Weapons

In RimWorld, weapons are used by colonists and raiders alike to fight each other, or sometimes to put down an enraged animal.

Weapons have several characteristics that make them useful in different combat situations. They use no ammo even though there's Shells and Missiles resources.

Here's the list of available weapons in the game as of build 213.

Single shot

Autopistol

An ancient pattern blowback-operated self-loading pistol. It lacks stopping power and range, but is quick to fire.

The autopistol is a light, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a moderate amount of damage per shot; a very short time between shots; moderate range and moderate overall accuracy.

Bolt-action rifle

An ancient pattern bolt-action rifle. With its long range, and low fire rate, it is unlikely to drive animals to revenge, which makes it a favorite weapon for hunting.

The bolt-action rifle is a moderately heavy, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; moderate time between shots; long range and very high overall accuracy.

Charge lance

A pulse-charged rail-assisted lance weapon. It fires a single shot at high velocity, charging it with unstable energy as it leaves the acceleration rail.

EMP launcher

A wide-barreled EMP shell launcher. The shell will upon impact release a burst of electromagnetic energy, stunning mechanical targets (mechanoids, turrets, mortars) and depleting shields in the area of effect.

The EMP launcher is a ranged weapon that fires EMP bolts that explode on impact, creating a small EMP pulse that downs shields, and stuns mechanoids, mortars and turrets.

Flamebow 

A simple short selfbow with a load of incendiary arrows. The arrows carry fuel and an igniter. Upon impact, they spray fuel around and ignite it.

Greatbow

A powerful greatbow. Fires a heavy arrow long distances.

The greatbow is a moderately heavy, single-shot ranged weapon which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly longer range and high overall accuracy.

Grenadier armor 

A variant of marine armor with an integrated frag launcher on the shoulder. The armor is slightly less protective than standard marine armor. The launcher can only hold a limited amount of ammo and must be reloaded after use.
Grenadiers usually specialize in breaching buildings or internal ship bulkheads. While not effective at very long range, grenadiers can be surprisingly deadly in confined quarters.

Incendiary launcher

A wide-barreled incendiary bolt launcher. The bolts create small incendiary explosions on impact, starting fires.

The incendiary launcher is a weapon that fires bolts that deal low damage but can start fires and ignite enemies.

Nerve spiker 

A crossbow-like device that throws rough spikes embedded with a paralytic biotoxin. Low damage, but it stuns non-mechanoid targets. Large targets are more resistant to the biotoxin and will be stunned for less time.

Pila

Pila are spears for throwing. They take a long time to throw, but one hit can do heavy damage. This weapon represents a bundle of pila and can be thrown over and over. The singular of pila is pilum.

Pila are slightly heavier, thrown ranged weapons which deal a high amount of damage per pilum thrown. They have a very long time between throws, and slightly shorter range and slightly lower overall accuracy.

Pump shotgun

An ancient design of shotgun that emits a tight-packed spray of pellets. Deadly, but short range.

The pump shotgun is a short range, medium DPS weapon known for its huge stopping power, capable of stunning any but the largest creatures. It is the lower tech alternative to the faster firing but less accurate chain shotgun.

Recurve bow

A recurve bow. Its construction behaves like a tuned spring, storing energy more efficiently and delivering a faster shot.

The recurve bow is a light, single-shot ranged neolithic weapon which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot than a short bow, has a moderate time between shots, slightly better range and slightly higher overall accuracy.

Revolver

An ancient pattern double-action revolver. It's not very powerful, but has a decent range for a pistol and is quick on the draw.

The revolver is a light, single-shot ranged weapon in RimWorld which deals a moderate amount of damage per shot, has a short time between shots, a moderate range and moderate overall accuracy.

Short bow

A simple short selfbow made from a single piece of wood.

The short bow is a very light, single-shot ranged weapon in RimWorld which deals a moderate amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly shorter range and moderate accuracy.

Smoke launcher

A wide-barreled smoke shell launcher. The shell will upon impact release a cloud of smoke, obscuring incoming shots and preventing turrets from locking on.

The smoke launcher fires smoke bombs that explode on impact, covering a small area with smoke equal to a 5x5 square without corners, regardless of item quality.

Sniper rifle

An ancient design of precision sniper rifle. Bolt action. It has an exceptionally long range, great accuracy and good power. Because it's so unwieldy, other weapons outclass it at close range.

The sniper rifle is a slightly heavier, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a high amount of damage per shot; a long time between shots; very long range and high overall accuracy.

Uranium slug cannon

A self-loading uranium slug cannon designed to attach to a turret.

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Weapons

Melee | Neolithic

Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval

Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra

Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised

Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic

Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Medieval

Nerve spiker

Industrial

Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle • Hellcat rifle • Incinerator

Spacer

Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables

Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables

EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid

Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures

Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

Related | Body part weapons

Prosthetic arm • Bionic arm • Archotech arm • Power claw • Field hand • Drill arm • Venom talon • Venom fangs • Knee spike • Elbow blade • Hand talon • Flesh whip

Integrated weapons

Grenadier armor • Phoenix armor

Sub-Machine Guns

Heavy SMG

"A compact, wide-caliber slug-thrower. Very short range, but it packs a punch and handles quite well."

Base Stats

Type

Equipment – Weapons

Tech Level

Industrial

Weapon Class

Industrial

Market Value

355 

Mass

3.5 kg

Ranged Combat

Mode

Burst

Damage

12 dmg (Bullet)

Armor penetration

18%

Warm-Up

54 ticks (0.9 secs)

Cooldown

99 ticks (1.65 secs)

Range

22.9 tile(s)

Accuracy

85% - 65% - 35% - 20%

Velocity

48 (m/s)

Burst Count

3 (per burst)

Burst Ticks

11 ticks (0.18 secs)
(327.27 RPM)

DPS

12.34

Stopping power

0.5

Melee Combat

Melee Attack 1

Grip
9 dmg (Blunt)
13% AP
2.0 seconds cooldown

Melee Attack 2 

Barrel
9 dmg (Blunt)
13% AP
2.0 seconds cooldown

Melee Attack 3 

Barrel
9 dmg (Poke)
13% AP
2.0 seconds cooldown

Creation

Crafted At

Required Research

Gas operation

Skill Required

Crafting 5

Work To Make

24,000 ticks (6.67 mins)

Work Speed Stat

General Labor Speed

Resources to make

75 + 4

Technical

Has Quality

True

weaponTags

Gun, IndustrialGunAdvanced, ShortShots

thingSetMakerTags

RewardStandardQualitySuper

tradeTags

WeaponRanged

The heavy SMG is a moderately heavy, multi-shot ranged weapon that fires 3-shot bursts of rounds which deal a moderate amount of damage each; a moderate delay between each shot; a moderate time between bursts; slightly shorter range and moderate overall accuracy. Recommended for low skill shooters.

Acquisition

s can be crafted, each requiring and of work modified by the general labor speed of the crafter.

They are also commonly carried by Outlanders and Pirates and sold by traders or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Town guard	6.09%	Normal	60-200%
Mercenary gunner	14.62%	Normal	70-320%
Ancient soldier	11.40%	Normal	100%

Analysis

The heavy SMG is a flexible, but close-quarters focused offensive weapon. Its accuracy makes it very friendly towards low Shooting skill users.

Specifically, the heavy SMG combines good low-range accuracy, decent rate of fire, and high per-shot damage to make an overall effective weapon for any skill. At said ranges, it will outdamage the machine pistol, assault rifle, and even the charge rifle (for up to 10 cells). It's worse than the chain shotgun at close-quarters fights, but has a greater max range, making it more effective for general firefights and flexible overall.

Range, though not as short as other weapons in its class, still leaves a little to be desired. Similarly to the machine pistol, the heavy SMG's stopping power isn't high enough to stagger humans, only small animals like tortoises and boomrats.

Stats

Against an unarmored human, a heavy SMG can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3 hits to the head, 2 hits to the neck or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 3 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 6 hits (~7.08 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

The heavy SMG is best paired with a careful shooter up to level 13, then with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Comparison to assault rifles

Heavy SMGs and assault rifles are the preferred weapons when it comes to "general" combat. The main differences are that the heavy SMG has a higher peak DPS, is cheaper and has better DPS at short range, while the assault rifle both has a longer range and has a better DPS at medium-long range.

Specifically, the heavy SMG is better until 13 tiles, regardless of Shooting skill. The assault rifle is better past 13 tiles, regardless of Shooting skill. This is true for the vast majority of reasonable scenarios. The reason the heavy SMG is "skill-friendly" is that a low-skill shooter will be next-to-useless when firing from far away, no matter how accurate their gun is. An unmodified, skill 0 pawn has a 5% chance to hit from 25 tiles, which is then multiplied by x35% for a normal quality HSMG or x65% for normal AR (at this range).

The assault rifle has a range 8 tiles longer. This allows the assault rifle to comfortably outrange enemies like tribals, termites, and centipedes. The assault rifle dominates for kiting tactics, or if you're repelling breachers from a distance, or in a firefight when both parties are attacking from max range.

Therefore, whenever heavy SMGs or ARs are better will depend on what you are looking for:

• In a killbox, both weapons perform roughly the same, as you can change the length of the killbox to compensate for your weapon of choice. In a pure killbox scenario, Heavy SMGs are often the preferred weapon, as the player can control the engagement distance to reliably benefit from the higher peak DPS of the heavy SMG. They are also significantly cheaper and easier to research, meaning they can come online earlier. (When using an SMG killbox, give yourself a bit more than 13 tiles of range.)
• Outside of a killbox, but in a defensive emplacement, the superiority depends on shooting accuracy.
  • Assault rifles are better for higher skill shooters. They are a lot better at medium-long range, so are a lot better in a firefight that begins at the long ranges or that occurs over a variety of ranges. Note that only skilled shooters are competent at shooting at this range however.
  • Heavy SMGs are better for low-skill shooters. HSMGs are better against melee attackers, which shooters of any skill can help with. They are also better against sudden drop pod raids and infestations, due to the close-ranged nature of both fights.
  • Note that the chain shotgun is the ultimate short-range weapon, for both low- and high-skill shooters. However, the heavy SMG allows low-skill users to at least try to fire at long range, providing some help, and eventually training up the Shooting skill.
• If relying on offensive or otherwise mobile tactics, the assault rifle is a clear winner regardless of skill due to its range and accuracy at longer ranges.

Notes:

¹ When fighting larger targets, like centipedes, it is possible to cap at 100% accuracy with assault rifles. This requires a high quality weapon and an great shooter. As further shooting bonuses (masterwork/legendary weapons, bionic eyes, luciferium, shooting specialist, etc.) would boost the heavy SMG but not the assault rifle, this would make the SMG better than the AR from a longer distance. However, assault rifles still have a superior max range.

For human targets, reaching the accuracy cap should be impossible unless the Combat in Darkness precept is used in darkness.

Attack table

Weapons (Error: Page has no Property:Image) Weapons	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
		%

^{Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band.
The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.}

Version history

• 0.9.722 - Added.
• Beta 19 or prior - Sprite updated, old sprite used on machine pistol
• Beta 19/1.0 - All melee attack damages increased 8 -> 9, cooldown increased from 1.6s -> 2s.
• 1.5.4062 - Texture updated again

• 

  Texture prior to Beta 19, now used on the Machine pistol

• 

  Texture prior to 1.5

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Weapons

Melee | Neolithic

Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval

Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra

Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised

Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic

Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Medieval

Nerve spiker

Industrial

Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle • Hellcat rifle • Incinerator

Spacer

Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables

Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables

EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid

Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures

Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

Related | Body part weapons

Prosthetic arm • Bionic arm • Archotech arm • Power claw • Field hand • Drill arm • Venom talon • Venom fangs • Knee spike • Elbow blade • Hand talon • Flesh whip

Integrated weapons

Grenadier armor • Phoenix armor

Rifles

Assault rifle

A general-purpose gas-operated assault rifle for field or urban combat. It has good range, decent power, and good accuracy.

The assault rifle is a moderately heavy, automatic ranged weapon which fires 3-shot bursts of rounds which deal a moderate amount of damage each; a slightly shorter delay between each shot; a moderate time between bursts; slightly longer range and moderate overall accuracy.

Bolt-action rifle

An ancient pattern bolt-action rifle. With its long range, and low fire rate, it is unlikely to drive animals to revenge, which makes it a favorite weapon for hunting.

The bolt-action rifle is a moderately heavy, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; moderate time between shots; long range and very high overall accuracy.

Charge rifle

A charged-shot assault rifle. Pulse-charge technology charges each shot with unstable energy as it leaves the barrel. Released on impact, the charged energy greatly increases the damage done.

The charge rifle is a spacer-tech weapon that fires 3-round bursts. It has good armor penetration, moderate range, and slightly lower accuracy

Hellcat rifle 

A versatile assault rifle with good range, decent power, and good accuracy.
It also comes equipped with a bioferrite-powered mini-burner unit which generates a blast of flame from pressurized bioferrite charges. The mini-burner unit can be used twice before refueling.

The hellcat rifle is a moderately heavy, automatic ranged weapon with an integrated two-shot flamethrower.

Sniper rifle

An ancient design of precision sniper rifle. Bolt action. It has an exceptionally long range, great accuracy and good power. Because it's so unwieldy, other weapons outclass it at close range.

The sniper rifle is a slightly heavier, single-shot firearm in RimWorld which deals a high amount of damage per shot; a long time between shots; very long range and high overall accuracy.

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Weapons

Melee | Neolithic

Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval

Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra

Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised

Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic

Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Medieval

Nerve spiker

Industrial

Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle • Hellcat rifle • Incinerator

Spacer

Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables

Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables

EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid

Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures

Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

Related | Body part weapons

Prosthetic arm • Bionic arm • Archotech arm • Power claw • Field hand • Drill arm • Venom talon • Venom fangs • Knee spike • Elbow blade • Hand talon • Flesh whip

Integrated weapons

Grenadier armor • Phoenix armor

Thrown

Frag Grenades

Grenades have a very short range, a long aiming time, and a delay before exploding in a 3x3 area. Very dangerous to use, hard to hit with against moving targets, very expensive, they aren't the best choice all around for colony defense.

"Thrown explosive."

• Damage: 65
• Range: 12
• Handling: Super slow
• Area of effect: 3x3
• Usual price: $2000 (modified by trade)

Molotov cocktails

Molotov cocktails set a large zone on fire once it lands. Unfortunately, it is also super hard to hit the wanted target. Template:Clr

"Thrown explosive."

• Damage: 15
• Range: 12
• Accuracy: Ridiculous
• Handling: Super slow
• Area of effect: 3x3 cross-shaped
• Usual price: $2000 (modified by trade)