Dead Cells has a complete arsenal of weapons you can use during a run, but the best tools have unique mechanics that help them stand above the rest. Several collaborations with other series have introduced many new instruments of destruction into the game. Picking the strongest weapons will let you take on nearly any enemy or boss you encounter during a run of this Metroidvania rogue-like.

While builds are very focused on individual preferences in Dead Cells, you always have options from the same five categories of items. Melee weapons hit enemies with strings of close-range attacks, while Ranged weapons prefer to fire projectiles from far away. Other tools such as Grenades, Turrets and Traps, and Shields give you other ways to approach combat beyond standard strikes.

10 Knockback Shield

Repel Enemies Away

Shields are an underrated weapon type, but the Knockback Shield represents the best potential this kind of item can have. This shield blocks many attacks and pushes back melee attackers when they hit you while you block. If you have the right timing, managing to land a parry successfully will push back an enemy twice as far.

Any foe that hits a wall or solid surface from this Shield's knockback takes +80 damage before they stop moving. This extra damage could help you against tougher bosses, like Maria Renard in Dead Cells' Return to Castlevania DLC.

9 Hokuto's Bow

Stack Up the Damage

Hokuto's Bow is a Ranged Weapon that marks an enemy you can see and causes them to take additional damage whenever your attacks hit them. While this bow's base damage is best used against the early enemies of your run, its debuff can spread to other foes. Killing a marked enemy spreads the same condition to many other creatures over a large area.

The extra damage effect applied by Hokuto's Bow can only be applied every 0.5 seconds, which forces you to wait for a short time before you can try to take advantage of this weapon's ability.

8 Toothpick

High Damage, High Risk

The Toothpick is a heavy Melee Weapon that deals incredibly high damage compared to other close-range tools. Hits from this spiked club stun targets, and a charged attack will always deal a critical hit to an enemy. However, the charged strike damages the Toothpick and reduces its range and damage for about 6 seconds.

The Broken Toothpick has no noteworthy features or other defining traits that make it different from standard weapons in Dead Cells. This makes this weapon pretty risky since you must pick and choose when to unleash the charge attack that breaks the club. The damage value alone still makes the Toothpick worth picking up to tear through bosses and other tough enemies.

7 Barnacle

Poisonous Darts

Deployable Traps and Turrets are usually versatile despite their lacking extraordinary power of their own. The Barnacle Turret breaks the mold by being arguably the strongest autonomous weapon in Dead Cells with its ability to fire poisonous barbs at targets. While you can only have one at a time, enemies cannot target the device, even though it can still be destroyed.

Barnacle attaches to a ceiling, high wall, or platform to shoot darts at various enemies below it. Every shot from this Turret is an instant critical hit if the target is poisoned, which encourages you to use strong builds tied to inflicting that status condition. Barnacle's speedy fire rate lets it take out enemies fast, even if you don't set up its alternate effect.

6 War Javelin

Teleport to Your Weapon

The War Javelin is a straightforward Ranged Weapon that acts like many other polearms the Prisoner can wield. This tool impales enemies in your way, but you may also stab your foes into nearby walls to inflict extra damage. This lodges the Javelin into the wall with an enemy as you continue to fight and returns to your hand after 10 seconds.

If you activate this weapon's ability again after an enemy is impaled, you can teleport to the Javelin instead. According to a tier list by YouTube creator Pseychie, this trait alone makes this tool, unlike any other ranged weapon you could find.​​​​​​​

5 Medusa's Head

Turn Enemies to Stone

The blueprints for Medusa's Head are received once you beat Medusa in Dead Cells' Return to Castlevania DLC, and a Ranged Weapon acts like a Grenade. Rolling the Head along the ground causes it to deal some damage before it petrifies enemies that it hits. After it stops moving, this weapon screams and launches any enemies nearby into the air, which causes them to take fall damage when they land.

Landing hits against targets that can't fight back is already a good ability, but the extra damage caused by the Head's secondary effect makes it even better. You can manually activate the alternate trait whenever you want or wait until it goes off on its own during frantic battles.​​​​​​​

4 Meat Skewer

Piercing

One of the most effective Melee Weapons is the Meat Skewer, which places you behind an enemy that you pierce with this spear-like tool. Your next attack is always a critical hit and lets you reposition yourself around your enemies. This weapon easily clears single targets as you through levels during any run of Dead Cells.

If you want to see how the Meat Skewer compares to every other melee weapon, feel free to check out the above tier list made by YouTube creator Pseychie.

3 Death's Scythe

Detonate Hostile Souls

Death is yet another boss in the Return to Castlevania DLC that gives you a weapon blueprint once you defeat it. The spirits of your enemies are forced to help you after their deaths as you summon them to your side with the Melee Weapon Death's Scythe. These ghosts will charge toward your nearest enemies and explode on with them to deal an immediate critical hit proportional to that enemy's max health.

The multiple hits you can inflict as a combo make this Scythe's damage very high compared to other melee weapons in Dead Cells. While enemies killed by exploding ghosts do not create new ones, these spirits will follow you through teleporters to other locations.​​​​​​​

2 Rapier

Roll and Win

The Rapier Melee Weapon uses the most common technique - a Roll or Parry. Landing an attack with this weapon after each move causes an automatic critical hit against any target. Skilled players can use this to constantly land nothing but critical strikes against their enemies with fast attacks that end up being a relentless source of extremely high damage.​​​​​​​

1 Ferryman's Lantern

Best of Both Styles

The Ferryman's Lantern is a two-handed Melee Weapon that acts similarly to Death's Scythe by gathering souls whenever you defeat an enemy. However, these stocked spirits are stored within the weapon to fire a projectile, making it a Ranged tool simultaneously. This versatile mechanic creates a jack-of-all-trades item with excellent damage for nearly every encounter.

On top of these multi-purposed attacks, the last combo of hits from the Lantern can snatch the soul of even a boss. When you have three souls stored in the item, the projectile it fires deals a critical hit to your next target. The best weapons in Dead Cells are adaptable to any enemies you fight as you continue trying to succeed on a challenging run.

Source: Pseychie/YouTube