The Apex Legends weapon pool has gone through quite a few changes over the last several seasons. With the recent introduction of the Rampage LMG and the constant reshuffling of supply drop weapons, it’s tougher than ever to know which gun you should choose.
As such, our tier list has gone through quite a few changes. We’ve placed every gun in the game into a tier and give our reasoning as to why you should—or shouldn’t—use it.
Just like our character tier list, the order of weapons in each tier isn’t as important as the tiers themselves. Supply drop weapons have been placed in their own category near the end and their order does matter—but we’ll get to that later.
Without further ado, here’s every gun in Apex ranked from best to worst.
S tier
R-301 Carbine
The R-301 simply can’t be beat in most situations. Its high rate of fire, strong damage per bullet, high accuracy, and low recoil make it the best assault rifle and the best mid-range gun in the game, bar none. The only thing that tempers it is its rarity. It’s a little harder to find than other light weapons, though light ammo is generally plentiful. Favored by Predators and streamers alike, your teammates will always thank you for pinging an R-301.
R-99 SMG
The R-99 is arguably the best close-range weapon in the game. Its rapid rate of fire means enemies who get too close are shredded before they can even get a few shots off, particularly if they’re packing a shotgun or a marksman weapon. The R-99 is fairly easy to handle, but it does have stronger recoil and a larger spread than the R-301, so it takes some practice before you can really hit your shots. Like Bangalore says, you’ll need to grab an extended light mag for it, too. Due to its high rate of fire, this gun eats ammo.
Wingman
The Wingman is the only pistol in our S tier and it’s the hardest by far to handle. While the recoil isn’t high, the amount of gun motion on fire and the relatively low fire rate can make it difficult to line up your shot. These difficulties make sense in light of the fact that this gun hits like a truck, particularly if you land a headshot. It also recently received the Boosted Loader hop-up, which makes its reload speed even faster and its mag even larger. While its steep learning curve frequently turns newcomers away, the Wingman is the trusty sidekick of many high-ranking players.
A tier
VK-47 Flatline
The Flatline has increased significantly in power over the last few seasons. While its recoil and difficult handling still make it a tricky gun to use, it lands a spot in our A tier simply because of its raw power potential. Though the gun takes mid-range sights, it’s better used in close quarters. If an opposing player is right in front of you, the lack of distance takes the edge off of the recoil. Slap a level three stock on any Flatline you find and you’re good to go.
Prowler Burst PDW
The Prowler made its triumphant exit from supply drops in season 10. In the process, it lost the Selectfire Receiver hop-up, depriving it of its auto-fire option. Even after it was nerfed a few times and constrained to burst fire, it remains one of the better weapons in the game. With a high-damage-per-bullet rate and relatively easy handling, the Prowler is still dangerous in the hands of a skilled player.
Volt SMG
Ranking just behind the R-99 in terms of SMGs, the Volt is still an excellent weapon. It’s incredibly easy to handle, has low recoil, and has little bullet drop at a distance—all of which justifies its expensive price in Arenas. While the Volt doesn’t have the R-99’s rapid rate of fire, it’s much more forgiving for newer players and retains its power in the upper levels of play.
Charge Rifle
Of the sniper rifles currently on the ground, the Charge Rifle is easily the best. Its aim is more forgiving than other snipers’, its shots are powerful, and it handles well, making it a great gun to test the sniper waters if you’re looking for a new playstyle. It’s rarer than other snipers and it’s easy to spot where the beam is coming from, both of which offset its power a little bit. Even so, its ease of use more than makes up for its shortcomings.
L-Star EMG
The L-Star is something of an enigma. As recently as season nine, it was laughably bad, to the point where it was becoming the butt of more jokes than the Mozambique. But in season 10, the developers brought it closer to existing energy weapons by allowing it to use more attachments and buffing it slightly, which made it significantly stronger. Though its effectiveness drops off quite a bit at long range, its damage, blindingly large projectile size, and lack of reloads make the L-Star a great early to mid-game weapon.
EVA-8 Auto
In the misty past, shotgun users overwhelmingly favored the Peacekeeper and the Mastiff over the Mozambique and the EVA-8. Thanks to a couple of buffs (and subsequent nerfs), those days are gone: The EVA-8 is now the best shotgun on the ground. Its high rate of fire makes it easier to approach and use. As such, it supports the high-mobility playstyle favored by legends like Octane. Like all shotguns, it’s constrained by range, but that’s hardly a fair assessment when it’s so good up close.
B tier
Devotion LMG
The Devotion is hampered by its reliance on the Turbocharger hop-up, which is one of the rarest attachments in the game. Because it’s so hard to find one, picking up a Devotion and hoping you come across one almost never works. With the Turbocharger, the Devotion is excellent. But without it, it’s just a slow, bulky LMG with high recoil.
Rampage LMG
The Rampage, the arena’s newest weapon, is simply OK. It’s designed to be a mid-range gun with a slower rate of fire—unless, of course, you pump it up with a thermite grenade, which increases the fire rate a fair bit. It can be strong in the hands of a skilled player, but the time needed to amp it up with a thermite and its utter worthlessness at close range make the Rampage less than desirable.
Bocek Compound Bow
Upon its release in season nine, the Bocek was unstoppable. High-ranking players with great aim were using it to destroy people from mid to long range and it became a nuisance for many facing it. Even taking that into consideration, its subsequent nerf really destroyed it. Arrows aren’t common enough on the ground to make it a viable long-term weapon and its slow rate of fire makes it less than desirable unless you’re a sniper’s distance away from your target.
30-30 Repeater
The 30-30 is a decent gun—and that’s about it. In the hands of a player with better-than-average aim, it can be dangerous. But its low rate of fire and extremely long reload time for a mid-range weapon make it harder to recommend. You’ll always see a lot of discarded 30-30s as you travel throughout the game’s maps.
Longbow DMR
The Longbow is just slightly better than its sniper sibling, the Sentinel. The faster rate of fire and lack of a bolt to pull make it more user-friendly. It can even be used at mid-range with a 2x or 3x scope, making it more versatile than the Sentinel. At the same time, its bullet drop is high, meaning that if your target is extremely far away, you really have to lead your shot.
Sentinel
The Sentinel does more raw damage than the Longbow, but its slower rate of fire makes it a little harder to recommend. It’s purely a long-range weapon, meaning it doesn’t have quite as much versatility as the Longbow or the Charge Rifle. Like the 30-30 Repeater, you’ll often see a fair amount of Sentinels left behind as a match progresses.
Peacekeeper
The Peacekeeper was significantly more powerful when it was a supply drop weapon (as are all weapons that end up in supply drops). Even with a level three shotgun bolt attached, its slow rate of fire and wider spread don’t work well with the fast, movement-heavy playstyle that’s in vogue right now. The EVA-8 is simply an all-around better choice.
Mozambique Shotgun
“Mozambique here!”
All jokes aside, this shotgun pistol is a lot better than it used to be. It’s a great starter shotgun and a good weapon for initial fights, when you’re more likely to get up close and personal with opposing players. It’s hampered by a somewhat long reload time, but it’s probably the best of the guns designed to be landing weapons. Beyond that, there’s simply no reason to pick it over something else.
RE-45 Auto
We really want to love the RE-45—but why would you pick it when you could have an R-301 or an R-99 instead? The RE-45’s best aspect is its almost total lack of recoil and decently large mag size, which make lining up shots easy. The removal of the Quickdraw Holster hampered it to the point where there’s no real reason to pick it over most other light weapons, though. We can only hope it’ll see the light of day again sometime soon.
C tier
Hemlok Burst AR
On one hand, the Hemlock is a decent mid to long-range assault rifle, but it just doesn’t put out enough damage to make its burst fire viable. Respawn tried to buff it with the Boosted Loader hop-up, but it just wasn’t enough to make the gun viable. Few, if any, players consider the Hemlok to be their main gun.
HAVOC Rifle
Like the Devotion, the HAVOC is almost useless without a Turbocharger. Considering the relative rarity of Turbochargers and the Devotion’s significantly higher rate of fire (and therefore potential damage), the HAVOC just isn’t worth using if you have the option between the two. The HAVOC also has a fairly high amount of recoil and bullet spread, making it hard to handle to boot.
G7 Scout
The G7 hasn’t ever really been good, and based on the way things are going, we don’t foresee it getting any better. Its slow rate of fire, awkward handling, and hard-to-use iron sights put it near the bottom of our list. It needs a significant buff or a hop-up to really turn its fate around.
Mastiff Shotgun
The Mastiff is like a worse version of the Peacekeeper. Despite its in-game description reading “a powerful semi-auto shotgun,” the Mastiff suffers from an extremely slow rate of fire, stiff handling, a slow reload, and a high amount of bullet spread. Its days of power as a supply drop weapon are far behind it.
P2020
Ah, the P2020. What is there really to say about it? It’s designed to be used as you hit the ground to take out foes in early fights. But if anyone around you finds any other gun, you’re in trouble. The removal of the Hammerpoint Rounds hop-up removed the one reason players might use this gun in later rounds, which relegates it to the very bottom of our tier list.
Supply drop weapons
As previously mentioned, these weapons are ordered in terms of power and effectiveness.
Kraber .50-Cal Sniper
Easily the strongest sniper rifle in the game, there’s a reason the Kraber hasn’t been touched in several seasons. Though it only has a limited number of shots, hitting a headshot results in an instant down, even for a fully healed player with a red shield. The bullet travel falloff is significant, the reload time is long, and the rate of fire is slow, but these limiting attributes are necessary to balance out the Kraber’s immense power.
Alternator
The return of the Disruptor Rounds hop-up for the now-supply-drop-locked Alternator is essential to its position on our list. The gun is a powerhouse in the late game, shredding through red shields like they’re nothing. Its high rate of fire, high accuracy, and fast reloads make grabbing it a no-brainer anytime you see one in a care package.
Triple Take
Despite what Respawn says about the Triple Take being a mid-range weapon, it’s a sniper rifle in our hearts. It’s also the easiest-to-use sniper in the game. Its inception as an energy weapon means it lacks bullet travel falloff, making it simple for even amateur snipers to hit headshots. While it doesn’t hit quite as hard as the Kraber or other snipers, its ease of handling is its real power.
M600 Spitfire
It’s hard to believe that this version of the Spitfire was ever a ground weapon. When the gun was added to supply drops in season 10, it was “reverted” back to its pre-nerf state from season nine. Don’t get us wrong, it has a high amount of damage per bullet, little recoil, and a big mag. But when compared with the powers of the other supply drop weapons, it’s not really anything special. It’s still worth using if you find it, though. Even the weakest supply drop weapon can easily be stronger than the strongest ground weapon.
We’ll keep this list updated as guns are buffed and nerfed and the game’s seasons change.
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Source: https://dotesports.com/apex-legends/news/apex-legends-weapon-tier-list
