RuneScape Dragonwilds Best Weapons Tier List

RuneScape Dragonwilds Best Weapons Tier List Quick Overview

• The best weapons in RuneScape Dragonwilds are at Power Level 9. Players currently cannot upgrade their gear to that level, meaning that only a handful of endgame items can be considered S-tier, even if it isn’t technically a fair comparison.
• Power Level 8 items, however, are going to be used a lot during your playthrough, and these vary significantly when it comes to their overall usability.
• Out of all weapon types, ranged options (bows and crossbows) seem to still be the weakest, but the gap isn’t as big as it was before the latest patch.

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RuneScape Dragonwilds — Best Weapons Ranked

For the purposes of this tier list, I will mostly limit myself to Masterwork weapons as well as weapons that have Power Level 9 naturally. As for the tiers, I’ll have to explain my reasoning and address a few points beforehand.

​The ranking for S-tier weapons is going to be a bit unfair. In my defense: blame the game, not the player. For now, we have no way to upgrade our Power Level 8 weapons, so there can’t be any reasonable comparison — 9 is simply a bigger number. This is the current state of Dragonwilds, and the goal of any tier list is to reflect the meta, so here we are.

​A-tier weapons are best in class, with the only issue being the fact that they are limited to Power Level 8 for now. When the cap is raised, there is a big chance we might see some of them in the S-tier. I believe that some of these weapons might prove to be more useful, versatile, or convenient than the current S-listers.

​B-tier weapons are solid options that have obvious flaws or limitations. Several of these are balanced around having a strong special effect that comes with a major drawback. I personally love this balancing approach, but it only really works if the numbers are good enough, or there are no better and simpler weapons to use. In the case of B-tier weapons, both statements aren’t exactly true.

​C-tier is reserved for weapons that are supposed to be good, but are clearly underpowered to the point that they are outscaled by others, which are both far more common and far less exciting. These weapons are in dire need of dev attention, and the community is loud and clear about it, so let’s hope that justice prevails.

Tier	RuneScape Dragonwilds Weapons
S-Tier	Dragon Crossbow, Dragon Scimitar, Kuldra’s Wrath
A-Tier	Abyssal Whip, Dorgeshuun Crossbow, Staff of Light, Zombie Axe
B-Tier	Granite Maul, Bow of Elidinis, Zamorak Staff
C-Tier	Crystal Bow, Pharaoh’s Sceptre, Titan’s Wrath

S-Tier RuneScape Dragonwilds Weapons

Dragon Crossbow

Dragon Crossbow is the ranged weapon you are supposed to chase when playing Dragonwilds. While its stats are definitely top-tier for its class, I feel like the devs didn’t really put much imagination into its mechanics compared to some other weapons on the list. Admittedly, some of the most creative weapons in the game are also borderline unusable, so maybe I shouldn’t complain too much.

​The only trick here is that Dragon Crossbow is a reward for completing an endgame raid, but you’ll have to complete it with some other weapon before you can obtain this one. Still, once you’ve got it, there is hardly any reason to switch, since its special effect is very useful in this final stretch of the game, even if it seems to currently be a bit bugged and inconsistent.

​Another upside of all the Power Level 9 weapons is that their durability doesn’t degrade, which removes any maintenance requirements forever. It’s not super important, but the bonus is nice, and it probably tells something about these weapons’ ascetic design philosophy.

Dragon Scimitar

Fun fact: everything that I’ve just said about Dragon Crossbow applies to Dragon Scimitar, but since melee weapons are mostly in a better spot compared to ranged ones, it is even more powerful. It might take some time for you to obtain one due to the raid time requirements and the loot RNG, but you’ll be more than pleased once you get to do a couple of slashes with this one.

Kuldra’s Wrath

Wands aren’t very popular in Dragonwilds so far, and introducing Kuldra’s Wrath as the only Power Level 9 item for mages is rather bold from the devs, even if unintentionally so. The thing here is that people who’ve gotten used to staves (essentially, the majority of players) will still have to switch to it regardless of their preferences because its numbers are significantly higher.

​While dealing more damage with the added benefit of mobility provided by a wand sounds great, mages will have to trade their range in order to use it, and that might be a tough sell for some. Currently, Kuldra’s Wrath is the only Power Level 9 weapon that creates at least a tiny bit of friction, and it also might be the only one that isn’t treated as an overall upgrade 100% of the time.

A-Tier RuneScape Dragonwilds Weapons

Abyssal Whip

Abyssal Whip is certainly one of the fan-favorite weapons in Dragonwilds — in fact, some would argue that it is still an S-tier one-handed weapon even with the introduction of the 9th Power Level. No matter what, a fully upgraded Abyssal Whip is easily the top-3 melee weapon in the entire game.

​You get to bleed your opponents from a decent distance, and you get to do it quickly. Not many games can translate the idea of a whip into gameplay, but Dragonwilds succeeds, and Abyssal Whip gets extra points for that as well. Abyssal Snare can be very helpful, too.

Your only concern is the Reckless special effect, which makes your block considerably worse. But, hey, that’s kind of part of the fun with this weapon, and the benefits certainly outweigh the downsides. Just position yourself better and keep spamming those lashes until you inevitably win the fight.

Dorgeshuun Crossbow

Dorgeshuun Crossbow is the best ranged weapon you can get without jumping to the Power Level 9. All you need to know is that it deals almost 50% more base damage than the next Masterwork ranged weapon on the list (Bow of Elidinis), and its increased reload speed makes this comparison even more skewed toward one side.

It’s hard to say if developers intended this weapon’s special effect — only being able to use bone bolts — to be a limitation or a feature. I can’t speak for them, but I’ve found these to be very good and never felt that I was missing out on something. Bone bolts build up the bleed effect and deal 40 damage when you quickly hit three in a row, which is a nice addition even if it doesn’t scale.  

Overall, if you want a reliable ranged weapon that can actually threaten enemies with its damage output, you need to pick the Dorgeshuun Crossbow.

Staff of Light

Staff of Light is the default Power Level 8 choice for many players, and it’s very clear why that’s the case. It has a premium rune damage modifier that is second only to the Necromancer’s Staff, but the difference is so infinitesimal that it barely has any impact on the game. Unlike its competitor, however, Staff of Light has significantly better durability, and it’s also much more fitting for a good, just, and fair character, okay?

With all seriousness, though, as far as Masterwork staves go, this is the best option that currently exists in the game, and even outside of this narrow selection, there’s not much reason to switch to anything else unless the damage discrepancy becomes more apparent. It may become an issue once we get the 9th Power Level fully unlocked, but then we’ll need a new tier list anyway.

Zombie Axe

Zombie Axe is the GOAT of raw Power Level 8 damage thanks to its superior stats combined with a crazy special effect, enabling it to deal both crush and slash damage at the same time. Oh, and you get Block Breaker on top of it. This versatility makes it kind of irreplaceable, which is why so many players stick with it no matter what.

You could technically find a better crush weapon, or a better slash one, but no one wants to switch their gear every time, and it’s not like the benefits are that significant. Why not just use the Swiss Army Zombie Axe to deal with all of your problems?

 

 

B-Tier RuneScape Dragonwilds Weapons

Bow of Elidinis

Bow of Elidinis is an example of good and fair game design. On the one hand, you get a bunch of decent stats and a unique and useful special attack. On the other hand, it limits your options and makes you play the way Elidinis wants you to.

Purity of the Moon is a great ability that deals AoE damage and provides healing orbs on kills, which is basically all you could wish for when it comes to staying alive in prolonged combat encounters. Blessing of Elidins makes your arrows also deal water magic damage, and rewards kills with healing water orbs. You pay for all of that by not being able to use fire, poison, or barbed arrows at all.

While having two sources of damage added to each other instead of replacing one another is a huge benefit, the overall lack of versatility can bite you at one point, forcing you to switch to a different weapon. Still, the effect is useful even if you aren’t fully committing to being an archer. The only reason this weapon isn’t rated higher is that its damage output is still not as good as in some other ranged options.  

Granite Maul

Granite Maul is all about these big, juicy hits, and it’s hard not to love the way it feels when you land these. Your attacks are much more weighty than those of other warhammers, but you have to pay for it with a bit of attack speed. Battering Ram is also a fun ability to use, and its utility comes into play quite often.

Sadly, its speed is its ultimate downfall, since there’s nothing more frustrating than getting interrupted and not being able to deal full damage despite spending so much time on your attack.

While Battering Ram is fun to use on normal enemies, it doesn’t affect the ones that matter most, and that also prevents Granite Maul from being considered an A-tier weapon. Still, if you really enjoy it, I won’t try to convince you to switch to something else — I get you.

Zamorak Staff

Zamorak Staff is a decent weapon with a cool idea, but its downside is a bit too significant, so it can’t reach a higher tier. On the surface, dealing 33% more fire damage is very nice, even if you have to pay for it by reducing the power of other elements.

So you start blasting fire and quickly realize that you outscale other, more potent staves, despite having a lower rune damage modifier. You get confident and happy with your new main weapon. And then you meet literally any enemy that is resistant or downright immune to fire, and all of your joy and whimsy immediately vanish.

In fact, you start asking yourself: why was I that excited about it in the first place? Isn’t a staff that is good at everything just straight up better than the one that forcibly limits me to one element?

The thing is, the numbers don’t stack in Zamorak’s favor. It’s not useless or even bad, but you will have to switch it with something else from time to time, so it’s hard to call it a designated main weapon.    

C-tier RuneScape Dragonwilds Weapons

Crystal Bow

Crystal Bow is a very unfortunate Masterwork weapon that combines cool design with very underwhelming stats. You can get it early on, fall in love with it, and slowly realize that this relationship doesn’t pay off nearly as much as you expected it would.

Its special attack, Shattershot, deals one-third of the bow’s base damage in a small AoE at a short distance. Every target that you hit is pierced with needles that explode for 50 damage at all levels. Initially, this ability seems fine, and you don’t mind the awkwardness of the attack too much. But the scaling is essentially nonexistent, and there’s nothing that can fix it.

Shortbows are generally pretty disappointing in Dragonwilds, but Crystal Bow is the worst offender, because it manages to lose to several other shortbows that aren’t even Masterworks. Both Undead Ranger’s Bow and Wild Scout’s Bow are arguably better than this one. If you find it, you might have a bit of fun, but it won’t carry you through the later sections of the game.

Pharaoh’s Sceptre

Out of all the weapons on the list, Pharaoh’s Scepter is probably the most unusual one. It is also the only one that feels genuinely bugged and completely broken (in a bad way).

What Pharaoh’s Sceptre is supposed to do is give you a little helpful minion to fight for you, all while reducing some of your stamina regen, so that you don’t just spawn it and get a significant advantage at no cost. However, your summon is currently completely incompetent: it cannot consistently react to what’s going on, it is slow, and de-summoning it is way too punishing.

A useless summon is one thing, but the fact that you have to pay for it with 90% of your stamina regen makes it simply unusable. Pharaoh’s Sceptre truly feels like a cursed item, and trying to make it work is nothing but a hardcore challenge mode. To add insult to the injury, its rune damage modifier is lower by 0.4 than that of Staff of Light, meaning that there is simply no reason to ever use it as long as you have the other Masterwork magic weapon.

 

 

Titan’s Wrath

Titan’s Wrath is an awesome weapon with a badass fantasy name and cool fire-based abilities. If you love the idea of burning everything around you, including yourself, Baptism of Fire is right down your alley. I truly love the roleplay element of it. Unfortunately, that’s all that it can really offer at the moment.

You see, jumping through several hoops and burning yourself in the process just to get something similar to a standard Enchant Weapon: Fire effect just isn’t worth it, and you can only trick yourself for so long before you have to face reality. Not being able to enchant a weapon of this Power Level and instead having to rely on its convoluted special effect is really dragging Titan’s Wrath’s rating down, and it even loses to other swords in terms of mobility and tactical usefulness.  

Read our other RuneScap: Dragonwilds guides:

• Best Skills
• Crafting
• Best Settings

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