V Rising best weapon tier list: What are the best weapons and weapon skills in V Rising?

Which is the overall best weapon in V Rising?

Want to know which is the best weapon in V Rising? Stunlock’s new vampiric survival game takes a slightly unusual approach to weapon classes. In V Rising , every weapon gives you as much extra attack damage as every other weapon, which makes for a very level playing field that allows you to take whichever weapon best suits your playstyle into battle.

But try as they might, the devs can’t stop a meta from emerging. Below we’ll walk you through our recommendations for the best weapons to use in V Rising, which has now received its long-awaited 1.0 patch . We’ll also explain each of the weapons’ specialities and unique skills so you’ll gain a fuller understanding of the pros and cons of each of the blood-seeking implements in your armoury.

There are 7 different weapon types available in V Rising - 6 of them melee, and 1 ranged. Each weapon type has access to a basic attack, and two skills that are unique to that class of weapon.

All weapon types within a “tier” (e.g. bone weapons, or bronze weapons) will give you the same basic boost to your physical power. This means that all of the weapons are viable to take into any fight. However, thanks to the attack speeds, combos, and skills offered by the different weapons types, some weapons are overall a bit more effective than others.

What is the best weapon in V Rising?

Here is our tier list of the best weapons in V Rising:

1. Sword
2. Spear
3. Axes
4. Mace
5. Reaper
6. Slasher
7. Crossbow

We think the Sword is the best weapon in V Rising at the moment thanks to its superior damage-per-second, and its powerful Shockwave and Whirlwind attacks, which you can use to dodge and chase enemies while dealing high damage.

The Spear lacks any such mobility tool, but it’s unrivalled at bursting down single targets, which earns it a worthy second place in our tier list. The Axes, Mace, and Reaper are all similar weapons which deal good damage per hit, but don’t quite match the strength of the faster-acting weapons.

Then there’s the Slasher, which is a fun weapon type to use thanks to its Camouflage skill, but its damage potential just can’t match the other melee weapons. And bringing up the rear is the Crossbow, which is obviously useful for staying at range, but otherwise has two rather mediocre abilities that don’t give it the best chance of equalling the power of the other weapon types.

V Rising weapon skills list

As mentioned above, different weapon types in V Rising have access to various unique weapon skills. The lowest tier of the basic weapon types (Sword, Axes, Mace, Spear, and Crossbow) only have access to a basic attack, but higher tier versions of these weapons will gain extra damage-dealing skills. Below we’ll walk you through the unique skills of each weapon type.

Sword:

• Attack Combo: 35% / 35% / 40%
• Whirlwind: Spin around and slice nearby enemies dealing 35% physical damage every 0.25s for 1.1s (8s cooldown).
• Shockwave: Send forth a shockwave dealing 70% physical damage and launching the enemy hit into the air for 1.6s. Recast the ability to teleport to the target striking it three times, each strike dealing 25% physical damage (8s cooldown).
• Speciality: Vegetation

The Sword is a fantastic all-rounder, and its high attack speed makes it ideal for builds which focus on critical strikes. Shockwave is a great movement skill which can help you avoid powerful attacks while your dash is on cooldown, while also dealing significant damage to a target enemy. And the Whirlwind skill, which you earn at the Copper tier of weapons, is a good AoE damage-dealer which also increases your movement speed for its duration, adding even more mobility to the Sword’s skillset.

Spear:

• Attack Combo: 40% / 40% / 50%
• A Thousand Spears: Perform a multi-stab attack, dealing 30% physical damage 8 times. Recast during the effect to perform a thrust attack dealing 50% physical damage and knocking enemies back (8s cooldown)
• Harpoon: Throw a spear that deals 70% physical damage and pulls the enemy towards you (8s cooldown).
• Speciality: Creatures

Unlike most other weapon types, the spear doesn’t have a wide arcing hitbox. Instead, the attacks are thrusts which can pierce through enemies standing in a line. It’s a fast-attacking weapon that is great for quickly bursting down a single enemy with its Thousand Spears skill, and for hunting enemies down with the Harpoon skill.

Axes:

• Attack Combo: 45% / 45% / 55%
• Frenzy: Dash forward and strike the first enemy dealing 100% physical damage. Enter a state of frenzy that increases your movement speed by 25% and increases attack speed by 30% for 0.8s on a successful hit (8s cooldown).
• X-Strike: Throw two axes in the shape of an X. Each hit deals 85% physical damage and slows the enemy for 1.5s. Hitting an enemy where both axes intersect inflicts a 2s incapacitate (8s cooldown).
• Speciality: Wood

Axes act as a mid-point between the Sword and the Mace, offering reasonable damage and reasonable attack rate. Its skills are very powerful, with the Frenzy offering an extra dash and an attack speed boost for a short time, and the X-Strike giving you a mid-range disabling attack for troublesome enemies.

Mace:

• Attack Combo: 50% / 50% / 60%
• Crushing Blow: Vault towards the cursor and slam your mace into the ground dealing 110% physical damage and inflicting a 2s fading snare (8s cooldown).
• Smack: Smack enemies in front of you dealing 50% physical damage, knocking them back and incapacitating them for 1.2s (9s cooldown).
• Speciality: Mining

The Mace hits harder than any other weapon in V Rising. It’s slow, so its DPS is actually quite low, but the damage per hit is very impressive. The Crushing Blow skill is a great gap-closer which deals high AoE damage, while the Smack does the opposite, putting distance between yourself and an enemy.

Reaper:

• Attack Combo: 50% / 50% / 55%
• Tendon Swing: Swing your reaper dealing 125% physical damage to nearby enemies, knocking them back and inflicting a 2s fading snare (8s cooldown).
• Howling Reaper: Throw a howling reaper that spins in place dealing 20% physical damage every 0.25s for 2.5s. The initial projectile hit slows enemies for 1.5s (8s cooldown).
• Speciality: Undead

The Reaper is another hard-hitting but slow-to-use melee weapon which excels at defeating undead enemies. It lacks the gap-closing ability of the Mace, but its Tendon Swing deals a whopping 125% physical damage with a single attack, which immediately makes the Reaper a lot stronger than it looks. I care less for the Howling Reaper skill, which is fairly hit-or-miss in my experience.

Slasher:

• Attack Combo: 27.5% / 27.5% / 35%
• Elusive Strike: Dash back and forth slashing at your enemies dealing 60% physical damage and inflicting a 2s slow on each hit (8s cooldown).
• Camouflage: Enter a state of camouflage, increasing movement speed by 25% for 6s. Your next primary attack deals 80% physical damage and incapacitates the enemy for 3s. Using any skill breaks camouflage (10s cooldown).
• Speciality: None

The Slasher is a quick weapon that deals low damage per attack, but gives you a great deal of utility with its two skills. Elusive Strike is great for dodging attacks while dealing damage, while Camouflage is an excellent skill to use in any situation, particularly for those who enjoy sneaking up on their enemies.

Crossbow:

• Attack Combo: 110%
• Rain Of Bolts: Fire a salvo of 5 bolts into the air that rains down on your enemies dealing 40% physical damage each in an area and inflicts a 1.5s fading snare (8s cooldown).
• Snapshot: Fire a quick bolt that deals 75% damage, interrupts casts and inflicts a 2s fading snare (8s cooldown).
• Speciality: None

The Crossbow gives you a dedicated ranged weapon which fires powerful bolts at a fairly slow rate. There’s no attack combo here, just a good old fashioned shoot-reload-shoot mechanic. Snapshot’s interrupt effect is situationally useful against powerful enemies (and in PvP), while Rain Of Bolts deals fairly mediocre damage over a wide area.

I will say that in groups it is very useful to have a single clan member staying at range and using a Crossbow, both for boss fights and for PvP battles. But one-on-one against another weapon type, the Crossbow’s poor DPS and reliance on good aim puts it behind the pack.

V Rising weapon damage

All the weapons in V Rising deal damage using a three-hit combo. Each attack in the combo deals a certain percentage of your physical power as damage, and each weapon type also has a slightly different attack speed from the others.

Below you can find a table of the damage profiles of each weapon type, including the attack combo damage, the time it takes to complete a combo, and the average damage per second of each weapon.

That brings us to the end of this V Rising weapons guide. If you’re itching to unlock the next tier of weapons, you should check our list of V Rising boss locations , because defeating these bosses is how you unlock new recipes. You can also consult our V Rising tips and tricks for more advice and information. Or, to learn how to get the materials you need, have a look at our guides on how to get Iron and Silver in V Rising.

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

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