Weapons

There are a variety of different types of weapons currently available in Steambirds Alliance. There are 8 main tiers which are easily obtainable on the main island and 2 more tiers which are exclusive to high-tier dungeons and island bosses. Each type of plane has different types of weapons that they are able to equip by default; some plane-specific Pilot Skills, once they are learned, unlock additional weapon types for those planes as well.

Weapons have three main attributes: the damage they deal per bullet, segregated by damage type; how fast they shoot, also known as rate of fire (RoF); and how far the bullets travel before dissipating, or range (range is always positive in-game, but negative range values on this page indicate that the bullets travel backward rather than forward). Additionally, each weapon has a different firing characteristic, and some have a cooldown-based firing mechanism. If a weapon fires several different projectiles, the table for the weapon will have one row for each projectile's information.

Elemental and ultra-rare weapons with first versions craftable at the Workshop have three variants covering T8, T9 and T10; all other ultra-rare weapons have two variants covering T9 and T10. Listed stats are for the T10 versions --- T8 and T9 versions deal 80% and 90%, respectively, of the T10 version's non-trivial damage.

Blasters
The signature weapon type of the Old Faithful and Medic planes and an alternate weapon type of the Engineer. Quad 2-B and Siege Tank 2-B unlock this weapon type for use on Quads and Siege Tanks, respectively.

Blasters usually shoot one shot directly forward and two more shots deviating 7.5° from forward on either side. An overall average gun.

Machine Guns
The signature weapon type of the Quad and Hog planes and an alternate weapon type of the Old Faithful. Bandit 4-A unlocks this weapon type for use on Bandits.

Machine Guns fire in a 2-shot scattered spray in front of the plane from a limited clip which reloads itself while not firing. Very fast RoF but pretty average in all other aspects,

Shotguns
The signature weapon type of the Assault and Bandit planes and an alternate weapon type of the Old Faithful. Siege Tank 2-A unlocks this weapon type for use on Siege Tanks.

Shotguns can pack quite a punch if used correctly, and for this reason are considered one of the best weapons in the game. They normally fire 6 bullets in a 90° arc in front of the player. High-tier shotguns can fire twice before reloading, so this gun isn't spam-able like the three or one shot guns, but a well placed volley could easily mean the end of your foes.

Wasps
The signature weapon type of the Engineer and an alternate weapon type of the Medic and Old Faithful planes. Dagger Knight 2-B unlocks this weapon type for use on Dagger Knights.

Wasps are characterized by their unique 3 shot pattern. One bullet fires directly in front of the player, while the other two fire at 120 degrees clockwise and 240 degrees clockwise, respectively, from the front.

Elemental Wasps
^Weapon has a 2-second clip and a 1-second cooldown time

`Weapon has a 0.625-second clip and a 2-second cooldown time

Lasers
The signature weapon type of the Raptor and Siege Tank planes and an alternate weapon type of the Old Faithful. Quad 2-A and Dagger Knight 2-A unlock this weapon type for use on Quads and Dagger Knights, respectively.

Lasers are weapons with both a high rate of fire and a long range.

Snipers
The signature weapon type of the Duster and Dagger Knight planes and an alternate weapon type of the Raptor and Old Faithful planes.

These extremely long range weapons allow the player to fire at enemies that are off the screen and deals high damage, but their slow reload times balances them out. Fires a set of three stacked enemy-piercing shots in front of the player - one shot terminates at mid range, another at long range, and the last at very long range, so only a portion of theoretical damage output can be achieved from far away.

Ultra-Rare Snipers
* The Phantom Curtain (formerly Hawkeye Sniper) reduces Damage multiplier by -80%; it also causes jamming on hit.

Swords
An elegant weapon.

Swords, only usable by the Paladin, project an energy "chainsaw" which rapidly damages enemies in contact with it. Movement speed is reduced by 20% while such a "chainsaw" is active.

As Swords do not fire conventional bullets, multishot boosts instead cause the "chainsaw" to deal two damage ticks at once whenever a single damage tick would normally occur. Damage tick rate (listed as Rate of Fire) is still modified normally.

For each entry, the top row indicates the properties of the "chainsaw" on the length 3.25 to 6.5 range units away from the Paladin (i.e. at the tip of the "chainsaw") while the bottom row indicates the properties of the "chainsaw" on the length 1 to 4 range units away (i.e. along the "chainsaw" but not at the tip). Enemies on the section of overlap take damage from both parts of the "chainsaw."

Tiered Swords
^Description: "Dull at the tip with a channel of molten metal down its core."

Ultra-Rare Swords
^Bullet hits enemies between 2.06 and 5.31 range units away from the Paladin.

^^Bullet hits enemies between 0.375 and 3.375 range units away from the Paladin.

Arcs
An arcing beam of accelerated nuclei.

Arcs, used only by the Merlin and the Shieldmaiden, are guns that, while in use, lock on to a single enemy (or destructible obstacle) and pummel it with streams of homing bullets.

Generally, these guns are only able to lock on to enemies between 4.2 and 6.75 units within a 60-degree arc in front of the player (visually, in close proximity to the blue targeting reticle) while in use - once a lock-on is established, bullets begin to fire radially from the player. This lock is broken if a) the target dies or strays too far (this only occurs at distances significantly larger than 6.75 units from the player); b) the Arc's clip is emptied; or c) the player stops firing the Arc.