Weapon Guide

There are a wide variety of weapons available in RimWorld. Using them effectively can give you a sizable advantage against raiders.

Overview[edit]

There are three main categories of weapon this guide will cover:

Melee - Weapons made for close combat. Enemies are unable to fire guns at melee range, so these weapons have a wide variety of uses, from using hallways to bring enemies to you, to rushing a troublesome centipede.
Ranged - Weapons that attack from range. There are a wide variety of ranged weapons, from the all-rounder generalists to "specialist" weapons that fit a specific niche.
Explosive - Grenades, launchers, and other oddball weapons/utility items like the doomsday rocket launcher. In addition to raw explosions, many grenade-type weapons have a special effect, like molotov cocktails starting fire. Most explosives do not rely on accuracy, Shooting skill, Manipulation, etc.

There are also three technology levels to consider:

Neolithic - Bows, spears, and clubs. Often necessary when starting a Lost Tribe or Naked Brutality run, but usually they can be quickly replaced. (Tribal)
Early Industrial - Weaker firearms, like pistols. These weapons are often carried by early pirate raiders. For the purposes of this guide, this includes any gun from Blowback operation and before, as well as medieval technology like longswords and greatbows. (Earlygame)
Modern / Spacer - Weapons from Gas operation onwards. Even an endgame colony can find industrial era weapons viable - charge rifles and miniguns aren't always the best weapon just because they are higher tech. (Midgame)

Weapon stats[edit]

There are a couple of stats that are particularly important to consider in a weapon:

DPS: Damage per second (at a given range), taking into account raw damage, accuracy, firerate, burst count, and armor. This is the primary consideration for most weapons, and for melee weapons in particular.
Damage type: Whenever a weapon checks Sharp, Blunt, or Heat damage, and specific quirks for melee damage. Most ranged weapons deal Sharp damage. In addition, each specific damage type (Arrow vs ArrowHighVelocity, for instance) can have different chances to hit different body parts.

Ranged Weapon Stats

Accuracy: For 2 weapons with the same DPS, a more accurate weapon hits targets more consistently. Certain weapons are more accurate at certain ranges. The pawn stat, Shooting Accuracy, is separate to the accuracy of the weapon itself. For a full breakdown of mechanics see: Weapons. Due to the specific mechanics of the Shooting Accuracy stat, weapons that deal the majority of their DPS at closer ranges lose less of their DPS than those that do less damage close up but more evenly spread their DPS across a wide band of ranges. Thus, weapons in the former category are considered "skill friendly", and those in latter are best relegated to pawns with high shooting accuracy.
Range: How far a ranged weapon can fire. Whether firing from this range is actually effective is another story.
Firing Cycle: Fire rate of a ranged weapon - the combination of warmup, cooldown, and firing time. For the same DPS, a lower firing cycle makes a weapon more flexible, and better for kiting strategies.
Stopping power: A stopping power of 1 or more can stagger, or slow, humans and human-sized enemies. Specifically, if stopping power >= body size, then the enemy will be slowed.

Melee[edit]

You shall not pass.

Melee weapons specialize in hand-to-hand combat.

Pawns who are adjacent to each other are forced into melee combat, even if they are wielding a shotgun. A gun's barrel is quite ineffective compared to a sword. Melee lends itself well to disruptive tactics, like rushing down a sniper or grenadier, or peeling off enemies from your gunners. The melee block - create a chokepoint with 3 melee outside, where only 1 enemy can melee at a time - is extremely effective against enemy melee foes. You can have gunners fire just behind them.

One of the main cons with melee is that taking damage is unavoidable. Later in the game, and especially with higher difficulties, enemies will vastly outnumber your colony. A 200 tribal raid will eventually wear down your most well-geared melee fighters, even in the best scenarios. Another con is that melee fighters will often have to approach ranged fighters, meaning melee is poorly suited for open combat against ranged opponents. Also, animals will always fight back against melee weapons even with 0% manhunter chance, making them terrible for hunting.

Notes:

Give your best melee pawns the strongest melee weapons, assuming you desire to get into melee at all.
- Weapon quality and material has a large impact on any weapon's effectiveness.
Shield belts are invaluable to give protection against bullets. They give melee pawns a new use - to serve as tanky distractions.
Try to avoid using melee in the very early game, unless you outnumber the enemy. Ranged weapons and spike traps are stronger than the weaker melee choices.

Sharp[edit]

Persona monoswords are the strongest sharp weapon, followed by regular monoswords.
Obsidian longswords are the best craftable sharp weapon, followed by either plasteel or bioferrite longswords.

Sharp weapons are the bread and butter of melee weapons. They are the most common type of melee, dealing strong all-round damage. Most sharp weapons have the Cut damage type. Cut has a chance to "cleave" through body parts, increasing total damage but spreading it throughout body parts.

Comparisons to blunt:

At standard qualities, sharp damage is better against unarmored targets while blunt is better against armored. At legendary quality and best types, or at high qualities with a melee damage factor boost, sharp weapon's AP is so high that armor practically doesn't matter. Instead, due to blunt damage's superior overkill damage mechanics, blunt is better against humans, while sharp's better overall DPS means it performs better against large/high HP targets.

Comparisons:

When wielded by a base pawn, a legendary obsidian or bioferrite longsword will only attack with its blade, due to the melee verb selection mechanic. This results in these weapons having significantly better performance than normal, with legendary obsidian longsword beating an excellent persona monosword and legendary monosword (which both have a 25% chance to attack with the handle).

However, with a strong enough body part attack, or with a boost to melee damage factor like the strong melee damage gene, legendary longswords will no longer attack with just the blade. This makes a legendary obsidian/bioferrite longsword somewhat worse by comparison.

The following table compares melee damage on a base pawn (no body part or melee damage factor):

Weapon	DPS	AP	Market Value
Bioferrite Longsword (Excellent)	13.55	52%	355
Bioferrite Longsword (Masterwork)	16.38	63%	590
Bioferrite Longsword (Legendary)	18.64	72%	1185
Monosword (Excellent)	14.49	99%	3000
Monosword (Masterwork)	17.51	120%	4000
Monosword (Legendary)	19.93	136%	5000
Obsidian Longsword (Excellent)	14.59	56%	895
Obsidian Longsword (Masterwork)	17.62	68%	1495
Obsidian Longsword (Legendary)	20.06	78%	2985
Persona Monosword (Excellent)	19.24	100%	Dependent on traits
Persona Monosword (Masterwork)	23.25	121%	Dependent on traits
Persona Monosword (Legendary)	26.45	138%	Dependent on traits
Plasteel Longsword (Excellent)	14.27	44%	1565
Plasteel Longsword (Masterwork)	17.25	53%	2605
Plasteel Longsword (Legendary)	19.63	61%	4045

Blunt[edit]

Persona zeushammers are the strongest blunt weapon, followed by regular zeushammers . Both variants cause a small amount of EMP, stunning turrets and mechanoids for a short time.
At legendary quality and/or high quality with a melee damage factor boost, uranium warhammers are the best craftable blunt weapon, and second best overall. While maces have a better DPS, warhammers are more likely to one-shot under these conditions.
At lower qualities or without Royalty, uranium maces will be the best blunt weapon.

Blunt wounds do not bleed and are often weaker in raw DPS than sharp counterparts. However, blunt weapons are great for penetrating armor, as most items have a poor Blunt armor rating. They also have a small chance to stun for 45 ticks (0.75 secs) on hit.

Very high quality blunt weapons benefit blunt damage's superior overkill damage spread. If a sharp weapon would stab a finger, a blunt weapon would destroy the finger and smash the arm in the process. This makes legendary (persona) zeushammers and warhammers (and to a lesser extent, maces) very consistent at one-shotting enemies.

Comparisons to sharp:

At standard qualities and weapon types, sharp damage is better against light armor and blunt damage is better against armored opponents. Maces lose to longswords until facing flak vest-level armor, and longswords can still harm the unarmored areas of the body better. Regular zeushammers lose to monoswords until facing foes in marine armor, and persona zeushammers lose to persona monoswords until cataphract.

However, at legendary quality or with high qualities with a melee damage factor boost, blunt's superior overkill damage makes blunt better against humans. Sharp weapons will have superior DPS as well as amazing AP, so they will perform better against large targets, including (ironically enough) centipedes.

Body parts[edit]

Power claws are the strongest melee body part, but lowers Moving by 8%.
Flesh tentacles are the second strongest body part and have no penalty, but cannot be installed via traditional means.
Hand talons are the strongest body part weapon with no downside that can be installed normally.

Artificial body parts can be used while holding a gun. Fulfilling the role of a sidearm, these implements are weaker than dedicated melee weapons. You can put these on your frontline gunners, who may not always be able to suppress a swarm of melee combatants. When holding a melee weapon, these parts can slightly increase damage; due to the melee verb system, sometimes the fists / body parts will be used instead of a weapon.

Creating these bionics is an advanced technology, so they are usually reserved for the mid- to late- game. Body parts can also be bought, though the surgery can be a bottleneck if you don't have a good doctor. Also note that pawns will prioritize their "best" melee attack; only one part is required for gunners.

Body part weapons are also essential for ghouls, who cannot wield regular weapons.

Comparisons to weapons:

Power claws are roughly equal to a normal plasteel longsword. Hand talons are stronger than elbow blades, which are stronger than a knee spike, though knee spikes have more AP. All three are roughly on-par with a normal steel longsword. Note that combat parts are incompatible with other artifical parts: hand attachments get in the way of a field hand, hand / arm attachments don't work with a bionic arm, and knee spikes don't work with a bionic leg. Venom fangs are the weakest of the bunch, but do not occupy any useful area of the body.

Melee - Nonhuman[edit]

Animal[edit]

Alpha thrumbos and thrumbos are the best animal, but are notoriously difficult to tame and keep tame.
Megasloths, elephants, rhinos, and both bears are behind the thrumbo, but can be found in the wild.

Animals are much more expendable than a colonist, and most have a lot more health than a colonist. However, they cannot be drafted, limiting their combat use severely. In addition, they require one or multiple pawns proficient in the Animals skill in order be tamed and trained. They thus have 2 main uses:

Animals trained in Attack can... attack. They will rush towards nearby enemies, acting as a powerful distraction for your gunners.
Animals can be put in an allowed area in a hallway raiders are passing through. Raiders and the animal will be forced to attack each other, resulting in a melee block scenario. Pen animals will not be attacked by raiders, and in any case are unable to be zoned.

Animal selection is also limited by biome, and large animals can turn hostile in failed taming attempts.

Wild animals[edit]

Other than shooting an animal and hoping it attacks the raiders, there are three dedicated ways to make wild animals hostile to your enemies:

The psychic animal pulser and its shard counterparts are a single use item that turns all wild animals on the map manhunter.
The manhunter pulse psycast turns all animals in a large, 57-tile radius into manhunters. Reusable.
The animal warcall gene turns a specific animal hostile against your opponents.

For the former two strategies, you should wall in doors (to prevent exit via mental break), and watch the carnage. Stronger animals like megasloths or a herd of elephants can easily end smaller raids, or at least force sieges to attack. These are heavily dependent on your map's current fauna. Also note that using wild animals like this becomes progressively weaker as raids become stronger. An elephant can't handle 30 gun-wielding raiders, for instance.

Mechanoid[edit]

Scythers are the most effective at melee damage, but have low durability.
Centipedes, despite having a ranged weapon, are very durable and have decent melee damage, perhaps beating the tunneler in a practical scenario.

Mechanoids have all the advantages of being an animal and then some, including the ability to be drafted like a colonist. Mechs can be repaired of all damage for just the cost of power and can be resurrected for a couple of steel. This negates all the long-term problems that lategame melee faces (though mechs are, of course, not invincible).

Mechs have their unique costs. They require their mechanitor nearby to actually control. They cost bandwidth, which could have been used for any amount of ranged mechs. And they create toxic wastepacks, which will eventually pollute your landscape. As combat mechs can be turned off, the actual costs of power and pollution are rather limited.

Comparisons

Scythers (2 bandwidth) are the strongest and most effective at melee, and move slightly faster than a baseline human. Tunnelers (3 bandwidth) have twice the armor of a scyther and a natural 250 HP shield belt, but are much slower and don't do as much damage. Tunnelers can also mine. Centipedes (4) and mechanoid commanders (5) have similar armor to the tunneler, and have much higher actual health, while dealing alright damage in melee.

Ghoul[edit]

Ghouls are incredibly potent at melee. They can be drafted like a regular colonist, do not bleed, do not feel pain or have mental breaks, regenerate HP and lost parts rapidly, and can be easily revived with ghoul resurrection serum. They are also worth remarkably little wealth and raid points when compared to a colonist or mech. While ghouls are limited to unarmed combat, they can be given body part weapons, a number of ghoul specific implants, and the strong melee damage gene. See the ideal ghoul analysis section for what else can help a ghoul.

Comparisons (ghoul implants)

A power claw is the strongest body part weapon but it hinders movement. A power claw + flesh tentacle is the overall strongest combination, as through the melee verb selection mechanic, this combo will guarantee that the power claw's attack is selected. A power claw + wooden hand will result in a similar effect, and outdamages a power claw + regular hand. A flesh tentacle is the second best body part weapon with no downsides, although it must be obtained before ghoulification. A flesh whip can be combined with a flesh tentacle or wooden hand in the same way.

Comparisons (to other melee pawns)

While the maximum potential for a standard human colonist is higher (legendary weapons, cataphract armor, shield belts, jumping and other abilities), a ghoul with a body part weapon + ghoul barbs + ghoul plating is significantly cheaper and requires much less research, so ghouls are very cost effective, and better than melee colonists in the early- and mid-game.

Animals cannot be manually controlled and require constant taming. Friendly mechanoids are strictly inferior for melee; scythers are frailer and weaker than a ghoul with a body part weapon + ghoul barbs + ghoul plating, while being more raid points and only slightly faster than a base ghoul.

Ranged - Neolithic[edit]

Neolithic weapons are the easiest weapons to craft, available for New Tribes and Naked Brutality starts to craft.

Bows[edit]

Bows are a mid range, generalist option.

Short bows are the simplest ranged weapons in the game, only requiring wood and a crafting spot.
Recurve bows are a direct upgrade to the shortbow, with an increase to damage, accuracy, and range, for only 10 wood more. Tribal starts begin with Recurve Bows unlocked, meaning they just need a Crafting skill of 5 to make these. At maximum range, recurve bows are surprisingly competitive with early firearms, especially at high qualities. (These can also be made at a crafting spot.)

Bows are at least something to fight raiders without having to engage in melee. Even without a single melee fighter, 5 tribals with shortbows can easily repel early game raids. Focus fire on 1 target, and don't let melee enemies too close. Doors can help with early ranged tactics. For example - place 2 doors on opposite ends of a larger building, and when melee raiders get too close, go to the door on the other side.

Naked Brutality players will want to rely on spike traps to kill raiders at first, using the shortbow for hunting and to save on traps. Of course, new tribes (and other colonies) can also use traps to their advantage.

Pila[edit]

Pila are incredibly short ranged support weapons.

Pila are more damaging but less reliable than short bows, and worse for DPS than recurve bows. They have a small range and a massive cooldown, so are poor as standalone weapons. Unlike shortbows but like recurve bows, they can stagger humans. The best use of the pila is a support weapon; place a low-skill fighter with a pila behind melee fighters. They also have some use as a hunting weapon. The high per-shot damage compensates for the lowered range.

Due to its weaknesses and Smithing requirement, pila shouldn't be actively created or sought after. However, a Lost Tribe will start with one.

Flamebows[edit]

Flamebows are specialist weapons that cause fire.

Flamebows create fire on the tile it lands on. Watch out for your base. Pawns lit on fire will run around wildly, unable to attack until doused. Fire can also be used to quickly heat up any place considered "indoors", causing any enemies to get heatstroke and burn up. Special traps can be made to take advantage of the heat, just like with molotov cocktails. Flamebows cannot be crafted, only bought or dropped from impid raiders.

Ranged - Early Industrial[edit]

Low-tech, conventional firearms. These weapons are often carried by early pirates and outlanders, such as the Scavenger Gunner, Pirate Gunner, and Town Guard. Scavenger gunners and pirate gunners in particular can only carry these weapons (and the incendiary launcher). These weapons will eventually be outclassed by superior firearms, like the heavy SMG and chain shotgun. So while you can craft these weapons as soon as you research Gunsmithing, many players like to wait to craft the weapons from Gas Operation and onwards, due to the large increase of effectiveness from the more advanced weapons.

Note that weapon quality has a large impact on combat. Even if you prefer revolvers, a poor autopistol will likely outperform an awful revolver, and a good recurve bow can outperform both (at maximum range). This applies to all weapons, but especially if you are reliant on obtaining weapons from raiders.

Handguns[edit]

Handguns are close-mid range, general combat options.

Revolvers are a low-tier firearm with decent damage at the closer ranges. Revolvers out DPS autopistols at any range. Unlike many lighter firearms, revolvers can stagger humans, slowing them slightly when a shot hits.
Autopistols fire faster than revolvers, making them more reliable at getting at least some damage in, despite being weaker. They have the fastest cooldown cycle in the game, lending well to hit-and-run tactics against melee opponents.

As the lowest tech firearms, pistols are weaker than most of the options here, but still better than a recurve bow at all ranges. Inaccurate from max range. Both handguns are roughly the same as each other, but revolvers are better as a support weapon, and autopistols better as a main damage dealer.

Long ranged[edit]

These options are effective in any situation (outside of close combat), mostly due to the small effective range of contemporary weapons.

Greatbows are on-par with most pistols, but have a higher range. "Greatbows are better than pistols at the pistol's max range". While costing only wood to create, actually researching greatbows is usually not worth all that effort - even for Tribal starts - when other guns are easy enough to get from raiders. Also, they are outclassed by the bolt-action rifle in every reasonable statistic.
Bolt-action rifles are a fairly standard, mid-long range option, only outranged by the sniper rifle. Best range in this tech level by far, it can shoot just about any enemy as they approach. Like greatbows, they beat pistols at the pistol's max range. Good for open combat, and great for hunting. Preferably used with high-skill shooters.

Even when you have more advanced weapons, the bolt-action still has a niche. It deals more damage than the sniper while retaining high range. The bolt-action outranges all centipede variants, and comfortably outranges lancers.

Due to enemy AI firing from the closest available cover, meaning they often fire from near-max range, both of these weapons perform very well in the open. Both weapons are good in a long distance firefight, though bolt-action rifles are statistically superior.

Short ranged[edit]

Pump shotguns are a specialist weapon, great at both support and close-range damage. Machine pistols are strong up close, but a good overall weapon (for its tech level).

Pump shotguns are both powerful and accurate, but have a measly 15.9 tile range. Damage is great, and shotguns can stagger pawns as large as centipedes.
Machine pistols fire a burst of 3 bullets with a very quick cooldown. Overall DPS beats both handguns up to 19.9 tiles, this weapon's maximum range. It even surpasses the pump shotgun at touch range (3 tiles). Fast cooldown cycle makes it good for hit and run tactics. A clear-cut winner over other pistols.

Short ranged weapons are best used directly behind melee fighters, but remain decent at their maximum range. Like with melee, you can make hallways and tunnels so that you can gun enemies at an effective range. Counter these weapons by using a long range weapon, engaging them in melee, or luring them into spike traps before they get too close.

Ranged - Modern[edit]

Ranged weapons unlocked from Gas Operation and onwards. Most, if not all, of these weapons have some sort of niche or viability even for late- and end- game colonies.

Rifles & SMG[edit]

Rifle-class weapons are generalist weapons, dealing great damage at any range.

Assault rifles are perfect for open engagements, with good damage, above-average range, and high accuracy. They are very good when outside a killbox (such as repelling breachers and sappers), and respectable inside of one. If you don't need a sniper rifle's range, they are the best general weapon for kiting. Somewhat skill friendly.
Heavy SMGs are skill friendly, close-medium range weapons. Great damage and accuracy up close, remaining decent at longer distances. A strict upgrade to the machine pistol. SMGs are best for low-skill shooters, mostly due to closer range. They can outdamage even charge rifles at <10 tiles, without the hard range restrictions of a chain shotgun.
Charge rifles are high-tech versions of assault rifles. They are stronger and have more AP than assault rifles at all ranges, with only 2 tiles less range, so they are better than ARs in a large majority of situations. They also have similar damage to heavy SMGs at close range while being better at long distance combat. However, charge rifles are more expensive than the industrial weapons.
Hellcat rifles are worse as a regular weapon than assault rifles in nearly every aspect, but have an integrated burner, giving them more flexibility against enemies that get too close, particularly entities.

In general, these weapons are great for general purpose combat and base defense, whenever in static setups or when dealing with breachers and sappers. They are also the best options for attacks outside of your base.

Charge rifles are the best overall weapon if they can be afforded. Assault rifles are cheaper, and can be better for kiting due to their slightly higher range. Heavy SMGs are even cheaper and can be a great option in short range combat, comparable to the chain shotgun and charge rifle. Hellcat rifles have extra flexibility due to their burner, giving them a niche when Anomaly events occur frequently, or against standard melee enemies that breach lines. Note that unique weapons with the bioferrite burner trait, while not at all reliable to obtain, have a similar benefit to the hellcat while not sacrificing performance.

Large burst fire[edit]

Weapons with a large burst of bullets, but low accuracy and long cooldowns.

LMGs fire a 6-shot spray of bullets. Can stagger humans, but lower single-target DPS than the rifles. The LMG is decent for crowd-control, and a good support weapon. The LMG has a stronger niche with the Combat in darkness precept active, becoming a high single-target DPS weapon with the range of a heavy SMG, but with a slow firing cycle.
Miniguns fire a massive 25-shot burst, a massively heavy SMG. High cost, wildly inaccurate, and with a huge cooldown cycle, miniguns are dedicated to crowd-control in specialized, stationary setups. Extremely powerful in the right situations.
Beam repeaters fire a large burst like a minigun, but are much more accurate, meaning they are more effective against single targets.

Both LMGs and miniguns are decent or good as support weapons, able to mow down crowds of enemies. Missed shots can hit other enemies in the vicinity, meaning their low accuracy is compensated when attacking a horde of tribals. They do well in crowded, stationary setups. The minigun is much more extreme - its optimal DPS is miles above any weapon in the game, but the user becomes a sitting duck, and if the intended target dies during the burst then much of the damage is wasted.

Beam repeaters are better against single targets in a controlled setting, but their long firing time and damage, as well as wasted damage if the target is killed during the fire, make them less appealing than standard rifles.

Chain shotgun[edit]

A very high damage, decent accuracy, low range, specialist weapon.

Chain shotguns are the strongest non-minigun, non-consumable weapon in the game, but with pitiful range. Perfect for drop pods and infestations.

Chain shotguns are amazing when you can expect or force close combat. Infestations are inevitable for mountain bases, while any form of melee block works well for shotguns. These weapons can also work very well inside a specialized killbox; if you can control/expect where sappers and breachers will go, shotguns can be a very viable weapon as a colony's sole firearm.

Sniper rifle[edit]

Extreme range, single-shot, specialist weapons.

Sniper rifles have the highest range in the game, but require a lot of time to aim, resulting in low fire rate. On a normal pawn, overall DPS is weaker than a bolt-action rifle. With Aiming Time reductions, damage is greatly increased, making it competitive with even charge rifles. Regardless, it is useful for picking off sieges, lone centipedes, etc. Very reliant on Shooting skill.

Sniper rifles are great weapons for kiting stationary enemies and the safest weapon for hunting. Fire a shot, and as enemies approach you, back off until they reset to their original position. They are also great at luring sieges to assault your colony, assuming the siege doesn't have snipers of their own.

For trigger-happy shooting specialists, who reach an Aiming Time of 1%, sniper rifles become a high DPS weapon. On paper, for those pawns, an excellent sniper rifle beats an excellent charge rifle for average DPS at medium range, and a legendary sniper is on the same league as a legendary assault rifle. However, even with aiming time reductions, sniper rifles are worse in close ranges, and lack burst fire (meaning they are less reliable).

Charge lance[edit]

High range, single-shot, high AP.

Charge lances have a large per-shot damage and high AP. However, its range is not much better than an assault rifle, leading to a profile much similar to rifles rather than a sniper. Actual DPS is weaker than the assault rifle. This gives it a weak niche, despite its cost and tech level.

Charge lances are very similar to assault rifles for overall usage, with same damage and range. As its DPS against most targets is lower, this weapon is not recommended to use over assault rifles, at least for most cases. It can be used for dealing with heavily armored enemies, e.g., charge lances perform slightly better than ARs against centipedes, and much better against marine armor.

Beam graser[edit]

Low damage, high AP, anti-cover weapon.

Beam grasers are threatening weapons when used by enemies, but poor weapons for the colony. They excel at getting enemies out of cover, causing fires within a small AOE and ignoring cover to some extent. However, they have short range, poor DPS, and ideally, when in the colony, raiders should not be given cover in the first place. Also, they cannot benefit from quality.

Beam grasers are dedicated anti-cover weapons. This may have some use when actively attacking enemies in the open, but inflexible, as they are poor in nearly any other situation.

Explosives[edit]

Grenades[edit]

Grenades have the shortest range of any colonist weapon in the game, only thrown up to 12 tiles. All grenades have a forced miss radius.

Frag grenades are standard explosives. While powerful, they are virtually unable to hit a moving pawn without the player manually leading the target. Good for fighting enemies in cover. Can be thrown straight for a few tiles in a hallway, and coupled with their AoE and massive damage, they are devastating against massed melee enemies when placed behind melee blockers. Grenades are also very effective against structures and walls. Breaking a wall fast is rarely helpful, but this property is great for taking out mech clusters.
Molotov cocktails create fire. Unwieldy, and with a small blast, molotovs aren't very effective to throw on top of raiders. Instead, fire can quickly heat up any place considered indoors, burning raiders and insects alive via temperature mechanics. Mechs are immune to fire and heat.
EMP grenades stun mechanoids and turrets for a massive duration and break both shield belts and low-shield packs, but are harmless against organic targets. Invaluable for mech raids. Its blast radius is much bigger than the other grenades. As the blast is bigger than the forced miss radius, these are fairly reliable.
Tox grenades create tox gas. This affects colonists and raiders alike, though you can outfit colonists with toxic protection. Tox grenades are best for attacking enemies who are passing through long, winding, and tight corridors, which have no recourse against the poison. Vents allow tox gas to transfer between rooms.

Launchers[edit]

Launchers have a greater range than grenades, but have a very long cooldown (2nd slowest in the game, just faster than the pila).

Incendiary launchers create fire, like molotov cocktails, and just as unwieldy. Despite the range, it is no more accurate. Worse than molotovs for creating ground fires, as it shoots slower. As even molotovs aren't great to throw at raiders, these are most often outclassed by the thrown variant.
EMP launchers stun mechanoids with EMP damage. They fire slower than EMP grenades, and have a much smaller blast radius than grenades; this usually makes launchers the worse option. While launchers do have a range increase, most mechanoids still outrange it, so this advantage is rather small. Note that Masterwork/Legendary quality launchers can stun longer than a grenade.
Smoke launchers create blind smoke, which completely prevents turrets from locking on. Some form of smoke is invaluable for taking out turret encampments and mech clusters. Smoke also reduces ranged accuracy for any bullet that passes through. Both colonists and enemies are affected equally, so can be useful to support melee attackers.
Toxbomb launchers also create tox gas. Fires slower than tox grenades, but extra launcher range makes it better as a support weapon. Make sure colonists in the blast have some form of toxic protection.
Incinerators, while not a "launcher" by name, cause flames in a similar but more effective manner than incendiary launchers. They also have an integrated burner as a limited-use, but effective means of burning nearby enemies. They are niche support weapons, can be equipped when fighting entities vulnerable to fire or as a support weapon for pawns poor at shooting.

Consumables[edit]

Weapons of mass destruction. Rocket launchers have a large warm-up and cooldown for the user. Targeters can be deployed quickly, but also takes some time to actually start the explosions. All of these are single use, and none can be crafted by a colony.

Doomsday rocket launchers fire 1 large explosion, followed by smaller flame explosions. Extremely effective against humanoid raiders and lighter mechnoids, as a single launch can cause an entire raid to retreat. Available from trade or quests.
Triple rocket launchers fire 3 explosions. Each of the three rockets deals the same damage as the doomsday's main explosion, though with a much smaller radius. Effective against mechanoids and structures in particular, and can still damage a raid quite heavily. Available from trade or quests.
Orbital power beam targeters create a massive, fire-based beam centered on a target in line of sight. Incredibly powerful against humans, but useless against mechanoids. Can attack through overhead mountain. Quest only.
Orbital bombardment targeters fire a total of 30 explosions over a large, 20-tile radius. Stronger than a doomsday against large groups, this item is also quest only.
Tornado generators create a tornado at your map, on a specific point. This can possibly destroy player structures when used inside your colony, so is mostly useful for offensive operations (or as a last resort). Quest only.

As these are all rare, single-use items, use them for when you can't handle a raid, such as an extra-nasty siege.

Mortars[edit]

Mortars are not handheld weapons, but are weapons nonetheless.

Mortars have a 500-tile range, but costs a mortar shell for each shot, and take 1,800 ticks (30 secs) to reload. With a massive Forced Miss Radius of 9 tiles (but modified by the user's mortar miss radius multiplier), they are mostly effective against large groups and/or stationary targets. In addition, they require reinforced barrels every 20 rounds. With Classic mortars enabled, barrels are no longer required but the mortars and shells become more expensive, and the mortar less accurate, to compensate.

Mortars are extremely useful against enemy sieges. Until they take enough of their own casualties, a siege will continue to lob their own mortar shells, which is devastating to any colony not under overhead mountain. They are also great against other stationary opponents, such as crashed ship parts or mech clusters.

Each mortar shell has its own purpose:

High-explosive shell: General purpose shell, good against any stationary target.
Incendiary shell: Great for igniting a siege's own mortars/mortar shells on fire, potentially causing a chain reaction. But, as the game will start rain if a fire spreads too far, these shells aren't very useful otherwise.
EMP shell: Stuns mechanoids. Massive explosion radius makes this somewhat accurate. Can also disable mech high-shields, so that other mortars can attack through the shield.
Firefoam shell: Creates firefoam, extinguishing fires. The small firefoam radius and introduction of firefoam pop packs and foam turrets make this shell mostly obsolete.
Smoke shell: Creates blind smoke in a large radius. As with the smoke launcher, it prevents turrets from locking on and reduces accuracy. While the smoke shell costs resources for each shot (unlike the free launcher), the shell has a larger radius and can be used from further away.
Deadlife shell: Creates deadlife dust within the area, turning corpses into shamblers. There are unlikely to be corpses at the edge of the map where raiders spawn, and inside a colony, IED deadlife traps are more effective, so the actual deadlife shell is of questionable use.
Antigrain warhead: A weapon of mass destruction, on and above the level of a doomsday rocket. Quest only, so use it wisely.