No Man’s Sky has had a rough road since it was first launched back in 2016, yet developer Hello Games has persevered with its open-universe game. There have been so many updates that we’d be hard-pressed to put a number to them off the top of our heads, but they’ve all served to mould the title into something quite different.
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However, one thing has remained constant: the planets you visit are out to get you, and they’ll do anything to take you down. Sentinels have more firepower and more annoying tactics, while the local fauna and nightmarish abominations see you as lunch. You’ll need the best of the best to defend yourself, but which Multi-Tool weapons are the cream of the crop?
Updated on June 2, 2023 By John Wildermuth: As No Man's Sky consistently provides the community with fresh content upgrades that reinvent how the game is played, we have updated this list to align with the game's current state. While no new weapons have been released, the Sentinel and Interceptor update introduced unique upgrade modules that make older weapons viable in almost any combat scenario.
11 Solar Ray / Animus Beam
The Solar Ray and Animus Beam are pretty pathetic. While at first glance their names evoke images of calling the heavens to melt your foes into pools of gunk, they’re pretty impotent when it comes to taking down those pesky wabbits Sentinels. Instead, they’re tools you’ll use solely when acquiring a Living Ship.
While the Solar Ray cannot so much as tickle anything, the Animus Beam does deal some damage to organic fauna. It uses lethal force to extract a resource called Fragmented Qualia, with the in-game text disturbingly describing the tool as a ‘Soul Extractor’.
Yikes.
10 Mining Beam
The Mining Beam is not something you’d typically consider using when surrounded by enemies, and you’d be right. It’s a charge tool that doesn’t deal too much initial damage and, if you’re just starting out, is very, very inefficient in its energy use.
However, upgraded to the max with S-class modules and all the bells and whistles, it can become a bit of an early to mid-game monster when dealing with single targets. You’ll melt through armour without having to worry too much about rapid overheating.
9 Plasma Launcher
The tried and trusted grenade launcher of No Man’s Sky, this secondary weapon is useful in a whole host of ways. It can take out the armoured doors of Manufacturing Facilities, and burst open Resource Depots to claim their rare bounties.
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However, as a weapon, it’s clunky and inefficient. While you can pump out several grenades in succession, aiming them is a chore, and reloading every few seconds when you’re surrounded by death machines is massively inconvenient. It's best used for breaking armour before switching to a primary weapon — just make sure you’re out of the blast radius.
8 Geology Cannon
This weapon is one for the creative combatants out there. The Geology Cannon is what you get if you marry the Plasma Launcher with the Terrain Manipulator, a grenade launcher that blows chunks in the planet’s crust.
And we mean chunks — you’d better make sure you’re nowhere near the blast zone, especially if this secondary weapon is fully upgraded, as you’ll be looking at crater-sized holes and almost certain death. It’ll take some skill to turn this into a weapon, but using it to hinder those giant bipedal Sentinels is tons of fun when successful.
7 Paralysis Mortar
Your typical stun grenade, the Paralysis Mortar is the third non-lethal option on this list. Sure, it deals no damage, but if you also have the Voltaic Amplifier module installed, you’ll get a significant bonus to damage against incapacitated enemies when switching to a primary weapon.
Whether you’re attempting to raid a Resource Depot and putting the Sentinels on maximum alert, or snatching Larval Cores from under the noses of swarms of Biological Horrors at an Abandoned Building, a well-placed Paralysis Mortar will allow you to take down large groups in relative safety. As such, this is the one secondary weapon you should swear by.
6 Incinerator
It’s a flamethrower — what’s not to love? This weapon deals massive damage at short range, engulfing enemies both organic and metallic in high-heat flames, so it’s certain to prove popular with players who want to feel they are in total control of close-quarters battles.
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While it looks cool, the Incinerator comes with a lot of risk. The standard Sentinels and their canine buddies in particular are known for dodging and weaving, so locking onto them could prove to be more of a chore than you might want to take on. However, the Incinerator is no longer available via normal means. But for those who still have this weapon, it's extremely useful.
5 Boltcaster
The default weapon, the Boltcaster is average in every way. There’s very little initial damage, but the rate of fire is steady enough for it to be useful. Sadly, since this gun consumes ammo, you will need to be sure to constantly keep your inventory filled with enough munitions to take out a small army, since you never want to run out of ammo during the heat of combat.
The real saving grace of the Boltcaster is that it does have great accuracy. If you're right at the start of your journey, it’s serviceable and efficient. Furthermore, the Sentinel update introduced new updates that are only applicable to the Boltcaster, allowing you to seriously buff the firepower, rate of fire, and reload time of this default weapon. Overall, while this may not be the greatest weapon in the game, it can certainly pack a punch with the right investment.
4 Pulse Spitter
A standard machine gun-type weapon, the Pulse Spitter requires mastery of aiming and recoil to be effective. It’s classically been an acquired taste, with most players tending to prefer the other options out there.
However, adding the Impact Igniter, coupled with fully upgrading the weapon with S-class modules, changes things considerably. It adds a useful damage-over-time burn to enemies hit by its projectiles, meaning the Pulse Spitter becomes a solid, if unspectacular, option for players who just want to go ‘pew pew pew’ with baddies.
3 Neutron Cannon
The Neutron Cannon comes with not one, but two different firing modes. It’s a fantastic tool for those who want the benefit of a shotgun-type quick blaster, and who have perhaps become used to the Scatter Blaster as the weapon of choice. The real power play comes when you charge the weapon and release, dealing massive area damage.
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It’s great for enemies that are grouped up, although you could be left exposed momentarily when charging. This is where the Paralysis Mortar comes in, buying you that time to charge the weapon and obliterate whatever is in your path. Fully upgraded, this may be the only weapon you ever need.
2 Scatter Blaster
Here we get to the business end of the best weapons in No Man’s Sky, and for many the Scatter Blaster is the most ‘old faithful’ of all. Essentially a combat shotgun, it’s almost unparalleled at dealing with Sentinels when fully upgraded, and will easily one-shot those awful Biological Horrors.
The trade-off is that it’s very much a weapon for those who are comfortable with up-close, run-and-gun combat. It’s pretty useless from long range, making it harder to deal with those towering bipedal Sentinels that show up at max alert. As such, it’s always worth having a Multi-Tool with a fully upgraded Scatter Blaster in reserve.
1 Blaze Javelin
This beast of a weapon is the very definition of high risk, high reward. Essentially a sniper rifle, it has tons of power to start with and rewards you with more damage the further a shot travels. Hop on top of an Abandoned Building, for example, and you can take down those spawning Biological Horrors while laughing all the way to the Larval Core bank.
Things get even better once you have the Waveform Oscillator and Mass Accelerator modules installed and the Blaze Javelin fully upgraded. Your shots will apply a five-second stun to enemies hit, meaning you can easily stunlock anything that stands in your way. Even if you do get swarmed, just switch to a fully decked-out Scatter Blaster and you’re golden.
Next: No Man’s Sky: How To Get Your Own AI Robotic Companion
