The sci-fi Arena shooter Splitgate released its beta in July and it is picking up steam. Despite having been available to play in early-access since 2019, it has seen an unexpected revival of its player base during the beta phase, in part due to it releasing on consoles for the first time. Developed by 1047 Games, this competitive arena-style shooter marries Halo-like weapons with Portal-like portal mechanics.

Like traditional arena weapons, you will spawn with a default weapon and then will find other weapons throughout the map. But which weapons should you fight for and which ones aren't worth the bother?

Here are is our tier list ranking all the guns in the Splitgate beta to help you get the most frags.

Tier-S ⁠— Priority weapons

Rocket Launcher

The Rocket Launcher in Splitgate works very similarly to the Halo Rocket Launcher. It will deal 150 damage to any foe within 2 meters of the blast, and will deal blast damage to people just outside that deadly range as well. Much like in Halo, firing downward at enemies in ideal. The one-hit kill potential or the Rocket Launcher makes it on of the best power weapons to get your hands on in Splitgate.

Rail Gun

The Rail Gun in Splitgate works similarly to the Spartan Laser in Halo (are you sensing a theme yet?). This gun charges up for one second, after which if fires a deadly beam that can kill an enemy in a single-hit to the body anywhere at any range. This is widely considered to be one of the best guns in the game, and arguably surpasses the Rocket Launcher, if you know what you are doing.

The BFB (Bat) + Odd Ball

The BFB, also known as just "the bat", and the Odd Ball are both melee weapons that can kill in one hit, like the Sword and the Oddball from Halo respectively. While you will have to adjust your playstyle to keep things short-range for these guns, in the right situation they are nigh on impossible to stop. 

Shotgun

Another short-range one-shot beast, the Shotgun is one of the most reliable guns in the game. This gun fires 7 pellets with an entirely predictable spread, with each one potentially doing 25 to the body and 30 to the head up close. You only need to land 4 of those to complete the kill at point-blank. While you may not expect such a mundane seeming weapon to deliver results, there is pretty much no weapon better in short-range than the Shotgun.

Tier-A

Battle Rifle

You guessed it, it's just like the Battle Rifle from Halo, and it performs just as well too. It is a three-round burst rifle that works really well if you can hit headshots, but will punish imprecision with its nearly half a second delay between bursts. This weapon is incredible if you can click on heads, but its higher skill ceiling might make it difficult for many players to use.

Sniper Rifle

In a similar fashion to the Battle Rifle, the Sniper Rifle is pretty great if you can land headshots, but mediocre if you can only hit body shots. One interesting quirk about the sniper rifle is that it has the same accuracy from the hip as it does when you ADS. So it is possible to use this weapon without ever scoping in, at any range. Overall, its not a bad gun and will work very well in the hands of any seasoned sniper. 

SMG

This gun absolutely shreds up close. It has a 900+ fire rate and can kill very quickly if you mix in some headshots and keep the range limited. The biggest downside to this gun is its high hip-fire spread, and the fact that you can't counteract that by aiming-down sights at all. On top of that, it also has a very fast damage drop-off at range. So if you do pick up an SMG, you better get close to your enemies before trying to frag them.

All that being said, this gun slaps in CQB.

Tier-B

Carbine

The Carbine is one of the standard guns that players spawn in with. Its not terrible, but its also not the best, by design. The Carbine is semi-auto and deals 30 damage to the body and 40 damage to the head at all ranges. This gun is more than servicable, with the ability to drop an enemy in only 4 shots to the body, or 3 shots if you hit a headshot.

Assault Rifle

The Assault Rifle is the other standard spawn weapon. It is fully automatic and has a pretty standard time to kill of around 700 MS up close, and dropping off to just over 900 MS at longer range. All that to say, this gun is fine but not impressive. There have been games where I have only used this gun, and top fragged, if that gives you any idea of its efficacy. 

Plasma Rifle

The Plasma Rifle is a fully automatic rifle that fires small balls of plasma at enemies in a pretty loose spray. It is a hipfire only weapon with a pretty lower bullet velocity on top of its loose spray pattern. Its not going to dominate ranges fights, but you can spam down an enemy in close range no problem!

Tier-C

Pistol

The pistol is Tier-C, and not because it's particularly bad. Tier-C weapons are usable, they just aren't optimal. That is exactly where I would put the pistol in this game. It is a hip-fire only weapon, but it also features a pretty tight spread so you can spam this thing and take out enemies at a longer distance than you might guess. It's definitely one of the worst guns in this game, but I think every gun is usable if it fits your playstyle, so don't hesitate to experiment.