Ftl Weapons Tier List
FTL Tier List. The lack of other sentient beings on board is a major drawback, and not only due to the obvious issue of dealing with enemy boarders. Crew provide passive bonuses for manning systems in FTL: 5-10% evade for engines and piloting, 10-20% faster cooldown for weapons, 10-30% faster recharge for shields.
Created out of general boredom. Each category is ranked from top (best) to bottom (worst). These are personal rankings based on what I know about each weapon and the way FTL works as a game.
Missiles
Artemis Missile: A efficient supplemental capable of taking down a weapon or two, one shield bubble, or likely reducing enemy evasion to 0 temporarily. The low power use and charge time makes it the most viable and flexible missile with any loadout.
Pegasus Missile: Two projectiles is both a blessing and a curse. It means the ability to work through a defense drone, half-damage in the event of a miss, and most importantly, double the chance for fires and breaches, meaning the Pegasus can be just as useful for keeping a system down as a Breach missile. However, it also means double the chance for part of the attack to fail. I rate the Pegasus as generally equal to the Breach, but a smidgen preferable due to the more “safe” nature of its attack.
Breach Missile: The high damage potential offered is offset by the extremely long charge time. A single breach missile can deal potentially irreparable damage to an enemy system. The problem is, an inaccurate shot means you have to wait another 20 seconds to reroll. Risky, but devastating, choice.
Swarm Missile: I find this weapon highly overrated. When fully charged, it fires 3 projectiles with the same charge time as the Pegasus. That’s triple the chance of a debuff, but it’s also a very high probability of those missiles missing entirely. Even if they all hit, that’s still 1 less damage than the Pegasus. When firing one at a time, the Swarm is relatively quick, but annoyingly a tad too slow to stop a Leto missile before it leaves its silo. It can, however, stop an Artemis (assuming it does not miss). This gives the swarm a practical use, albeit an unreliable and wasteful one. For a modest power cost the Swarm isn’t a terrible choice, but it sure isn’t reliable.
Hermes Missile: A significantly longer charge time than the Artemis for an extra point of damage, capable of sometimes taking out 2 shield bubbles. Unfortunately the higher power cost makes the Hermes viable in very few situations.
Leto Missile: Being often unable to break even a single shield layer, this weapon is a pathetic version of the Artemis and should only be used when no other options are available. Thankfully it only comes equip on a couple ships, where it can be used to decent capacity with its paired weapon.
Hull Missile: If you couldn’t believe anything could be less efficient than a Leto, believe it. This is my advocate for the worst weapon in FTL. Sending missiles against the enemy hull is an utterly useless gesture and the biggest waste of precious warheads available to the player. When this feature is removed, the Hull is a slow, power-hungry Artemis. I suppose its one redeeming asset is its commonality in stores, but when missiles are already so sparingly useful, one hardly cares how many are available.
Lasers/Flak
Advanced Flak: No comment. Ludicrously broken.
Burst Laser II: Legendary for projectile efficiency. Essentially the Dual Laser’s big brother when it comes to being worth its weight in gold.
Flak I: A poor man’s Burst Laser II, and just as handy. Does have an additional upside of hitting shields instantaneously.
Dual Laser: An extremely efficient weapon that launches two energy projectiles for the price of one is almost always worth keeping around.
Laser Charger +: Basically a dual laser. Fires slower but can be set to single-shot mode.
Heavy Laser I: Two damage and a good debuff chance for one power means a playmate for the dual laser. Luckily, this one can be bought in stores, which drives its value up significantly. Another great addition to any loadout.
Hull Smasher II: Remake of the first variant with increased stats and debuff chances. Same high power-cost problem, but potentially better than Heavy Laser II due to increased projectile count.
Heavy Laser II: Unfortunately, the lack of projectiles means little use in breaking shields. By the time they’re down, a beam would be more helpful. Not useless, but limited in efficiency.
Flak II: Good with heavy weaponry for taking down shields, but the charge time hurts and it’s terrible at direct damage.
Hull Smasher I: Good alternative laser. Faster, more destructive projectiles that can end fights faster in some situations. However, mediocre charge time.
Laser Charger S: A more versatile Burst Laser I.
Burst Laser I: The laser equivalent of the Leto. Weak and inefficient, but reliable in large numbers.
Basic Laser: One damage, one projectile, one power. An utterly mediocre weapon that works with most laser-centric setups assuming you don’t find a Heavy Laser I to replace it.
Chain Vulcan: Only placed so highly due to the effectiveness in pairs. On its own, it’s nothing to write home about and uses too much valuable power, but can work with strong defenses. Very situational.
Laser Charger L: Decent efficiency, but high power cost and slow charge. Still better than the Burst Laser III, however. Can be worked into a loadout fairly well if it’s the only option.
Chain Burst Laser: I really hate this weapon. Slower than most lasers and power-hungry. By the time it gets rolling the fight is over. Useless.
Burst Laser III: This burst laser is too slow and power-hungry to be useful. Its only strength comes from having a high sell price.
Heavy Pierce: Actually a worse version of the Heavy Laser I, since it costs more power and can’t break shields. Never worth using beyond early game.
Ions
Charge Ion: With maximum weapons training the Charge Ion is a force to reckon with. Firing nearly as fast as an Ion Blast II, and being able to launch a three damage volley, makes it impossible not to crown the Charge Ion as king of the jungle, utilizing the best of both worlds for a modest power cost. It can tear apart two shield, and chip through 3, without breaking sweat. Terrific addition to most loadouts.
Ion Blast: One power, one weapon slot, one shield bubble locked down. Decent addition to any loadout. Fairly effective at taking down multiple shield bubbles in pairs, if the first two shots connect.
Ion Blast II: A powerful weapon which can take down any number of shields, given enough time and ideal conditions. The unfortunate reality is that conditions are rarely ideal. A defense drone II can shut this down entirely, and high shield levels, cloaking, or high evasion mean that you’re essentially rolling the dice every time it fires. Sometimes it takes twenty seconds to work, but sometimes it takes entire minutes. Too luck-based to value highly, and the power cost is a bitter pill to swallow.
Chain Ion: A very friendly weapon for newer players, the Chain Ion unfortunately does not scale well to higher levels. Taking down any number of shields in less than a minute near-guaranteed is impressive, but the charge period amounts to almost 50 seconds, if not more, when you do the math (at least against four shield bubbles). Even a Vulcan isn’t that slow. Luckily the Chain Ion has a lower power cost than a Vulcan and is generally more reliable, giving it occasional use with defensive setups. Usually though, you just don’t have the time.
Heavy Ion: Not as efficient as other ion weapons. The Heavy Ion unfortunately has too many downsides to justify its increased ion damage (which is better at stacking and lasts longer, but can still only take down a mere one shield bubble.) The increased power use and long charge time means this weapon cannot self-stack and relies on other ion weapons consistently landing hits to work. Can be worked into most ion loadouts, but there are usually better options.
Ion Stunner: Significantly slower than the Ion Blast, this weapon is able to halt repair operations in the shield room of an enemy ship. Annoyingly, using ion weapons means you probably won’t be attacking the shield room directly at all, making this a useless feature outside of niche situations. With some boarding setups the stun can be used to get in extra damage and work around annoying medbays, but a bomb would likely be preferable for that.
Beams
Halberd Beam: Everybody knows the Halberd has a great balance of power and cost. Almost always worth purchasing, and will likely disable the enemy vessel in a single shot.
Glaive Beam: Not as safe and easy to set up as the Halberd, but accomplishes the same effect and then some, especially with hacking. Can sometimes take out an enemy ship in one shot.
Fire Beam: My personal favorite of the lower power beams. A few shots of the Fire Beam can usually secure a crew kill, with some micro-managing. Just make sure you can disable enemy weaponry in the meantime.
Mini Beam: Fast, inexpensive, and devastatingly good at causing chaos. Unfortunately, it usually has to be sold on the few ships it can be used with for a bigger option.
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Hull Beam: Similar length to the Pike Beam, but can sometimes deal a small amount of extra damage if the enemy has a lot of rooms. Virtually identical.
Pike Beam: A solid choice if you have the required accompanying weaponry. The efficiency varies depending on the enemy layout, meaning it’s too unreliable to compete with the top beams.
Anti-Bio Beam: A less effective Fire Beam. Might be worthwhile if it wasn’t so slow and weak.
Bombs
Tier List Maker
Ion Bomb: Very low power cost for high-yield effect. Can shut down a healing bay, two shield bubbles, multiple weapons, or send evasion to zero for twenty seconds. Excellent at starting ion cascades. The only downside is the excruciatingly slow charge time.
Breach Bomb II: Now we’re talking! Almost as effective as a Breach Missile for a lower power cost and faster charge time. Can take out an artillery bay or piloting in a single blast. Extremely viable with most loadouts.
Small Bomb: Probably the most reliable munitions-using weapon. Cheap and effective at disrupting enemy systems.
Healing Burst: Limited effectiveness against and accompanying boarding, but usually unnecessary.
Repair Burst: Useless most of the time. Invaluable in a crisis. Good insurance against disaster, but only if you have the firepower to backup the lost weapon slot.
Stun Bomb: Especially effective with Lanius boarding parties. Generally effective with Mantis boarding parties, if you know how to micromanage (hint: I don’t.)
Lockdown Bomb: Decent utility but overall too much of a hassle compared to standard explosives.
Fire Bomb: Unreliable, slow, and power hungry for its mediocre affect. Might be useful if the fires it lit weren’t so pathetically small. Niche uses.
Breach Bomb I: Less damage than the small bomb in exchange for a breach that likely won’t end up doing much anyway. Only useful against unmanned vessels.
Ftl Augment Tier List
Crystals
Heavy Crystal I: It’s a better Heavy Pierce. Still terrible, but what can you do.
Crystal Burst I and Crystal Burst II: Both of these weapons are just terrible variants of their Burst Laser counterparts. Avoid at all costs.
Heavy Crystal II: I might have to rethink labeling the Hull Missile as the worst weapon in FTL. This weapon is just atrocious in every way. Long charge time, high power cost, bad damage, single, slow, vulnerable projectile… it’s even as rare as (if not much more so, being from the hidden sector) a Glaive Beam, for reasons unknown to anyone. The circumstances where it could be at all useful are astronomically unlikely to encounter. One really must question why the game’s most elusive sector contains its weakest items.