Puzzling out the best weapons in FBC: Firebreak might take you a little time when you first drop into the Federal Bureau of Control. Not too long, mind you, considering the game only has six weapons on launch and some are quite clearly a lot stronger than others. To quickly aid you in gunning down Hiss, I’ve put together a tier list of the best, along with my personal verdict on each and whether it’s a yay or nay.

It’s worth noting that while it looks like starting weapons are linked to which Crisis Kit you choose, they aren’t. You can select any of the three starting weapons—Revolver, Submachine Gun, Double-Barrel Shotgun—in the loadout menu regardless of your kit. To unlock more weapons, you’ll need to collect samples by completing jobs and grabbing documents, and then unlock them in the requisition menu.

You can also upgrade weapons this way by unlocking their higher tier versions in the subsequent requisition pages, though frankly, even the un-upgraded versions of some weapons perform extremely well.

FBC: Firebreak weapon tier list

Tier Weapon S Machine Gun, Pump-Action Shotgun A Revolver, Submachine Gun B Double-Barrel Shotgun C Bolt-Action Rifle

S-tier

(Image credit: Remedy)

Machine Gun

Unlock: Page 4

Simple and straightforward, in a game that massively favours headshots, especially when mowing down hordes of charging Hiss enemies, the Machine Gun’s massive ammo capacity and decent damage will deal with just about anything in short order. Though it won’t do big precision damage like the Revolver or the Bolt-Action Rifle, it’s incredibly consistent and can keep firing for days, meaning even powerful enemies won’t take too long to kill if you focus their heads.

(Image credit: Remedy)

Pump-Action Shotgun

Unlock: Page 5

The Pump-Action Shotgun is a jack-of-all-trades, perfect from blasting into crowds of Hiss since the projectile spread will often knock multiple off their feet, but also when aiming down sites to score headshots on tougher foes due to its high damage. Since it reloads a shell at a time, it’s very easy to keep firing with little to no downtime, unlike the Double-Barrel Shotgun.

A-tier

(Image credit: Remedy)

Revolver

Unlock: Straightaway

Definitely my favorite starter weapon; the Revolver has a lot of stopping power, especially if you’re gunning for headshots, which are easy to land in Firebreak. It only takes a few to take down a heavy enemy and simply hipfiring will kill most smaller Hiss in a single shot. The only disadvantage is its relatively low ammo reserve, so you’ll want to keep an eye on the count and stock up whenever possible.

(Image credit: Remedy)

Submachine Gun

Unlock: Straightaway

The second best starter weapon in my book is the Submachine Gun, especially if you feel less confident in landing those headshots with the Revolver. Like the Machine Gun above, it makes up for lower damage with higher ammo capacity, letting you easily headshot lots of basic Hiss enemies and get a lot of bang for your buck. Though less good against heavy enemies, like the Machine Gun, its consistent damage can still chip them to death if you focus their heads.

B-tier

(Image credit: Remedy)

Double-Barrel Shotgun

Unlock: Straightaway

Though nothing to sniff at damage wise, only being able to fire two shots before a reload is a big drawback in a game where you’re frequently swarmed by Hiss even on the lowest levels. If you’re clever with positioning, you could use the projectile spread to take down multiple enemies per blast, and mix in melee attacks, but it’s better to just take something more consistent.

C-tier

(Image credit: Remedy)

Bolt-Action Rifle

Unlock: Page 1

In a close-quarters game with no secondary weapons or sidearms, taking a slow-loading precision rifle is just a bad idea. Unless you’re coordinating with your team to have them protect you while sniping tougher targets with headshots at range, you’ll quickly get swarmed by basic Hiss enemies, and the slow shot-by-shot reload makes them a pain to deal with. Since the Revolver provides big headshot damage without compromising your ability to fight enemies at close range, I’m not sure why anyone would ever take this gun.

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