With Demons being as hard as it is, not every weapon is optimal, build choice is incredibly limited, and the game is way less forgiving for any tiny faults a weapon may have.
This is why we’ve broken down every weapon in our Ember Knights Weapon Tier List 2024 for Demon (v2.0.1), summarizing how good it is, how hard it is to use, and a general explanation of why you would choose one weapon over the others.
With that being said, here’s what we believe to be the v2.0.1 patch tier-list for True Demons:
Ember Knights Weapon Tier List 2024 for Demon (v2.0.1)
S – Can consistently win demons
Goated with the sauce
A – Can reasonably win demons
Very strong, but held back by a few weaknesses
B – Can potentially win demons
Strong, but execution is very difficult OR rng requirements are high
C – Can narrowly win demons
Weak, and may require very specific rng
OR extremely high level of execution
F – Unusable
Not humanly possible to win True Demons
Recommendation for beginner high doom and demons players
We would highly recommend starting with razor wind as a low knowledge barrier to entry and low skill floor weapon. While hammer is a bit stronger this patch, the skill floor is incredibly high, unintuitive, and requires you to learn the weapon AND Demons at the same time.
After learning Demons on razor wind, if you want to try hammer then we highly encourage you to give it a shot and to learn hammer 1-3 tech. The other fairly viable weapons in the current patch are scythe and sword. These are the most ‘true’ melee weapons in the game, and thus require extremely precise play.
We also acknowledge the fact that razor wind is a bit stronger on kb&m vs. controller, so if you want to play a weapon to its maximum potential then hammer, scythe, and sword are going to be your main options. Coop bow is viable, but very demanding on controller (same concept as razor wind, but way harder to play bow on controller vs. kb&m).
We recommend straying away from weapons that are not A+ or S tier weapons, unless you are looking to innovate the meta and are an experienced Demons player.
Ember Knights Best Weapon 2024 for Demon (v2.0.1)
Razor Wind
Difficulty: Low skill floor, High skill ceiling
Pros
- Incredibly mobile (Flexible positioning)
- Medium damage output
- Very consistent
- Insanely fast skill recharge
- Fantastic crit synergy (+base crit)
- Insane ‘mark’ application
- Ranged
Cons
- No apple synergy
- Struggles heavily against spread targets
- Average blue dmg scaling
Weapon Breakdown
Razor wind is an amazing ranged weapon in Demons. It’s one of the only true ranged options that’s strong in demons. Razor wind provides the extremely useful and powerful ‘Mark’ debuff, increasing the power of everyone’s weapon in co-op.
The weapon has no major pitfalls and is a very reliable and powerful first choice. Razor wind has one of the best, if not the best skill recharge and proc rate of any weapon. Very beginner-friendly as well, with a lot to learn to master the weapon.
Co-op vs. Solo
Razor wind is very strong in both solo and co-op play. Razor wind becomes an even stronger choice in co-op due to the fact that razor wind has by far the best ‘mark’ application in the game. Having a mark applicator in your co-op team will boost everyone’s damage against the marked target, meaning razor wind becomes more and more important (if not necessary) the more players you have on your team.
Rift Hammer
Difficulty: High skill floor, Extremely high skill ceiling
Pros
- Fantastic crit / proc synergy
- High damage output / multiple scaling options
- HP scaling
- Fast skill recharge
- Functionally ranged (with access to melee)
- Strong AOE
- High burst
- Amazing combustion stone abuser
- Amazing survivability / Free armor
Cons
- Low base movement speed
- Very unintuitive gameplay pattern / balancing attack-windows with pressure-mitigation
- Hard learning curve / 1-3 tech is very demanding and tricky
Weapon Breakdown
Hammer went from being tied for the best weapon for demons to being by far the best weapon for demons. 2.0.1 buffed hammer to the moon, removing almost all of hammer’s clunkiness, reliance on combustion stone, and enabled overcharge to be viable. Hammer can scale using all of the best builds in the current meta: combustion stone burn build, crit build, freeze build, stun build, blue dmg scaling build, etc.
Also, fissures give hammer the unique ability to deal damage and proc relics while not actively “attacking” the enemy. Fissures create AOE damage over time zones that enemies can run into, even if you weren’t trying to attack said enemy. The hammer can alleviate pressure by dodging or repositioning by playing around an active fissure without losing damage output. The strength of fissures is further amplified by its rapid proc rate, which allows you to benefit from crit procs such as rejuv glove and volt claw while repositioning.
Once you master the 1-3 tech, the weapon becomes extremely potent and reliable, making it a great choice for the challenge. Even without using the 1-3 tech, people like QuirkyTurtle have made it all the way to A3 in demons before learning the 1-3 tech.
Co-op vs. Solo
Hammer is the best weapon in solo, and is still just as good in coop. While hammer doesn’t provide as much as razor wind or scythe for the team, hammer does have a few coop benefits.
Ember Blade
Difficulty: Souls-like (hardest weapon)
Pros
- Very high mobility
- Extreme damage potential
- STRONGEST early game of any weapon
- Good scaling
- Fast-paced playstyle
Cons
- No apple synergy
- Requires specific relics
- Insanely hard to pick up and master
- True melee
- Preferably has to beat A1 timer
- Requires being above 75% HP
Sword has a lot going for it, unfortunately the sheer difficulty of execution causes it to fall from the S+ tier all the way to A tier. The sword requires by far the most finesse, skill, and knowledge of enemy timings. Being a true melee weapon, sword is often left vulnerable to most threats. If you want to access the full potential of the weapon, you will need an ungodly amount of time spent mastering it, as well as RNG on your side.
Co-op vs. Solo
Sword is one of those weapons that is hampered by co-op if everyone is not running sword and attempting the same playstyle. Sword struggles heavily in anything above 2-player co-op due to several factors:
- Significantly increased visual information/clutter on the screen at one time.
- It can be much harder to know where your character is, if you’re being attacked vs. your co-op partner, and projectiles from across the map can hit you.
- Increased difficulty of regular rooms: Sword relies on being able to clear enemies at breakneck speeds before they can even attack. Co-op increases the HP and horde size of regular rooms, upping the breakpoint damage requirements and length of rooms (which increases the chances of getting hit significantly).
- Shared fate means that everyone cannot get hit, and since sword generally has to stay above 75% HP to be effective, this becomes even harder in co-op.
Sword is already difficult enough, and co-op makes it even harder. Tread carefully in co-op.
Reaper’s Toll
Difficulty: Very Hard
Pros
- Apple synergy
- Some access to ranged
- Very fast room clear
- Fast speed (+25% move speed scaling)
- Empowers crit
- Very high damage scaling
Cons
- True melee
- Medium to slow skill recharge
- Requires precise play and must maintain a fast pace
Scythe has really high base damage potential but often struggles to find openings to attack. Its inconsistent access to range alleviates some of the pressure but still requires you to be on high alert to succeed. Scythe has a hidden buff after using the charge attack that multiplies your move speed by 25% for 5 seconds. It’s surprising how many people don’t know this, as it’s an extremely important identity of the weapon. The devs should really put that in the description of the weapon for the sake of new players.
Scythe has a unique debuff called Slashed that buffs any weapon attacks dealt to the target by 10% and increases the crit rate by 15%. This makes it extremely effective in co-op. Scythe’s charge attacks have some of the highest burst potential. Scythe is not easy to succeed with, but if you’re up for the challenge and enjoy doing rooms really fast, scythe is a great choice.
Co-op vs. Solo
Reaper’s Toll is already a fantastic weapon in solo play, but becomes even stronger in co-op. Reaper’s Toll, with the correct mod setup, applies both a 10% increased weapon damage taken debuff and a 15% increased crit chance debuff to enemies with the slashed debuff. In co-op, any debuff you apply to enemies will benefit the entire team, thus making slashed an incredibly strong debuff in co-op. Everyone will have 15% bonus crit and 10% increased weapon damage. Reaper’s Toll becomes more and more essential the larger your co-op team is.
