This guide is a weapon damage chart, for both Single target damage and AOE damage.

The higher the weapon is ranked (S being the highest, F the lowest), the more damage it deals, and overall the better it is.
A space inside a single tier would indicate that a weapon is a notch above or below another, within the same tier. Like A+, A and A- tiers for example. Purely for ease of reading.

All the damage tests have been conducted against different ennemies and under different conditions, the main one being a timed fight against a Patriarch. I used Skye for all the tests.

This tier list is based upon weapons damage as of Patch v1.4.29826.

Please do not consider this tier list as finite and undisputable, as damage will vary from one person to another, personal preference and playstyle, perk choice, ennemies, weapon complementarity, accuracy, etc.


***09/23/2014 guide update*** Some corrections, Weapon tier list slight update, adds Tower and perk tier lists, build ideas, general tips.

SINGLE TARGET DAMAGE

SSS - Plasma Rifle
SS - Shotgun Alt, Shotgun, Sniper
S - Drone Launcher, Nailgun, Smatterband
A -SMG, Ballista, Assault Rifle, Gatling Laser
B - REX Alt, Battle Rifle, Tesla, Gatling Laser Alt
C - Voltaic
D - REX
E - Circle saw
F - Grenade Launcher


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AOE DAMAGE

SS - Gatling Laser Alt
S - REX, REX Alt
A - Smatterband Alt, Battle Rifle Alt, Battle Rifle, Grenade Launcher
B - Voltaic, Ballista Alt, Tesla
C - Assault Rifle Alt, Grenade Launcher Alt
D - All the rest



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Overall tier list

S - Gatling Laser, Drone Launcher, Plasma Rifle, Voltaic
A - Smatterband, Shotgun, Rex
B - Battle Rifle, Tesla
C - Ballista, Assault Rifle, SMG, Sniper
D - Grenade Launcher, Nailgun, Circle Saw

Some weapons have their secondary modes on the list, others don't. This was only for a matter of saving time, as some secondary would have proved to be too long to test, thus ending being neglicted on the list. Feel free to share any placement opinion for particular Alt modes that wouldn't be here.

About Single Target damage, the Drone launcher is definitely in its own league, damage-wise.
As the weapon is also extremely safe and easy to use, it deserved the S++ spot.
As of the new update , Drone Launcher NOW SUCKS BALLZ11!
Or perhaps not, actually the weapon still hasn't lost too much of its former glory. The damage is undoubtedly less powerful, but it hurt Skye more than it hurt the weapon itself. The armor shredder nerf might actually be the most hurting change in the end, since armored bosses now become relevant again.
The plasma rifle damage output was a surprise as well. The damage it can deal on weakspot, especially with Tactical juxtaposition, is extremely high, making it basically the same as the Sniper, only better. Plus it has a decent AOE Alt fire. If you're a SiMo and sniper user, consider trying out that baby.

Shotgun primary and Alt fires are basically at the same spot, because the conducted tests take into consideration damage over a specific span of time. By the time you charge your Shotgun completely, reload it, and fire it again, the damage dealt would be more or less the same than firing normally. Also that's implying all the shots connected properly, and charging in front an enemy isn't exactly safe.
Always consider how safe and reliable a weapon is, as a whole, rather than pure damage over one single shot.

The Voltaic also needs clarification, since it could be thought as a bad weapon altogether judging by its placement. It's not, and definitely a great weapon, especially if you can align your shots in long corridors. The weapon also penetrates, and is very versatile (secondary is homing).

On the other hand, Tesla might be well placed on the list, but it takes quite a long time to fully unload its clip, thus you wouldn't make full use of the reload times of your 2 weapons, decreasing your overall DPS.

REX's damage is surprisingly low, but you have to consider its utlity and reliability (rocket jumping to safety, Alt fire at a distance, mass debuffing with Sweet and perks).
Some weapons have a very good grade on single targets such as SMG or Assault Rifle, but in return prove to be very poor at AOE damage. When selecting your weapons, you might want to have one good single target damage weapon, and one good AOE, or 2 multipurpose weapons.

The C Rank of the AOE tier list contains all very good Alt mode for crowds. Problem is, they are all very expensive on your ammo clip, that's why they're sitting at rank C. Keep in mind that you can use the Alt fire even if you have only one ammo left, so you want to empty your clip normally until the last few bullets, and end with a right-click to maximize your damage.

The Gatling laser might actually be one, if not the best weapon of the game. It's one of the best damage dealer at either sustained fire or aoe. it's very good at taking care of masses, as well as tanks like soakers, bobbleheads, scarabs, etc.
Its alt fire is very fast, can be charged for impressive range (charging doesn't increase damage though), you could also charge small bursts of 2 or 3 ammo for maximizing the damage dealt in a single clip, provided you're very close to the targets each time. It is even able to hit flyers if you jump at mid-height before release.
Tactical Juxtaposition increases the range to full-clip charge, which results in a massive aoe splash (but then again, fixed damage).

Tower Tier List

S - Mind Control, ACP, Focus, Anti-Air, Lightning
A - Slow Field Dispenser, Range Spire, AMP Spire, Drone
B - Scatter Laser, Rockets, AR-Mine Dispenser, Cannon
C - Friendship Laser, Makeshift Cannon
D - Orbital, Gatling, Kairos
E - Violator
F - Rupture Mine Dispenser


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Since it's pretty hard to make a tier list solely based on damage for towers, this is of course much more biased than the weapon tier list.
It's also mainly targeted to Campaign maps, especially 5 FoS, which explains the placement of Lightning for instance (that tower shines on maps where you're low budget on the early waves and you need powerful damage dealers quickly).

The A tier also contains most of the Support towers, necessary for Survival maps.

Drone is so high because it's one of the only towers of the game that can reliably deal with bobbleheads, as well as armored targets.

You'll be surprised by where the Orbital or Violator stand in the list, since I usually see a lot of players, even level 40s, use them. Stop using them. Please.
Orbital is fine if your death zone is already solid (with MCs, slows and friends), but stop placing it on Wave 1.

I was also hesitating as to give the Rupture Mine Dispenser its own tier, or Z tier maybe.


Perk Tier List

S - Tactical Juxtaposition, Hollowpoint Rounds, Hip Fire, Spray and Pray, Shocking Revelation, Healing Core

A - Fast Hands, Corpse Explosion, Phoenix, Exposure Rounds, Slowing Presence, Slowing Rounds, Synergy

B - Armor Shredder, Parthian Tactics, G-2 Companion, Hydra Blood, Tinkerer, Roboticist, Against all Odds

C - Long range specialization, Long Range Superiority, Explosive Exchange, BloodLetter, Collateral Damage, Reinforcements, Engineer

D - All the rest

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Imo it's kind of pointless to make a perks tier list, but it might be a good way to give you guys a general idea of what to pick and what not to pick.

The S tier is the tier where you can't go wrong. All these perks are superb, except maybe the Healing core, which becomes the more interesting the more people you play with.
A Tier is mainly a group a personal favorites, some of them better for some characters and builds than others.
Perks in the B and C tiers are mostly mediocre abilities on their own, but they really shine in specific builds (Maze builder, Tank, Long Range specialization, etc).

Finally I let all the other perks in the last tier, some of them being better than others in this very tier. I'm sure a few are not even that bad, and using one of them in your build wouldn't probably make too much of a difference. Just make sure you're not running 2 or 3 of them...

Remember that this tier list is not almighty nor foolproof.

A good player who likes to play C rank weapons will perform better than someone with S rank weapons who has no idea what he's doing.
Whatever the weapons he's using, a player who can properly aim, take monster aggro, deal the most aoe damage without dying, react quickly to threats and maximize reload times, will overall deal a lot more damage than a player sitting next to the core the whole game who will just spam Drone and sniper shots.

I do not own any of the pictures used in this guide.
Credits to the artists and their work (Friendly☣Fire, Nayro, among others) . If you do not want your work to be used in this guide, or have your name and website cited here, please let me know.

Feel free to share your opinion on weapon's placement in the comments below, point out typos I would have missed, or even drop me a message for some co-op action in Santum 2.

Take care,

majinken