!

[@Cothfotmeoo]

Awesome! A pretty solid list with some great top tier choices! Well played.

[@alexrosu4405]

The best weapon against the darkness of the world is the Holy Flame nothing can touch you while basking in the loving light of Okran.

[@hattorikenji7640]

Thanks for the Weapon Tier List bro

[@KokoplaysMB]

Thanks bro

[@chadpunte1731]

good list, I respect it. I'd personally put the flesh cleaver higher because of it's moveset while chasing fleeing enemies.

[@user-qz6nk1le5n]

Spiked Club S tier

[@mrburgermaster]

The falling sun is rightfully named. The sheer mass dropping on enemies does amazing damage. I run it as a primary and have a longsword or wakizashi as a secondary.

[@demoulius1529]

Weapon tiers are always abit personal so dont see to many issues with your ranking. Will comment though that whatever a weapon is good relies on a few things in my opinion. Is your weapon trained in its use, can he wield it effectively (high enough strength) and what is he fighting. A weapon with a bonus to animals is alot better when you are actually fighting weapons to name an easy example. And an A tier Katana is next to useless against a heavily armoured robot.

[@Aereto]

When in machine regions, hacking weapons take more precedence, while cannibal regions are where the katana and nodachi shine, but if beak things are involved, Falling Sun for dedicated slaying, and Naginata Katana when between a beak thing and a cannibal.

[@Giacon]

i love my fragment axe so much, but i have to agree it's such a pain in the ass to use effectively

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

Waki is the 'default' weapon for dex training, and other stuff. Very important weapon ;)

[@mban2748]

Useful, thank you.

[@Lickicker]

heavy polearm is insanely better than the normal polearm, its lighter and does alot more cutting damage with slightly less blunt

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

I love that weapon. Equiped the meitoo on the spider foreman (recruited). That guy is a beast with that thing. Combat looks cool too

[@rpscorp9457]

In genesis mod, heavy and regular polearm weigh the same.

[@megateddyboy84]

Would rate the short cleaver higher cuz if u got someone with a 2 h cleaver and he loses the use of his left arm during a fight he can still fight on with a 1 h cleaver using his hard gained skills same thought applies to the longsword if someone has high sabre skill

[@Nachtschicht1]

I agree with you in most points of the ranking. The one Weapon that I would rank higher is the wakizashi. Not for its damage output against anythig but because it's the best weapon to train attack and dexterity. It's very light, so new recruits can use it without mali and it's very fast, so they can do a lot of attacks in a short amount of time, which results in a rapid rise of attack skill and dexterity. It is not a long term weapon and sooner or later I replace it with something else, but it gives you sort of a quick start for the above mentioned skills.

[@KokoplaysMB]

Rusty wakizashi is definitely the best for training dex, but you need an opponent with a lot of HP. It's more efficient to pack a full bag of crossbow bolts and go shoot leviathans. Reloading a crossbow raises your dex as well and leviathans will get stuck and won't be able to reach you, so you can just stand there for hours, shooting and grinding dex - it goes up quite fast.

[@Nachtschicht1]

@@KokoplaysMB Thats an interesting method. I normaly send a group of new recruits with decent armor and cheap wakizashis to skinners roam and let them fight the large groups of hungry bandits there. A second group of well trained and equipped fighters acompany them to rescue and heal them and to help when something goes wrong. There are mostly only hungry Bandits and pack bulls in the southern part of that region. I know it is more effective to catch some strong enemies and use them for training, but that is much more time consuming in the end and in my opinion only good to train single characters toward max stats.

[@Immo_aniue]

i had one save where i broke character strength with 2 skeleton arms up to 146, with 90 dex. its a very long grind but thats the point where fragment axe meito swings fast as falling sun despite weight of 72 kilo if i remember it right, its feels fricking great.

[@jacob6885]

Jitte is S tier for me because it fits in the secondary slot, so it ends up being the secondary weapon for choice for all my guys.

[@paulciampo2104]

I haven't seen all of the video at this point. I wonder if you could include modded weapons such as the Tachi and there others in that classic japanese weapon pack. 🕵 And the expanded cannibal weapons. Maybe the Nagamaki too.

[@jellohead1036]

I have my base guards use Foreign Sabers made by the resident blacksmith, and they seem to block just about anything at this point.

[@lsswappedcessna]

The Falling Sun is such a great weapon for heavy weapons. Not so heavy that it can't be used in the early-to-midgame but good enough to use late game. I wiped a whole squad of dust bandits with it and finished with a starving bandit chaser with just one guy, and only sustained minor injuries. Keep in mind I started with a mid-game character thanks to a modded start (wandering samurai) and have done a good bit of skill grinding, so I already had good strength, dex and attack skills.

[@armiyusdy7819]

Everytime u share kenshi stuff info make me wanna play Kenshi again… dammit 😂😂😂

[@3amshreddedcheese304]

This video made me realize how many mods I have installed, wow I thought there were more vanilla weapons

[@chasewilliams5628]

Hey man can you do this same thing but for enemies in Kenshi by difficulty?

[@KokoplaysMB]

Solid idea, thanks!

[@RealJohnSlinkman]

@@KokoplaysMB faction tier list 👀 🗡

[@MisterBones2910]

I think you've done the plank dirty here, but not bad otherwise.

[@ouberfox5898]

If you have a person with a high level in clevers the short cleverer is quite good secondary. I've had a good few last stand moments where it did a tone of damagebut the long sword is still the god of last stands its op especially low level

[@a.N.....]

FINALLY KOKO

[@kelw5787]

Polearm & wakizashi combo is pretty S tier imo they perfectly synergize because they make up for each others shortcomings

[@mikeb5063]

I had the spider forman captured and gave him an iron club to act as a sparring partner, he took Ray's arm off in one hit

[@lewiswood1693]

See I once got a second squad for the sole purpose of power leveling a guy to use the meitou fragment axe from the stone golem. While I was running round with my main group doing all sorts they just followed him while he powered leveled strength to 100 for a good few hours. Honestly one of the craziest experiences having a mid level party with one absolute menace that could one shot alot of things. It got extra silly once I leveled his dex and toughness.

[@jamesanddanielthiel]

the wakizashi trains DEX when you fight with it, my fav way to ramp up my dex

[@Staticsceptre]

Great list, exept for the frag axe. I know it takes ages to train strength but it is soooo cool. Have you ever tried to fight esada the stone golem? She’s like 50 levels below the strength requirement and she’s still insanely powerful.

[@KokoplaysMB]

If you can get to her levels of strength, dex and toughness you'll destroy everything in vanilla Kenshi any weapon you use.

[@Staticsceptre]

@@KokoplaysMB fair enough

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

Meitoo heavy polearm, on my recruited spider foreman bot. That guy just decimates armies. And it looks cool. A tier for sure

[@bruvaguren494]

Plank: the obligatory Dragon Slayer homage

[@Deetro]

A Mod exists to equip the Dragon Slayer and it is 2 times wider than the original plank.

[@sammitchellchannel8944]

When you don't have weapons you become the weapons, are the best

[@Urkikk]

Naginata Katana is quite a deadly weapon against non-robotic, hight cut damage but damage bonus vs human can so high that it can outweight the armor penetration penalty unlike katanas. basically N.Katana can deal nearly equal or more than other polearms against heavy armored enemies like Paladins and Inquisitors. I can say it deal more cut damage than even the strongest katana in practice. It can be annoying when having to bandaging enemies, actually it's a good limbs cutter, and also a good weapon for accidentally kill enemies due to it extremely high cut damage. very light like small Katanas, cheap like normal weapon. Polearms in vanilla also have good combat animations, it have that light sweep attack similar to Sabre/Katana which is a quick and very short afterswing delay attack, combine with good reach it can possibly chain attack when that attack knockout user target. Although I kind of disagree that more combat animation mods will make Polearm stronger, at least unlikely, some like poking attack are usually lacking AoE and some of them have long animations. A fair rebalance I believe.

[@Alte.Kameraden]

Heavy Polarm I call the mini Fallen Sun.

[@RealJohnSlinkman]

Coolness plays a very big factor

[@KokoplaysMB]

True dat

[@zourin8804]

all you need in life is cleavers, sabers, polearms, and crossbows. Cleavers are great anti-armor with a few niche bonuses against big things with the Falling Sun, plus are reasonably balanced in terms of stat-growth. Sabers are good defensive weapons early on, and have great bonuses against bugs which is a must-have in certain zones. Polearms likewise are great defensively and give bonus against animals (amazing early game), and Crossbows are excellent when it comes to focus firing major threats or simply kiting with a ranger. However, I will give a shout-out to the frag axe because anyone who develops the strength to use one becomes an absolute chad unit.

[@runeberntsen5890]

i think the combination of the increased attack stat and long reach from the polearm makes it the best weapon in the game for an endgame min max build. When all your stats are maxed your going to one shot limbs regardless of the meitou used anyway.

[@pacopajas3264]

sable whit robot its one of the best for the high defense, and nodachi are good in general because hit so fast and you only need 1 arm.

[@DMSteeley]

Flesh cleaver is my jam.

[@Joov]

I haven't watched yet, and I'm VERY new to Kenshi, but I'm going to throw out a guess here. At least from my current experience, Ninja Blade has been the best for me!

[@KokoplaysMB]

Since you're new I'll give you a tip: you can beat pretty much anything with whatever weapon you want. Go with what feels cool and badass to you and you'll never go wrong.

[@redbear2113]

Just started playing this week, played for two days before I read the job thing and figures out you can press shift to assign a job, micromanaged three characters for 2 days got a walled in mining base built with all base research level 1 items researched and built.

[@KokoplaysMB]

Good times!

[@PerfectDeath4]

- I'll use a Short Cleaver in the niche role of a hacker-trained (training) character who I want to keep their primary slot available. Usually for looting. But u gotta craft them most of the time so money might not be an issue by then. =\ - Yeah, Meitou fragment axe requires max strength + 2 industrial arms to use without attack speed penalty. But the damage numbers and the AoE! xD - For katanas, I prefer the guardless and wakizashi over the regular katana. The reason has to do with weight. Training dexterity is influenced by the weight of the weapon, less weight = more exp per hit. Guardless katanas have the same weight as wakizashi though wakizashi have slightly higher attack speed but shorter range. Both are great weapons for dex training (martial arts still very good for dex training as well) - Naginata Katana a great swarm clearing weapon against those massive unarmored foggie, cannibal, screaming, and starving bandit hoards.

[@Aereto]

Naginata Katanas also have the animal damage bonus giving a fighting chance when wildlife gets involved. For pure dex training passively, there's turrets and crossbows adding dex xp for loading and aiming.

[@MyMattinthehat]

The jitte is my go to for my turret defenders. I like the jitte

[@ayadealjanabi1544]

Its the attack animations that make polearms, naginata katana in particular, the best weapons in the game.

[@JB-xl2jc]

Yep, the interaction between weapon weight, attack animations, and combat calculations is often overlooked (which is understandable because you have to basically crack open the programming to get what it's doing). If you're in a fight, the game looks at both combatants melee attack stat to determine who attacks first. Even small edges in melee attack SIGNIFICANTLY increase your chance of being the one selected to make an attack. This means bonuses can be very important. Next, animation determines how likely it is to actually connect, and the manner in which it connects. But crucially, animations (along with weapon weight) also determine recovery time for next attack as well as for blocking! And the last important factor is reach of course. Polearms are great in all of these categories. Relatively light for their reach and damage, incredible animation, and usually include bonuses to attack. Naginata katana is perfect for everything but robots, making it IMO S tier as the best "daily driver" if you're just going out and don't know what you'll be facing. I'd only replace it if you specifically know you'll be facing robots and/or extremely heavily armored enemies.

[@Aereto]

@@JB-xl2jc Heavily armored enemies, machines, and enemies that use hackstop armor that trades arrow resistance for better cut protection. Naginata Katanas are generalist weapons that low stat players can use without overencumbering.

[@ayadealjanabi1544]

@@JB-xl2jc Precisely, also a Paladins Cross is a great side weapon to combo with the Nag Kat. The huge bonus against robots is clear, it also has a very nice armour penetration bonus for non-robots.

[@JB-xl2jc]

@@Aereto Not saying that's untrue, but the weight of a weapon remains important for blocking animations even when you exceed the strength requirement. There's a myth that once you hit the strength requirement it no longer matters (so endgame heavy weapons seem best once you meet the requirement). But because you can't enter an attack animation when you're in a block animation, lighter weapons ALWAYS have an advantage, which grows the more enemies you're facing or the higher the enemy's melee attack stat is (i.e. it grows more important the more attacks you have incoming).

[@JB-xl2jc]

@@ayadealjanabi1544 Very true, extremely good practice to carry two (or even more if it's late enough you don't need to scavenge or if you're going on a war only run) weapons with wildly different use cases. Take a big backpack with a paladins cross or other machine/armor-killer, and drop it before the fight.

[@concretedonkey4726]

agree on the small jitte , would even rate it higher , very good secondary weapon for crossbowmen

[@Aereto]

Particularly Guard Mode Crossbowmen, who need to stay alive while everyone else is trying to pick off.

[@cosmosyn2514]

I do solo runs often and I tend to gravitate towards crossbows, I usually go with a katana of some kind for a secondary, as they benefit more with dexterity high and also train it faster than blunt weapons, and dexterity is a stat you’re going to be investing in anyways with crossbowmen. The defensive bonus is also irrelevant to me because a crossbow user is better off just running away and repositioning to get more shots off. I understand if people who run with a good chunk of characters can’t micro that though.

[@tuahsakato17]

Heavy Weapon supremacy!! Preferably the Dragonslayer mod 😂

[@yips_way]

I always use the guardless katana above the katana, higher attack bonus is my preference as I play to kill, not to defend so the extra -2 doesn't worry me. Falling sun is usually my end game weapon but I like to throw a few Desert Sabres into the mix for my weaker guys due to there great bonuses. Let's see how you rate those as I only got to your opinion on the Katana's so far. My latest playthrough I simply equip by value of things I've found - not made myself & not by preferred choice - as it adds variety & I can see variance in attack damage which is more immersive for me ;o)

[@yips_way]

Aaah - see I'd swap out the Foreign Sabre for the Desert Sabre everytime.

[@KokoplaysMB]

I like both desert and foreign sabre a lot. But for me foreign still wins, it's such a cool unique weapon and also good.

[@tenshiabse]

I disagree in some, my experience with nodachi has been terrible, I started a moded run with a skeleton with 60's stats and the "holy sword" start, so I had an edgewalker nodachi from the start and also 60s stats. But found myself struggling against beak things, bandits, sheks and specially, skin spiders. Even after getting heavy armor I was still taking a lot of damage and taking long to put down enemies. However once I got the edgewalker falling sun I realized how much powerful that weapon is. Also, after training Beep into his high 50s I was thinking about giving him the holy sword so he can be a swordsman as he wanted, however after realizing that he will be taking a lot of damage all the time I decided to give him a ringed Saber (I think it is Dust King's) is Mk3 class, so not as good as the holy nodachi, the result? Somehow, Beep might be one of the least defeated party members I have, he can hit the enemy 4-5 times in a row and most of the time he blocks or dodges (he is wearing Standard adventurer armor, so not even well equipped) I think the saber bonus is great once you reach certain level, having Beep being a useful warrior and keeping all his limbs after attacking slavers camps and fought a lot of beak things is not something I was expecting.

[@RyuHardGore]

I like to combine sabers with assassin's rags to balance the stats

[@flacsmada]

Plank is a go to- Low A/High B because it isnt heavy for a heavy, does great aoe and even bleeds a bit, it is my training weapon for a falling sun(and naganita is training weapon for plank lol)

[@PeasantM0f]

Why don't we see the meito Iron Stick anywhere? Because Cross completed it and now we have a jutte.

[@flacsmada]

Fragment Axe- Mid B tier because yes its heavy but it still does massive dmg and has amazing reach

[@user-ik7rp8qz5g]

But what is this "aladin's Crooon" thing from preview?

[@neilvanheerden9614]

Cool video. Wish I could see the weapon names.

[@matthewlachman8159]

In my opinion, staff should have been S tear purely from the coolness Factor. Even if it had all negative effects and only did point one blunt damage

[@carloslopes8282]

i can't believe you put combat clever into D Tier, best weapon in the game in the mid and late game losing only to heavy weapons, like 30+ AP and 25+ Robot dmg and rly great dmg input like whatelse do you need? besides looks so fcking cool

[@teratokomi8731]

I agree, the combat cleaver is a good balanced weapon and should have been ranked a little higher.

[@funkkymonkey6924]

I love how well the game strikes a blend of over the top weapons, but still keeping it below the mall ninja lameness.

[@WiseArkAngel]

Paladin’s Cross seems to be a decent weapon to sell when you’re poor, but it is an amazing robot killer.

[@robotrooster5500]

Yeah. I can't defeat the Phoenix 1vs1 with My 90 stat character because he's a robot.

[@SammichNetwork]

The best weapons were the friends we made along the way

[@KokoplaysMB]

True dat

[@SoOptic75]

I am crying fragment axe is so low my baby :c i will watch the limbs fly until our little moon finally gives out

[@lordmaur180]

I got the meitou fragment axe from the stone golen, it weights 72 kg... i gave it to Ruka and she is now arround 76 str, she deals 200 plus damage in AoE , she inta kill or dismber most things that are not skeletons, against animals (beak things/gorilos) she deals arround 80 damage while others deal arround 8-40... took me a while to get str up, but it is worth it

[@robotrooster5500]

How the f are You using a meitou fragment axe with a 76 str character?

[@lordmaur180]

@@robotrooster5500 i gave it to her with arround 50 stg, since then she ups stg like crazy, for a long time atacks were slow, but not ineffective

[@robotrooster5500]

@@lordmaur180 aah i see

[@Niekel10]

Polearm should be atleast A or even S tier, naginata + naginata katana are more b tier

[@JB-xl2jc]

Naginata katana is great because it's only 6kg with the katana moveset and gets a bonus vs humans and beasts, AND has 26 range. That's great. It sucks against bots though, flat -20% damage AND -15% armor penetration (bots usually have good armor) so in that case swap it out for standard polearm or heavy polearm.

[@memedbengul4350]

Heavy Polearm is S Tier for sure.

[@Unholy_Holywarrior]

i love my masterwork iron stick

[@MsSmellybob]

On my opinion some weapons have a ranking just on the zone you're in.

[@kumiter2236]

my guy has 100 str and 100 dex finally, i tried using meitou falling sun and its actually scary, he consistently deals around 270 dmg, basically killing naked guys in 1 hit.

[@KokoplaysMB]

It's a beautiful sight, isn't it?

[@kumiter2236]

@@KokoplaysMB yeah but i went to tower of abuse and one shotted ponk and screamer the false. Wanted to impison them

[@Catgirls_and_Warcrimes]

I just like paladin crosses because of the ammount of higher end ones I get for fighting holy nation

[@KokoplaysMB]

And then you can turn them against the skeletons!

[@TurKlack]

I'm a big fan of the Paladins Cross. Might not be the best weapon, but I like it to much that I would just ignor eit.

[@KonaFanatiker]

Honestly I am a bit surprised that Jitte's were rated so high. I love regular Jitte and usually put them on my crossbow users, but they never felt popular to me based on kenshi videos and comments. Also, Polearms are the best Polearms in my opinion XD 50/50 blunt and cutting damage, + 6 attack bonus, 30% Armor penetration and also + 50% damage against animals, like the Naginata. Naginatas are pure cutting damage though and has no armor penetration. Animals do not know armor and therefore pure cutting damage is perfectly fine against them. That is what makes the Naginata better at killing animals, cutting and bleeding. So yeah, my personal S Tiers would be Polearm, Nodachi, Plank, Jitte A Tier All reach weapons except the Heavy Polearm (It is a pathetic compromise for indoors fighting and disgusts me. More cutting damage and theoretically highest combined damage of all polearms against unarmored targets, + 4 attack / - 4 indoors penalty , looks shorter, only +25% bonus vs animals, only to save 4 points on indoors penalty. Just get any sidearm @___@ ) Foreign Saber and Ringed Saber B Tier Hackers, Katana, Longsword, Guardless Katana C Tier remaining sabers, Ninja Blade, Wakizashi D Tier Mercenary Club, Spiked Club, Iron Club, Iron Stick F Tier Heavy Polearm, Naginata Katana (similliar weird compromise on the stats as Heavy Polearm, just get a Nodachi + Katana / Ninja Blade / Wakizashi sidearm )

[@ranixaurus2809]

Jitte, and also all the blunt category weapons, suffer from double disadvantage: 1) the game doesn't do well with STR-based weapons, and 2) they're all sidearms. blunt damage is heavily impaired by their str requirement, so weapons that rely solely on blunt would fall off compared to sharp damage or even better a mixture of both (thus Falling Sun being the most popular weapon). Plank and Fragment Axe also have this problem, but they're main weapons, long range with ridiculous damage even if they're slow to wield, so they're more acceptable. for sidearm thing, this is the same reason why nodachi is popular but wakizashi is forgotten. Theoretically you want a sidearm to fight indoor, but in practice even a fragment axe dude will win against a katana dude indoor, because at late game your people already have highest grade armors and those small cuts won't do anything while one swing of the axe and the entire room just got decapitated. Any sidearms would be forgotten at late game where everyone is fielding their falling suns / long cleavers / polearms

[@Aereto]

Naginata Katanas are not to be so easily dismissed because they deal extra damage vs humanoids and humans at the expense of armor penetration. They make great all-round primary melee weapons against unarmored enemies and wildlife, and have been my primary gate guard weapons in bases where raptors, cannibals, lightly armored bandits, or hostile hivers are the norm. Not recommended for use in armored enemy incursions and unfriendly skeletons. The Jitte are also standard with my crossbow squad if their defense and toughness are severely lacking. Those who have it are on Guard Mode and wear armor that try not to reduce their defensive and marksman abilites. However, catun 1 grade or less is used to save weight.

[@darthplagueis13]

How dare you defame the superior kind of polearm! The Heavy polearm has a reach of 26 compared to the 28 of the basic bitch polearm which mind you is only an 8% loss which barely ever makes a difference (also, still longer than the Nodachi, which gets so many penalties slapped onto it that it's almost not worth it compared to polearms and heavy weapons), and get this: Your damage loss against animals using the Heavy Polearm compared to the regular Polearm is not as great as the damage loss of the Regular Polearm compared to the Heavy Polearm against literally everything that is not an animal. Also, having a higher absolute damage number also means getting more out of the 30% armour reduction that both have. Also, quite ironically, considering it's name: The heavy polearm is also lighter and higher quality versions of it have a lower strength requirements than the regular polearm. Really, unless you plan on exclusively fighting animals, you sacrifice two attack points and less than 10% range for a weapon that hits harder, is lighter and has its indoors penalty entirely compensated for by the attack bonus. As to why you would still use a polearm indoors? Simple, because one-handed weapons tend to have horrible armour penetration (with like 2 exceptions which are both blunt which already sort of ruins them) and will typically only hit one person at a time. Plus, that's even more extra weight you are carrying around, not to mention, the secondary weapon slot could come in useful for saving space if you get a good haul of rare gear that you wanna sell. All that aside, your tier list is still inconsistent af, as even "bad compromise" weapons such as the heavy polearm and the naginata katana will still easily outperform anything in the lower tiers. Even if we agree with everything you said, they're just at the lower end of A tier, as the F tier is reserved for weapons that are simply the worst in the game, not weapons that just happen to be outperformed by other weapons in the same category.

[@sik3xploit]

Backup weapons are for when you are stuck in a corner, and a weapon with a high defense like the Jitte is exactly what you want to look for in a backup weapon.

[@sik3xploit]

@@Aereto I think there is an argument for every weapon in the game. Although I made a comment about the Jitte being one of the best backup weapons, a katana also makes for a good backup weapon too. It's purpose is for bleeding a person and the quicker they bleed the quicker they die and you live.

[@Kirdaro]

Katanas became useless in the middle of the game. Because robots enemy in laboratory, heavy armor enemy, late game robots, crab raiders just will brake you.

[@tommyvercetti9434]

The combat cleaver is Cloud's buster sword my main character is using no matter what

[@Krugmatik]

It's not, it's too small and thin.

[@lacookie_thenemesis]

WAIT WHAT?! There are other weapons??? I thought there are only Edge Type 1/2 Katanas, Longswords and Falling Suns :o (And yes, Cat-Lon is my crippeled training dummy from day 40, and YES im allied with beak things AND YES i live in Gut and YES my 8 fighters are as strong as a Holy Lord Phoenix and each of them can wipe out a town on their own)

[@bonkercube8974]

Woah you look like nikocado avocado when he was fit :O !!!!