Best Weapons In Nier: Automata

Key Takeaways

• Ancient Overlord has greater critical hit chance and creates shockwaves, which is good for tough bosses.
• Type-3 Sword boosts character endurance and has a satisfying explosive finish attack.
• Phoenix Sword grants increased attack speed and health regeneration, which is useful in battle.

Being an action RPG, having the best weapons is crucial in Nier: Automata, especially when you get into the Hard and Very Hard difficulties. Yet the game doesn’t make it easy to determine which is the best weapon simply because there are so many weapons to choose from.

From small swords to large swords, bracers, and spears, there are a lot of weapons, and all can be upgraded and given plug-in chips that change how they perform. ​​​​​​Here are what could be argued to be the best weapons in the game, based on how often they are used and how much easier the game becomes when wielding them.

Updated on November 7, 2024 by Rabiya Rizwan: Nier: Automata has a variety of weapon types including short swords, combat bracers, large swords and spears. With a huge array of choices available, it becomes harder to decide on the best weapon for your playthrough. Ultimately you should pick the weapon with the highest attack power on the type that you prefer.

16

Ancient Overlord

Said to be wielded by a tyrant who slew his own people in a pointless attempt to become immortal, the Ancient Overlord is a strong weapon that serves you well. It may also be familiar to those who played the first game. You can obtain the weapon quite early in the game, and it will serve you well in a lot of tough bosses.

It may not do a whole lot of damage, but it does have a greater critical hit chance, and when fully upgraded, it has the Bullet Rupture ability, which creates a shockwave whenever you hit a projectile with this sword. Perhaps the most convenient part of this weapon is that you can buy it at the Resistance camp, assuming you have 15,000 gold.

15

Type-3 Sword

This weapon has been popular for many fans when fully upgraded. It has decent damage for a small sword, and it’s the sword of choice for Devola and Popola.

What makes it popular are the helpful special effects that seem almost tailored for beginners or more laid-back veterans. It provides endurance for improved sustainability, and the Finish Blast is a satisfying explosive finish to a completed combo. Popola and Devola have it for sale.

14

Phoenix Sword

As far as large swords go, this weapon sits about the middle in terms of damage when fully upgraded. What nudges it higher than many of the others is that, when upgraded, it grants you increased attack speed.

It also has a nice perk called Phoenix Flash that will sometimes regenerate your health whenever a hit connects with the enemy. It isn’t much, but having a few points of HP coming in during battle makes things easier if you’re terrible at evading. This sword is found to the right of the wall when you first arrive on Earth as 9S.

13

Angel’s Folly

Angel’s Folly is a set of combat bracers that have the best base damage of their weapon type. What makes them an attractive weapon to use is that they come with a boost to attack speed and a special perk called Angel’s Mercy.

Angel’s Mercy restores a portion of your health whenever you defeat an enemy. This is awesome in groups as it can keep your health topped off and has an attack speed comparable to Devil’s Hatred. Attack speed is also helpful in beating a lot of bosses and ambushes when you are surrounded by Machine Lifeforms.

12

Faith

This weapon easily has one of the darkest weapon descriptions as you upgrade it, but is still a good sword to have. Its damage isn’t all that spectacular, but with a boost to attack speed, you’ll hardly notice that each hit doesn’t do much.

It also comes with a Bullet Absorb ability that will restore a portion of your health when you hit a bullet using melee. It’s not much and very situational, but it’s a good way to restore a bit of health now and then. This sword is found in the Soul Box in Flooded City, on the elevator.

11

Iron Pipe

It seems a little strange that a simple iron pipe would be on this list, but this weapon (classified as a small sword in the game) is recommended if you are looking to be dangerous in Very Hard mode. Its special abilities at level four raise your chance of dealing a critical hit and give a high stun probability.

These two abilities can randomly dish out massive damage and keep enemies stunned while you clobber them with your other weapons like the humble Cypress Stick.

Because of this stunning ability, Iron Pipe is considered one of the best weapons in the game, even if it’s considered nothing special aesthetically. The only reason it isn’t higher on the list is that it works better if most of your damage is coming from another weapon.

10

Type-4O Lance

Type-4O Lance belongs to the 4O series of weapons in Nier: Automata. This spear is great for stunning enemies, and if you wait for a few seconds before your next attack, you can deal increased damage for a short interval. You will also be able to do a lot of long-range attacks if you don’t prefer to fight closer to the enemies.

Even if you don’t wait, the Type-4O Lance can inflict strong damage with its light and heavy attack power. This weapon is obtained as a quest reward after you complete Yorha Betrayers in the City Ruins.

9

Cypress Stick

It’s no surprise that this boring-looking stick is often combined with the Iron Pipe to great effect. This weapon (classified as a small sword) has the ability to increase its critical rate. The other ability is purely cosmetic and changes how chests look in the game, as a reference to the Cypress Stick’s origin: Dragon Quest.

Like the Iron Pipe, it’s nothing special on its own, but when combined with the other weapons, the two have the ability to stun an enemy, have a higher chance of dealing a critical, and then raise how much damage that critical can do. So enemies will be rooted to the spot while you bash away looking to strike criticals for impressive damage.

8

Engine Blade

The Engine Blade is a quirky-looking sword that’ll have Final Fantasy 15 fans swooning. With a wealth of lore behind the blade about its royal origins, you will certainly feel like a prince wielding this special blade. With decent base damage and special abilities that increase the odds of stunning an enemy, it does a fair amount of DPS while dishing out fast combos.

It also has the Shift Avoid ability, which does absolutely nothing for damage, but it makes your dodge ability look like Noctis’ phase dodge ability from Final Fantasy 15, which some fans argue makes it the best weapon of the game, even if it is just for cosmetics.

7

Type-3 Sword

This large sword is obtainable fairly early in the game when you have enough gears in your pockets. When fully upgraded, it deals fairly high base damage. It also had the special ability to increase your character’s endurance, which raises their defense levels, making them harder to kill in battle.

It also has a Finish Blast ability which creates an explosion after successfully completing a combo. It’s a nice ability that adds a cool finishing touch to an attack. There are a handful of better weapons in the game, but if you are just starting out or die a lot, it might help you.

This sword can give some needed defense and an explosive incentive for getting the combos figured out while still being a great weapon later in the game.

6

Type-4O Blade

This large sword is unique in that it’s one of the few powerful enough to stand on its own in battle. It does a fair amount of base damage and increases the chances of stunning enemies in combat. It also has an energy charge that grants you increased damage if you haven’t used the weapon for a few seconds.

While not important for dealing damage, the energy charge also has a pleasing blue electricity effect that makes this weapon a beauty to wield. The weapon is obtained as part of a side quest and, as a result, is a very common game that sees a lot of use in harder difficulties.

5

Type-4O Fists

The Type-4O Fists are one of the few great combat bracers in the game. They are especially great if you want to challenge yourself with short-range combat. You can obtain it using 9S in a locked chest near the resistance camp. You have to look near the access point and use 9S’s hacking abilities.

These Fists are powerful and, if you level them up to max, they will inflict some consistent damage. Its Stun Up ability is also great for making enemies vulnerable to your attack while they recover. However, if you want to deal more damage using it, you have to wait idly to charge up some energy.

4

Virtuous Contract

Your starter weapon, obtained by simply playing the game, is surprisingly one of the better weapons for the rest of the game. Being a small sword, it’s not terribly effective on its own, but you will be hard-pressed to find a better weapon to complement your other hand.

With special abilities that increase attack speed and Holy Blessing that increases attack power when HP is full, this sword compliments nicely with Virtuous Treaty, which is the long sword version of this weapon. If you can keep your HP topped off in battle, this makes for a very powerful weapon that serves well for the rest of the game.

3

Spear Of The Usurper

This spear is favored because of its long range of attack as a spear and for its decent base damage. The special abilities are what really make this weapon shine, though. Like many weapons of theebest weapons, it delivers a higher chance of dealing critical damage and has a unique ability called Turncoat that can randomly convert enemies to fight on your side.

The ability to dish out high damage on its own, combined with creating allies out of enemies, makes this a powerful weapon both in groups and against bosses. If you prefer to play more casually, this weapon will take some of the heat from you, and it requires less input when allies are on your side.

2

Virtuous Treaty

Like the Virtuous Contract, this weapon is obtained very early on and remains one of the better weapons through the rest of the game. If you are looking to dive into the action and not worry about finding something better, that’s fantastic news. If you want to change things up after a while, there aren’t a lot of better weapons depending on your playstyle.

In any case, this white samurai sword grants an increased attack speed and the Holy Blessing special ability that increases attack power when your HP is at full. With a high base damage and faster attacks, this can be one of the best if not the best weapon in the game, and works great when combined with the Virtuous Contract.

1

Demon’s Cry

These bracers are frequently in very hard modes and are widely considered to be the best weapon in the game. Shaped to resemble a demon’s fangs, these combat bracers may not do very much base damage when compared to other weapons, but their special abilities more than make up the difference.

The first special increases attack speed, allowing you to get in more hits than they would with other weapons, and the second special ability is called Devil’s Hatred, which creates a shockwave upon killing an enemy. You will love this weapon when fighting groups, as sometimes killing a single enemy will melt the others like butter with the shockwave.

Admittedly, it poses a problem when facing bosses, but given mobs are more frequent throughout the game, it sees more use.

When joined with a weapon like Spear of Usurper, a common combination on very hard mode, this combo makes you practically unstoppable.