Why no honest weapon tier list exists
The most careful competitor page on this query says it plainly: "There is no single community best-weapon tier list at launch." The reason is structural. Weapon attack is set by rarity, and every Legendary weapon carries the same core line — 40 Attack with a +7.20% damage bonus — so two Legendary weapons of the same type do not differ in power, only in the skill kit and sockets around them. A page ranking Skullcrusher above Mercy on damage is ranking two copies of the same number. The one systematic exception: sword-and-shield weapons run roughly 40% lower attack than other types by design, trading it for block stats — which matters later on this page.
- The real choice is the stance: which weapon type your class equips decides your skill kit, and the kits are where the differences live.
- One database site publishes an attack-by-rarity table with its Rare and Excellent rows transposed against the accepted ladder. If you cross-check numbers, check the ladder first.
The stance verdict per class, two sources compared
Both of the sources that pick a stance per class published within a day of each other, and they disagree exactly once — Mercenary — which makes the comparison honest to print. Where they agree, the agreement is real signal; where they split, both reasons are stated and the choice is yours.
- BiggySweats' stance notes add texture the tables flatten: Greatsword is "a cleaner introduction" while Polearm & Shield "demands timing, aim, and battlefield awareness"; Blackarrow's Archer path suits deliberate charge shots, Hunter suits faster pressure.
- One source lists Deathclaw Hunter as a Legendary bow; another states bows lack a Legendary tier entirely. Direct contradiction, unresolved — treat named-bow claims with caution.
| Class | mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug) | Skycoach pick (10 Aug) |
|---|---|---|
| Mercenary | Hammer — charged blows, Super Armor, stagger pressure | Sword & Shield — explicitly avoids the Hammer. The one head-to-head conflict |
| Withered Knight | Greatsword (Mercy) | Greatsword — "Wither Burst" build |
| Sorcerer | Staff — Blind Eye | Stardust spec |
| Shadowstrix | Dagger or Dual Blades | Dual Blades — "the strongest class when played well" |
| Seer | Catalyst (Reverent) or Mace (Blasphemer) | Reverent (Catalyst) |
| Blackarrow | Bow (Deathclaw Hunter) | Hunter's Arrow spec |
Mercenary
- mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug)
- Hammer — charged blows, Super Armor, stagger pressure
- Skycoach pick (10 Aug)
- Sword & Shield — explicitly avoids the Hammer. The one head-to-head conflict
Withered Knight
- mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug)
- Greatsword (Mercy)
- Skycoach pick (10 Aug)
- Greatsword — "Wither Burst" build
Sorcerer
- mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug)
- Staff — Blind Eye
- Skycoach pick (10 Aug)
- Stardust spec
Shadowstrix
- mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug)
- Dagger or Dual Blades
- Skycoach pick (10 Aug)
- Dual Blades — "the strongest class when played well"
Seer
- mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug)
- Catalyst (Reverent) or Mace (Blasphemer)
- Skycoach pick (10 Aug)
- Reverent (Catalyst)
Blackarrow
- mistfallhunterguide.org pick (9 Aug)
- Bow (Deathclaw Hunter)
- Skycoach pick (10 Aug)
- Hunter's Arrow spec
Three tier lists, three different questions
The class tier lists circulating disagree wildly — Withered Knight is C-tier on one, A-tier on another; Mercenary is B-tier on one and first place on another — and most of the disagreement dissolves once you notice each list answers a different question. GrindNStrat ranks PvP power. Skycoach ranks combined solo-and-trio performance. BiggySweats says explicitly that his ranking is "how confidently I would recommend each class as your first choice… not a universal damage chart." Read against the right question, the lists mostly stop conflicting.
- The one attributable developer datapoint cuts against the consensus: DrybearGamers reports a Discord reply from the developers that "based on the data, Shadowstrix isn't particularly strong" — while two of three lists rank Shadowstrix at or near the top.
- Skycoach's trio list is the only stance-level ranking published: S-tier Blackarrow, Reverent Seer, Stardust Sorcerer.
- For the letter grades themselves, this site's own tier list ranks by specialisation and splits solo from trio — the split those sources collapse.
"RED weapons" and Holy weapons are the same thing
The 6 August update added a red-coloured weapon tier, and creator coverage split the vocabulary: DrybearGamers titled the video "RED Weapons Added" while his own chapter marker calls them "Holy Items", and the transcript never says "red" once. No official patch note uses the word RED. The rarity ladder runs Damaged, Common, Rare, Excellent, Epic, Legendary, Holy — there is no RED tier in it. If you searched for RED weapons, the page you want is the Holy Weapons one: same items, thumbnail-shorthand name.
- Acquisition, one line: Einherjar Mist Lord kills carry a "higher chance of dropping Holy Weapons or Holy Forging Materials" — Bellring's wording, no published rate.
- The Dried Flower Knot that opens Einherjar mode must sit in the Key Ring slot or the game blocks queuing — the gotcha Drybear flags as the update's most confusing part.
Holy versus Legendary: what not to assert
The named Holy roster is datamined and per-boss — Harald pays the Wulfen Einherjar set, Otto the Insatiable Heart and bow variants, Sálmar the Moon Deity staves — but the stat comparison is where guides overreach. Wulfen Einherjar – Oathkeeper shows 24 Attack against a Legendary's 40, which looks like a downgrade until you recall sword-and-shield's deliberate ~40% attack discount; on the Combat Value metric it scores 700 against a comparable Legendary's 600. The defensible statement is that Holy sits above Legendary on Combat Value and carries exclusive affixes — not that it wins on raw attack, and one site's flat claim that both tiers "sit at 40" is contradicted by the datamined item card.
- The oft-quoted 31.1% Holy drop rate is two sites' datamined figure, is mode-dependent (10.3%–31.1%), and two other sites say the rate is unpublished. Attribute it; never print it flat.
- Full per-boss rosters and ranges are on the General Harald page and the Holy Weapons page.