For builders, weapons represent a "stat stick" that simply increases the strength of their defenses. That's about it.

For DPS heroes, weapons are life. Weapons are love. Weapons are everything.

This guide describes everything you ever need to know about weapons in Dungeon Defenders. In extreme detail. Brace yourselves.

DISCLAIMER: This guide is based solely on my own personal experience and data I’ve compiled by simply playing the game. I’ve done a LOT of testing and a ton of calculations to verify each specific percentage and stat, but all of this was still done by a single person, so some inaccuracies may arise. Any percentages listed in this guide are usually rounded to the nearest 5.

Each hero class can only use a specific type of weapon – magic staves for Apprentices, ranged weapons for Huntresses, melee weapons for Squires and Barbarians, and (mostly) polearms for Monks. The exceptions are the Jester, who can use any weapon in the game, the Series EV, who can use both Huntress and Apprentice weapons, and the Summoner, who can't use any weapons at all.

Like armor, each weapon can have up to eight passive hero stats. Each weapon also has a base damage value (either melee, ranged or both) and (in most cases) extra elemental damage.

Base Damage. The amount of physical damage dealt per hit / shot. The most important stat for any weapon and the one you’ll be upgrading most often. The stat has no cap, but the amount of damage gained per upgrade varies greatly depending on the individual weapon. This variance is one of the main things that separates the good weapons from the junk. The weapon’s base damage is further improved by the Hero Damage stat (explained in-depth later).

Elemental Damage. Extra elemental damage dealt per hit / shot. There are three types of elemental damage – electric, fire and poison – and most weapons will have one of the three. There’s no actual difference between the types of elemental damage, as they have no unique effects and enemies always spawn with random resistances, so it’s mainly just a cosmetic thing. The stat has no cap and gets up to +240 per upgrade (+144 for Apprentice weapons). The weapon’s elemental damage is NOT improved by the Hero Damage stat.

In addition, each class weapon has its own unique traits.

Knockback. Each hit knocks back the target; the higher the value, the higher the distance of the knockback. If you have sufficiently high stats, every non-ogre enemy dies in virtually one hit anyway and since knockback doesn't affect ogres, it's a fairly unimportant attribute overall. The stat caps out at 60 and gets up to +4 per upgrade.

Block. Reduces incoming damage by a certain percentage. This renders the hero immobile and incapable of using any abilities, but can also make you completely invulnerable to both melee and ranged damage if the block percentage is 100% or higher. You can still always be damaged from the sides and back, as well as webbed by spiders. The stat caps out at 100% and gets up to +5 per upgrade.


Attack Rate. The speed at which your weapon shoots. It's always worth upgrading when given the chance, as it can increase the hero's DPS by a considerable margin. The stat caps for each weapon are different. The first upgrade becomes available at weapon level 3, with further upgrades possible after every 4 upgrade levels.

Clip Ammo. The amount of shots you can fire before needing to reload. Worth upgrading if the stat so low that you're constantly reloading, but as long as you have a decent reload speed, it's not even an issue. The stat has no cap and gets up to +25 per upgrade.

Reload Speed. The time it takes to reload a clip. The less ammo you have remaining in the clip, the longer it takes to reload. If the reload speed value is negative, reloading can take a painfully long amount of time and often requires a large clip size to compensate, so you wouldn't run out of ammo in the middle of a wave. Positive reload speeds are usually extremely quick. In either case, it's not worth upgrading this stat. If the speed is negative, just upgrade the clip size and reload between waves. The stat caps out at 120 and gets +1 per upgrade.

Projectile Speed. The speed at which your shots travel. If the value is negative, the projectile can appear to be almost standing still in mid-air, making any ranged weapon utterly ineffective. It can take quite a lot of upgrades to turn negative projectile speed positive, so it's best to avoid weapons with negative projectile speed whenever possible. The optimal value of the stat depends on the player, but less speed means that you have to lead the target, whereas high speed means virtually instantaneous connection even over large distances. In any case, the actual DPS of the weapon is unaffected. The stat caps out at 30,000 and gets up to +1200 per upgrade.

Extra Projectiles. The number of extra shots in addition to the main projectile. This stat can only appear on certain Huntress weapons. It’s always worth upgrading this stat when given the chance, as each extra projectile deals the same amount of damage as the main projectile. The first upgrade becomes available at weapon level 4, with further upgrades possible after every 5 upgrade levels.


Knockback. The radius of the Apprentice’s area-of-effect attack. This stat only affects the radius of the attack, not the damage. The stat caps out at 60 and gets up to +4 per upgrade.

Charge Speed. The speed at which the weapon charges up its shot. All Apprentice weapons can charge the shot before firing to give it some extra damage. Decent charge speed is important if you want the weapon to do actual damage, as Apprentice weapons are generally very weak in terms of DPS. The stat caps at 100 and gets up to +4 per upgrade.

Extra Projectiles. The number of extra shots in addition to the main projectile. Much the same as for Huntress weapons. The first upgrade becomes available at weapon level 4, with further upgrades possible after every 5 upgrade levels. Each Apprentice weapon can have at most five extra projectiles (two on either side of the main projectile, one in front).

Projectile Speed. The speed at which your shots travel. Much the same as for Huntress weapons. The stat caps out at 30,000 and gets up to +1200 per upgrade.


Extra Projectiles. The number of extra shots in addition to the main projectile. Much the same as for Huntress weapons. The first upgrade becomes available at weapon level 4, with further upgrades possible after every 5 upgrade levels. Each common Monk weapon can have at most four extra projectiles (two on either side of the main projectile), while some unique weapons (map and challenge rewards) can have more.

Projectile Speed. The speed at which your shots travel. Much the same as for Huntress weapons. The stat caps out at 30,000 and gets up to +1200 per upgrade.

NOTE: Monk weapons have separate melee and ranged damage stats, as the Monk can attack both close-range and at a distance. The Monk’s ranged attacks don’t use any ammo and the ranged attack speed is always the same, regardless of the weapon used. It’s up to you which of the two stats to upgrade, but it’s advisable to focus only on one or the other.

Weapons can sometimes have higher starting stats than their actual upgrade caps.

For example, the cap for the projectile speed stat is 30,000, but weapons can occasionally spawn with much greater projectile speed. The same applies to passive hero stats. For example, the unique mythical weapon drops found on the Shards of Eternia DLC maps often tend to spawn with several hero stats overcapped at 400, even though the maximum upgradeable stat for mythical weapons is 360. The Obsidian weapons rewarded for completing Akatiti Jungle are perhaps a more extreme example of this, with overcapped hero stats of 600+ being possible even for transcendent weapons. Overcapped stats obviously can't be upgraded further. Note that certain stats, such as extra projectiles and attack rate for ranged weapons, can’t be overcapped.

Before we get down to brass tacks, here are some things to bear in mind when picking a weapon for your DPS hero.


There is no difference in terms of actual damage between Mythical and higher-quality versions of the same weapon. For example, a Mythical Battle Axe with 20k base damage has exactly the same amount of DPS as an Ultimate++ Battle Axe with identical base damage. However, higher-quality weapons are still superior for three reasons:

1) They often spawn with more possible upgrades.
2) They often spawn with higher base damage and better hero stats.
3) Ultimate (and Ult+ / Ult++) weapons gain 40% more damage per upgrade compared to mythical, transcendent and supreme versions of the same common weapon. For example, mythical Warbows gain up to 80 damage per upgrade, but ultimate Warbows gain up to 112 damage; mythical Twisted Spears gain up to 174 damage per upgrade, but ultimate Twisted Spears gain up to 244, etc. Note that there are a few exceptions to this rule among certain map rewards, such as the Pawn Shot, Obsidian weapons, etc.


Each common weapon class usually has 10 different names for the weapon, although the weapon itself is the same. For example, the Street Lamp staff can also be named:

Fluorescence
Light Stick
Lamp Post
Advisor's Beacon
Light's Crossing
Brightest Day
Blackest Night
Eternal Light
Lantern's Might

The name doesn’t affect the stats of the weapon in any way. All map and challenge rewards have unique names of their own.


The size of the weapon model doesn't affect its stats and is completely random. A large weapon model doesn’t necessarily mean that the weapon has great stats. For melee characters, however, a larger weapon size also increases the effective range of their attack, making it more useful than smaller weapon models. The weapon size can’t be changed in any way.


Each main hero class has 16 common weapon types that can drop on virtually any map, including the original campaign, but certain weapons are restricted only to specific maps:

• Each Shards of Eternia map has its own unique weapons that can only drop on that map. For example, the Beetle Bow and Ferngully can only drop on Mistymire Forest, the Sea Spear and Aqua Lance can only drop on Aquanos, etc. Each main hero class has a total of 10 weapon types that can only drop on Shards of Eternia maps. These weapons often spawn with much higher hero stats compared to the common weapon types.
  
• Tinkerer’s Lab has its own unique set of weapon drops for each class – Mage’s Sword for the Apprentice, Gauntlet for the Squire, Attenuator for the Huntress, Harbinger for the Monk. It’s also the only map where Cardboard Tubes (Monk weapon) can drop.
  
• Certain weapons were added with extra DLC and they can be found on most newer bonus and challenge maps, but not on any of the original campaign maps (weapons like the Chicken Shooter, Snowball Launcher, Street Lamp, etc). Each main hero class has a total of 5-6 extra DLC weapon types.

There are also weapon rewards that are awarded for the successful completion of certain maps or challenges. These weapons tend to have superior damage-per-upgrade compared to their common versions. They are also generally class-specific, meaning that you need to beat a map with a certain class to get a certain weapon reward. For example, completing Sky City with a Huntress or Ranger on nightmare difficulty yields the Krytykal Stryke weapon, which gets 206 damage per upgrade compared to the 80 of the Sonoblaster (its common drop version).


Considering the fact that map rewards (unique weapons) usually get a lot more extra damage per upgrade, it’s hard to find any common weapons that can keep up with them in terms of DPS. In addition, map rewards are much easier to acquire, as you’re guaranteed a certain reward every time you complete a map, as opposed to the randomness of normal weapon drops. For most DPS heroes, the choice of "best weapon" really only boils down to a handful of map rewards, since common weapon drops are little more than novelties when it comes to DPS.

Because all common weapons fall largely into the same category, the guide focuses mainly on comparing the various map rewards. Also note that map rewards from the original campaign maps and challenges have vastly inferior stats compared to newer ones and are not considered in the comparison. This also applies to rewards from difficulties other than nightmare. Although those weapons can still get more damage per upgrade than any common weapon, their other attributes (starting damage, hero stats and number of upgrades) still don’t come anywhere near nightmare-quality rewards.

Now that we've gotten all that out of the way, let's get to the good part – DAMAGE!

Your hero’s overall damage output is mainly determined by the weapon’s base damage and the Hero Damage stat. The damage can further be increased by things like the Propeller Cat pet and Monk's Hero Boost ability, but at its core, it boils down to those two things. The higher the base damage and Hero Damage, the more damage you deal.

Hero Damage increases the weapon’s base damage by a certain percentage. This modifier scales differently for each hero class. The example I used in my FAQ Guide was a Huntress, Ranger, Series EV and Jester all using the same Heavy Crossbow and dealing different amounts of damage despite having an identical Hero Damage stat. This is because the modifier is different for all four classes.

Of course, everything is not always so simple when choosing a weapon. There are other things to consider when calculating the eventual damage output, depending on the hero class. I’m now going to discuss each individual class separately.

Let’s get complicated!

Melee: The Monk attacks with a 3-hit combo, with each successive hit dealing more damage. The second hit deals +10% and the third hit +20% more damage than the first (also affects elemental damage). The Hero Damage bonus applies to each hit separately. Once the combo is finished, the Monk instantly repeats it.

Monk weapons have different attack speeds, which means that their DPS can vary depending on the type of weapon. As a general rule, faster weapons get less damage per upgrade and slower weapons get more damage, so the actual DPS somewhat balances out across all weapon types.

The Spider Leg (Mistymire drop) has the lowest damage per upgrade at 116, while the Harbinger (Tinkerer’s Lab drop) has the highest damage per upgrade at 198. The Spider Leg is also the fastest common Monk weapon, whereas the Harbinger is the slowest.

Ranged: The Monk shoots energy projectiles from his palm. The ranged attack speed is always the same, regardless of the melee attack speed of the weapon. Also, any elemental damage on the weapon isn’t applied to ranged attacks.

Ranged damage for common weapon drops always increases by 80 per upgrade, even for ultimate-quality weapons. This makes common weapons largely unsuitable for ranged Monks.

Monk's melee damage scales incredibly fast and surpasses any other class by a huge margin. However, his DPS is somewhat diminished by his low attack speed. It’s also worth noting that the Monk's ranged damage scales much worse than his melee damage, although the damage bonus is applied to each individual projectile, making ranged Monks a completely viable choice.

The Initiate has identical damage scaling to the Monk, but is the inferior choice as a DPS hero because she gets less health per stat point.

Note: all percentage values are rounded to the nearest 5.

Stone's Throw Spear
Volcanic Eruption challenge reward

Can never get additional projectiles and instead shoots small boulders, much like the Squire’s bowling ball turret. Has the highest ranged damage per upgrade (246) out of any Monk weapon, but the weapon is very difficult to use effectively because of the unwieldy nature of the boulders.

Rug Beater
Über Death From Above challenge reward

The fastest Monk weapon with the lowest damage per upgrade (110). Like most unique Monk rewards, the weapon can have up to five extra projectiles instead of four. Looks literally like a rolled-up Persian rug.

Lemurian Halberd
Aquanos map reward

Similar to the common version of this weapon, the Lemurian Halberd’s base damage is always converted to electric damage. The weapon can also have extra elemental damage, but only its base electric damage is amplified by the Hero Damage stat. While its melee damage per upgrade is fairly low compared to most unique weapons (150), the Halberd is one of the better ranged weapons for a lower-level Monk, because it can have up to seven extra projectiles and its ranged damage improves better than most other weapons (104 per upgrade).

Gambler’s Polearm
The King’s Game map reward

High melee damage per upgrade (284), but incredibly slow attack speed. However, it’s very useful as a ranged weapon. It can have up to five extra projectiles and shoots them in a tight horizontal spread, making it easier to hit a large target (such as a boss or an ogre) with multiple projectiles over a distance. The ranged damage also scales twice as fast as other Monk weapons (159 per upgrade). Also, it shoots playing cards as the projectiles. Yep.

Monk Wrench
Sky City map reward

This weapon gets the best of both worlds – high attack speed (equal to the fastest common Monk weapons) and very high melee damage per upgrade (245). It’s also a great ranged weapon, because it can have up to five extra projectiles and a ton of ranged damage per upgrade (187). One of the top contenders for the title of "best Monk weapon", but somewhat difficult to acquire on hardcore mode due to the tricky nature of the boss fight on Sky City.

Eternian Spear
Crystalline Dimension map reward

Incredibly powerful, with decent attack speed and 295 damage per upgrade (414 for ultimate versions). It also has 200 ranged damage per upgrade, but can only have up to four extra projectiles. Eternian Spears tend to have excellent starting stats and ultimate-quality Spears are not as uncommon as most other map rewards.

Obsidian Sparus
Akatiti Jungle map reward

Like other Obsidian weapons, the damage per upgrade is same even for ultimate versions (205). Uniquely, each Sparus always starts with +10 knockback, which can also be upgraded further. Its ranged damage per upgrade is the lowest of all Monk weapons (60 per upgrade). The Sparus can have up to five extra projectiles.

Important: The Obsidian Sparus has a unique hidden damage multiplier that makes it one of the best Monk weapons in the game, if not the best overall.

Its base melee damage gets an extra 66,6% damage bonus in addition to any Hero Damage.

Example 1: An Obsidian Sparus with 20,000 base damage and 0 Hero Damage would deal 33,333 damage pet hit, whereas any other weapon would deal 20,000.
Example 2: An Obsidian Sparus with 20,000 base damage and 50 Hero Damage would deal 93,333 damage (33,333 + 180%), whereas any other weapon would deal 56,000 (20,000 + 180%).

The damage difference becomes even more noticeable with higher stats for weapon and hero damage. The hidden multiplier also applies to the elemental damage of the Sparus.

Its base ranged damage is reduced by -10%, but uses the Monk’s MELEE damage scaling convention.

Example 1: An Obsidian Sparus with 4000 base ranged damage and 0 Hero Damage would deal 3600 damage per hit, whereas any other weapon would deal 4000.
Example 2: An Obsidian Sparus with 4000 base ranged damage and 50 Hero Damage would deal 10,080 (3600 + 180%) damage, whereas any other weapon would deal 6800 (4000 + 70%).


Tower Boost

Increases the damage output of all surrounding defenses and rapidly heals them. Keeping the ability active slowly drains mana from the Monk, with the mana cost becoming exponentially higher over time. More stat points also greatly improve the effective range of the abiliy. The healing effect does not replenish trap charges. Cooldown: 19 seconds.



Hero Boost

Increases the damage output of your hero and all surrounding heroes and rapidly heals them. Keeping the ability active slowly drains mana from the Monk, with the mana cost becoming exponentially higher over time. More stat points also greatly improve the effective range of the abiliy. The damage multiplier also applies to elemental damage and affects attacking pets as well. Cooldown: 21 seconds.

Melee: The Squire attacks with a three-hit combo, the last hit being a double swing. The second hit deals +35% more damage than the first, and both hits of the double swing deal +65% more damage than the first. The bonuses for the Obsidian Gladius are +20% and +40% respectively. The Countess uses a three-step attack animation by performing two hits, followed by an overhead smash. The second hit does +48% extra damage, whereas the overhead smash does +130% extra damage. The bonuses for the Obsidian Gladius are +32% and +96% respectively. All bonuses also apply to elemental damage.

Similar to the Monk, Squire weapons also have different attack speeds and varying damage per upgrade. The same rule applies: faster weapons get less damage per upgrade and vice versa. The slowest common Squire weapon is the War Hammer (162 damage per upgrade) and the fastest is the Gauntlet (80 damage per upgrade).

Compared to most other classes, the Squire’s hero damage scales rather poorly. While the Squire’s combat abilities (Blood Rage and Circular Slice) can be somewhat useful, he’s still one of the weaker DPS heroes.

The weapon base damage for the Countess scales exactly the same as for the Squire, but the overall DPS for each weapon will vary due to the different attack animation and damage bonus.

Backstabber
Assault Pack 3 challenge reward

Has the fastest attack speed for any Squire weapon, but its small size makes it a rather ineffective weapon overall. For whatever reason, the Squire also holds the blade backwards.

The Sword of Masters
Volcanic Eruption challenge reward

The sword shoots a projectile with every swing if the hero is at full health. It has a separate ranged damage stat for the projectile, plus upgradeable projectile speed (much like Monk weapons). Otherwise an unremarkable weapon.

The Light Knight
The King’s Game map reward

Relatively high damage per upgrade (168) and decent attack speed. Better than any common Squire weapon and other lesser rewards that aren’t listed here.

Steam Saw
Sky City map reward

Huge damage per upgrade (369) paired with decent swing speed makes it one of the top Squire weapons. Like the Monk Wrench, however, acquiring a good Steam Saw in NMHC difficulty is tough due to the nature of the boss fight.

Eternian Greatsword
Crystalline Dimension map reward

Great damage per upgrade (304) and very fast swing sweed. Shoots projectiles with each swing like The Sword of Masters and also has separate stats for projectile damage (+80 per upgrade) and projectile speed. Unlike the Sword of Masters, however, the Eternian Greatsword can have two extra projectiles (up to three total) and will shoot them regardless of hero health. Outstanding DPS.

Obsidian Gladius
Akatiti Jungle map reward

The weapon has an incredibly fast attack speed and gets 170 damage per upgrade, which is further improved by the hidden damage multiplier like the Obsidian Sparus. The multiplier increases the weapon's base and elemental damage by 70%. One of the best overall Squire weapons.


Circular Slice

The Squire performs a spinning whirlwind attack, damaging all enemies around him. The damage of the Circular Slice depends on the base damage of the weapon (modified by Hero Damage). The weapon's knockback and elemental damage are also applied with the attack. Putting more stat points into Circular Slice increases its damage bonus. Cost: 60 mana. Cooldown: 1 second.


Blood Rage

Greatly increases the Squire's damage, movement speed and damage resistance. Keeping the ability active slowly drains mana from the Squire, with the mana cost becoming exponentially higher over time. Putting more stat points into Blood Rage also improves the movement speed bonus. Cooldown: 21 seconds.

Ranged: Shoots a magical burst of energy. The damage of the burst can be charged by holding down the left mouse button and releasing it. Alternatively, holding both mouse buttons causes the Apprentice to shoot rapid magical bursts, although it deals far less damage than the charged shots. Fully charging a shot adds 278% bonus damage to each projectile. The charge bonus also applies to the elemental damage of the weapon.

The secondary area-of-effect attack always deals 300% of the weapon’s base damage when fully charged, regardless of any Hero Damage. Some weapons add extra effects - such as pillars of light - to the secondary attack, but these are purely cosmetic.

Unlike Monk and Squire weapons, all common Apprentice weapons get exactly the same damage per upgrade (48). The number of maximum extra projectiles (five) is also the same for all Apprentice weapons, including all map rewards.

Apprentice hero damage scaling is similar to the Squire. However, his low health and weaker weapons usually make him a poor choice for a DPS hero. While the hero damage bonus applies to each individual projectile, it’s difficult to hit enemies with several projectiles at once without moving into melee range and putting the Apprentice at risk. The Adept has identical damage scaling to the Apprentice, but is weaker as a DPS hero because she gets even less health per stat point.




Negative charge speed reduces the DPS of any Apprentice weapon. While it obviously affects the speed at which you can charge up a shot, it also significantly reduces the damage of the Apprentice’s rapid fire attack. Overcapped charge speed on the other hand results in greater DPS than regular maxed charge speed.

The percentages represent the damage per rapid shot compared to the base damage of the weapon.

All weapons from Moraggo and Aquanos

This is an exception to the rule that common weapons are always worse than map rewards. The Apprentice staves from Moraggo (Crystal Shard Staff, Bone Staff, Bloodshot Staff) and Aquanos (Hydrostaff, Tidal Staff) are unlike other common Apprentice weapons, because their elemental damage actually scales with Hero Damage, bringing the weapon’s DPS well above all other common drops. The same applies to all related map and challenge rewards (Oculus of the Genie King, Genie King’s Shardstaff, Arronax).

It’s also worth noting that the Bone Staff and Bloodshot Staff fire their projectiles in a unique formation, with the Bone Staff’s projectiles flying in a tight V-shaped pattern and the Bloodshot Staff’s projectiles flying in a clumped hexagon pattern. The reduced projectile spread makes these two particular staves very useful for attacking large targets (such as bosses) at a distance.

The North Pole
Winter Wonderland map reward

Like its common version, the weapon cannot spawn with any elemental damage. It also fires all projectiles on a flat plane, instead of adding an extra projectile in front of the middle projectile like all other Apprentice weapons. Otherwise a generic Apprentice staff.

Lava Slinger
Volcanic Eruption challenge reward

The weapon’s base damage is converted to fire damage and it shoots fireballs instead of standard projectiles. It gets 49 damage per upgrade and its elemental damage also scales with Hero Damage.

Enchanted Bishop
The King’s Game map reward

True to its name, the weapon fires all projectiles at a diagonal angle. The secondary attack drops a huge chesspiece in the middle of the area-of-effect radius, although it’s purely cosmetic. The weapon’s damage per upgrade (66) is higher than all common weapons and most other map rewards, plus its elemental damage scales with Hero Damage, making it a decent choice for lower-level heroes.

Eternian Staff
Crystalline Dimension map reward

The weakest reward from Crystalline Dimension, but still not too bad for an above-average staff. Gets 91 damage per upgrade and its elemental damage scales with the Hero Damage as well. Otherwise inferior to Classic's Eagle-Crested Standard and Obsidian Clava.

Classic’s Eagle-Crested Standard
Boss Rush challenge reward

While otherwise indistinguishable from its common drop version, the Standard has one of the highest damage-per-upgrade values out of any Apprentice weapon (105). Ultimate-quality Eagle-Crested Standards are especially powerful as DPS weapons thanks to even higher damage-per-upgrade (147).

Obsidian Clava
Akatiti Jungle map reward

Like other Obsidian weapons, it can spawn with insane hero stats even on non-ultimate versions. However, unlike other Obsidian weapons, it doesn’t have a hidden damage multiplier. The damage per upgrade is the same for all Clavas (122), which means that a Clava is usually superior to a non-ultimate Eagle-Crested Standard, but an ultimate Eagle-Crested generally wins out over an ultimate Clava.


Unfortunately, the Apprentice really has no skills to help him in combat.

Overcharge reduces the channeling time of summoning, upgrading and repairing defenses, as well as healing the hero and using the Mana Bomb skill. However, all of these are take so little time by default that the extra speed boost is barely noticeable.

Mana Bomb suffers greatly from several shortcomings. First off, it's only improved by the ability's own stat, meaning that the weapon damage and Hero Damage don't affect it. Secondly, the damage scales so poorly that even with a few thousand points into the Mana Bomb ability, you'll barely be doing any real damage. While the range of the ability is huge, the further away enemies are, the less damage they take, reducing its usefulness as a "crowd cleaner". The final nail in the coffin is the 45-second cooldown, making the ability thoroughly useless.

Ranged: Shoots a constant volley of projectiles. Each Huntress weapon uses an ammo clip that needs reloading once emptied. The attack rate depends on the individual weapon. Each common Huntress weapon gets 80 damage per upgrade, with the exception of a few DLC weapons that get less damage (usually 40). Some weapons can also pierce multiple enemies with a single shot and/or have additional projectiles.

The Huntress has the largest variety of unique weapons out of any class. While most Huntress weapons are simply crossbow variations with the occasional minigun thrown in, there are two major types of weapons that behave very differently – flamethrowers and grenade launchers.

Flamethrowers: Unlike other Huntress weapons, these shoot a short-range stream of fire that pierces and damages all enemies caught within it. Each flame can damage a single enemy up to three times, essentially tripling the damage output of the weapon. Flamethrowers can’t have extra projectile speed, attack rate or extra elemental damage as upgradeable stats. They also get only 40 damage per upgrade. The flamethrowers are:

• Ember Blaster (common weapon, fire base damage, by far the fastest base attack speed out of any flamethrower-type weapon)
  
• Sand Devil (Moraggo weapon, physical base damage)
  
• Flamewave (Aquanos weapon, physical base damage)
  
• Electron Spray (DLC weapon, poisonous base damage)

Grenade launchers: These weapons shoot lobbed projectiles instead of firing a straight volley. The projectiles slide on surfaces and explode after a short while, dealing area-of-effect damage. They can also bounce off surfaces if the weapon’s projectile speed stat is high enough. Grenade launchers can’t have extra elemental damage. The grenade launchers are:

• Demolisher (common weapon, fire base damage)
  
• Splashdown (Aquanos weapon, fire base damage)
  
• Chicken Shooter (DLC weapon, physical base damage)

Unlike the other main hero classes, the hero damage for Huntress and Ranger scales differently, making Ranger the superior choice for a DPS hero, especially considering the fact that the Ranger also gets more health per stat point. The overall hero damage scaling for both of them is fairly high. Coupled with the high attack speed that most of their weapons can reach, this makes them a decent choice for a DPS hero.

Common weapons

Several common Huntress weapon classes have unique properties, so I’ll mention a few.

• Triple Shot. Fires three arrows instead of one, but has no "extra projectiles" stat.
  
• Firebird. Base damage converted to fire. Can only spawn with fire elemental damage.
  
• Snow Slinger. Can have up to two extra projectiles. Shoots snowballs.
  
• Predator. Can have up to two extra projectiles. Base damage converted to lightning.
  
• Dragon Cannon. Can have up to two extra projectiles. Base damage converted to fire.
  
• Sicarius. Can have up to 4 extra projectiles. Base damage converted to poison. Shoots spider web (in apperance only, doesn’t slow enemies). Low damage per upgrade (45). The unique challenge reward version of this weapon (Retribution) has physical base damage and can only have up to 3 extra projectiles.
  
• Ferngully. Can’t have extra elemental damage, projectile speed or attack rate as upgradeable stats. Base damage converted to poison. Low attack range and damage per upgrade (40).

Van Wolfstein
Halloween Spooktacular 2 challenge reward

This is a highly unique weapon and very useful in conjunction with the Genie pet. It can shoot through walls, have up to 4 extra projectiles in a cross pattern and its base damage is converted to lightning. It also has extremely low damage per upgrade (26). This is one weapon where the common versions (Lupine Bow and Wolfhunter's Bow) are actually better, because they can spawn with extra elemental damage, whereas Van Wolfstein can’t. Check out THIS guide by Black Mambo № 5 for more information.

Karathikian Stone Thrower
Rumble in the Jungle challenge reward

Grenade launcher-type weapon that instead shoots small boulders, much like the Squire’s bowling ball turret and the Monk’s Stone’s Throw Spear weapon. High damage per upgrade (120), but more of a novelty weapon than anything else.

Magic Lamp
Über Death From Above challenge reward

Another weapon listed mainly because of its novelty. Can have up to two extra projectiles and has higher damage per upgrade than common weapons (102).

The BF Drill
Volcanic Eruption challenge reward

Has a higher attack rate, splash radius and damage per upgrade (104) compared to its common version. However, its range is also heavily nerfed, making it almost a melee weapon. Nevertheless, it’s a very useful weapon for farming the Lab Assault map. I’ve made a separate guide about that specific map, found HERE.

Krytykal Stryke
Sky City map reward

One of the highest damage-per-upgrade for any Huntress weapon (206). Otherwise identical to its common version, but fairly difficult to acquire on hardcore mode, like other Sky City rewards.

Pawn Shot
The King’s Game map reward

Heavily-modified grenade launcher with the highest potential base damage out of any weapon in the game. It gets 352 damage per upgrade, with the ultimate version having 448 extra damage per upgrade. Unlike the common grenade launcher, its projectiles fly in a straight line and deal physical damage. The weapon can also spawn with extra elemental damage. Like the weapon's name suggests, its projectiles are shaped as pawns. It’s overall DPS tends to be lower than the Blaster Rifle, but it’s still a great Huntress weapon.

Eternian Energy Cannon
Crystalline Dimension map reward

Has excellent damage per upgrade (312) and great firing rate. However, its overall DPS is still lower than the Blaster Rifle’s with both weapon’s base damage being equal and both fire rates maxed.

Blaster Rifle
Tinkerer’s Lab map / survival reward

One of the top Huntress weapons in the game. It has insane attack speed, paired with high damage per upgrade (269). Unlike its common version, it can also have extra elemental damage and it’s able to pierce enemies. It's also rewarded regardless of the hero class used to complete the map (both in survival and normal mode).


Piercing Shot

The Huntress fires a shot, accompanied by an ethereal bird which flies in a straight line, piercing all enemies in its path and dealing significant physical damage. The bird can also fly through walls and other obstacles. The weapon's elemental damage isn't applied to Piercing Shot. Mana cost: 40. Cooldown: 3 seconds.


For example, a Huntress with 100 Hero Damage, using a weapon that has 1000 base damage and 500 elemental damage, would deal 2600 damage per shot (1000 base + 110% from Hero Damage + 500 elemental). If the huntress had 100 points into Piercing Shot and used the ability, she would fire a single shot dealing 2600 damage and launch a bird dealing 10,080 damage to everything in its path (1000 base + 110% from Hero Damage + 380% from Piercing Shot).

Piercing Spreadshot

This ability replaces the Piercing Shot for the Ranger. It essentially shoots three ethereal birds instead of one. The individual damage bonus is smaller than Piercing Shot, but the combined damage is greater if all three birds connect with enemies. Mana cost: 50. Cooldown: 3 seconds.


Using the above Huntress example in case of a Ranger, the hero deals 2800 damage per shot (1000 base + 130% Hero Damage + 500 elemental) and a full 100-point Piercing Spreadshot would deal 11,040 damage (1000 base + 130% from hero damage + 60% from Piercing Spreadshot = 3680 damage per bird). The damage difference between Piercing Shot and Spreadshot becomes even more noticeable with higher stats, especially if you consider that the Spreadshot's projectiles pierce enemies in three directions instead of one, making the overall DPS much higher than Piercing Shot.

Melee: Dual wields weapons and attacks with very rapid strikes. Alternating the attacks gives a bonus to the weapon’s damage. For example, attacking with the left-hand weapon and then attacking with the right-hand weapon adds 68,75% damage for the second hit. You can keep alternating for 118,75% and 162,5% damage bonus for the third and fourth hit respectively. If you also alternate the fifth hit of the combo, the Barbarian performs a devastating double swing with both weapons at once, dealing an extra 437,5% damage twice with each weapon. The bonuses also apply to the elemental damage of the weapon.

Tip: Holding down both attack keys (left and right mouse button) causes the Barbarian to perfectly alternate attacks, always performing the double swing on every fifth strike.

Barbarian’s hero damage scales only slightly better than the Squire, but the damage bonus from Barbarian’s unique combo attack heavily increases his overall DPS, making him one of the best DPS heroes in the game. Because of the nature of his combo attack, the Barbarian benefits most from using weapons with fast attack speed.

The Barbarian is a dedicated DPS hero, because he can’t place any defenses and instead uses combat stances to increase his fighting prowess in battle. At most two stances can be active at any one time. Each stance drains your mana while active at an increasingly higher rate (with the exception of Hawk Stance).


Greatly reduces your movement speed and jump height, but also increases your resistance to damage. This effect stacks with your hero’s resistances and can make you nearly invulnerable. Turtle Stance reduces your hero's damage by 9,1% while active. The damage penalty is not reduced by putting extra points into this stat. Turtle Stance also makes you immune to spider webs. Cooldown: 14 seconds.


For example, if an attack would deal 10,000 damage and you have 90% resistances with a 1000-point Turtle Stance active, your resistances would reduce the damage to 1000 and the Turtle Stance would then reduce it to 230, meaning that you only take a fraction of the actual damage.


Increases your movement speed and jump height, as well as attack speed and weapon knockback. The downside of the stance is a heavily reduced damage output. Your overall weapon damage is reduced by 45%, which always results in less DPS despite the significant attack speed increase. The damage penalty is not decreased by putting extra points into this stat. Because of this, Tornado Stance is best used to quickly move from one point of the map to another, rather than actively employ it in combat. Cooldown: 2 seconds.


Enables you to restore a percentage of your maximum health with every strike, but also causes you to take extra damage when hit. While the stance is active, you always take an extra 200% damage from every enemy attack. For example, if an attack would deal 10,000 damage and you have 90% resistances with Siphon Stance active, your resistances would reduce the damage to 1000 and the Siphon Stance would then increase it to 3000. The resistance penalty is not decreased by putting extra points into this stat. Cooldown: 2 seconds.


Actual damage dealt does not affect the amount of health restored, meaning that you can deal 1000 damage and still gain 5000 health per hit, for example, as long as your maximum health is high enough.


Causes your attacks to stun enemies while also damaging you for each successful strike. The self-inflicted damage is not reduced by hero resistances or Turtle Stance and always removes a set percentage of your maximum (not current) health, which means that it's actually possible to kill yourself with this stance active. The actual damage you deal with each strike does not affect the amount of health lost. The stun effect lasts for 2 seconds by default and increases slightly with more points put into the stat. Cooldown: 9 seconds.


Its huge drawback makes Lightning Stance virtually unusable without also activating Siphon Stance. If you also consider the fact that the stun does not work on ogres and the stance doesn't increase your damage in any way, Lightning Stance becomes next to useless.


Causes the Barbarian’s next attack to deal massive damage in the form of an overhead smash with both weapons. Unlike other stances that constantly drain your mana while active, Hawk Stance does not cost any extra mana aside from the 120-mana activation cost. It will remain active until you perform an attack or manually deactivate it. You are unable to attack, use abilities or activate stances for 2 seconds after performing an attack in Hawk Stance. Cooldown: 2 seconds.


The bonus damage applies to both weapons. This stance is incredibly powerful, making it possible to one-shot ogres even on nightmare difficulty and kill bosses very fast. The resulting splash damage can kill multiple enemies (including ogres) with a single attack. Combined with the damage bonus from the Propeller Cat pet (and/or the Monk’s Hero Boost ability), the sheer damage of Hawk Stance can become borderline ridiculous.


The Barbarian performs a three-hit combo, dealing damage to all enemies around him. The first hit is performed with the right-hand weapon, the last two with the left-hand weapon. The damage of each hit is amplified depending on the hero’s Battle Pound/Battle Leap stat. Cooldown: 3 seconds.


This skill has very limited use, if any, because the Barbarian’s standard attack tends to outperform it in every way.


The Barbarian performs a leaping attack on the nearest enemy in front of him, striking the enemy with both weapons at once upon landing. The skill can only be activated if there’s an enemy in front of you. Battle Leap costs no mana to use, although you need to have at least 30 mana to activate it. The damage of each weapon is amplified depending on the hero’s Battle Pound/Battle Leap stat. Cooldown: 2 seconds.


This skill is only really useful for quickly jumping into a group of enemies if you can’t be bothered to run towards them.

The Jester can use every weapon in the game. While her damage and health both scale reasonably well, she has no real abilities that would make her particularly viable as a dedicated DPS hero. In other words, she’s basically a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

The ability costs 150 mana to use and brings up a slot machine minigame, giving you the possibility of causing a positive or negative effect depending on the roll. The outcome is completely under your control, as you can stop each reel at any time. If you're attacked while using the slot machine, the ability is canceled, but the cooldown isn't triggered, so you can immediately use the ability again. Wheel o' Fortuna otherwise has a cooldown of 30 seconds, even if the outcome of the roll didn't produce a result.

There are two very useful combinations of the Wheel o' Fortuna ability.

"Kill % of enemies"

This ability instantly kills a percentage (about 13-16%) of random enemies currently on the map. Putting more stat points into the Wheel o’ Fortuna skill doesn’t seem to increase the percentage of enemies killed. However, the Wheel always kills at least 3-5 enemies, even if there are only a handful of them remaining on the map. This makes it useful near the end of a wave, when all the enemies left are usually ogres. It’s also great for killing enemies stuck in random parts of the terrain at the end of a wave without having to go and hunt them down yourself.

"Heal all allies"

This ability heals you and other players for a percentage of their max health. It also repairs towers, heals minions, restores trap charges and replenishes auras. And the range of the ability? Global. It literally heals everything on the map each time you use it. Yes, it’s pretty overpowered.

Ah, poor Series EV. She’s basically an inferior version of the Jester, as she can only use Huntress and Apprentice weapons. In addition, her hero damage and health both scale very poorly. As a result, her overall damage output is greatly overshadowed by other classes.



Proton Charge Blast

The Series EV fires a concentrated short-range energy beam from her armcannon, dealing significant physical damage to all enemies caught within the beam. The Proton Charge Blast can pierce walls and enemies and also pushes back all enemies caught within it, including ogres. The Blast always deals 8 hits per second, regardless of the weapon's attack speed or type. If the Series EV is wielding two weapons, only the base damage of the currently selected weapon is used for calculating the damage of the Blast. You can also switch weapons while the Blast is active.

To use the Proton Charge Blast, the Series EV must first charge up her armcannon. By activating the ability, the Series EV enters the "charged" state and pulls any nearby dropped mana towards her, slowly filling up a bar that appears when the ability is activated. The bar represents the duration of the Proton Charge Blast when the attack is eventually used. The more mana is collected, the longer the attack can be maintained. The maximum possible amount of mana is approximately 3500 and the maximum duration of the beam is about 18 seconds. The actual length of the beam is always the same.

The ability can be toggled on and off without using any mana or losing the accumulated charge. While the ability is turned off, the Series EV can attack normally. The charge is also preserved between waves, but lost if you switch your hero. If the Series EV attacks an enemy while in the charged state, the entire charge is depleted and the Proton Charge Blast is released. The attack can be canceled early by toggling off the ability. Cooldown: 14 seconds.

Huntress weapons


Apprentice weapons


An easy way to calculate the "true" base damage of an Apprentice staff is to fire a fully charged shot at a training dummy and divide the resulting damage by 3,78. This will be the weapon's "true" base damage if the charge speed would be maxed. The Charge Speed stat itself has no effect on the damage of Proton Charge Blast.

Example: Series EV with 2000 Hero Damage (+500% damage) and 2000 Proton Charge Blast (+760% damage), using a random staff with 5000 base damage and 10 charge speed.

Firing a fully-charged shot would deal about 113,400 damage (5000 base + 500% hero damage + 278% charge damage). Dividing that by 3,78 will result in 30,000 (500 base + 500% hero damage). When Proton Charge Blast is used, that damage becomes 258,000 per tick (30,000 + 760% damage), with 8 ticks per second resulting in 2,064,000 DPS.

Alternatively, you can consult the Charge Speed table and see that with +10 charge speed, the weapon deals 67% of its base damage with rapid shot. The rapid shot damage of the weapon in the example would be 20,100, so a simple cross-multiplication would reveal that the "true" base damage is 30,000.

Although the Summoner can’t use any weapons, he can equip two pets instead of one. You might think that since nightmare difficulty heavily reduces hero damage and makes pets stronger, the Summoner could actually be useful as a DPS hero. You would be wrong in your assumption.

It's important to note that pet damage also scales differently for each hero. Heroes with superior hero damage scaling also have more powerful pets. It’s fairly self-evident that a Summoner was not designed to be a DPS hero. Here’s a general damage comparison with the main four hero classes:

Monk


Huntress


Squire


Apprentice


Summoner

That's about it.

If you're interested in some in-depth guides, feel free to check out the following:

100% Walkthrough Guide
FAQ Guide
Lab Assault Guide

I hope this guide has helped you gain a better understanding on how weapon damage works, what are the beast weapons for each hero and which heroes are overall better-suited for combat. I would also recommend pew pew pew's DPS hero guide if you wish to get some more info about hero effectiveness and straight-up comparison of different weapons.

Have fun playing!