Best Weapons for Early Game | Minecraft Dungeons

When you've got hordes of enemies rushing towards you, the first thing you'll want is a trusty weapon at your side. Learn what the best weapons are to get you through the early part of the game.

Best Melee Weapons for Early Game

Glaive

Obtainable in the Soggy Swamp, the Glaive's reach is nothing to scoff at. While its low Speed can make it feel a bit unwieldy for dodge-and-run builds, its potential to hit enemies from a distance is unrivaled by other early-game weapons. On top of that, its Power is on the high end, and it hits in a slicing motion to take out multiple weak enemies at once. Aside from ranged attackers, most enemies won't be able to get a hit in before you do when striking with the Glaive.

Because of its slow nature, it can be hard to dodge in and hit ranged enemies quickly. When ranged enemies are spread out, the Glaive will have trouble hitting all of them, so prepare a ranged weapon which can hit multiple enemies like the Scatter Crossbow.

Glaive Stats, Effects and Location

Soul Knife

The Soul Knife is a weapon best used in the right combination. Its effect of +2 Soul Gathering grants two extra souls for every enemy defeated. This has no effect on the Soul Knife itself, so it must be combined with Soul-powered Artifacts like Harvester, Soul Healer and Torment Quiver, or the soul-powered Enchantment Anima Conduit.

That said, its low Speed can make it hard to handle multiple enemies at once, so consider pairing it with a fast Ranged Weapon like the Rapid Crossbow to handle swarms of enemies.

Soul Knife Stats, Effects and Location

Daggers

The Daggers may seem to be a weak weapon, but they have their role as fast hitters. When aiming for a speed-heavy build, dodge in towards enemies and then slash away when you're right next to them. This can often be the best way to handle ranged enemies, as firing your own arrows back at them can leave you vulnerable to other arrows, and it can become a war of attrition. Instead, dodging around the fray, avoiding arrows and slashing them when you're too close up for them to do anything can often be the best solution.

The Daggers may have difficulty handling enemies with strong melee output, with the player tending to take more damage than they put out. In that case, consider comboing with a powerful ranged weapon like the Longbow so that you can fall back on it when you need to deal heavy damage.

Daggers Stats, Effects and Location

Best Ranged Weapons for Early Game

Longbow

The Longbow is coveted for its Strong Charged Attacks, allowing it to deal damage as high as three times its standard attack value. When attacking strong foes from a distance, the Longbow will give you the power to pick them off without having to waste too many arrows.

That said, its slow speed makes it an inefficient choice for picking off huge waves of enemies. Consider pairing it with a fast melee weapon to handle hordes of weak enemies that come in close.

Longbow Stats, Effects and Location

Rapid Crossbow

Per its name, the Rapid Crossbow is the fastest weapon available at this point in the game. When you need to take out an oncoming wave of enemies, the Rapid Crossbow can hit each of them and take out the whole bunch quickly without wasting too much damage on a each expendable enemy.

Up against more powerful enemies, you may find its power to be lacking, so use a slow melee weapon with a high power like the Glaive will help you finish off enemies who make it within range.

Rapid Crossbow Stats, Effects and Location

Heavy Crossbow

There aren't a lot of max power weapons available in the game, but the Heavy Crossbow is found as early as Cacti Canyon. While it's slow to fire, the Heavy Crossbow will do big damage every shot without needing to charge, and simply holding the button down will allow you to continue firing. For those who aren't fond of holding and releasing the button every time to fire traditional bows like the Longbow, the Heavy Crossbow is the perfect solution.

Consider comboing this weapon with other options to help take down large numbers of weaker enemies, like fast melee attacking weapons such as the Daggers, or using Pet Artifacts like the Llama-summoning Wonderful Wheat to serve as a buffer.

Heavy Crossbow Stats, Effects and Location

Related Links

Starting Out with Minecraft Dungeons

• Beginner's Guide to Minecraft Dungeons
• Best Builds for Early Game
• Best Weapons for Early Game
• Best Armor for Early Game
• Best Enchantments for Early Game
• Best Artifacts for Early Game
• How to Find Secrets
• What to Spend Emeralds On
• How to Fight: Battle Strategy Guide

Completing the Game

• How Long is the Game?
• How to Unlock All Secret Levels
• How to Find the Lower Temple
• How to Find the Panda Plateau
• Getting into the Obsidian Pinnacle Secret Room
• All Camp Secrets
• Best Builds
• Best Weapons
• Best Armors
• Best Enchantments
• Enchantments Tier List
• How to Farm Emeralds (Money)
• How to Farm EXP
• Best Artifacts
• Best Weapons Tier List
• Best Armor Tier List
• Best Artifacts Tier List

Guides for Advanced Players

• Apocalypse Mode Guide
• All Gear Drops and Artifact Drops
• How to Farm Unique Gear
• How to Get All Unique Weapons
• How to Get All Unique Armor
• All Obsidian Chest Locations
• How to AFK Farm

All Tips & Strategy Guides