Serious Sam: Shatterverse Tier List Hub

How to read these lists

Serious Sam: Shatterverse launched on August 31, 2026. These ranks are a launch-week snapshot, not a season of infinite ladder data. They come from Behaviour’s own playtest notes, Analog Stick’s review, community playtest chatter, and the first days of live play on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. They will be wrong the first time a patch moves decoy fuses, Quad Wield duration, or minigun heat. Treat every letter as an argument, not a rule.

Two child pages live under this hub:

• Sam tier list — S / A / B for the five playable Sams, with caveats for solo versus 4–5 player groups.
• Weapon tier list — starter trio versus unlocked minigun, laser, grenade launcher, sniper, and double barrel, plus overheat and the late-pistol complaint.

If you only have time for one link, open the Sam list before you spend Catalyst Orbs and the weapon list before you spend the next pile on a gun you have not fired. The Players Hub still owns the lore and unlock loop. The builds guide still owns Intel pairings. This hub only answers ‘what is strong enough to buy first.‘

What the letters mean

S means the kit or gun is doing extra work in launch-week play without needing a perfect lobby. A means it is strong in the right squad or the right biome. B means it is solid, usable, and less flashy or more situational. There is no C-tier dumpster on purpose. Behaviour rebalanced ultimates during the July 2026 open playtest to pull them closer together. A B-rank Sam can still clear Serious difficulty. A B-rank gun can still carry Act I. If a list needed an F, we would say so.

Criteria, in order:

1. Does the tool change a run without a five-stack of voice comms?
2. Does it scale in 4–5 player rooms, where Shatterverse actually wants you to live?
3. Does it still work solo and offline? Those modes are full games, not a demo cut.
4. Did playtest notes or a launch review already call out a buff, a nerf, or a complaint?

We did not simulate ten thousand Mental difficulty clears. We also did not copy a random thumbnail. When a claim is thin, the child page says so.

Playtest notes that still matter

The July 2026 open playtest is the last big public balance dump before launch:

• Each Sam gained unique modifiers. Cartoon Sam is the documented example: slower walk, faster dash recharge, bigger explosions by default.
• Ultimates were pulled closer in power. Retro Sam’s decoys now wait about a second before exploding so they can actually pull aggro.
• Weapon ranks lost random base-stat generation. Higher ranks should roll equal or better affix counts.
• Thompson range went up. SBC Cannon projectiles should beat Beheaded Rocketeer rockets. Lava Golems are immune to fire because they are lava.

Those notes are why Retro Sam is not parked in a joke tier and why Cartoon Sam is not a walk-speed meme. They are also why this hub refuses to publish a fantasy six-Sam list or a cannon-only ladder. Rank what shipped.

Analog Stick’s launch review is the other hard source. Kits feel simple after many runs. Specials sit on the same three upgrade levers. Starter pistols, shotgun, and tommygun are the on-ramp; Catalyst Orbs buy sniper and double barrel later; late pistols often feel worse than what you already hold. That last complaint belongs on the weapon tier list, not in a hidden footnote.

How to use the ranks in a real run

Do not lock five S-tier ideas and call it a composition. Shatterverse is 1–5 player co-op with cross-play and peer-to-peer. A lobby of five Alien Sams will output damage and then get flanked. Read the Sam tier list, then still mix jobs from the Players Hub. A lobby that only buys S-tier guns and never takes a grenade launcher into a choke will also throw.

A practical weekend loop:

1. Unlock the roster with Catalyst Orbs in two to four hours. Analog Stick did it in a little over two hours and about four partial runs.
2. Pick one Sam who is S or A for your group size. Orphan Sam is not an S in a silent solo, even if she looks it in a five-stack.
3. Spend the next orbs on a gun from the weapon tier list that matches that Sam. Cartoon Sam wants boom. Alien Sam wants volume. Broken Sam wants a planted lane gun.
4. Build Intel around that pair in the builds guide. Do not pick three random discs and then blame the letter ranks.
5. After a lieutenant wipe, ask whether the Sam failed or the gun overheated. Those are different pages.

Boss routing still lives in the boss guide. Controls still live in the controls page. This hub will not steal those jobs just to look longer.

What these lists are not

They are not a patched infinite meta. They are not a skill-based matchmaking chart. They are not a promise that Behaviour will never touch decoy fuses again. They are not a reason to skip Broken Sam because he is less flashy. B-tier in week one is a veteran kit that holds a door. S-tier in week one is a Reptiloid with four guns. Both clear the game.

They are also not a substitute for playing the shop. Weapon ranks and almost fifty affixes mean two miniguns are not the same minigun. If a purple pistol rolls the wrong affixes, it can still lose to a clean Thompson. The child page is honest about that. If a content creator tells you every late pistol is secretly S, they did not read the player complaint.

When a patch lands, start at the updates hub and the launch notes, then come back here. Until then, use the two lists as a shopping order: Sams first, guns second, Intel third. The letters will move. The five Sams will not.

Launch week is a noisy room. These ranks exist so you spend Catalyst Orbs on a Sam and a gun that already have public reasons to exist, not on a rumor from a loading screen. Open the Sam tier list if you are about to buy a body. Open the weapon tier list if you are about to buy a barrel. Then go die on a lieutenant with information instead of vibes.