Arming yourself with the best Deathloop guns and Deathloop legendary weapons can absolutely turn the odds in your favor, but first you need to know where to find them or what you have to do to earn them. For some this just involves going to the right place, where you'll discover them sitting there as floor loot, while others will require solving puzzles, completing treasure hunts, or beating challenges in order to add them to your arsenal. If you don't spot the clues or know how to interpret them, you could end up missing certain weapons entirely, or at least delaying finding them until much later in the story, and that's not going to make your Deathloop experience any easier.
There's also the risk that you could spend ages trying to get a specific weapon, only to find you don't actually like it, as they're not all great. However, the best Deathloop weapons do have interesting perks and abilities, and, as the rarity increases, you'll be able to add more Trinket buffs to make them even more powerful again. You can hoover general guns from the floor, but the greatest stuff comes from killing Visionary bosses, or specific side missions and challenges. In this guide we're going to run through the core guns, the perks, and then list the best Deathloop guns you must have.
Deathloop guns explained
There are seven basic Deathloop guns you can pick up as ground loot and enemy drops. These cover the usual archetypes of handguns, SMGs machine guns, rifles, and shotguns, with the smaller handguns and pistols being dual wieldable for extra firepower. While these are good right at the start of the game, before you find anything better, you'll soon find weapons with perks, and special guns obtained from Deathloop Visionaries that will take over your arsenal. All the weapons come in Crude, Sleek, and Exemplar variations which roughly equates to common, rare, and epic, letting you equip one, two and three stat buffing Deathloop Trinkets respectively. These then, are the basic Deathloop guns you can find.
PT-6 Spiker
This is your go to silenced weapon - a nail gun that can land lethal, silenced headshots at a decent range. While the sight is good, you might actually find it easier to use un-aimed as the crosshairs turn red when you're going to inflict damage and confirm you'll hit a target at range.
Fourpounder handgun
As the weight based name would suggest this is a bit of a beast. It's a heavy, slow-firing hand cannon with a small clip and a big punch. This isn't one to spray and pray with, as its low fire rate and high damage means you really need to land your shots.
Tribunal handgun
This is a simple handgun with decent accuracy and okay damage. It's a fast-firing, light weapon with a good clip size that relies on you keeping on your toes and staying mobile to land lots of low damage shots.
LIMP-10
This rattly pistol-like SMG takes some mastering. There's no general aim assist in Deathloop and the sights on this aren't great, leaving it best for close range spraying. However, this is one of the better guns to dual wield as doubling up on its high rate of fire can melt enemies.
MG-1 Pepper Mill
This is basically Deathloop's assault rifle. It has high firepower, good range and decent sights that can keep it effective at a distance. It feels like it does have a low clip size though, and always seems to need reloading when you least need it.
Rapier
The Rapier is a tough one. It's a single shot marksman style rifle that has great accuracy and range, but the game rarely gives it the space it needs to shine. It's best at a distance which you don't get much of in Deathloop’s generally compact levels. Plus firing it alerts pretty much anyone close by, meaning you'll want to switch to something faster firing to deal with the attention.
Strelak 50-50
The Strelak 50-50 is a shotgun with twin ammo drums. It can fire fast, does a lot of damage, and has surprising range. It's basically one of the best options for clearing out enemies fast. The downside is that those two ammo drums make it really slow to reload.
Volpat Trencher
This is your basic pump shotty - a slow to fire shotgun best used at close range. Compared to the range and fire rate of the Strelak it's absolutely the weaker option but barely - it's a one shot kill all the way up to close medium range so still useful if you don't mind the smaller mag size.
Deathloop weapon perks
Periodically, you'll find some Deathloop weapons with a perk that will offer added effects. You might find these in special places, or they might be dropped by certain glowing enemies (if you ever see anyone drop a lot of glowing Trinkets they'll probably drop an enhanced gun). For the most part these are randomly dropped, with randomly rolled perks, so the quality of what you can find varies. Not all perks will appear on all weapons either. For example perks relating to bullet spread are shotgun only. Where possible we've noted the weapons these perks have appeared on.
- Snare - Slows enemies down on hit. (All)
- Suppressor - Weapon is much quieter. (Pistols and SMGs)
- Marked For Death - Deal extra damage to tagged enemies. (All)
- More Bang - Bullets explode on impact. (Fourpounder)
- Hunter's Mark - Shoot enemies to tag them. (Fourpounder)
- Choke Point - Bullets have reduced Spread. (Shotguns)
- Scattergun - Shots have a wider spread. (Shotguns)
- Double Tap - Fire two shots without pumping (Vopat Trencher)
- Open Wounds - Shot enemies take damage over time. (Peppermill)
- Wait For It - Less ammo; shots explode after delay. (Spiker)
- Streaker - Hitting consecutive enemies grants you a staking damage buff.
The best Deathloop guns
Deathloop legendary and gold weapons
There are some special Deathloop weapons you can find, either from killing Visionaries or from challenges and secrets hidden in the game. These are the guns you want as nearly all of them are about as good as weapons get in the game, with two so good you'll probably never want to swap them out.
Deathloop Strelak Verso
These are probably the best guns in the entire game. They come with the Snare perk to slow enemies when you hit them and also transform with the dual wielding pistols joining together to form a burst fire SMG. The cherry on top is the auto assist aiming that snaps to enemies as you look down the sights. To get them, head to the Complex at Noon and explore the bunker under the leg of the Stabilizer Core (the big wheel thing). You should make the discovery that Eternalists have blown open the vault, and inside you'll find a door that needs four batteries to open. Find the batteries and the Verso is yours.
Deathloop Heritage gun
The Deathloop Heritage gun is just plain fun, and a close tie for the best weapon in the game. It's a weapon that transforms between a slug firing rifle and a wide spread shotgun, making it two guns in one. While the shotgun mode is a little weak (due to the incredibly wide pellet distribution) the slug mode is a beast, with a one shot kill auto aim snap that destroys enemies and make a great noise with it.
You can get the Deathloop Heritage gun from the Fathoms of Lament attraction in Karl's Bay in the evening, but prepare for some pain. Head into the Fathoms building when it's open and you'll find a map with flashing lights on. Each one will represent a present you can open if you can reach it. They'll be mostly randomised, cycling between a roster of set locations. Each will have a challenge to overcome from turrets to trip mines, or just plain guards. Most of them will usually explode when you open them so get clear as soon as you interact with them (although you will get the odd Trinket). One present will be inside the Dawn of Reason building - save that until last as it's filled with codes that appear as you complete the other presents. They'll appear as pictograms on the walls inside and give you the number to open the door in the three minute time limit.
When that's done head back to the Fathoms of Lament where the door at the back will now open. There's an assault course of levers to pull against a time limit while avoiding lasers that will reset the clock. You can reach the Field Nullifier that blocks your Deathloop powers behind some breakable planks, so do that and bring Shift and Aether so you can use teleport and invisibility to cheat. Once all the leavers are pulled the case will open and the gun will be yours.
Charlie's Strelak 50-50
This shotgun has the Snare perk which slows down enemies, as well as incredible range and damage. And, as it's a Strelak it can fire 20 shells before it needs reloading. Follow the Visionary lead to reach Charlie to get it from his corpse. It's a strong gun, and worth getting early as it'll make killing other Visionaries or Julianna a lot easier.
Aleksis Vampire LIMP-10s
Killing the Visionary Aleksis will get you his twin LIMP-10s. These have the Vampire perk that will let you recover health when you damage enemies. That makes them incredibly useful if you get overrun, as every enemy you shoot will heal you. You don't need both to dual wield them like Aleksis does as one will still help you, but two will boost the healing effect.
Echolocation PT-6 Spiker
You won't be able to get this special Spiker until you reach the part of the game where you're using the power station to open up the Horizon Stations scattered around the map. When that happens head to Karl's Bay in the afternoon and open up Akkar Station to find this gun. It fires radar bullets that will still kill people, but also scan and tag any enemies in the immediate area. It's an incredibly useful weapon if you want to avoid any surprises.
Egor's Rapier
When you defeat Egor after finding him in the Complex in the evening he'll drop a Rapier rifle with the perk Eagle Eye. This will massively zoom down the sights making it great for ranged combat.
Harriet's Fourpounder
You can find and kill Harriet in her Karl's Bay Hangar in the morning. She's got a weird thing for gas and her Fourpounder pistol has the Toxic Haze perk which makes its bullets create clouds of toxic gas on impact. It's great for damaging enemies behind cover, creating a poisonous barrier and just generally not having to aim that much. Just be careful though as the gas can hurt you too.
Fia's Pepper Mill
Fia's MG-1 Pepper Mill machine gun has an open Wounds Perk which makes enemies you hit take damage over time. It's a good, accurate assault rifle type weapon that can kill quickly but does require precision.
Sepulchra Breteira
A few hours into the game when you enter Updaam at noon you'll hear an Eternalist on the PA system telling you she's left a present for you in Dorsey Square, just in front of Aleksis' mansion. If you head there you'll see a comically oversized green present. It's obviously a trap so don't go near it because you'll get shot with a high power sniper rifle. Instead look for the bakery right by it with the open windows. Go in there, kill everyone and you'll get this ridiculously overpowered Sniper Rifle with the Deep Lungs perk that can stabilize your aim. It's a great gun with crazy range, but realistically there are few areas in Blackreef big enough to really get the best from it.
Constancy Automatic
If you head to Fristad Rock in the morning you can take out the Visionary Ramblin' Frank and take his SMG pistol. It's got the Snare perk that slows enemies it hits, and also sports a dual magazine system that lets you reload while still firing. The only downside is his Class Pass system that requires a wristband that will cancel your powers to get in. You'll either have to reach and kill him without your abilities to get it, or take the Class Pass all the way to Charlie's place in Updaam where it will get you into another Class Pass door in a lower level at the back. There you'll find one of the Deathloop codes to turn Frank's security system off.
Moxie Rapier
You'll find the Moxie in Updaam, which opens in the afternoon. Inside you'll find six obstacle courses across three floors. Each floor you complete will earn you a Trinket and if you can complete them all in the time limit you'll get this gun which has the Silver Bullet perk. That makes it a one-shot kill that reloads when you hit someone, but if you miss you can't use it for the rest of the level. So it's... limited. If you still want it you'll need Aether and Shift to cheat the obstacle course, preferably with a Trinket that gives you more power. If you visit the Moxie before it opens you'll also find a door in an arch to the left you can go through where you can hack an antenna to add a minute to the timer.
