As a physical damage type, impact is one of the most common damage forms in the game. Impact damage is great for dealing with shields, making it particularly effective against the Corpus. It reduces the threshold at which you can Parazon Mercy kill heavy units. A status proc can stagger an enemy. Whilst finding a weapon with impact damage isn’t hard, if you want to focus on dealing any damage type, you want to know which weapons are the best at dealing it.
Here’s a list of the five best weapons in the game for dealing impact damage specifically. I have not included archwing weapons in this, as they generally have much higher outputs and are only available in certain mission types.
5. Synoid Helicor
The symbol for impact damage is a hammer, so it only makes sense that one of them made this list. The Synoid Helicor deals the most impact damage of the hammer-type weapons. Overall, it has the second highest damage of all hammers in the game, and the second highest attack speed, giving it the greatest damage per second rate of all hammers.
It’s worth knowing that the basic Helicor matches the Synoid for damage, so if you want to get your hands on a good impact melee weapon fast, that’s probably your best option, as it can be acquired for Cephalon Simaris and only requires mastery rank 9. It also boasts a notably better status chance. The Synoid Helicor does however have higher DPS and crit potential, which is why it’s on this list.
In addition to its damage, it also has the advantage of scanning an enemy on a hit. Whilst this does nothing to gain standing with Cephalon Simaris, as it does not use his scanner, it does add to codex entries and makes gaining Kavat Genetic Codes from Feral Kavats a lot easier. This combines nicely with the Sol-Battery Widget upgrade so that scanners are not used up. If an enemy with a complete codex entry is killed by the Synoid Helicor, it will create a Specter which will fight by your side for 30 seconds, adding a little bit more fun to this specific variant.
What the Synoid Helicor Excels In:
- Completing your codex
- Gaining Kavat Genetic Codes
- Dealing impact damage in melee
How to Get the Synoid Helicor: Purchase from Cephalon Suda for 125,000 standing.
4. Stropha
You might think this is a weird choice for this list. After all, the Stropha’s normal attack primarily deals slash damage. But that’s the melee part of this gunblade. The ranged attack, however, deals some of the highest impact damage in the game. These shots don’t have that much range to them, but they do have a large radius, and you’re probably already getting up close and personal to smack them with the blade of this weapon anyway.
The ranged attack uses up no ammo, as this is technically a melee weapon, and has innate punch through, so it’s great for dealing with larger clusters of enemies that are close up. It also has relatively decent critical and status chances for both its melee and ranged attacks, adding to the diverse ways this weapon can be built.
What the Stropha Excels In:
- High impact damage at a close range
- Firing shots for no ammo cost
- Status damage
How to Get the Stropha: The main blueprint is dropped from the Jackal, the boss on Fossa, Venus. The remaining parts are dropped from Rotation C of the Granum Void missions; the Barrel and Blade from the Granum Void, the Receiver from the Exemplar Granum Void, and the Stock from the Zenith Granum Void.
3. Rakta Cernos
The Cernos is the bow designed for impact damage. Between the base, Prime, Mutalist, Proboscis, and Rakta variants, the Rakta deals the most impact damage. The Rakta Cernos’ charged shot is one of the highest impact sources in the game. The uncharged shot is comparable to the highest normal attacks from melee weapons, whilst having the advantage of range.
The Rakta Cernos specifically also has the Blight effect, which deals viral damage in an area around you, recovers energy, and increases your movement speed – nothing to do with impact damage, but a nice bonus regardless!
What the Rakta Cernos Excels In:
- Silent and ranged – ideal for sneaky impact damage – though beware that enemies can be made alert by the Blight effect
- Can make use of bow-exclusive mods
How to Get the Rakta Cernos: Purchase from the Red Veil for 125,000 standing.
2. Kuva Charkkhurr
The Kuva Charkhhurr is a flintlock rifle that focuses on impact damage. It has the highest base damage of all semi-auto rifles in the game, and its normal attack deals more impact damage than any other normal attack in the game. It does also have some diversity, with its explosion attacking dealing primarily puncture but also some slash and blast. It also has a reasonably high status chance for its weapon type, and a very high critical chance, adding to that damage potential.
As with all Kuva and Tenet weapons, you can obtain versions with different additional innate damage types, including impact. This means that if you really want to focus on that impact damage, you can choose to specifically get the version that will have even higher impact damage than its base statistics. Of course, it is probably better to choose a different damage type, to make the weapon more diverse.
What the Kuva Charkkhurr Excels In:
- Available in a variety of elements or bonus impact versions
- High status and crit damage, so can be built for both
- High accuracy
How to Get the Kuva Charkkhurr: Defeating a Kuva Lich generated with this weapon.
1. Tenet Exec
The Tenet Exec’s heavy shockwave attack is the second highest source of impact damage from an available weapon in the game. It’s beaten only by the Tenet Grigori’s energy disk attack, which has notably lower impact status chance and is single target. Up to three shockwaves move out from the slam attacks, traveling up to 20m along a flat surface, allowing the Tenet to damage things outside its immediate melee range.
Just like the Kuva Charkhhurr, you can get the Tenet Exec with additional elemental damage or extra impact damage. This extra damage completely secures the top spot for the Tenet Exec.
What the Tenet Exec Excels In:
- Silent – ideal for sneak kills
- Shockwaves let you damage at a greater distance than most melee weapons
- Available in a variety of elements or bonus impact versions
How to Get the Tenet Exec: Purchase from Ergo Glast at any Relay for 40 Corrupted Holokeys. These are acquired from defeating Sisters of Parvos, or as end mission rewards from Empyrean missions in an active Void Storm. Innate elements available cycle every 4 days.
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