Updated: August 26, 2026
RIVALS Tier List (August 2026) — Best Weapons Ranked
· August 26 — full re-verification; Permafrost repriced 700 → 600 Keys; the Shotgun’s “vortex” removed; Distortion and a corrected Knife entry added
· July 5 — the title month was changed from March to July; no ranking was re-checked
· March 26 — page first published
RIVALS has 53 weapons across Primary, Secondary, Melee and Utility, and your loadout decides most duels. This list ranks the 13 weapons whose numbers we verified one by one against the weapon infoboxes on the official Roblox Rivals Wiki, all read on August 26, 2026. Keys are the unlock currency, so we flag what each weapon costs — our RIVALS codes page lists the codes that pay out Keys.
S Tier — Best Weapons in RIVALS
These three do the most for the least investment. All stats as of August 26, 2026.
Assault Rifle — Standard Primary, Free
The default primary is still the best all-round gun in the game. It deals 12 damage per shot up close, falling to 3 past 200 studs, with a 15 critical. You get a 20-round magazine (100 reserve), a 0.10s firing cooldown, a 1.56s reload and only a -10% movement penalty — for zero Keys.
Permafrost — Contraband Primary, 600 Keys
Permafrost is a 2-round-burst SMG dealing 14 damage per bullet (17.5 critical) from a 24-round magazine, reloading in 1.90s with no movement penalty. Its bullets stack a slow peaking at -50% across 8 stacks of 0.75s each. Its ability throws the remaining magazine as a projectile that freezes a target for up to 3.00 seconds — shorter the less ammo you have left, so fire it early.
Sniper — Standard Primary, 75 Keys
The Sniper deals 50 damage to the body and 150 on a critical — a one-shot kill on a full-health player. The costs: a 4-round magazine (12 reserve), a 1.80s reload (2.13s from empty), 1.15s equip time and -20% movement. If you cannot land criticals consistently, take the Assault Rifle instead.
A Tier — Excellent Weapons
Strong picks that win their range or bring an ability no other weapon replicates.
Distortion — Contraband Primary, 700 Keys
Distortion fires 5 bullets at once for 7 damage each with a 4-stud splash and no dropoff, from an ammo pool of 77. Its Vortex ability ejects a black-hole projectile that expands on impact and drags nearby players into its centre: 12-stud radius, 4.00s lifetime, 30.00s cooldown. That pull is the best objective-control tool in the game.
Knife — Standard Melee, 20 Keys
The Knife is not a plain melee. Its Heavy ability is a backstab that is an instant elimination; land it anywhere but the back and it deals 40 damage instead. Base swings deal 40 with a 150 critical, it carries +10% movement, and the Heavy has a 1.25s cooldown and 7-stud reach.
Katana — Standard Melee, 45 Keys
The Katana deals 45 damage over a 6-stud reach and deflects incoming bullets back at the shooter for the same damage, on a 4.00s cooldown with a 1.00s active window. Know its limits: it cannot deflect fire, explosive or projectile weapons, melees or utilities, and the Spray bypasses it entirely.
Shotgun — Standard Primary, 20 Keys
The Shotgun fires 10 pellets at 8 damage each, so a fully connected point-blank shot is 80 damage (120 on criticals), decaying to 2.5 per pellet past 50 studs. It holds 7 rounds, reloads segmented, and costs no movement. A corridor weapon — caught in the open, you lose.
B Tier — Good Weapons
Reliable options that need the right map, range or playstyle to shine.
Uzi — Standard Secondary, 20 Keys
The best general-purpose sidearm: 8 damage per shot (10 critical) on a very fast 0.07s cooldown, from a 27-round magazine with 108 reserve, reloading in 1.50s. The wiki calls it slightly inaccurate — its bullets spread, so it rewards closing distance over trading at range.
RPG — Standard Primary, 25 Keys
The RPG deals 50 splash damage across a 16-stud radius with no falloff, and 100 on a direct hit. One rocket loaded (17 reserve), 1.04s reload, -15% movement. Its rocket knocks back both you and the enemy team, so it doubles as a mobility tool.
Revolver — Standard Secondary, 25 Keys
Thirty damage a shot (40 critical) from a 6-round cylinder, 0.40s between shots, 1.80s reload, -5% movement. Instead of aiming down sights it has Fanning, which empties the cylinder rapidly then auto-reloads. High reward, unforgiving when you miss.
Scythe — Standard Melee, 40 Keys
The Scythe deals 35 damage over a 6-stud reach and dashes on a 4.00s cooldown. The dash goes in any direction you are looking, not just forward — an escape tool as much as a gap-closer. It trades the Katana’s deflect for raw mobility.
Flamethrower — Prime Primary, 400 Keys
The Flamethrower deals 85 damage per second in a cone reaching 26 studs, plus 25 afterburn once you stop. Fuel is 100 and regenerates whenever you are not firing, even unequipped; movement cost is -5%. Its Airblast (4.00s cooldown) launches opponents and shoves smoke clouds aside.
C Tier — Situational
Fists — Standard Melee, Free
Fists deal 30 damage over a 6-stud reach and are the free default melee. They are not useless: they grant +5% movement and one double jump, and quick-swapping to them cancels firing and reload animations — a real technique for resetting the Sniper. Last on this list as a weapon, but a genuine movement tool.
Tier List Summary Table
All values from the Roblox Rivals Wiki infoboxes, August 26, 2026.
| Weapon | Tier | Category | Key Stat | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assault Rifle | S | Standard Primary | 12 dmg, 20 mag, 1.56s reload | Free |
| Permafrost | S | Contraband Primary | 14 dmg, freeze up to 3.00s | 600 Keys |
| Sniper | S | Standard Primary | 150 critical, 4 mag | 75 Keys |
| Distortion | A | Contraband Primary | 7x5 dmg, 12-stud vortex | 700 Keys |
| Knife | A | Standard Melee | Backstab = instant kill | 20 Keys |
| Katana | A | Standard Melee | 45 dmg, deflects hitscan | 45 Keys |
| Shotgun | A | Standard Primary | 8x10 pellets (80 max) | 20 Keys |
| Uzi | B | Standard Secondary | 8 dmg, 0.07s cooldown | 20 Keys |
| RPG | B | Standard Primary | 50 splash, 16-stud radius | 25 Keys |
| Revolver | B | Standard Secondary | 30 dmg, Fanning ability | 25 Keys |
| Scythe | B | Standard Melee | 35 dmg, omnidirectional dash | 40 Keys |
| Flamethrower | B | Prime Primary | 85 dmg/sec, 26-stud reach | 400 Keys |
| Fists | C | Standard Melee | 30 dmg, double jump | Free |
RIVALS has 53 weapons in total, 5 gamemode-exclusive, split across Primary, Secondary, Melee and Utility and into three types: Standard, Prime and Contraband. We rank only the 13 above — the ones whose stats we verified line by line. The full roster is on the official Roblox Rivals Wiki. We do not rank the Utility class here; it is a separate loadout slot and deserves its own comparison.
How We Ranked These Weapons
Verified stats first. Every damage value, magazine size, reload time and cooldown above comes from the weapon’s own infobox. Where a weapon has damage falloff we give the close-range figure and the range at which it decays, not a single number that is only true at point-blank.
Body damage and critical damage are separate. A previous version of this page listed the Assault Rifle as “12 to 15 damage”, merging its body damage (12) with its critical (15). We now list them separately for every weapon.
Abilities count more than raw damage — and so do their limits, which is why we state that the Katana’s deflect fails against fire, explosives and projectiles. Finally, cost is weighed against value: a 700-Key Contraband has to clearly beat a free default, which is why the Assault Rifle still tops this list.
How We Verified This Tier List
The official Roblox Rivals Wiki at robloxrivals.fandom.com — the Weapons index plus each weapon page, read as raw wikitext so the numbers come from the infobox, not prose. Those pages were last edited between August 21 and 26, 2026. Note: an earlier version of this page cited rivals.fandom.com, which is not the RIVALS wiki at all — it redirects to the Rutshire Chronicles Wiki, covering Jilly Cooper’s novel Rivals. Everything that traced back to it has been re-derived or dropped.
The Roblox games API for live figures, and the studio’s own virtual-events listing for what is scheduled next. We did not play the game to produce this list — every number here is traceable to one of those sources.
RIVALS in Numbers
RIVALS is made by Nosniy Games and launched June 28, 2024. As of August 26, 2026 it has 17.65 billion visits and 89.3 million favourites, with a 93.8% like ratio. Concurrent players over the last seven days had a median of 201,577, ranging 141,855 to 273,478 across 27 readings — a wide daily swing, so treat any single player-count screenshot with suspicion.
The current content patch is Update 21, released June 26, 2026, which brought the first Summer Event and the game’s second birthday — see our June 2026 update guide. The studio’s event listing schedules Update 22 for September 5, 2026, described only as “coming soon” and promising new weapons. Expect this list to move when it lands.
Earn Free Robux While You Play
Want more Robux for RIVALS and other Roblox games? Earnaldo lets you earn free Robux by completing simple tasks — no surveys, no downloads, just real rewards.
More RIVALS Guides
- RIVALS hub — codes, updates and every guide.
- RIVALS codes — active codes that pay Keys.
- RIVALS free Robux guide — Key costs and how to earn them.
- RIVALS June 2026 update — the Summer Event, Update 21.
- RIVALS April 2026 update — Season 3 and the Freeze Ray.
- RIVALS vs Blade Ball — which PvP game suits you.
- RIVALS vs Jailbreak — shooter vs open-world heist.
FAQ
The Assault Rifle is the best all-round weapon in RIVALS as of August 26, 2026. It is free, it is the default primary, and it deals 12 damage per shot at close range with a 20-round magazine and a 1.56-second reload. Permafrost is the strongest paid pick at 600 Keys thanks to its stacking slow and its freeze projectile.
Permafrost costs 600 Keys, not 700. It fires a 2-round burst for 14 damage per bullet from a 24-round magazine, and its hits stack a slow up to a maximum of -50% across 8 stacks. Its ability throws the rest of the magazine as a projectile that freezes a target for up to 3 seconds, so it is worth the Keys if you play regularly.
RIVALS has 53 weapons as of August 26, 2026, with 5 of those exclusive to specific gamemodes. They are split across four categories, Primary, Secondary, Melee and Utility, and three types, Standard, Prime and Contraband. This tier list ranks the 13 weapons whose stats we verified directly against the wiki infoboxes.