Airframe Ultra Weapon Rankings
Beta 2 kills-per-minute is history, not law. Plasma still burns if you manage heat.
You carry one melee, one ranged, one throwable, and one special. Riot shield is the special slot, not melee. Spawns sit on the map, in shops, and on wrecks. This page ranks current betas. The full game is coming soon. Parent: tier list hub. How to fight: combat guide.
How to read Beta 2 kpm
Beta 2 published kills-per-minute as a telemetry snapshot:
| Bucket | Kills per minute |
|---|---|
| Average weapons | 0.82 |
| Ranged weapons | 0.96 |
| Rebar fastener | 0.46 |
| Plasma pistol | 2.01 |
Treat those four numbers as history, not gospel. Later betas changed overheat and arena size. The February 2026 open-beta recap is the newer snapshot: shotgun took about 27% of ranged kills and the blaster about 22%. The rest of the gun pool sat under 10%. Josh, writing after that test, said plasma and minigun were not living up to their old glory, and that the SMG had lost ground to the shotgun’s close-range work. Treat those shares as a playtest recap, not a launch balance promise. The full game is coming soon. Plasma still over-performs when you respect heat. Rebar still under-performs. Everything else is a play-feel rank for mixed circuits, including online PvP, online co-op, and local split-screen. Pickup density on the tracks guide changes the list more than raw damage.
Ranged
S — Plasma pistol, with a heat clause. Slow balls that ignite riders and airframes and leave pools of fire. Alt fire is a lock-on reticle. It overheats around eighteen shots from cold, and around fifty it can set the user on fire. That 2.01 kpm is real and also a trap: dump a mag into the road and you ride through your own pool. Burst, pause, re-burst. Lead the slow balls.
A — Revolver, shotgun, SMG, Kalashnikov, minigun. Revolver rewards distance. Shotgun wins dismounts. SMG and Kalashnikov are the default spray if you cannot find plasma. Minigun suppresses a lane. Blaster is fine as the first gun you see.
C — Rebar fastener. Construction tool, spinning bars, Beta 2 kpm 0.46 — roughly half the ranged average. It looks terrifying and then misses. Pick it when it is free. Do not buy it over plasma, shotgun, or an SMG.
Melee
Heavy body types swing slower and hit harder. Light types swing faster, hit weaker, and can chain-flip. Pair with body types.
S — Katana, chainsaw, beam cutter. Katana deletes unblocked riders and breaks if you keep hitting walls, airframes, or blocked weapons. Chainsaw needs a rev, then it eats anyone in the teeth. Beam cutter slashes, ignites, then alt-fires as a beam gun after you crack the housing on your own airframe. Hold the broken mode too long and it can explode.
A — Chain, sledgehammer, traffic sign, riot stick. Chain wraps, drags, throws; Light riders can chain-flip with it. Sledgehammer is the Heavy-body bike-popper. Traffic sign is awkward to block. Riot stick shares a shock language with EMP grenades.
B — Pipe, bat, crowbar, machete. Everywhere and good enough. Machete can be thrown on alt and still loses to katana. Grab them, then upgrade off a corpse.
Throwables — mostly situational
- Caltrops — scatter, they stick to airframes, then detonate. Strong on chokepoints. Not a default buy.
- EMP grenades — lingering arcs that damage and stun. Strong in packed arenas.
- Molotovs / jerrycan — floor denial, same family as plasma pools.
- Frag, flashbangs, shurikens, cherry bombs, bricks — burst, panic, or style. Do not build a kit around them.
Special slot
Riot shield soaks projectiles so you can walk a gunline. You do not drop your katana to hold it. In current betas, shield is the special you plan around.
Loadout rules that beat the chart
First gun on the floor beats a theoretical S-tier two blocks away. Never drop melee for a second gun. Match the map: caltrops on a funnel, EMP in a pit, plasma when you have space not to self-ignite. Match the bike — Hopper wants fast melee, Cruiser wants a gun that works while you refuse to turn, Vector wants something you can fire between boosts. See the airframe tier list and test the quartet in the loadout planner.
Practice dismount-grab-remount in the downloadable demo (demo notes, controls). Beta 2 kpm is a heat check: plasma far under 2 kpm means you are overheating or shooting the road; rebar above 0.46 means you beat a weak gun, not a secret S-tier. Recheck updates when a patch mentions stun, fire, or shop prices.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for racers still learning Megacity West.
Why is plasma S if it sets me on fire?
Beta 2 kpm was 2.01 because fire plus pools win arenas. Overheat around 18 shots and self-ignition around 50 are the tax. Burst, pause, and do not hose the road in front of your own bike.
Is rebar ever worth taking?
As a free pickup when nothing else is down, yes. As a buy over shotgun, SMG, or plasma, no. 0.46 kpm in Beta 2 was the warning label.
Are caltrops and EMP bad?
Situational, not bad. Caltrops punish choke airframes. EMP stuns a packed pit. Neither replaces a gun on a long race.
Does riot shield count as melee?
No. It is the special slot, so you can hold shield plus katana plus a gun plus a grenade. See the combat guide.
Do these ranks change in split-screen?
The slots do not. Online PvP, online co-op, and split-screen share the same equipment rules. Who grabs first changes the fight, not the letters.
Where should I practice pickup routes?
Download the demo, then run layouts in tracks and demo notes. Stash a quartet in the loadout planner.