The finest armaments in Mina the Hollower demand a delicate balance of brute force, reach, agility, and tactical utility. Because mastering and fully upgrading your gear requires a significant investment of time and hard-earned bones, knowing which tools deserve your resources is vital. To help you streamline your progression, we have evaluated all five weapons at their maximum potential to determine the ultimate loadouts.
Top-Tier Weapons in Mina the Hollower
While the Nightstar serves as a brilliant entry-level tool for beginners, it loses some of its luster once you reach the mid-to-late game. Below, we have ranked the game’s five primary weapons from essential to situational.
Looking to track these down? Check out our comprehensive guide on all weapon locations in Mina the Hollower to complete your arsenal.
#1 — Battery Buster
- Base Function: A versatile blaster. Swap between melee and ranged modes via the jump/attack combo. Strike foes to scavenge bullets.
- Upgrade 1: Burst Shot: Hold the attack button in ranged mode to unleash a devastating charged blast.
- Upgrade 2: Charge Swing: Hold the attack button in melee mode to deliver a powerful, heavy strike.
The Battery Buster is, without question, the most adaptable tool in your inventory. It eliminates the need to choose between engagement styles, allowing you to dismantle threats from a safe distance—a luxury few other weapons provide. Its range is exceptional, effectively covering the entire width of the screen, and the ability to ricochet bullets off surfaces allows for brilliant trick shots around corners. In melee combat, the weapon is lightning-fast; plus, every successful hit feeds ammo back into your pool, ensuring you rarely find yourself defenseless.
#2 — Guardian Casket
- Base Function: A heavy-duty shield. Bash to attack, hold to defend, or time your block perfectly to execute a parry.
- Upgrade 1: Coffin Toss: Double-tap to hurl your shield like a projectile; jump onto it mid-air for a boosted jump.
- Upgrade 2: Grave Counter: Capitalize on successful parries to deliver a crushing follow-up blow.
The Guardian Casket is a defensive powerhouse that turns enemy aggression against them. A well-timed parry can evaporate lesser mobs and leave bosses reeling. While you shouldn’t rely on holding the block indefinitely, the forgiving timing makes it a reliable safety net. Once you unlock the Coffin Toss, the shield transforms into a multi-target zoning tool that can bypass obstacles or reach distant enemies, adding a layer of spatial control that makes it indispensable for survival.
#3 — Blaststrike Maul
- Base Function: A massive, high-impact hammer. Hold the attack button to charge your swing; rolling is permitted while charging.
- Upgrade 1: Boom Charge: Extend your charge time to trigger a localized explosion on impact.
- Upgrade 2: Spin Rush: Dash forward with an additional strike when the weapon flashes post-attack.
Mastering the Blaststrike Maul is a labor of love, but the payoff is immense. It allows you to delete most standard enemies in a single, well-placed blow. The combo potential—dashing forward after a charge—is excellent for closing the gap, though you must be careful not to overextend. While the charge-up time leaves you vulnerable, the ability to maneuver while preparing your strike mitigates the risk, rewarding patient, rhythmic players.
#4 — Nightstar
- Base Function: A weighted mace on a chain, ideal for mid-range skirmishes.
- Upgrade 1: Dread Mace: Maximizes damage by striking enemies with the tip of the weapon.
- Upgrade 2: Afterstrike: Hold the attack button to pulse an extra wave of damage.
The Nightstar is fantastic for maintaining a safe distance, and the Afterstrike upgrade provides a much-needed layer of directional control. However, the weapon feels hampered by its lack of mobility during attacks. Unless you are specifically building for maximum melee reach, you will often find yourself retreating to safety before you can fully utilize its advanced features, making it a bit less flexible than the higher-ranked options.
#5 — Whisper and Vesper
- Base Function: Nimble twin daggers focused on rapid-fire stabbing.
- Upgrade 1: Lunging Cut: Execute a jumping, advancing slash to close distance instantly.
- Upgrade 2: Throwing Dagger: Charge a toss to strike from afar, though this leaves you with only one blade for subsequent attacks.
These daggers offer blistering attack speed, but they struggle to compete with the sheer utility and power of the other tools. The Lunging Cut is a useful mobility tool, but the Throwing Dagger upgrade often feels like a liability; losing a blade significantly neuters your combat effectiveness and forces you to retrieve your weapon, which can be disastrous in the heat of a chaotic battle.
Source: Polygon
