Highlights

  • Dark and Darker simplifies weapon choice with 6-10 options per type, making it easy to match class and combat style.
  • Cooperative gameplay sets this dungeon crawler apart, offering a fun experience as players work together to conquer challenges.
  • Weapons like Kuma's Fang, Fulgor, and Cinder offer unique abilities and stat boosts, catering to different playstyles in the game.

In terms of armaments, Dark and Darker sets itself apart from traditional MMORPGs. Rather than offering a vast selection of weapons, it focuses on a narrow range, with around 6 to 10 options for each type of weapon. This makes choosing the best weapon for a class very simple. As the player just matches their class and preferred combat style to a weapon.

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Dark and Darker introduces a novel approach to the dungeon-crawler genre. This free-to-play game distinguishes itself through its cooperative gameplay, enabling players to collaborate with friends or strangers to overcome challenging dungeon crawls. While the combat mechanics are straightforward, a well-coordinated team can have a lot of fun as they decimate groups of enemies.

8 Kuma’s Fang

Does Additional Dark Magic Damage

Kuma’s Fang In Dark And Darker

Stats:

  • Type: Sword
  • Archetype: Falchion
  • Damage: 53-55
  • Classes: Fighter, Bard
  • Style: One-handed (main)
  • Movement: -30
  • Special: +15 additional dark magic damage on hit.
  • How to get: World drop

Kuma’s Fang is the best main-hand sword that a Bard can use. It is also a very useful weapon for the Fighter class in Dark and Darker, as it suits a tanky, sword and board style defensive build.

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The additional 15 dark magic damage adds to the damage output considerably as well. This is a slow weapon, with all combo attacks apart from one taking more than a second to complete. The -30 player movement debuff is quite high for a one-handed weapon, but as Kuma’s Fang suits a defensive style of gameplay, this shouldn’t be an issue when playing this dungeon crawler game.

7 Fulgor

Does Extra Thunder Damage

Fulgor In Dark And Darker

Stats:

  • Type: Sword
  • Archetype: Longsword
  • Damage: 52-54
  • Classes: Fighter
  • Style: Two-handed
  • Movement: -40
  • Special: Summons a thunderbolt to deal 20 additional magic damage on hit.
  • How to get: World drop

Fulgor is the best of all two-handed slashing weapons in Dark and Darker, which is, unfortunately, locked to the Fighter class. With the additional thunderbolt damage dealt on hit, this is a very high-damage weapon and will suit builds that focus on DPS over defenses.

Considering that Fulgor has a whopping -40 player movement speed debuff, it is a rather handy sword. All attack combos will be completed within a second, apart from one. However, it only has a paltry 17% slowdown on hit that lasts for a second.

6 Cinder

Massive DPS Polearm

Cinder In Dark And Darker

Stats:

  • Type: Polearm
  • Archetype: Halberd
  • Damage: 66-69
  • Classes: Fighter
  • Style: Two-handed
  • Movement: -50
  • Special: Hitting an enemy deals 10 additional magic damage and burns them for 3 seconds.
  • How to get: World drop

Cinder is a polearm weapon that does the most damage of any weapon in Dark and Darker. It has a baked-in damage add and also a damage over time effect. Stacked up alongside the already high damage stats for this polearm, no other weapon comes close to putting out as much damage as Cinder.

However, all this damage output comes with a downside. A massive -50 player movement speed debuff. This is also the slowest weapon in the game, as all combo attacks take far more than a second to complete, and one takes almost two seconds during combat in this role-playing game.

5 Pulverizing Prayer

The Best Cleric Weapon

Pulverizing Prayer In Dark And Darker

Stats:

  • Type: Mace
  • Archetype: Morning star
  • Damage: 51-52
  • Classes: Fighter
  • Style: One-handed (main)
  • Movement: -25
  • Special: Crushes the enemy's armor with each hit, reducing the target's physical defense by -25%. Stacks up to 3 times.
  • How to get: World drop

With its baked-in decrease defense debuff, Pulverizing Prayer is a fantastic weapon for a Cleric as a support class. However, this is a weapon that does decent damage in its own right. Few one-handed weapons in Dark and Darker put out as much DPS as Pulverizing Prayer.

Another nice thing about this weapon is that it has a fairly minor -25 player movement speed debuff - aiding in keeping the player mobile in combat. It is a medium-speed, one-handed weapon, with all but one attack combo completing within a second.

4 Pestilence

High DPS Ranger Bow

Pestilence In Dark And Darker-1

Stats:

  • Type: Bow
  • Archetype: Recurve bow
  • Damage: 47-49
  • Classes: Ranger
  • Style: Two-handed
  • Movement: -40
  • Ammo: 8
  • Arrow speed: 28.5
  • Special: Inflicts disease doing 20 damage over 3 seconds.
  • How to get: World drop

Pestilence is one of the two exclusive Ranger artifact bows in Dark and Darker. Boasting a precise damage range, this bow can deliver substantial DPS. However, it imposes a significant -40 debuff to player movement speed.

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Its standout feature is the disease damage-over-time special ability, making it the highest damage-dealing bow in the game. Pestilence shares a common drawback with all artifact weapons in Dark and Darker: an exceedingly low drop rate. Despite this, for Rangers who play in groups, there is no better weapon to have in their arsenal.

3 Nipalan

Perfect For Solo Rangers

Nipalan In Dark And Darker-1

Stats:

  • Type: Bow
  • Archetype: Longbow
  • Damage: 59-62 (depending on weapon tier)
  • Classes: Ranger
  • Style: Two-handed
  • Movement: -50
  • Ammo: 6
  • Arrow speed: 32.5
  • Special: Push back on hit.
  • How to get: World drop

The Nipalan bow in Dark and Darker is widely regarded as the ideal weapon for a Ranger who frequently ventures alone. While the Pestilence bow inflicts greater damage due to its DoT effect, the Nipalan bow stands out because of its unique push-back feature upon hitting a target. This attribute ensures that solo Rangers can continually repel their enemies, preventing them from engaging in close combat.

However, this bow does come with a couple of drawbacks. It significantly reduces player movement speed by 50, and the quiver's capacity is limited to just 6 arrows. Despite these minor limitations, the Nipalan bow remains an exceptional choice for solo Rangers.

2 Famine

Best One-Handed Axe For Barbarians

Famine In Dark And Darker

Stats:

  • Type: Axe
  • Archetype: Horseman’s axe
  • Damage: 51-52
  • Classes: Fighter, Barbarian
  • Style: One-handed (main)
  • Movement: -25
  • Special: Hitting the target will render them unable to receive any healing effects for 20 seconds.
  • How to get: World drop

Unfortunately, the Barbarian class is quite restricted when it comes to one-handed weapons in Dark and Darker. However, Famine can be used by a Barbarian, and it is a decent one-handed axe. The damage output is good for a main-hand weapon, and it is fast, with all combo attacks being completed within a second.

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With a minor -25 player movement debuff and a special ability that prevents an enemy from healing for a long 20-second period, Famine is the perfect single-handed weapon for a Barbarian or Fighter to use in a group.

1 Life After Death

The Ultimate Barbarian Weapon

Life after Death In Dark And Darker

Stats:

  • Type: Axe
  • Archetype: Double axe
  • Damage: 74-77
  • Classes: Barbarian
  • Style: Two-handed
  • Movement: -45
  • Special: When receiving a lethal attack, HP becomes 1 and becomes invincible for 2 seconds. This effect can only be triggered once during an adventure.
  • How to get: World drop

Life After Death is the best weapon for a Barbarian to use, hands down. Especially for players who take on the role of the front man in group combat due to the special effect. When a Barbarian using this weapon takes a lethal blow in Dark and Darker, they have their health set to 1 and become invincible for a short period.

The only real downside to Life After Death is that this is a very slow weapon. None of the possible attack combos will be completed in less than a second, and it applies a huge -45 player movement debuff.

dark and darker
Dark and Darker

Platform(s)
PC
Released
August 7, 2023
Developer(s)
Ironmace
Genre(s)
Action RPG