Valor Mortis Best Weapons: All 9 Ranked and Compared

The best weapons in Valor Mortis are the Saber, the Claymore and the Fire Transmutation, with the Pistol as the most useful gun; that is the consensus of the most detailed tier list we found, though one guide ranks the Rapier as the top blade. There are only nine weapons in total, three blades, three firearms and three Transmutations, and you collect all of them through the story. The real decision is which ones get your scarce top-tier upgrade materials, and that is what this guide is built around.

We compared KeenGamer's full tier list, Power Up Gaming's rankings, Method's upgrade picks, PowerPyx's walkthrough and MetaBot's datamined weapon, boss and material tables in November 2026.

All Nine Weapons and When You Get Them

Valor Mortis does not hide weapons behind optional bosses or secret areas. PowerPyx confirms that the game forces you to pick up every weapon before certain areas open, and that every Transmutation is needed to solve puzzles along the main path. So the question is never whether you will own a weapon, only when it arrives and how much you invest in it.

• Saber (Chapter 1): your starting blade.
• Fire Transmutation (Chapter 1): KeenGamer places it at a fire altar with a dead soldier just above the Onslaught Arch Lantern.
• Pistol (Chapter 2): found in a toppled rail carriage below the broken bridge in the Valley of Ashes, per KeenGamer.
• Rapier (Chapter 3): on the altar inside the Abandoned Church hub.
• Blunderbuss (Chapter 3): on a table in a red-wallpapered house near the Fallen Village Marketplace Lantern.
• Stasis Transmutation (Chapter 4): a dead officer's altar in the Caverns, past the Old Mine Lantern.
• Musket (Chapter 5): in a display case in a red-wallpapered house beside the Poisoned Camp Lantern in the Vale of Wrath.
• Claymore (Chapter 6): on a body in the Cursed Hollow church nave.
• Shield Transmutation (Chapter 8): the upper floor of the University.

Chapter numbers come from PowerPyx and the locations from KeenGamer. Firearms share your off-hand slot with Transmutations, as Power Up Gaming notes, so in practice you are always choosing one blade plus one gun or power at a time.

Weapon damage at level 1 and level 10 (MetaBot, PC 1.0.1 build)

Weapon	Damage at level 1	Damage at level 10	Notes
Saber	20	60	Blocks and parries
Rapier	25	45	Parries only, breaks weak points
Claymore	50	100	Blocks only, cannot parry
Pistol	30	60	5-round clip, 4 s reload
Musket	150	300	1-round clip, 2.5 s reload
Blunderbuss	150	350	2-round clip, 3.5 s reload

Blades: Saber, Rapier or Claymore

KeenGamer puts the Saber and the Claymore in S tier and the Rapier in A tier. Power Up Gaming disagrees and ranks the Rapier first among blades, calling it a high-skill weapon for players who have mastered parry timing. Both views make sense once you see the numbers.

The Saber is the only blade that both blocks and parries, it triples its damage across ten levels, and MetaBot's data gives its Critical Attack a 15x multiplier against 10x on the other two blades. Its upgrade tree adds sustain, with Endurance restored on uninterrupted combos. It is the weapon you can lean on from the first boss to the last, which is why most guides rank it first.

The Claymore hits hardest at every level. MetaBot's count is telling: at level 10 it needs about 50 light hits to kill the final boss, against 84 for the Saber and 112 for the Rapier. It also channels Transmutations into a Burning Wave and a Wave of Stasis. The price is defense, since it cannot parry, and timing, since it only appears in Chapter 6.

The Rapier has the best parry in the game, 150 Posture damage per perfect parry against the Saber's 100, and it can break Nephtoglobin weak points, which no other blade does. It also has the lowest damage cap (45) and cannot block properly, so every missed parry hurts. Our best build guide shows how to build around it if parrying is your thing.

Firearms: Pistol, Musket and Blunderbuss

Guns in Valor Mortis are burst tools limited by ammunition, not main damage sources. KeenGamer rates the Pistol and Musket A tier and the Blunderbuss B tier; Power Up Gaming orders them the same way, Pistol first and Blunderbuss last.

The Pistol is the utility gun. It holds 15 rounds in a 5-round clip, deals full damage out to 20 meters and is built for shattering weak points and landing headshots, which MetaBot's data shows deal double damage on four bosses. Its level 2 perk, Nephtoglobin Infusion, loads a Posture-breaking round, and Ruthlessness at level 5 empowers your next melee hit for each round that connected. Method picks Robust Chamber at level 8 for a bigger magazine, then Tactical Reload at 10.

The Musket is the heaviest single shot, 150 to 300 damage with full damage out to 99 meters. KeenGamer says a level 10 Musket kills any boss in 5 to 20 body shots, but it draws from a special ammunition pouch of six rounds that it shares with the Blunderbuss. Puncture at level 2 lets shots pass through enemies and Spacious Barrel at level 10 raises ammo capacity, which fixes its biggest weakness.

The Blunderbuss has the highest damage cap of any firearm at 350 when every pellet lands, but only at point-blank range: MetaBot puts its full-damage range at 3 meters. Its standout perk is Showstopper at level 2, which lets a shot interrupt red Unblockable Attacks. Collateral Damage at level 5 widens the spread for crowds. It is also the engine of the best mid-game Catalyst loop, covered in our Catalyst farming guide.

One boss-specific note: several bosses resist firearms. MetaBot's data has Anna taking 50% less firearm damage, Captain Raphael and High Justicar Aurelius 30% less, and the final boss 20% less. Against those, your blade does more.

Transmutations: Fire, Stasis and Shield

The Fire Transmutation is KeenGamer's top off-hand pick because it exploits the clearest weaknesses in the game: General Lothaire takes 40% extra fire damage and Experiment 83 takes 20% extra. Fire also spreads between grouped enemies, igniting a target staggers it for 2 seconds, and the Unstable Blaze perk at level 5 makes a burning enemy explode when shot. KeenGamer notes the Orphan is the exception, resetting its fire weakness in both phases.

The Stasis Transmutation freezes enemies for 10 seconds, and attacks on a frozen target deal heavy damage. Its problem is resistance. MetaBot's data has General Lothaire resisting Stasis by 50%, Experiment 83 by 30% and the Iron Marshall by 20%, so KeenGamer rates it B tier and recommends it mainly against the Sphinx, the Orphan and the final boss. Stasis also stops moving gears, which the story uses for puzzles.

The Shield Transmutation arrives late but earns its A tier. KeenGamer reports a 200 Posture perfect parry and a built-in Counter Blast that releases absorbed damage when you lower it. Its key perk, Impenetrable Defence at level 4, is the only upgrade in the game that blocks red Unblockable Attacks. Level 5 adds Shield Bash, which a trophy requires; our trophy guide explains why that matters for your material plan.

Upgrade Materials: The Real Limit

All upgrades happen in the Abandoned Church hub. KeenGamer explains that James's Iron Bench (blades and firearms) opens after you win the rematch against General Lothaire, and Louis's Laboratoire (Transmutations) opens after Louis returns at the end of the Chapter III quest. Each weapon class has its own material line in four tiers. The first three tiers can be bought, at 1,500, 3,000 and 6,000 Catalysts for blade and firearm materials and 2,000, 4,000 and 8,000 for Transmutation materials. The fourth tier is never sold.

That fourth tier sets hard limits on how many weapons can reach their final level:

• Quintessential Blade Material: 3 in the world, enough to max all three blades.
• Masterwork Firearm Parts: PowerPyx found only one and KeenGamer says to plan for one maxed gun, while MetaBot's data lists two placed. Assume one.
• Quintessential Transmutation Material: 2, so one Transmutation stays at level 4.

Every blade and firearm can still reach level 9, so the final material only decides who gets the last perk. FinalBoss adds that spent materials cannot be recovered, so plan before you click. Buying tiers 1 to 3 for a single blade costs 45,000 Catalysts in total, according to both KeenGamer and MetaBot.

A Sensible Upgrade Order

KeenGamer's recommended order front-loads the weapons you use most and spends each final material where its last perk matters:

1. Push the Saber to level 4 as soon as James's Iron Bench opens.
2. Take Fire to level 2 for Brittleness once Louis's Laboratoire opens, so burning enemies take extra Saber damage.
3. Raise the Pistol to level 5 for Ruthlessness, which links gun and blade damage.
4. Finish the Saber with the Quintessential Blade Material from the Lighthouse chest in The Outskirts.
5. Spend the Masterwork Firearm Parts from the University lecture hall chest on the Pistol, or on the Musket if you want boss burst.
6. Split the Transmutation finals between Fire and the Shield.
7. Use the last two Quintessential Blade Materials, both in the Fortress, on the Claymore and Rapier.

Follow that and you end the game with three maxed blades, one maxed gun and two maxed Transmutations, which is the most the final materials allow by PowerPyx's count (a second maxed gun if MetaBot's two Masterwork Parts turn up in your game). If you are still deciding how many Catalysts to spend on materials versus levels, our level cap guide lays out the costs side by side.

Want Every Weapon Ready on Day One?

If material scarcity is the part of the game you would rather skip, the store's Valor Mortis mega modded save starts at the first Lantern of Chapter I with five weapons in the arsenal at Lvl 5, every Ferrofluid Flask, blade, ranged weapon and Transmutation material at 9,999 and 99,999 reserve ammo, so you can upgrade each new weapon as soon as you pick it up instead of rationing. It also includes a level 264 character with every skill active.

The save is for PlayStation 5 and PC only, with no Xbox version, and you need to own the game already. It sits on the Valor Mortis hub alongside the separate PS5 platinum trophy service.

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