Splatoon Raiders Weapon Tier List
Every weapon type ranked SS to C, with the strongest weapon inside each, refreshed 2026-08-02.
By the SplatAtlas editorial team · Last updated: 2026-07-24
What Changed Since Launch Week
Our first version of this page ranked individual weapons from day-1 testing and put Plastic Splatana at the top. That framing has not survived the endgame. The meta now sorts by weapon type, because what decides a weapon is whether its single hit is big enough to pay off the Ice Breaker multiplier, a class property rather than a per-weapon one. We have rewritten the page around types and named the best pick inside each.
Current Rankings
Ranked by damage output, horde-clearing ability, and versatility across content types. Source: Game8's current weapon tier list, which grades by type.
| Weapon type | Tier | Why, and the best pick |
|---|---|---|
| Splatanas | SS | Best of the best. Huge single-hit damage on a charged slash, which is exactly what the Ice Breaker payoff wants. Best pick: Rail Splatana. |
| Brellas | SS | S-tier single-target damage, plus a shield when a wave turns on you. Best pick: Thermal Brella. |
| Stringers | SS | The other big single-hit class: charge, land it, delete the target. Best pick: Alpine Stringer. |
| Blasters | S | AoE monsters. Explosive shots clear packed rooms faster than anything else in A tier. Best pick: Butane Blaster. |
| Shooters | S | The beginner-friendly class: forgiving, consistent, never the ceiling. Best pick: Lifeguard Splattershot Jr. |
| Dualies | S | Good damage with a dodge roll attached: the survivability option inside A tier. |
| Splatlings | A | Excellent sustained DPS once spun up, but the spin-up is the problem on a timer. |
| Sloshers | A | Arcing ink handles cover and ledges well; raw damage lags the classes above. |
| Rollers | B | Flick damage is real but the swing is slow and the range is melee without a melee payoff. |
| Chargers | B | Strong on paper for boss damage, punished in practice by charge time in horde content. |
| Brushes | C | Bottom of the pile. Rapid light hits with none of the single-hit payoff this meta rewards, and the trickiest class to use well. If you want melee, Splatanas swing bigger. |
Why Single-Hit Damage Decides the Tiers
The three SS-tier types, Splatanas and Brellas and Stringers, have nothing in common mechanically. What they share is one big hit. That matters because the strongest Weapon Power in the game, Ice Breaker, multiplies a single hit on a frozen enemy by 3x or 4x and then consumes the freeze. One hit, one multiplier. A class that lands 900 damage per swing gets far more out of that than a Shooter spraying 60 a shot, and the tier list is really a ranking of how much damage you can fit into one attack.
Best Early-Game Setup
If you're just starting, this build clears the early islands efficiently:
- Tank: Power Tank (unlocked gadgets provide damaging skills for wave clear)
- Weapon: Steam Blaster (AoE damage, available early)
- Gadgets: Splatchet + Spinwheel (melee clear + area ink)
- Bot Buddy: Frye (her Showstopper rains moray eels for wide AoE damage)
- Relics: Wind-Up Key (Gadget cooldown) + Ballroom Mask (damage boost)
Ranking Methodology
Weapons are evaluated on three criteria, prioritized in this order:
- DPS (Damage Per Second): time-limited missions have 120-second floors, so fast kills matter most
- Horde Management: ability to clear multiple enemies at once with AoE
- Versatility: performance against both multi-enemy waves and single-target bosses
Tier Definitions
Best
The meta-defining classes: one big hit that cashes in the Ice Breaker multiplier.
Strong
Excellent weapons with minor weaknesses.
Good
Reliable picks that work well but get outperformed by higher tiers.
Average
Usable but situational. Better options usually exist.
Weak
Outclassed in most scenarios. May improve with patches or specific builds.
Tier List Changelog
August 2, 2026: adopted the source's full SS–C scale and added Brushes at the bottom: the ordering is unchanged, tier letters now match Game8 one-to-one, and all 11 weapon types are ranked.
August 1, 2026: rewritten as a weapon-type tier list to match the settled meta: Splatanas, Brellas and Stringers at S; Rollers and Chargers dropped to C. Best-in-type picks added.
July 24, 2026: Initial tier list published based on Game8 community data (first 48 hours).
Related guides
Sources
- Best Weapon Tier List, Game8
- Best Builds, Game8
- Splatoon Raiders Walkthrough & Guides Wiki, Game8
Type tiers and best-in-type picks: Game8 weapon tier list (current revision). Ranking criteria: Game8. Ice Breaker multiplier and freeze-consumption behaviour: Game8 weapon power data. The single-hit explanation is our reading of those numbers. Tier letters mirror Game8's SS–C scale.