Weapons and Their Traits

Returnal weapon guide detailing traits for Sidearm SD-M8, Tachyomatic Carbine, Spitmaw Blaster, Pyroshell Caster, and Coilspine Shredder.

Modified Sidearm SD-M8

Traits:

• Homing Missile ♥: Fires homing missiles in addition to normal projectiles
• Ricochet: Projectiles will ricochet off surfaces and angle towards nearby targets
• Piercing: Projectiles will pierce through hostiles and angle towards nearby targets
• Snubnose Barrel: Deals more damage at the cost of accuracy
• Serrated Projectiles ♥: Projectiles cause additional damage over time
• Shrapnel ♥: Projectiles may explode into multiple shards on impact
• Burst Fire ♥: Fires multiple projectiles in a single burst at a penalty to recoil
• Charging Shot: Projectiles require charging, but are more powerful
• Hit Reload: Successful hits may instantly reload the weapon

Ranking/Priority - 2 out of 5

The pistol is the only gun that you would actively ignore. There are a handful of traits that make this weapon viable and in some cases, actually pretty good, but the other guns outshine the pistol in almost every way.

Tachyomatic Carbine

Traits:

• Hyper-Accurate ♥: Accuracy and recoil are greatly improved
• Armor Piercing: Projectiles will pierce hostiles and ricochet off surfaces
• High Caliber ♥: Higher damage at the expense of fire rate
• Rising Pitch ♥: Fires faster the longer the trigger is held
• Payload Rounds ♥: Killed hostiles drop clusters of miniature bombs upon death
• Critical Hit: Projectiles may deal additional damage
• Hardened: Increases Protection
• Accelerated: Kills decrease Dash cooldown and increase firerate
• Leech Rounds ♥: Successful hits may repair your Integrity

Ranking/Priority - 4 out of 5

The Carbine is a fairly basic, easy to understand weapon. It's a pretty stock standard machine gun and most of the traits are nothing exceptional either. Despite that, this gun can melt enemies at a surprising rate. Leech Rounds is also the only weapon trait that can restore health, so that's a big bonus. This is also a great gun for your early runs since until you finish the first biome, your only other options are the sidearm and the shotgun.

Spitmaw Blaster

Traits:

• Slug Shot ♥: Fires an additional high-damage, high-speed slug shot
• Rapid Spitter ♥: Fires at full-auto mode
• Piercing Spit: Projectiles will pierce through enemies and explode on delay
• Wide Maw: Projectiles deal additional damage, but have a wider spread
• Acid Clouds: Hostiles leave acid clouds behind upon death
• Narrow Maw ♥: Projectiles have a tighter spread
• Critical Stagger: Projectiles may deal additional damage to staggered hostiles
• Backsplash: High chance to regain a projectile if all pellets hit a target
• Explosive Spit ♥: Projectiles explodes on impact or after a set distance

Ranking/Priority - 2 out of 5

Ok, this is more like a 2.5, as it is better than the pistol, but you are personally not a huge fan of the shotgun. It can absolutely destroy regular enemies, but you would be scared to bring this into a boss fight, since most of the bosses tend to operate far outside the range of a shotgun.

Pyroshell Caster

Traits:

• Streamlined Chamber: Increased firerate
• Secondary Explosion ♥: Projectiles explode twice
• Bouncy Projectiles: Projectiles bounce before exploding
• Sticky Bonus ♥: Attached projectiles deal more damage upon exploding
• Enlarged Chamber: Overhead limit increased
• Seeking Flares ♥: Primary explosions generate homing flares that seek out additional targets
• Auxiliary Projectiles ♥: Auxiliary projectiles are fired alongside the main projectile
• Anti-Gravity Projectiles: Projectiles defy gravity, traveling farther and faster
• Simmering Explosion ♥: Projectiles deal damage to nearby hostiles before and after exploding

Ranking/Priority - 3 out of 5

The Pryoshell is an odd weapon to you. Sometimes, you'll get a Pyroshell that completely obliterates bosses, regular adds, and anything inbetween. Then, on that very same run, you'll get a different Pyroshell that struggles to even take down a Drone. The wild fluctuation in damage can probably just be attributed to what traits you roll. Having a weapon be that reliant on traits can be a hindrance, but if you get a god roll on this gun, have fun dismantling whatever crosses your path.

Coilspine Shredder

Traits:

• Adrenaline Discs: Each hit has a chance of awarding extra Adrenaline
• Shattering Discs ♥: Projectiles explode after reaching max targets/bounces
• Alt-Fire Cooling: Successful hits reduce Alt-Fire Cooldown
• Retarget ♥: Projectiles seek out additional hostiles upon hitting the initial target