This guide will go in depth on each weapon in the game, their synergies, uses, and how powerful they are compared to each other weapon. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible without skimping on information.

FYI, this is my opinion, but it is an informed one.

As an important foreword, I'm going to be occasionally referring to what i call a "dodge-cancel" throughout the guide. Due to the way dodging and attacking is programmed in the game, you can negate the end-lag of your swing (your character's vulnerability after swinging) simply by performing a dodge roll in a desired direction.

Hammers are by far the best weapon class in the game. The only problem is they come across as being very clunky and just generally difficult to use due to the long wind-up. Thankfully, dodge-cancels make hammers extremely powerful for a few reasons.
Primarily, you can maintain the massive hit stun of the hammer on your enemies. Performing the dodge-cancel also grants very brief invulnerability and mobility all while you can charge up your hammer for another swing, and repeat.
Hammers also grant crazy amount of critical strike damage due to the high base damage, so using the dodge-cancel strategy in tandem with critical strike tarot cards or a merciless weapon modifier can produce some incredible results.

I would recommend combining hammers with the following curses:
Hounds of fate,
Point of corruption,
Any curse of touch.

Next up are the swords, which are a great balanced option. Solid damage combined with a lack of end-lag for it's strength makes swords quite potent in battle. You can use swords however you like, as they are probably the most versatile weapon, but my recommendation is using two of the three hits in a combo, then making a more defensive play such as dodging. Using hit three of the combo tends to end with the player being hit by another enemy or the boss during a boss fight, so be careful when going all in.

I would recommend combining swords with the following curses:
Hounds of fate,
Any divine curse,
Any death's curse.

Next on the list are the daggers, which are a low damage, high-speed choice. Daggers are great for dashing in for a few quick hits before dashing back out, though because of this, fights can last longer than anticipated. Daggers are strong however, due to the over-the-top hit stun they inflict on enemies which creates plenty of opportunity to utilise dodge-cancelling. A high attack rate can also combine well with critical strike tarots and weapon modifiers due to the high procs.

I would recommend combining daggers with the following curses:
Any divine curse / Death's curse,
(hitting multiple enemies in an area creates more space for offensive plays and you won't get cornered so often)
Maelstrom.

Next below daggers are axes, which are a little underwhelming, especially in the late-game. When I first played the game I enjoyed using them the most but with every combat advancement they seemed to get weaker. In my opinion they're basically just a worse version of swords, because even though they deal more damage per hit, they cause you more hit lag and your enemies less hit stun. Using axes you'll frequently find finishing combos is difficult because most enemies are quick enough to attack between hit two and three. For this reason, I suggest not using hits three or four unless you are invulnerable, or fighting Leshy (same thing really).

I recommend combining axes with the following curses:
Hounds of fate / Point of corruption for boss DPS

OR

Any divine curse, although guardian is the best since it lets you finish the four hit combo and get out of tight situations caused by the end lag of the weapon.

To conclude this tierlist we have gauntlets, a super underwhelming and conditionally powerful three hit combo weapon. Hits one and two are quite weak while final hit three of the combo is much stronger. The weakness of the first two hits ruins the weapon's critical strike synergy because you gain value every time you proc hit three, and that is often not possible to do. Gauntlets do have good end lag on all hits of the combo, however, this just makes them a worse version of the dagger, since daggers can safely get in more hits with better end lag and dodge-cancelling synergy,which is therefore more damage per interaction.
Try to avoid picking up gauntlets on your runs unless they have the godly modifier or you pickup an attack speed + or ++ tarot. Divine guardian curse can also make gauntlets viable as the invulnerability allows you to complete the combo and land the stronger weapon hit while also reducing the necessity of hit three against weakened mobs.

I would recommend combining the following curses with gauntlets:
**Divine guardian**
Point of corruption / Hounds of fate for DPS
Any ice elemental curse

Thankyou for reading thus far, I greatly appreciate it! Please let me know if you have a different opinion or some other info that would improve the guide.

Slaughter on!
~Z