The Finals weapon tier list: Best weapons for each class

What are the best weapons in The Finals? Your choice of weapon in The Finals is based on a few things. Chief among them is the question: what class are you playing as? Light, Medium, or Heavy? They all have their own unique roster of guns and melee weapons, and they're all very powerful in the right hands and under the right circumstances.

Whether you're new to The Finals or a player with a few dozen wins under their belt who wants to get a solid grasp of the current meta, you've found the right guide. Below we'll walk you through our The Finals weapon tier list, grading all 21 weapons in the game from S Tier down to C Tier. Scroll further down, and you can read our writeups on each of the guns we consider to be currently the best weapons in The Finals for each class.

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The Finals weapon tier list

With a total of 21 weapons to choose from in The Finals split across the three classes, there's a lot of choice when it comes to picking your guns each match. Here's our up-to-date The Finals weapon tier list, ranging from the very best weapons in the game to the very worst in the current meta.

Top Tip: While you can only carry one weapon at a time in The Finals, you can also place weapons in your reserve slots, allowing you to switch weapons between lives in the same match. Make the most of this! It's generally a better idea to fill your reserve slots with weapons than gadgets, so you can switch from short to long range (or vice versa) as the situation demands.

Best Light weapons: V9S, SH1900

The Light class has access to the most weapons of any class in The Finals, but the two weapons that rise to the top are the V9S Pistol, and the SH1900 Shotgun. Let's go over each one in turn and explain why they're so dominant in the current meta.

The V9S Pistol may not seem particularly special at first glance, but its stats are absolutely fantastic across the board. Great damage, fast fire rate, low recoil, high accuracy, large magazine size... It's a versatile and potent tool for any Light player who doesn't want to limit themselves in any one manner. If you use the V9S, you can be effective in any situation, and thanks to the V9S's amazing damage potential you can quickly take down even a Heavy with just a second or two of successive shots.

However, if you don't mind committing to a purely close-range build as the Light character, then there's no weapon better than the SH1900 Shotgun. This double-barrel shotgun is fairly unforgiving to use, but its damage is off the charts. You can burst down a Heavy player in an instant by getting up close and personal with any one of the Light class specialisations, and pumping them full of buckshot. The range, accuracy, and fire rate are of course all fairly low, but that's irrelevant when you can take down nearly any enemy with a single shot. This gun is dominating the meta right now at the higher levels of play, and once you get used to the playstyle it requires, you'll see why.

Best Medium weapons: FCAR, R.357

In our opinion, the best weapons for the Medium class are the FCAR Assault Rifle and the R.357 Revolver. Both offer very different options which nevertheless allow you to stay very versatile and able to deal high damage at any range.

Many newer players prefer the default AKM to the FCAR because of the former's higher magazine size. But once you learn to use your bullets with a little more economy, you'll find the FCAR's increased range and less demanding recoil to be a serious upgrade over the AKM. Not to mention the FCAR's holographic sight, which allows you to track enemies more easily in the chaos of battle. The FCAR has more than enough damage potential to take down any threat, but it's the ease of use which makes it one of the best weapons in The Finals for us.

But despite this, it's the R.357 that's stolen my heart personally. The big drawback of the Revolver is that you really need to hit those shots. Otherwise, you can feel like a detriment to your team. But if you've a good eye and can pick out those headshots, the R.357 bursts down enemies in millseconds. It's essentially a miniature sniper rifle that you can also happily use in close quarters. Take it from me, if you're up against an excellent Revolver player, it almost feels unfair.

Best Heavy weapons: Lewis Gun, SA1216

The Heavy class has six meaty weapons to choose from, and while they're all very effective in the right hands, there's no denying the best Heavy weapons in The Finals right now are the Lewis Gun and the SA1216.

The Lewis Gun is the most versatile weapon on offer for the Heavy class. It's a pan-fed machine gun that's easy to use and hits like a truck. While not quite as fast-firing, The Lewis Gun outshines the default M60 with its greater accuracy and range, allowing you to deal some real damage to enemies any distance away. It's a very popular choice for Heavy players at every level of play, because it's just so easy to master, and it gets the job done.

The absolute best Heavy weapon in the game, however, requires you to give up some of the Lewis Gun's flexibility and range. The SA1216 Shotgun, much like the Light class's own shotty, has taken the meta by storm recently. But while the Light's SH1900 is fairly unforgiving, the Heavy SA1216 is incredibly forgiving and easy for anyone to use. It deals staggering damage-per-second over the course of a very long (16-strong) magazine, the only downside being a brief pause after every fourth shot before you can fire again. For a shotgun, it also has an impressive range, making it very hard for enemy players to escape the danger of a SA1216-wielding Heavy who wants them dead.

That wraps up this guide on our The Finals weapon tier list, and the very best weapons in the game for each class. But what's better than one top-tier weapon on your team? Three top-tier weapons at once! So why not check out our guide on how to invite friends in The Finals so you can all join in on the chaotic, destructive fun together?