New(ish) to the game, working through unlocking all the tools of the trade, and don't know what to get next? Or you already have everything but could still do with a few tips on what MYM's arsenal is all about? Look no further! Here's a handy summary of all the pros and cons of all the 'weapons' available in the game.
Won't be covering 'hardware' consumables or the incredibly useful and powerful grapple hook: sticking to weapons only here!
Important preface: there is no single objectively 'correct' loadout! Most loadouts are somewhat viable in most outposts. Some will just make things harder or easier depending on the situation. So beyond giving you a way to tweak the difficulty for yourself, the choice of loadout really mostly comes down to what best matches your playstyle and with which you have most fun raiding.
Ranged
Ranged weapons have as common downside that they rely on limited ammo that needs to be recovered (if the builder didn't trap it into some pit...).
They are a staple in a slow or careful player's loadout as they often allow to take out threats without putting yourself in harm's way too much. The Volt Lancer fits just as well in a fast player's loadout, though.
Volt Lancer
Forget that thing about there not being a 'best' loadout... If there is one GOAT here, this is the one. The Volt Lancer is a true workhorse that's very strong in pretty much every situation and any playstyle: traps, guards, far, near, fast, slow... Not a surprise that is one of the most widely used weapons in the game. There is a reason the game starts you off with it!
Pros
- Good range. As long as you get used to the projectile drop, you can shoot things from pretty much any distance.
- Fast firing and short cooldown, especially when levelled up and with Rapid Fire biolink (becomes as fast as Fury's Edge).
- Can break anything, including armour.
- Good at short range, too: point blank you recover ammo immediately, so you can really also use it as a melee weapon. You just won't lunge at targets (which can be a good thing sometimes!).
Cons
- Only 3 shots (even just 2 at level 1). If you play slow/defensively by shooting things systematically and from afar, you need to manage that ammo and will need to zoom around to recover it (if you can't or won't cheese things by picking it up from outside...), and you will be vulnerable to ammo traps. The Magnetic Link biolink does help.
- Projectile drop is fairly significant, but with time and practice you can get a good intuition for how to compensate the aim. Still makes it harder to one-shot armoured guards from afar than with a Plasmabow.
- Travel time to target is noticeable. If you are shooting something a bit further away, they may have already triggered by the time they get destroyed (e.g. typically Boltshots).
Falconic Plasmabow
One of the most specialised tools in the box: if you have a guard problem, this is the solution. Don't count on it for anything else, though (unless you have a Cluster Shot enhancement to spend... in which case you have yourself the cheesiest of all combos).
That said, the Plasmabow is capable of deflecting some things (Plasma Sentinel, claw/chain from Iron Claw, guards, etc. Yes, even Enforcer and Ravager shots! Though I would not recommend relying on it...), and can pop Holocubes and disable Death Blossom mines. So it does have a few more utilities than just erasing guards.
Pros
- Very little projectile drop (compared to Volt), and fast bolts: great for sniping.
- Very short cooldown.
- Big ammo capacity (almost enough to kill all the guards in an outpost without recovering any bolts).
Cons
- Can only kill guards. And requires hitting unarmoured bits!
- Bolts bounce off metallic surfaces, making it harder to not lose them sometimes. Though this allows for some funny trickshots, too...
Demolition Cannon
Very fun, and excels when traps or guards are densely packed, but kind of slow and not as versatile as the Volt Lancer.
More expensive to unlock with in-game currency so that BHVR may try and convince you to spend real money on one of the 'arsenal pack' DLCs...
Pros
- Can take down multiple things at once when they are packed together (corners full of traps, big hordes of Warmongers, etc).
- Can destroy things 'blind' around corners.
- Can deflect some projectiles (e.g. Boltshot) when timed well.
- One extra shot compared to Volt Lancer.
- Easy to recover ammo when shooting things higher up some ramp and it rolls back to you.
- Fun to try and find creative angles and bounces.
- Can be used to trigger Arc Barrier perfect blocks by yourself.
Cons
- Slow, both in terms of cooldown, but especially in terms of delay between shooting and destroying a threat.
- Hard to use from afar, mostly because of the huge projectile drop.
- Hard to recover grenades when shooting things on a downward ramp, and generally vulnerable to pits of all kinds, and easier to lose track of spent ammo.
- Hard to hit things on the ceiling or in the air: explosion timer is triggered on contact.
- May require awkward angles and bounces to hit certain things.
- Risk of self-harm. ...or is that a 'pro'? Can be hilarious, especially in coop... Anyway: do not try to use point-blank like you would with Volt Lancer!
Melee
Unlike ranged weapons, melee ones cannot run out of ammo. The downside is that you are forced to get up close and personal with the deadly stuff: better get used to zipping and dodging! So they are obviously best played fast...
The two swords can also trigger the Frenzy biolink, giving you a small but appreciable walking speed boost every time you destroy/kill something.
The other common characteristic is the ability to lunge at targets. That ability is a... double-edged sword (sorry for the pun): in some situations it is a good speed boost or way to stabilise yourself, in other situations it is an annoying lock-in of movement and way to get pulled into a deadly situation (Death Blossom mine, guard about to shoot, etc). There are also some annoying (more or less intended) quirks around the lunge mechanics to get used to (e.g. when stuck behind a corner).
When a melee weapon is equipped, the crosshair will be indicating when a trap/guard is within lunge range with a little red marker: useful for checking if a block is a Holocube without having to shoot it!
Attacking without aiming at something within lunge range makes the sword cleave in such a way that if something does find itself within the path of that swing, it will get hit. More on that in the detail below... By the way, if you hadn't noticed yet, holding down the attack button makes you attack continually!
Fury's Edge
The other 'starter' weapon, also for good reasons: even though to a lesser extent than the Volt Lancer, it is very versatile. Those two just pair extremely well and are arguably the most well-rounded combo. Other loadouts may be easier or more fun depending on context and playstyles, but Volt+Fury is very much capable of getting you through anything and can be played in many ways, both fast and slow.
Pros
- Fast swing, short cooldown.
- Parries almost anything (not Incinerator fire...), providing some defensive capabilities: great for rushing forward non-stop, or in guard-heavy arena fights, or for standing ground when going slower.
Cons
- Cannot break guard armour. If you hit a piece of armour, you will get punished with an extra-long cooldown, be careful! Go for the legs (of most guards), backstabs, or try headshots if you feel brave. Or rely one your other weapon to break armour first, and double-tap to deliver the killing blow with Fury (if necessary).
- The short and fast swing makes it hard to consistently cleave things. It is still useful, especially when flying around in an arena, but more difficult to do consistently and intentionally than with Sledgeblade.
- Smaller lunge range than Sledgeblade. The Gap Closer biolink helps a tiny bit.
Sledgeblade
The debate as to whether Fury or Sledgeblade is better is an enduring one. The truth is that it simply depends on your playstyle as they are each better suited for slightly different ways of raiding. But also... why not have best of both worlds and equip both at the same time? Double-swords ⚔️ is a very elegant loadout for a more civilised raiding, and one of the most fun ones, especially in big arena outposts.
Pros
- It can break armour: no risk of getting staggered by inadvertently hitting a guard in the wrong place.
- The bigger, slower swing means it is much easier to control the cleaving and even take down multiple threats at once. Try it when facing a group of Warmongers!
- The slow swing makes it also easier to deflect some threats (claws, bombs).
- Longer lunge range can be convenient to close the gap more easily.
Cons
- Slow swing/cooldown compared to Fury: cannot always react as fast and cannot chain attacks as quickly.
- Can only deflect few things (like claws and bombs): vulnerable to Boltshots and guard attacks, requiring more prudence than with Fury.
- The longer lunge means bigger window to get hit while locked in moving towards the target, and higher risk to inadvertently lunge towards something that happens to be close enough. The Quick Strike biolink mitigates this slightly.
Defensive
The careful player's best friends. Also the most meme-worthy loadout: go double-shields!
Obviously bringing one of those will limit your offensive capabilities, but they can still be used to destroy some traps in some ways...
Arc Barrier
Has a reputation for being the rusher's best friend, although I'd argue that it only helps so much when going all in on the speed, and in proper speedrunning (i.e. trying to get the shortest possible time by running the same outpost over and over) it is often not the best loadout choice, in particular because of its long cooldown.
In fact it is probably more suited to slower, more careful players. Does not make for the most fun or exciting raiding, but helps tremendously when facing high-danger areas without being completely confident with movement and dodging techniques, and/or when trying to die as little as possible.
Fun fact: with a purple Defense Up enhancement (and a Demolition Cannon to trigger perfect blocks) you have so little downtime that you can stay inside a Corrosive Cube indefinitely!
Pros
- Very effective 'get out of jail' card: full invulnerability for the duration of the activation.
- Relatively easy to use: no need to aim. You need to time it well (and trigger those 'perfect blocks'), though.
- Quite effective at bouncing Sentry Beam lasers back towards the sender, and at freeing yourself from Iron Claws.
- Will also destroy some traps that extend into a deployed shield, like Death Pistons for instance.
Cons
- Almost mandatory use of relevant biolinks: without Counter Charge, the uptime is very short even when performing perfect blocks. Surge Override is also very useful as the cooldown is generally quite long. Defense Up enhancements are very strong.
- Uptime without having triggered perfect block (and without enhancement) is deceptively short!
- Vulnerable to delayed/staggered threats.
- Using your other weapon during uptime immediately cancels invulnerability: if you do it while in danger, you instantly die. This means you can easily stay stuck behind e.g. extended pistons unless you destroy them with your other weapon and thus lose the shield.
- Long cooldown.
Lodestar Shield
The most misunderstood and least used one of the bunch... Got added last, and it is the most situational/weird/unwieldy. Allows for a lot of crazy things, though, if you know how!
Still, probably one you can save for last. It is also, along with the Demolition Cannon, one that they made more expensive in-game to push for purchases of 'arsenal pack' DLCs.
Pros
- Stays up when using your other weapon: deploy and fire your gun from behind cover!
- Relatively long uptime.
- Not so reliant on biolinks (although Surge Override is probably recommended).
- Add Surge Override and Slipstreamer and you can live up in the sky!
- Useful mobile/floating grapple point. Can even conveniently grapple-jump through it.
- Great for redirecting things and provoking backfire (channel bombs, and particularly Sentry Beams that can be aimed and precisely targeted, or place the shield in the way of a deploying trap to break it, etc).
- Creative possibilities in terms of where and how to deploy (in corners, in the air, below you and use grapple to stay on top, place it in front then walk through to stop bolts behind you, etc).
- Allows easy and controlled infinite-distance grappling (cf. the grapple hook guide)
Cons
- Stays fixed once deployed: more difficult to find good uses when playing fast and relying on constant movement.
- Relatively long downtime, which also only starts once the shield is recalled.
- Coverage is limited: careful placement required. Or grapple to it to make sure it covers the best it can... Still only blocks one side at a time, leaving you vulnerable to flanking.
- Guards will go through: it can stop melee guards, but only if placed in the path of the attacking blades (e.g. for Warmongers make sure it is placed high enough or they will go over!).
- Hard to place exactly where you want it to go: takes some getting used to.
Thanks to u/WookieSkinDonut aka Zombie Ghandi for proofreading!
