There are a lot of great first person shooters and many have experimented with a variety of weapon styles. The result has been a number of incredibly powerful weapons that enable the player to singlehandedly shred entire armies.
Some of these superweapons are designed to obliterate a single tough opponent and others are meant to sweep the area of any and all threats. Whether you’re gunning down the demon hordes or going toe to toe with powerful aliens, here are the most powerful weapons you can find in FPS games.
10 Nuka-Nuke Launcher (Fallout 4)
There are a number of interesting and powerful weapons in Fallout 4, but the Nuka-Nuke Launcher is one that easily makes this list. It’s essentially an upgraded version of the absurd Fat Man in that it catapults the much more powerful Nuka-nukes.
It deals an incredible amount of explosive damage from afar that will obliterate all but the toughest of enemies. It’s unique on this list for being a very primitive and simplistic weapon that still manages to keep up with the sci-fi weapons of destruction.
9 Spartan Laser (Halo 3)
When a weapon is designed to be wielded specifically by a cybernetically enhanced super soldier in a suit of powerful armor, you know it’s a good weapon. After a brief charge, the Spartan Laser emits a red targeted laser followed by a single beam of red death that’ll chew through any target it comes in contact with.
It’s capable of bringing down a variety of vehicles, aircraft, and heavily armored units in a single shot. When facing the fierce covenant and their superior technology and shielding you definitely want this at your side.
8 Q-Beam (Prey 2017)
The TS-QPB-S11 Quasiparticle Beam Emitter, or Q-Beam for anyone who’s not a physicist, is a devastating weapon in Prey. Initially, it doesn’t seem very powerful as it strikes your opponent’s with a continuous green laser that doesn’t seem to do anything, but with each hit, it’s slowly corrupting your opponent’s health pool.
Once their health bar has been converted entirely green they’ll explode in a fiery green death ball. This will quickly evaporate the weakest enemies and even the mighty Nightmare will eventually fall if continually struck by this sinister green laser.
7 Dark Energy Gravity Gun (Half-Life 2)
When the Combine tries to forcibly take your Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2 they accidentally supercharge it with dark energy and significantly augment its powers. The Dark Energy Gravity Gun is capable of ripping apart machinery, grabbing enemies, and flinging everything in its grasp as a projectile.
Admittedly it does require a projectile of some kind to do damage but considering you can snag human-sized enemies, objects the size of a small car, and orbs of pure energy, this weapon would let you tear through an entire army without ever needing ammo.
6 Tesla Gun (Wolfenstein 2009)
The Tesla Gun is a powerful short-range weapon from Wolfenstein 2009. It fires a continuous beam of electricity that fires multiple arcs at everything in a radius similar in size to a shotgun blast. The damage output is very high and the swarm of electrical arcs ensures that nothing will escape it’s destructive power.
The reason it ranks lower on this list is that it’s limited to a shorter range, but if you find yourself in close quarters combat with hi-tech Nazis you’ll definitely want this superweapon in your arsenal.
5 Particle Cannon (Wolfenstein 2009)
Yet another weapon from Wolfenstein 2009, the Particle Cannon is superior to the Tesla Gun because it can hit targets at a range and eliminates single targets faster. The Particle Cannon deploys a twisted beam of Veil energy that dissolves enemies on contact.
It’s the choice weapon of the Heavy Troopers which are among some of the fiercest soldiers in the Nazi army. It’s also capable of ripping apart Veil creatures as it jumps from target to target dealing damage. When facing the supernatural and a hi-tech army bent on world domination this is a good weapon to have.
4 Leech Gun (Prey 2006)
The lesser-known game Prey from 2006 had an incredibly powerful weapon that easily makes it the most versatile on this list. The Leech Gun derives its power from energy nodes found on an alien space ship that give it four distinct firing modes.
Red energy gives it Plasma which are fast energy balls that can quickly pepper multiple units, blue gives Frost which can freeze enemies up close, white energy gives lightning that can fire a bolt of electricity capable of dropping tough bosses in a few hits, and the orange energy gives Sunbeam which delivers a continuous beam that can shred heavily armored enemies.
3 Leichenfaust 44 (Wolfenstein 2009)
The scientists of Wolfenstsein 2009 really know what they’re doing and their magnum opus is the Leichenfaust 44. It’s a weapon that fires a sphere of veil energy that explodes on contact. This explosion will completely disintegrate anything in it’s radius and messes with the laws of gravity causing things to float for a few seconds.
It does ridiculous damage and is easily the best weapon to use against bosses in the game. The one downside is that it’s very dangerous if fired in close quarters as the player can get caught in the sphere.
2 Dark Matter Gun (Quake 4)
The Dark Matter Gun from Quake 4 is the thing of nightmares, it’s capable of firing a dark matter core resembling a black hole at enemies. As it crawls through the air enemies will get sucked into its center and all but the strongest of foes will die. It continues it’s path forward until colliding with a wall where it detonates violently.
With this black hole generator, you can rip apart entire squads with ease. It’s arguably one of the most beautiful and horrifying guns on this list.
1 BFG 9000 (Doom 2016)
This is the one you were waiting for and honestly what else would be number one on this list? The BFG 9000 is the big kahuna of guns in the FPS genre. It inspired the Dark Matter Gun and the Leichenfaust 44 and has been found as an easter egg in many shooters.
The best iteration of this gun comes from Doom 2016 which possesses the most destructive power and the prettiest animations. It fires a ball of green plasma that shoots out arcs of green electricity that vaporizes enemies. When it finally connects with something it explodes violently causing massive splash damage to anything caught in it’s radius. When facing a demonic army or a giant demon of monstrous power you want this weapon.