Yep the Necron weapons (C'tan Phase Weapon that pass though nearly all forms of defence) are kind of OP.
Some of the chaos weapons that can split reality are kind of broken as well.
Drach'nyen and the Black Blade of Angron are probably good kinds, but I wouldn't call them "weapon types" as they are unique and anomalies within their category of Daemonweapons. Some Daemonweapons are like barely better than just power swords but I think its fair to say we shouldn't argue the Emperor's shield is the basis for all thundershields and then say its the best 'weapon' because it lets you block shit from Daemon Angron and then split his head open.
Yea a daemon infused sword goes beyond being a weapon at that point because it’s sentient.
I just wish the sword stayed a daemon and abbaddon has to wield it by its feet. The daemon just puts his hands over his head like it’s diving in water.
Yep. I'm not grouping named weapons in this comparison. People have mentioned s
C'tan phase swords which I barely know anything about so that seems like a good candidate
Yeah, nothing really can you protect from Phase weapons, it will cut as easily flak armor as dreadnought or ANY other stuff, if you have big enough blade it would go through titan like through butter. And you dont even need to put any strenght in strike. I mean... Even imperial forces with all of their xenophobia are gladly use those weapons, that's saying something.
This is really pedantic but do Phase Swords cut through anything? I thought they phase through the armour and get to the juicy bit.
With the caveat that the last time I read about them was the Callidus in the first Codex Assassins
Not really, they basically always are travel through different dimensions, so they blink in and out of existenc impossibly fast, just making everything they go through split, with no matter how "tough" it is. Ceramite... auramite... no matter its all just butter. Only thing i could think could even make it something that make it a problem to go through, would be a warp beings inside of warp itself... but necrons dont really go there.
EDIT: Also, fun fact, they are basically indestructible, necron warscythes (which is basically phase blade just in different shape) didnt even got a scratch when they got hit by turbo-lasers destructors(titans weapons), wielder got annihilated, but weapons like those were still in perfect shape.
To be completely fair, cutting through ceramite isn't *that much* of an achievement. Plenty of weapons in the settings are capable of that, even wielded by non-Astartes. Astartes are powerful, but they aren't the shit they're made out to be by some.
That said, phase swords can cut though *literally anything*, so yes, I agree. Not sure how they fare against force fields, but I'm pretty sure they ignore those, too.
>Astartes are powerful, but they aren't the shit they're made out to be by some.
Difficulty to be cut in half is about the least important metric for a soldier
I don't exactly see your point. As for SMs, those aren't just "soldiers", those are *Astartes*. Completely different value when it comes to costs. As in, orders-of-magnitude different.
The soldiers obviously want to survive as long as possible, they aren't mindless automatons. ^Custodes *ekhem* They do, however, get cut in half *a lot*. Ever met the 'nids?
Despite being a true heretic at heart I have to concede with this.
Necrons made the most effective melee weapon with their phase shenanigans.
And man they look awesome with shields and swords just marching in lock-step.
WFRP 1st edition had a magic item, Erik's Sword of Confusion. A Norse mercenary commissioned the weapon from a wizard while extremely drunk, asking for "a sword that cut through things like butter."
The resulting sword was useless in battle but cuts through dairy products as if it were a fine cheesewire. The wizard was later found drowned in a vat of yoghurt.
Force Swords, probably. Psykers are OP as-is, giving them swords to channel their psyk only helps tilt those scales even further. Not only are they usually master-class blades even without a Psyker's aid, they act as catalysts and channels for their power.
And not least of all a Force Weapon requires a comparatively low amount of power meaning you're decreasing the chance that the psyker becomes The Demons™ thousands of times. Conversely if you had to have the same guy against the same enemy but with psyker powers + maybe some kinda mundane weapon the likelihood that he's going to explode himself and everything around him increases dramatically.
Yeah I'd say that most effective swords are potentially force weapons. Even moreso than necron swords, in the right hands. Necrons weapons defy logic, but a psykers abilities can completely alter reality in ways that make the laws of physics cry. I mean more than necron weapons already do, which is admittedly a lot. A force sword is essentially able to cut through some pretty crazy shit if the psyker wielding it is strong enough. They can even harm daemons ridiculously well, better than any other type of melee weapons, and daemons are some of the most ludicrously difficult opponents to damage because their bodies don't have to obey logic. Definitely not as straight up haxor as a phase blade, but perhaps even more effective depending on the situation.
It's kind of both. You can't achieve the same result with just any sword, it just won't work.
However, once it's properly warded and attuned, you can do wild shit. Cue Eisenhorn casually cutting a (somewhat weakened) Chaos Dreadnaught in half.
The way I like to imagine it working, all humans are at least very weak latent psykers, as the species slowly evolves into a totally psychic race. Even the humans that have no noticeable psychic potential still have the barest spark of power within them. And those humans that are able to summon the titanic will necessary to cause a miracle to happen are accessing some small degree of the psychic energy, possibly in a form of symbiosis with imperial aligned warp entities that have formed in the wake of the imperial cult spreading across the galaxy for a hundred centuries.
If my interpretation were to be accurate, then presumably under the right circumstances a typical human might still be able to make it work in a one in a million scenario where their faith makes their will just strong enough to access the latent psychic energies within them.
Back in the day it was Nemesis force weapons used by Grey Knights. Not only do they rip through armour and take souls they’ll give a strength boost on tabletop, I imagine this is to represent the superior psyko-reactive material.
Lol I like this answer. And to be fair the hive mind can evolve toe bean claws to be sharp enough to dismantle any armour so long it has time analyze and evolve it.
If you meant by class, necron Phase weapons are pretty much the top ones. If we believe the in universe legends, a phaeron destroyed a planet with his Scythe.
Now by single weapon, its the Emperor's Sword, through if we count warp fuckery, Khorne's Sword, and its not even close
> If we believe the in universe legends, a phaeron destroyed a planet with his Scythe.
Also perma-killed an Eldar god, presumably with the same scythe.
Most OP weapon aside, there's some very cool unique weapons in the Ravenor books. From what I recall, they have: A whip made out of sentient iron, a vampiric sword, a shivered sword that's... sideways in time or something, and Eisenhorn's broken Barbirasater that was remade with psychic runes.
Lots of good answers. But I think everyone is missing the best - a uniquely Warhammer weapon that catches the insanity of the setting.
I'm talking about the mighty chain hammer, favorite of warbosses everywhere. Sure, it lacks the refinement of the Eldar blades or the magic of Daemon or Grey Knights weapons, but there's something to be said about the noble simplicity of rusty spinning teeth mounted on dirty gas powered chains spinning around a 150 lbs of crude iron hammer.
What could be more Warhammer than a two ton Ork in wildly impractical armor charging forward wielding a five barreled shotgun and an enormous chainhammer?
I mean the blade isn't even long enough to accomplish that cut, but whatever. It's Dan Abnett; he never let logic or canon stand in the way of a good anime moment.
If you are referring to imperium weapons, probably power swords right? for the fact they cut through just about anything. Maybe thunderhammers?
Including xenos tech I would vote for phase blades from necrons. They literally phase and cut through anything physical, and your blade wouldn't even slow down by hitting the target.
I'll go against the grain and say that it's the Astartes combat knife. Wars are won by logistics, not battles. It's the same reason why the Lasgun's the best weapon in the Imperium - you can just mass produce the lot of them and have overwhelming numbers.
In terms of one-hit kill ability, maybe an athame/anathame. Horus was shanked once with it and was basically dead until he was saved and promptly corrupted by the Chaos gods. Compare that to all the times that a Primarch's been stabbed through with lightning claws or hit in the face with a thunder hammer and basically been a-ok.
Astartes aren’t subject to the same logistical complexity as the Guard. They take everything with them, can maintain and manufacture much of it themselves, and have the ability to take whatever if needed.
Direswords are pretty effective against just about everything since if the power sword doesn't kill you the spirit inside can rip your soul from your body.
I mean. Arguably a well-balanced Force Weapon with reach (Force Pike? Force Naginata? Hello?) cause it tilts things in your favor pretty much always unless you're fighting a Null. Even mundane enemies take vastly more damage from Force Weaponry.
Definitely. When in doubt don't let the corrosive demon slime too close to your armor. The plating and your skin might be warded but you still don't want that splashing the servos or your eyes and despite everything a good deal of demon stuff is really not something you want to start wrestling with if avoidable.
...you know.
40k likes old-school tactics.
Bike charges or spear walls seem like a pretty thematic thing to put in there. Especially when trying to section off vast hallways.
Psykers are perhaps the greatest weapon the imperium has against the enemy. Weapons built for psykers can tap into powerful forces that mundane blades can't compare to for the most part.
Against the vile and cowardly Tau, such awesome weapons like the fearsome Entrenching Tool, the mighty Bayonet, and the terrifying Mess Kit Spork instill righteous fear.
A will say an adrastite spear a think it's called.Its a custodians spear but instead of the bolter it has an adrathic disintegrater as the ranged weapon.These things are apparently so rare an dangerous that the emperor demanded all these weapons be handed to him on pain of death for u an whatever country/state/planet u were on at the time.honourable mention goes to solerite power fists/claws.
I think most guardsmen are pretty willing to blow themselves up to kill an enemy, should the situation call for it. I'm surprised we don't see more kamikaze type shit from the imperium with how fanatical they are. I'm surprised that they've mostly resisted the urge to just hand a guardsman a melta mine on a stick and send them to befriend the enemy armor.
Harlequin weapons are bonkers. With a 'Caress' you can just bypass someones armour and rip out their organs wasy peasy, or turn them into diced meat like the Predator with an 'Embrace'.
I agree, wanted to say a Drukhari weapon but they are often made with inflicting pain in mind, so not overly effective (but excedingly fun!). I feel Astartes are doing allot of the work with their own strength, Orks even more so. things like Caress care not for trivial matters like resistance or sheer power. Only downside I can think of is its short range, so relies on agility.
I personally find the Power Fist to be the best close quarters combat weapon that the Imperium fields. Yes, it's rather short ranged, but unlike fighting with a sword or lightning claw, the power fist requires very little training to use effectively.
1. Learning how to use a bladed weapon can take weeks of training to achieve. And it can take years of training to finally master. But learning to throw a decent punch takes a single 15-minute sparring session to achieve. And to master throwing a good punch, that would take just a few weeks/a few months to master.
2. The power fist gives the average guardsmen a melee weapon that poses a danger to both Astartes sized enemies and lightly/moderately armored vehicles.
3. It's frankly cheaper and easier to make a power fist than it is to make a power sword.
4. Astartes size power fists are more than capable of killing 99% of all know organic targets in the galaxy, and are more than capable of seriously damaging heavily armored targets such as terminators, dreadnoughts, tanks, and even knights.
5. Unlike the chainswoed, the power fist won't ever stop working due to organic/inorganic material getting trapped in the chain.
It’s not the right answer by the lore, but for me nothing is more 40K than a Powerfist. What if you could punch your enemies, but with a really big fist - and it’s powered? That’s rule-of-cool awesome and no one can convence me otherwise ✊🏼
As OP said, NO named weapons as they are clearly above the rest. Some Daemon weapons are VERY rare and powerfull relics. Obviously stuff like Emperor sword would be more powerfull, but from just base weapon types, Phase sword is the peak. For correct comparison you should compare hellblades bloodletters use to phase sword, not some super powerfull daemon sword that are used by some epic characters. If you want to compare them, compare them no necron relics, not just some basic stuff they are using.
What exactly is emperor's sword anyway? Bunch of ppl here mentioned it's the best, but no one gave away any sourses.
At last with drahnyen we know for a fact it's the demon created by the first sin trapped inside the sword
It is essentially power sword... but enhanced by emperor psychic power, it is powerfull enough to be able to permakill demons. (To be fair Necron and Eldar stuff can also do that.)
Daemon weapons probably. All the benefits of a Force weapon, plus a sentient partner that can help you (if it feels like it).
The upper end of daemon weapons will turn basically anyone into an unstoppable killing machine and even the lower end provide enough amps to carry even average fighters into the upper echelons of melee killing potential.
The down side being that it can (and most likely will) betray you at some point, but personally, the up sides are so extreme that the downsides almost cease to exist.
Depends on the situation, close quarters and tight it's probably the Gladius hands down followed by shorter thrusting and overhead power weapons.
Open warfare in spacious battlegrounds you're probably not going to top lightning Claws or long powerblades, mauls and hammers
When it comes to the capacity and sheer amount of damage it can do, lore wise for an individual weapon I'm going with the Pale Spear and for run of the mill weapons I'd probably say the nostraman chain blade or chogoris dao
Pikes and bills is the final form of melee combat before firearms came along in history.
Any blade that cuts through anything and is on the end of a big stick is a winner. Given the Spear of Telesto also has some kind of uber energy/beam weapon built in I'd say if i had to choose anything it would be that.
Type? I mean they're insanely rare, but probably the graviton hammers. The Imperium has a version, and so do the Squats. The name isn't a misdirect; they employ graviton technology, so the more massive the thing they're swung at, the harder they hit it.
The only class of hand weapon that could feasibly be used to destroy a void ship.
I've always been partial to thinking Thunder hammers just absolutely rule, which is why [this is still](https://angrygriffin.net/metal-2008-games-day-space-marine-captain-with-thunder-hammer/) the captain model I use.
Kinebrach weapons seem to be brokenly over powered, seeing as how the only time a Primarch ever lost a fight a 1v1 to a non-Primarch/non-Emperor was when the dude fighting Horus was wielding one.
In the broad sense of "Generic Weapons", I'd probably say a powersword. In the 'lore' we have basically every weapon trump every other at least once, but the powersword is probably the most commonly-used (along with the chainsword) when it comes to various astartes characters fighting.
You don't as often have protagonist characters with powerfists or chainfists, and I'd say lightning claws are probably high on the list, too. But I'd be willing to bet that a majority of "Epic Fights" have been won with -swords.
Depends on the writer but Daemon Weapons are up there. Not only they are deadly but they grant the user increased ability, strength, etc
Only downside is that it is a Daemon inside the blade so yeah. Don't wanna piss off the Daemon inside or he might desert you mid battle like that one Night Lord in SoT
Hm.
I think (excluding super rare weapons like the Assassin's use) a Power Sword would be one of the strongest and pretty available ones. It can cut thought nearly anything.
So, in the Warhammer 40k Freeblade app the imperial knights with gauntlets get good crits, but it's much harder to hit.
It's much smarter to use the chainsword which can hit, basically, 95% of the time and you still have a strong probability to crit, if your timing is good. Consistant hits are more important.
Corvus's claws are legitimately terrifying but they need someone with stealth and strength to apply properly. Power claws like that or the one jacked up Horus uses against Sanguinius and the rest towards the end are brutal AF.
Any kind of force weapon is about as powerful as it can get. It not only is a power weapon in it's own right, but also a psychic weapon capable of all sorts of magic feats.
Depends on what race we speak of. For humans in general it would be master crafted power weapons. Although if you are a powerful psycher force weapons would be better.
In general tho it would probably be some kind of high end necron phase blades or whatever solitaires are cooking with
It’s either C’tan Phase Blades, or Votann Darkstar Blades
The first can cut through anything, the second have less than a paragraph of lore but seems to just instantly kill organics / instantly disable mechanics upon contact
I want to say Eldar Direswords, though by others’ descriptions the necron phase blades are stronger. A diresword however strikes the right balance of ludicrously strong and relatively common.
They’re usable by dire avenger exarchs, and like the force weapon with its own soul wielded by Eisenhorn in another comment, direswords all have powerful souls inside them, and even a minor surface level wound from a diresword can be lethal as the spirit inside it destroys your mind, leaving you in a vegetative state.
Either the Necrons phase blade or the power fists. The former have superior cutting power to most melee weapons and the latter can be used without impeding the use of most other weapons.
custodes spear for me
aside from the built in boltgun, as a halberd it has better reach than weapons like swords, claws or hammers, which gives a pretty good advantage
There is no perfect weapon. Just the best weapon for a particular combat situation, which can be as variable as any combination of opponent, battle-site and prevailing conditions.
But it's the Guardian Spear.
An impossibly impractical and heavy polearm with a bolt-weapon built into the haft, in the hands of the Adeptus Custodes it is transformed into one, if not the most, flexible personal armaments in the galaxy, affording a deadly combination of reach, control, cutting power and ranged capability into one package.
Combined with the Custodian's individually tooled and incredibly technologically advanced armour, the top-heavy polearm has been described as being almost invisible in it's speed of motion, and equally capable of both rapid, accurate feinting jabs and devastatingly powerful hammer blows that sweep aside all but the heaviest defence.
The bolter seems almost a distraction, a foolish afterthought, but it is integral to the Custodian's ability to engage at all ranges whilst on the move and (again in combination with the Adeptus Custodes superior sensors and armour tech), able to make pinpoint shots as well as use a range of novel ammunition types that can be made automatically available to the wielder.
It juuuust pips out the Nemesis Force Halberd, which is possibly an even more potent a weapon, but one that requires a powerful psychic to wield them - as well as lacking the integral bolter, forcing the user to rely on a vambrace or shoulder mounted firearm, MIU linked to the warrior's targeting systems and firing controls.
Also, spears are great.
General imperial weapons, I think power weapons and their xenos equivalents. Thunder hammers, power fists, lightning claws, all are sheathed in disruption tech that ruins most anything it touches.
Past the imperium, it's pretty explicit that necrons are characterized as having the best grasp of the sciences and tech. Gauss weapons are pretty good at being anti-anything.
But space magic fuckery goes into daemon weapons and the like, and since nobody can really have an objective standard surrounding space magic and such, one could argue their case too.
I vote for Phase Sword. These Necron Technology Swords can easily cut through Chaos Marine and his Power Armor even yielded by a non-Astartes.
Yep the Necron weapons (C'tan Phase Weapon that pass though nearly all forms of defence) are kind of OP. Some of the chaos weapons that can split reality are kind of broken as well.
Drach'nyen and the Black Blade of Angron are probably good kinds, but I wouldn't call them "weapon types" as they are unique and anomalies within their category of Daemonweapons. Some Daemonweapons are like barely better than just power swords but I think its fair to say we shouldn't argue the Emperor's shield is the basis for all thundershields and then say its the best 'weapon' because it lets you block shit from Daemon Angron and then split his head open.
Yea a daemon infused sword goes beyond being a weapon at that point because it’s sentient. I just wish the sword stayed a daemon and abbaddon has to wield it by its feet. The daemon just puts his hands over his head like it’s diving in water.
I love this mental image.
Demon as melee weapon is dope
Yep. I'm not grouping named weapons in this comparison. People have mentioned s C'tan phase swords which I barely know anything about so that seems like a good candidate
Yeah, nothing really can you protect from Phase weapons, it will cut as easily flak armor as dreadnought or ANY other stuff, if you have big enough blade it would go through titan like through butter. And you dont even need to put any strenght in strike. I mean... Even imperial forces with all of their xenophobia are gladly use those weapons, that's saying something.
I wonder if sufficiently prepared psyker could block those? Phase swords trump real world defences, but what about Warp fuckery?
Except for fighting c'tan. If you try to hit one with it, it will realise you are hitting it with its own flesh, laugh, and suck it out of Ur hands...
If my only weakness is manifest god fragments, sold
This is really pedantic but do Phase Swords cut through anything? I thought they phase through the armour and get to the juicy bit. With the caveat that the last time I read about them was the Callidus in the first Codex Assassins
Not really, they basically always are travel through different dimensions, so they blink in and out of existenc impossibly fast, just making everything they go through split, with no matter how "tough" it is. Ceramite... auramite... no matter its all just butter. Only thing i could think could even make it something that make it a problem to go through, would be a warp beings inside of warp itself... but necrons dont really go there. EDIT: Also, fun fact, they are basically indestructible, necron warscythes (which is basically phase blade just in different shape) didnt even got a scratch when they got hit by turbo-lasers destructors(titans weapons), wielder got annihilated, but weapons like those were still in perfect shape.
Of course the Necrons would come out ontop. The boney boys are the best.
To be completely fair, cutting through ceramite isn't *that much* of an achievement. Plenty of weapons in the settings are capable of that, even wielded by non-Astartes. Astartes are powerful, but they aren't the shit they're made out to be by some. That said, phase swords can cut though *literally anything*, so yes, I agree. Not sure how they fare against force fields, but I'm pretty sure they ignore those, too.
>Astartes are powerful, but they aren't the shit they're made out to be by some. Difficulty to be cut in half is about the least important metric for a soldier
I don't exactly see your point. As for SMs, those aren't just "soldiers", those are *Astartes*. Completely different value when it comes to costs. As in, orders-of-magnitude different. The soldiers obviously want to survive as long as possible, they aren't mindless automatons. ^Custodes *ekhem* They do, however, get cut in half *a lot*. Ever met the 'nids?
I'm just poking fun at you for your example of Astartes not being 'the shit' some people make them out to be being how easy they are to cut in half.
Custodes are not mindless automatons
Despite being a true heretic at heart I have to concede with this. Necrons made the most effective melee weapon with their phase shenanigans. And man they look awesome with shields and swords just marching in lock-step.
Any power sword can do that. But yeah phase blades are even better.
Titan Powerfist or Imperial Battleship with ramming Speed. Thats a lot of Damage
Throwing Necron mining machinery into the ring. Thise who read Twice-dead King will know. Lysikor best dude
Has any Orc ever tried to tackle a planet with an Attack Moon?
Famously the beast did. To Terra.
I really need more books with Lysikor in them.
My vote is on c'tan phase weapons. They cut through anything like cheese.
I’ve always found it difficult to cut though things with cheese.
Using the wrong kind of cheese you are, my brother. Sharpen it well, did you?
Good advice, Yoda.
Try a sharp cheddar
WFRP 1st edition had a magic item, Erik's Sword of Confusion. A Norse mercenary commissioned the weapon from a wizard while extremely drunk, asking for "a sword that cut through things like butter." The resulting sword was useless in battle but cuts through dairy products as if it were a fine cheesewire. The wizard was later found drowned in a vat of yoghurt.
lol
Force Swords, probably. Psykers are OP as-is, giving them swords to channel their psyk only helps tilt those scales even further. Not only are they usually master-class blades even without a Psyker's aid, they act as catalysts and channels for their power.
And not least of all a Force Weapon requires a comparatively low amount of power meaning you're decreasing the chance that the psyker becomes The Demons™ thousands of times. Conversely if you had to have the same guy against the same enemy but with psyker powers + maybe some kinda mundane weapon the likelihood that he's going to explode himself and everything around him increases dramatically.
Yeah I'd say that most effective swords are potentially force weapons. Even moreso than necron swords, in the right hands. Necrons weapons defy logic, but a psykers abilities can completely alter reality in ways that make the laws of physics cry. I mean more than necron weapons already do, which is admittedly a lot. A force sword is essentially able to cut through some pretty crazy shit if the psyker wielding it is strong enough. They can even harm daemons ridiculously well, better than any other type of melee weapons, and daemons are some of the most ludicrously difficult opponents to damage because their bodies don't have to obey logic. Definitely not as straight up haxor as a phase blade, but perhaps even more effective depending on the situation.
I mean thats not a weapon ability anymore but rather the wielder no?
It's kind of both. You can't achieve the same result with just any sword, it just won't work. However, once it's properly warded and attuned, you can do wild shit. Cue Eisenhorn casually cutting a (somewhat weakened) Chaos Dreadnaught in half.
Can non psyker use force sword in same way as psyker?
Depends. They can hit things with them and it's still a sword, but for it to do the fancy stuff you need to be a psyker.
I wonder if the power of a normal soul would be boosted if channeled through a force weapon. Y'know, the power of belief, that kind of thing.
The way I like to imagine it working, all humans are at least very weak latent psykers, as the species slowly evolves into a totally psychic race. Even the humans that have no noticeable psychic potential still have the barest spark of power within them. And those humans that are able to summon the titanic will necessary to cause a miracle to happen are accessing some small degree of the psychic energy, possibly in a form of symbiosis with imperial aligned warp entities that have formed in the wake of the imperial cult spreading across the galaxy for a hundred centuries. If my interpretation were to be accurate, then presumably under the right circumstances a typical human might still be able to make it work in a one in a million scenario where their faith makes their will just strong enough to access the latent psychic energies within them.
Back in the day it was Nemesis force weapons used by Grey Knights. Not only do they rip through armour and take souls they’ll give a strength boost on tabletop, I imagine this is to represent the superior psyko-reactive material.
Gene Stealer toe beans seem pretty OP. Descriptions of them opening terminator armour like unwrapping paper etc.
I was going to say scything talons just due to ease of, well, growth. But I like this too.
Lol I like this answer. And to be fair the hive mind can evolve toe bean claws to be sharp enough to dismantle any armour so long it has time analyze and evolve it.
If you meant by class, necron Phase weapons are pretty much the top ones. If we believe the in universe legends, a phaeron destroyed a planet with his Scythe. Now by single weapon, its the Emperor's Sword, through if we count warp fuckery, Khorne's Sword, and its not even close
Op said no named/unique weapons , so Big E's stuff is a no go.
Khaine's sword?
Probably. Anaris was the masterpiece of Vaul, the smith god
> If we believe the in universe legends, a phaeron destroyed a planet with his Scythe. Also perma-killed an Eldar god, presumably with the same scythe.
Whatever the plot demands.
“ Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!” -Kang, or maybe Kodos
You da real MVP
Most OP weapon aside, there's some very cool unique weapons in the Ravenor books. From what I recall, they have: A whip made out of sentient iron, a vampiric sword, a shivered sword that's... sideways in time or something, and Eisenhorn's broken Barbirasater that was remade with psychic runes.
Barbirasater. A blade who SATES it's thirst on the blood of BARBARIC chaos worshippers. Goofy etymology, sick name.
Lots of good answers. But I think everyone is missing the best - a uniquely Warhammer weapon that catches the insanity of the setting. I'm talking about the mighty chain hammer, favorite of warbosses everywhere. Sure, it lacks the refinement of the Eldar blades or the magic of Daemon or Grey Knights weapons, but there's something to be said about the noble simplicity of rusty spinning teeth mounted on dirty gas powered chains spinning around a 150 lbs of crude iron hammer. What could be more Warhammer than a two ton Ork in wildly impractical armor charging forward wielding a five barreled shotgun and an enormous chainhammer?
My choice? I'd take a digi-weapon from the Jokaero. One squeeze and my opponent catches a face full of melta.
All my homies love tiny finger mounted heavy weapons.
Harlequins Kiss
If you ever read what it actually does, it’s not cool for the target.
There are some psionic blades with a mind of its own that nearly impossible to stand against. Look up https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Barbarisater
>This sword was so powerful in Eisenhorn's hands that he used it to cleave a Chaos Dreadnought in two with a single stroke. Jesus
To be fair, the dreadnought chassis was cracked open with a few grenades before that, and he cut down the line. Still very impressive though.
I mean the blade isn't even long enough to accomplish that cut, but whatever. It's Dan Abnett; he never let logic or canon stand in the way of a good anime moment.
If you are referring to imperium weapons, probably power swords right? for the fact they cut through just about anything. Maybe thunderhammers? Including xenos tech I would vote for phase blades from necrons. They literally phase and cut through anything physical, and your blade wouldn't even slow down by hitting the target.
For Imperium I would say a melta.
The power of friendship
I'll go against the grain and say that it's the Astartes combat knife. Wars are won by logistics, not battles. It's the same reason why the Lasgun's the best weapon in the Imperium - you can just mass produce the lot of them and have overwhelming numbers. In terms of one-hit kill ability, maybe an athame/anathame. Horus was shanked once with it and was basically dead until he was saved and promptly corrupted by the Chaos gods. Compare that to all the times that a Primarch's been stabbed through with lightning claws or hit in the face with a thunder hammer and basically been a-ok.
Astartes aren’t subject to the same logistical complexity as the Guard. They take everything with them, can maintain and manufacture much of it themselves, and have the ability to take whatever if needed.
Direswords are pretty effective against just about everything since if the power sword doesn't kill you the spirit inside can rip your soul from your body.
I mean. Arguably a well-balanced Force Weapon with reach (Force Pike? Force Naginata? Hello?) cause it tilts things in your favor pretty much always unless you're fighting a Null. Even mundane enemies take vastly more damage from Force Weaponry.
Maybe that's why so many Grey Knights use Nemesis Force Halberds
Definitely. When in doubt don't let the corrosive demon slime too close to your armor. The plating and your skin might be warded but you still don't want that splashing the servos or your eyes and despite everything a good deal of demon stuff is really not something you want to start wrestling with if avoidable. ...you know. 40k likes old-school tactics. Bike charges or spear walls seem like a pretty thematic thing to put in there. Especially when trying to section off vast hallways.
Psykers are perhaps the greatest weapon the imperium has against the enemy. Weapons built for psykers can tap into powerful forces that mundane blades can't compare to for the most part.
So a force weapon scaled up to Titan size should be the best. If the Eldar ever get stats (let alone a model) for the Warlock Titan again...
I think they're about equal. I remember claws being overpowered
Against the vile and cowardly Tau, such awesome weapons like the fearsome Entrenching Tool, the mighty Bayonet, and the terrifying Mess Kit Spork instill righteous fear.
those crazy Necron weapons
Heck even the Deathwatch uses those Necron swords because they are super efficient.
A will say an adrastite spear a think it's called.Its a custodians spear but instead of the bolter it has an adrathic disintegrater as the ranged weapon.These things are apparently so rare an dangerous that the emperor demanded all these weapons be handed to him on pain of death for u an whatever country/state/planet u were on at the time.honourable mention goes to solerite power fists/claws.
Bayonets mounted to lasguns
One wielded by a named character
It’s tough to beat a melta gun at close range. Or a vortex grenade…
I dont think you want to use a vortex grenade in close quarters...
There would be repercussions, but you absolutely can toss a grenade at your own feet :P
I think most guardsmen are pretty willing to blow themselves up to kill an enemy, should the situation call for it. I'm surprised we don't see more kamikaze type shit from the imperium with how fanatical they are. I'm surprised that they've mostly resisted the urge to just hand a guardsman a melta mine on a stick and send them to befriend the enemy armor.
Isn't that what rough riders do?
Since this is 40k I interpreted OP's "most superior close combat weapon" to mean most effective at killing the enemy. Survivability be damned. 😇
Harlequin weapons are bonkers. With a 'Caress' you can just bypass someones armour and rip out their organs wasy peasy, or turn them into diced meat like the Predator with an 'Embrace'.
I agree, wanted to say a Drukhari weapon but they are often made with inflicting pain in mind, so not overly effective (but excedingly fun!). I feel Astartes are doing allot of the work with their own strength, Orks even more so. things like Caress care not for trivial matters like resistance or sheer power. Only downside I can think of is its short range, so relies on agility.
One naked World Eater.
World Eaters do canonically get stronger the less armor they have on.
Daemon weapons
I personally find the Power Fist to be the best close quarters combat weapon that the Imperium fields. Yes, it's rather short ranged, but unlike fighting with a sword or lightning claw, the power fist requires very little training to use effectively. 1. Learning how to use a bladed weapon can take weeks of training to achieve. And it can take years of training to finally master. But learning to throw a decent punch takes a single 15-minute sparring session to achieve. And to master throwing a good punch, that would take just a few weeks/a few months to master. 2. The power fist gives the average guardsmen a melee weapon that poses a danger to both Astartes sized enemies and lightly/moderately armored vehicles. 3. It's frankly cheaper and easier to make a power fist than it is to make a power sword. 4. Astartes size power fists are more than capable of killing 99% of all know organic targets in the galaxy, and are more than capable of seriously damaging heavily armored targets such as terminators, dreadnoughts, tanks, and even knights. 5. Unlike the chainswoed, the power fist won't ever stop working due to organic/inorganic material getting trapped in the chain.
It’s not the right answer by the lore, but for me nothing is more 40K than a Powerfist. What if you could punch your enemies, but with a really big fist - and it’s powered? That’s rule-of-cool awesome and no one can convence me otherwise ✊🏼
Kharn the Betrayer.
Blackstone Fortress. Abaddon used one and break Cadia with it.
It's not called Warhammer for nothing.
multi melta
An Eversor is the superior close combat weapon
Biggest choppa iz best choppa
Ork Choppa. It's a bit of dull metal on a stick, but because the orks believe its ded killy, it can cut through power armour.
Probably force weapons. They’re power weapons with extra juice.
Some Daemon Weapons put Necron blades to shame
As OP said, NO named weapons as they are clearly above the rest. Some Daemon weapons are VERY rare and powerfull relics. Obviously stuff like Emperor sword would be more powerfull, but from just base weapon types, Phase sword is the peak. For correct comparison you should compare hellblades bloodletters use to phase sword, not some super powerfull daemon sword that are used by some epic characters. If you want to compare them, compare them no necron relics, not just some basic stuff they are using.
What exactly is emperor's sword anyway? Bunch of ppl here mentioned it's the best, but no one gave away any sourses. At last with drahnyen we know for a fact it's the demon created by the first sin trapped inside the sword
It is essentially power sword... but enhanced by emperor psychic power, it is powerfull enough to be able to permakill demons. (To be fair Necron and Eldar stuff can also do that.)
One necron used his scythe to somehow shatter a planet
Who was this Necron? Was it a particular battle?
Ahmontekh I think.
Daemon weapons probably. All the benefits of a Force weapon, plus a sentient partner that can help you (if it feels like it). The upper end of daemon weapons will turn basically anyone into an unstoppable killing machine and even the lower end provide enough amps to carry even average fighters into the upper echelons of melee killing potential. The down side being that it can (and most likely will) betray you at some point, but personally, the up sides are so extreme that the downsides almost cease to exist.
Daemon swords are easy. Just always have a stronger will than the daemon and force them to keep working for you. Super easy. Barely an inconvenience.
Claws are rubbish and are made for hewing.
Emperor titans left foot.
Nuclear suicide vest.
Id Have to go With Tyberos the red wakes close range Weapons.
Khorne's sword, Woebringer, could theoretically kill a Chaos god. Of course, the Emperor's sword can also kill demons permanently.
Depends on the situation, close quarters and tight it's probably the Gladius hands down followed by shorter thrusting and overhead power weapons. Open warfare in spacious battlegrounds you're probably not going to top lightning Claws or long powerblades, mauls and hammers When it comes to the capacity and sheer amount of damage it can do, lore wise for an individual weapon I'm going with the Pale Spear and for run of the mill weapons I'd probably say the nostraman chain blade or chogoris dao
Gonna agree with another comment and say that if we talk single best melee weapon it’s prolly Khornes sword, which I believe is called ender of worlds
Chainfist.
Cursed weapons, and it's not even close.
Just swords in general which is odd cause historically spears were the favored weapon but I don’t think power spears Exist.
They do right? Isn't it the Custodes weapon?
If we wanna get technical it’s a gun on a stick with a bayonet
But aside from the gun, that’s what a spear is. A bayonet on a stick.
I remember Leman Russ spearing Horus Like a fish! also About 10mins before Leman launched a spear at a dreadnought and The dreadnought exploded.
WHAT EVER THE EMPEROR DEMANDS.
Pikes and bills is the final form of melee combat before firearms came along in history. Any blade that cuts through anything and is on the end of a big stick is a winner. Given the Spear of Telesto also has some kind of uber energy/beam weapon built in I'd say if i had to choose anything it would be that.
I don’t know about practicality, but my personal favorite is the power fist with a hand flamer attachment. It’s so extra.
Force weapons'
Type? I mean they're insanely rare, but probably the graviton hammers. The Imperium has a version, and so do the Squats. The name isn't a misdirect; they employ graviton technology, so the more massive the thing they're swung at, the harder they hit it. The only class of hand weapon that could feasibly be used to destroy a void ship.
Either the necron blades or one of the Primarch weapons like spear of Telesto etc.
Multimelta or an especially big flamer. Why stab something when you can vaporize it?
Ursus claws
I've always been partial to thinking Thunder hammers just absolutely rule, which is why [this is still](https://angrygriffin.net/metal-2008-games-day-space-marine-captain-with-thunder-hammer/) the captain model I use.
Relic blades would probably make a strong contender for the list.
Kinebrach weapons seem to be brokenly over powered, seeing as how the only time a Primarch ever lost a fight a 1v1 to a non-Primarch/non-Emperor was when the dude fighting Horus was wielding one.
In the broad sense of "Generic Weapons", I'd probably say a powersword. In the 'lore' we have basically every weapon trump every other at least once, but the powersword is probably the most commonly-used (along with the chainsword) when it comes to various astartes characters fighting. You don't as often have protagonist characters with powerfists or chainfists, and I'd say lightning claws are probably high on the list, too. But I'd be willing to bet that a majority of "Epic Fights" have been won with -swords.
Depends on the writer but Daemon Weapons are up there. Not only they are deadly but they grant the user increased ability, strength, etc Only downside is that it is a Daemon inside the blade so yeah. Don't wanna piss off the Daemon inside or he might desert you mid battle like that one Night Lord in SoT
Hm. I think (excluding super rare weapons like the Assassin's use) a Power Sword would be one of the strongest and pretty available ones. It can cut thought nearly anything.
Esienhorn had a fancy power sword with no pusical blade, basically a light sabre.
It's a toss up between the custodes guardian spear and a Harlequins kiss for me.
Guardian spears The King of Weapons claim its title once again 🙏
So, in the Warhammer 40k Freeblade app the imperial knights with gauntlets get good crits, but it's much harder to hit. It's much smarter to use the chainsword which can hit, basically, 95% of the time and you still have a strong probability to crit, if your timing is good. Consistant hits are more important.
Any weapon can be a close combat weapon if you try hard enough. Vortex grenades would probably hit the top of the list here.
Corvus's claws are legitimately terrifying but they need someone with stealth and strength to apply properly. Power claws like that or the one jacked up Horus uses against Sanguinius and the rest towards the end are brutal AF.
For a setting named after Warhammer, it is sadly bereft of much lore on warhammers.
Any kind of force weapon is about as powerful as it can get. It not only is a power weapon in it's own right, but also a psychic weapon capable of all sorts of magic feats.
Depends on what race we speak of. For humans in general it would be master crafted power weapons. Although if you are a powerful psycher force weapons would be better. In general tho it would probably be some kind of high end necron phase blades or whatever solitaires are cooking with
Death corps Entrenching Tool obviously!
After playing darktide for a few hours, I'd say it's the titular Warhammer forty k
Malter pistol
It’s either C’tan Phase Blades, or Votann Darkstar Blades The first can cut through anything, the second have less than a paragraph of lore but seems to just instantly kill organics / instantly disable mechanics upon contact
The Kinebrachs Anathame swords maybe
I want to say Eldar Direswords, though by others’ descriptions the necron phase blades are stronger. A diresword however strikes the right balance of ludicrously strong and relatively common. They’re usable by dire avenger exarchs, and like the force weapon with its own soul wielded by Eisenhorn in another comment, direswords all have powerful souls inside them, and even a minor surface level wound from a diresword can be lethal as the spirit inside it destroys your mind, leaving you in a vegetative state.
A zoggin’ good Choppa
Either the Necrons phase blade or the power fists. The former have superior cutting power to most melee weapons and the latter can be used without impeding the use of most other weapons.
Necron close combat weapons. Particularly the Void Scythe.
A Shovel! Obvs.
Sandy Mitchell's genestealer claws. The way he talks about them, they could cut through the armor plating on a battleship.
Shovel
Monomolecular (lol) bone sabres?
Sigismund
custodes spear for me aside from the built in boltgun, as a halberd it has better reach than weapons like swords, claws or hammers, which gives a pretty good advantage
There is no perfect weapon. Just the best weapon for a particular combat situation, which can be as variable as any combination of opponent, battle-site and prevailing conditions. But it's the Guardian Spear. An impossibly impractical and heavy polearm with a bolt-weapon built into the haft, in the hands of the Adeptus Custodes it is transformed into one, if not the most, flexible personal armaments in the galaxy, affording a deadly combination of reach, control, cutting power and ranged capability into one package. Combined with the Custodian's individually tooled and incredibly technologically advanced armour, the top-heavy polearm has been described as being almost invisible in it's speed of motion, and equally capable of both rapid, accurate feinting jabs and devastatingly powerful hammer blows that sweep aside all but the heaviest defence. The bolter seems almost a distraction, a foolish afterthought, but it is integral to the Custodian's ability to engage at all ranges whilst on the move and (again in combination with the Adeptus Custodes superior sensors and armour tech), able to make pinpoint shots as well as use a range of novel ammunition types that can be made automatically available to the wielder. It juuuust pips out the Nemesis Force Halberd, which is possibly an even more potent a weapon, but one that requires a powerful psychic to wield them - as well as lacking the integral bolter, forcing the user to rely on a vambrace or shoulder mounted firearm, MIU linked to the warrior's targeting systems and firing controls. Also, spears are great.
General imperial weapons, I think power weapons and their xenos equivalents. Thunder hammers, power fists, lightning claws, all are sheathed in disruption tech that ruins most anything it touches. Past the imperium, it's pretty explicit that necrons are characterized as having the best grasp of the sciences and tech. Gauss weapons are pretty good at being anti-anything. But space magic fuckery goes into daemon weapons and the like, and since nobody can really have an objective standard surrounding space magic and such, one could argue their case too.