PvE comparison
Anime Zero Tier List
Cataclysm, Flame Director and Cursed King occupy the top band in Games.GG's October 7 PvE comparison. Use that as a dated investment baseline, not a full Update 3 ranking: Shadow Monarch and the later Trials additions are outside that table. Your developed kit, mode and second weapon can change the sensible choice.
Rankings below are attributed publisher judgments, not this site's measured DPS tests. The baseline covers 12 named weapons; later acquisitions are discussed separately.
Updated Independent guide
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Ranking scope
Compare weapons at a similar development level and for the content you want to clear. Room coverage, boss damage, cooldown gaps and survivability matter differently in Story farming and raids. A high band is a recommendation within those conditions, not a promised one-shot or a reason to discard a weapon that already clears reliably.
The table follows the 12 weapon entries in Games.GG’s October 7 comparison. Beebom’s October 9 list leaves Flame Director out and places Cataclysm and Cursed King at the top. That smaller set does not establish that the omitted raid kit is weaker.
Reported weapon tiers
| Band | Weapons in this baseline | What the band helps you decide |
|---|---|---|
| S — priority candidates | Cataclysm; Flame Director; Cursed King | Strong damage-oriented options in the source’s PvE scope; acquisition and development costs still matter. |
| A — progression choices | Immortal Sovereign; Dragon Eclipse | Mythic kits worth developing while working toward rarer or raid rewards. |
| B — useful with a purpose | Divine Emperor; Lights of Divinity | Suitable movesets or second-slot choices; check what a pair adds to your actual run. |
| C — early working kits | Kings Gambit; Twisted Agony; Rubber Man | Keep progressing with them if they are already developed; their source ranking reflects a lower late-game ceiling. |
| D — starter replacements | Cosmic Warrior; Thunder Prodigy | Use what you own at the start, then consider replacing them as better options become available. |
Cataclysm is the farming-oriented candidate. The publisher emphasizes fast katana attacks and area bursts. Beebom also describes quick multi-hit skills and short cooldowns, but differs from other reports on its protection during attacks. Do not treat the kit as permanently invulnerable.
Flame Director is a raid reward, not an Arsenal target. Its high placement therefore does not tell a beginner to spend spins chasing it. Open the Spirited Away raid path if you want that kit.
Cursed King provides an Arcane alternative. Sources highlight its area fire attacks and domain-style control. Against a boss, use the actual attack cues and your current skill protection; older i-frame descriptions are particularly sensitive to balance changes.
Immortal Sovereign and Dragon Eclipse are more attainable Mythic development candidates. Their lower band can still be the better investment when one is already evolved and the higher-ranked weapon is unavailable. This is a resource decision rather than a new numerical damage ranking.
Traits by purpose
Trait lists disagree when farming value and combat value are put on the same scale. Instead of treating every S entry as interchangeable, choose the effect that solves your current bottleneck.
| Purpose | Reported candidates | Relevant trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Crit-based damage | Deadeye | Beebom reports +20% damage, +5% crit chance and +50% crit damage. It is a damage choice rather than a farming bonus. |
| Faster rotations | Supernova | Sources describe damage, attack speed and cooldown benefits. Written cooldown figures differ, so check the live trait card before calculating an exact rotation. |
| Mixed combat stats | Ferocity | Combines several offensive and movement benefits; a usable result can save rerolls while you develop your weapon. |
| Farming rewards | Fortune | Coin, XP and drop bonuses explain why a farming list can rate it highly even when a damage list does not. |
| Interim crit choices | Sniper; Razor Focus; Overkill | Useful when their bonus fills a real gap in your build; compare your current stats before replacing a working trait. |
| Early cooldown utility | Focus 3 | A practical lower-rarity cooldown option; the beginner progression source specifically recommends it for Immortal Sovereign. |
These effects do not establish a universal reroll budget or guarantee a better clear. Compare a repeatable run with the trait you actually have before spending a large stock of crystals.
Accessory priorities
Blast Archer Wings and Blast Archer Crown are the strongest pair of priorities in both supplied publisher accessory tables. They serve different purposes: Beebom reports 16% damage and 10% drop rate for the Wings, versus 20% damage, 7% drop rate and 7% cooldown reduction among the Crown’s bonuses.
| Band in the dated reference | Accessories |
|---|---|
| S | Blast Archer Wings; Blast Archer Crown |
| A | Light Admiral Cloak; Dark Captain Wings |
| B | Panther Hollow Mask; Wind Spirit Wings; Flame Pirate Hat |
| C | Diva Headphones; Sunglasses; 8th Brigade Fire Hat; Kitsune Mask |
| D / low-priority in these lists | Leaf Shinobi Headband; Capsule Scarf; Gentleman’s Top Hat |
Compare the equipment slot as well as the band. A back item and a head item are not competing for the same position. These older tables also do not cover the 13 additional accessories described in the Update 3 overview, so they cannot establish a complete current accessory ranking.
What Update 3 changes
The later recordings discuss Rin, Frieren and Astra Yao, while the Update 3 overview also names Silver Calamity, Astral Blossom and Void Arbiter. Their acquisition labels and requirements need care: the Trials goals table keeps the two reported naming sets separate.
No rank is assigned here to those later rewards. The dated comparison does not cover them, and a new rarity label or a showcase’s title is not a like-for-like comparison. Shadow Monarch is also outside the 12-entry baseline; D1SGUISED rates it highly in his October 8 discussion, which remains a separately attributed creator judgment.
Choose your next investment
- Start from the kit you use to finish runs. If its materials and Evolution requirements are close to complete, finishing it can be more useful than starting another upgrade.
- Identify the bottleneck: rooms, bosses, cooldown gaps or rewards. Use the tier and trait sections for that purpose rather than selecting the highest rarity automatically.
- Compare the second moveset with a named synergy bonus. A weaker partner can cost more useful damage or coverage than its passive adds.
- Check the acquisition route before spending. Raid rewards and Trials goals are not part of the ordinary Arsenal odds table.
Keep a reliable developed weapon while testing a replacement. The table is a way to prioritize an upgrade, not evidence that changing kits immediately improves every run.
Sources & scope
A source's update date does not mean every weapon was retested. This page keeps the comparison's actual roster and date visible, and does not merge unlike tier scales into a claimed consensus.
- Games.GG tier comparisonOriginal October 7 ranking and explanations; 12 visible weapon rows, despite an 11-weapon sentence in its introduction.
- Beebom weapon, trait and accessory tiersOctober 9 snapshot; a smaller weapon roster and some different judgments.
- D1SGUISED weapon discussionOctober 8 creator opinion, with Shadow Monarch discussed.
- Dey's Trials weapon discussionOctober 11 recording and supplied transcript for new Trials rewards.