Starfield - Pistol Tier List

[@HamSlammer456]

Sorry lazer blasters and future tech. My favorite weapons in 2330 are still a .45 pistol and a pump-action shotgun, lol

[@iamsneakyfoxx1284]

why fix it if it isn't broken?

[@Samurai-xm2yn]

That was my opinion as well, and then I found a Starshard.

[@tjrriffic]

Amen

[@TexasToast712]

I just wish the reload animations were correct. :(

[@zuluciushat8764]

Yep 2311 and old earth shotgun fully moded all the way 😁

[@Holycow94WoW]

.43 MI is different than the .43 Ultramag because it shoots a completely different projectile actually! It uses magnets (and I think some sort of explosive) but it’s basically launching little magnets at a high rate of speed. If I’m not mistaken it’s basically rail gun

[@jeffleach9023]

Yeah, pretty much all the Kore Kinetics weapons are railguns, which is why they both have such a unique design compared to other weapons and all their names start with "mag."

[@TakeItEasy.]

Novalight is crazy OP. With Laser+Pistol+particle (they all stack on it) it does a very high amount of damge per shot. The mods increase its damage massively and with the double damage on opening shot it can instagib nearly everything. I have one that does over 900 damage on the first shot and it's only a blue weapon.

[@RukaGoldheart]

The rarity is the least important part of what makes a weapon good to use.

[@TexasToast712]

The Novalight and StarShard are the best pistols in the game from a pure DPS perspective. Novalight if you can't find a StarShard. Only limiting factor is Light Particle fuse ammo is rare as fuck and expensive to buy. I have like 20000 rounds though because I did the outpost chest glitch lmao.

[@TexasToast712]

​@@DanielFerreira-mh2hdyep because unlike the StarShard, putting burst fire on the Novalight doesn't reduce its damage per shot.

[@rdavila8964]

@@TexasToast712 starshard is still doing over 2k damage with the burst per trigger pull

[@yeru9932]

I got one inch punch on that gun, does that makes the gun better or worse?

[@squirreltakular9049]

I got a Rattler with double mag capacity early on. With the binary trigger and other mods it was wonderful.

[@imperator9343]

The Elegance you can buy on Akila is shockingly good. It's a legendary version of that, and it crushes all but the tankiest enemies even on VH. It made me rethink how I read the stats of weapons. Even at lvl 100+ it's so good to be able to pull it out and finish whatever enemy is in front of you in an instant.

[@jonathanrich9281]

@@imperator9343Common mistake, the Elegance is a Regulator, not a Rattler. A Rattler is more like a semi-auto pistol and the Regulator is more like a revolver. They have similar names and both have options for the Binary Trigger modifier. They’re both awesome, but for example an Extended Mag Rattler has 24 shots or so baseline, and with a large mag it gets up to an absolutely insane number of shots.

[@cobebrian1300]

Was going to say D tier is crazy binary trigger with big mag is like a full auto with the damage of a semi auto

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

One nod in favor of the Regulator in the early game, IMO, is that every 'Deserted Relay Post' seems to have a guaranteed Advanced Regulator in the break room near the top, with 2 units of extra ammo on a shelf nearby. Sometimes the Spacers will grab the weapon and use it, so be careful in the area. But otherwise it is a smooth 100 damage per shot without any mods or skill perks.

[@russelldunwoody4476]

Yeah, I somehow stumbled onto getting one of these via this method at about level 2 and its a one shot killing machine..

[@tor2919]

The regulator the the high powered shot and binary trigger is the best gun in the game. Anything dies immediately. Also the sound changes when you do the high powered upgrade and sounds exactly like the Blade Runner gun - it’s insane with headphones

[@Malember]

One thing to consider that would seriously change your list is that some weapons max out at "refined" (1 tier below the best quality tiers), while others can exist at "advanced" (best quality). Note: Armor maxes out at "Superior", whereas weapons max out at "Advanced". This affects how effective they are mid to late game. Once you account for these min/max damage limits then your listing will change.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is true. Will keep in mind for the later list videos.

[@connorkropp]

Weapons can also be superior, there is just a naming bug in the game that makes them advanced. If you look, there can be 2 different damage stats for an advanced tier weapon

[@Malember]

@connorkropp this has been the rumor. However, no one has yet to post data to prove it. The codes to bring a base weapon to this mystery tier should have been discovered by now?

[@connorkropp]

@@Malember how is it a rumor if we clearly have 2 identical advanced weapons with different damage numbers?

[@Malember]

@connorkropp please provide the data for the weapons properties? For example, if you loot or buy an advanced Orion with a scope, it will be a base Orion with 001BDC28 as the tier 4 quality property and 0012DF08 as the scope property. All I am trying to discover is what the property is for a higher weapon quality? I am not trying to be difficult.

[@DatMageDoe]

One thing worth mentioning regarding tiers is that three of the pistols - the Eon, Rattler, and Sidestar lack the most powerful tier, which is Advanced. As a result, they are really bad for lategame because they are stuck at much lower damage numbers compared to similar pistols. A couple other notes for future reviews: 1. Four weapons lack damage tiers - Arc Welders, Auto Rivets, the Cutter, and the Novablast Disruptor. 2. The Equinox is also in the group of "Does not have an Advanced version."

[@Deadsnake989]

Funny thing about the Equinox is that it doesn't have an advanced version that drops in game. But through console commands you can add/spawn advanced Equinoxes.

[@pdraggy]

I hear that the Arc Welder syncs to your level or something... maybe those other tierless weapons do too? than ofc the Novablast is already high powered when you get it (in certain non-lethal situations ofc) and the Cutter isn't quite MEANT to be a weapon so... you can also get a slightly better cutter kind of early in the main missions when you go back to the mine you started off at.

[@justyagre6296]

Good to know! I was really confused why I still haven't found any advanced versions of those yet.

[@GarrettBShaw]

@@pdraggy are you referencing Heller's Cutter? It has the same stats + does bonus damage to robots. Or is there a different cutter with better base stats?

[@pdraggy]

@@GarrettBShaw nope just that, my brother told me it had a slightly higher base damage but whatever lol yeah just that :)

[@tidfisk]

One tip on getting a lot of Va'Ruun weapons is to head to the Serptinis system and jump from moon to moon and board at least one ship per ambush. Almost every moon and planet 1-3 Va'Ruun ships will ambush you there. Board the biggest and you'll loot a lot of Va'Ruun items, including the particle pistol (and the rifle and dagger). You'll need at least a point in the Targeting Skill to board a ship, though.

[@ryantaylor5297]

Side note to people doing this: you will need a decent ship because those Va’Ruun ships shred. 2-4 PB guns can usually manage.

[@jeffleach9023]

Actually, all you need is is an em/emp weapon on your ship. Granted, Targeting makes it faster since you can specifically target the engines, but even without it an em ship weapon will completely disable enemy ships, you just lack control over the order in which the modules are knocked out.

[@roguereaver634]

@@jeffleach9023 And when you're outnumbered I cannot stress how effective it is to just turn off a ship's weapons and ignore it to focus on the next one

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

Someone else pointed out the em weapons for ships but you technically need em weapons or targeting. You can still damage the engines, it just requires deliberate effort on your part. Not easy but possible.

[@weistber9582]

It seems that laser and particle weapon damage scales really well with weapon mods! Definitely spec for weapon mods if you plan to use those.

[@rdavila8964]

Particle weapons also benefit from extra laser damage from the skill tree for some reason.

[@theseamoon2180]

​@@rdavila8964 they scale with ALL damage bonus perk; Ballistic, Laser and Particle damage perk all Boost Particle Weapon damage... Yeah that's not balanced at all

[@KJRico93]

Magshot is by far my favorite pistol in the game. On my first playthrough I found one with One Inch Punch, Lacerate and Extermination. Hit like a meteor.

[@pdraggy]

was it from one of the upper cargo areas in Neon? that's where I got mine, wasn't legendary though :(.

[@KJRico93]

@@pdraggy Honestly I don't remember where I found it. Wish I could but more than likely it was a random drop

[@pdraggy]

My first playthrough I got one on neon, but in my second one I didn't (same lockbox, I was disappointed but refuse to save scum lo the game isn't terribly difficult as is or anything) :/ it was a helluva weapon at level 8 lol

[@shadowfort1661]

There is a really neat unique magshot you can find at 1-of-a-kind Salvage on Niira in one of the mech husks. It's called Trick Shot and it has the skip shot trait and the depleted uranium rounds upgrade!

[@QuillC]

I believe the tiers are calibrated, refined, advanced. Then there's modified which is having modifications in general, then a bunch of variants for certain combinations of mods, like assassin's, advanced, commander's, professional's, etc. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that rarity (the color modifiers) affects base stats, so a legendary grendel can very well be worse than an advanced grendel, so keep an eye out for drops with both, i.e. "rare refined coachmen" those are the best

[@josephdeleary4803]

I got the Elegance early on and it always got the job done with armor piercing rounds and a perk that makes it penetrate any armor. High rate of fire and silenced . Only think I didn’t like was the small mag.

[@andykopach4718]

The thing shreds.

[@jamess7140]

Weapon modding is super powerful. My full auto magshot build just belches death and destruction on everything, the fire rate is so fast it basically empties the mag in a single shot burst that kills any normal enemy in one reload. It kinda turns the weapon into like a one reload per enemy gun, but it’s my backup for when I’m being charged or I’m pushing and I just need to drop an enemy quickly.

[@sandytrumble2940]

Found an advanced urban eagle early in my /first/ playthrough. At the time I didn't think anything about it but I'm still using it as my only pistol because of its insane damage comparatively.

[@ARD1177]

True, I'd put it above the XM2311 bc of its higher dmg, and it holds more bullets plus more mod slots (7 compared to 5)

[@MrYaniv99]

I picked up an advanced mag shot somewhere and it says it does 307 damage per shot. Also so far I’m not customizing my weapons which is actually quite fun (and specializing into pistols), and for how I play I’d probably put the eon and kraken up there with the magshot! I love how you can have endless ammo with the eon and kraken so you can spam the eon at enemies and the kraken tears up human enemies. I save my advanced magshot for even more dangerous enemies. Generally liking the high rate of fire weapons with large magazines

[@Dankdayz707]

Mag shot is my go to... Mines only got 250 damag but isn't the legendary drop version.... I learned that the perks do more benifit than the extra damage

[@somerandomassguyontheinter2869]

on my first playthrough i used a sidestar with a drum mag and hair trigger, went for a pistol build because i’ve always like pistols in games. the crit fishing capacity was insane and even if the RNG didn’t line up you could just spam away without reloading. it started to fall off just before NG+ (didn’t realize the sidestar lacked an “advanced” tier), so i started using the revolver you get from the freestar rangers once i got into NG+

[@justyagre6296]

I lucked out and found an Advanced Urban Eagle and Advanced Regulator very early in game, so I didn't use other handguns. Also, I feel like the design of the Magshot would work better as an energy weapon.

[@bishbosh7728]

Advanced weapons don't even drop till you are lvl 50 so it couldn't have been that early in the game unless it was early in ng+.

[@haydenhd8861]

@@bishbosh7728 there’s guaranteed drops for advanced pistols in many locations.

[@albertozalon8477]

It looks like a rail gun more zero heat shielding completely open.

[@GarncarzLizyp]

@@bishbosh7728 happened to me on 2 characters. Found an advanced regulator in an abandoned listening post on kreet

[@tobybutt8988]

​@@bishbosh7728well that's not true, that might be what the game says, but I'm only level 42 and have multiple advanced guns. I believe there is a chance that the star eagle has an advanced urban in one of the weapon boxes.

[@UnnamedThinkTank]

No idea why they made the .45 ACP such a rare ammo but you can get the Sir Livington custom M1911 pretty early if you got the kid's stuff trait. So the M1911 is available pretty early on and strong. Only hampered by the lack .45 ACP early. Though I want to know why it became the standard handgun ammo in the 21st century instead of the 9mm or 10mm (fallout series).

[@bigfloppymonster]

Not mentioning Bladerunner when rating the Regulator is a fail.

[@tor2919]

Also when you do the ‘high powered’ mod the sound of the Regulator changes to exactly match the Blade Runner gun. It’s epic

[@jaydenlobbe7911]

Correction, the Rattler has a higher Fire Rate than the Sidestar, you can't put the Binary Trigger mod on the Sidestar, but you can put it on the Rattler, the only way to upgrade the Sidestar's Fire Rate is giving it the Hair Trigger mod

[@JimBz84]

Yeah, I'd use a rattler over a sidestar. Binary trigger is crazy fast.

[@cybermonkey81]

I really wish we could put a binary trigger on the Sidestar, or a full auto sear. Even with a hair trigger the sidestar feels a bit too slow.

[@olliesloane151]

I got a Rattler with a binary trigger mod early on and I ended up using it as my primary for a very long time. Underrated gun.

[@jonathanrich9281]

Rattler with Binary Trigger and the Extended Mag legendary effect and the Large mag mod? That’s a god-tier pistol for most of the game.

[@Hrogthar]

Razorback with fire rate and reloading mods make it the best IMO. Especially for headshot builds.

[@ReapeeRon]

It is pretty nice with that.

[@Hrogthar]

@@ReapeeRon especially if you use the hip fire skill. Feels like McCassidy from Overwatch.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

The Va'Ruun Starshard is good for headshots too. It has a mod that just multiplies the damage you deal to enemies with headshots. One hit is usually enough to drop anything aside from a boss enemy.

[@TheNoobmaster98]

I found a Refined Rattler with Skip Shot Incendiary and Cornered on it. I named it Solid Snake. Binary Trigger turns it from an underwhelming side grade to the sidestar into a beautiful little wheel gun. I have no idea why it’s in D

[@W0KUZ3PH]

Where did you go for that? I had the same one till I went NG+, definitely one I used all the time.

[@TheNoobmaster98]

@@W0KUZ3PH Honestly, I’m going every planet by planet hoping to survey all of them so I don’t really remember. Pretty sure I found it in The Kryx System because I started the pirate quest on accident

[@jesuschristhomeslice9492]

My favorite is the old earth pistol, hard hitting, only complaint is how hard it is to find .45

[@Robloxfan1234eg]

I found it on a random body

[@larriejohnsonII]

You get one from your dad if you choose the kid stuff perk

[@printisdead1983]

Am i the only person that plays the entire game with literally one of each weapon and nothing but aid.....

[@roguereaver634]

I honestly kinda like the regualtor over the Eagle, it may do slightly less damage but the Binary Trigger mod let's you just vomit an entire mag in a second if you need DPS and subjectively I think it looks and especially sounds much nicer. Hoping to get one with the double mag size legendary effect

[@berkowk]

Good way to get Va'ruun weapons is to board their ships on orbit of Venus. I think they even respawn there.

[@riotintheair]

The magshot is the only real competitor to the Starshard. The XM2311 should really be an A - the only real reason to take it is that it's an absolutely fantastic stealth pistol and the better guns can be suppressed - it has all the right mods for stealth gun play. The Solace (it being in the same tier as an Eon is a real head scratcher of a choice) also works really well as a stealth laser pistol - one of its best features is that it has a huge array of mods available to it (all the laser weapons do).

[@Emilythetired]

I got a cool rattler roll, it came with a binary trigger shock damaged and a large magazine. It was honestly pretty clutch in some places when I forgot to refill on rarer ammo

[@Oddball_E8]

Rattler, Eon and Sidestar do not come in Advanced versions, they top out at Refined (which is the third level after normal and calibrated)

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that is true.

[@Holycow94WoW]

Rattler with long barrel, extended mag, suppressor and binary trigger looks and functions awesome! It looks goofy in base model tho

[@msxbrc]

Ryujin is making Novalight, so their shop as unique version like "The Spacer". There's a Unique Solstice gun called "Amber" you can find if you do the Ryujin Quest when you to talk to a guy on Mars, it is a very efficient gun. Also The Magshot as a Unique Pirate version if you do the Crimson fleet questline but I don't like the feeling of it. And I have veeeery good version of the Urban Eagle called "Solace" bought in my ng+ in the UC shop in NA, it is my main gun currently but Ultramag ammo, is pretty hard to find.

[@Cydro_Visorlosa]

I have a Skip shot advanced urban eagle that just destroys enemies lol.

[@Ae7herium]

You bought Solace? Interesting. I got it as a reward for not killing the retired bounty hunter in the last GalBank quest. I thought it was unique to him.

[@msxbrc]

@@Ae7herium Actually you must be right, my memory is a bit fuzzy, I think I did this quest just before I noticed I had it in my inventory at the shop probably.

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[@JerkyMurky]

Fun fact. If you hsve the kids stuff trait you cab get the 1911 pretty early from your dad. You can also get a free ship, and a set of your grandmas marine armoe which is pretty good if you dont steal thw mark 1 armor early in the game.

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah that does seem like one of the best traits in the game.

[@timothyarnold1679]

I run a maxed out solstice with fire damage that does like 160 damage And a starshard that does like 400. The starshard one hits like every non-elite bad guy and has the perk that makes them drop med kits.

[@ReignLowell-CaedoFaeda]

Watched your rifle tier list and didn’t agree with some, but this one I agree with every one! 👍🏼

[@ReapeeRon]

Thanks, and that is great!

[@ardentdfender4116]

If you board Varuun ships on ground or docking with them and taking over the ships, you will tend to find more Varuun weapons as well armor. The best I have seen is a Refine Varuun Starshard. And even that seen very rare to see show up. I haven’t seen “Superior” on any weapons drop as yet which is the highest quality level, but I have seen “Superior” on all three pieces of Armor that being Spacesuit, Jet Pack, Helmet.

[@tobybutt8988]

I saw an ESO vid the other day that said there are superior weapons in the game, but there's a bug that means that show as advanced. So the only way to tell a superior weapon from an advanced one is based damage

[@nBasedAce]

Magshots are basically railguns so that is why they have different caliber ammo.

[@nomenclator4339]

The urban eagle is low S for me, usually it's easy to do 200 dmg and the mag can be extended to 18 shots with very good range, it's only second to the varuun's pistol in damage

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice, I like the weapon. Although I do wish that it had some better sound effects.

[@SmokersTars]

@@ReapeeRon I'm quite sure changing muzzles adjust the sound a bit, but I may be delusional from too much play. I recall that my Urban Eagle sounded best with a muzzle on though, same for some other guns

[@barbaraelliott3510]

If you look around planets in the early game for the Deserted Relay Station you can find an Advanced Regulator. I found this weapon in my first playthrough before I left Kreet. You end up using this weapon for the next 20 or so levels because nothing can compete with it. In general, most loot boxes are random but the Advanced Regulator is always in the Deserted Relay Station no matter player level.

[@averymorin6651]

The 7.5mm White Hot is mostly sold in Akila city by Larado Firearms. Ive always been able to buy a couple rounds of ammo from Akila city

[@kennethwright5664]

Once I found the absolute delight of firing the Magshot I don't want to shoot anything else (except a sniper for long long range encounters)

[@HuginMunin]

So, in terms of non-messy game design I don't know why Bethesda chose the calibers they did, but in terms of real world bullets it's pretty realistic, historically. There's a bunch of weird variants of rounds, even during the same period of time just country to country, army to army, etc. We tend to think of a small number of really popular ones, but oy, go look up the whole family of 9mm sometime, it's nuts, and probably even worse for rifle calibers.

[@lrg162]

The thing with the weapons (and armors for that matter) is, unlike in previous Bethesda games, weapons don't have a "fixed" amount of damage per tier or level. Damage and level are now "modifiers" similar to the various "mods' that a gun can come with (Skip Shot, Instigating, etc.) So it's entirely possible for a basic (grey) Eon to have more base DPS than say an Epic (yellow) Regulator, depending on how many times the game randomly adds the level modifier (and for those on PC who can use the command console - they are cumulative, so you can add them multiple times, even to insane levels). Although it IS rare for the early game weapons (Eon, Solstice, Grendel, Maelstrom etc.) to get a high RNG roll, it can happen. I found a Maelstrom in my first play through (random procedural outpost on a planet) in the end of dungeon chest that had 119 Base damage with a full-auto receiver, It pretty much melted anything.

[@Jimandtonic85]

I have an instigating razorback that I got very early in game and now I’m level 41 and I can still sneak attack and 1 shot enemies with it. Modded for suppression range and scope

[@tylerdiehl1]

On my first play through and I found a legendary Va'ruun Starshard at like level 25. Does nearly 400 total damage a shot. Poison damage + anti human + one inch punch. Absolute monster, still MELTS enemies at level 39.

[@sidneysun5217]

ya MI array is actually an array of projectiles set into a block/cube. the weapon exists in real life, u can check it out being fired using electromagnetic energy. really cool

[@replaygeorge]

I got an advanced XM2311 early by farming high level abandoned bases. From my experience, this one feels right as a pistol more than others. Good for boarding or close quarters fighting, but mostly when you want to have some pistol action fights. The revolver you get as a ranger deputy looks awesome, but having only 6 rounds is quite limiting for most fights. To me this pistol is great without most mods (I only use the internal mod that amps the damage), because adding lots of bells and whistles to it is taking away some of its charm. The advanced Nova can be op with amped damage mod, I also like it because of its simplicity. Also it is handy to cut bolts on those safety doors, it's easier than using the laser cutter.

[@GreekoSuave]

I'm currently on my first playthrough and I use an exclusive pistol build. The Eon isn't a great pistol, but it has become my. If you don't mind spending thousands of credits on other rounds will probably never use it after a while, but I still do because you find thousands of rounds for it and never have to buy any, and if you get weapons upgrades research to tier 3, you can put explosive rounds on the eon. Still won't be your best pistol but it'll do enough damage and combine that with that you have thousands hope rounds it becomes viable.

[@moose8337]

The Sidestar is an S tier design. A compact pistol in .27 caliber or probably what is 6.5mm from what I could find on the internet. The grip angle plus the low bore axis would lend to some tame muzzle flip and felt recoil due to the what I would expect to have low reciprocating mass from the slide. The ability to mount a laser or light and the exposed barrel for ease of threading for a suppressor is a great set of features. The Sidestar could easily exist in our universe and would probably be popular in conceal carry crowds.

[@DIGITALGH05T]

whole reason why i use it in my playthrough. roleplaying as a neon street rat turning a new leaf, but that doesnt mean he still isnt looking over his shoulder from time to time

[@FirstnameLastname-jz1ux]

dude i love the way the sidestar looks

[@quickair7]

I have yet to see a normal Va'ruun starshard. I’ve only found 3 in game all with a rarity effects, and I’ve been playing for nearly 90 hours. Literally looking for one is pure chance. Upside is that they absolutely melt anything.

[@TheSteve285]

I been playing a han solo archetype character with lean on the western theme of the freestar and i am liking the pistols. Using the regulator for general use and for appearances, the xml for stealth and deadeye as sniper, a rather nice trifactor. Occasionally us the lovingston i always keep because hey it is a family heirloom.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice, that does sound like a fun playthrough.

[@krookedliptv9852]

On my first playthrough I had an extended mag shot. That's probably the only weapon I'm going to miss from any of my playthroughs so far on my way to collecting all the super powers completely ranked up

[@Simplyputme]

Haven't messed with pistols much honestly. Did one NG+ where I went full on varuun (painblade, starshard, inflictor) but up until then the Urban Eagle was the only pistol I had messed with past early game. Hadn't messed with the XM before though. Might give it a shot.

[@jocax188723]

Quick note: Weapon tiers go as follows: Standard -> Calibrated -> Refined -> Advanced -> Superior.

[@OscarInAsia]

Superior weapons are a myth, spacesuits, helmets and packs can go to Superior. Advanced is actually the highest weapon tier.

[@MaxxsHandle]

Ps- MI is magnetic induction rounds. I love the look of the regulator, but cause the eagle is strickly better. But with my pistol build, the razorback is my oneshot monster. 9.8k is its first shot damage for me currently.

[@j.justin1511]

The tiers of weapons are actually as follows: Basic, Calibrated, Refined, Advanced, Superior. I just use an acronym that sounds like "Be Crass" to remember BCRAS. It also gives me perpetual permission to tell dirty jokes.

[@edoardoruini199]

The Regulator is basically a copy of Deckard's gun from Blade Runner, and that's pretty much the reason why its my favorite Starfield pistol

[@jonathanburns9947]

I started on Very Hard Difficulty, and I went to an outpost to fight Pirates. I managed to obtain a Legendary Kraken right off the rip. The Legendary Aspects are: Extended Magazine. Explosive Rounds. This little auto Grenade Launcher carried me through my fist play through. I use nothing else.

[@williambo6682]

The razorback is the best, easy to get balistic sniper in the game.... given the fact i have seen 2 hard targets drop with bashing.... it is far easier to get a quality razorback. And it out ranges most ballistic options that can be silenced.

[@tskwared667]

At level 13 I found an urban eagle with 156 per shot damage in a random no-name cave. One shots single digit level enemies and 2 shots up to like level 15-20 I think

[@TheCokee47]

I straight up snipe with my scoped razorback. Probably my favorite handgun.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very cool. It does seem like the best option for a sniper if you are doing a handgun only run.

[@addgamer4545]

All of the mag weapons I assume are based off the "Metal Storm" and the caliber is the bullet the cartridge fires.

[@blpitts11]

I got a razorback with hitman and instigating on it…needless to say I threw a can on that bad boy and use it almost exclusively with my sneak build I’m working on

[@pakornwattanavrangkul2550]

Magshot doesnt get damage reduction for auto, I use it as the wildlife delete button.

[@TheGeishakuula]

What's Relentless? I've never seen that in any weapon

[@ReapeeRon]

I meant to say Furious, not Relentless. Sorry about that.

[@rodneyg9746]

I personally bump the 1911 down to B Tier because, even though it is powerful, and you can get them fairly easily through certain questlines (some side quests and on Earth in the main quest, they are everywhere), the ammo is not super common and the 1911 has less mod options than the XM2311. I'd switch the 1911 and Novalight, since the Novalight can hit like pretty hard, especially if you spec into it, but it hits hard even if you don't.

[@hf7219]

I have beat the game with a "Novalight" as main weapon, it's awesome. I played on hardest difficulty.

[@codypanek]

Found an Urban Eagle very early on (always spec LockPick first! 😂). Been in love since

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice!

[@LordRunolfrUlfsson]

I would probably drop the Razorback down a tier. It hits hard, but with the high recoil, you just can't put shots on target very fast, and it has a long reload animation. It's nice if you want to snipe with a pistol, though.

[@jakewhite4321]

I picked up an advanced regulator pretty early on used it almost exclusively from levels 15-35.

[@sergeantsapient]

They either need to simplify the ammo system in this game or change some of these really weird calibers.

[@ReapeeRon]

That would be nice, I find it kind of strange that you can have 2 .50 cal rounds that are different. They could have just made one in Cal and the other in MM. That would also make it clear that they are different.

[@allanspraggon7207]

Eon gets the whiteout round option: moves it to A or S tier while this is brokenly OP.

[@yannikatsafados2726]

I found a legendary Va’ruun early in my play through and I think I sold it because I didn’t know if it was good or not. I hope I didn’t sell it.

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice!

[@youdontneedtoknow106]

The M1911 is on the top for me its a timeless classic that still hits hard love how the classic still ranks high since yk its like 300 years old in game well the model of the gun is irl its over 100 years old

[@bobby3eb]

Found the starshards, 3 of them, in the regular game around lvl 50. Maybe under that

[@mikeb5063]

A stock Rattler with the binary trigger can fire nearly as fast as the kraken but does semi auto damage

[@kudosiafirstbutyoutubestoleit]

Ive found a star shard on the columbine in the ducting on both my play throughs

[@ccech3882]

Heya thank you so much for video, I have so many different pistol it was frustrating what to keep and what to sell. Also I did not see you mention the DeadEye pistol not sure to keep or sell its in my armoury for the time being

[@fenfrostpaws2000]

I got a legendary elemental XM2311 in my current NG+ run and it's amazing. Unfortunately I use more .45 ACP than I can loot or buy XD

[@brandoncurtis1636]

Did he mention that the Eon, Rattler, and Sidestar all don’t come in an “advanced” version? It’s important to note that they fall off bad in the late game

[@CHILL...BROHEEM]

I like my guns to look realistic, I use the 2311 old earth .45, The Beowolf assault rifle and The Hard target sniper. I feel like these are also the best weapons in the game, can't get any of them till around lvl 30 though so that sucks

[@OG_Agrivar]

The Va'ruun Starshard drop rate must be tied to player level, because I'm nowhere near NG+ (plot-wise)) but my character is almost level 100 and I've been getting them as drops for ages now! I'm rocking a legendary with one-inch punch, elemental and extended mag - it's easily the best weapon I've ever found!

[@granthidor]

refined < calibrated < advanced < superior

[@JoeyJoestar99]

Just wanna throw my experience in here, Starfield is a very easy game, even on the hardest difficulty, I recommend playing with weapons you enjoy over the best dps weapons.

[@storm5257]

I went a ballistic pistol build that got silly when I got the mag shot.

[@ScottTroiano]

No Shorty? No Ambasador? I am peering at this list suspiciously. Although the Starshard is likely the best handgun out there. Or perhaps the Ambassador. But yeah, the term you are looking for is "Level Locked". Get to level 100 and you will see lots more Starshards. And the Ambassador is unlocked with a quest. Get digging there, sir, and come back when you have a full list. Cheers!

[@LodanSD]

I found an Advanced XM-2311 somewhere, dunno where, but I was thinking about modding it, now I'm sure I should mod it.

[@Lew98765]

Regulator should have been higher Found one with 100 damage a while ago and it took me time to find better than it (so far only the magshot surpassed but well that thing is crazy broken)

[@ReapeeRon]

That's fair, and you can find Advanced version of the Regulator really early on.

[@supertran28]

Oddly I found the Varuun pistol at the den at the trade authority for 34k. Not too bad

[@ReapeeRon]

Very nice!

[@Knowledgeable5]

Other than the cutter, the eon is THE first weapon you can use

[@Shadowpack95]

DID THAT GRASSHOPER BREATHE FIRE!!!!!!!!!

[@ReapeeRon]

Yeah some of them do that.

[@OscarInAsia]

Somehow I picked up an advanced regulator VERY early in my first play thru... It was so good that is ALL I would use till I got the Ranger questline revolver which had better stats.... nearing the end part of my first run I switched out to the Pirate quest handgun as my handgun for the rest of the game. I'm sure the energy/laser weapons are actually better, but just not my style...

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

You probably picked it up from a 'Deserted Relay Post' location. It seems to be a guaranteed item there, in the break room near the top. It's also much easier to get to than the guaranteed Advanced A-99 rifles from the 'Deserted Listening Post' location.

[@mariomanzo4116]

The Keelhauler is absolutely ridiculous lmao

[@dakotam9358]

Have a razor back with one inch (shotgun pellets) and bleed. Stupid good

[@ReapeeRon]

It probably is, I haven''t got that one yet.

[@choklatemilkman]

Dont you dare tell people to take the fully auto or hair trigger mods off my baby Keely. I hated it on my first playthrough and tried it once and put it down but on my current i decided id give it a try. You have to treat it like a shotgun and control the recoil but it melts through armor on very hard. The burst dps is actually pr0bably the highest in game.

[@ReapeeRon]

That is a good point, for my build I was already going with Shotguns so it seemed strange to me and I wanted a bit longer range for the pistol. In a full Pistol build I could see that being very useful.

[@Cjorss]

I mostly agree, xm2033 is my favorite by far. I would probably put the regulator at A and the Urban Eagle at B though. The two extra shots on the Regulator make it mostly tie the Razerback and both can have the binary trigger resulting in a fast rate of fire. The Urban eagle is just too slow firing to ever feel good. But there is a magazine out there that adds ammo capacity to a few guns including the Urban Eagle. With all 5, It's 11-12 capacity and you can take penetrating rounds.

[@DaStar280]

Regulator and razorback would be S imo 2 of the best guns for a pistol build. I haven't found a good xm to out dps either of those too yet but definitely agree with most of what you said.

[@Cjorss]

@DaStar280 I had a furious xm2033 that was great, the extended mag puts it at 15 rounds which is nice. One universe I found a regulator with double mag which was just unbelievably OP. 16 rounds!

[@thewaydownmachine]

😊 starfield The futuristic game with lots of loading screens, there are variety of super cool space and futuristic weapons to choose from and most of us choose the 1911 and the AK-47. *Spaceman holds up a .45, It's time to game!*

[@slowboat7647]

Spec into weapon engineering to REALLY unlock the potential of particle & laser weapons. They have some very strong mods(focus nozzle, amplifier, ignition beams.etc) compared to the typical high powered + AP rounds on ballistics. They should’ve given penetrator rounds to more if not all ballistics. The particle weapons benefit more from skills and attachments. Not to mention the best damage over time magazine comes standard on particle weapons(thanks to the annihilator rounds bug)

[@boikman]

Nice list, I’m stoked to see what you think of the heavy weapons! I just started a pistol wielding professor/explorer savegame (basically Indiana Jones in space) and have been loving the Old Earth Pistol, can’t wait till I’m higher level and can get my hands on an XM.

[@pragmaticeagle4832]

If you really wanted the XM early there's a quest called 1st contact where your quest reward is always an XM. No level requirement for the quest as there is no combat.