Primary Weapons (ES2)

For primary weapons in Everspace, see Equipment.

Primary Weapons are an equipment type in Everspace 2 that are the 'primary' source of damage against enemies. Each equipped primary weapon has its own energy pool. Most specialize in either kinetic or energy damage, but some are more general-purpose. Most primary weapons have alternate or unique variants which can be found on their respective pages.

Primary weapon stats[ | ]

Several stats of primary weapons scale exponentially with item level (including bonus levels from rarities and prefixes). See below for exponential bases which apply to these stats.

Kinetic DPS: Represents the overall effectiveness of the weapon against armor hitpoints. Derived from kinetic damage, fire rate, and any applicable charge stats.
Energy DPS: Represents the overall effectiveness of the weapon against shield hitpoints. Derived from energy damage, fire rate, and any applicable charge stats.
Range: The maximum distance at which the weapon can be fired for effect.
- For projectile weapons, this is the maximum travel distance of each shot.
- For hitscan weapons, this is the maximum distance at which the weapon is capable of dealing damage.
Kinetic Damage: The ability of a single volley to deplete armor hitpoints.
Energy Damage: The ability of a single volley to deplete shield hitpoints.
- For synchronous weapons, the weakest possible discharge from all primary weapon hardpoints is a volley. Displayed damage is based on firing volleys from 2 hardpoints.
  - Volley size (and, by extension, synchronous weapon damage) increases above the displayed value by 50% for each additional hardpoint.
- For asynchronous weapons, the discharge from 1 hardpoint is a volley.
- For all primary weapons, both types of damage scale with item level by an exponential base of 1.13 (adds 13% of the current values when item level increases by 1).
Fire Rate: Represents the minimum delay between consecutive volleys from the weapon.
- For charge weapons, this represents the time after firing a volley which must elapse before the player can begin to charge another volley.
- For asynchronous weapons, displayed fire rate is based on firing alternating volleys from 2 hardpoints (i.e. fire rate of a single hardpoint is 50% of displayed fire rate).
  - Fire rate (and, by extension, asynchronous weapon damage) increases above the displayed value by 50% for each additional hardpoint.
Damage Radius: Applicable only to explosive weapons, this is the maximum range at which enemies near the projectile's detonation location will take damage.
Charge Damage Increase: Applicable only to charge weapons, this is the ratio between the damage of a fully-charged volley to that of a minimally-charged volley.
Energy Capacity: The size of the weapon's energy pool which is filled by the ship's energy core and used to power weapon hardpoints. The amount of weapon energy remaining in this pool is displayed on the third-person heads-up display via a gauge on the right side of the aim reticle.
- For all primary weapons, energy capacity starts at 100.0 at Level 1 Common and scales with item level by an exponential base of 1.16.
Energy Consumption: The overall rate at which the weapon's energy pool drains during sustained fire. Displayed consumption is based on sustaining 2 hardpoints.
- For charge weapons, this is the rate at which weapon energy is drained while charging a volley. Displayed consumption is based on charging 2 hardpoints.
- For all primary weapons, energy consumption scales with item level by an exponential base of 1.14.
  - Powering more than 2 hardpoints further increases consumption above the displayed value by 50% for each additional hardpoint.

Hidden Stats[ | ]

Charge Duration: The time required for a charge weapon to fully charge a volley. Reduced by the Swift prefix.
Ramp-up Duration: The time required for a ramp-up weapon to begin firing from a standstill. Reduced by the Swift prefix.
Spread: Represents the maximum level of deviation from the center of the aim reticle or auto-aim target. Reduced by the Calibrated prefix.
- When a primary weapon overheats but does not show a red stat in its tooltip, this hidden stat is usually what is being degraded.
Projectile Velocity: Applicable only to projectile weapons, this is the speed at which shots travel toward the target. Increased by the High-velocity prefix.
Projectiles Per Shot: Applicable only to Scatter Guns variants, this is how many projectiles a base volley will shoot.
Projectiles When Charged: Applicable only to charging scatter gun variants, this is how many projectiles a fully charged volley will shoot in addition to the base projectiles.

Primary weapons also generate with a random projectile/beam color, which is purely aesthetic and cannot be changed without acquiring a different weapon of the same type with a different color.

List of primary weapon types[ | ]

Primary Weapon Prefixes[ | ]

For more information, see Prefixes or Weapons for universal prefixes.

Calibrated (Projectile Weapons): Reduces projectile spread by 50%.
Efficient (Primary Weapons): Reduces energy consumption by 20%.
High-velocity (Projectile Weapons): Increases projectile velocity by 20%.
Rapid (Non-Continuous Weapons): Increases fire rate (and, by extension, energy consumption rate) by 20%.
Swift (Charge/Ramp-Up Weapons): Reduces charge or ramp-up duration by 30%.
Sustained (Primary Weapons): Increases energy capacity by 30%.

Primary Weapon Modifiers[ | ]

For more information, see Modifiers or Weapons for universal modifiers.

Common-Pool Modifiers[ | ]

+10% experience per kill.
10% chance to regenerate 20% of the kinetic damage dealt as hull hitpoints with each hit.
10% chance to regenerate 20% of hull hitpoints with each kill.
10% of kinetic damage bypasses the shield.
10% of energy damage bypasses the armor.
- Exception: Enforcers cannot generate with this modifier as they are unable to inflict energy damage.
10% increased damage against armor.
Killing an enemy temporarily increases this weapon's damage by 1% up to 25% for 8 seconds
Killing an enemy with this weapon has a 10% chance to refill your currently equipped secondary weapon by 1
2% increased energy recharge rate for each enemy within 500m

Type-Specific Modifiers[ | ]

X% chance to disable the target's shield for 2 seconds with each hit.
- 10% for Rail Guns, 5% for Coil Guns and Gauss Cannons
X% chance with each hit to deal corrosion damage for 3 seconds.
- 5% for Rail Guns, 3% for Flaks, 2% for Pulse Lasers and Scatter Guns
2% chance to jam the target's weapon system with each hit for 2 seconds. (Pulse Lasers only)
X% chance to slow target by 50% with each hit for 3 seconds.
- 5% for Rail Guns, 3% for Flaks, 2% for Pulse Lasers and Scatter Guns
X% chance for each shot to increase all damage dealt to the target's hull by 100% for 5s.
- 3% for Rail Guns, 1% for Pulse Lasers
After 10 non-critical hits, the chance of critical hits is increased by 20% until a critical hit is made. (Pulse Lasers only)
Damage is increased by 10% every second fire is held up to a maximum of 100%. (Autocannons only)
[10% at Level 1 Common] chance to mine an additional resource with every resource mined. (Beam Lasers only without a Mining catalyst)
- This modifier's effect scales exponentially with item level by an exponential base of 1.05 (increases by 5% of its current value when item level goes up by 1).
[20% at Level 1 Common] increased chance to extract higher rarity resources when mining. (Beam Lasers only without a Mining catalyst)
- This modifier's effect scales with item level by an exponential base of 1.07.
Refund [10% at Level 1 Common] weapon energy with every resource mined. (Beam Lasers only without a Mining catalyst)
- This modifier's effect scales with item level by an exponential base of 1.04.
20% chance to reflect the shot to enemies closer than 500m (Pulse Laser, Blaster, Thermo Gun, Flak)
10% chance for each hit to deal its damage as area damage in a 200m radius (Pulse Laser, Blaster, Thermo Gun)
5% chance to drop credits with each hit (Projectile Weapons, except Scatter Gun)
The last shot before running out of energy deals 500% more damage, can only occur once every 5 seconds (Flak, Pulse Laser)

Primary weapon comparison[ | ]

For comparison purposes, an item level of 1.0 (level 1 common) is assumed for all primary weapon variants.

Weapon Variant	Type	Pattern	Kinetic DPS	Energy DPS	Fire Rate (/s)	Range (m)	Energy Consumption (/s)	Value (Credits)
Autocannon	Projectile	Async	72	18	18.0	1150	9.2	~23.1
Decimator	Projectile	Async	83	28	10.0	1200	16.8	~23.1
Rattler	Projectile	Async	64	16	16.0	1300	10	~24.2
Final Reckoning	Projectile	Async	76	18	20	1300	17.0
Beam Laser	Hitscan	Sync	30	30	---	1300	16.8	19.8
Disintegrator	Hitscan	Sync	38	38	---	1400	19.8	30.8
RGBeam Laser	Hitscan	Sync	28	28	---	1300	8.9
The Pigeon's Stare	Hitscan	Sync	30	30	---	1200	11.24
Blaster	Projectile	Async	36	72	9.0	800	8.4	~23.8
Umbra	Projectile	Async	41	82	10.0	900	10.8	~23.8
Coil Gun	Hitscan	Async	40	30	5.0	2000	15.6	26.4
Judge	Hitscan	Sync (Burst)	?	?	2.0	1800	14	~26.33
Prime Zapper	Hitscan	Sync	38	48	2.5	1700	18	26.4
Equalizer	Hitscan	Async	52	26	6.5	1600	17.0	26.4
Devotion	Hitscan	Sync	81	104	1.3	1700	18
Flak	Projectile	Async	35	17	1.4	2200	12.0	~25.3
Penumbra	Projectile	Async	40	18	2.0	1900	14.0	~25.3
Crimson Sun	Projectile	Async	29	15.5	1.1	2000	16.8
Gauss Cannon	Hitscan	Async	53	75	15.0	1200	8.4	~26.4
Eradicator	Hitscan	Async	48	72	8.0	1600	9	~26.33
Shredder	Hitscan	Async	98	53	15.0	900	12	~26.33
Pulse Laser	Projectile	Async	15	55	5.0	1700	8.4	22
Jaeger	Projectile	Async	25	48	5.0	1800	8.4	28.6
Synchro Pulse	Projectile	Sync	21	72	6.0	1500	24.4	26.4
Rail Gun	Hitscan	Charge	16	22	1.8	3500	18.5	24.2
Executioner	Hitscan	Charge	19	21	1.2	2500	17	~24.16
Scatter Gun	Projectile	Charge	119	34	1.8	550	14.8	~18.7
Repeater	Projectile	Async	60	24	6.0	650	26	~24.3
Enforcer	Projectile	Charge	153	0	1.8	550	14.8	22
Thermo Gun	Projectile	Async	12	36	12.0	1500	15	~25.3
Deteriorator	Projectile	Async	16	26	8.0	1400	16	~25.16
Soul Seeker	Projectile	Async	14	36	9.0	1800	18	~25.16