The Best Weapons Tier List In Rogue: Genesia

Rogue Genesia’s weapons are pretty plentiful, and most of them have overlapping niches that force them into competition. Going only by the descriptions on their Soul Cards, it can be difficult to know how the spear compares to the pike or which upgrade path to follow for a gunslinger.

6 Things We Wish We Knew Before Starting Rogue Genesia

Before you start playing Rogue Genesia, you might want to consider these beginner tips.

If that wasn’t enough, the evolution system adds another level of complexity: A weapon might be mediocre by itself, but combine it with others and you’ll have a stronger weapon and free up the weapon slot at the same time. To try to make things clear, here’s all the game’s various implements of destruction ranked according to their strength, versatility and rarity.

Weapons Tier List

The equipment screen of Rogue Genesia, showing the DPS of different weapons and their equipped modifiers.

The weapons in Rogue: Genesia are far from created equal. A heroic weapon will typically be stronger than an uncommon one that fills the same niche. However, these are also harder to obtain, and the mastery talents that let you start a run with one are also more difficult.

We rated the weapons on how well they perform in their effective niche, how valid that role is and whether they’re able to stand on their own. Multiple challenges in the game require you to complete a run using only a single weapon.

S Tier: Weapons that work amazingly right out of the box. They don’t need help taking off, and so you can build around them for an entire game. They either have a broad use or a niche that never becomes irrelevant.
A tier: Weapons missing something to be perfect. They might match S tier weapons in power, but are harder to acquire or need specific cards to draw out their potential.
B tier: Weapons that don’t stand out but will perform well when filling in your extra weapon slots. They might be good in the early game but struggle to keep up, or they might be just an extra source of projectiles alongside an A or S tier weapon.
C tier: Weapons with gimmicks that limit their use. They might be difficult to aim or require you to fulfil some special condition to break even with better weapons.
D tier: Weapons that are so specific as to be unviable on most builds or have nothing to distinguish themselves in the first place.

S-Tier Weapons

The Shaman Staff and Magic wand combine to give the shaman projectiles the tracking of the wand.

The S-Tier weapons all perform well right from level one and also have useful evolutions that build on their strengths.

Weapon	Role	Useful Upgrades	Notes
Magic Wisp	Generalist	Projectile speed allows this to hit more often.	This weapon is fully autonomous, so can be slotted into any build. It deals great damage and evolves easily into a much stronger version that scales from projectile count.
Magic Wand	Single target damage	The fractal modifier multiplies both damage and range.	The magic wand’s active talent is strong, making it a good starting weapon. The swarms of small projectiles can retarget new enemies when one dies so no shot is wasted.
Shaman Staff	Wave clear	Combines with the magic wand to merge their strengths.	The staff isn’t mechanically distinctive but rapid fire, high damage, and piercing projectiles don’t need special gimmicks to work.
Crossbow	Bosses/Elites	It benefits more than most weapons from extra projectiles.	The crossbow always targets the healthiest enemy and has enough piercing to ignore any meat shields, so it’ll be continuously hurting bosses and elites. It can compete with some fusions for raw damage.

A-Tier Weapons

The player in rogue genesia uses the crystal sword and blood syphoon to defeat an elite enemy.

The A-Tier weapons either shine in the early game or fit well into a complete build where other weapons can cover their weaknesses.

Weapon	Role	Useful Upgrades	Notes
Crystal Sword	Early game	Area upgrades allow this to stay useful for longer.	This weapon gives double experience on kills, making it a great one to start the game with. The downside is that you use your mouse to aim, so other weapons can steal your kills.
Explosive Vial	Wave clear	Area upgrades improve the explosion radius.	The vial can evolve in three different directions depending on your other weapons, making it versatile. In the late game, its damage can start to lag, and the visual clutter of continuous explosions can make it harder to defend yourself.
Thunder Staff	Damage	Range upgrades let you use this outside of melee range.	The thunder staff deals great damage but has a worse range than most melee weapons. With aggressive positioning, it can shred bosses and elites.
Ice Nova	Damage	Fire rate is needed to improve this weapon’s consistency.	By itself, this weapon is held back by its slow fire rate. As part of a complete build, it becomes an efficient and powerful weapon against both single targets and waves.
Blood Syphoon	Healing	Range extensions let you hold more targets at a time.	This slightly outranges most melee weapons and deals nice area damage, plus it has a lifesteal effect no other weapons have. It’s less useful if you have cards and artifacts that already provide you with healing, though.
Bow	Damage	Any improvements to fire rate, damage or piercing will help the bow.	The bow is a low rarity weapon that punches above its weight. It doesn’t match up to completed synergies but holds its own against just about anything else.

B-Tier Weapons

The player in Rogue Genesia uses the active talent of the cleaver weapon to swing in all directions.

These weapons aren’t bad at all, but you won’t be jumping to pick them whenever they appear. Use them when you have the right upgrades to draw out their potential. Since most of them are focused on wave clear, you’ll want to save space for more focused weapons.

Weapon	Role	Useful Upgrades	Notes
Death Aura	Wave clear	Frost spirit applies its slow effect to all enemies at risk of hitting you.	This deals good damage in a wide area but needs range upgrades to not be a liability. It also needs a second weapon to handle bosses and elites.
Fire Ring	Wave clear	With enough area upgrades, this will hit just about all enemies on screen.	The ring fulfils the same role as the aura but with a wider range and better damage that reflect its increased rarity.
Cleaver	Wave clear	Projectile count and size both dramatically improve this weapon.	The cleaver has good penetration and area damage but needs a lot of upgrades to feel good.
Arcane Beam	Targeted damage/Wave clear	Power upgrades are the main way of improving this weapon.	A strange inversion of the cleaver: Its penetration and area damage feel more useful when you don’t have permanent upgrades. It can’t benefit as well from most stat modifiers.
Swordrang	Wave clear	Any upgrades to damage and projectile count will help.	The swordrang projectiles are hard to notice in the background, but they’ll quietly do work against waves and soften enemies up for your better weapons.
Shuriken	Wave clear	Piercing multiplies the damage of the throwing stars against groups.	Shurikens always perform well on damage but are held back by targeting the weakest enemy. Most enemies killed by shuriken are already liable to die from something else, inflating its damage statistics.
Kunai	Wave clear	Projectile count can mitigate the impact of its random aim.	Kunai will always do damage but rarely in the place you need them to. Their defense shredding makes them useful on some builds.
Throwing Knife	Targeted damage	Dash upgrades are already useful and just happen to improve the throwing knife as well.	The knives only fire when you dash, making them hard to use in the early game. Without any form of automatic fire, these are difficult to make use of but still deal good damage.

C-Tier Weapons

The player leaves a trail of worm glands while fleeing from the necromancer boss in Rogue Genesia.

These weapons all have gimmicks that limit their use. Trying to use them well often involves making sacrifices in other places.

Weapon	Role	Useful Upgrades	Notes
Worm Gland	Wave clear	Area upgrades and fire rate can compensate for the randomness of its aim.	Leaving damaging pools on the ground is lucrative only if you spend a lot of time fighting in the same spot. If you’ve got a ballista or other upgrade that requires you to stand still, this becomes worthwhile.
Wind’s Blade	Wave clear	Despite being a blade, it benefits from projectile upgrades instead of melee boosts.	This sword attacks horizontally only, making it difficult to use in most scenarios. It doesn’t get much extra strength to compensate for this weakness.
Pike	Targeted damage	Knockback improvements help with the range management this weapon is designed around.	The gimmick of this weapon is that it only deals proper damage to enemies at the edge of its range. This ideal range will change depending on your upgrades, making the pike fiddly to use.

D-Tier Weapons

The katana's DPS is compared to two other melee weapons in Rogue Genesia.

D-tier weapons fail to distinguish themselves. They serve as a way to fill out your eighth weapon slot after getting everything else you want.

Weapon	Role	Useful Upgrades	Notes
Thorns	Defence	Healing pairs well with the weapon’s built-in damage mitigation.	A weapon that only activates when you get hit isn’t great unless you have a combo that gives you immortality in any way. It comes packaged with defensive upgrades but its damage will never be more than mediocre.
Katana	Damage	The katana has two evolution paths that can justify the sunk cost of taking it.	For a heroic tier melee weapon you’d expect more. Even in a dedicated melee build, it will be outperformed by more common alternatives against both single targets and large groups.
Spear	Targeted damage	With enough fire rate you can pretend you’re holding a bow or shaman staff instead.	Spears are just rather unimpressive in both stats and visuals. There’s nothing that helps it distinguish itself. Manual aiming just seals its fate as being the worst weapon of the game, since it competes with so many better alternatives.

Gunslinger Weapons Tier List

The weapon upgrade tree for Rogue Genesia's gunslinger.

The Gunslinger uses an alternative system of weapons. The starting pistol can evolve in three different directions along linear paths: Sniper rifles, shotguns, and automatic rifles.

Weapon Group	Tier	Useful Upgrades	Notes
Automatic Rifles	A	These are near impossible to build wrong, benefiting from any improvements to damage and fire rate.	These weapons have the best consistency in the early game and maintain that high level of performance.
Sniper Rifles	B	Focus on getting improvements to ammo efficiency, especially the Tacticool Reloading card that lets you functionally ignore all reloading times. Look for soul cards that scale to weapon damage, like the thunder spirit.	Sniper weapons have a weaker early game but compete with automatic weapons once established.
Shotguns	C	Range upgrades help these to perform against waves. Projectile count and damage improve the performance against large enemies.	Shotguns focus on crowd control, but clusters of weak enemies are rarely a threat when you’ve got rapid fire, piercing projectiles and cascading effects from your various non-weapon cards.

Weapon Group

Tier

Useful Upgrades

Notes

Automatic Rifles

These are near impossible to build wrong, benefiting from any improvements to damage and fire rate.

These weapons have the best consistency in the early game and maintain that high level of performance.

Sniper Rifles

Focus on getting improvements to ammo efficiency, especially the Tacticool Reloading card that lets you functionally ignore all reloading times.

Look for soul cards that scale to weapon damage, like the thunder spirit.

Sniper weapons have a weaker early game but compete with automatic weapons once established.

Shotguns

Range upgrades help these to perform against waves.

Projectile count and damage improve the performance against large enemies.

Shotguns focus on crowd control, but clusters of weak enemies are rarely a threat when you’ve got rapid fire, piercing projectiles and cascading effects from your various non-weapon cards.

A player in Rogue: Genesia fires the arcane beam alongside a cloud of missiles from the magic wand and chain lightning.

Rogue: Genesia – How To Unlock Weapon Evolutions

If you don’t look for them, you’ll never find Weapon Evolutions by yourself in Rogue: Genesia. That’s why we have this guide on how to unlock them.

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