Weapon Loadouts

Mech weapon picks for Mr. Riggs: melee and ranged pairings, what each weapon is good for, and the survivability research to back them up.

At a glance


Slots	Mr. Riggs carries a primary and secondary weapon. Swap loadouts to match the wave.
Quality tiers	Weapons research up through Standard, Advanced, Superior, Extreme.
Default melee	Sword plus dual Power Fists, or the Spear for general use.
Default ranged	Pair an anti-swarm gun with a heavy hitter and a burst or slow option.

Exact tier rankings shift with patches and Omega creatures. Treat this as directional, and verify the current meta before committing to a build. Since 2.0, weapons also drop as loot from creatures, Biocaches, and Bioanomalies, sometimes above your research level, so always check drops for upgrades; crafted weapons have fixed, non-random stats.

Melee picks

Weapon	Notes
Sword	First melee weapon. Decent speed and damage, good reach for terrain and sample farming.
Power Fist	Fast, stuns multiple enemies, deals energy damage. Dual fists favored against physically-resistant foes. Higher modules drain enemy energy and slightly repair the mech.
Spear	Widely called the best melee weapon. Hits through walls, one of the largest areas of effect in the game.
Hammer	Short range, slow, high damage per hit.
Plasma Sword	Wide cone swings and AoE, strong against clustered swarm waves.

Ranged picks

Documented ranged weapons include the Minigun, Small and High Caliber, Energy Weapons, Explosive and Liquid Weapons, Laser, Railgun, Corrosive Gun, Cryogenic Atomizer, and Mini Nuke Launcher. Build a loadout from three roles:

Anti-swarm: a rapid gun like the Minigun.
Heavy hitter or armor-piercer: Railgun, High Caliber, or an energy or laser weapon.
Crowd-clear or burst: Cryogenic Atomizer to slow groups, or Mini Nuke Launcher and Swarm Missiles for burst.

Do this in order

Start with the Sword for reach and sample farming.
Add dual Power Fists for physically-resistant enemies, or research the Spear for general use.
Research a Minigun for swarm clear and a Railgun or High Caliber for big targets.
Add a Cryogenic Atomizer or burst weapon for crowd control.
Back it all with Mech Armor, Mech Repair, environmental armor, and the Dodge Roll and Power Jump movement skills.

Watch out for

Entering acid, radiation, or volcanic biomes without the matching Mech environmental armor.
Standing still in a swarm. Research Dodge Roll and Power Jump and keep moving.
Treating any single weapon as “best.” Omega creatures shifted resistances, so carry mixed damage types.