In Rimworld, there are many weapons to choose from. When you have enough resources to equip all your pawns, you might consider crafting the most effective ones available. Below, I will tell you the best weapons in Rimworld.
Best weapons in Rimworld 1.5
What is the best weapon in Rimworld depends a lot on your playstyle. If you're someone who wants to focus on close range weapons, you'll most likely want to focus on a melee build, while longer range is best done with the ranged weapons. Regardless of either option, you have many options to choose from.
I compiled this list based on weapons that are relatively cheaper to craft or find compared to their DPS (damage per second). These weapons are all affected by modifiers and the materials you use to craft them.
List of best ranged weapons in Rimworld
All ranged weapons in Rimworld go through the same firing cycle, which begins with the aiming time when your pawn prepares to fire at the enemy, followed by the firing. The shooting depends on the ability of your pawn to shoot and the basic accuracy of the weapon. This ends with the cooldown process, where the firing cycle resets, and your pawn can start firing its weapon again.
These are the best weapons in Rimworld based on cost effectiveness and optimal DPS. This is a hypothetical scenario where each shot hits the enemy based on the base damage, which differs from real combat situations influenced by range:
- Touch: 3 tiles
- Short: 12 tiles
- Average: 25 tiles
- Length: 40 tiles
| Tier | a weapon | Optimum DPS (damage per second) |
|---|---|---|
| S | A minigun | 36.76 |
| S | Assault Rifle | 10.88 |
| S | LMG | 15.78 |
| S | Charge Rifle | 13.24 |
| A | Chain Shotgun | 18.73 |
| A | Heavy SMG | 12.34 |
| A | Machine gun | 11.02 |
| A | Triple rocket launcher | 15.52 |
| A | Pump shotgun | 8.37 |
| A | Charge spear | 6.82 |
| B | strawberry garnets | 12 |
| B | EMP grenades | 12 |
| B | Automatic pistol | 7.69 |
| B | Sniper rifle | 4.31 |
| C | Bolt action rifle | 5.63 |
| C | revolver | 6.32 |
| C | Grand arch | 4.86 |
| D | A shot bow | 3.67 |
| D | Doomsday rocket launcher | 5.56 |
| D | Tactical sniper rifle | 4.86 |
| D | Nerve spike | 3.55 |
| D | Recurve bow | 4.52 |
| E | EMP launcher | 7.14 |
| E | Molotov cocktails | 2.4 |
| E | battery | 3.13 |
| E | Flame brand | 2 |
| E | Incendiary launcher | 1.43 |
In my opinion, the an assault rifle is the best ranged weapon in Rimworld, despite being further down the list. This is because the Assault Rifle is easy to obtain once you have the machine table, requiring only 60 steel and 7 components. Your pawns only need a minimum of six creative skills to craft one of these powerful weapons.
All ranged weapon quality modifiers in Rimworld
The quality modifiers on each weapon are randomly based. Higher–clever pawns has a greater chance craft higher quality weapon, resulting in increased damage and accuracy.
| Quality | Accuracy modifier | Base Damage Modifier | Armor Penetration Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terrible | 0.80 | 0.90 | 0.90 |
| Poor | 0.90 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Normal | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| ok | 1.10 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Excellent | 1.20 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Masterpiece | 1.35 | 1.25 | 1.25 |
| Legendary | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.50 |
Related: All Rimworld Xenotypes and Xenohumans
List of best melee weapons in Rimworld
When it comes to melee weapons, you need to consider not only the DPS (damage per second) that a weapon can deliver but also the type of damage it can deal. These include sharp, blunt, burns or EMP. Depending on the type of enemy you are facing and your goal of killing or disabling them, you can make a choice.
| Tier | a weapon | DPS |
|---|---|---|
| S | Thrombohorn | 9.44 |
| S | Monosword | 11.45 |
| S | Personal monosword | 14.53 |
| S | Personal zeushammer | 13.17 |
| S | A powerful claw | 9.28 |
| A | Hand claw | 8.18 |
| A | Personal catchword | 9.97 |
| A | Elbow blade | 7.78 |
| A | Zeus hammer | 9.41 |
| A | Knee spike | 7.57 |
| B | Venon fangs | 6.65 |
| B | An elephant's tusk | 6.44 |
| B | Longsword | 7.9 |
| B | Lance | 7.88 |
| B | Poison claw | 6.34 |
| C | Club | 6.31 |
| C | Arcotech arm | 6.28 |
| C | Plasma word | 7.39 |
| C | Drill an arm | 5.9 |
| C | Gladius | 7.06 |
| C | Knife | 7.02 |
| C | Mask | 6.95 |
| D | Warhammer | 6.91 |
| D | A bionic arm | 5.53 |
| D | An axe | 6.68 |
| D | Ikwa | 6.7 |
| D | Breach Axe | 6.22 |
| E | A jade knife | 5.73 |
| E | Eltex staff | 4.51 |
If you are looking to enslave a lot of pawns to build your colony, I recommend using weapons with lower damage and blunt damage. This will reduce the likelihood of them dying on impact, allowing you more time to transport them to your beds for quick healing of your pawns.
If you're looking for pure damage at a low cost, I recommend investing in crafting a lot of longswords, as they are the most affordable high-damage melee weapons in the game. They can be crafted at any forge once you've researched them.
Related: Best schedule for night owls in Rimworld
All melee weapon material modifiers in Rimworld
Unlike ranged weapons, melee weapons in Rimworld can be crafted from a wide variety of materials, with each material slightly increasing the base damage multiplier in addition to the crafter's skill.
| material | Cooling rate factor | Damage factor (blunt) | Damage factor (acute) | Maximum HP factor | DPS factor (blunt) | DPS factor (sharp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1 | 1 | 0.75 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.75 |
| Granite blocks | 1.3 | 1 | 0.65 | 1.7 | 0.77 | 0.5 |
| jade | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1.15 | 0.77 |
| Limestone blocks | 1.3 | 1 | 0.6 | 1.55 | 0.77 | 0.46 |
| Marble blocks | 1.3 | 1 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.77 | 0.46 |
| Plastic | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 1.13 | 1.38 |
| sandstone blocks | 1.3 | 1 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.77 | 0.38 |
| silver | 1 | 1 | 0.85 | 0.7 | 1 | 0.85 |
| Slate blocks | 1.3 | 1 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 0.77 | 0.46 |
| steel | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Uranium | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 1.36 | 1 |
| wood | 1 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.65 | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| Bioferrite | 1 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
All melee weapon quality modifiers in Rimworld
The quality modifiers on each weapon are randomly based. Higher–clever pawns has a greater chance craft higher quality weapon, resulting in increased damage.
| Quality | Base Damage Modifier |
|---|---|
| Terrible | 0.80 |
| Poor | 0.90 |
| Normal | 1.00 |
| ok | 1.10 |
| Excellent | 1.20 |
| Masterpiece | 1.45 |
| Legendary | 1.65 |
The choice of weapon you make will largely depend on the type of colony and gameplay you are focusing on.
So, I highly suggest that you continue to use weapons that match your play style and level of enjoyment.
For more on Rimworld, be sure to check out 15 Essential RimWorld Mods and How to Install them and RimWorld pollution, explained and how to deal with it here in Pro Game Guides.
