Weapon Tiers Redux - Six Tier Distribution - Ver III

[Tesseractal]

Updated for v2c.

This is an attempt to organize weapons based on similar usefulness at fragging an opponent in Duel / LMS. Think of the weapons used most often or "go-to" weapons being higher up, and more situational / drawback weapons being lower. First tier being the most effective at fragging / lethal, although it is not strictly a "power tier". Consider each weapons in a tier to be around the same use. This may help mappers with "weapon placement" to some degree; shield / AOE weapons will obviously have more use. This tier list is more of a "best all-around / most reliable at fragging" weapons at the top. Of course, I'm interested in any changes you might recommend in the list.

Parenthesis denote weapons that don't normally appear in Duel / LMS, and aren't integrated between the weapons; just as a categorization of the tier (for convenience).

NEW TIER LIST:

(click to show/hide)

1st Tier:
Hard Knuckle
Super Arm
Top Spin
Blizzard Attack
Crash Bomb
Rolling Cutter
Slash Claw
Ballade Cracker

(Time Stopper)
(Proto Buster)

2nd Tier:
ComboMetal Blades
Quick Boomerang
Magnet Missile
Shadow Blade
Mirror Buster
Atomic Fire
Star Crash
Silver Tomahawk
Yamato Spears

(Super Adaptor)
(Korby's Triple Blade)

3rd Tier:

Knight Crush
Flame Blast
Water Wave
Crystal Eye
Napalm Bomb
Ice Slasher
Pharaoh Shot
Dust Crusher
Noise Crush

4th Tier:
Ring Boomerang
Air Shooter
Drill Bomb
Thunder Beam
Screw Crusher
Gyro Attack
Power Stone
Bubble Lead
Charge Kick

5th Tier:
Danger Wrap
Needle Cannon
Fire Storm
Scorch Wheel
Thunder Bolt
Spark Shock
Rain Flush
Bass Upgrade
Gemini Laser
Freeze Cracker

6th Tier:
Mega Buster
Hyper Bomb
Wild Coil
Centaur Flash
Sakugarne
Dive Missile
Flash Stopper
Wind Storm
Leaf Shield
Plant Barrier
Skull Barrier

Former Tier List (pre-v2c):

(click to show/hide)

1st Tier:
Super Arm
Noise Crush
Hard Knuckle
Wild Coil
Top Spin
Slash Claw
Atomic Fire
Crash Bomb

(Time Stopper)
(Junk Shield)
(Proto Buster)

2nd Tier:
Napalm Bomb
Yamato Spear
Quick Boomerang
Magnet Missile
Mirror Buster
Star Crash
Silver Tomahawk
Rolling Cutter
Crystal Eye
Shadow Blade

(Super Adaptor)

Metal Blade
Blizzard Attack
Air Shooter
Pharaoh Shot
Knight Crush
Ballade Cracker
Fire Storm

4th Tier:
Flame Blast
Ice Slasher
Drill Bomb
Water Wave
Thunder Beam
Danger Wrap
Gyro Attack
Ring Boomerang
Needle Cannon
Dust Crusher
Power Stone

5th Tier:

Charge Kick
Bubble Lead
Spark Shock
Rain Flush
Bass Upgrade
Gemini Laser
Screw Crusher
Thunder Bolt
Scorch Wheel
Leaf Shield

6th Tier:
Mega Buster
Hyper Bomb
Freeze Cracker
Centaur Flash
Sakugarne
Dive Missile
Flash Stopper
Wind Storm
Plant Barrier
Skull Barrier

[SmashTheEchidna]

Hard Knuckle - A slower Noise Crush, capable of the same thing. The knockback can cause trip you up, but this weapon ALWAYS hurts, capable of finishing even slightly damaged foes very easily.

Sometimes the knockback will trip you up. Other times, though, the knockback can be very helpful if you're trying to get away from your enemy. Good example would be in Burst man or Spring Man's stages, where when you're bouncing away, the recoil will speed up your escape while hurling those fists at your pursuer. Though if you wanna run, Charge Kick and Scorch Wheel (and if you have PU expansion, Oil Slider) are better for it.

[Jc494]

Star Crash - The infamous "hugger" weapon. Other weapons can shoot it down / do higher damage, but the fact that this gives continuous stun makes it harder to escape. Catch someone behind and they'll go down quick.

Or if you have 150 ping and above, you might as well give up as it is impossible to escape, (of course using Exit Unit, or Scorch Wheel are means of escape)

[Shade Guy]

Don't forget that Star Crash does about a 3 hit kill when thrown.

Also, when caught by a Star Hugger, you always have one option-damage race them. I've seen people manage to stop huggers with Needle Cannons, for pete's sake.

[Awbawlisk]

I sorry to say but I don't think Freeze Cracker Belongs in 6th Tier Section.. It is a fairly good and powerful weapon.. If you have very great aim it can frag a person frag when you are up close but kinda mid range.. You just have to hit your opponents with the F.Cracker's sweet spot and you will be fine And Flash Stopper is suppose to be in S+ Tier AMIRITE?

[LlamaHombre]

I can never kill anything with Freeze Cracker ever, so I think it's perfect where it is.

[King Dumb]

Mostly looks really good. The only things I would consider changing would be to lower Flame Blast and raise Fire Storm and Shadow Blade.

I'm not quite sure what your reasoning is for putting Flame Blast on Tier 3, but to me it seems that the RoF is just slow enough to prevent use as a tool to corner your opponent (a savvy opponent, mind you), and the speed of the projectile is too slow (to me at least) to be used in any worthwhile combos. Of course, I am not nearly as good of a player as many others here, and thus their opinions will probably be more refined. I just think it does too poor of a job at what it does.

I would say Fire Storm deserves to be on Tier 3. It's outclassed by Star Crash as far as hugging goes, but when Star Crash isn't present, Fire Storm is by go-to close-range weapon. I'd say the damage output is good enough to warrant a higher placement.

Shadow Blade I see as an easier to use, yet less devastating Rolling Cutter. If you've get this weapon, some well-disciplined orbiting of the opponent and good prediction can get you extremely easy frags. Also, I've found that it is one the best weapons to have a weapon bind for, as you can be approaching an opponent with a different weapon (like Bubble Lead, as an example), then switch suddenly to this quick boomerang projectile. It launches out very fast, and if you fire in the direction you are rushing, it is even better. If you are able to make the return trajectory contact the opponent, the usefulness skyrockets again.

Otherwise, I like all of the weapon placements. And I also do not think Freeze Cracker should be any higher. As far as frags go, it doesn't get many at all.

[SmashTheEchidna]

Mostly looks really good. The only things I would consider changing would be to lower Flame Blast and raise Fire Storm and Shadow Blade.

^ This.

Fire Storm and Shadow Blades are both good weapons, and deserve a bit better. Freeze Cracker COULD be a bit higher, as I find no trouble using it. Sometimes it can even come in handy. It's helped me out a lot in situations when I had to be a bit on the defensive, mainly by keeping enemies away and cracking the ice everywhere quickly for them to run into. If you have good aim, you can keep them from getting too close at all and even kill em right there.

[Mr. Sean Nelson]

Freeze cracker does crazy damage with headshots, though.

[LlamaHombre]

headshots

What?

Since when were Headshots in my 8BDM?

[SaviorSword]

For those who like numbers...
Freeze Cracker's Main shot is 15 damage, and each shard is 5 damage.
So 15 + 5 * 6 = 45 damage, provided if the sweet spot connects, which is very hard to pull off.

@Llama, the sweet spot is usually around where the "head" of Mega Man is so when Dust Crusher-like weapons "explode" all the shards will hit the target as well.

[LlamaHombre]

It's rediculously hard to pull off, as Savior said.

That's why it deserves a 6th tier rank.

[Tesseractal]

Tiers updated (minor weapon changes in bold) and given names. The names should help reflect the general purpose of the weapons in the tier. Weapons in the lower tier aren't always "bad" per se, but simply can't be used as much as the ones as the top. Comments & ratings appreciated.

[SaviorSword]

Thunder Beam dropped a tier here? I suppose ya never notice my Thunder Beam use. Fire Storm fires faster than Thunder Beam, sure but only a little, but both projectiles fly around the same speed. And now, for some numbers...

Fire Storm: 20 damage a shot
Thunder Beam: 15 damage per tic

Usually Thunder Beam will get at least 2 tics in, makin' it around 30 damage a shot. Fire Storm will have to have 5 shots in to kill a target and Thunder Beam will need 3 to 4 average shots.

Now if Fire Storm fought against Thunder Beam close range, or even point blank for this matter, Thunder Beam deals a vastly higher amount of damage vs Fire Storm.
So why is it below Fire Storm? I'd like to know why.

[Ivory]

Also, keep in mind. As silly and impractical as it is, you can OHKO with Thunder Beam at point blank range.