Statements
1. This guide will be dealing with Cataclysm difficulty as all others have more lenient requirements.
2. This guide is not telling you what to use and what not to use. Bad weapons are still usable. They are just harder to use than better weapons.
3. This guide is only to tell how usable, generally, the weapons are. If you play in a different way, this will apply to you to a lesser extent. If you plan on kiting more, for instance, then one-handed weapons will become more valuable. If you plan on hunkering down and fighting everything off during waves, then two-handed weapons will become more valuable.
4. The game lies to you with the damage bars, as they don't mean a thing, and the green text additions to weapons are often misleading and differing in every instance. The only useful part about them is that they show you that White and Green weapons have the same damage, Blue weapons have more damage than Green, and Orange/Red weapons are tied for best damage.
5. This guide assumes you know the basics of the game. Check out ULLMOD's helpful guide, linked below, for lots of information that the game doesn't tell you.


Abbreviations
1. Clan(s) - Clan Rat(s), the one(s) with shirt and sometimes helmet. They have 10 Normal HP.
2. Slave(s) - Slave Rat(s), the one(s) with bare chest and loincloth. They have 5 Normal HP.
3. HP - Hit/Healthpoints.
4. HS - Headshot.
5. Storm - Stormvermin. Has 20 Armored HP.
6. Gunner - Ratling Gunner. Has 12 Armored HP.
7. Glober - Poison Wind Globadier. Has 20 Normal HP.
8. Runner - Gutter Runner. Has 20 Normal HP.


Weapon Statements
1. Melee weapons should be chosen for proficiency in dealing with hordes because hordes have to close to melee range to do damage. Specials with the exceptions of Packmasters and Rat Ogres can attack from outside melee range, since Gutter Runners pounce from well outside of melee range and must be timed perfectly to interrupt with melee weapons.
2. After the wonderful rebalance, most ranged weapons are usable as they can all deal with specials well enough and with the deserved Bolt Staff and Trueflight nerfs, ranged weapons with a few exceptions of the like of the Repeater Handgun sacrifice special-killing potential for horde-killing potential. HOWEVER, as a general rule, it is good to choose ranged weapons for special-killing unless your group is coordinated enough that some can specialize in horde-killing.


Weapon Classification
Weapons fill 4 roles, but some can fill more than just one, and bad weapons may properly fill no roles at all:
1. Crowd Control (CC) - Weapons that don't deal much damage but instead stagger the horde, giving others and yourself more safety to kill in.
2. Crowd Killer (CK) - Weapons that focus on killing horde members well instead of staggering them.
3. Anti-Special (AS) - Weapons that do well at dealing damage to specials, preferably from range.
4. Anti-Ogre (AO) - Weapons that deal high DPS (damage per second) towards the Rat Ogre.

The Witch Hunter possesses 8 total options.

Melee Discussion
1. Rapier - Rating: 9 - Role: CK. The Rapier is quite a good skirmishing weapon, as with a HS its Normal Attack can kill a Slave in 1 hit and a Clan in 2. Its Charged Attack is quite good at killing singular targets. It Normal attacks very quickly, however, it attacks diagonally, making the landing of 2 simultaneous HSs very difficult. A way to compensate for its difficulty is to supplement it with Killing Blow (Normal). The high swing speed means that it's the only weapon that can get it that can truly use it well. Unfortunately, you can't get Bloodlust with Killing Blow, meaning you'll have to settle for Regrowth (Normal), Killing Blow (Normal), and Off Balance as the ideal trait combination for maximum killing potential. Unchanged by 1.5.

2. Two-Handed Sword - Rating: 10 - Role: CK. The Two-Handed Sword is uncontested in the field of melee horde slaughter, but it has very little repelling power, making pushing often mandatory. However, if push timing can be mastered, Charge Attack spam will rip through hordes. After the rebalance, normal attack spam is usable but it is still diagonal, meaning that it will be difficult but powerful.

3. One-Handed Axe - Rating: 9 - Role: CK/AS. Still only hits one target, which is why it isn't a 10, but now it swings faster and does more damage, and it has the ability to OHKO Cata. Clans to the head, redeeming it.

4. Falchion - Rating: 10 - Role: CK. Hits 3 targets with the first two Normal attacks, which have a headshot multiplier of 3, giving it the potential to OHKO a Cata Clan with each of the first two swings. The Charged attacks just OHKO the first of two targets if it is a Cata Clan or weaker. As for Stormvermin, the Charged attacks take 5 hits to kill them on Cata without headshots or 2 with headshots.

Ranged Discussion
1. Brace of Pistols - Rating: 10 - Role: AO/CK/AS. Since the buff, it becomes much better with headshots, as they double damage, allowing it to OHKO Cata Clans and 4-hit Stormvermin. Headshots also make Rat Ogre damage good. If you are very good at getting headshots, the BoP is arguably the best ranged weapon for Saltzpyre.

2. Repeater Pistol - Rating: 9 - Role: AO/Close-Range AS. The Repeater Pistol is quite good as it will 3-hit Packmasters with the Normal, which can be fired very quickly, and the Normal Attack is considerably better than the Brace for killing the Rat Ogre as you fire faster and have more total ammunition. Also, at point-blank range, the Charged Attack shotgun blast will kill any special, even a Stormvermin is you have Extra Capacity, despite not listing its Armor Penetration characteristics. Normal attack buffed, but it is still not worth using against anything other than Rat Ogre or Packmaster.

3. Crossbow - Rating: 10 - Role: AS. The Crossbow is not easy to use at its intended job, which is to kill specials, as it isn't hitscan. It could be used well to kill off Clans and Slaves, but Melee weapons are more efficient and often faster. It was buffed in 1.5, and without headshots, it kills non-Ogre specials in one more shot than the handgun except for the Packmaster, which takes two shots with either weapon and with headshots, it takes one shot with either.

4. Volley Crossbow - Rating: 10 - Role: AS/AO. It was basically the best AO Burst DPS weapon before 1.5, but now that its Charged attack can headshot, it WRECKS the Ogre after Normal Bomb stuns it. Charged attacks murder specials from closish range.

The Bright WIzard has the second-least weapons with 7 total.

Melee Discussion:
1. One-Handed Sword - Rating: 9 - Role: CC. The One-Handed Sword is Sienna's best Melee weapon as its Normal combo will kill a Clan in 3 swings, under 2 seconds, and its Charged attacks are almost on the horde repel level of the Two-Handed Hammer as they can hit infinite Clans and Slaves and will stun all of them. Combine with Earthing Rune (Charged) and reduce overheat hilariously fast.

2. Flaming Sword - Rating: 8 - Role: CC. Some say the the Flaming Sword is the best melee, and they are half right. It will do more damage overall to a horde with how it also hits infinite targets and will light all of them on fire. However, that's a LOT of visual pollution that makes it harder to tell when enemies die, when a Packmaster's incoming, and whether or not an enemy is about to hit someone. It is more powerful, but the costs are too high.

3. WIzard Mace - Rating: 8 - Role: CK/AO. The WIzard Mace is very weird. The One-Handed Sword is a copy of Kruber's, but the Mace is a completely neutered version of Kruber's Mace and Bardin's Hammer, as it swings slower, does less damage, hits less targets, and has the combo reversed for the Normal attacks. The Charged attacks, however, are the same speed as Kruber's/Bardin's and can OHKO Cata Clans while doing 30 damage each to the Rat Ogre, meaning that using this weapon will just be using the Charged attacks.

Ranged Discussion:
1. Fireball Staff - Rating: 10 - Role: CK/CC. The Fireball Staff is a good ranged weapon that does quite good damage with its lobbed, exploding fireball, but its Normal Attack is quite slow and takes 2 hits to kill a Clan. Its Charged attack now penetrates normal rats and players, making it very useful.

2. Conflagration Staff - Rating: 9 - Role: CK/CC. The Conflagration Staff is also a good staff, but it has the same normal attacks as the Fireball. Its charged attacks are better than the Fireball's, but take much longer to cast and are more expensive but create a mini incendiary grenade's explosion. More useful against trash, less useful against specials when compared to FIreball.

3. Beam Staff - Rating: 9 - Role: CK/Stunning AS. The Beam Staff is quite good, as its Normal Attack is a shotgun blast with limited range, just like the Drakefire's Charged Attack and its Charged attack is a Beam whose main purpose is to stop specials from doing special things while killing them. In addition,, the beam works well against the Ogre as it ramps up RoF quite dramatically after a few seconds on target. The beam blast (hold for charged attack and while holding click normal) does work well against singular targets, OHKOing Cata Clans and doing good damage against specials.

4. Bolt Staff - Rating: 9 - Role: AS. It takes a while to lock on, but then it will instant kill anything that isn't a Rat Ogre with Charged attack.

Kerillian has the third-least number of weapons with 9.

Melee Discussion
1. Elf Sword - Rating: 10 - Role: CK. Its Normal attacks are quite good and with brief blocking, one can keep from using the stab attack since it only hits 1 target. The Charged attack hits only 1 target but OHKOs Cata Clans and will do good damage against Stormvermin. In addition, it is possible to get Regrowth (Normal), Devastating Blow, and Killing Blow (Normal), which is the best possible trait combination in the game in my opinion, and can only be found on this weapon.

2. Dual Daggers - Rating: 5 - Role: None. The Dual Daggers do decent damage with Headshots, but not even a headshot is a one-hit to a Clan, which means that for CK the Dual Daggers aren't good enough. With the one-hit ability they would be decent, but they don't even have that to compensate for how all attacks hit only 1 target.

3. Dual Swords - Rating: 10 - Role: CK/CC. The Dual Swords are okay at Crowd Control, with every attack hitting 3 targets. It doesn't kill singular targets very fast, but it does kill hordes at a decent rate. After it has been buffed, it now manages hordes significantly better than Sword+Dagger. Also, its Charged attack can OHKO Cata Clans with a headshot.

4. Sword and Dagger - Rating: 10 - Role: CK. The Sword and Dagger has been left in an awkward place after 1.5 as it wasn't changed but every other melee for WW except for the Glaive was buffed, meaning that it is now the jack-of-all-trades, master of none weapon that can do everything but not better than another Elven melee.

5. Glaive - Rating: 10 - Role: CK/AS. The Glaive's Charged attack combo can kill Cata Stormvermin, but its Normal attacks no longer OHKO Cata Clans without headshots. It's still a good weapon, but now it takes a lot of skill to use right and even then it may not give enough for the investment.

Ranged Discussion
1. Swift Bow - Rating: 6 - Role: CK/AS. The Swift Bow has had its damage buffed and so is now usable but it still suffers from low damage against specials, meaning that its even higher than before ammunition pool still can't compensate.

2. Hagbane Swift Bow - Rating: 10 - Role: CK/AO/AS. The Hagbane Swift Bow is excellent against hordes, hitting an infinite number of rats with poison withing a 1/2m range, depending on whether it's charged or not, with charged yielding the 2m range. It also does excellent damage against specials, particulary the Rat Ogre. It is a good idea to jump and fire into the middle of the horde in order not to inflict large DoT FF. The FF has been reduced, but it is still fairly sizable. On top of all that, it does large damage to the Rat Ogre with Normal spam.

3. Longbow - Rating: 7 - Role: CK/AS. The Longbow can kill like Charged Swift Bow while uncharged and can charge to become a Crossbow that fires faster. It is better that the Swift Bow but still has nothing special since it still has projectile mechanics.

4. Trueflight Longbow - Rating: 9 - Role: AS. The Trueflight Longbow is just a Longbow with less ammunition and homing mechanics to compensate for the projectile mechanics, and so is worthwhile to use. It still isn't perfect due to the time to lock on, but after lock-on, it will kill anything that isn't a Stormvermin, Rat Ogre, or Sack Rat. The Stormvermin and Sack Rat would be mostly dead after the first headshot, however.

Kruber has 9 weapons.

Melee Discussion
1. One-Handed Sword - Rating: 9 - Role: CC. See BW as this is a copy. It's a good choice, but Kruber has other better ones.
2. Kruber Mace - Rating: 9 - Role: CC. It is a good melee weapon, with its ability to hit infinite enemies with each of the first 3 attacks, however, it will do no damage to those after the first 2 hit with Normal attacks, but the Charged attack is good vs Stormvermin and OHKOs Cata Clans as compensation for how it only hits 1 enemy.
3. Mace and Shield - Rating: 10 - Role: CC. Normal attacks are mostly the same as the normal Mace, but has a shield bash instead of an overhead strike for Charged attack. Shield makes up for lack of OHKO potential with tons of CC potential.
4. Sword and Shield - Rating: 10 - Role: CC. The Normal attacks are somewhat, but the Charged attacks are the same as the Mace and Shield combination but are about twice as fast and can very quickly stagger all rats in areas, saving teammates very well. However, it doesn't do much damage, meaning that it takes a while to kill anything, so you'll need others to help kill hordes.
5. Two-Handed Sword - Rating: 10 - Role: CK. Still the horde-slaying weapon from before, see WH for details as it's a copy.
6. Two-Handed Hammer - Rating: 10 - Role: CC. Normal attack only does enough to kill a Slave and only hit one rat and is therefore useless unless against single rats. Charged attacks hit infinite targets and throw them around a lot, meaning that it is better at defending than the Sword and Shield, but isn't as good at rescuing people from bad situations.

Ranged Discussion
1. Repeater Handgun - Rating: 7 - Role: AO. It has been buffed but it still isn't more useful than either the Blunderbuss or Handgun except it has better Ogre DPS, but doesn't compare to that of, say, Hagbane or Volley Crossbow.
2. Blunderbuss - Rating: 8 - Role: CK/AS. It does a total of 72 damage to Clan and Slave Rats or 9 damage to Armored targets or 30 to Packmaster/Rat Ogre. After 1.5, it is quite useful.
3. Handgun - Rating: 10 - Role: AS. It will kill Ratlings, Globers, and Runners in 1 bodyshot and will kill Storms and Packmasters in 2 bodyshots or 1 HS. It also does good enough damage to the Ogre that it is worth using against it.

Bardin has the most weapons with 11.

Melee Weapons
1. One-Handed Axe - Rating: 9 - Role: CK/AS. See WH for details on how this weapon is.
2. One-Handed Hammer - Rating: 9 - Role: CC. See ES for details; this is the same as Kruber's Mace.
3. Hammer and Shield - Rating: 10 - Role: CC. See ES for details; this is the same as the Mace and Shield combination.
4. Axe and Shield - Rating: 10 - Role: CC. This has a much more useful Normal attack than the Sword and Shield combination that will quickly deal with stragglers, and its only cost is that its Charged attacks are marginally slower than those of the Sword and Shield, making this the overall best Shield combination if you desire Shield Charged spam for CC.
5. Two-Handed Axe - Rating: 10 - Role: CK. Its Normal attack OHKOs Cata Clans and the Charged does decent damage to normal rats, meaning that it is now worth using, though it has a significant learning curve.
6. Two-Handed Hammer - Rating: 10 - Role: CC. See ES for details.
7. Pickaxe - Rating: 8 - Role: CK/AS. The normal attacks are slightly faster than the Charged attacks of the 2H Axe but the Charged attack is a much slower version of the 2H Axe's that gains the ability to OHKO anything not a Rat Ogre in exchange for being the only melee weapon for which max-charging the Charged attack does something meaningful, as without doing so, the Charged attack doesn't even OHKO a Cata Clan and only hits one target.

Ranged Weapons
1. Crossbow - Rating: 10 - Role: AS. See WH for details.
2. Grudge-Raker - Rating: 8 - Role: CK. This shotgun is worse in every respect than the Blunderbuss except for spread and magazine size, as it has 2/3 the pellets and the pellets do less damage to armored and resistant targets, meaning that the Drakefire Pistols will serve much better than the Grudge-Raker.
3. Drakefire Pistols - Rating: 10 - Role: CK/CC. The Normal attacks are like those of the Fireball and Conflagration Staves but the Charged attack is a shotgun blast like the Beam Staff's Normal attack. It does great vs hordes and okay versus everything else, but comes with the added benefit of using overheat, not ammunition.
4. Handgun - Rating: 10 - Role: AS/AO. See ES for details.

1. www.reddit.com/r/vermintide It is full of people who are willing to politely respond to any questions about things that you would like to know.
2. ULLMOD's helpful guide on all the concepts, most basic and some advanced, that will help you succeed in general in Vermintide.
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=657242537
3. This is the list of all possible trait combinations for all Weapons. It was made right after the introduction of the weapons that came with the Drachenfels DLC, meaning this is the full list, made by someone I can't find. If you know who made this, please send me evidence in the comments below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gmvGJKYfT5BfbKhvd4hQRPulfPrtlkMlOYBvj3wpJjc/edit#gid=1359083408
4. This is the spreadsheet for all ranged and melee weapons as of 1.5, compiled by reddit's /u/UnShame.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1h3GnI6sIS77oXnCzE05k7KTkOoGJ3UezeVi24miBBoM/edit#gid=2022003636

4/11/2016: Fixed naming of DR weapon thanks to input from TekilaShot.
4/12/2016: Updated link description based on the continued work on the spreadsheet by ULLMOD.
4/15/2016: Added Statement #4 to General Comments to address the possible confusion highlighted by Pop Rocks.
4/19/2016: Added Statement #5 to General Comments.
6/8/2016: Changed rating of Dual Daggers since they have the same usability as 1H Axe thanks to valid complaint by Squatting Bear. Also got off my lazy rear and added Glaive and Volley Crossbow, though VC is a WIP.
6/11/2016: Rewrote Other Helpful Places #3 to show the new place to go for that information. Also updated Other Helpful Places #4 for truthfulness.
10/18/2016: Added grayhamgeek's review of the Volley Crossbow since I still haven't gotten one and the numbers still aren't out.
10/19/2016: Changed Rapier description due to seemingly common pronoun confusion.
12/15/2016: Began changing (almost) EVERYTHING due to 1.5 being released.
12/19/2016: Finished making edits for 1.5; reworked Helpful Places section for accuracy.
01/13/2017: Adjusted quite a few ratings due to reasonable complaints and realizations of some weapon's potential usage. Also added Pickaxe.