We’ve placed every Resident Evil 4 remake weapon in a tier list ranking them from best to worst. We’ve made this list from the perspective of someone of average skill doing a normal playthrough. So, your results might vary if you’re speedrunning or participating in a particular challenge.
Table of contents
Resident Evil 4 remake weapons tier list
We’ll be splitting each of the 18 standard weapons in Resident Evil 4 remake into tiers. We left the bonus weapons out since they have obvious advantages that would make for an unfair comparison with the ones you find during the game.
S Tier Weapons
You can easily beat Resident Evil 4 remake with just the weapons below.
Knife
The knife is handy for its parrying ability and can also be used to quickly stagger enemies.
Red9
While it didn’t make the cut for our best handgun due to its high recoil and low fire rate, the Red9 is an excellent standalone weapon and has the power to take on almost any foe.
Riot Gun
The Riot Gun is an excellent shotgun. Its tight blast radius lets you focus maximum firepower on a target without getting too close. However, it still has enough spread to make it effective against groups of Ganados or Novistadors.
- See Leon’s first adventure in Resident Evil 2 remake: Buy it on Amazon
- Live the final hours of Raccoon City in Resident Evil 3 remake: Buy it on Amazon
- Start Ethan’s journey in Resident Evil 7: Buy it on Amazon
- See his conclusion in Resident Evil: Village: Buy it on Amazon
A Tier Weapons
Blacktail
In Resident Evil 4 remake, the Blacktail is an overall better pistol than the Red9, but works best when paired with a companion weapon like the Riot Gun or W-870. The Red9 might have more power when fully upgraded, but it requires precise aiming that many players will find tricky. The higher fire rate and reload speed, and similar power stats make this a great choice for your primary sidearm.
Sentinel Nine (Deluxe Edition DLC only)
It’s slightly less powerful than the SG-09 R, but the much higher ammo capacity and rate of fire help the Sentinel Nine to win over the starting handgun. It also shares the same exclusive upgrade, which makes the gun’s critical rate five times higher.
Stingray
It’s less powerful than the SR M1903, but the Stingray’s semi-automatic action makes it much less annoying to use. Being able to keep your scope on target between shots means you’ll be able to hit a lot more follow-up shots, and it still has the 3x damage bonus on weak points that the other rifles do.
W-870
The W-870 is the most powerful shotgun when fully upgraded. However, this advantage is offset by a lower rate of fire and a wider spread, which makes the Riot Gun a better choice overall.
B Tier Weapons
Killer7
The Killer7 is an excellent gun with higher precision and base stats than the Broken Butterfly. However, Magnum Ammo is a rare drop and costly to craft, so it’s not worthwhile to invest in upgrading this otherwise excellent weapon.
Punisher
The Punisher is the weakest handgun, but its high ammo capacity and precision can make it worth picking up if it fits your play style. In addition, its exclusive upgrade, which allows it to penetrate through up to five enemies, can make it very useful for crowd control if you’re good at lining up shots.
SG-09 R
The SG-09 R is a decent handgun, but the Sentinel Nine has the same exclusive upgrade and beats it out in almost every stat. Regardless, both these pistols become obsolete once the Red9 and Blacktail become available later in the game.
Skull Shaker (Deluxe Edition DLC only)
When upgraded, the Skull Shaker is a competent shotgun. However, it lags behind the W-870, and the low ammo capacity means the larger shotgun is a better choice.
SR M1903
If you’re looking for raw power, the SR M1903 is the best sniper rifle in the game. However, it’s a bolt action, so you’ll have to deal with a pause between each shot. Overall, the Stingray is easier to use, and it’s worth the trade in power not to have to re-aim after each round.
TMP
Submachine Guns aren’t great for killing enemies in Resident Evil 4 remake. Instead, the TMP is best used to stagger foes so you can follow up with a melee attack or slip past them. Once you equip it with the stock, the TMP really excels at crowd control, but its lack of power makes it relatively worthless for outright killing enemies.
C Tier Weapons
Broken Butterfly
The Broken Butterfly is the most powerful non-bonus gun in the game when fully upgraded. However, it has horrible accuracy, and Magnum Ammo is rare enough that upgrading it is a waste of money. You also don’t get a free Broken Butterfly anymore like you did in the original game, which means you should just save your money and buy the Killer7.
Matilda
Leon’s signature handgun from Resident Evil 2 isn’t a bad pistol. In fact, with the stock, it’s actually the best submachine gun in the game. However, you get more bang for your bullet with pretty much any other handgun.
D Tier Weapons
CQBR Assault Rifle
The CQBR Assault Rifle would be a great weapon if it wasn’t fully automatic and didn’t use Rifle Ammo. Unfortunately, Rifle Ammo is expensive to craft and relatively rare (though not as rare as Magnum Ammo). It’s easy to burn up a magazine of 20-32 rounds in this gun, which would be better spent in the Stingray or SR 1903.
LE 9
I was excited to get the LE 9 since it mounts a scope. That is until I saw its absurdly bad accuracy. Each time you move, you’ll see the crosshairs bloom, and you’ll have to wait for 20 seconds or so for them to close up again. It makes the gun unusable in third-person and almost seems like a glitch.
F Tier Weapons
Striker
The last thing Resident Evil 4 remake needs is a rapid-fire shotgun with a huge blast radius, but here we are. The Striker is useless at all but extremely close range and is a waste of money and ammo. I’m sure someone loves this gun and is highly proficient in using it, but most players will find it to be terrible.
