Starfield Rifle Tier List

[@ATShields935]

Pro tip about the Novablast Disruptor: You can hold your fire button to charge your shot, and if that shot lands it's almost a guaranteed stun.

[@dominicanbananas]

I was just about to write this lol. Yeah, that charged shot is great especially against robots

[@Mazarbull420]

The Magsniper has the same effect.

[@shokill]

Came here to say this, lmao. The disruptor is like an S Tier gun lmao. Stun, sneak, knife for hidden one shot kills. Too easy.

[@dominicanbananas]

Interesting.. I'll have to try that setup out!

[@noreplynecessary2322]

Don’t know why this information isn’t more common

[@masondunn8386]

The Beowolf is absolutely top tier. Using it as a marksman rifle with sneak perks and a suppressor makes it easily one of the best rifles in the game.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, and most of this list I was comparing weapons to the Beowulf.

[@roberts.wilson1848]

Especially if you find one with extended clip size (double) I'm like sniping everything. Has a very good rof for a sniper use rifle, If you get some epic or legendary effects on top, it easily becomes worry free. As close range support i have barret as companion with magshear in his hands and his double, so is pretty much OP at this point.

[@Morningstar-says-screw-YouTube]

@@ReapeeRonthe Grendel does the same thing, it’s not S tier but I’d say easy A tier under the Beowulf

[@manicmarauder]

Truth. The Beowulf makes an incredible sniper, especially if you have the skill to add all the mods.

[@aschergamer2213]

Agreed, I prefer it with the burst fire and suppressed.

[@SheevPalpatine]

The Beowulf is on the *lower end* of A tier? How dare you slander my baby!

[@theimpureone4080]

Love the beowulf myself

[@timeshark8727]

Its my main weapon for the entire game. I usually have it semi-auto with a short scope. Deletes virtually all human enemies in a few head shots, not as great for aliens.

[@chill_will9816]

Yes! I found a legendary refined Beowulf relatively early on in my 1st playthrough and I carried it till the end

[@christianglassel9950]

This is my go-to for human targets in most encounters. Semi-auto with a scope and suppressor. It puts in work.

[@greggonzales9147]

I know the Beowulf should be with the Grendel

[@rodneyg9746]

Somebody else pointed out farther down how you are supposed to hold down the trigger for the Disruptor; generally doing so will knock them out in one shot; but I point that out to mention that you can also hold down the trigger to charge the Mag Sniper as well. If you are just tapping the trigger, you are getting a fraction of the damage of that weapon.

[@AurioDK]

So glad I did read this, I was wondering why my magsniper was doing no damage.

[@darkrai2007]

The problem is with the charging weapons is they shake, making perfect shots awful as the gun seems to do this even when you are holding breath.

[@tiagonascimento4386]

​@@darkrai2007 Furthermore, you can't put an silencer on the magsniper so you can't really use the additional stealth dmg advantage. I don't like the magsniper very much, for me it's only A tier. The real G.O.A.T 🐐 is the HARD TARGET. I love this weapon I one shot 99% of the enemy's with the right skills

[@ONEWONDERSHOW]

@@tiagonascimento4386 this is exactly how i felt. i want to find one with the double damage to enemies with full health

[@darkrai2007]

@@Riorozen Oh yeah they both need a charging bar, why would you make a charging weapon but no indication when you are at full charge,

[@Aridanx]

The draw of the A-99 is the explosive shell mod which basicly turns this into a 40k bolt gun.

[@dangercorp]

The AA-99 also seems to scale way better at advanced than the other weapons. The storage lockers in listening posts usually have 2 and I have 2 differently customized guns. One silenced with high damage per shot and one explodey version. Also looks like the guns from Aliens which doesn't hurt.

[@ReapeeRon]

For the Emperor!

[@crimcrusader8459]

Personally, the A99 has similarities to the M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens in terms of function and especially caliber (10mm for M41A, 11mm for A99). And with explosive shells, it will really feel like that iconic gun from Aliens!

[@Aridanx]

@@crimcrusader8459 haven't seen it. Since they're both 80s not even sure who came up with the idea first.

[@torodinson6958]

aren't explo rounds a nerf to the damage tho vs the other best ammo/mag?

[@myrirr]

Hardtarget can be modded with a silencer... so it's kinda the best sniper for range/accuracy/stealth factor.

[@spartan2051]

True. But it’s a very bulky weapon with low mag size. I think the Beowulf is better. Starfield had some incredibly tight maps and that bulky snipers just doesn’t feel good. I will admit I’m playing on console though.

[@rickyjanzen6684]

Yep. For a stealth build, I found this miles better than the magsniper just because the mag can't be suppressed. The mag may do more damage, but on most, overkill is overkill. But, the suppressed damage bonus helps close the damage gap and I more consistently get sneak attack damage even after combat starts with the HT. I think it looks cooler, too, but that's subjective. Last play, I got an Instigating Beowolf, though, and found I really never used the HT except for long range simply because I had a long scope on it vs the short on my Beowolf.

[@myrirr]

@@spartan2051 i tend to switch over to suppressed pistols for CQBs... since my companions are always drawing the fire. LOL

[@Gio102897]

I'm doing stealth and trying to avoid confrontation as much as possible, even disarming enemies when I can, but I feel like the stealth needs a slight touch up or buff. Sometimes it's just too difficult for no reason

[@ReapeeRon]

That does make it pretty good.

[@JuryVGC]

I love the Orion. You can mod it to do incendiary damage, so it’s like a terramorph deleter

[@arcanumelite4853]

yeah but... if you max laser skill ALL laser weapons do incendiary damage....including the most powerful weapon in all of starfield... the laser cutter you start the game with(only good with max laser skill cus then enemies basically get deleted by % based fire damage)

[@AurioDK]

@@arcanumelite4853 I think a lot of people including myself see the cutter as a bit of cheesing, it´s good against all enemies at very high levels. It´s not a cheat though, I am not sure Bethesda actually tested that, don´t think they did.

[@mikeoxmal1028]

@@arcanumelite4853 yeah but the laser skill is a 5% chance the incendiary mag is every hit

[@arcanumelite4853]

@@mikeoxmal1028 yeah but still not entirely necessary... if you absolutely need something to burn (like terrormorphs) then just use solar flare spell... kills them basically immediately.

[@krimeincorporatedod4895]

I hated this gun, then I found a legendary that just blows everything out the water so I love it now.

[@pragmaticeagle4832]

The weapons have to be compared in their advanced versions, imo. Rarity is irrelevant for the comparison. I say this bc the maelstrom starts off as useless as the grendel until you start finding these weapons in their advanced versions. With this in mind, the equinox ends up D-tier & the drumbeat ends up c-tier. Both from a dps & a damage per sot perspective. As before, I'm not sure if the basis of the tier list shown in vid is from base, original models &/or simply personal preference bc there are a few misleading notes about certain weapons in the vid. Regardless, respectable list.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is a fair point too, and I would like to do another list like this with the best/favorite builds of each of the weapons, but that is something to take into consideration.

[@pragmaticeagle4832]

@@ReapeeRon Nice & of course. Builds definitely change the game. Especially when if the base of the build has a rarity perk or as said above, the base is advanced, advanced scout, assassin or advanced assassin versions of the weapons as that seems to completely change the functionality of the weapons as well (even before/without any workstation perks).

[@whasian1487]

True. The AA-99 and the drumbeat are almost the same weapon until you get to the advanced versions.

[@Talinoth]

Equinox becomes A-tier again when you tinker with it to have EM rounds. You can stun almost any enemy in the game in one clip, then execute with a silenced weapon or melee.

[@ledocteur7701]

@@Talinoth expect the novablast disruptor does far more EM damage, and you can charge up it's shot to almost always guarantee a stunt.

[@paulchurchill5045]

I came across the Magsniper when i was level 30 something,from a spacer during the Mantis mission but thankfully i had killed the spacer with a sneak attack before they got a shot off. I don't know if you are aware of this fact but the Magsniper has two fires modes,as you can hold down the trigger to power up the shot. 👍

[@HalozillaEX]

So, funny thing about the lawgiver in particular. I found a legendary variant called "One Inch Punch Modified Advanced Lawgiver." It had Furious, Crippling, and "One Inch Punch" which basically turned it into a shotgun, and I loved it! Seeing as I was a rifle focused build, it gave me more variety in how I could approach combat situations: snipe from long range, shootout at mid-range, and run in with the lawgiver at close range.

[@Mazarbull420]

Wish that had been the case for me. Every Lawgiver I've found has been trash. Damage so low that it takes 10 full clips to kill anything. Maybe all the Lawgivers in my game are just broken, but they are beyond useless. They work better when using them as a melee weapon in my game lol.

[@HalozillaEX]

@@Mazarbull420 yeah, if it was a guaranteed drop from a mission/NPC, that'd be one thing. but it seems like i just got the singular good variant of it. next best thing is just use a shotgun with a choke mod lmao.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that sounds like it would be pretty strong! Nice find.

[@zacharyjones2273]

That roll is amazing hahaha I had a roll like that but with the Grendel it was soooo fun hahahaha

[@chrishatcher5957]

I found a hard target with the legendary extended magazine perk puts the ammo count to 10 and if you put the extended magazine on it you can get 15 shots. I settled for 10 shots with depleted uranium ammo.

[@civilez7060]

I think you also have to consider magazine bonuses. Allied Armaments weapons get larger mag sizes which really makes the Orion and AA-11 shine. Meanwhile Laredo weapons get faster reloads and draw, which makes the Tombstone and Lawgiver the fastest reloading rifles. Meanwhile, Hard Target and Beowulf become extreme long range and highly accurate.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is a good thing to consider too, and something that I will have to mention in future videos thank you very much.

[@sim.frischh9781]

Depending on their construction, robots CAN bleed. Just think instead of blood about battery acid, hydrolic liquid and coolant. All three are liquid and if the necessary components are hit, they flow out with the robot possibly getting incapacitated by it. Sadly most people don´t think that far, they hear "bleeding" and they think "blood it must be".

[@shadowcelebi3595]

12:47 actually, your meant to charge the weapon by holding left click and the game never tells you that. so if your just rapid clicking with the novablast, your doing way less than 100 EM damage

[@graius6371]

I would use the charge effect, knockout mobs and the get my free attacks in. This is great when you are fighting underleveled

[@CubeFrog]

Wait. YOU CAN CHARGE IT?!

[@shadowcelebi3595]

@@CubeFrog yes they are chargable. again, the game NEVER tells you that and the only reason why i figured out they can be charged up was by watching a video. and there is no indication that the weapon needs to be charged. at least the gauss rifle in fallout 4 had the numbers to let you know it needs to be charged to deal full damage. and i think in one of the loading screens in fallout 4 tells you to charge up the weapon. but here, there is nothing telling you about charging up the novablast, not even in loading screens.

[@pandorasflame7742]

So you just ADS and it charges? Does it have any indicators like the cutter?

[@shadowcelebi3595]

@@pandorasflame7742 nope, nothing like that. all you get is the weapon shaking slightly. but you won't notice that if your rapid firing.

[@Th3UglyP1atypus]

The Varuun Inflictor is my favorite weapon in the game. I picked one up early into my first NG+ run and it has been shredding things consistently for the past 20ish levels

[@gdn86]

I just found one recently, and it takes out basically anything in a few shots. If the enemy is below level 90, its typically one shot. It's not as accurate as I'd like but something I'm going to play with with mods and see if I can increase the mag size as well. So far my favorite in the game.

[@TheTWH9]

All mods considered (not legendary, just crafted ones), I think it's the second best rifle in the game, maybe the actual best. The only annoying thing is there's not a good way to control the recoil so you have to pace your shots, but if you do that it's just so incredibly OP.

[@aaronthompson2329]

As someone who has modded his Magsniper to over 1,000 damage I still think the Hard Target, (modded to about 750 damage) is the best rifle in the game. Being able to clear a base from stealth without an enemy taking a shot is too much fun.

[@snowboarder9832]

Yeah, it didn't seem that he was factoring in much practicality when comparing the sniper rifles. Sure, the magsniper outclasses the hard target in sheer damage output (when charged), but it also 1) Cannot be suppressed 2) Must be charged to do high damage, and does far less damage than the hard target if not charged, making its true fire rate pretty slow 3) Loses aiming stability when it is charged, making it tougher to land shots at long range than the hard target In practice, the hard target outclasses the magsniper by at least a tier imo. I'd put the magsniper in A tier and the hard target at the top of S, that thing is awesome

[@bradwhiteuk]

Beowulf is a fantastic all-rounder. If you can find or modify one with semi-auto fire and a medium scope, it makes a great early/mid game sniper rifle. And the 30 round mag, high rate of fire (for a semi-auto weapon), and very high stability make it strong even in close and medium range scenarios.

[@ReapeeRon]

Totally agree with that.

[@james35813]

I found a legendary Beowulf on like my 2nd quest and ran it for the entire game. It never fully dropped off my quick select

[@bradwhiteuk]

@@james35813 YES! Same! Within the first few quests I found one with "Instigating" for double damage on first shot, and two status effect abilities. Slapped a scope and suppressor on it as soon as possible and it's remained useful all the way up to lvl 70.

[@paulsmalser3261]

Have you tried burst fire on a Beowulf? At least for me in that fire mode it is my favorite all arounder with short barrel , surpressor, armour piercing, high power, tac stock, recon laser and short scope.

[@james35813]

@@paulsmalser3261 No. I just pull the trigger faster if I wanna shoot faster. The drop in damage and range isn't worth it to me.

[@belsamethtaken4107]

The Array type ammo can easily be bought in Neon. Same building as the nightclub. Just grab the elevator to Kore Kinetics. As an added note, the magsniper can be charged by holding the fire button. Without doing that, the Hard Target does more damage.

[@MattB90]

you can charge the magsniper?! mind blown

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

@@MattB90 Yeah, that and the non-lethal Nova Disruptor. In the latter's case it can knock people out with one well placed shot.

[@rico5393]

Neon is the best settlement for selling loot and buying ammo

[@JurzGarz]

My biggest frustration with the AK is that it doesn’t have a stock. Really awkward to just exclude that part of the design IMO.

[@LedCODprductions]

Magshear ammo isn’t hard to find if you go to higher level planets. Serpentis has a ton of enemies that carry a bunch of the Kore Kenetics guns like the magshear

[@ReapeeRon]

They do seem to have those weapons more often then other factions.

[@dh8203]

The damage bonus going to semi-auto is very high and really changes the gameplay, so I think it almost warrants a tier list comparing by type. For general purpose I don't think you can really beat the semi-auto Beowulf. With the right mods it packs a real punch with range and accuracy, and you never even have to think about ammo.

[@Andy-im3zv]

I love my semi auto Beowulf!

[@singledad1313]

My Beowulf is my go to weapon for clearing out wildlife and Spacers while exploring planetary surfaces. I'm using a modded legendary version I named Wolfmaster.

[@razgriz4118]

I came looking for someone to mention the semi auto Beowulf, my first playthrough the first one I found cried me through the rest of the campaign found it maybe level 25-30 and beat the game at like level 58 or somewhere around there

[@rickyjanzen6684]

Yep, definitely my go-to. Semi-auto really makes it shine. Then I have a Drum Beat with Whitehot rounds for CQB because it looks cool (was burst, but maxed out the crit stuff in combat, so reconsidering semi-auto on it). Last run, I ran 2 Beowolfs, one scoped, one not. Only saving grace for my Drum Beat then was it had the extended mag perk. If Beowolf could be modded with Whitehot rounds, I may not need anything else (Instigating Hard Target for long range?).

[@ReapeeRon]

That is fair too, and I do plan on doing another video like this one going over the builds I like the most for the weapons and the strengths of each.

[@rharrison79]

I miss being able to change the receiver's and use all the different ammo like in fallout. I would swap out receivers constantly with the Overseer's Guardian during my playthrough.

[@SapphirosCZ]

Its bad mind numbing grind till you get to reciever change. Overall crafting in Starfield is terrible at first. Having stuff locked behind research, which is in turn locked behind perks, which are in turn locked behind "Build (X) pieces of mod" challenge feels like so much completely unnecesary overblown mobile game level grind i expected seeing "Would you like to skip for $29.99?" message.

[@darkrai2007]

@@SapphirosCZ "creation club content" I can feel it, so many tedious boring things in the game that they will shorten via a paid mod.

[@LeePrzy]

I need uniforms for my crew

[@ReapeeRon]

That is very strong in Fallout 4, but I am liking this new crafting system too.

[@jeambeam3173]

You know they were lazy when they gave us the AK without the stock for some reason and no way to add one

[@aesirgaming1014]

Grendel is a S-Tier if built semi-auto with armor piercing. For whatever reason, the damage with a semiautomatic mod is significantly higher than full auto (my Advanced is at 58 damage per shot). This is a weapon with very little recoil and a rapid fire rate on semi-auto, along with the 50rd capacity. This makes it ideal for close/mid-range combat. Long range, I found it suffers a bit more. You can also get the semi-auto Grendel basically at the start of the game with a little rest/save scumming. I got mine at Level 3 (right after turning in at Constellation) and never looked back. I still use it now as my go-to trash-clearing weapon, even with some of the best legendaries now in my inventory. Mine is an advanced with a tech barrel, reflex sight, ergo grip, semi auto, high power, AP rounds and a silencer. Silencer is not a great option (reduces range) but it looks cool so there it is. Pumping out rapid fire 58+ damage a hit (without any combat skills, mind) is really strong. The Grendel with full auto is a crappy weapon. It's the semi-auto and armor piercing mods that catapult it from F/C Tier into the S-Tier. With those mods (maybe white shot if you get the AP skill perks), this thing is a beast that slaps hard, fast and never runs out of bullets.

[@willd7596]

I agree with this heavily. I have found the Orion to be my favorite all around combat rifle. Once you start getting the specific laser mods it gets very strong.

[@ReapeeRon]

Awesome, I really enjoy that rifle too.

[@somerandomassguyontheinter2869]

on my NG+ playthrough i’ve been running an advanced maelstrom with semi-auto, long barrel, suppressor and a scope since basically the beginning. i mostly do sneak crits to initiate the fight and even after i’m spotted it works well since i can just tap the trigger and make my shots count. semi-autos just feel way better to use in this game than automatics, mainly due to damage loss. only automatic gun i have is kryx’s rifle which i save for tanks like terrormorphs or high level enemies

[@vexile1239]

The Va'ruun rifle deletes them super fast on very hard, just put some points into ballistics and particle beam perks and your dealing a ton of damage

[@TunaToona]

Not putting the mag shear at S tier is criminal

[@Mofoshow]

Got the revenant yesterday havent even touched another weapon

[@tristanyoung9786]

Once you start finding advanced versions/higher rarities, the Inflictor is by far the best weapon in the game. With mine now I crit every 5-6 shots for over 1300

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that thing is pretty crazy.

[@Junkzillabox]

I find that the coachman with hornet nest modification beats it in sheer damage and ammo efficiency (very cheap, common and plentiful ammo).. but it's also dangerous to use it up close.

[@mrjknight37]

The Magshear, inflictor, and hard target are my fav in the game besides some heavy’s and shotguns. advanced versions of each fully modified take down anything in the game in seconds

[@snowboarder9832]

Really though. My magshear is named The Shredder, cause that's literally what it does to anything that moves 🤣 The inflictor is my go to for general combat, and the hard target is easily the best sniper. All 3 are true S tier

[@DreadWolf84]

3:51 the drumbeat has access to the explosive rounds, and I think is the only fully automatic weapon that does. (Like the malestorm has gutbuster) those special rounds are what make those weapon’s special compared to other ones that perform better, like the Kadoma or Beowulf

[@Katie-hj5eb]

The other downside to the magpulse is you can't put a scope on it. But its very very good.

[@gracecalis5421]

Honestly it felt like I was just going through rifle after rifle until I got an AA-99 with good rolls. That gun's just super reliable and solid.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice, I like that one too.

[@TheTWH9]

AA 99 in semi auto with armor pen is insane. Most are, but this one especially in my experience.

[@loomzoom]

Well I got advanced aa 99 on level 25ish so automatic rifle with 50 damage per bullet was insane for the level...later I upgraded it tp max damge so now its 80 per bullet with uranium rounds...easily best weapon in the game...

[@igormilutinovic6753]

You should rename your video to Tier 1, zero skills and mods factor rifle Tier list. How can you possibly skip the fact that the ability to mod a weapon and the mods available for it play the absolute biggest factor when it comes to ranking weapons? How can you not differentiate weapons between automatic and semi-automatic firing mode? How do you not take into consideration that some weapons are better then others at tier 1 basic, but fall behind massively when going through tiers up to Advanced version of it. Just the fact that you put the Grendel, which in semi-automatic version can carry the player through more than half of the game and then some, in C Tier is just mind blowing. I have a fully modded advanced Grendel that does 96dmg per hit with a 100 round mag and 60 firing rate. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the effort to make this video, I love all tier list videos because you get a lot of insight into what you might have missed, especially from the comments. However, you gotta get more into details, the details matter. Whether the rifle is viable all game or just in the beginning is a huge factor when doing the tier lists. Do another Tier list video and separate it into chapters. Vanilla rifles with no mods, first tier weapon compared to Advanced version and the changes that matter, take skills into consideration and finally the modded versions and how they impact the weapon. You do that and you got my sub no matter whether I end up liking or agreeing with the video or not

[@emagz8]

The grendel becomes much much better with semi auto internals that boosts up damage per shot by 4-5X

[@IIchicgo]

And reduces DPS by pretty much that same factor, causing the DPS to stay about the same and it's still a shitty gun...

[@zacharyjones2273]

Although I agree the Grendel can be absolutely a beast with the right perc. I would choose the Kodama everytime but furious, explosive, skip Grendel is NUTS man. I had a basic one with that roll and used it well into the wndgame.

[@cavejohnson8665]

One plus for the AA-19 is the sound it makes. It makes gobs of noise and sounds really badass; kind of a cross between an impact wrench and dropping a jersey barrier down a flight of stairs.

[@gil7riviere]

15:46 THe magspniper only does its max damage when you charge the shot, which makes the screen shaking. After hours of sniping, it is less inferior than the hardtarget, even if the stats seems better in terms of damage. Other thing I noticed : The Beowulf gains a lot of damage by switching to semi-auto, and on the contrary, the AA-99 gains more by being automatic.

[@Sl1vers]

I'd love to see these done w/ Modifiers maxed out as it changes things quite a bit, especially on NG+ and beyond. For example, the fully modded Magshear is top-tier S class shredding absolutely everything faster than you can blink including endgame which you encounter on the last quest.

[@Zeffary20]

Been using a silenced semi-auto grendel for clearing bases and it puts in work. The damage boost from removing the auto is really strong.

[@bishbosh7728]

I got one today with elemental and fire damage switched it to semi automatic and it does pretty good damage never really used it before but messing with it now .

[@Mamoulian907]

Yeah, he downplayed how much more powerful semi-auto makes things.

[@urazz7739]

Sadly, the Equinox doesn't spawn with the advanced tier like a few other weapons. If it did then it would rank higher in my opinion.

[@kudosiafirstbutyoutubestoleit]

Good to know, i can stop my extensive search for one

[@Mitsurugi2424]

I hate that the automatic variant of the guns do so much less damage than the semi-autos counterpart.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true, but they can be really good with legendary effects.

[@peterhans3791]

Less damage per shot, but should be higher damage per second. A common video game balancing move.

[@IIchicgo]

Tips for you next tier list: - Separate SMGs from rifles, possibly make a separate category for DMRs and Snipers too - Make a couple of categories to rank the guns in: Damage, DPS, Weight, Ammo availability, mods, etc. That way you get a more concise overview of the guns capabilities and then round it off with an overall ranking based off of the previous categories. Cool video tho. Agree with most of it, but it was a little chaotic

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks for the ideas!

[@ReignLowell-CaedoFaeda]

Magshear fully modded is S tier for sure. Especially the legendary version that has a 150 round mag

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that is true

[@kristhomas8518]

beyond the basic deep dive starfield weapons tier list . craft/glitch more crates , here for this

[@MrGovtCheese]

I love the 160 fire rate of the Drumbeat and raining bullets down on anything that moves, along with the Hard Target sniper rifle, and the XM-2311 as a sidearm. However, if there are lots of enemies or things get too hot then I'll switch to the Beowulf or Magpulse as my primary.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice, sounds like a good mix of gear to me.

[@Dedicated_Dad1]

Yes bruh, I put burst fire, explosive rounds and high powered mods, you don’t even have to hit the target to do damage

[@4dragonzzz]

please do all weapons. also i love how you talk about your favorite weapon for each ammo type. I'm an idiot and was running the equinox and Orion together for the longest time before realizing that they were competing for ammo.

[@ReapeeRon]

That will be fun to do, and I do have plans for all of that in the future.

[@happisakshappiplace.6588]

I got a Legendary Drumbeat with explosive rounds, full auto and a drum mag. this thing kills everything even high tier.

[@Holtijaar]

I got a Legendary Magshear with explosive rounds today. Oh boy, with a rate of fire 300 I get so many explosions it's like a hand-held rocket artillery barrage.

[@happisakshappiplace.6588]

@@Holtijaar You just have to love it. :D

[@Goatcha_M]

Lawgiver's lack of scope hurts it hard, especially at the lower levels where the damage might be useful but you lack the upgrade perks.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah I wish it could get at least a short scope.

[@MaxxsHandle]

The novablast disruptor is fantastic for high level stuff. The magsniper also charges for higher damage. Its "damage" is stun, so sneak attacks buff it. Crouch, charge for like 2 seconds, release, and it drops. Crouch next to the stunned thing, it cant see you, shotgun it in the face.

[@albertko1]

You can pickpocket EM stunned enemies to level that up or melee to level those... but melee sucks so...

[@Dutchmaster_88]

Great lost ranking. I agreed with most of your tiers. Beowulf is everyone’s favorite I think (semi-auto). I do think the Advanced AA is definitely A tier at least. One of the best fully automatic weapons out there. Right under Magshear for fully automatic rifles.

[@J_B89]

You said something around 16:30 about the hard target being amazing if you have a ten round magazine.. If you place points into the weapon mod skill you can give it 10 rounds.

[@xenamere6757]

Magshear Advanced for me especially as you get it at level 1 by stealing it in hopetown , its fun to sweep it into the store room! Only downside i suppose is the cost of ammo early on as finding any is impossible , but it allows you to do the mantis quest freestar ranger quest , ryun industies , UC and all other quests before speaking to Sarah at constellation !

[@biwamasa]

Ill be honest. Ive used alot of the guns but I love my legendary Grendel. Its just so good. A DPS god amongst pesants.

[@TheTWH9]

What legendary mods? I'd imagine another gun with the same ones would be better, but that's easy to say and more difficult to do based on the combination you're looking for.

[@brunoethier896]

In my playthrough, I found an Exterminator Advanced Magshear with the Elemental property that simply chews through Terrormorphs by sheer volume of fire inflicting burn+radiation on top of it. With ballistics and Riffle maxed, it does about 2000 DPS... Insanely fun.

[@SuperKingman210]

I had a legendary 1 inch punch law giver. It shot multiple short range rounds like a shotgun, but every round dealt full damage. It outclassed all the shotguns i had used so far.

[@ReapeeRon]

That effect does seem really strong.

[@paulsmalser3261]

Occasional you can find or mod a Beauwolf to burst fire (3 rounds per trigger pull), this fire mode just like in a M16 allows the best of both worlds where you get low ammo use of semi, but you can get close to full auto fire with a quick finger.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah, I wish the burst fire was a bit different from the full auto version of the weapon. Like it got a bit more damage then full auto but a little less then the semi auto.

[@aschergamer2213]

I feel the drumbeat is a really lovely weapon with good legendary effects, and feels the closest to the Colonial Marines from Aliens.

[@ReapeeRon]

I can see that.

[@silverjohn6037]

Aside from the shop sold Rares (which you probably can't afford at low levels) the Old Earth Hunting Rifle is my pick for the best gun you can get starting out in the game. It does good damage, is fast enough and has a large enough magazine to be used at point blank range and, with 100 range, you can snipe surprisingly far out with no damage drop off. To balance that out the ammo only seems to drop from the robot gun dogs and only one round from each. Though, in all honesty, you're not going to need a lot of shots with this gun on low level targets. The dealer at Centauri Arms in the Residential district of New Atlantis usually has a supply of the ammo and can randomly have the rifle as low as level 4-5 when you first get to town. If you don't mind a little save/loading or waiting 24 hours local time for the inventory to reset you can get one as soon as you get to New Atlantis. Non quest spoiler below. Antonio, the surplus dealer in the Well in New Atlantis. will always have one laying on the table to the right as you enter his shop. Because of the large chest sitting across from it you can duck down to sneak and grab it quick. Antonio will come around to check what you're doing so you have to be quick so it might not be a bad idea to save before trying this.

[@Habanero212]

love the Hard Target. love the sound it makes the reload and especially the scope. love circles for snipers. wish i could find a suppressed version for my build.

[@JasterGhent]

I think the Tombstone feels weird for some people because of the lower rate of fire. I love that part about it as it increases damage accordingly and I specialized in Ballistics early which just increases the damage massively and any increase in speed for the weapon like hairtrigger or rapid makes the weapon a shredder, even with 20 shots base, as you can either get fast reload or more ammo with the large magazine, I also love it having the option for whitehot ammo, that makes it burn stuff

[@Stovokor78]

Yeah, same! I love my Tombstone! I got a rare version with double mag, anti personal, and it totally melts people, and for some strange reason, robots! Even on Very Hard..🤔

[@timothyarnold1679]

Yup. I picked up one with rapid fire and added a suppressor, hair trigger and large mag and it shreds.

[@helvete983]

I got a legendary Grendel from Brogan in my first playthrough, that thing rocked. For quite a few levels I'd alternate between the Adv Magshear I stole from Hopetown and the Grendel when my .50 Mi ammo got low. Honestly can't fault it as an entry level weapon and have fond memories.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very cool! I like the Grendel pretty well.

[@fatherjimbo]

Do you talk about the semi-auto version? I have a semi-auto grendel and it kicks butt. I'm still using it at level 20.

[@silverjohn6037]

Maelestroms and Grendels in semi-auto mode are both excellent fly swatters for lower health critters so you can save the harder to come by ammo for your main gun. Only down side is, unless you get a lucky drop, a pistol can do the same thing for less carry weight. If you're working on getting the kills for Rifle Certification though they are a godsend.

[@imperator9343]

So I didnt see you doing this in the clips and you didnt mention it (and probably should have if you were aware) but the Magsniper is a charge weapon. It does WAY more damage if you hold the trigger for a couple seconds (at the expense of a lot of aim wobble) and is unequivocally the best long range weapon for one-shotting or taking out enemies without having to reload.

[@BangsarRia]

Advanced Magsniper is great for MOVING targets because it fires on trigger release. Press, hold, track target's head and release - max damage.

[@lorgrenbenirus]

I'd recommend to keep in mind whether the weapon levels up and how far. Beowulf can level up all the way to max tier, while Equinox stops levelling half-way, for example.

[@inkarozu2309]

The three rifles I used for 90% of the game are all in S tier, therefore I agree with this list completely! Snipers are op, they just become pinpoint shotguns to anything balsy enough to get to you while you reload.

[@AS-np2ee]

Lawgiver is definitely an A rifle when decently upgraded. I got it for the long range sniping, distance over 100, damage over 240, decent scope - one stealthy hit and 99.9 bad guys are saying hello to St Peter. Before it I used the Old Earth Hunting Rifle, but it stopped upgrading at I guess 124 damage. That upgraded Vintorez had quite an advantage in distance though, around 150 if memory still serves me.

[@murphy7801]

Honestly I disagree. Issues it has early game are the ammo is rare, the DPS is bad, the magazine is tiny. You can just spec out a semi auto Beowulf dmr can do just as much dps, ammo is more common.

[@FlynnTaggart23]

you have the option to mod a 10 round mag for the hard target, but then you dont get penatrator rounds...

[@PDXpackrat]

By the time you got to the Beowulf I could see what was happening. You’re a fully auto player. I think the tier rating is going to be quite a bit different when playing semi-automatic. I carry a Hard Target and a Wolf at all times, suppresses, and usually a full auto A99 for something that requires 40 ammo cartridge solutions. Finally a regulator with Binary trigger for up close and personal interactions. To each their own, of course. Which skills you take drives a lot of that :)

[@jenathan76]

The one thing I didn’t hear you mention is that perks play a role, and can stack. That means that in addition to the rifle skill which applies across the board, most of these weapons are improved by either ballistic or laser skill, but the particle weapons benefit from both. Add to that the sniper skill that boosts scoped weapons, and you can get some pretty beastly numbers from the inflictor.

[@peterhans3791]

But all ballistic rifles are gonna benefit from those same perks, so they are meaningless in comparison. The only real perk considerations are particles benefiting from laser and laser setting things on fire (which is why mining laser has highest dps in game with max laser perk)

[@nordicnugz]

I know you're only comparing vanilla weapons, but when you start to get into modding weapons, I think the Lawgiver far outclasses the Old Earth Hunting Rifle. First off, the OEHR only has 3 mod slots, where as the Lawgiver has 6 or 7. And fully modded for high damage, the Lawgiver has better single shot damage. Also keeping in mind that the .50 rounds are super common, it's just a better overall choice up until you unlock the Hard Target. Also, as a final note about the Magsniper. You CANNOT add a suppression attachment to it. So, it's practically useless if you are trying to use it for a stealth build. With both the hard target and the magsniper having the same range, I'd say the Hard Target is better than the Magsniper for the suppression reason alone.

[@mercb3ast]

Hunting Rifle is better. It has a much higher rate of fire. It has a bigger magazine. I don't think of the hunting rifle so much as a sniper rifle, but more as a DMR or a marksman rifle. Think hybrid assault rifle/sniper. Lawgiver is bad. It's just trash. It's an F tier weapon. The rate of fire is bad. The magazine capacity is bad. It doesn't do anything good. It directly competes with the later big hitter quitter snipers that come online, which don't really do what the hunting rifle does. It has a unique aesthetic though!

[@fahimfaisal7571]

Varun Inflictor can have upto 1000 base damage. No rifle other than snipers can reach even close to that number. Maybe some shotguns can, with higher skill investment, but Varun is just THAT good.

[@donwild50]

If you run the Freestar Ranger questline you not only get a first class set of armor for early in the game, you also get what is probably the best A Class Ship out there (The Eagle) and can get it Free! when you are still at a low level...about half the gear on that starship are Level 4, weapons, engines, reactor and shields...it can hold it's own throughout the game. But Rifle wise you get a really highly upgraded Lawgiver "The Head Ranger."It's a 50 cal, with five mods, Hair Trigger, Long Barrel, Muzzle Brake, Penetrator Rounds and a Recon Scope. Penetrator rounds can go through multiple enemies, Hair Trigger fires faster, Long Barrel increases accuracy, range and recoil control, Muzzle Brake also increases long range accuracy and stability, and the Recon Scope "marks" your enemies while aiming...you can even see them through cover. The Head Ranger is an excellent long range weapon. It's not the best close in weapon...but it really hits hard.

[@jaketg99]

The Hard target does have a 10 round mag mod, and with that it's hands down my favorite sniper

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah, I misspoke. It's pretty awesome!

[@jaketg99]

@@ReapeeRon the bull barrel mod also makes it so theres 0 sway on the barrel.

[@pdmerritt]

I had a legendary grendel with explosive rounds and because of how fast it fires the explosions came often. it was a fantastic grendel. lost it when I went to NG+ unfortunately

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that is probably pretty strong.

[@dillonmartin9413]

@@ReapeeRon literally until two days ago I would 100% agree that the Nova disrupter was definitely d tier but for the past two days now I have been running the nova disrupter as my main carry weapon.......I got a legendary one with one inch punch, berserker and handloading aka ( volatile rounds that pack a bigger punch but aren't as stable and can fail on occasion ).........I literally shoot any level alien or human enemy 2 times and they are stunned for a full minute so while they are stunned switch to big damage dealer and go ham.........its literally a god like weapon and the range us 20 meters 👌👌👌🔥🔥🔥👍👍👍

[@kayze009]

When it comes to the Grendel, Beowolf if you change it to semi it is amazing, I would say they go up a tier or two when you do that to them.

[@brandonthomas8726]

Fun tip for high lv endgame. Take the rank four perk in lasers and set everything on fire. Fire, unlike the actual dedicated ammo and mods, does damage based on the targets health. The cutter can actually nuke in a pinch with the fire proc.

[@TheTWH9]

Cutter shreds terrormorphs confirmed.

[@Three60Mafia]

AA-99 would be the best AR-type gun, it is just incredibly powerful in full auto. I found one fairly early on in the game and I still used it like 40 hour later. Modified and Advanced versions of it just add more damage.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah it does fit that roll pretty well.

[@Talinoth]

Thanks for the video! I liked your work overall. Some minor nitpicking - honestly weird you didn't put the Beowulf in low S. Super cheap and available ammo, 30 rounds, fantastic damage per shot, good range and accuracy, good modding options, excels with a Medium Scope and Semi-Auto - it's one of the best guns in the game for "how much damage can I do to this charging alien without reloading?". Also thrives with the "Instigating" effect - you wouldn't believe how many pirates I've wiped out in single headshots on Very Hard difficulty. It's the always-reliable, the old standby. Companions are also extremely effective with it on full auto, particularly Sam. Orion's mark is about right. I like it for the insane ammo efficiency and I have a Legendary one, and you can silence the beams for sneak attack shenanigans so that's cool. Any energy damage weapon becomes increasingly valuable the higher the enemy level is - afaik high level enemies have high physical resist but shit energy damage resist. I completely understand rating the Magsniper at S given its stats, I just wish it didn't suck to handle. It's very hard to actually hit anything at it's real max range because of the sway while charging a shot, so I just gave my Magsniper to Sarah and she cleans house with it. The Novablast Disruptor is S-tier with sneak builds. Put a scope on it, sneak, don't get detected, charge up a shot, and congrats you've one-shot-stunned a level 99 Pirate Legend. You know you can just use Camouflage to chain sneak attacks on boss enemies while they wake up so they die effortlessly, right? It's also fantastic for hunting tough aliens for the same reason - single shot to stun, then execute with a melee weapon or a silenced rifle for repeated sneak attack bonuses, saving time and ammo. Hearing you put the Big Bang anywhere below S tier in your last video is funny. That thing always crits (causing near-constant stagger on enemies), does way more damage than you'd expect against high level enemies because it's energy and not physical, has a tight choke/good shot grouping, and looks and sounds cool. My Advanced Big Bang doesn't even have any special effects and it just effortlessly cleans up Spacer ships with more than 20 level 50+ crew.

[@Steve-sw3vn]

Sick video! Glad you took this route with your content

[@timothyarnold1679]

The Inflictor is the best rifle for my money... but I primarily use the Starshard til I'm low on ammo. I've got a boosted advanced med theft Starshard that does almost 500 damage and the targets drop med packs.

[@ReapeeRon]

It is quite good.

[@mrmematician7610]

you should do tier list with all the weapons in the game together but only the s/a tiers from each category (pistols, rifles, shotguns)

[@ReapeeRon]

I will be doing something like that in the future, and the strongest builds for each weapon.

[@Xgamerdad]

I looted an Epic Beowolf semiauto at lvl9, (Instigating Hitman) lasted into my 30s. Loved that thing

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice, that is a great combo of effects.

[@barefootcoolboy_3264]

Got a semi auto Grendel at level 6 and it carried me until I got a legendary Beawulf like 30 levels later.

[@SAITO2]

note for the disruptor: very good if your leveling stealth and stealing. knock some one out steal or do the melee stealth attack and boom. also about the shots you can charge your shot to do more em per shot

[@mike902]

Revenant is my favourite weapon in the game.Didnt realize how much I relied on it until I went into ng+.

[@peterhans3791]

Regarding the disruptor: Besides being a pacifist and the couple of missions where you don't want to kill humans, I've landed on a planet where the local wildlife had stupidly high damage resist, but no resist to em. Was able to stun the aliens and run past them to finish the survey without dying

[@Simplyputme]

The game uses a variant of the Fallout 4 armor system, so I just reflexively avoid automatic weapons because higher damage per shot adds to dps by means of greater armor penetration. I'm a Beowolf stan, so even though I know what my main will always be, you've convinced me to take a second look at the hard target (damage to ammo cost ratio and availability is a big deal to me).

[@denisejansen5642]

Beowolf is my absolute go to rifle. Especially higher level with mods. It’s great at almost any distance. I keep a magsniper for really long range which does around 1300 per shot plus goes through armor and other baddies. Then a shotgun for the real close encounters. And of course a Va’Ruun Inflictor … just for fun. Overall I think your ratings are fairly in line with my experience. I’m having a hard time finding a good Hard Target though 😢

[@AurioDK]

Mine as well, I think what makes the Beowulf special is it´s diversity in usage, you can practically use it at any range except for really long distance sniping which I rarely do anyway. On semi-automatic it pretty much has the functionality of all other rifles including decent sniping abilities, the 30 round capacity makes it invaluable in sustained fights. And of course ... ammo is plenty.

[@jzj114]

I've seen an advanced hard target for sale at the gun store in New Atlantis in residential. Just sit down and cycle 48 hours until it pops. Cheers!

[@liuete]

that's the one i just bought after becoming lvl 30, it wasn't available before @@jzj114

[@desertstormer7556]

Beowulf and Hardtarget with sneak, armor penetration and scope perks make them the most deadliest combo

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that is a lot of damage.

[@imaencuru]

I got a one inch punch novablast as one of my first legendaries, and it still wasn't great at knocking people out. I also wish there was more reason to knock people out, it seems it's only ryujin who wants you to avoid killing, got a quest to investigate smugglers in NA once and figured they would prefer if they didn't die, but no dice.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah, there isn't a great reason to knock enemies. Unless you are going for a pacifist run. Then it could be useful.

[@justinlahaie5439]

Second tier third weapon, if you pick it up from the hunter or the emissary, I'm not sure which on the very hard difficulty. You get an electric rifle with a silencer that is absolutely devastating, it should be class A.

[@jawbone78]

The magshear ammo, while hard to find lying around, is sold in large quantities by pretty much every vendor that sells ammo. You can basically trade in one or two advanced weapons for 300 or so shots with your magshear at most vendors, making ammo pretty much as unlimited as the 7.77. The downside is that's 5k or so per vendor that doesn't go to credits, but this game rains money on you anyway and this saves you from cheesing the vendors to sell stuff. By the time you get a magshear you won't need those credits unless you're compulsively editing ships, and spending it on ammo for the best gun in the game (IMO) is worth it.

[@TheSwaghilist]

Nova blaster for the pacifist run is hilarious. Is that really a thing? Either way, that is the most creative reach for a compliment.

[@ReapeeRon]

It could work. I think bare handed could also work for a pacifist run.

[@isaacw8055]

There's just something calming about watching tier lists......isn't there?!

[@brunoethier896]

I have not seen a dedicated video on the Hard Target on your playlist, any chance to make one soon? It's main advantage over the Magsniper would be the suppressor for sneak snipers..

[@ReapeeRon]

Funny that you say that, I just got done editing that video and it will be out in a few days.

[@brunoethier896]

@@ReapeeRon Awesome! I'm having a blast with my Instigating Advanced Hard Target at the moment, it pretty much one-shots all humans.

[@wilmer007]

Beowulf is S tier (best early game sniper and the ammo effiency), and Kodama is A tier (late game). You basically only use the Beowulf as semi auto and kodama for 3 round burst or full auto. Once You have a hard target/mag sniper the Beowulf then becomes a backup weapon if those run out of ammo and the Kodama eventually overtakes the Beowulf when you have the ammo for it. If your looking for more range than getting a second Beowulf and modding it to burst or full auto is also a solid choice to the Kodama since it would be a long range kodama.

[@ReapeeRon]

That's fair.

[@wilmer007]

​@ReapeeRon you should do tier lists for weapon and armor effects where Instigating/Furious, Hitman and Shattering are S tiers and for Armor it's Armor Plating, Mechanized, Fastened, Weapon Holsters, and Chameleon are S tiers.

[@jonathankohut6779]

Love the vid, but i think it would have been worth commenting about how certain weapons do with companions who do not have to worry about ammo restrictions

[@ReapeeRon]

Thank you very much, and that is a great idea, I am currently doing that in my weapon guide series for the Starfield guns.

[@stephenkelly8312]

My go to level 60+ loadout is Hard Target (stealth sniper all the way!), a Full Auto A-99 (also suppressed), and a big bang (for when something gets in my face and just needs to stop). Hard Target deals with most enemies before they know what happened, but I like to have some flexibility.

[@georgelopez3623]

For the varuun rifle it’s damage is effected by multiple perks. Raising it by a hugeeee amount. And if you get it instigating it can do thousands of damage

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that weapon and a few others like the Big Bang are that way too.

[@GunPilot3000]

Great vid! You can get the hard target with the double size mag. That really makes it nice. I also had a shattering instigating mag sniper drop and it's disgusting. 3900 damage on a charged up shot.

[@AlphaGuardianWolf]

I upgraded a rare version of the nova blast that has an increase rate of fire. I can usually knock someone out with 3 shots from it as I do well over 130 EM damage with it. Though I rarely use it I keep it with me as a just incase. Also I got a legendary Beowolf that has the one inch punch state effectively turning it into a shotgun as its range never goes above 20. But at 160ish damage after modding it I stomp on ANYTHING that gets close to me basically. It's rate of fire and mag capacity make it an amazing shotgun.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very cool!

[@caleg2256]

Drumbeat and Beowulf are my go to. How do you scavange 5000 rounds? I thought I was doing really well scavenger everything and bought ammo and still had about 1000-2000 of most ammo types by the end of the game