Rotwood: All Weapon Types, Explained

Master all arsenal types and kill the corrupted beasts in the game.

In Rotwood, you strike foes and kill them endlessly to receive Aspects of the bosses, gather Teffra, collect Heartstones, and make your character powerful. This requires dedication and attempting the runs again since you will die a lot.

Weapons that you bring and the random powerups you get in the field diversify each run and make it a unique experience. However, since you get to pick one of four weapons in the game, knowing how each one handles and performs on the field will help you pick one that suits your playstyle.

Rotwood is currently in Early Access on Steam, and its content may change over time. We will update this article as needed.

Hammer

The hammer is by far the most balanced weapon in the game. This has decent speed and damage and does not take long to strike a target using the hammer. For a one-versus-one scenario, you can land multiple combos of the hammer in quick succession to defeat foes before they get a chance to strike back.

The hammer is also a starting weapon, which means you do not need to spend any Corestone to unlock it. This makes it a beginner-friendly melee weapon that is easier to master.

The hammer has versatile -range ground combos and one aerial combo that can also destroy crowds. Most of this melee weapon's focus hit combos can damage multiple enemies. While this is great for eliminating foes, the hammer is not the fastest weapon in the game. Therefore, you need to learn enemy attack patterns and dodge away from incoming attacks.

The Order in the Court is the default skill of the hammer. However, during your runs, you will come across weapon variations that you can buy. These will have altered skills that will change the playstyle of a particular weapon.

Spear

The spear could be your first melee weapon purchase, costing five Corestone. Unlike the hammer, which can also be used for AoE damage and crowd control, the spear specializes in single-target damage. However, the weapon's length allows you to maintain a significant distance from the target while landing excellent damage.

The spear is not a ranged weapon by any means, as the primary requirement to deal focus hits is to land attacks with the spear's tip . It just means you have to get , attack, and retreat a little before the enemies throw all sorts of punches and projectiles at you.

When you compare the hammer with the spear, there is not a lot of damage jump. However, the spear does give you the liberty to be comfortable attacking at a greaster distance.

Striker

The striker weapon costs seven Corestones to buy, but you will see its worth when you start using it in the game. The striker is a hybrid weapon that utilizes your player's melee attacks and heavy throwable balls as ranged utility against enemies.

You get two balls to throw at foes manually, and each deals massive damage compared to melee hits your character does. However, the balls bounce back to you if you are in range. The striker balls make a visible circle on the ground, showing where they will land.

When they do, you can hit the light attack button, and your character will slap the ball, sending it back to the foe with a speed to deal greater damage.

The best way to utilize the striker weapon in the game is to stay to medium range from the targets . The balls manually come back to you after striking a target, and you can call them, too, using the skill button.

However, each bounce the balls make, regardless of whether they are fired off from your player's hands, deals damage to enemies. This also counts enemies, who can send a ball flying if they happen to hit it.

The striker weapon is really fun to use, and most of the time, enemies will deal collateral damage due to random foes knocking the balls. You will see this happen the most when you have a high enemy spawn during a wave.

Cannon

The cannon is the most expensive weapon in the game, costing nine Cornerstones and offering a dynamic shift in the play style. You get a fully ranged weapon that fires explosive rounds at foes for this high price.

For starters, the cannon does not have a dodge button when you equip it. The dodge is replaced by the cannon's reload mechanic.

Technically, you can still dodge by pressing the skill and reload button . This will prompt your character to sit on the cannon and fire it, propelling the weapon user to the opposite of the projectile's trajectory. However, the animation is a little long compared to the dedicated dodge.

Another method to dodge is by spamming the heavy attack button. Each fired cannonball will send your character to the opposite side from the fired projectile. The trade-off for dodge is higher firepower and ranged engagement, which works well when you play in coop mode, as your squad gets to aggro foes while you attack from a distance.

The cannon's reload mechanic is triggered when you press the "X" on the PlayStation controller or "Space" on the Keyboard twice.

There are three reload animations that can make loading the cannonballs quick or sluggish. Pressing the reload button twice but with a gap will result in the slowest reload animation. Press it too quickly, and you will still not get the perfect reload time. However, if you pause for a fraction of a second after pressing the reload button for the first time and press it again, your character will instantly reload the cannon.

Besides the light and heavy attacks, if you press reload and light, or reload and heavy attack buttons, you will get two new combos. The light attack and reload combo performs a small AoE attack, and the heavy and reload combo fires all six cannonballs in a parabolic trajectory at a medium distance.

The cannon is a high-risk, high-reward weapon, not just because it removes the dodge option but also because it has AoE damage that hurts the weapon user. However, you can benefit the most while playing with this weapon in a party instead of solo.

Since the cannon is a ranged weapon, your party mates can divert enemies' attention to themselves while you stay away from the combat and shoot explosive projectiles at the foes from a safe distance.

What Are Focus Hits

The focus hits are special single or combo attacks with blue highlights that deal much higher damage than the standard ones. Each of the four weapons comes with one or more than one focus hit conditions. When you meet those conditions, your character will land enhanced damage per hit for the duration.

For example, a cannon always lands focus hits on the last three rounds in the clip. If you continue striking a target using the light attack of the hammer, your attacks will become focus hits after a few swings.