Welcome to the Special Weapon Guide! Blue revolver got a huge update and it seems like there is no guide to how the weapons work. While the game can be straight forward with how some mechanics work. Sometimes you want that cutting edge tech to help you get a higher score than others with the weapon of your choice. Especially since Blue Revolver Double Action is largely unoptimized in terms of its special weapon records. I will try to explain everything I know about the special weapons in the game. Let's start off introducing the characters:
Mae
Main weapon: Power shot, rotating options. Holding shot pulls the options towards the middle.
damage: high
Val
Main weapon: Follow shot, shots follow your movement and can be held with shot button.
damage: medium
Dee
Main weapon: Wide shot, holding shot will narrow the range of the shot.
damage: low
Note: All characters have the same speed. By going to options > gameplay > Movement Speed. You can change the ship's movement speed to slow, medium or fast(default).
Special Weapons
I will include the weapons strengths and weaknesses alongside its perk, zero flourish and how to perform it. In addition, I will include the weapon's difficulty of use ranging from 1 to 5 stars ★☆.
Zero flourish: Starting a combo with your special weapon without flourish. Therefore a zero flourish. It's useful for obtaining additional score items.
Defense weapons have a special property where the contact damage does not generate score items upon killing an enemy. Keep that in mind As this is an intended weakness for defensive weapons.
Mae's weapons
Plasma Lancer
- 1.5 ammo per lancer.
- Jack of all trades, Master of none.
- Random variable range. around 40 to 60% of the screen.
- Damage depends on how long the lancer lingers on the enemy. So there is a sweetspot. Using it pointblank will deal the least amount of damage as the lancer will travel through the enemy without doing its DoT.
- partial piercing. It can hit many lined up enemies Because the lancer slows down on first enemy hit then lingers for a bit.
- Perk: More ammo generated through bombs.
- Zero flourish: press and hold the weapon button briefly. Depending on how you move and how many enemies are lined up vertically you can get up to 5-8 hits. Also if you are too close to the enemy the zero flourish will fail and make you enter flourish mode with a few measily hits.
- Difficulty of use: ★★☆☆☆
Hyper Laser
- 0 ammo on wind up, 6 ammo per second then 18 ammo per second after briefly a second of use.
- Has to wind up before blasting the laser. But the wind up animation has a hitbox point blank dubbed 'anticipation bullet'.
- Laser usage slows down the ship.
- Infinite vertical range and potent damage.
- Perk: Increased focus shot damage.
- Zero flourish: Very rarely can get a 2 hit zero flourish. Still not useful and the weapon is still strong without it. Note: I experimented with the blue zakos in stage 5 by gathering them all within one spot with a suicide trick. Using the laser from far away gives 8 hits and enters flourish mode!
- Difficulty of use: ★★★☆☆
Vortex Barrier
- 3 ammo per projectile produced. 4.6 ammo per second when holding a full barrier.
- Defensive weapon.
- Generates projectiles that orbit around the ship which cancel bullets.
- The projectile can only be thrown vertically.
- Perk: Start with an extra life.
- Zero flourish: Vertically lined up enemies can give you high amount of hits.
- Difficulty of use: ★★☆☆☆
Cluster Missile
- 4 ammo per missile.
- Fast fire rate and shorter cluster duration compared to other cluster missiles.
- A bit tough to aim the missile at the right enemy.
- Deals high damage when spammed. Helps with speed killing boss patterns you despise.
- Perk: No flourish extend fall off. In other words. Every enemy flourished extends the flourish timer by 0.1s.
- Zero flourish: Up to 2 or 3 missiles can be shot depending on the height before you flourish. Easily gets 8 hits. pointblank use won't activate flourish mode so abuse that when tons of enemies are gathered around.
- Difficulty of use: ★★★★☆
Arc Caster
- 4 ammo per cast. Whether it hits multiple targets or not it will still spend 4 ammo.
- Tracks an enemy then kills 4 more enemies near it.
- Low damage.
- Ship needs to be close for the caster to track it. But it can have weird tracking and hit the wrong enemy.
- Perk: Bomb supplies give 2 bombs instead of 1.
- Zero flourish: For some ungodly reason despite hitting up to 5 enemies at the same time. Arc caster absolutely cannot zero flourish. Attempting it will activate flourish with the amount of enemies you hit. Note: same point as mae laser. You will have to do the blue zako suicide trick to gather them all to get an 8 hit ZF.
- Difficulty of use: ★☆☆☆☆
Hyper Laser
- 10 ammo per laser.
- Shoots a high damaging laser for a few seconds then turns off.
- The laser is active for 55 frames. It may seem like the laser has faded out on the last few frames but it can still deal the same damage.
- Can easily sweep the screen with 1 laser use.
- Perk: Higher unfocused shot damage.
- Zero flourish: one use can always yield 8 hits with enough enemies.
- Difficulty of use: ★☆☆☆☆
Stasis Field
- 7.2 ammo per second. 10 ammo when releasing.
- Defensive weapon
- With enough bullets absorbed in the field. It can be more destructive than most offensive weapons.
- Dependent on rank being high for more bullets to fling back.
- Can change direction of bullets while releasing(try a fighting game motion input!).
- The released energy pierces and can spread out to catch more enemies in its way.
- Oddly enough, the weapon does not deny perfect bonus.
- Perk: Easier extend milestones(reduced by 10%). This also affects the bomb extends in parallel mode. Rewarding the player a bomb every 9 million points.
- Zero flourish: One field release always guarantees 8 hits with enough enemies and bullets.
- Difficulty of use: ★★★★★
Cluster Missile
- 10 ammo per missile.
- Up to 2 missiles can be active at the same time.
- Very active. Has to hit a target to start the cluster explosion.
- Less damage than Mae Cluster Missiles.
- Perk: Longer flourish time.
- Zero flourish: 1 missile is enough for 8 hits.
- Difficulty of use: ★★★★★
Fractal Salvo
- 12 ammo per use.
- The bullets spread out allowing for insane coverage.
- Really efficient at decimating enemies. Incredible damage.
- Perk: Refills ammo after stage clear.
- Zero flourish: Can zero flourish reliably if positioning at the bottom middle of the screen with enemies lined up. Can sometimes enter flourish mode with a few hits if unlucky or close.
- Difficulty of use: ★★☆☆☆
Pierce Lancer
- 12 ammo per use. or 2 ammo per lancer.
- Shoots a burst of 6 lancers with one use.
- Pierces like the name implies.
- Unreasonably high damage.
- Perk: Slightly increases both unfocused and focused shots.
- Zero flourish: one burst and good movement can give you enough hits with enough enemies.
- Difficulty of use: ★★☆☆☆
Gun Buckler
- 20 ammo per use.
- Defensive weapon.
- Summons shield in front of ship then shoots back bullets that has damage and fire rate proportional to the bullets you absorbed.
- The shield making contact with enemies charges it up in addition to dealing considerable damage. Useful for bosses.
- Very restricted. Once you use the weapon you can't cancel it early.
- Has an open gap between the shield and the ship.
- Perk: Larger counterbomb window. Default counterbomb window is 3 frames after getting hit. Gun Buckler counterbomb window is 6 frames.
- Zero flourish: Surprisingly strong Zero Flourish. But each use is 20 ammo. So it's rather an expensive ZF. enemies killed by the shield itself can also be added into the chain.
- Difficulty of use: ★★★☆☆
Cluster Missile
- 10 ammo per missile.
- Up to 2 missiles can be active at the same time.
- Very active. After a set distance the missile explodes instead of requiring a target.
- Missile contact deals damage.
- Perk: Longer flourish time.
- Zero flourish: 1 missile is enough for 8 hits.
- Difficulty of use: ★★★★☆
- Scoring is survival. Make sure to score and get Breaks when it matters. It all depends on your weapon though e.g Vortex Barrier does not need to score much because of its perk and defensive capabilities, while Val laser scores you alot and can reward lots of extends.
- Understand rank levels. Only applies for hyper mode. Rank passively increases, but Scoring and defeating boss patterns increases rank more noticeably while dying decreases rank. Within a stage, 1st death decreases rank the most(by almost 2 levels). Subsequently after the 3rd death, rank will stop decreasing upon death. When rank level is 5(max). It starts depleting back to rank level 4 slowly. So if you can't decrease rank then don't worry. The game won't stay on max rank forever. Make sure to also practice some patterns on higher ranks, As some patterns difficulty range from "this shit is a joke lmao" to "wtf is this abomination". Stage 3 boss 4th phase comes to mind.
- Dying is ok... sometimes. Discounting normal mode which has autobombs(please don't get hit). Dying in hyper isn't that bad as long as you don't overflow your resources(bombs max out at 5, dying restocks 2). Because you get to restock on bombs and decrease rank. On parallel, dying restocks 4 bombs and you are limited to 6 lives overall. So unless you're scoring or you know what you're doing. Try not to die in parallel as it becomes a completely different game.
- Be ready to improvise. Not everyone is perfect. In case of a blunder. You have to take it upon yourself to improvise a plan on the fly. This skill will come naturally as you keep playing.
- Bomb smartly. A good bomb will always give you many positives. e.g. enemy kills, ammo refill, bridging your chains, survival etc. Having all of those done within 1 bomb is fantastic. Saving a few bombs for some nasty patterns you hate is great too. All in all, plan your bombs. And if you mess up? peep the tip above.
- Don't be intimidated by my rate of difficulty. Play whatever weapon you want. If the weapon resonates with your playstyle, then go for it. I myself started with mae hyper laser because of how much depth and skill expression it has. So what I'm trying to say is. Fuck around with all the weapons and see what fits like a glove.
- Use your weapon for boss fights. Mostly for survival. Some weapons deal alot of damage. If you don't care about the perfect/great bonus then start blasting.
With the variety of weapons in the game. There ought to be weapons that are better than others. Which is why it would be understandable to rank the weapons in some category. In my opinion it would not be interesting to just rank them damage-wise. Because it would be straight forward which weapons do the most amount of damage. Moreso, using damage as a strong aspect of the weapon in regards to scoring is much MUCH more interesting to me. As other than clearing the game, the whole point of Blue Revolver is to engage with the score system using the weapon of your choice. Rankings will be from 12th to 1st since there are 12 weapons. In terms of game modes. I'd say the differences are rare. But I will try to base my rankings on the hyper mode. Which I think is the main game mode for scoring.
12th to 10th
12th: Mae | Vortex Barrier | Highest score: 179 million
Mae's defensive weapon, while it does have some strong merits. Such as its perk that makes you start a run with an extra life, or that you can partially charge the weapon to save on ammo. It starts failing the moment you put it in practice. When charging the barrier, the bits orbit around the ship and deals contact damage. See, the issue here is that you the player are holding the button to charge. If by chance you deal contact damage to 2 enemies, then thats a failed flourish. Another glaring weakness is the weapon Only shoots vertically. There is a commitment to using even a smidge of ammo for some reason. So its awkward to move side to side and deal with enemies. You won't have enough time to deal with all enemies on screen. Especially enemy waves that come in horizontal lines, dear god this weapon can do nothing but deal with one third of such wave. This is most apparent in stage 5 which mind you, is the most lucrative stage in the game. The weapon does have an ok zero flourish and a property that other weapons would love to have: piercing. But of course, what use does that have when its limited to vertical shooting? Again if you're thinking that contact damage would be very useful for flourishing. Remember that defensive weapons have this one aspect as an intended weakness: contact damage doesn't produce score items. Vortex Barrier is purely there for survival and scoring with it is so abysmal.
11th: Dee | Gun Buckler | Highest score: 202 million
Another defensive weapon. And this time its Dee's Buckler. I personally think its perk is absolutely useless for scoring. In which it doubles the duration of the counterbomb window. Other than that, Commitment with it is incredibly heavy. Using the weapon consumes 20 ammo units(one fifth of your ammo by the way), and it cannot be cancelled early. The shield itself does have some interesting properties. Contact damage deals a considerable amount of damage and charges up the release shot. In addition, while contact doesn't really flourish enemies. It can be used to deal with worthless 100pts zakos to then cash in the big value enemies. So it does have a fantastic zero flourish albeit needs precise timing. One issue with this weapon though is that when entering flourish mode, you better make it count. Because within that flourish you can only use the buckler once, still the ZF is FANTASTIC if you know how to charge it. It's also fair to say that its rank dependent since the buckler partly depends on bullets to charge up its release shot. It is a fun weapon to use but outright denying its shortcomings is delusional.
10th: Val | Arc Caster | Highest score: 208 million
The first and worst offensive weapon in the rankings. As always, we observe the perk. It gives you 2 bombs instead of 1 from a bomb carrier. Sounds nice on paper. Until you remember that there are only 4 bomb carriers throughout the whole game. And its before each boss starting from stage 2. If you ask me to balance this perk. I would just change it so that the large ammo carriers give a free bomb. This would make more sense if you know where these energy carriers are placed. There is at least 1 in each stage, and it would make the weapon's perk have more of a role into improving its gameplan. So the weapon... The bolts autotrack the enemies and chain together to hit other enemies. The way this tracking works from what I understand, is that the enemy in front of you is the priority. Which is why the Arc Caster always seems to hit the wrong enemies. While it can hit up to 5 enemies with the chain. It absolutely cannot zero flourish and you will enter flourish mode with 5 hits. Surprisingly enough, the ammo consumption isn't that bad. Using 4 ammos to hit up to 5 enemies is a pretty good deal if you ask me. Also worth mentioning how low the damage is. So the player has to weaken some of the high HP enemies to waste less ammo or deal with them faster. Overall its an okay weapon that seems to be underwhelming. Nothing much nothing more.
Mae's defensive weapon, while it does have some strong merits. Such as its perk that makes you start a run with an extra life, or that you can partially charge the weapon to save on ammo. It starts failing the moment you put it in practice. When charging the barrier, the bits orbit around the ship and deals contact damage. See, the issue here is that you the player are holding the button to charge. If by chance you deal contact damage to 2 enemies, then thats a failed flourish. Another glaring weakness is the weapon Only shoots vertically. There is a commitment to using even a smidge of ammo for some reason. So its awkward to move side to side and deal with enemies. You won't have enough time to deal with all enemies on screen. Especially enemy waves that come in horizontal lines, dear god this weapon can do nothing but deal with one third of such wave. This is most apparent in stage 5 which mind you, is the most lucrative stage in the game. The weapon does have an ok zero flourish and a property that other weapons would love to have: piercing. But of course, what use does that have when its limited to vertical shooting? Again if you're thinking that contact damage would be very useful for flourishing. Remember that defensive weapons have this one aspect as an intended weakness: contact damage doesn't produce score items. Vortex Barrier is purely there for survival and scoring with it is so abysmal.
11th: Dee | Gun Buckler | Highest score: 202 million
Another defensive weapon. And this time its Dee's Buckler. I personally think its perk is absolutely useless for scoring. In which it doubles the duration of the counterbomb window. Other than that, Commitment with it is incredibly heavy. Using the weapon consumes 20 ammo units(one fifth of your ammo by the way), and it cannot be cancelled early. The shield itself does have some interesting properties. Contact damage deals a considerable amount of damage and charges up the release shot. In addition, while contact doesn't really flourish enemies. It can be used to deal with worthless 100pts zakos to then cash in the big value enemies. So it does have a fantastic zero flourish albeit needs precise timing. One issue with this weapon though is that when entering flourish mode, you better make it count. Because within that flourish you can only use the buckler once, still the ZF is FANTASTIC if you know how to charge it. It's also fair to say that its rank dependent since the buckler partly depends on bullets to charge up its release shot. It is a fun weapon to use but outright denying its shortcomings is delusional.
10th: Val | Arc Caster | Highest score: 208 million
The first and worst offensive weapon in the rankings. As always, we observe the perk. It gives you 2 bombs instead of 1 from a bomb carrier. Sounds nice on paper. Until you remember that there are only 4 bomb carriers throughout the whole game. And its before each boss starting from stage 2. If you ask me to balance this perk. I would just change it so that the large ammo carriers give a free bomb. This would make more sense if you know where these energy carriers are placed. There is at least 1 in each stage, and it would make the weapon's perk have more of a role into improving its gameplan. So the weapon... The bolts autotrack the enemies and chain together to hit other enemies. The way this tracking works from what I understand, is that the enemy in front of you is the priority. Which is why the Arc Caster always seems to hit the wrong enemies. While it can hit up to 5 enemies with the chain. It absolutely cannot zero flourish and you will enter flourish mode with 5 hits. Surprisingly enough, the ammo consumption isn't that bad. Using 4 ammos to hit up to 5 enemies is a pretty good deal if you ask me. Also worth mentioning how low the damage is. So the player has to weaken some of the high HP enemies to waste less ammo or deal with them faster. Overall its an okay weapon that seems to be underwhelming. Nothing much nothing more.
9th to 7th
9th: Mae | Plasma Lancer | Highest score: 219 million
Plasma Lancer... Pretty much one of the bullet points I provided above is it's a "Jack of all trades but a master of none." And I do mean it. While it has that random factor in its range and trajectory bends. It's miniscule and wouldn't make much of a difference. Despite this being the "default" weapon of blue revolver. It has specific things that have to be kept at the back of the player's mind. Positioning is important. Because the plasma lancer slows down later on or if it hits the target. And when that happens, it will stay as a lingering hitbox on the enemy. Thats when it deals the most amount of damage. You could also say that enemy size matters. But despite that, damage is where it lacks. This could be solved by weakening the enemies but there are situations where you could get more score by having more damage. A scenario that can act as the barometer is how many bombs are you gonna use during stage 5 1st midboss? As far as I have tested. Plasma Lancer has to use 3. 2 bombs is the default, and 1 bomb is weapons with phenomenal damage. Still, Plasma Lancer is a great weapon that doesn't seem to have major downsides except for the damage maybe. The perk causes bombs to generate 30% more ammo. Which is actually somewhat useful. Even more useful in Normal mode as during the final boss you can milk the final pattern with all the remaining resources you got.
8th: Dee | Pierce Lancer | Highest score: 216 million
While Dee's main shot lacks in damage. She sure has the hardest hitting weapons. And I'm sure some of you Hyper mode clearers know what the pierce lancer is capable of... It shoots in bursts. But my god those bursts. They deal TONS of damage. That is this weapon's selling point. There are a lot of applications I want to try on this weapon because of its absurd damage and piercing aspect. If you have read as far as this entry, you might have noticed how important damage is for scoring in Double Action. When this weapon has the best consistent damage you know it's capable of some psychotic strategies. It does have some weaknesses though. A burst of lancers costs 12 ammo. And it fires in bursts. There is a small pause between the bursts. This can retard your flourishes sometimes. So meticulously planning the flourishes is advised. I don't think the perk needs to be noted in here as it doesn't seem to make a big difference in damage, but its better than the buckler's perk
. All in all, it saddens me that I see this weapon used as a survival tool more than a scoring tool. The potential is there.
7th: Val | Stasis Field | Highest score: 218 million
From this point forward I'd argue that the weapons are pretty close in their capabilities. So some placements are interchangeable.
One of the hardest weapons to master, and a defensive weapon too. It would be a deservice to call this a defensive weapon though. In the right situations it can deal a large chunk of damage that can rival the pierce lancer. It's applications are also freeform. You can do so many things with it. That is because of how the weapon release works. The direction of the release is dynamic. You can change the direction mid-release and do some creative flourishes. The stage is a canvas and you are free to turn the screen all glitter. In addition, it bypasses the pattern bonus penalty. If you use the weapon. You will still get a perfect bonus during boss patterns. It can give up to 250k extra even when using the weapon in some situations such as the stage 5 midbosses. Plus you get to freely speedkill some boss patterns you despise. The perk is among the best in the game. Extends are 10% cheaper to get. So more padding for bomb restocks. A major setback for this weapon is its tough early game. Rank management is a must, otherwise it will lack in coverage and damage. There is also its ammo cost. The more you hold, the more it consumes. and the release costs 10. But it also can still be used even if the ammo is less than 10 units. But you will have to be fast otherwise it will deplete. So yes. Ammo management is important.
Plasma Lancer... Pretty much one of the bullet points I provided above is it's a "Jack of all trades but a master of none." And I do mean it. While it has that random factor in its range and trajectory bends. It's miniscule and wouldn't make much of a difference. Despite this being the "default" weapon of blue revolver. It has specific things that have to be kept at the back of the player's mind. Positioning is important. Because the plasma lancer slows down later on or if it hits the target. And when that happens, it will stay as a lingering hitbox on the enemy. Thats when it deals the most amount of damage. You could also say that enemy size matters. But despite that, damage is where it lacks. This could be solved by weakening the enemies but there are situations where you could get more score by having more damage. A scenario that can act as the barometer is how many bombs are you gonna use during stage 5 1st midboss? As far as I have tested. Plasma Lancer has to use 3. 2 bombs is the default, and 1 bomb is weapons with phenomenal damage. Still, Plasma Lancer is a great weapon that doesn't seem to have major downsides except for the damage maybe. The perk causes bombs to generate 30% more ammo. Which is actually somewhat useful. Even more useful in Normal mode as during the final boss you can milk the final pattern with all the remaining resources you got.
8th: Dee | Pierce Lancer | Highest score: 216 million
While Dee's main shot lacks in damage. She sure has the hardest hitting weapons. And I'm sure some of you Hyper mode clearers know what the pierce lancer is capable of... It shoots in bursts. But my god those bursts. They deal TONS of damage. That is this weapon's selling point. There are a lot of applications I want to try on this weapon because of its absurd damage and piercing aspect. If you have read as far as this entry, you might have noticed how important damage is for scoring in Double Action. When this weapon has the best consistent damage you know it's capable of some psychotic strategies. It does have some weaknesses though. A burst of lancers costs 12 ammo. And it fires in bursts. There is a small pause between the bursts. This can retard your flourishes sometimes. So meticulously planning the flourishes is advised. I don't think the perk needs to be noted in here as it doesn't seem to make a big difference in damage, but its better than the buckler's perk
. All in all, it saddens me that I see this weapon used as a survival tool more than a scoring tool. The potential is there.7th: Val | Stasis Field | Highest score: 218 million
From this point forward I'd argue that the weapons are pretty close in their capabilities. So some placements are interchangeable.
One of the hardest weapons to master, and a defensive weapon too. It would be a deservice to call this a defensive weapon though. In the right situations it can deal a large chunk of damage that can rival the pierce lancer. It's applications are also freeform. You can do so many things with it. That is because of how the weapon release works. The direction of the release is dynamic. You can change the direction mid-release and do some creative flourishes. The stage is a canvas and you are free to turn the screen all glitter. In addition, it bypasses the pattern bonus penalty. If you use the weapon. You will still get a perfect bonus during boss patterns. It can give up to 250k extra even when using the weapon in some situations such as the stage 5 midbosses. Plus you get to freely speedkill some boss patterns you despise. The perk is among the best in the game. Extends are 10% cheaper to get. So more padding for bomb restocks. A major setback for this weapon is its tough early game. Rank management is a must, otherwise it will lack in coverage and damage. There is also its ammo cost. The more you hold, the more it consumes. and the release costs 10. But it also can still be used even if the ammo is less than 10 units. But you will have to be fast otherwise it will deplete. So yes. Ammo management is important.
6th to 4th
6th: Mae | Hyper Laser | Highest score: 224 million
My personal favorite weapon. But I won't let my bias get the better of me. The perk increases its focus shot power. Which is pretty smart considering that this weapon is all muscles. I think mae's laser varient is the black sheep of Blue Revolver because its powerful but cannot ZF at all. In addition, it has a pointblank hitbox which is the anticipation bullet. It costs no ammo when used, which is why mae laser doesnt really bother much with ammo management. With solid routing and some balls, the player can do a lot with it. The speed at which it deletes anything in its way is impressive. So it arguably has the best version of the stage 3 midboss suicide strategy. It can also do the 2nd midboss of stage 5 with 1 bomb. It can do the large boat break with no bombs. etc etc. Gotta mention it once again, in Double Action. Damage is king. It does suffer from restricted movement when firing the laser though. But its not that bad really. Watching a mae laser aficionado do work is a sight to behold and I highly recommend watching some replays. Also a tidbit I would like to add: I personally think this weapon is the best in classic ruleset because of all the reasons I stated above. Especially since perks are removed in classic but main shot damage is increased. its almost like mae laser didn't lose its perk!
5th: Val | Cluster Missile | Highest score: 222 million
Ladies and gentlemen. I present to you, one of the coolest subweapons in all of shmups. So cool there is a variant for each character. This is a missile that is shot from the back of the ship then travels forward and starts exploding on impact. the explosion as the name implies, is a cluster of explosions. It stays there active on screen and deals damage to surrounding enemies. Now this ain't the broken cluster missile from the original game. The damage has been gutted and you can only have 2 missiles on screen. On the bright side, the fire rate was increased. This turned it into a high risk high reward weapon where commitment is important. The missile will explode at a specific spot on the screen for a while so you gotta know routes. So that makes it among the hardest weapons to master. Especially since it needs something to hit for it to explode. Now these cluster missiles are categorized as Finesse weapons. What differentiates them from defensive and offensive weapons is that their perk is flourish related. Val's cluster perk increases flourish duration. It can sort of mess you up if you're used to other weapon routes. But its worth learning. Pretty much, some weapons play a different game such as stasis field. This one is no different. And other cluster missiles too. It does suffer from lack of damage when it comes to doing those 8 hit bullet cancel tricks during stage 5. Especially the 1st midboss. I think my pb bombs 3 times. Still I think its strong consistent ZF's is what makes this weapon very strong.
4th: Dee | Fractal Salvo | Highest score: 224 million
This weapon used to hold the parallel world record. In the right hands a deadly weapon. But that aside. Coverage + splash + reliable damage. Need I say more? While it is ammo-hungry(12 ammo per volley), the minigame in this weapon is to flourish the most amount of enemies with 1 volley. This makes the ammo you spend way more worth it. Some high HP enemies you gotta weaken to get with 1 volley which is cool. The strongest aspect to this weapon is how instant it is. A quick and destructive weapon is PERFECT for stage 5. Which is the most lucrative stage. So you can just imagine how much score it can produce out of that. The perk allows it to refill ammo after a stage clear. This is a solid perk in my opinion. It allows such a costly weapon to always start a stage at full ammo. Meaning that players won't run into any ammo problems. Other than ammo issues players might face, it has a position reliant ZF. Misposition a bit and you will ruin a potential flourish.
My personal favorite weapon. But I won't let my bias get the better of me. The perk increases its focus shot power. Which is pretty smart considering that this weapon is all muscles. I think mae's laser varient is the black sheep of Blue Revolver because its powerful but cannot ZF at all. In addition, it has a pointblank hitbox which is the anticipation bullet. It costs no ammo when used, which is why mae laser doesnt really bother much with ammo management. With solid routing and some balls, the player can do a lot with it. The speed at which it deletes anything in its way is impressive. So it arguably has the best version of the stage 3 midboss suicide strategy. It can also do the 2nd midboss of stage 5 with 1 bomb. It can do the large boat break with no bombs. etc etc. Gotta mention it once again, in Double Action. Damage is king. It does suffer from restricted movement when firing the laser though. But its not that bad really. Watching a mae laser aficionado do work is a sight to behold and I highly recommend watching some replays. Also a tidbit I would like to add: I personally think this weapon is the best in classic ruleset because of all the reasons I stated above. Especially since perks are removed in classic but main shot damage is increased. its almost like mae laser didn't lose its perk!
5th: Val | Cluster Missile | Highest score: 222 million
Ladies and gentlemen. I present to you, one of the coolest subweapons in all of shmups. So cool there is a variant for each character. This is a missile that is shot from the back of the ship then travels forward and starts exploding on impact. the explosion as the name implies, is a cluster of explosions. It stays there active on screen and deals damage to surrounding enemies. Now this ain't the broken cluster missile from the original game. The damage has been gutted and you can only have 2 missiles on screen. On the bright side, the fire rate was increased. This turned it into a high risk high reward weapon where commitment is important. The missile will explode at a specific spot on the screen for a while so you gotta know routes. So that makes it among the hardest weapons to master. Especially since it needs something to hit for it to explode. Now these cluster missiles are categorized as Finesse weapons. What differentiates them from defensive and offensive weapons is that their perk is flourish related. Val's cluster perk increases flourish duration. It can sort of mess you up if you're used to other weapon routes. But its worth learning. Pretty much, some weapons play a different game such as stasis field. This one is no different. And other cluster missiles too. It does suffer from lack of damage when it comes to doing those 8 hit bullet cancel tricks during stage 5. Especially the 1st midboss. I think my pb bombs 3 times. Still I think its strong consistent ZF's is what makes this weapon very strong.
4th: Dee | Fractal Salvo | Highest score: 224 million
This weapon used to hold the parallel world record. In the right hands a deadly weapon. But that aside. Coverage + splash + reliable damage. Need I say more? While it is ammo-hungry(12 ammo per volley), the minigame in this weapon is to flourish the most amount of enemies with 1 volley. This makes the ammo you spend way more worth it. Some high HP enemies you gotta weaken to get with 1 volley which is cool. The strongest aspect to this weapon is how instant it is. A quick and destructive weapon is PERFECT for stage 5. Which is the most lucrative stage. So you can just imagine how much score it can produce out of that. The perk allows it to refill ammo after a stage clear. This is a solid perk in my opinion. It allows such a costly weapon to always start a stage at full ammo. Meaning that players won't run into any ammo problems. Other than ammo issues players might face, it has a position reliant ZF. Misposition a bit and you will ruin a potential flourish.
3rd to 1st
3rd: Val | Hyper Laser | Highest score: 229 million
Every time a new player asks me about scoring I point to Val's laser variant. It teaches new players how and why ZF's work the way they do. In addition, its a weapon that somewhat has it all. Damage, coverage, and fair ammo consumption. Just like mae laser's perk. She gets a damage boost on her unfocused shot this time. The laser does have a down time, the way it works is when activating the laser. It stays active for almost a second(more than a second if pointblank with anticipation bullet). Then turns off for a while. So its not a spam weapon at all. Can probably do 3 lasers within 1 flourish. But 3 laser uses is more than enough to decimate the hole screen as unlike mae laser. it's movement isn't restricted so it can sweep the screen freely.
2nd: Dee | Cluster Missile | Highest score: 232 million
Dee's cluster missile shares a lot of properties with Val's cluster missile. The cluster size, the perk, and the restrictions. But there is one minor difference that many overlook. This cluster variant explodes after a set distance. No impact needed. On one hand, the commitment is higher risk, on the other. Its a set up monster. Resourceful is a great way to describe it, because you can always shoot a missile to the left, a missile to the right and that can save a bomb for you. I'll be honest it has almost no low-height presence because of how it explodes. So ZF'ing into flourishing fast is key to obtaining a chain for the next flourish and not missing much enemies. Stages that have a faster autoscrolling tend to fuck with both val and dee cluster sometimes. Because the explosion keeps up with the autoscroll, not with the stage position if that makes sense to you. I personally think Dee's cluster might feel easier to use than Val's. But both have different types of commitments. Super fascinating comparing and contrasting both and I would love to see both weapons taken to their absolute limits.
1st: Mae | Cluster Missile | Highest score: 241 million
Mae's cluster is a cut above the rest. Mae's ship has a solid shot. Yes, it lacks coverage. But the damage is there and it helps in clearing patterns faster. So the missile itself is a fantastic compliment to mae's aggressive style. The difference in her variant are noticeable. smaller ammo consumption(4 ammo units), Faster firerate, much shorter cluster explosions, and no limit in how much you can shoot. The most drastic difference is its perk. Instead of increasing flourish duration, it improves flourish extension. Flourish extension happens when the player uses the weapon to flourish enemies. Extending the flourish a bit. Subsequent flourish extensions become less and less effective so that the flourish doesn't stay forever. That's how the system was designed. Mae's cluster missile breaks the mold though. The flourish extensions never fall off. Meaning that each and every enemy extends the flourish timer by 0.1 seconds. Now think of a scenario where you enter flourish mode and with one missile you flourish about 10 zakos. With 1 missile use you just extended the flourish timer by 1 second. Sounds absurd right? It's ZF is flexible. Having a vertical and a horizontal presence all the same. It's also versatile and capable with some of the harder tricks in the game such as the mythical stage 3 boss 8 hit cancel and getting the earliest enemy spawn after stage 5 1st midboss. Despite being the apex of scoring. It can have some jank moments such as the missile missing the targets or the missile exploding above the enemy because of enemy movements and such. Still many of those are avoidable. Again, this weapon has it all. And it can be fully utilized with practice. As of now, this weapon holds the world record on all game modes(except classic ruleset).
Every time a new player asks me about scoring I point to Val's laser variant. It teaches new players how and why ZF's work the way they do. In addition, its a weapon that somewhat has it all. Damage, coverage, and fair ammo consumption. Just like mae laser's perk. She gets a damage boost on her unfocused shot this time. The laser does have a down time, the way it works is when activating the laser. It stays active for almost a second(more than a second if pointblank with anticipation bullet). Then turns off for a while. So its not a spam weapon at all. Can probably do 3 lasers within 1 flourish. But 3 laser uses is more than enough to decimate the hole screen as unlike mae laser. it's movement isn't restricted so it can sweep the screen freely.
2nd: Dee | Cluster Missile | Highest score: 232 million
Dee's cluster missile shares a lot of properties with Val's cluster missile. The cluster size, the perk, and the restrictions. But there is one minor difference that many overlook. This cluster variant explodes after a set distance. No impact needed. On one hand, the commitment is higher risk, on the other. Its a set up monster. Resourceful is a great way to describe it, because you can always shoot a missile to the left, a missile to the right and that can save a bomb for you. I'll be honest it has almost no low-height presence because of how it explodes. So ZF'ing into flourishing fast is key to obtaining a chain for the next flourish and not missing much enemies. Stages that have a faster autoscrolling tend to fuck with both val and dee cluster sometimes. Because the explosion keeps up with the autoscroll, not with the stage position if that makes sense to you. I personally think Dee's cluster might feel easier to use than Val's. But both have different types of commitments. Super fascinating comparing and contrasting both and I would love to see both weapons taken to their absolute limits.
1st: Mae | Cluster Missile | Highest score: 241 million
Mae's cluster is a cut above the rest. Mae's ship has a solid shot. Yes, it lacks coverage. But the damage is there and it helps in clearing patterns faster. So the missile itself is a fantastic compliment to mae's aggressive style. The difference in her variant are noticeable. smaller ammo consumption(4 ammo units), Faster firerate, much shorter cluster explosions, and no limit in how much you can shoot. The most drastic difference is its perk. Instead of increasing flourish duration, it improves flourish extension. Flourish extension happens when the player uses the weapon to flourish enemies. Extending the flourish a bit. Subsequent flourish extensions become less and less effective so that the flourish doesn't stay forever. That's how the system was designed. Mae's cluster missile breaks the mold though. The flourish extensions never fall off. Meaning that each and every enemy extends the flourish timer by 0.1 seconds. Now think of a scenario where you enter flourish mode and with one missile you flourish about 10 zakos. With 1 missile use you just extended the flourish timer by 1 second. Sounds absurd right? It's ZF is flexible. Having a vertical and a horizontal presence all the same. It's also versatile and capable with some of the harder tricks in the game such as the mythical stage 3 boss 8 hit cancel and getting the earliest enemy spawn after stage 5 1st midboss. Despite being the apex of scoring. It can have some jank moments such as the missile missing the targets or the missile exploding above the enemy because of enemy movements and such. Still many of those are avoidable. Again, this weapon has it all. And it can be fully utilized with practice. As of now, this weapon holds the world record on all game modes(except classic ruleset).
If you go to options > gameplay > ruleset. You can change it from Double Action to Classic. Both have their own respective leaderboards because they have some differences in how some of the games mechanics work. Keep in mind that it is not 1 to 1 the same as OG blue revolver. As the ship and weapon balancing will remain the same for the most part. So Val cluster missile won't be overpowered and you can play as Dee for example. Here are some aspects of the Classic ruleset:
- main shot damage increased.
- bomb invincibility increased. In addition the chain stall starts depleting the moment the bomb kills an enemy.
- Extend milestones are the same as OG Blue Revolver.
- Normal: 5,000,000 > 10,000,000 > 20,000,000 > 30,000,000
- Hyper: 5,000,000 > 15,000,000 > 25,000,000 > 50,000,000
- Parallel: every 15,000,000
- Entering flourish mode without killing an enemy will stall the timer briefly. Allowing for some bridges/links to be more consistent.
- Flourish duration is half the duration of DA flourish.
- Weapon perks aren't present.
- Shmup.wiki page: https://shmups.wiki/library/Blue_Revolver
- Video covering the tierlist(old tierlist but still useful): https://youtu.be/dHSYuqHl4I0
- What is a Zero Flourish? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q0bZ45-m ... ture=share
- How all zero flourishes are performed: https://youtu.be/hdzuJEde-bs
- Parallel 1cc guide by me: https://youtu.be/MCdhqn_F4FU
