[Top 10] Kenshi Best Weapon Shops And Why They're Great

Updated:

05 Aug 2023

Welcome back to Kenshi. Where racism exists, slavery is commonplace and almost everything wants a piece of you. When we last left off, we wanted Zan kitted out in the best armour out there.

It's good to have a mix of differently skilled characters and I'd decided to make this weakling Hive Prince into my squads heavy. But the crew needed weapons. Some were merely shoddy bits of rusted junk.

In this list, we're gonna send the gang around the continent again in search of the best weapons their meager Cats could buy. To show you where you can get that shiny katana, menacing cleaver or even that big manhood extension that you've always wanted.

10. The Holy Weapons Of Blister Hill

The gates of Blister Hill

The first stop off was Ryan and Red Sabre's. They were in the neighbourhood and Blister Hill was pretty much a hop south of them. It only involved getting their feet wet once more. Saying goodbye to the Armour King, they crossed into Holy Nation territory.

Blister Hill is right at the southern tip of the Okran's Arm mountain range. Here it is on the map. I've installed a few Quality of Life mods such as this map mod that shows region borders and roads. Nothing that drastically takes away from the vanilla experience but I'll leave a link to the mod list here if you're interested.

Blister Hill on the map.

The duo reached the city in no time at all. Thanks largely to the Holy Nation's patrols keeping their own lands safe. At least for human landers.

The Holy Nation has a mid range variety of weapons to choose from. The main draw is that they have the Paladins Cross and the blueprints to make them. These weapons are particularly good at damaging skeletons with a 50% boost in damage to them.

Being that the Holy Nation blames these ancient sentient robots for the multiple apocalypses that have befallen the broken moon, it's no wonder that they spent centuries perfecting the best weapons to take them down.

Whether you hate Skeletons or not, not all of them will be nice to you. Some ancient ruins may have some bots in there that are programmed to rip anyone apart who dares to seek ancient knowledge or treasured relics. So the Paladin's Cross can be a pretty useful tool.

Other than that, there's not much but low to midrange stuff and the occasional high tier things. Mainly hackers and sabres. These types of weapons specialise in blunt and cutting damage. Great for piercing amour and the cold metal flesh of skeletons.

They're accessible shops for starting out as they're north of The Hub and The Holy Nation's travel routes are pretty well patrolled. Just try your best not to be Shek, Hive, a Skeleton that has Skeleton limbs or a woman.

9. The Empires Ranger Shop

The Empires Ranger Shop is just up the hill to the right of Heft’s gate

Meanwhile, with the Cyber Hives and Swiff knocking back grog in Heft this whole time, they'd gotten bored and were ready to set off. Life on the road was expensive and their gear was crap. Most of their good gear had been lost to Slavers so they went out in search of some stuff to set out and get it all back.

While Heft doesn't have a shop with sharp things to swing at people, it does have a shop for shooting sharp things at people from a distance. And Beeb, he had plenty of bolts but had lost his second crossbow since they left Squin.

Crossbows are good at two things. Causing a lot of bleeding damage and not having to be within melee distance while doing it. The only unfortunate thing is, characters who aren't good at shooting will accidentally shoot their allies. Sounds hilarious until you realise that the high end crossbows, in the right hands can kill a character outright which can lead to tragic consequences for your crew.

Different types are good at different things. Short range, rapid firing junkbows to an eagles cross that will drop a Beak Thing from a mile away. Each requires specific ammunition which you can see from mousing over them so don't forget to keep your rangers stocked up.

Heft’s location on the map.

The Empire's ranger shop can be found in Heft and in the Empire's southern territories. You can spot them pretty easily by the crossbow sign hanging outside their shop's entrance.

Their selection isn't too shabby and you may get lucky and find a gem of a top tier item. Like all things top tier though, it'll cost you. The gang only had enough to get something that would at least shoot. Now they just needed something better for Zan. A proper Heavy weapon.

8. The Empire’s Weapon Shop

The gang in Stout

West across The Great Desert is the UC city of Stout. There is a shop there selling all things with a nice edge for keeping the denizens of Kenshi away from you and yours. It was the perfect place to get a nice heavy weapon to replace the numerous ones that Zan had lost all those times the gang had been ambushed and beaten down mercilessly.

Stout on the map

Stout is to the south west of The Great Desert and will likely be the first UC city that you will come across if you’re heading north east from the Border Zone. It has a pretty decent selection of stores including an armoury for weapons.

The weapon shop inventory

While there isn’t anything too special here to look at, the stuff on sale here is slightly better than rusted junk and will give you an edge against most of the roaming bandits of the desert. The samurai patrols keep the northern territory of the UC relatively safe to travel anyway.

There are a few weapons of all classes here that are good for dealing different types of damage to different types of opponents. Katanas will cause cutting damage and blood loss but are weak against armour and skeletons. Blunt weapons will stun and hackers will cut and cleave.

All the weapons stats can be seen by hovering over them in the shop including who manufactured it. You may one day find weapons that you have crafted being sold out in the world.

There is also an empire ranger shop across the street for you to peruse at your leisure if Heft didn’t have the crossbow that you are looking for.

Stout’s ranger shop inventory

With Zan sporting a new weapon that would get him going in his strength and heavy weapons training. And with Beep sporting a crossbow that might actually be worth a damn in a pinch, the gang set out for their next destination.

7. The Shek Retainers

Ryan at the weapon shop in the gangs hometown of Squin

In the meantime, Ryan and Red Sabre had returned back to their home in Squin. They were planning on a little R n R and to put together some more Cats. Life on the road was expensive afterall and the gang needed money to buy some decent gear.

Fortunately, there happened to be a weapon shop right down the street in Squin. Manned by a Shek retainer and a procurer of all sorts of large, unwieldy weapons. There was bound to be something in here worth buying.

Squin on the map. If you started with the wandere playthrough, Squin will already be a location known to you.

The Shek Retainer’s inventory

It isn’t the most impressive quality of gear out there but it isn’t too shabby either. Most of the weapons here are big, heavy sabres and hackers. Designed for striking fear in opponents over anything else but for those with the strength and skill to wield them properly, they can be absolutely deadly.

Heavy weapons require a hell of a lot of strength to use properly. Those that have it and the skill as well are deadly, feared legends. That kind that Zan hoped to one day be.

Ryan and Red had no such use for these weapons though. They were already quite proficient in their katanas and crossbow marksmanship. If Zan had been with them, they may have considered making a purchase. But Zan and the others were miles away. Making their way to the Deadlands.

6. The Scraphouse

The Scraphouse is hard to miss once you reach Black Desert City. It’s right over the huge bridge in the east end of the city.

The rest of the gang, being the only ones that were immune to the burning, acidic environment of the Deadlands, made their way to Black Desert City. A capital of Skeletons who have retreated from the world dominated by humans and their fleeting squabbles. But first they had to get there.

When you leave the safety of the northern UC territory, be mindful of bandits who will rob you or worse, skimmers that will eat you.

Black Desert City on the map. To the right of it is the scraphouse although it could probably be considered part of the city itself.

In the middle of the Deadlands, you’ll find Black Desert City. It is a hard place to get to. There are ancient spider bots rusting away in the acid. Some of them still work after all these centuries and with nothing left but malfunctioning code, they will attack you on sight. . It also rains acid almost constantly so take protection or bring characters that are immune to it.

Don’t forget that the ground itself is acidic and will burn any character's bare feet if they haven’t got any shoes on. In fact, it's probably easier to just send Hivers or Skeletons into the Deadlands. Then you needn’t worry about any of the environmental effects.

The Skeletons of the city have been there a long time. Undisturbed mostly.

The scraphouse is on the second floor of this large, square building. If you can’t see it, press Page Up and you’ll see it or click on the floor arrow in the UI.

Don’t let their modesty fool you. There are some very good things to buy here.

The Scraphouse inventory

The scraphouse sells some of the best tier weapons in the game. They restock every couple of days so it’s always worth a visit if you don’t find what you’re looking for. The Skeletonsmiths have been tucked away for centuries perfecting their craft. You’re bound to find something worthwhile here. Just make sure you bring a fist full of Cats.

Zan purchased himself a very good quality Paladins Cross. With a 50 percent damage bonus to robots, it would make the journey south across the Deadlands a bit easier if they ran into any more spider bots. Their next destination lay in the middle of the swamps.

5. The Shark Smithy

The Shark Smithy in its tiny, stilted shack. Smack bang in the middle of the swamps.

In the middle of the dirty, smelly swamp lands lies the city of Shark. Few venture into the swamps. Those that make it their home, scratch out a living by fishing and cultivating hemp to process into hashish.

Beast traders can be found in a few places but mainly in settled nomad villages.

Heading south west from the Deadlands, Beep, Zan, and Swiff stopped by a village of settled nomads in Shem. Beep picked himself up a little Garru pup and named her Glenda. Glenda the Garru.

Pack animals can be very useful in Kenshi especially if you are planning to put together a trading caravan in the future. A young pack animal can be a good investment as long as you can keep them alive until adulthood. Even as pups they can still carry all your gear in their packs.

With Glenda in tow, they headed deep into the swamps once more to reach the city of Shark and its renowned smithy.

Swiff remembers the good ol’ times from centuries ago.

The illegal drug trade works out of the swamps and if the Blood Spiders weren’t bad enough, you have gangs of roaming criminal bandits to worry about. Needless to say, it isn’t for the faint of heart.

Watch out for Red Sabres. Not to be confused with the crew's Red Sabre who might have actually been one before she was enslaved then ultimately freed by Ryan. Hence the name. Probably.

But that wasn’t a problem for the well travelled and hardened members of the crazy crew. Even though they were only a three piece, their numbers divided, Zan, Swiff and Beep were a force to be reckoned with. That and the fact that the guards at Shark were willing to offer their help in beating back the bandits.

Shark on the map. In the middle of the swamp. There are plenty of little swamp villages dotted throughout the place that will offer a respite from the swamps if your squad needs a place to recover.

The Swamp city of Shark

When the gang arrived at the safe harbour of Shark, they sought out the legendary smithy.

Maggie, the Shark Smith, refused to serve them as they were, in her eyes, responsible for the theft many weeks back that Ryan perpetrated.

Now Shark is a rough place in a rough region and for reasons not alluded to, the store owner, Maggie, refused to serve anyone in the party. For brevity’s sake, we’ll run down a quick reason as to why.

In Shark there is a bar called The Dancing Skeleton. Its bar sign is literally the corpse of a dead Skeleton. Something that Ryan thought was rather unsavoury. Especially seeing as though this was also the location where he met Swiff. A depressed Skeleton who had all but given up on humanity and cared little for the bar patrons who laughed and joked about the sign outside “coming to life”.

Ryan decided to give the swampers a taste of karma and rob all the stores in the city for all they were worth before escaping with his crew and Swiff in tow. Unfortunately, he was caught by Maggie and had to flee the city.

Shopkeepers in Kenshi will remember you and your crew members if you are caught stealing from them. They won’t forget or forgive so be wary of who you decide to rob on your playthroughs.

Regardless of the gang's misfortunes, the Shark smithy is a pretty decent smithy in a rough area of the game world. You will find a range of mid level weapons and armour as well as the occasional peice of high tier stuff. Ryan would know. He robbed the place.

If you’ve got the Cats and you need a serious upgrade in your gear after making it through swamp bandits and Blood Spiders, the Shark Smithy is, well, the only place for you.

Sorry Glenda. You barely made it a few days.

Back to Squin to regroup with the gang.

While the crew recovered from their wounds in the bar before setting off from Shark, Glenda met her end while waiting outside. Blood Spiders descended on the city and sucked her dry. Beep was upset but Swiff told him that all life was fleeting and that he would buy Beep a new one.

4. The Ronin Weapon Shop Of World’s End

Back to the top of the world.

While Swiff, Zan and Beep made their way home to Squin to regroup with the rest of the crew. Ryan decided to go on his own little sabbatical. A quick venture through The Holy Nation to pit stop at the end of the world and see what the Ronin had to offer in terms of arms.

Venturing alone into the lands of Okran’s followers.

Rebirth is in the middle of the mountainous ranges of Wend and Okran’s Arm.

After a quick stop at Rebirth to admire the Okranites craftsmanship as they endlessly toiled at their giant, silly statue, Ryan journeyed on.

“He ain’t so big”

It was less impressive when he found out that the poor souls building the thing are nothing more than slaves being worked to death in the name of being “Reborn” in Okran's light. Ryan made a note to come back here to kick start a slave revolt and topple The Holy Nation for their crimes.

Notice anything about the slave races?

World’s End on the map

World’s End is the home to the Tech Runners who have arms supplied by the Ronin. There is an armour shop, a head gear shop, and most importantly, a shop selling some very fine weapons indeed.

You’ll find the shop at the top of the hill from the two main gates. Towards the University of Machinists.

The Ronin Weapon Shop Inventory

The weapons there are a wide ranging in all kinds of different weapons. Mainly mid to high quality. Manufactured by peoples from all over the lands of Kenshi and collected here at the top of the world for you to peruse if you stop by.

Some very good gear is available here to kit your crew with, which is precisely what Ryan did. He bought some weapons for some new additions to the crew and then made plans to meet at a location before they journeyed once more in search of some legendary gear. They were certainly going to need it.

3. Mongrel Weapon Shop

Welcome back to Mongrel. A city of forgotten refugees running from fogmen and their past

For their next stop on their whistle stop tour around the continent, the gang were returning to the city of Mongrel. To get there, however, they would have to brave the fog once more. This time though, they were ready.

Meet the latest additions to Ryan’s Crazy Crew, Kang and Rane The Giant. Two Shek warriors, outcast by the kingdom. They would seek glory on their own with Ryan’s gang of misfits.

The rest of the crew left the safety of Squin and headed north to the southern border of The Fog Islands. Making camp while they awaited their rendezvous with Ryan.

Dreg, bordering The Fog Islands to the south.

“Sup guys!”

Mongrel can be seen from some of the higher peaks within The Fog Islands. Though it is still hard to reach even when it looks so close.

Mongrel on the map.

Thanks to the wonderful map mod, you can actually see a few roads that lead to Mongrel. Don’t let that fool you though. It is still very difficult to get there without a prepared crew. Fogmen will spawn deathyards all over the place. That includes near any roads so there can be no guarantee of a safe route.

Even with a prepared, tough and competent crew, Fogmen will swarm with overwhelming numbers. It’s best to avoid fighting them. Especially near the deathyards. If you attack a Fog Prince, be prepared to have an entire nest descend upon you.

Any characters that get knocked down will be picked up and carried off to the nearest deathyard so keep everyone tight together. Don't let them get separated and once you've fought off a group of them, heal up fast and keep moving.

Mongrel’s weapon shop.

The gang made it into Mongrel without incident. Thankfully, others attempting the perilous journey to Mongrel had fallen victim to the Fog men. Distracting the bulk of them and allowing the crew to slip by unmolested.

You can find the weapon shop along the southern wall. It has a great selection of all kinds of weapons to equip your squad members. No matter what class they specialise in, you’ll find weapons to suit.

Mongrel weapon shop inventory.

They also found a masterwork set of samurai armour. While this might be an odd thing to sell at a weapons shop, this is actually a result of Kenshi’s artifacts system.

The artifacts system will spawn unique, top quality items in random, one off locations during each play through. Sometimes they will spawn in ancient ruins. Sometimes a random shop in an obscure location can be stocking them. Either way, it keeps you on your toes and no play through will ever be the same.

2. Mongrel Ranger Shop

The Mongrel range shop is right down the street from the weapon shop.

After all this fighting and traveling, Ryan’s Crazy Crew were becoming quite competent fighters. A range of different skills and specialisations catalogued their stat sheets. Some were heavies swinging great big swords and clad in armour. Others were light on their feet. Afew rangers were on hand to attack from a distance. Seeing them in action was quite the thing.

Right down the street from Mongrel’s weapon shop is a ranger shop. Its stock may have been lacking in terms of quality gear, the rangers among them already had high tier and masterwork crossbows but the shop still had plenty of ammo for them.

If you want to find some very decent crossbows to keep the Fog men at bay, here is definitely the place to buy it. If you’ve braved The Fog Islands to get here without any rangers in your crew, now would be the best place to reconsider getting some skilled crossbowmen.

You might be able to find someone with decent crossbow skills to hire in the bars around Mongrel if you're lucky. If you're not, get something that a crew member can practise with and try to position them so they don't hit friendlies so much.

The sounds of Fogmen worshipping as another soul is devoured in the fog.

The Fogmen worship as their prince devours their victim. Legs and arms first.

1. Catun Scrapmasters

The Scrapmasters are hard to miss in the city of Catun. You’ll find their shop through the front gate to the left.

Legends told of a place in the United Cities southern territory. In the city of Catun, the Catun Scrapmasters were hard at work. Manufacturing arms used widely all over the continent. Perhaps there were arms worth buying from them directly.

Out of The Fog Islands and southward bound.

Venturing south out of the fog was treacherous. Not only were there Fogmen to deal with but Beak Things, Blood Spiders, Skin Spiders and bandits the whole journey south. It was an ordeal like no other.

Kang is always up for a fight

Ryan sans his left arm.

After finally breaking through the swamps only to be swarmed by Skin Spiders and a pack of Beak Things, the gang were left bloodied and beaten. Ryan had lost his left arm to a Skin Spider that tried to eat him. Another semi skeleton would be joining the crew when they could find a robotic replacement for his missing arm.

The southern United city of Catun

Mercifully, the bonefields relented and the crew limped and crawled their way to the safety of Catun. With all of the organic members of the gang resting in the shinobi thieves tower (good allies and definitely worth the 10,000 Cat investment), the only person able to see the shop for themselves was Swiff.

The Scrapmasters are very proud of their work.

The Scrapmaster inventory

Now the scrapmasters are, as stated in the little bit of lore info for you, the only major smithing group that is reliably producing arms in the modern world of Kenshi. From what their stock had to offer, it appears that while they are all of a decent quality, the scrapmasters seem to prefer quantity over anything else.

From this visit, there was nothing above mid range quality weaponry. Everyone in the squad had higher quality blades than what was on offer which was rather annoying as the shop keeper had commented on the rust on Swiff’s blade.

A wasted trip it would seem. Still, if you’re looking to raise yourself an army of followers, you could kit them out with a single visit to the Scrapmasters. As long as you raise the cats, you can have a war band armed to the teeth with some very good weapons. Rather than rusted junk.

It would save you the trouble of having to kit out a load of expendable followers and waste high quality gear on low level fighters. At least with Catun smithed weapons, they’d all have a pretty good fighting chance.

Conclusion

“Good question, Beep”

Kenshi has many places where you can buy weapons if you haven’t got the wherewithall to craft your own. That’s not an insult. It takes a lot to get a good base set up and to get a smith levelled high enough to craft masterworks of gear.

Depending on what you’re doing and what you want to do will influence your decisions on what to equip your squad. You want to vary the weapons and skill sets of your crew, getting them competent enough to hold their own in a fight.

Don’t worry about kitting everyone out in the best gear. That’s very expensive and the bigger your faction gets, the more expensive it will be. For large factions, buying bulk gear of a lower quality is always a good and economic option. Save your best weapons and artifacts for your best fighters.