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A funny idea I was thinking of, but what are considered 'cursed' weapons by each and every faction? Like, what are weapons that are almost meme worthy or known to be handed to people who have a death wish? Now, pretty much every weapon is speculative in the 41st millennium, but I'd like to hear some rather comical hot takes on what guns and melee weapons make you cringe putting on your models for lore and aesthetic reasons?

The Staff of the Destroyer fires 'a searing beam of unbelievably destructive pan-dimensional energy'

It's stats when introduced? S6 AP1 Assault 1 2D6" range.

Worse than a melta gun.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
The Staff of the Destroyer fires 'a searing beam of unbelievably destructive pan-dimensional energy'

It's stats when introduced? S6 AP1 Assault 1 2D6" range.

Worse than a melta gun.

This makes me think of Warp talons who are said to have blades that are sharp enough to cut through reality and enter realspace. Apparently Terminator armour is stronger than reality, because when Warp Talons were introduced they had Ap3 and couldn't harm anything with a 2+ save

Rotor Cannons. Well not so much anymore but compared to every other Legion Special Weapon, they're rubbish but I had spare bodies from an eBay lot and they were the only guns I had left. Better to build a not-great unit than just chucking them in the bin.

Lasguns! For all the reasons everyone is familiar with

We had a long old discussion a while back about how on earth (or any other planet) one actually fights with a massive chainsaw sword. I stil, think they are probably more dangerous to the user

Rogue Trader allowed you to arm troops with bows and arrows. Gave positive armour save modifiers and everything.

 Flinty wrote:
Lasguns! For all the reasons everyone is familiar with

From what I know, Lasguns are shockingly good. It's just that everything they're used to fight on the tabletop is tough enough to laugh at them.

Lasguns are shockingly good, yet just about every other weapon in the game is better than them. I can't think of one rifle in the game that is worse than a Lasgun.

 alextroy wrote:
Lasguns are shockingly good, yet just about every other weapon in the game is better than them. I can't think of one rifle in the game that is worse than a Lasgun.

There used to be Flechette Blasters, which were S2. They were also five shots and Shred (7th Edition-what Twin-Linked is now) so against anything T5 or down, they performed vastly better than a Lasgun, but as soon as you hit T6, you can't hurt them at all.

Also Splinter Rifles are worse if they're targeting a model that's T2-5 and is NOT Infantry.

I remember the old lore where Thunderhammers shock was so huge anyone not wearing Terminator armour would be knocked out by wielding it.

Enter now the bonkmarines where any sarge can wield one in normal armor.

Lore Wise I’m genuinely struggling here. And that’s because so many weapons are seen as cack because of their rules.

I’d have to say Autoguns are probably the worst, in-universe weapon.

Whilst still deadly, they introduce a bunch of logistical and maintenance issues its closest equivalent, the Lasgun, just entirely does away with.

Your ammo is heavier, and you get fewer shots per reload. And because it has more Worky Bits, they require a greater level of maintenance - though that doesn’t necessarily mean real world maintenance regimes, due to space magic and by no means directly analogous construction materials.

But if you can lay your hands on a Lasgun, why the flip would you want an Autogun?

From a lore perspective, I inagine being assigned a demo charge is considered a pretty rough deal for all but the most gung ho or dedicated Guard troopers. They are very destructive but also highly likely to be a suicide weapon given the short range and large blast radius. As an extension to this, some penal legion troopers are used as suicide bombers.

JNAProductions wrote:

 alextroy wrote:
Lasguns are shockingly good, yet just about every other weapon in the game is better than them. I can't think of one rifle in the game that is worse than a Lasgun.

There used to be Flechette Blasters, which were S2. They were also five shots and Shred (7th Edition-what Twin-Linked is now) so against anything T5 or down, they performed vastly better than a Lasgun, but as soon as you hit T6, you can't hurt them at all.

Also Splinter Rifles are worse if they're targeting a model that's T2-5 and is NOT Infantry.

Grot blasters come to mind. There are also Auxilia rifles from 30k.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Lore Wise I’m genuinely struggling here. And that’s because so many weapons are seen as cack because of their rules.

I’d have to say Autoguns are probably the worst, in-universe weapon.

Whilst still deadly, they introduce a bunch of logistical and maintenance issues its closest equivalent, the Lasgun, just entirely does away with.

Your ammo is heavier, and you get fewer shots per reload. And because it has more Worky Bits, they require a greater level of maintenance - though that doesn’t necessarily mean real world maintenance regimes, due to space magic and by no means directly analogous construction materials.

But if you can lay your hands on a Lasgun, why the flip would you want an Autogun?

Stubgubs are typically cruder than autoguns IMO.

Also, autoguns clearly have some advantages over lasguns because a few well-supplied factions use them instead of lasguns. Most notably, the fabulously wealthy Ecclesiarchy equips novitiates with autoguns. The Imperial Navy also typically equips auto weapons instead of las weapons. Why? It isn't clear, but they must have some advantages that outweigh the logistics advantages of lasguns for these factions.

On Sororitas novitiaties? I’d imagine it’s to get them used to handling a firearm with appreciable recoil, as it seems (against logic, really) the Bolter is said it possess in abundance, even with power armour somewhat offsetting it.

As for Grot Blasters? Those have an intriguing implication for the lore. Specifically that being scrounged or bought by, not made by the Grot? Meks must turn out some offensively inoffensive firearms.

Whether that’s part of their programming (Grots do serve a combat purpose. A short, miserable, deadly purpose, and so someone needs to make them guns), or a side-effect of them really not truly knowing what they’re doing is open to debate. But presumably such Whoopsies occur often enough for considerable numbers of weedy little Grots to get their pale hands on them.

I guess maybe deathspinners for eldar? Not because the guns themselves are bad, but because warp spiders literally yeet themselves through the warp for the sake of getting close enough to shoot their guns. Keep in mind this is the race that gets insta-nommed by Slaanesh if she catches their scent while they're in there.

That satisfies the, "known to be handed to people who have a death wish," part, right?

There was also a meme about fire dragons and their fusion guns a while back. The joke being that all you really have to do to recruit a firedragon is point out that his primary weapon is a fusion gun with the implication being that the recruitment officer/exarch was sort of sidestepping questions about possible drawbacks or dangers. Which is extra funny given that fusion guns are basically meltaguns. Meaning they were more likely than any other weapon to make a vehicle Explode, and also you had to get within explosion range to use them most effectively.

And then I believe both tau and admech (skitarii) have units whose guns are literally irradiating them to death?

Tankhammers. In some editions, a successful hit automatically killed the bearer, and in any edition, bomb on a stick!

To be fair, plasma could be a pick here, I mean, there likely to kill the bearer as much as the enemy, and they are (or at least were, maybe Cawl's shenanigan made a new STC?) Literally "lost technology" you can't actually replace or get spare parts for...

Doesn't reflect on the game so much, but really these are serious drawbacks in my opinion.

Plasma weapons were never lost technology given that whole scummy gangs, and actual scum, in the underhive all had them. "Less common than lasguns" is about as rare as they got.

Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:To be fair, plasma could be a pick here, I mean, there likely to kill the bearer as much as the enemy, and they are (or at least were, maybe Cawl's shenanigan made a new STC?) Literally "lost technology" you can't actually replace or get spare parts for...

Doesn't reflect on the game so much, but really these are serious drawbacks in my opinion.

Flinty wrote:Plasma weapons were never lost technology given that whole scummy gangs, and actual scum, in the underhive all had them. "Less common than lasguns" is about as rare as they got.

I like to think that plasma guns that don't have a habit of exploding are lost technology. The exploding ones are now the best we can come up with.

And then there's kustom mega blastas. They can explode but I imagine that's somehow a selling point for the likes of Orks.

Plasma require specialist maintenance and of course fuel. There are also fewer Forgeworlds able to make really good ones.

But even so? We’re still talking about weapons turned it in untold millions. Becuase on the scale of 40K? Rare is relative. Even if galaxy wide we’re talking 1 to 100, or even 1,000 Plasma Gun to Lasgun ratio? That’s still far more than boff ‘ands, boff feets and yer nose. Every production cycle (which could be a year, or a month, or a day. That is super vague in the background).

Even during the Heresy and the Great Crusade they weren’t standard issue. This is, again, I suspect more due to extensive maintenance being required. Plus as well as fuel slug cells ammo things, the coolant will need regular top ups, coolant coils will need replacing and so on. So despite their raw power? They’re just not that desirable as a standard issue shooter, even for Marines. And that’s before we consider the “oh no, I’ve melted myself. Again” issues.

I've said it before, I'll sez it again: the 90's era Termie Chainfist is just abhorrent. There seems to be no point to it from a realistic standpoint. Are you absolutely going to be in a situation that requires you to have an attached Chainsword to your arm when any other chain weapon will do? And in game, people just usually took power weapons anyways.

 TheChrispyOne wrote:
I've said it before, I'll sez it again: the 90's era Termie Chainfist is just abhorrent. There seems to be no point to it from a realistic standpoint. Are you absolutely going to be in a situation that requires you to have an attached Chainsword to your arm when any other chain weapon will do? And in game, people just usually took power weapons anyways.

The original point of the chainfist that I'm aware of is that it was a tool to breach the armored bulkheads of spaceships/hulks. Unlike a chainsword it has a disruptive field like a Powerfist, but is shaped for breaching ops during boarding actions.

One does wonder why you can't just bolt a power field generator onto a chainsword...

 Lord Damocles wrote:
One does wonder why you can't just bolt a power field generator onto a chainsword...

Before the flanderisation codex, that’s what SW frostblades originally were - Ragnar’s is an example of that.

 Lord Damocles wrote:
One does wonder why you can't just bolt a power field generator onto a chainsword...

I kinda liked the idea that the chainfist was more braced and made to be sturdier. But don't ask me how much of a weapons strength is power field and how much is hardware.

Lord Zarkov wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
One does wonder why you can't just bolt a power field generator onto a chainsword...

Before the flanderisation codex, that’s what SW frostblades originally were - Ragnar’s is an example of that.

Yeah. In fact Ragnar's frostfang is what frost weapons were designed after.

It was a unique chainsword made by a gifted iron priest in 2nd ed, using an alloy that died with him. The frost name was literally just a name, it had no bearing on its functionality at all.


But the flanderisation decided that they needed unique weapons to make them better in melee, so they decided frost was it, after Ragnar's sword and retconned the alloy to kraken teeth.

Then they went further and made frost weapons, which are literally just magic guns...

 Lord Damocles wrote:
One does wonder why you can't just bolt a power field generator onto a chainsword...

Hmm. How would that work exactly? Would each tooth of the chainsword be connected to the disruption field generator? Or would you somehow project the disruption a short distance out from the sword in the direction the teeth are facing? And if the latter, what would you have to do to keep the teeth from being impacted by the swords own power field?

 Wyldhunt wrote:


Hmm. How would that work exactly? Would each tooth of the chainsword be connected to the disruption field generator? Or would you somehow project the disruption a short distance out from the sword in the direction the teeth are facing? And if the latter, what would you have to do to keep the teeth from being impacted by the swords own power field?

Tech Adept: The STC variables are beyond the stratification of the available datum stacks. Submit queries to Epsilon Delta 59-7 in triplicate. (Translation: We don't know)

Mek Boy: It works gudder dan dat ovver choppa! (Translation: We don't know)

Some Terminator power axes are chainaxes, so clearly someone figured it out for Terminator weapons. Maybe it is a power transmission issue?

 Wyldhunt wrote:

 Lord Damocles wrote:
One does wonder why you can't just bolt a power field generator onto a chainsword...

Hmm. How would that work exactly? Would each tooth of the chainsword be connected to the disruption field generator? Or would you somehow project the disruption a short distance out from the sword in the direction the teeth are facing? And if the latter, what would you have to do to keep the teeth from being impacted by the swords own power field?

I always thought that the field destabilizes molecular bonds, but doesn't do any actual cutting itself. That is what the weapon's normal cutting parts are for. Otherwise you would just need powerfield emitters and have no need to have them on a sword or axe or whatever.

They're kinda like heating up a knife to cut through cold butter. The heat doesn't cut the butter by itself, it just lets the knife cut it more effectively. In theory you could gently place your hand into an active powerfield on a blade and have nothing happen until the blade cuts into your skin. And likewise, if the field is turned off the cutting ability of the blade diminishes a lot.

So no reason you couldn't put a powerfield on a chainsword necessarily. Maybe its too power hungry? The chainsword needs power, the powerfield needs power. Maybe the energy sources of these weapons can't support both most of the time so its not normally done.

You can bolt a power field onto a Chainsword. That’s how you get a Chainfist

But yeah, the power field does the disruption, the blade or implement does the main damage.

Powered chainaxes. The disruption field wires are on the flat of the blade, not on the teeth, so the field must envelope the whole chain weapon.

As I mentioned above, these are also Terminator weapons (and very old, being designed for Cataphractii armour). I'm in agreement with GreyTemplar that it is probably related to power requirements. The very powerful Terminator armour can equip chainfists and use chain power axes. Dreadnoughts can equip chainfists. Only a handful of super rare, valuable power weapons with chains seem to exist outside those contexts (namely some frost blades as mentioned).