John Carpenter's Toxic Commando Weapon Tier List: Stop Using Garbage Guns
Bringing a revolver to a mutant horde fight is a fantastic way to guarantee your entire squad gets eaten alive.
John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is completely relentless with the sheer volume of rotting meat it throws at your screen. Surviving these missions does not require godlike aim or superhuman reflexes. It requires basic math. If your gun cannot output enough bullets per second to chew through a wall of sprinting zombies, you are going to die. I am tired of watching random players join my lobby and immediately pull out a pistol like they are starring in a gritty detective movie.
I have tested every piece of hardware this game has to offer and cross referenced my findings with the most dedicated players grinding the endgame. Some of these weapons are absolute lifesavers that will carry you through the worst encounters. Others are actively detrimental to your survival. If you are struggling to stay alive while playing alone, you should absolutely read my Toxic Commando solo beginners guide to fix your positioning. If you are playing with friends, send them this list and my Toxic Commando co-op beginner guide so they stop holding you back.
Here is my personal priority ranking of what you should actually be carrying into the apocalypse.
The Top Priority: Uncontested Crowd Clearers
If you want to make the game noticeably easier, lock these into your loadout. They possess the perfect balance of raw damage, magazine size, and reload speed.
Taiga 12
This is not just a shotgun. It is an industrial meat grinder. Because the zombies in this game blindly rush straight at you, holding a chokepoint is your primary defensive strategy. The Taiga 12 fires fast, hits incredibly hard, and boasts a reload speed that keeps you in the fight. If you are defending a narrow hallway, this gun practically plays the game for you.
HW416
If you want the ultimate all rounder, this is your gun. The HW416 combines high damage with a blisteringly fast fire rate. It features a moderate magazine size and an incredibly quick reload animation. It never feels clunky. If you do not know what kind of enemies a mission will throw at you, equipping the HW416 ensures you are prepared for literally anything.
Keris V10
SMGs usually suffer in horde shooters because they lack stopping power. The Keris V10 ignores that rule by simply shooting faster than anything else in your arsenal. The base damage per bullet is slightly lower, but it spits lead at such an absurd RPM that it completely melts anything standing in front of you.
Situational Powerhouses: Heavy Hitters
These weapons are fantastic, but they all have specific use cases. You have to actively play around their mechanics to get the most out of them.
MK110 Sniper Rifle
This gun hits like a freight train. It is specifically designed to punch massive holes through the tougher elite mutations and bosses. The problem is that taking down single targets is only half the game. When a swarm of eighty basic zombies surrounds you, a slow firing sniper rifle becomes a massive liability. Let one person on your team run this to handle the big guys, but do not rely on it for crowd control.
ARK-103
The ARK-103 is your classic AK-47 equivalent. It delivers chunky, high damage shots with a massive magazine. I rate it slightly below the HW416 simply because the fire rate is not quite as forgiving when you are getting swarmed, but it remains an incredibly reliable tool for aggressive mid range combat.
MAG-5
Sometimes you just need to hold the trigger down and scream. The MAG-5 is a light machine gun with a 95 round magazine. It is heavy, it is loud, and it is the absolute best weapon for mowing down a massive open field horde without having to awkwardly pause to slap a new magazine in.
Viable Backups: Flawed but Functional
You can clear missions with these weapons, but you are going to work twice as hard for half the results.
The HAMR-17 is a heavy assault rifle that deals top tier damage per shot, but the slow fire rate means you can easily get overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The TMP 5 is a decent alternative to the Keris V10, but the noticeable recoil makes it harder to control under pressure.
If you prefer shotguns but cannot find the Taiga 12, the S890 pump action hits hard. You just have to be extremely careful with its slow, shell by shell reload times. Finally, the PAC-15 operates like an absolute laser beam, but it is crippled by a tiny 21 round magazine. You will spend half the mission staring at a reload animation.
The Trash Bin: Please Stop Using These
Equipping anything in this category is a deliberate choice to make the game miserable for yourself and your team.
The Dunali SXS looks amazing on paper. It is a double barrel shotgun that deals colossal damage. The reality is that you get exactly two shots before you are forced into a painfully slow reload animation. You never have room to breathe in this game, making a two shot weapon a literal death sentence.
The Flamethrower is a visual spectacle that tricks new players into thinking they are helping. The problem is that it just does not kill enemies fast enough. The zombies will catch on fire, ignore the pain, and slap you to death while burning. The Railgun suffers a similar fate. It does catastrophic damage to bosses, but the agonizing charge up time makes it totally useless when a dozen standard zombies are chewing on your ankles.
Finally, put the pistols away. Sidearms like the 1911 Protector and the Casull 6 are absolute last resort options for when your primary runs dry. If you are starting an engagement by pulling out a revolver to look cool, you are going to get swarmed.
Pick a real gun from the top priority list, check your corners, and start clearing the map.
