# 100 "best" weapons

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [August 12, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327 "2015-08-12T22:43:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jaked122](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/jaked122/32/473_2.png) [@jaked122](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jaked122)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/21 "2015-08-14T22:18:24Z")

</div>

Oddly enough, when I test these weapons using debug functionality. The length of time I survive is usually ordered in reverse of this list. Maybe it comes from accidentally killing yourself with a sword. [Maybe that’s a cautionary tale](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RpbaUU7NI) 😑

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Nathan](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nathan)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/22 "2015-08-16T04:43:26Z")

</div>

[quote=“dreamfantasy, post:16, topic:10327”]actually besides dps, I would consider the special effect of the weapons as well, like quick, precise, parry.  
I usually use faster weapon and play hit and run instead of using a sledgehammer.[/quote]  
All of the specials are probably important if you need them. The Zweihander does both knockback and AOE damage, if you’ve got enough skill with it of course.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 6:41am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/23 "2015-08-16T06:41:30Z")

</div>

> [@Nathan\_](#):
>
> All of the specials are probably important if you need them.

I’d say most of them are useless. The AoE is slow, you can get knockback and stun from brawling, defensive ones are unreliable.  
Rapid strike does increase damage quite a bit and the effect is easy to predict, so I included it here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HeadWar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/headwar/32/2685_2.png) [@HeadWar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/HeadWar)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/24 "2015-08-16T14:52:16Z")

</div>

Finally, mathematical proof that [Katanas Are Just Better](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KatanasAreJustBetter).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/25 "2015-08-16T15:10:33Z")

</div>

I’d rather have a tachi. o3o

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FunsizeNinja123](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/funsizeninja123/32/118_2.png) [@FunsizeNinja123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/FunsizeNinja123)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/26 "2015-08-16T16:43:04Z")

</div>

Monomulecular blade is the best god-darn weapon, you can’t tell me otherwise. That thing plus boxing is insane.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/27 "2015-08-16T16:45:50Z")

</div>

What, no wakizashi for the minininja? o3o

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Nathan](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nathan)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 5:19am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/28 "2015-08-17T05:19:06Z")

</div>

> [@Coolthulhu](#):
>
> [quote=“Nathan\_, post:22, topic:10327”]All of the specials are probably important if you need them.

I’d say most of them are useless. The AoE is slow, you can get knockback and stun from brawling, defensive ones are unreliable.  
Rapid strike does increase damage quite a bit and the effect is easy to predict, so I included it here.[/quote]  
granted, but aoe works in terms of my time for when I want to wade into a bunch of lower level enemies.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jaked122](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/jaked122/32/473_2.png) [@jaked122](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jaked122)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/29 "2015-08-17T14:56:15Z")

</div>

> [@Coolthulhu](#):
>
> I’d say most of them are useless. The AoE is slow, you can get knockback and stun from brawling, defensive ones are unreliable.

Are the defensive ones meant to be unreliable, or is this considered a bit of a bug?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/30 "2015-08-17T22:36:02Z")

</div>

> [@jaked122](#):
>
> Are the defensive ones meant to be unreliable, or is this considered a bit of a bug?

Less of a bug and more of a result of balancing. While the actual mechanics are a bit more complex, here are some sample numbers:  
A 10 stat 0 skill character with a two-by-four will block roughly 20% of the damage  
A 10 stat 5 melee 5 unarmed character blocking with a limb will block roughly 50% of damage  
The same character with stats bumped to 20 would block 80% of damage

By “Unreliable” I mean that weak characters still need a lot of armor to sensibly use blocks. And that’s even before we consider that most characters are limited to 1 block per turn.

You won’t have an agile fencer in light tunic parrying attacks, DDA fencer dresses in thick leather, plate and kevlar. Especially considering that blocks aren’t impaired by heavy armor…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/31 "2015-08-17T22:42:00Z")

</div>

That reminds me, what ARE the effects of wielding a one-handed weapon in both hands?

We need to add “forces one-handed use” as an armor flag so I can PR shields. 3:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/32 "2015-08-17T23:05:36Z")

</div>

> [@Random\_dragon](#):
>
> That reminds me, what ARE the effects of wielding a one-handed weapon in both hands?

Shattering glass items will hurt both arms (unbelievably minor effect, considering glass items make utterly shitty melee weapons).  
You get 1 less tentacle slap attack if you have tentacle arms (0 if you have only lvl 1 of it)  
You can’t use ranged two-handed weapons while driving unless you let go of the controls

You’ll need more than just such a minor hack to make sensible shields.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/33 "2015-08-17T23:08:38Z")

</div>

Ah, drat. No effect on how well you could hold it, how you swing it, etc?

The hack would be a good way to make shields logical if one-handed use had more effects.

Does it even affect pistol accuracy, maybe? I thought that the recoil affect was a hardcoded element of boarding a vehicle…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/34 "2015-08-18T00:36:31Z")

</div>

> [@Random\_dragon](#):
>
> The hack would be a good way to make shields logical if one-handed use had more effects.

No, it wouldn’t. It would make shields just armor. You still couldn’t block anything but your arms with it and if you could, it would essentially be forcefield.  
Being grabbed, losing the arm, being overwhelmed - a good shield system would need to “understand” all of those, a hack that disables 2handing wouldn’t.

You’d need to implement weapon blocking with worn items rather than held weapons first. It wouldn’t be hard, but it would be harder than just hacking around.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Random\_dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4da419/32.png) [@Random\_dragon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Random_dragon)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/35 "2015-08-18T01:01:25Z")

</div>

Hmm. True. Guessing the shields will have to wait. As mod content is seems they’d be more acceptable as-is, but should probably wait to include them until those properties are implemented.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EditorRUS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@EditorRUS](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/EditorRUS)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 6:37am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/36 "2015-08-20T06:37:06Z")

</div>

For most part of a game I use wakizashi as the main melee weapon. Knives are used before I find wakizashi. It is simply awesome in both damage/rarity/speed. This table is good, but not really useful. In real game you should consider getting faster rather than more damaging weapon. You simply don’t need a weapon which deals 9000 damage every 3 moves because it’s more about quantity than strength. So I consider adding some abstract “usefulness” column which calculates the value as follows: RawDmg / ((0.01 \* AtkSpd)^X) where RawDmg is weapon’s damage, AtkSpd is Moves per Attack and X is some constant which should be found by adjusting it until you get meaningful output. For most part I think X=2 will do it.  
Also what should be REALLY taken into account is that cutting/piercing weapons also slow enemies which makes such weapons as knife spear or knives insanely useful when dealing with enemies. This feature makes damage output for a single enemy even higher.

For example “Combat chainsaw (on)” is barely useful because you’ll get smacked twice after your swing.

Even more accurate results would require calculating average HP of an enemy you might get in your way which should also consider its rarity and its avg damage output which makes even more unknown constants to be found. Apparently when dealing with common zombies you need to use some weapon which can yield damage equal to average zombie’s HP and takes the least time possible. Dealt damage which is higher than remaining zombie’s HP is wasted on nothing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bumpkin](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Bumpkin)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/37 "2015-08-20T13:56:15Z")

</div>

With long slender swords pretty much dominating the top of the list, it might be best for balance/realism if they suffer a lot more durability damage than other types of weapons, perhaps even with a small risk of breaking at any durability (it’s not hard to imagine an impaled enemy breaking a rapier or katana as he falls).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dlightfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@Dlightfull](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Dlightfull)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/38 "2015-08-20T14:11:04Z")

</div>

[quote=“EditorRUS, post:36, topic:10327”]For most part of a game I use wakizashi as the main melee weapon. Knives are used before I find wakizashi. It is simply awesome in both damage/rarity/speed. This table is good, but not really useful. In real game you should consider getting faster rather than more damaging weapon. You simply don’t need a weapon which deals 9000 damage every 3 moves because it’s more about quantities than strengths. So I consider adding some abstract “usefulness” column which calculates the value as follows: RawDmg / ((0.01 \* AtkSpd)^X) where RawDmg is weapon’s damage, AtkSpd is Moves per Attack and X is some constant which should be found by adjusting it until you get meaningful output. For most part I think X=2 will do it.  
Also what should be REALLY taken into account is that cutting/piercing weapons also slow enemies which makes such weapons as knife spear or knives insanely useful when dealing with enemies. This feature makes damage output for a single enemy even higher.

For example “Combat chainsaw (on)” is barely useful because you’ll get smacked twice after your swing.

Even more accurate results would require calculating average HP of an enemy you might get in your way which should also consider its rarity and its avg damage output which makes even more unknown constants to be found. Apparently when dealing with common zombies you need to use some weapon which can yield damage equal to average zombie’s HP and takes the least time possible. Dealt damage which is higher than remaining zombie’s HP is wasted on nothing.[/quote]

another problem with excess damage is bodies - with enough damage you destroy them with the swing, which is usually good, but not when you gib a zombie scientist (and lose a potential CBM).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EditorRUS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@EditorRUS](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/EditorRUS)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/39 "2015-08-20T14:34:50Z")

</div>

> another problem with excess damage is bodies - with enough damage you destroy them with the swing, which is usually good, but not when you gib a zombie scientist (and lose a potential CBM).

It's insanely hard to gib anything but a squirrel. Even if you have the best weapon available (except for Mjolnir) you will not gib zombies. By the time you get able to gib a zombie, you don't care about CBMs or zombies at all. You are WAAAAAY beyond OP.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Coolthulhu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/coolthulhu/32/2446_2.png) [@Coolthulhu](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Coolthulhu)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327/40 "2015-08-20T15:28:57Z")

</div>

> [@Bumpkin](#):
>
> With long slender swords pretty much dominating the top of the list, it might be best for balance/realism if they suffer a lot more durability damage than other types of weapons, perhaps even with a small risk of breaking at any durability (it’s not hard to imagine an impaled enemy breaking a rapier or katana as he falls).

I’d rather heavily nerf their armor penetration ability, to the point where it’s viable to switch to low-tier weapons for armored enemies.  
IRL a katana wouldn’t scratch a chain mail.

[Previous page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327.md?page=1)

[Next page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/100-best-weapons/10327.md?page=3)