Gun Comparison

The two main stats for a gun are it’s speed (how many shots per second - details) and attack (how much damage per shot -details) - this is comparable across guns and what this post is about, but you also need to factor the benefit of any special features (e.g. Rifle’s Piercing, Plasma Cannon’s explosion, Looper’s Piercing and Boomerang, Gemini’s Laser link and Devastator’s Trail), as well as the size of bullet (e.g. the rifle seems to have a longer projectile which should mean a slightly higher chance of hitting a moving enemy) and speed of bullet (details).

Assuming all shots hit, we can multiply the two to calculate the Damage per Second. This is what it looks like for a Loadout Attack of 1,000, without any Gear, Bonuses and Perks:

Gun Damage/Shot Shots/s Damage/s
Smart Minigun 380 4.2 1,596
Auto Gun 420 3.8 1,596
Money Grubber 600 2.4 1,440 (+chain shots damage if there are nearby enemies)
Looper 700 2.3 1,610 (+boomerang damage if it hits on return)
Blaster 1,000 1.6 1,600
Plasma 1,600 (blast damage 750) 1 1,600 (+ blast damage)
Gemini Laser 710/projectile; 1,420 for both;
+ link damage 710
1.2 852 (/projectile), 1,704 for both;
(+ link damage)
Nuclear Lasso 1,700 + lasso damage 35% (includes gear damage) 0.8 1,360 + lasso damage
Laser Rifle 2,150 0.7 1,505
Devastator 2,800 + trail damage 32% (includes gear damage) 0.65 1,820 + trail damage

Few other aspects to factor in to this:

  • How the weapon interacts with Perks, Hero Passives and Gear damage (also applies to Attack from Mystery Crates)
  • The Devastator leaves a trail that deals damage of 32% of a regular shot (details)
  • The Nuclear Lasso makes a lasso that deals damage of 35% of a regular shot
  • The Rifle pierces, so you have a head-start on Indirect Damage
  • The Plasma Cannon blast affects enemies nearby, not just the enemy it hits, so there’s quite a bit of collateral damage and you can also hurt them across a wall/ice (as long as you don’t have Bouncy Walls)
  • The Looper, has an even greater head-start on Indirect Damage than the rifle, and even with a single boss you could still get a 37.2% boomerang hit (depending on how much the boss and your hero are moving around)
  • The Plasma Cannon looks like it’s better than the Looper, because the blast damage is always incurred while the Boomerang shot might miss, but the Plasma’s Blast only occurs once per shot (so only the base weapon damage applies for Piercing/Chain/Dividing) and the Blast damage doesn’t increase with any Gear, Bonuses and Perks (and also doesn’t reduce for Double/Triple Barrel and MultiShot)
  • The Gemini Laser benefits from Piercing, Small Bouncy Walls and the laser link (which does the same damage each hit but doesn’t proc passive skills). Damage will tend to be higher with crowds (where there’s more enemies for the projectiles and link to hit) and less with bosses.
  • The Money Grubber benefits from starting with Chain shots (which make shrapnel shots, and Elemental (Fire, Poison, Ice and Zap) perks more useful)

Updated on 12th May 2023 to reflect upcoming changes in the Gemini Laser (details)

Before that, the Gemini Laser and Devastator were buffed in 1.12 as follows:

Gun Damage/Shot Shots/s Damage/s
Gemini Laser (1.12) 900/projectile; 1,800 for both;
+ link damage 900
0.9 810 (/projectile), 1,620 for both;
(+ link damage)
Gemini Laser (1.11) 720/projectile; 1,420 for both;
+ link damage 720
0.9 648 (/projectile), 1,296 for both;
(+ link damage)
Devastator (1.12) 2,800 + trail damage 32% (includes gear damage) 0.65 1,820 + trail damage
Devastator (1.11) 2,500 + trail damage 32% (includes gear damage) 0.6 1,500 + trail damage

Updated on 30th May 2023 to include stats for Money Grubber