Neon White: Every Weapon, Ranked

Highlights

• Neon White
  players have favorite weapons for speedrunning, but some are considered worse than others.
• Fists and Katana are seen as the worst weapons in the game due to their limited effectiveness.
• The Dominion rocket launcher is considered the best weapon in
  Neon White
  , offering a combination of powers from other weapons.

It may seem like an odd exercise to try and rank cards in Neon White. Rarely are there occasions when players get to choose a loadout, and each card can be useful and necessary in its own right. Even “bad” cards can be “better” if the situation calls for it, and with enough practice, player should always have access to the cards they need.

Yet speedrunners and veterans of Neon White will often seek out their favorite weapons. Some of them are capable of beating the Ace times by five-plus seconds, and their clipped gameplay of doing so can be almost impossible to process. If nothing else, this is a great measure of the enthusiasm players have when they see a favorite card pop into the lower-right part of the screen.

9 Fists

It’s Time To Give Up

The worst weapon in the game is one that, thankfully, many players won’t even discover. The Katana comes with thirty charges on it and, when it runs out, players are left with their Fists. Anyone who enjoys amazing FPS titles on Game Pass might want to see Neon White in the collection, but not due to this sad attack option.

There is a way to lose besides taking damage, falling off a cliff, or getting stuck. After punching ten times with his fists, White instantly perishes. The attack itself is slow and, predictably, does not do much damage. It’s probably best to just restart the level instead of resorting to hand-to-hand combat, and even if players try to make it work, odds are the game will reset their run for them after those 10 swings are up.

8 Katana

The Basic Melee Attack

It’s possible that Neon White could eventually be considered one of the best first-person shooter games of all time. As far as the best first-person slasher games go though? Well, White might proclaim the sword is his favorite weapon, but it’s hard to see why.

There is no secondary move allowed that would discard the Katana, already putting it at a disadvantage over other weapons. Its attack is fast, granted, but the range is so miniscule. The damage dealt is pathetic, so much so that even the worst gun has equal or better numbers, along with a secondary fire. As far as Neon White’s worst weapons, there is a line between everything else, and the Katana and Fists.

7 Stomp

A Potent Drop Attack That Causes An AoE On Impact

Among Neon White’s traditional weapons, Stomp gets the lowest ranking for both its primary and secondary attacks. Like most classic video game SMGs, the bullet spread is erratic and unpredictable. That’s fine for close-range enemies, but not useful at all for those elite cross-map shots that will shave seconds off a run’s time.

The discard ability is useful for select situations when getting to the bottom of the map quickly is necessary, but getting to the bottom of the map can be done with any weapon. Sometimes, the maps give players Stomp in the hopes that they will accidentally use it and come crashing down. Overall, Stomp has its moments, and it occasionally essential, but it can also be a hinderance that will make a fast run more difficult.

6 Elevate

A Double Jump With Great Hangtime

A classic handgun with a handy double-jump built-in. Not bad! This is why the Elevate falls in the middle of the pack when it comes to weapon choices in Neon White. Trying to use this gun exclusively will make the game harder than Doom Eternal, though it’s more of a niche weapon that a primary tool. That said, it isn’t exactly lacking in any category.

Elevate’s range and power are very good, even if the fire rate isn’t anything to write home about, and it’s accurate enough to pull off some long shots, even if it’s not the ideal weapon to use for those tasks. The main use for this card will be the secondary jump. When a secret or shortcut is not in reach through conventional means, the extra height and airtime can make all the difference. It’s a slow, shorter movement than the next weapons provide, but not negligible.

5 Purify

An Under-Barrel Grenade Launcher Whose Explosion Can Be Used As Propulsion

Purify is an automatic weapon that has the accuracy of an assault rifle. If this list were about primary attacks only, this could easily be the number one option. During the first boss fight, having a few of these will end the fight much quicker, which is always the main goal of Neon White.

The secondary discard isn’t bad, but not up to the standard of the primary attack. The sticky grenade can clear out groups of enemies or act as something of a secondary jump if the player can time a jump into the explosion. The timing is tough to master, but the mobility is good for a handful of shortcuts that will undeniably save time on certain levels.

4 Godspeed

A Powerful Forward Dash

If anything keeps Godspeed from the upper echelons of the Neon White rankings, it’s the small clip size. Nobody can complain about the range or damage, with this card acting as a sniper rifle can perform well on many maps. From afar, players can take out targets so they can avoid huge segments of the course, something most speedrunners are very proficient at.

When discarded, White performs a massive dash horizontally, dealing damage to anything in his path. The only weapons ranked better than Godspeed are capable of multi-directional travel. Even so, when stacked together, the amount of distance that White can cover is astounding.

3 Fireball

A Dash In Any Direction

Hardcore gamers have mapped out the spread of the Fireball shotgun, and are consistently able to know exactly where to aim to kill multiple opponents with the primary fire. A full cluster kills any enemy besides a boss with a single blast, but the ability to consistently wipe out entire groups with one shot is a beneft only one other weapon in Neon White can boast.

If that’s not exciting enough, how about a dash in any direction? This is like having the power of Stomp and Godspeed combined with the added element of player control. There are few weapons better than the Fireball on maps that require short times with a lot of ground to cover and enemies to take out, and when several Fireball cards are stacked together, there’s no better way to quickly traverse a large distance.

2 Book Of Life

Raw Power And Mobility

It’s no surprise that the final weapon received in Neon White is also in contention for the best weapon in the game. It lacks a discard ability, but that should hardly be a deterrent when the primary fire latches onto an enemy, killing it instantly and propelling White forward to that enemy’s location. Oh, and the Book of Life can be used at a nearly limitless distance. If players can target an enemy, they can fly to its location, making some runs almost impossibly fast.

The final boss fight features this weapon heavily. By the time it is unlocked, most enemies act as more of an incentive to use the Book Of Life card, which allows the player near limitless freedom without any cooldown time at all. After a few maps of using it, it’s tough to go back to previous missions.

1 Dominion

A Grappling Hook And Rocket Launcher That Can Be Used To Rocket Jump

The top spot in the ranking of Neon White’s weapons goes to the Dominion rocket launcher. It combines so many of the powers of other weapons lower on this list, as well as adding a few of its own. An instant death, area-of-effect primary fire? Got it. A discard that lets White fly to any grapple point in range? Got it. A rocket jump? Got that too. After getting the Dominion, the majority of White’s time can easily be spent in the air.

Firing against surfaces gives the player a solid vertical leap, allowing White to raplidly climb to the top of tall buildings for the price of a few rockets. Wondering how to get to that gift on top of a skyscraper, or how get around a large obstacle? The Dominion is often the answer, either by grappling to a point, or by launching White through the air with explosion after explosion.