You just landed in Fragment, looted three buildings, and you’re standing there holding a Devotion and a dream. Meanwhile, the Octane who just kicked your door down is running an EVA-8 with Double Tap Trigger and deleted you before you could even spin up. Sound familiar?
Season 29, Overclocked, is still the meta right now, and it just went through a big midseason patch on June 23 that rearranged a good chunk of what used to be true. Respawn moved hop-ups between guns, buffed a couple of pistols, and kept leaning into the fast, aggressive playstyle this season is built around. One heads up before we start: Season 30 launches August 4, 2026, which is only a couple weeks out. So treat this as a snapshot of where Overclocked stands right now, not a permanent ranking. Things are going to get shuffled again soon.
Quick note before we get to guns: this season also brought a new legend, Axle, along with two systems called Deathbox Respawns and Chain Healing that let squads recover from a bad fight way faster than before. That’s legend territory, not gun territory, so I’m not going to dig into it here, but it does change how you think about loadouts. If your squad can channel a teammate’s box back to life mid fight, the gun in your hands when that happens matters more than it used to. Overclocked also added a new Mythic heirloom, Twin Razors, a universal melee weapon any Legend can equip, tied to the season’s Milestone Event. It won’t change how any gun on this list performs, but if you’re grinding the milestone track, that’s what you’re grinding toward.
Before I break this down, I want to be clear about something: every gun in this game is viable right now. That’s not just a feel good statement. Even in Predator lobbies, players are running weapons from every tier on this list and making them work. The gap between S tier and B tier is small, maybe a 5% difference in certain situations. So if you’re below Diamond, pick up whatever you like and go have fun. Seriously.
That said, if you want to know what’s actually meta right now, after the June patch shook a few things loose? Let’s get into it.
S+ Tier: Care Package Weapons
Let’s get these out of the way first. Every Care Package weapon in Overclocked is absolutely cracked, but the lineup changed this season. If you’ve been going off an older tier list (including an older version of this one), update your mental map now.
G7 Scout is still in the Care Package, and it’s still one of the strongest weapons in the entire game. Built in Double Tap, sniper optics compatible, infinite ammo potential with amps. If you see a Care Package, this is what you’re hoping for.
L-STAR moved into the Care Package this season, replacing the C.A.R. SMG, and it shreds. No reload, barely any recoil once you learn the heat management, and amps give it extended magazine potential that just doesn’t stop shooting. If you can hold an angle with it, whole squads disappear.
Kraber is still the Kraber. One shot changes the entire fight, and with amps giving it potential infinite ammo, it’s scarier than ever.
If you find any of these three, pick them up. No questions asked.
As for the C.A.R.: it rotated back out to floor loot this season and picked up a new hop-up called Redline in the process. I haven’t had enough reps with it yet to tell you exactly how strong Redline makes it, but the C.A.R. has always been a solid gun even without Care Package amp shenanigans, so don’t sleep on it if you find one on the ground.
S Tier: The Best Ground Loot in the Game
R-99 SMG is the bread and butter of Apex. It has been for years, and Season 29 is no different. What makes the R-99 special isn’t just its TTK. It’s the consistency. This is the gun that works in every single scenario: close range, mid range hipfire, aggressive pushes, defensive holds. It doesn’t care about your legend pick or your hop-up luck. It just works.
If you find a purple light mag, it’s over for anyone in your crosshairs. One thing to know this season: light ammo stacks got capped at 60 instead of 72, so don’t let a stack that looks full fool you into thinking you’re carrying as much as you used to. Loot a little more aggressively than habit tells you to.
Now, about dual Mozambiques. If you read an earlier version of this list, or you’ve just been playing since April, you probably remember these sitting right here in S tier, because Graffiti Mod turned them into a two pump purple armor deleter. That combo is dead. Respawn pulled Graffiti Mod off the Mozambique in the June 23 patch, full stop, no replacement hop-up for it. What it got instead was a handling speed increase, which is a nice, modest quality of life bump and nothing more. Faster to swap to, faster to aim down sights, that’s about it.
I’m not going to pretend I know exactly where dual Mozambiques land now. Different tier lists are all over the place on it, and the dust genuinely hasn’t settled. What I can tell you is the meme is back: “Mozambique here” isn’t a threat anymore, it’s just a pistol. If you’re picking a sidearm purely for power, look elsewhere on this list.
A+ Tier: Incredibly Strong With the Right Setup
This tier is stacked in Season 29. A lot of these guns jump toward S tier with the right hop-up, which is part of what makes the current meta so interesting.
HAVOC with Turbocharger is one of the best guns in the game. Period. Without Turbo? It’s fine. A tier at best. But once you’ve farmed 500 points of damage and unlocked Turbocharger, the HAVOC becomes a monster. The charge up meta rewards players who have strong early games.
Peacekeeper is back in a big way. Disruptor Rounds landed on the PK a couple seasons ago, and it still two pumps purple armor with them, blue armor without. Get the hop-up early enough, before people upgrade to purple shields, and the PK is one of the most underrated weapons in the game right now. It also picked up a new hop-up in the June patch called Executioner: knock someone and you get 50 shield regen over 5 seconds. That’s a genuine team fight tool for a squad chaining fights, and it’s not exclusive to the PK either, the Mastiff rolls Executioner too if you run into one.
EVA-8 got Double Tap Trigger added a couple seasons back, and it’s still incredible for this aggressive meta. In buildings, through broken windows, this thing deletes squads. I’d put it right at the top of A+ or even bottom of S. It also got a handling speed increase in the June patch, so it swaps and aims down sights faster than before too. I used to compare it here to dual Mozambiques with Graffiti Mod, but that combo doesn’t exist anymore, so just take the EVA-8 at face value: it’s one of the best shotguns in the game right now, full stop.
Wingman is still the Wingman. On movement legends like Octane, Axle, or Bangalore, this gun is S tier. The pistol strafe speed is no joke, you’re nearly impossible to hit while landing 45 damage headshots. On other legends without built in speed boosts, it drops a bit. Very character dependent this season, but if you main a speedy legend, the Wingman is a cheat code. It also lost Graffiti Mod in the June patch, but honestly its identity was never built around that hop-up. The strafe speed and headshot multiplier are what make this gun work.
RE-45 moved to the energy ammo class a while back, and the rework has held up well. With a purple energy mag, this gun rivals the R-99 for raw TTK. A lot of people sleep on it because they don’t like how it feels. But the numbers don’t lie. If you find a purple energy mag before you find a purple light mag, run the RE-45 and don’t look back.
Hemlok lost Gun Shield Generator a while back, which hurt. Then the June patch reduced its magazine capacity across every rarity, stacking right on top of that. I’m not going to hand you a precise new tier here because the picture’s genuinely messy right now and I don’t want to make up a number I can’t back. What I will say is it took another hit and it shows. The burst DPS is still there, but you’re reloading more than you used to, and in a meta this fast that’s a real cost. If you’ve got one, use it. Just don’t expect it to carry you the way it did a couple seasons ago.
Nemesis and the Hemlok used to be basically the same gun with different ammo types. That’s changed. Nemesis picked up Turbocharger in the June patch, right as the Hemlok was taking its mag nerf, so this isn’t really a toss up anymore. Turbocharger changes how the gun feels once it’s spun up, and it gives the Nemesis a hop-up path the Hemlok just doesn’t have right now. If your squad’s ammo situation lets you pick either, lean Nemesis.
Longbow DMR has been the dark horse the last couple seasons, riding the wave of marksman nerfs everywhere else. One thing’s changed though: it doesn’t have Graffiti Mod anymore. That got pulled off the Longbow in the June 23 patch and handed to the Flatline and the Volt instead, so if you’ve heard anyone describe the Longbow as basically a slower, harder hitting 30-30 Repeater, that’s out of date now. What’s left is a clean, hard hitting marksman rifle without a flashy hop-up story behind it. Still solid fundamentals, just a quieter pick than it was a season ago.
Triple Take got nerfed along with the other marksmen a while back (slower fire rate, lost Gun Shield Generator), but it’s still the best marksman weapon in the game. It functions like a close range shotgun and a long range poke tool. That versatility keeps it in A+.
P2020 is back on the ground this season, and with Hammerpoint Rounds? S tier. Without Hammerpoint? A+ at best. It also got a quiet base damage buff at the start of the season, up from 23 to 24, which sounds small but adds up over a full mag. The problem is still consistency. On mouse and keyboard, the P2020 can feel like RNG sometimes. But if you’re hitting your shots and you’ve got Hammerpoint unlocked, this little pistol punches way above its weight.
Alternator follows the same pattern as half the guns in this tier. With its hop-up (Double Tap), it’s S tier. Without it, it’s just okay. Getting the hop-up isn’t easy, though. You need to win a couple of fights first, and doing that with a stock Alternator in a Predator lobby is a tall order.
A Tier: Solid and Reliable
R-301 Carbine lost Gun Shield Generator a while back, and that one change dropped it from potential S tier to A. It got a damage buff before that which still feels good, but without Gun Shield, it’s just not quite what it was. Still a great gun. If it had kept Gun Shield, easy A+ or higher.
VK-47 Flatline is in the same boat as the R-301, both ARs feel very similar right now. Worth a fresh look though: Flatline picked up Graffiti Mod in the June patch, pulled off the Longbow, Wingman, and Mozambique in that same update. The Volt got it too, if energy ammo is more your speed. I haven’t put enough reps in yet to tell you it jumps a full tier, but it’s a meaningfully different gun than it was a month ago, so don’t sleep on it.
Rampage LMG with a thermite grenade charged up? Top of A+. The charged Rampage breaks doors, breaks windows, and just causes chaos. Without a thermite, though? Pretty bad. It’s too slow for the current meta when it’s not revved up.
Spitfire lost Graffiti Mod a while back and has been struggling ever since. Nobody wants to play a slow LMG when everything else is faster and hits just as hard. I’ve seen maybe two Spitfires all season.
Prowler is honestly not bad. It’s just that everything above it on this list is better. In a meta with this many strong options, the Prowler gets left behind.
B+ Tier: Niche but Playable
Bocek Compound Bow took a real hit a season back (draw speed reduction, damage nerf) and hasn’t really recovered since. If you’ve got a frag grenade equipped for the explosive arrow, the Bocek can still be really annoying. Without the grenade? It’s just too slow for the current meta. It was good a couple seasons ago. Now it’s firmly in “for fun” territory.
Sentinel is the classic “if you’re hitting your shots, it’s amazing” weapon. Charged up Sentinel rewards precision with huge damage numbers. Miss your shots, and you’re dead. It’s less consistent than the Longbow, which is why the Longbow still sits higher on this list even without its old hop-up story.
Charge Rifle is extremely niche this season. The long wind up time makes it useless in the fast, aggressive meta Overclocked rewards, and it’s purely a long range poking tool at this point.
Devotion might be the worst gun in the game right now. Here’s the thing: with Turbocharger, the Devotion is actually good. The problem? Getting Turbocharger on it requires 500 points of damage, and the gun is terrible without it. You’re straight up handicapping yourself for multiple fights, hoping to unlock a hop-up that turns your weapon from bad to good. On the HAVOC, that tradeoff feels worth it. On the Devotion, it just doesn’t.
The Real Theme This Season: Hop-Ups Still Decide Everything
If there’s one throughline this season, it’s that hop-ups make or break weapons, and the June patch just proved it again by shuffling which guns get which ones. The HAVOC goes from A tier to S tier with Turbocharger. The Peacekeeper goes from decent to disgusting with Disruptor Rounds, and now has Executioner on top giving it fight sustaining shield regen on knocks. The EVA-8 goes from good to great with Double Tap. The P2020 goes from A+ to S with Hammerpoint. Even the Nemesis picked up a real identity this patch, once it’s got Turbocharger going.
Respawn has done a pretty good job making nearly every weapon in the game worth picking up. The locked hop-up system means you’re rewarded for performing well with whatever you choose. Farm your damage, unlock your hop-up, and suddenly that “mid” gun in your hands becomes a real threat.
So here’s my advice: stop stressing about what’s “meta” in a vacuum, and stop repeating tier list claims from three patches ago (dual Mozambiques, I’m looking at you). Pick up the gun that matches the ammo and attachments you’re actually finding. If you find a purple energy mag, run the RE-45, the HAVOC, or now the Flatline or Volt if Graffiti Mod matters to you. Purple light mag? R-99 all day, just grab a couple extra stacks since they cap lower now. Purple bolt? Grab a Peacekeeper and hope for Executioner. This season rewards flexibility more than it rewards memorizing a chart.
Now go break some doors down and show your lobby what’s up. And if Season 30 flips this whole list on its head in a couple weeks, well, that’s Apex for you.
What’s your go-to loadout in Season 29’s Overclocked? Drop your picks in our Discord and let’s argue about it.
