Especially on PvE servers in V Rising, personal preference is going to be a big deal. Against monsters, world bosses, and vampire hunters, whatever seems to work is important. Favorite weapons are good to have and no ranking list should change that.
However, if the goal is to ascend to one of V Rising's best, certain weapons just seem to be better than others. Especially in a PvP area where loot is on the line, using a weapon that is considered top-tier can be the difference between success and failure.
Updated on June 8th, 2023 by Hodey Johns: With the free Gloomrot expansion, gamers have been treated to two new weapons: the Dual Pistols and the Greatsword. Those needed to be added to this list. While the old weapons and their statistics remained largely the same in terms of statistics and attributes, there was still a need to rebalance and adjust the existing list. Adding a new weapon isn't as simple as dropping it into the mix. These weapons have distinct strengths and weaknesses when used against each other. Therefore, adding these two weapons has meaningfully altered this list.
10 Crossbow
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Fire a projectile that deals 115% physical damage on hit. |
0 (1 second fire time) |
0.55 |
|
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 inflicting a 1.5-second fading snare. |
0.4 |
8 |
|
Snapshot |
Fire a quick bolt that deals 75% damage, interrupts casts, and inflicts a 2-second fading snare. |
0.3 |
8 |
Hunting down the WInged Terror should be a thrilling experience but anybody using the Crossbow has a valid reason to be extra afraid. Taking a full second to fire a slow, easy-to-dodge bolt means that most PvP and many PvE enemies will be eluding the damage.
While other weapons on the bottom of the list got buffed and nerfed to try and fix them, the Crossbow remains in its launch state where it was also at the bottom of this list. With Dual Pistols now in use, anybody using the Crossbow is likely just trying to make the game more challenging for themselves.
9 Reaper
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 50% / 50% / 55% physical damage. |
1.5 |
0.6 |
|
Tendon Swing |
Swing your reaper dealing 125% physical damage to nearby enemies, knocking them back and inflicting a 2-second fading snare. |
0.2 |
8 |
|
Howling Reaper |
Throw a howling reaper that spins in place dealing 20% physical damage every 0.25 seconds for 2.2 seconds. The initial projectile hit slows the enemies for 1.5 seconds and deals 50% physical damage. |
0.5 |
8 |
The primary attack hits hard, though it is a bit on the slow side. The Tendon Swing is also solid damage and has some PvP benefit as the 2-second fading snare will keep victims closer than they want to be for far too long. Still, outside of this move, the Reaper is a bit too slow for a positive PvP experience.
What makes the Reaper suffer the most is its Howling Reaper, an attack that stands in a single spot. No human enemy is going to stand put in that area and only a few PvE bosses are willing to stand in place for this long either. Getting a legendary weapon version of this can feel cool, but it's a situation weapon.
8 Unarmed
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 65% / 65% / 65% physical damage. |
0.25 |
0 |
Without any unarmed technique attacks, it might look like this "weapon" was placed here just to insult the Crossbow and Reaper. But that's not it. The Crossbow and Reaper are hard to justify use in any situation, but unarmed attacks are actually quite helpful.
Against lower-ranked units, bare-handed strikes will put them into the danger zone without killing them for sucking back some blood. Until players hire some helpful servants, this is as good as it gets when needing to get an enemy into the danger zone.
7 Axes
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 45% / 45% / 55% physical damage. |
1.56 |
0.55 |
|
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 0.8 seconds on a successful hit. |
0.35 |
8 |
|
X-Strike |
Throw two axes in the shape of an X. Each hit deals 80% physical damage and slows the enemy for 1.5 seconds. Hitting the enemy where both axes intersect inflicts a 1-second incapacitate. |
0.5 |
8 |
The Axes got a small buff and a nerf, evening them out a bit from where they were before. Frenzy's attack speed increase lasts 0.8 seconds, up from 0.3 seconds but the stun on X-Strike has been halved. Ultimately, this is probably better for the build as the old Axes felt more like using a spellcasting loadout due to the short window of attack time.
Positioning with X-Strike is tough and because most PvP players understand the move, they know exactly where to not stand while in combat as soon as they see somebody with two Axes. But PvE opponents are less brilliant and will find themselves getting knocked out often. With a quick Frenzy follow-up, this makes for a nice DPS rotation.
6 Mace
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 55% / 55% / 60% physical damage. |
1.74 |
0.61 |
|
Crushing Blow |
Vault towards the cursor and slam your mace into the ground dealing 150% physical damage and inflicting a 2-second fading snare. |
0.7 |
8 |
|
Smack |
Smack enemies in front of you dealing 50% physical damage, knocking them back and incapacitating them for 1.2 seconds. |
0.35 |
8 |
The Mace is high-damage but slow. The Crushing Blow move, specifically, is very difficult to land, but because it has a movement tied to it, that gives it some mobility points. Smack's stun is much quicker to get off and that gives the Mace some intriguing PvP potential.
The damage has been increased across the board for the Mace, making it a much stronger combat option. It's still quite slow to swing but against opponents that aren't quick on their toes, landing these shots consistently can give the weapon top-tier damage potential. Just be sure to have some healing handy for the attacks taken while swinging this around.
5 Spear
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 40% / 40% / 50% physical damage. |
1.02 |
0.7 |
|
A Thousand Spears |
Perform a multi-stab attack, dealing 20% physical damage 8 times. Recast during the effect to perform a thrust attack dealing 50% physical damage and knocking enemies back. Enemies are staggered during the attack for the 1.1-second time. |
0.35 |
8 |
|
Harpoon |
Throw a spear that deals 90% physical damage and pulls the enemy towards you. |
0.7 |
8 |
There was a rework on the Spear that may make players love it or hate it compared to what it was before. This weapon used to have no wind-up time, instantly striking enemies but that's gone. To compensate, a 1.1-second stun has been added to A Thousand Spears, preventing any player hit from moving during the channel.
A vampire looking to succeed solo won't get much out of this but players who fight in groups will be able to coordinate with their teammates. The Spear will hold them in place while teammates in PvE or PvP can cast spells or use moves that ordinarily would be difficult to land.
4 Greatsword
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 70% / 70% / 80% physical damage. |
2 |
1 |
|
Great Cleaver |
Charge forward and swing your greatsword upward dealing 150% damage in an area and launching enemies into the air for 0.75 seconds. |
0.4 |
8 |
|
Death From Above |
Leap into the air and descend upon your enemy dealing 100% physical damage in an area. |
0 |
8 |
The Greatsword is going to be used as one of the best loadouts in PvE for one reason alone; Death from Above briefly makes the character "immaterial." That is to say, the character isn't targetable. Using this skill before a big damage move is about to hit can negate boss damage entirely.
In PvP, the Greatsword will struggle a bit, unfortunately both active skills are somewhat easy to dodge for more mobile loadouts. But the damage is solid and could be perfect for gamers looking to get in, deliver a few big hits, and get out.
3 Dual Pistols
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of ranged attacks dealing 65% / 50% / 50% physical damage. |
2.15 (0.5 fire time) |
0.5 |
|
Fan the Hammer |
Fire 10 bullets in a cone over 1.5 seconds, each bullet deals 25% physical damage and knocks the target back. |
0.4 |
8 |
|
Explosive Bullet |
Perform a dodge roll followed by firing an explosive bullet dealing 125% physical damage. The bullet explodes after 3 seconds dealing 125% physical damage in an area and knocking enemies back. |
0.3 |
8 |
With the highest combo damage per second in the game, it's tough to dislike the Dual Pistols. Their range isn't as long as the Crossbow but the shots take only half a second to fire instead of the full second. Against groups, Fan the Hammer will either kill waves of enemies or drive them back.
Explosive Bullet's related damage is great, but the real star of the show is that it rolls, giving players another mobility option. With one of the best armor sets in the game, the Dual Pistols are solid in PvE and stellar in PvP so long as the user is pretty good about leading that initial shot.
2 Sword
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 35% / 35% / 40% physical damage. |
1.15 |
0.55 |
|
Whirlwind |
Spin around and slice nearby enemies dealing 35% physical damage every 0.25 seconds for 1.1 seconds. Movement speed is increased during the spin. |
0 |
8 |
|
Shockwave |
Send forth a shockwave dealing 70% physical damage and launching the enemy hit into the air for 1.6 seconds. Recast the ability to teleport to the target, striking it three times, each strike deals 20% physical damage. |
0.7 |
8 |
Shockwave, when it lands, is one of the most devastating techniques, allowing players to instantly move next to the ranged attacker and deal loads of damage. But the high ranking is all due to the Whirlwind ability that takes out mobs or single opponents, even if they move around, in the blink of an eye.
Impressively, the Sword has been buffed, giving players a movement speed increase on Whirlwind to prevent opponents from being able to run away from the area effectively. Keep this gear repaired and find that the Sword is incredibly useful in PvE or PvP scenarios.
1 Slashers
|
Ability Name |
Effect |
Cast Time (seconds) |
Cooldown (seconds) |
|
Primary Attack |
Perform a combo of melee attacks dealing 27.5% / 27.5% / 35% physical damage. |
1.02 |
0.63 |
|
Elusive Strike |
Dash back and forth slashing at your enemies dealing 70% physical damage and inflicting a 2-second slow on each hit. |
0.2 |
8 |
|
Camouflage |
Enter a state of camouflage, increasing movement speed by 25% for 3 seconds. Your next primary attack deals 80% physical damage and incapacitates the enemy for 2 seconds. Using any skill breaks camouflage. |
0 |
10 |
Gamers that don't see why the Slashers are so good likely haven't run into a PvP enemy that excels with them. The two-second slow that is almost impossible to avoid is just the start. Camouflage makes the character close to invisible, speeds them up, and deals extra damage on the next hit. Oh, and that 2-second stun that essentially allows a free hit with any available attack or spell, that's probably worth mentioning. It's bad enough to make opponents delete their characters.
If things go south, Slashers are also the best weapon in the game for escaping, even against a well-geared enemy. There may be other PvE weapons that deal more burst damage, but throughout a skirmish, it's the Slashers that have the upper hand with a flurry of quick strikes.
V Rising is available now for PC.