Blood West Weapons Tier List: Best in Every Category

This Blood West weapons tier list covers a roster deep enough that most players never see half of it in a single playthrough: 16 named melee weapons alone, on top of separate bow, revolver, shotgun, and rifle categories, each with its own tier of standout picks worth prioritizing over the early-run basics.

TL;DR: Blood West's weapons split into five categories: melee (16 named weapons), bows and crossbows (7), firearms (7), shotguns (8), and rifles (11), plus the standalone Hermit Stick. Standout picks per category: Lionheart and Endless Hunger for melee, Chain Revolver and Rattler for firearms, Decapitater and Sentence for shotguns, and Call of the Abyss for rifles. The Scavengers DLC adds 10 more weapons on top of this base roster.

What's the best weapon in Blood West? (quick answer)

There's no single best weapon since Blood West's categories serve different combat ranges, but the standout picks per category are Lionheart (melee), Chain Revolver (firearms), Decapitater (shotguns), and Call of the Abyss (rifles), each outperforming their category's early-run basics.

Key takeaways

• Blood West's weapon roster spans five named categories: melee, bows/crossbows, firearms, shotguns, and rifles, plus the unique Hermit Stick.
• Melee is the deepest category with 16 named weapons, ranging from the base Axe and Knife to higher-tier picks like Lionheart and Endless Hunger.
• The Scavengers DLC adds 10 more weapons on top of the base roster, though specific DLC weapon names weren't confirmed from an authoritative source for this guide.
• Rusty-prefixed weapons (Rusty Axe, Rusty Revolver, Rusty Shotgun, Rusty Lever-Action Rifle) are consistently the weakest tier within their category, serving as early-run fallbacks before better drops appear.

Melee weapons: from Rusty Axe to Lionheart

Melee is Blood West's deepest weapon category, with 16 named weapons ranging from the earliest fallback options to genuine build-defining picks. The base tier, Rusty Axe, Axe, Rusty Knife, and Knife, exists mainly to keep you armed before better drops appear rather than as a serious end-run choice. Above that sit Tomahawk and Saber, both solid mid-run upgrades once you've moved past the absolute basics.

The standout picks are Lionheart, Endless Hunger, and The Edge, all of which outperform the mid-tier options by a meaningful margin. Hatred, Stone Mace, Needle of Fate, Four Winds, Left Hand Path, Bone Knife, and Living Vines round out the category, each leaning into a specific playstyle (heavy single-hit damage, area coverage, or speed) rather than being a flat upgrade over every other option.

A heavy melee weapon mid-swing against one of the game's larger forest enemies, the kind of encounter where a top-tier pick like Lionheart earns its reputation over the base Axe.

Bows and crossbows: 7 named ranged options

The bow and crossbow category is smaller but no less varied. Hunting Bow and Crossbow are the base-tier starting options. Spirit Bow, Iron Thorn, and Spite occupy the mid-tier, while Bloody Hunt and Mors Subita stand out as the category's top picks for players building around ranged, ammo-conserving playstyles rather than melee or firearms.

GODEEPER: How the roguelite loop and Demonic Sun mechanic interact with your weapon choices mid-run is covered in full elsewhere on this site. Blood West Scavengers Guide: How the Roguelite Loop Works →

Firearms: revolvers and pistols

Seven named firearms cover the revolver and pistol category. Rusty Revolver and Revolver are the starting tier, with Avenger Pistol, Orb of Night, and Breathless in the middle. Chain Revolver and Rattler are the standout picks, both offering meaningfully better sustained output than the base Revolver once you've found them mid-run.

Shotguns: 8 named options for close range

The shotgun category runs from Sawed-off Shotgun, Rusty Shotgun, and Shotgun at the base tier through Emerald Eyes and Last Breath in the middle, up to Decapitater and Sentence as the top picks for close-range stopping power. Repeating Shotgun sits in its own niche, trading some per-shot power for faster follow-up shots, worth considering if you're finding single-shot shotguns too slow against grouped enemies.

A close-range shotgun headshot: the exact scenario top-tier picks like Decapitater are built to punish, versus the slower follow-up on base-tier options.

Rifles: the largest ranged category at 11 named weapons

Rifles are the largest named category after melee, running from Rusty Lever-Action Rifle and Rusty Buffalo Rifle at the base tier through Lever-Action Rifle, Buffalo Rifle, Drunk Master, Hedera, Red Bill, and Sting in the middle tiers. Wolf's Fang, The Second Coming, and Call of the Abyss stand out as the top rifle picks, with Call of the Abyss in particular worth prioritizing if it drops, given its reputation as one of the strongest single-target options across any category.

The Hermit Stick: a category of one

The Hermit Stick doesn't fit cleanly into any of the categories above: it's a unique melee/utility weapon that functions differently from the standard weapon pool. It's worth picking up if you find it specifically to try its distinct mechanics, rather than expecting it to slot into a normal melee-versus-ranged comparison.

How to read this tier list if you're new

If you're early in a run and haven't unlocked most of this roster yet, the category structure matters more than any individual weapon name on this list. Blood West's western-horror setting means most starting loadouts lean toward whatever a specific character or run's opening gear provides, not a free choice across the full 50-plus weapon pool. Treat the base-tier weapons in each category (the Rusty-prefixed options, plus base Revolver, Shotgun, and Bow) as what you're realistically working with early on, and use this guide to know what to prioritize picking up as better drops appear rather than expecting to build your ideal loadout from the very first encounter.

What the Scavengers DLC adds

The Scavengers DLC adds 10 new weapons on top of this base roster, confirmed on this site's own DLC coverage. Specific names for these DLC-exclusive weapons weren't available from an authoritative source at the time of this guide, so treat the base-game category breakdown above as the confirmed roster and expect the DLC additions to expand each category further rather than introduce an entirely new weapon type.

Tips for building around your weapon picks

• Don't sleep on mid-tier weapons if a top-tier pick hasn't dropped yet. A Tomahawk or Buffalo Rifle in hand beats waiting for Lionheart or Call of the Abyss to show up.
• Match your weapon category to your playstyle rather than chasing a single "best" pick across the whole game. A rifle-focused build gets more value from Call of the Abyss than a melee-focused run ever would.
• Rusty-prefixed weapons across every category are consistently the weakest tier. Treat them as placeholders, not end-goals.
• If you're running Scavengers DLC content specifically, expect the 10 additional weapons to slot into the categories above rather than create new ones.
• Compare a new drop against your current weapon's category tier before assuming it's an automatic upgrade. A mid-tier pick in a category you're already strong in is often worth less than a top-tier pick in a category you're missing entirely.
• Keep at least one ranged option and one melee option leveled up in parallel rather than committing entirely to one category, since Blood West's encounter variety punishes a loadout that can only handle close-range or only handle distance.

Why category coverage beats chasing a single best weapon

The instinct to find "the best weapon" and build a whole run around it undersells how Blood West's encounters actually play out. Enemy variety across the game's environments means a loadout that excels at close range can still struggle against enemies designed to punish melee-only builds, and the reverse is true for pure ranged setups. A player carrying a top-tier melee weapon like Lionheart alongside a mid-tier rifle like Buffalo Rifle is generally better equipped than a player carrying Lionheart alongside nothing but a base Rusty Revolver, even though the second loadout technically has a "better" single weapon in it. Category coverage, not a single standout pick, is what actually determines how smoothly a run goes once you're past the first few encounters.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best melee weapon in Blood West? Among the game's 16 named melee weapons, higher-tier picks like Lionheart, The Edge, and Endless Hunger stand out over the base Axe and Knife variants, which exist mainly as early-run fallback options before better drops appear.

What is the best revolver in Blood West? Chain Revolver and Rattler are the standout picks among the game's named firearms, both outperforming the base Revolver and Rusty Revolver that serve as starting-tier options.

How many weapons are in Blood West? 50 or more named weapons across melee, bows/crossbows, firearms, shotguns, and rifles in the base game, before counting the Scavengers DLC's 10 additional weapons. There's no single official total published, so treat any exact count as an estimate built from named weapons across guides, not a confirmed figure.

Does the Scavengers DLC add new weapons? Yes, 10 new weapons, confirmed on this site's own Scavengers DLC coverage. Specific names for the DLC-exclusive weapons weren't available from an authoritative source at the time of this guide, so this tier list focuses on the base game's confirmed roster.

What's the best shotgun in Blood West? Decapitater and Sentence lead the shotgun category, both ranking above the base Shotgun and Sawed-off Shotgun starting options in close-range stopping power.

Related Reading

• Blood West Scavengers DLC: Is the Roguelite Worth $5?: the full verdict on whether the DLC's roguelite mode and new weapons are worth the price.
• Blood West Scavengers Guide: How the Roguelite Loop Works: the Demonic Sun mechanic and meta-progression these weapon picks feed into.
• Lost Castle 2 Weapons Tier List: All 7 Categories: another category-based weapon ranking for readers comparing across roguelites.

References

• Blood West on Steam
• Blood West: Scavengers on Steam