RE4 Remake best weapons: Best handgun, shotgun, SMG, and more

Weapons in Resident Evil 4’s 2023 remake have a bunch of variables you need to consider when picking the “best” one. The base stats of a gun can be very different from a fully tuned version with the Exclusive upgrade unlocked. If you want to breeze through RE4, you’ll need the best guns in the game, and we’re here to help with that.

We’re listing the best weapons for each of the main types: handguns, shotguns, rifles, submachine guns, magnums, and knives. It’s not just about power, but handling and efficiency, too. We’ll be taking everything into account to nail down the very best weapons that you can use in Resident Evil 4 Remake — we’re excluding Deluxe Edition and post-game unlockables to make this list more useful for all first-time players, but there will still be some mild spoilers ahead.

Remember that you can freely upgrade your weapons, and you’ll get all of your money back if you decide to sell your gun to purchase another. There’s no downside to experimenting.

Best Handgun – RE4 Remake

If this was just about power alone, the choice would obviously be the Red9. The max power of the Red9 is 2.7, and the Exclusive unlock gives a 1.5x power boost, resulting in just over 4.0 power total. It’s the most powerful handgun, for sure, but it’s not compatible with the laser sight, and it handles more awkwardly than other handguns.

For this reason, we’re going to split our choice for best handgun into two, depending on your preference. Leon’s starting handgun, the SR-09 R, has a max power of 2.0, but the Exclusive upgrade gives it a 5x critical rate. This can make short work of basic enemies and even bosses, though it’s a less tangible and less predictable reward.

The best handling handgun in RE4 is unquestionably the Blacktail, which has a max power of 2.4 that gets a 1.5x boost with the Exclusive unlock, giving it a true max power of 3.6. This isn’t much weaker than the Red9, while being far more precise and the fastest-firing handgun in the game (excluding the Matilda’s 3-shot mode). If you want predictable power with excellent handling, the Blacktail is the obvious choice.

Best Shotgun – RE4 Remake

The Striker’s massive ammo capacity might make for a tempting Exclusive upgrade, but in reality you’ll rarely be running around with a full clip.

The two main choices are the W-870 that you find early on in the Village, or the Riot Gun you can buy from the Merchant in the Castle. The W-870 has 10.1 max power, and a 2x power boost Exclusive unlock to give you a total of 20.2 power. That’s nothing to sniff at, but the Riot Gun is a better all-rounder.

The Riot Gun’s max power is 12.8, with an Exclusive unlock that gives you a 1.5x power boost, capping out at 19.2. That’s very comparable to the W-870, but the Riot Gun comes with two extra rounds in the chamber and a higher rate of fire, totally making up for the negligible reload speed decrease. The Riot Gun is easily the best shotgun you can use in your first RE4 playthrough.

Best Rifle – RE4 Remake

Let’s just ignore the CQBR Assault Rifle, because it’ll eat through rifle ammo that other weapons can use more effectively.

This is a choice between overall power and handling. If you find yourself running low on rifle ammo often, you should probably go with power and be selective with your shots. If that’s you, then you should roll with the SR M1903. This a bolt-action rifle, forcing you to reset your view between each shot, but it has a max power of 5.3 with an Exclusive unlock that boosts powers by 2x, giving you a true max power of 10.6. This is the highest power-per-shot you can get with any rifle in the game.

If it being bolt-action is a deal breaker, you will probably gravitate toward the Stingray. This semi-automatic rifle has twice the effective firing rate and holds much more ammo. It has a humble 4.9 max power, and in this case, the Exclusive upgrade doubles the rate of fire. This means it can fire three – almost four – times before the SR M1903 can be ready to fire its second round, and that’s when fully upgraded. If you have a bit of extra ammo to spend, the Stingray can quickly pop off loads of foes from a distance easily.

Best Submachine Gun (SMG) – RE4 Remake

Ignoring the post-game’s Chicago Sweeper, your choices here are between the familiar TMP, and the remake’s new LE 5.

Again, your choice here depends on what role the SMG plays in your gameplay. If you use the SMG as a precise weapon to set up melee attacks, your choice should be the TMP, and if you use it to rapidly fire at a crowd of foes, you should choose the LE 5.

The TMP has a max power of 1.1 and an Exclusive upgrade that boosts it by 1.5x to 1.65. That’s the highest power you’ll get from an SMG on your first playthrough, making it great for setting up melee strikes without using the more precious handgun ammo. Meanwhile, the LE 5 has a max power of 1.2, and the Exclusive upgrade allows its bullets to penetrate up to five targets. This makes it unquestionably incredible for dealing with crowds of enemies, as each bullet can hit five foes, which you could argue multiplies the potential max power.

Best Magnum – RE4 Remake

Again, if you want nothing more than the maximum amount of power you can extract from each weapon, then your choice here is clear: the Broken Butterfly packs more power than any other weapon available on your first playthrough. Its max power is 27 – which is already huge – and its Exclusive upgrade offers a 1.5x power boost, bringing it up to 40.5. Almost any enemy that gets hit with this will be blown away, but the ammo is frustratingly rare.

But like the best handguns, there is a compelling alternative. The Killer7 packs a max power of 28, and the Exclusive upgrade boosts the critical rate by 5x. The Broken Butterfly is overkill for any standard enemy, but the critical rate boost on the Killer7 – combined with a handy built-in laser sight – makes it fearsome even against the game’s biggest bosses. If you want a weapon to only pull out when a boss has you cornered, this is the one.

Best Knife – RE4 Remake

Alternate knives are new to RE4’s remake, and there are three to choose from — though one isn’t available until Chapter 14, and the other only unlocks when you find all Clockwork Castellans. Yikes.

The Primal Knife might be the best, but it’s incredibly unlikely that you’ll unlock it over the course of your first playthrough — and even then, it won’t unlock until the very last section of the game.

The Fighting Knife you get from Krauser in Chapter 14 is the most powerful, with a 1.8 max power, and a 2x power boost from the Exclusive upgrade, capping out at 2.7. Not bad at all for a knife, though you will spend a majority of your first playthrough with the Combat Knife, which has a max power of 1.0, though the Exclusive upgrade gives it a 1.5x attack speed buff.

Honestly, you should swap to the Fighting Knife at the earliest opportunity, and then the Primal Knife if you manage to unlock it.