7 Days to Die is a survival-horror game that has extremely in-depth game play. The weapons in the game are no exception to this rule. When choosing weapons in the beginning of the game, you must look at your skill trees and what build you will want to follow. The attributes and perks you choose will influence the additional elements assigned to your weapon by the end game. They also influence the books you loot, which in turn affects the elements you gain for your weapons.
Some builds to choose from include Spears and Rifles (Perception); Clubs and Shotguns (Strength); Batons and Handguns (Agility); Knuckles and Machine Guns (Fortitude); Sledgehammers and Shotguns (Strength).
All the photos provided are Tier 6 weapons in their basic form, no mods, though all perks, books and mods were considered when creating this list. Tier 6 weapons can only be looted during trader missions or received as rewards for the same.
This top 10 considers multiple attributes of each weapon. Here are three honorable mentions that did not quite make the list but came very close.
Honorable Mentions:
- Compound Bow – Agility based weapon; Different ammo gives different damage ranges but roughly 88 damage for a bolt, RPM = 75 and reload speed without perks or mods is 3.4 seconds
- Grenades/Contact Grenades – Perception based weapon; Explosives/Throwables; Entity Damage is 341 while block damage is just 10. You can keep a stack of 25 grenades in one spot of your inventory at a time.
- Hunting Knife – Strength based weapon; Short reach, but one of the most durable weapons in the game. This weapon does a lot of damage over time instead of all at once and can do so without a lot of stamina cost.
10. Steel Knuckles
Steel Knuckles are a fortitude-based weapon that has more to offer than one may think. Steel knuckles have a short reach but can hit multiple targets at once and is one of the most durable weapons in the game. Steel Knuckles perform best with a steady supply of beer to boost their damage. Steel Knuckle parts can be looted during quests for crafting, but you cannot craft tier 6 weapons. They can only be looted during trader missions or received as rewards for the same.
"Punch zombies on horde night? Yes, please!"
What makes Steel Knuckles a Top 10 Weapon:
- Fortitude-based.
- Multi-target hit and a chance to knock down your enemies.
- No ammo to run out of.
- High Durability and low stamina cost.
- Pair with all perks, books, mods, and buffs (Beer and Recog.) and you may feel unstoppable on horde night.
9. Stun Baton
Stun Batons are agility-based weapon that are fun to use as well as practical. They have a mid-range reach and can hit multiple targets at once. Once the perks and books are read/unlocked the stun baton has a chance to knock down your enemies or stun them while still doing damage. The Stun Baton Repulsor mod available for the stun baton only, allows you to launch your enemies into the air.
Oh, look! A Flying Arlene!
What makes the Stun Baton a Top 10 Weapon:
- Agility-based.
- Stun lock and still do damage.
- Knock down or send one flying.
- No ammo to run out of.
- Multi-target hit.
- Mid-range reach.
8. SMG-5
The SMG-5 is an agility-based weapon. The SMG-5 is considered a handgun; therefore, it gets the same perks for all handguns including the Pistol Pete Books. The SMG-5 starts out with the slowest reload time of any gun in the game and a will need to be repaired more often than most other weapons. The Rounds per minute, however, is the highest among all the guns in the game at 480 rpm.
What makes the SMG-5 a Top 10 Weapon:
- Agility based.
- Magazine size can be doubled to 60, using the Drum Magazine mod.
- Rounds per minute of 480 (highest RPM of all guns)
- All the perks, attributes, books, and mods give bring the SMG from one of the slowest reload times to one of the fastest. (a base reload time of 4.1 seconds, comes down to about 2 seconds).
- With perks – Point blank shots ignore armor.
7. AK-47
The AK-47 is a fortitude-based weapon. While the durability of this weapon is the lowest of all the guns, and will need repaired more often, the rounds per minute are high at 360 rpm. Add all the Attributes, perks, weapon mods and books to your Machine Gun and skill tree to see your ranged damage increase, magazine size increase, rpm increase and reload time decrease.
What makes the AK-47 a Top 10 Weapon:
- Fortitude-based.
- Magazine size can be doubled to 60, using the Drum Magazine mod.
- Rounds per minute of 360.
- Machine Gunner Perk gives +50% damage, +30% faster firing, +30% reload speed, and with each shot scored you gain 6 stamina.
6. Sniper Rifle
The Sniper Rifle is a perception-based weapon. This weapon is great on horde night against those demolition zombies that pose a real threat to your entire structure. Two of your mods for this should be the Bipod for handling/accuracy and the X8 Scope for zooming in on your target area. The perks for this Rifle are very helpful, as the Sniper Rifle uses a lot of stamina. It has one of the highest (base) effective ranges in the game, equivalent to the Rocket Launcher.
What makes the Sniper Rifle a Top 10 Weapon:
- Perception based.
- Dead Eye Perk: +50% damage, aim 60% Faster, reload 30% faster, use 30% less stamina and earn a kill streak bonus.
- Very high base damage.
- Magazine extender mod adds 50% more to magazine size.
- High durability.
5. Steel Club
The Steel Club is a strength-based weapon. This weapon does serious damage when all attributes, perks, books, and mods are added into the mix. The durability is high, stamina cost comes down and extra damage is done to stunned targets and/or after 3 successive hits. The Steel Club has a mid-range reach and can hit multiple targets. This is a heavy weapon and can do some real damage without a severe cost to your stamina.
What makes the Steel Club a Top 10 Weapon:
- Strength based.
- No ammo to run out of.
- High Durability.
- Mid-range reach and can hit multiple targets.
- Pummel Pete combat perk under the strength attribute gives you 50% more damage, +200% damage to stunned enemies, power attacks give 100% chance to knock down enemies, and 3 successive hits cause 100% extra damage.
4. Desert Vulture
The Desert Vulture is an agility-based weapon and considered a handgun for perk purposes. While the Desert Vulture has the lowest magazine size of all the weapons (even with adding the magazine extender mod which adds 50% more to the magazine size), this weapon has the lowest reload time of all the ranged weapons and one of the highest damages. Once all perks, books and mods are added, the damage is close to that of the sniper rifle (both close to 160, roughly)
What makes the Desert Vulture a Top 10 Weapon:
- Agility based.
- Fastest reload: Base reload speed of just 2 seconds, drops to about 1 second with all perks, mods and books added.
- Very high ranged damage
- 130 Rounds per minute
- With perks – Point blank shots ignore armor.
3. Steel Spear
The Steel Spear is a perception-based weapon. This weapon, with its perks, can pierce multiple targets at once, and on a successful kill from a power attack, you regain all your stamina. The Spear is a weapon you can master in the beginning of the game, giving you an early advantage with a melee weapon. The Fortifying Grip mod also adds health regen when your health is below 50%. This is a heavy weapon and can do some real damage without a severe cost to your stamina. The Steel Spear has the longest reach in the game of all the melee weapons, which makes it perfect for those that prefer to keep their distance.
Anyone notice the reach on those zombies?!
What makes the Steel Spear a Top 10 Weapon:
- Perception based.
- No ammo to run out of.
- Stamina Regeneration from successful Power Attack.
- Multiple Targets.
- Great for Horde nights when you have the zombies funneled to you and a way to jab at them between bars or something similar.
- Longest reach melee weapon.
2. Auto Shotgun
The Auto Shotgun is a strength-based weapon. The Auto Shotgun is a versatile, short-ranged weapon that make it a worthwhile weapon for Horde night, but especially for making your way through that higher tier, infested clear, trader missions and POIs. Make sure you add all your attribute and perk points, find all the Shotgun Messiah books, and mod this weapon to bring out its full potential. There are many mods to choose from. Some are mandatory, such as the Drum Magazine which doubles your magazine size. Other mods and items are up to you based on what you are doing in the moment. Do you need Shotgun Shells or Slugs? Do you want the Shotgun Choke to focus the projectiles area, or would you rather have a spread of pellets?
Horde night is one night, but POIs are the days in between!
What makes the Auto Shotgun a Top 10 Weapon:
- Strength based.
- High Durability.
- Chance to stun your target.
- Effective in clearing out POIs.
- Perks: Rounds per minute to about 100rpm.
- Perks: Chance to dismember.
- Perks: Target with full health receives 20% more damage.
1. M60
The M60 Machine Gun is a fortitude-based weapon that you can receive as a reward for completing a tier 6 trader mission. This weapon is great for horde nights when you are being flooded with zombies, high tier infested clears, and any of those, Oh Crap!, moments you may find yourself in.
What makes the M60 a Top 10 Weapon:
- Fortitude based.
- 440rpm but add perks to give you faster firing.
- Magazine size can be extended to 120 with the Drum Magazine Mod.
- Ranged Damage can come up to 115 just with mods alone.
- Perk points will add more damage, faster firing, faster reload and the chance to gain stamina back.
- Using the Drum Magazine Mod and the perk points, the reload speed goes from 3.8 seconds down to about 1.5 seconds.
- High Durability.
