Whenever you open the Technology tree in Palworld 1.0, you will find more weapons than you have points for, and the attack number next to each one will not tell you much about which to pick.

The Mechanical Bow, for example, lists 20,000 attack and the Plasma Rifle only 1,860, yet players overwhelmingly back both as the core of an endgame loadout. The Beam Launcher, the very last weapon you unlock, ends up near the bottom of the endgame guns on both published damage charts.

Below, I am going to give you an endgame tier list, the best weapon for every level band with its switch point, and the right pick for bosses, groups and raids. You will also find what each main weapon costs to fire, which Pals boost your damage and where the Legendary schematics drop. For reference, the stats, unlock levels and recipes here come from Palworld’s data tables (v1.0.1, with the 1.0.5 recipes matching), and the patch notes up to 1.0.5 (September 2026) changed no weapon numbers except the Core Eject Shotgun.

If you are already in the endgame, the Mechanical Bow is the best weapon for bosses, as long as you hit their weak points. The Plasma Rifle is the best all-rounder and the better boss weapon if your aim is only average. The Drone Launcher is the background weapon you will run alongside either of them, and the Tactical Grenade Launcher will take care of groups.

Best weapons tier list (1.0)

The list covers the weapons you unlock from level 65 on, most of them Sunreach and World Tree tech, plus the two Terraria weapons that last into that stretch. Each tier weighs how strongly players have backed a weapon since 1.0 against its numbers in the data tables, meaning attack per hit, magazine, ammo cost and unlock level. If you only have points for a few, the two S picks plus the Drone Launcher will probably cover almost every fight you run into.

A quick word on damage per second. Fire rate is not stored in the game’s data tables, so every DPS figure out there was measured in the game by someone. The two published DPS charts, The Pal Professor’s tests and a second list that draws partly on his launch-day video, differ by up to two times on some weapons. Both agree that the Plasma Rifle and the Beam Scatter sit near the top of the endgame guns and the Beam Launcher and the Laser Sword near the bottom, and that is about as far as I would trust them.

Mechanical Bow

If you have just reached Sunreach, I would craft the Mechanical Bow first. It unlocks at level 67 for 4 Technology Points and lists 20,000 attack at Common, gaining 1,000 per rarity up to 24,000 at Legendary. A Common one will cost you 40 Soralite Ingots, 20 Carbon Fiber, 200 Paldium Fragments and 3 AI Cores.

You may have read that it hits twenty times harder than the Plasma Rifle, but per hit the real figure is about 10.75 times at the same rarity, or 24,000 against 2,232 at Legendary. The rifle makes up that gap with fire rate, since one Legendary magazine of 46 shots adds up to 102,672 listed attack, roughly four arrows’ worth.

What the bow does best is one heavy hit on a weak point, and that is also where it can let you down. Every shot has to be charged, and the arrow does not hit instantly, so a miss or a body shot will throw away much of its value.

It is also reported to hit for less at long range despite being billed as a long-range weapon, so it pays to move a little bit closer to a boss.

For the attack it lists, its ammo is by far the cheapest in the endgame. Mechanical Bow Ammo costs 2 Soralite Ingots per 10 arrows and nothing else, crafted at the Ancient Workbench (you may see the material called “Solarlight” in search results, but the item is the Soralite Ingot).

Unlocking the ammo is a separate 2-point purchase at level 67, right next to the bow, so make sure to set aside 6 points in total.

Skip it as your main weapon if your aim is shaky or if you mostly clear groups, where it is simply too slow.

The Legendary schematic is a long grind. Each Legendary treasure map dig has roughly a 0.3% chance (about 1 in 336) to hold it, and it will also turn up in Feybreak sea-base chests, Sunreach chests and Sunreach fishing, but not in the World Tree or in supply drops. You can also fuse five Epic schematics into one Legendary.

Plasma Rifle

The Plasma Rifle unlocks at level 78 for 5 Technology Points. It lists 1,860 attack per hit at Common and 2,232 at Legendary, with a magazine of 38 to 46 rounds. Its arcs chain between enemies, so the same gun will handle a boss and the adds around it.

Where it beats the bow is consistency. A full-auto stream is much easier to keep on a weak point in a messy fight than one charged arrow at a time, so if you do not land weak-point arrows reliably, the rifle will do more for you. It sits near the top of both DPS charts, and Xenogard and Xenovader both boost it.

You will pay for that in ammo. 20 rounds cost 1 Bio Battery, 3 Paloxite Ingots and 2 Soralite Ingots, and Paloxite means farming World Tree Holy Water. If you hit weak points well and do not want to farm, you can safely put the rifle off, because the bow will do the boss job for a fraction of the cost.

For the Legendary schematic, a widely used Steam guide credits the Hard-mode tower pair Saya & Selyne. The loot tables add World Tree fishing at about 0.36% per catch, World Tree treasure fishing, Legendary treasure maps at about 0.15% per dig and, very rarely, the Ancient Relic Recycler.

Drone Launcher

The Drone Launcher (level 77, 4 points) is a weapon you deploy and then mostly forget about. It sends out up to nine drones, uses no ammo item, and each drone hit lists 200 attack at Common and 240 at Legendary. How often the drones hit is not in the data tables, so their real damage will depend on the fight. Mind that the drones seem to join in only after you or your Pal attack, so they will not open a fight for you.

Most complaints about it concern durability, which is why a spare launcher in another slot is probably a good idea. It also reportedly shares its limit of nine with Terraprisma, so a mix tops out at nine in total, five drones plus four swords for example. Since even a Common drone out-lists a Legendary Terraprisma sword (200 against 150), mixing them only costs you damage on paper.

The second reason to run it is Orserk. Orserk’s partner skill raises the Attack and Defense of the Pal you have out by 1% per bullet hit for 5 seconds, stacking up to 30 times, or 5% per hit when fully condensed. It buffs your summoned Pal and leaves your own gun damage alone. Many players, a video test among them, report that every drone hit builds those stacks, which makes the Drone Launcher the usual Orserk enabler, although the game data cannot confirm it.

Do not count on the drones to apply status effects, though. The most detailed player test found that “your attacks inflict Burn/Soak” partner skills do not trigger on drone hits, while the “attacking a burning enemy causes an explosion” kind does (one other player disagrees). Let your gun or bow apply the status and leave the extra damage to the drones.

If you do not run Orserk and mostly fight Hard-mode tower bosses, you can leave it for last. Those bosses take far less damage than their Normal versions, which lowers every weapon’s numbers, drones included, and each drone hit is small to begin with (200 to 240 attack). For the Legendary schematic, the same Steam guide credits the Hard tower pair Lily & Lyleen, and the loot tables add World Tree fishing, Legendary treasure maps and the Ancient Relic Recycler.

Tactical Grenade Launcher

The Tactical Grenade Launcher (level 72, 5 points) is the crowd weapon of the endgame. It lists 6,722 attack per grenade at Common and 8,066 at Legendary, and its magazine grows from 8 to 12 shells. If you see it listed with 800 attack somewhere, that number is the Common version’s durability.

Its ammo needs no Paloxite. 10 grenades will cost you 4 Soralite Ingots and 10 Gunpowder at the Ancient Workbench, which makes it a fairly solid ammo saver for World Tree packs and oil rigs, where the Plasma Rifle would eat through your Holy Water.

Against a single boss it is less reliable. Video testers disagree on whether its blasts count as weak-point hits. One says it crits easily, while another saw many grenades register off the weak spot as normal damage, and that second tester also found it fires slower if you click faster than it can shoot. Keep a steady rhythm. This is also the weapon on which the two DPS charts disagree the most.

If you mostly fight bosses, it can wait. The best Legendary odds in the loot tables are the boss chest of a Feybreak sea base at about 0.7% per chest, followed by Legendary treasure maps at about 0.3% per dig.

Heavy Assault Rifle

The Heavy Assault Rifle (level 70, 5 points) is the plain workhorse. It lists 1,615 attack at Common and 1,938 at Legendary, its magazine grows from 30 to 46, and its ammo needs no Paloxite, at 2 Soralite Ingots and 10 Gunpowder per 20 rounds. As such, it makes a good general gun for the levels before the Plasma Rifle, or for anyone who would rather not farm Holy Water at all.

Its weak spot is the craft, which is reported to cost more than the Mechanical Bow’s. Once you have a Plasma Rifle and the Paloxite to feed it, there is little reason to build one. Its Legendary schematic has the best odds in a Feybreak sea-base boss chest (about 0.7%) and will also drop from Legendary treasure maps and Sunreach supply drops.

Combat SMG

The Combat SMG (level 68, 4 points) gains more from rarity than any other endgame gun. It goes from 907 attack at Common to 1,587 at Legendary, a 75% jump, while every other Sunreach and World Tree gun gains only 20%. Its magazine grows from 42 to 50, and its ammo is the cheapest of the Sunreach gunpowder guns at 2 Soralite Ingots and 6 Gunpowder per 20 rounds.

Its fast fire makes it a good status applicator up close, next to a Pal that adds Burn or Soak to your attacks. Skip it if you prefer to fight from range, since one player reports heavy damage falloff and spread on the SMGs at range. Because of that big rarity jump, this is the endgame gun where a Legendary really changes things. You will find it in Legendary treasure maps at about 0.3% per dig, Feybreak sea-base chests, Sunreach enemy camps and Sunreach treasure chests.

B and C tier

The Prototype Shotgun (B, level 69) lists 1,167 to 1,400 attack per pellet, 2.3 times the Beam Scatter’s, with a magazine of 12 to 20. It ranks high on both DPS charts, but it is built for close range, and its shells are one of the pricier Sunreach recipes at 4 Soralite Ingots and 8 Gunpowder per 10. Nyafia’s shotgun bonus works with it.

The Charge Rifle (B, level 65) lists 12,500 to 15,000 attack per shot with a magazine of 6 to 10. It is a strong bridge, but it arrives two levels before the Mechanical Bow, so skip it if you are rushing to Sunreach.

The Vortex Beater and Terraprisma (B) are the Terraria crossover weapons of the mid game, covered in the progression section below.

The Rocket Launcher (B, level 65) lists 10,000 to 14,000 attack, and its wide blast can knock enemies down.

The Beam Scatter (C, level 75) tops one of the two DPS charts, yet most players who mention it are disappointed. It lists 508 to 609 attack per pellet with a 30 to 38 round magazine and a short range, and it makes 10 rounds from the same materials the Plasma Rifle turns into 20, so each round costs twice as much. Use it only if you already have one.

The Beam Launcher (C, level 80) lists 14,000 to 16,800 attack, 30% below the Mechanical Bow at every rarity, and has the most expensive ammo per shot of all endgame guns. Both DPS charts put it 9th of the 10 main endgame weapons on single targets.

Players find that it overheats after three shots and that you get it going again by pressing or holding fire rather than with the reload button. The Pal Professor puts its blast radius on par with the Rocket Launcher’s, and on Reddit, opinion splits almost evenly between players who say the overheating holds it back on bosses and players who wipe World Tree packs with it in one shot. That makes it an area-damage niche at best.

The Laser Sword (C, level 73) lists 2,000 attack at Common and 2,400 at Legendary and sits last among the endgame weapons on both DPS charts. Treat it as a no-ammo backup.

Not ranked, because there is too little data on them: the Overheat Rifle (with reports of FPS drops while firing), the Plasma Cannon (strong for exploring and one-shotting ore), the Energy Shotgun, the Laser Gatling Gun, the Multi Guided Missile Launcher and the Meteor Launcher, whose Legendary is a guaranteed Arena reward.

Best weapons by level

Read the table as a list of switch points. Skip most of the “also good” column and spend the points you save on the next band.

One piece of advice comes up again and again: spend your Technology Points on ammo and on weapons you cannot find as schematics. Schematics for tech-tree weapons start at Uncommon, so a schematic version will beat the Common one from the tree, and early schematics gain the most. A Legendary Handgun or Makeshift Handgun lists 2.5 times the Common’s attack, and a Legendary Old Bow almost 4 times. Beware that Meteorite Ammo only unlocks with the Meteor Launcher’s own tech entry, so a Legendary schematic alone will not let you craft its ammo. Every other gun’s ammo has a tech entry of its own.

Level 1-12: Old Bow and Three Shot Bow

Your first ranged weapon will be the Old Bow at level 3. At level 10 the Three Shot Bow takes over. It lists only 40 attack per arrow, but it fires three arrows per volley while spending a single one. Arrows cost 2 Wood and 2 Stone per 10 at the Primitive Workbench, and since 1.0 both bows can switch to Fire or Poison Arrows. A spear will do for melee. Do not overthink this band, because your Pals will do most of the damage for now. Switch at level 13.

Level 13-25: Crossbow

The Crossbow will carry you through this band. It lists 280 attack per bolt at Common and 490 at Legendary, fires the same Arrows and can load Fire and Poison Arrows too, which helps when you want to wear a Pal down for a catch. 1.0 removed the Fire Bow, Poison Bow, Fire Arrow Crossbow and Poison Arrow Crossbow, and their schematics no longer craft, so switching arrows is how you will get burn and poison now.

The Musket (level 21) and the Makeshift Handgun (level 24) both fire Coarse Ammo. I would only build the Makeshift Handgun if a good schematic turns up, because a Legendary one lists 800 attack against the Common’s 320. Switch at level 26.

Level 26-40: Makeshift SMG, Meowmere and the Terraria weapons

At level 26, the Makeshift SMG gives you your first automatic gun, with 100 to 175 attack and 24 to 32 rounds. Every Makeshift gun fires Coarse Ammo (1 Ingot and 1 Gunpowder per 20), the same rounds as the Musket, so do not stock up on Handgun Ammo for them. The Old Revolver at level 33 (600 to 1,500 attack) makes a decent sidearm on Handgun Ammo.

This is also where the Terraria crossover weapons come in. Meowmere unlocks at level 30 for 2 Ancient Technology Points and needs no ammo, and its bouncing cats hit at range, which makes it the players’ favourite melee weapon. Players put the Terraria dungeon within reach at around level 30 to 35, and that is where you will farm the schematics for the Vortex Beater and Terraprisma, since neither has a tech-tree entry.

• The Vortex Beater lists 300 to 450 attack and fires homing missiles. It uses Assault Rifle Ammo and, per its in-game description, has a 66% chance not to use ammo on each shot, so one round will last about three shots on average. Xenogard counts it as an energy weapon.
• Terraprisma summons up to nine floating swords with 90 to 150 attack. Pupperai’s melee bonus explicitly leaves it out, and the game data files it as a summon weapon instead. The gear that boosts it is the Hallowed Hood (+20% Terraprisma damage), and the Hallowed Helmet does the same for the Vortex Beater.

Together they will last you to around level 65 to 70. You start with 4 weapon slots, and two Extra Weapon Holsters (unlocked at levels 27 and 54 for 5 Ancient Technology Points each, after beating the matching tower boss) add one slot each while they are in your inventory, for a maximum of 6.

Level 41-50: Semi-auto Rifle and Assault Rifle

The Semi-auto Rifle (level 41) lists 1,150 to 1,610 attack with an 8 to 12 round magazine and is easy on ammo. It shares Rifle Ammo with the Single-shot Rifle at 2 Refined Ingots and 2 Gunpowder per 10. At level 45 the Assault Rifle arrives, and it will usually stay your general gun until Sunreach. It lists 320 to 560 attack with 20 to 30 rounds, and its ammo costs only 1 Refined Ingot and 2 Gunpowder per 20. The Pump-action Shotgun at level 43 is a good close-range extra.

No hand-held weapon unlocks at level 50 (the launcher there is the Mounted Missile Launcher, a base-defence building), so whatever you carry at 45 will take you into the next band. The next switch point is the Laser Rifle at 51 if you can feed it, or the Advanced Bow at 57 for bosses.

Level 51-66: Laser Rifle, Advanced Bow and Charge Rifle

The Laser Rifle (level 51) lists 1,250 to 1,875 attack with a 30-round magazine, but only build it once you can keep up with Energy Cartridges at 1 Bio Battery and 2 Pal Metal Ingots per 20. One player also found that it falls off quickly unless you have a Legendary one. For bosses, the Advanced Bow at level 57 (5,800 to 8,700 attack) is the better tool if you land charged shots, and its Advanced Arrows will cost you 2 Plasteel and 5 Carbon Fiber per 10.

The Plasma Cannon (level 61) and the Rocket Launcher (level 65) are strong extras, and the second Extra Weapon Holster at level 54 gives you room to carry one of them. The Charge Rifle at level 65 is the last bridge before Sunreach. Switch at level 67.

Level 67-80: Sunreach and the World Tree

At level 67, craft the Mechanical Bow first. Its ammo is cheap enough to fire freely, and the Combat SMG at 68 is optional. After that, add the Heavy Assault Rifle (70) or the Tactical Grenade Launcher (72) for everything the bow is too slow for, then the Drone Launcher at 77 and the Plasma Rifle at 78.

The usual final loadout is Mechanical Bow, Plasma Rifle, Drone Launcher and Tactical Grenade Launcher, which fits your four base slots. With both holsters, the two extra slots will leave room for a spare Drone Launcher or whatever your next boss calls for.

Best weapon for bosses, groups and raids

For bosses, Hard-mode towers and raid bosses, the choice comes down to your aim. If you land weak-point arrows, the Mechanical Bow does the most per shot and is the cheapest to fire for the attack it lists. If you do not, or the boss has small, moving weak spots, take the Plasma Rifle. A player-damage party with Solenne and weak-point Pals such as Vanwyrm Cryst and Cryolinx Terra will make either one hit a good deal harder.

For groups and farming, the Tactical Grenade Launcher is the main pick, and the Plasma Rifle with its chaining arcs is the second. The Beam Launcher is a niche option here if one is lying in your chest anyway. The bow is too slow for packs, although Loomen’s exploding arrows give it a little bit of area damage.

For background damage, take the Drone Launcher, or Terraprisma until you have it. If ammo cost matters most to you, the Mechanical Bow gives the most listed attack per Soralite Ingot at 0.2 Soralite Ingots per arrow, and the drones will not cost you any ammo at all.

Base raids are the thinnest topic. The one weapon named for defending a base is the Plasma Rifle, again because its arcs jump between attackers.

Melee

Melee is the weakest role in the 1.0 endgame, and the community agrees: the top-voted r/Palworld comment calling melee damage “laughable” has over 1,800 upvotes. A Legendary Laser Sword lists 2,400 attack, a tenth of a Legendary Mechanical Bow’s 24,000.

If you still want a sword, Meowmere is the liked exception in the mid game, and the Terra Blade’s shockwaves work as well. Pair either with Pupperai, who adds 10% melee damage (35% fully condensed), and Loupmoon for faster swings. Bushi Noct’s bigger bonus only works while you are out of combat.

In case you have seen a Cutlass mentioned, there is no such weapon. Players mean Skutlass, whose partner skill turns it into a katana in your hands with 2,600 to 3,900 attack (2,900 to 4,200 for Skutlass Ignis), but with a 10-second cooldown, and holding the form too long knocks Skutlass out.

Ammo costs

All endgame ammo is crafted at the Ancient Workbench. The Sunreach guns run on Soralite Ingots, plus Gunpowder for everything except the bow, while the World Tree guns (Beam Scatter, Plasma Rifle and Beam Launcher) add Bio Batteries and Paloxite Ingots. Paloxite Ingots need World Tree Holy Water, which players often name as the bottleneck, although patch 1.0.3 made Holy Water a little easier to farm.

Per round, the Combat SMG and Heavy Assault Rifle ammo is the cheapest of the endgame, and the most expensive is the Beam Launcher’s, where 10 shots cost 1 Bio Battery, 6 Paloxite Ingots and 2 Soralite Ingots. For the attack each shot lists, though, nothing comes close to the Mechanical Bow’s 0.2 Soralite Ingots per arrow. Per round the Plasma Rifle looks cheap, but it will take almost eleven rounds to match the listed attack of one arrow, and every one of them needs Paloxite. If you do not enjoy farming, lean on the bow and the Soralite guns and save the World Tree guns for the fights that need them.

Pals that boost your weapons

Your Pals’ partner skills can add a lot to your own damage while they sit in your party. Every range below runs from partner rank 1 to rank 5, and you raise the rank by condensing the Pal.

For a bow build, start with Robinquill and add Loomen or a weak-point Pal. For the Plasma Rifle, take Xenogard, and Xenovader if you have a slot left. Solenne is the strongest general boost as long as you can live with her condition. The game data does not say how these bonuses combine, so do not simply add the percentages up.

Solenne’s bonus only works while every Pal in your party is a different species. Elemental variants count as different species according to player reports, so Robinquill plus Robinquill Terra, or Gobfin plus Gobfin Ignis, will keep it active, and the game data does give each variant its own species ID.

Robinquill Terra’s faster bow charge only shortens the draw, while the release and the next arrow take as long as before, so the real gain is smaller than the label. With The Pal Professor’s timings for a Legendary Mechanical Bow, about 1 second of charge and 0.8 seconds between shots, a fully condensed Robinquill Terra adds roughly 15 to 20% damage per second and uses that much more ammo.

Loomen’s exploding arrows (listed at 15 to 30% of your attack) work with the Mechanical Bow, but the blast is smaller than that suggests. In one player’s test, arrows hitting for 21,000 to 25,000 added only 2,000 to 3,000 explosion damage, and because the blast has its own hitbox, it will only sometimes land on a weak spot. Take Loomen for groups and swap it for a weak-point Pal on bosses. For those, Vanwyrm adds 20 to 40% weak-point damage, Vanwyrm Cryst 30 to 50%, and Cryolinx Terra makes the next weak-point hit 30 to 60% stronger.

Xenogard’s energy list has 13 weapons, among them the Plasma Rifle, Charge Rifle, Beam Scatter, Beam Launcher, Laser Sword and Vortex Beater, but not the Drone Launcher. Per the game data, some of these Pals need their gear first: Xenogard, Tetroise Primo, Vanwyrm and Vanwyrm Cryst list their saddles as a requirement, and Nyafia needs her shotgun.

Tetroise Primo is the durability option. Its partner skill protects the durability of your weapons and armor (the in-game text says +80%, up to +100% fully condensed), and several players have seen a fully condensed one stop durability loss entirely.

Frostplume’s partner skill speeds up reloading by 20 to 50% for every weapon. The Reload Master passive only adds 4%, and since the game data treats bow charge as a separate stat, do not expect it to speed up your draw.

The passive worth chasing is Vanguard, which gives +10% Player Attack with no downside. You can roll it on caught or bred Pals, or buy the Vanguard implant once from the Vigilante Bounty Officer for 15 Successful Bounty Tokens and add it at the Pal Surgery Table for 50,000.

Two popular Pals do nothing for your own guns. Orserk buffs the Pal you have out, as covered under the Drone Launcher, and Xenolord boosts the partner-skill damage of weapon-wielding Pals by 20%, rising to 50% fully condensed. Attack passives like Ferocious, Musclehead or Legend only raise the Pal’s own attack, too.

Legendary schematics

Before you farm, decide whether you need the Legendary at all. For the Mechanical Bow, players say an Epic is “95% as good”, and the numbers back them up at 23,000 against 24,000 listed attack. Most Sunreach and World Tree guns gain only 20% attack from Common to Legendary, plus a bigger magazine, so the farm pays off far more on early guns and on the Combat SMG.

Schematics fuse upward at the Drafting Table, which unlocks at level 45 for 4 Technology Points. Five schematics of the same weapon and rarity turn into one of the next rarity, so one Legendary costs 5 Epics, 25 Rares or 125 Uncommons. As such, the Drafting Table is mostly useful for finishing a set you have nearly completed.

Legendary treasure maps can hold the Legendary schematic of every Sunreach weapon, although for the Heavy Assault Rifle, Tactical Grenade Launcher and Laser Sword the boss chest of a Feybreak sea base has better odds. You will get a map guaranteed from the boss chests of Feybreak’s sea bases, Sunreach’s strongholds and Sakurajima’s sea base, a 50% chance from a Sakurajima stronghold’s boss chest, and the occasional one in Feybreak and Sunreach field chests.

On Hard, tower bosses can drop their Legendary schematic on repeat clears as well as the first one. The tower reward table is not in the exported game data, which means there is no confirmed rate. Many players needed 20 to 50 kills, so this is going to be a long farm. According to a widely used Steam guide and several players, the Hard tower pairs drop these four:

• Zoe & Grizzbolt: Beam Scatter
• Lily & Lyleen: Drone Launcher
• Saya & Selyne: Plasma Rifle
• Auri & Shaolong: Beam Launcher

For many of the guns before Sunreach, the Legendary drops from Alpha Pals instead. Each of these has a 3% chance to drop its Legendary weapon schematic, which works out to about 33 hunts on average, so plan for a long farm:

• Musket: Alpha Blazehowl
• Makeshift Handgun: Alpha Fenglope
• Handgun: Alpha Vaelet
• Single-shot Rifle: Alpha Verdash
• SMG: Alpha Beakon
• Double-barreled Shotgun: Alpha Elizabee
• Semi-auto Rifle: Alpha Azurobe
• Pump-action Shotgun: Alpha Suzaku
• Assault Rifle: Alpha Blazamut
• Laser Rifle: Alpha Lyleen Noct
• Laser Gatling Gun: Alpha Warsect
• Plasma Cannon: Alpha Frostallion
• Energy Shotgun: Alpha Azurmane
• Overheat Rifle: Alpha Frostallion Noct
• Charge Rifle: Alpha Neptilius
• Rocket Launcher: Alpha Jetragon

The Legendary Assault Rifle schematic also turns up in oil-rig loot, Uncommon treasure maps and the sea-base boss chests of the snow region.

The Arena has a few more. Clear the solo Arena’s Platinum rank once and you are guaranteed a Legendary Meteor Launcher schematic, which lists 10,500 attack against the crafted version’s 2,000. You will still need the level-38 Meteor Launcher tech (3 points) to craft its Meteorite Ammo. The ULTRAKILL weapons, the Marksman Revolver and the Core Eject Shotgun, only exist as Common or Legendary, and their Legendary schematics cost 1,300 Battle Tickets each at the Arena shop.

Finally, the Ancient Relic Recycler can turn Ancient Relics into World Tree weapon or armor schematics. A Glistening Ancient Relic has a 20% chance to give one, but almost always at a low rarity, and the chance at a Legendary is a fraction of a percent.

Listed attack vs real damage

The attack number on a weapon is a base value, not the damage you will see, so compare weapons with each other by it rather than with the numbers on screen. A 20,000 bow landing 5,000 on a Hard tower boss is perfectly normal, and there are several reasons for it.

World difficulty comes first. On the Hard preset, the default world settings halve the damage you deal with your weapons (×0.5, against ×1.0 on Normal and ×1.5 on Easy) and raise the damage you take to ×1.5, while your Pals’ damage stays at ×1.0. Those are only defaults, so check your own world settings.

Bosses take reduced damage on top of that. In the game data, most Alpha Pals take about a quarter of normal damage, and Hard-mode tower bosses between a tenth and under half depending on the boss (a factor of 0.10 to 0.45, against 1.0 in the Normal towers), with far more HP as well. Hard raid bosses mostly sit at 0.085 to 0.25.

Every enemy also has its own Defense stat and level, so the number on your weapon is never what you will actually hit for. The exact damage formula is not in the game data.

Distance matters too. An early-2025 patch moved the Advanced Bow’s falloff point further out, and the Mechanical Bow is reported to lose damage at long range as well. Nobody seems to have measured the distances, so staying reasonably close to a boss is the safe habit. Weak points push the other way, with much bigger numbers than body hits.

Lastly, your own Attack stat raises the damage of every weapon, guns, bows and melee alike, according to player tests, so status points in Attack are never wasted. How Attack and weapon attack combine is not stored in the data, so treat it as “more Attack, more damage” rather than an exact formula.

Weapon stats

The table lists every craftable ranged weapon with its unlock level, attack from Common to Legendary, magazine and ammo. Shotguns list attack per pellet, and the Beam Launcher and Overheat Rifle run on heat instead of a magazine.

FAQ

What is the best weapon in Palworld 1.0?

For bosses, the Mechanical Bow, provided you hit weak points. For everything else, and for bosses if your aim is average, the Plasma Rifle. The usual endgame loadout runs both, with a Drone Launcher for background damage.

What is the best early-game weapon?

The Old Bow at level 3, the Three Shot Bow at 10 and the Crossbow at 13, loaded with Fire or Poison Arrows, which will carry you until the Makeshift SMG at level 26.

What is the best weapon at level 50?

No new weapon unlocks at level 50, so it is the Assault Rifle from level 45 or the Semi-auto Rifle from level 41, plus the Vortex Beater and Terraprisma if you have been through the Terraria dungeon.

Is the Beam Launcher good?

Not for bosses. It is reported to overheat after three shots, its ammo is the most expensive per shot of the endgame guns, and it sits 9th of 10 on both DPS charts. I would not spend Paloxite on it while the Plasma Rifle needs it.

Does Robinquill boost crossbows?

No. In the game data, Robinquill’s bonus applies to bows only, and the Crossbow counts as a separate weapon type. It does work with the Old Bow, Three Shot Bow, Compound Bow, Advanced Bow and Mechanical Bow. Whether Robinquill Terra or Loomen work with a crossbow is not settled.