Returnal Weapons Guide - All Weapons, Traits, Alt-Fire Modes

Returnal is a combat-heavy game and because of that, weapons play an important role in the game. Depending on your personal preferences, you can choose between a decent variety of weapons in the game ranging from small pistols to shotguns that can be further improved in the game as you continue to master their traits. Each weapon in the game also comes with an Alt-Fire mode as well. We have curated this Returnal Weapons Guide in which we have not only listed all weapons that are found in the game but also all of the Alt-Fire modes and weapon traits that you can find in the game.

Weapons Guide – Returnal

Our Returnal Weapons Guide details everything that you need to know about unlocking and using all of the weapons in the game.

All Weapons In Returnal

Despite being a combat-heavy game, Returnal only comes with ten base weapons that you will find randomly in the game. There is no fixed location for a weapon in the game since it is a roguelike, and everything is procedurally generated in the game however some weapons often appear in various areas pretty consistently so they are detailed below. Depending on your luck, you can find them in any different area as well. Below, you will find all ten base weapons found in Returnal along with their descriptions.

Weapon	Description	Possible First Encounter Location
Atropian Blade	The Atropian Blade is the game’s only melee weapon and you never lose it after acquiring it. This is excellent for stunning enemies and killing off smaller enemies with a single hit.	Overgrown Ruins
Coilspine Shredder	Coilspine Shredder shoots discs that bounce off enemies and surfaces and can deal damage to multiple enemies. You can charge them up as well by holding down the trigger. Charing them up makes them more powerful. It is a good long-range weapon.	Echoing Ruins
Dreadbound	Dreadbound fires deadly boomerangs that return back to the weapon. The damage depends on your distance from the enemy and the closer you are to the enemy, the higher amount of damage you deal with the enemy. Since technically, you are not reloading the weapon, it has no Overload like all the other weapons of the game.	Fractured Wastes
Electropylon Driver	This could be a Wattson from Apex Legends that you can put in your pocket because this weapon shoots pylons that stick to surfaces and enemies and then uses energy transfer between other pylons to deal damage to enemies that come in their range. Once their energy depletes, they disappear from the scene.	Echoing Ruins
Hollowseeker	Hollowseeker is an assault rifle with a really high rate of fire and can kill monsters rather easily with its long to medium range combat effectiveness	Crimson Wastes
Modified Sidearm SD-M8	This is your starting weapon in the game and all of your runs begin with the Modified Sidearm SD-M8 equipped. Tapping the fire button quickly results in an inaccurate, high rate of fire but pressing down the trigger results in a slower but steadier rate of fire.	You have it by default
Pyroshell Caster	You can consider this as a sticky grenade launcher because the projectiles that the Pyroshell Caster shoots, stick to enemies and explode in a fiery manner. It is most effective at medium range	Abyssal Scar
Rotgland Lobber	Rotgland Lobber is a useful weapon in the game because it fires acid blobs at enemies and acid can deal damage to enemies over time. You can adjust the range of the blobs by holding down the trigger and releasing it to shoot at your desired location	Overgrown Ruins
Spitmaw Blaster	Spitmaw Blaster is a shotgun and it is best for close range to medium range combat scenarios. Each fire has a widespread which makes it really deadly for close-range kills	Overgrown Ruins
Tachyomatic Carbine	It is a long to medium range assault rifle and fires alien energy rounds at a high rate of speed however short burst fires are more accurate.	Overgrown Ruins
Thermogenic Launcher	The Thermogenic Launcher is a rocket launcher and it fires slow but extremely powerful projectiles at enemies that explode on contact. This is however a rather ineffective weapon because after three shots it requires a cooldown before you can use it again	Derelict Citadel

Alt-Fire Mode

All of the weapons in Returnal come with an Alt-Fire mode apart from the Atropian Blade. Depending on your controller scheme choice, you can either press the L2 key fully to use the weapon’s Alt-Fire mode or simply press the button that you have custom assigned to it. The Alt-Fire options are detailed in the table below. Each gun will come with a varied Alt-Fire mode depending on your luck. These are not locked to a specific weapon.

Alt-Fire Mode	Description
Blast Shell	Fires a powerful explosive that explodes on impact
Doombringer	Fires a large energy projectile that damages as it goes along its trajectory and finally detonates. You can charge it up to its increase its power
Horizontal Barrage	Fires a volley of projectiles along a horizontal path
Killsight	Allows you to zoom in and hit the enemy’s weakspots for extra damage like a sniper
Proximity Mine	Fires a proximity mine at your desired location that only explodes when an enemy comes near it
Shockstream	Fires a continuous stream of electricity dealing damage to anything that comes in its path
Tendrilpod	Fires a pod that gets attached to surfaces and explodes into multiple tendrils that deal damage on impact
Trackerswarm	Fires a volley of homing insectoids
Vertical Barrage	Fires a volley of projectiles along a vertical path
Voidbeam	Fires a continuous energy beam on an enemy that deals additional damage the longer you keep it on enemies

Weapon Traits

Each of the weapons in the game also comes with different Traits that you must level up in order to make them more effective. Leveling up these Traits is really simple because all you need to do is keep using the trait until it levels up. Along with this, you may also find a weapon later in the game that comes with a higher trait than the one in your hand however this is only possible only after you have mastered a weapon. A weapon can also have multiple traits. We have detailed all of the weapon traits below:

Weapon Name	Possible Traits
Coilspine Shredder	· Alt-Fire Cooling · Enhanced Charge · Negating Discs · Enlarged Chamber · Retarget · Splitting Discs · Twin Discs · Shattering Discs · Adrenaline Discs
Dreadbound	· Returning Damage · Expanding Shards · Obolite Magnet · Fourth Shard
Electropylon Driver	· Silphium Extractor · Obolite Extractor · Blade Harmoniser · Streamlined Chamber · Pylon Web · Enlarged Chamber · Finisher
Hollowseeker	· Split Stream · Phasing Rounds · Waves · Serrated Projectiles · Shrapnel · Portal Beam · Retarget
Modified Sidearm SD-M8	· Burst Fire · Charging Shot · Homing Missile · Piercing · Ricochet · Serrated Projectiles · Shrapnel · Snubnose Barrel
Pyroshell Caster	· Streamlined Chamber · Bouncy Projectiles · Sticky Bonus
Rotgland Lobber	· Bouncing Rot · Trailing Rot · Durable Rot · Caustic Rot · Enlarged Chamber · Protective Rot · Portal Rot
Spitmaw Blaster	· Slug Shot · Rapid Spitter · Wide Maw · Narrow Maw · Critical Stagger · Backsplash · Explosive Spit · Acid Clouds
Tachyomatic Carbine	· Hyper-Accurate · Armour Piercing · High Calibre · Rising Pitch · Payload Rounds · Critical Hit · Hardened · Leech Rounds
Thermogenic Launcher	· Enlarged Chamber · Easy to Use · Obolite Magnet · Tail Fire · Replicating Hits · Mega Rocket · Full Auto · Critical Rockets