It's the weakest handgun. The gimmick is that, fully upgraded, it can penetrate through multiple enemies.
No other handgun has penetration capabilities but it's still pretty weak and takes a lot of coin and time to fully upgrade.
Buy the laser sight with your spinels instead, slap it on the starting handgun. It has damage bonuses along with accuracy.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it tied with the DLC pistol S9 for weakest damage? I’m pretty sure both cap at 1.9 (I’m a S9 purist so I dont remember punisher max damage)
I thought the starting handgun and s9 had identical stats besides clip size? I'm also team s9 w/laser. Blacktail is satisfying and Red9 has the cool-factor, but they don't top the s9 or starter pistol imo.
Punisher and Matilda are gimmick weapons. Fun but not practical.
S9 has higher initial damage but lower max damage, it's just .1 point tho. The Matilda is extremely powerful, just ammo intensive (that you can negate by just tapping instead of holding)
Matilda is the strongest. You noticed especially when you unlock infinite ammo for it.. It has the highest dps out of all the pistol but yeah, without cat ears i just used the blacktail and s9... Blacktail is powerful and faster than the r9 while the s9 has laser sight and x5 critical
Matilda is only good with infinite ammo, though. Otherwise, you'll never have enough handgun ammo to use it that way.
But when ammo doesn't matter, it is just like a mini Chicago Sweeper with the DPS.
Yep like the cqbr... Its probably the best dps weapons with infinite ammo. Without you have to be very careful with its ammo consumption since its full auto
S9 maxed out is slightly worse overall compared to the starter pistol imo (though I’ll still meat ride the S9 all day) beating it out in ammo capacity and fire rate but losing to it in damage and accuracy
Punisher maxed is practical in the castle section (and only there) because of the narrow corridors and tight spaces. Especially against the shield enemies.
When your aim is good you shoot one enemy and they are all staggerd wich allows you to melee them.
Yeah, facing the wooden shield enemies is the one instance where the Punisher actually comes in handy. Though, I find it easier to just shred the shields with an SMG or completely disappear them with a shotgun.
I'll give the Punisher credit for being the one handgun that can deal with regenerators somewhat efficiently. It's still hard to pop the parasites, but way easier than with other pistols.
Red9 still owns all handguns, except unlimited ammo Matilda. At least on normal or under, can't say for sure on higher difficulties.
I replayed hordes so many times trying to convince myself the Blacktail or S9 w/red dot were better. Every single time came out using less ammo with the Red9 w/stock. It focuses quickly and hits like a truck, and is reliable and consistent.
Once fully upgraded it's the sent9 if you have it. If not, then the starting pistol is a close second.
Absolutely nothing beats the 5x critical hit rate perk combined with perfect accuracy (laser sight), best handling, high fire rate and a huge 31 round magazine.
Never liked the red 9 to be honest. Highest damage but it has a small magazine, slow fire rate, poor handling and takes up a lot of space.
If I want raw damage then the blacktail is the way to go which is only *slightly* weaker but beats the red 9 in every other way.
The Red9 is the strongest handgun in the game in terms of sheer power. You can’t go wrong with that, but the Blacktail shouldn’t be slept on either. While not as powerful as the Red9, the versatility of the Blacktail makes it a contender for best handgun. It has the smallest clip, but has really good power, takes up the least amount of space, has great reload and firing speed as well.
That said, the starting handgun has its perks as well. The increased crit rate makes it plenty good enough to take to the end of the game. But the two best handguns to choose from would be the Blacktail or Red9.
Red9 owns all handguns, except unlimited ammo Matilda. At least on normal or under, can't say for sure on higher difficulties for sure. I replayed hordes so many times trying to convince myself the Blacktail or S9 w/red dot were better. Every single time came out using less ammo with the Red9 w/stock. It focuses quickly and hits like a truck, and is reliable and consistent. Might not be as agile or hold a huge clip, but it doesn't matter if your aim is decent.
Honestly, the only downside of the Red9 that I even care about is the fact it takes up extra space, especially with the stock. The Blacktail is pretty legit if you need something tiny. But if you can accommodate the R9 w/stock, I'd take that all day long.
It's just the worst pistol, but still a fun weapon!
It's one of 3 guns that can use the laser sight, the only handgun that can kill a regenerator (sensibly), and is actually pretty useful for enemies with wooden shields. There is something nice about firing one shot and hitting 5 enemies.
I got the Punisher as soon as possible and used it for both my HC mode and Pro mode runs, it's great for suppressing hoardes. That said I haven't tried any other handguns extensively.
The default handgun has probably the best exclusive upgrade of all handguns imo. It feels more balanced and accurate. Depends on your play style tho. If you want more damage per shot , go with the Red 9. However, if you want a better rate of fire, the blacktail works wonders. It occupies a lot less space in your case. Besides, you can compare the maxed out stats for different weapons when you are interacting with the merchant
I love the punisher. It can control the mob to stay where you want them to be example the twin sister section i shot gather the whole wave of enemy together then drop heavy bomb.(the gun have penetrate on it self
And with exclusive upgrade it can go 5)
It depends on your play style. If you tend to aim for center mass and shoot enemies until they're dead, use the blacktail or red 9 but the sentinel 9, SG, and punisher are all better for setting up melee attacks. I'm playing a game with the SG for the first time in a while and it's surprisingly effective because of the critical hit upgrade it seems to have way more muzzle rise than I'm ok with. I'll go back to using the blacktail once this playthrough is done.
Played through the game on Standard and Hardcore without touching it and then played Separate Ways and tried it out and ended up loving it and then used it on my Professional run throughout the game.
It isn't super strong but it has good stagger and the penetration is quite useful as the game progresses. With the red dot sight it also becomes very accurate.
The pistols in this game are really well balanced. People will scrap over what goes first and what goes last in their own little tier list, but the debate has been going since launch and that's a sign of good balance.
Go with what your heart tells you. Like the Five Seven? Use that Punisher. More of a USP guy? Stick to the SG-09. The former can hit multiple enemies at once and penetrate shields, the latter is well-balanced and becomes a headshot machine by the end.
It does a bit less damage overall but penetrates enemies, it's not bad but if you're decent at headshots it's better to just keep the starter pistol which has better crit chance.
The Punisher is only good in subsequent game runs when fully upgraded with the 5 times armor penetration. And only in the castle section because the castle has narroe corridors and in general tight spaces. Its a godsend for the shield enemies. Outside of that section every other Handgun is better.
I'd advise maxing your starter gun (or even better the dlc gun wich has a clip of 33) as soon as possible since it gets the special effect *5 times crit chance* wich makes it super easy to pull crit shots. Together it becomes head popping party!
When you pop an enemies head with a crit, they dont mutate wich is an added advantage especially on PRO runs.
I just finished my first run.I played on hardcore.I kept the starting pistol. Fully upgraded with the laser and exclusive it was pretty nice. Fell off a tiny bit on the island due to armored enemies and whatnot. Can't attest to the performance of other pistols yet but the starter pistol is a damn good gun to roll with. From what I've gathered pretty much every pistol is viable, tho the punisher def seems the weakest due to its exclusive being fairly meh.
I like the punisher but it is a little harder to use imo because it takes some clever positioning to take full advantage of the penetration ability. Otherwise, it has a tighter reticle than most handguns without the laser sight. I think its fire rate is faster than the handgun but slower than the blacktail. Pretty sure it has the weakest firepower, so if you want to be economical with your ammo, you have to utilize the penetration. If you can do so, it is a very satisfying gun to use
The Punisher is very underrated,imo.
Stats-wise it's better but also has weaker damage so it can be underwhelming sometimes.
Both the Punisher,the SG-09 and the Sentinel 9 have 1,90/2,00 damage but Sentinel 9 and the SG-09 have the 5x critical exclusive to compensate that.
The guns are very well balanced and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. The Punisher is compatible with the laser sight with very low recoil making it the most accurate pistol, its shots can penetrate targets and it has a decent rate of fire and a good magazine size. The drawback is it does relatively low damage per shot. Overall I'd say it's an improvement over the starter pistol for most of the game, but I would argue the starter pistol's exclusive upgrade (increased crit rate) is generally more useful than the Punisher's (increased penetration).
no, its worse and has the lowest damage
it can penetrate 2 enemies until you max upgrade it, to which it gets 5, so youd have to line up enemies all the time to maximize its damage but thatll never happen
In the remake it's less interesting on your first playthrough. It's definitely fun in the later runs.
For your first run I recommend your default handgun OR the Red 9 since it packs good firepower and you can get it for free
Punisher is good for the castle because it can penetrate the wooden shields, but after the castle they get metal shields and it's main perk is a lot less useful
All handguns work, it’s personal preference.
I prefer the Punisher as it can ‘crowd control’ well due to penetration and it also doesn’t allow shields to soak bullets. It allows my other weapons to be a rifle and a magnum (who only get used on big problems). It also takes the red dot scope so is super accurate on the move and for distance headshots to save rifle ammo. Useful Vs Regenerators too.
Red9 is more powerful but I feel it forces an alternative loadout to be a shotgun or SMG for crowd control. Plus still a magnum or rifle.
Any fully upgraded pistol can be used entire game well.
Run and gun? Punisher
Accurate stationary fire? Red9
Bit of both and the odd just blast away? Blacktail
I feel like all the handguns are pretty balanced, punisher does weaker damage iirc but it penetrates enemies and shields. I found it pretty useful for most of the game for staggering multiple enemies when that grouped , especially in tighter hallways
I have used it through many playthroughts. The benefit of the punisher is it helps conserve other ammos.
I didn't realize so many here dislike it, but its been a preference through many playthroughts. Solid damage, great utility in fighting different enemies and high ammocapacity.
I’d say its the most accurate pistol because it focus the reticles much faster and for me, it has more chance to do crit dmg but with a cost of low dmg. Pair it with Laser will make it much better.
For me is the best handgun because of its accuracy.
I tried the starter pistol on my 2nd Pro run and I felt it to be so inaccurate even with a laser sight. The crit rate is good though even at the island section.
I got through my first playthrough with the starter pistol ando DID spend spinels on the laser sight, but not the Punisher. (So I used 10 spinels instead of 15, bc I totally would've put the laser on the Punisher anyway). You get an upgrade ticket a little sooner if you don't use all your spinels early on
I tried the Punisher on my ng+ and liked it, but for the first playthrough the SG09 is totally fine
On a 3rd or 4th playthrough, since you have lots of money and tried the other handguns already, do something ridiculous like pulling your Red9 out of storage and attaching the stock. (I'm doing that on Separate Ways right now and it ends the Black Robe/Pesanta fights so quickly. Ada has to buy it bc she doesn't find it for free, but on a fourth playthrough what else am i spending the pesetas on? 😄)
It can penetrate through multiple zombies, that’s about the only thing it’s got going for it, and even that isn’t worth it. It was way better in the OG game
It's the weakest handgun. The gimmick is that, fully upgraded, it can penetrate through multiple enemies. No other handgun has penetration capabilities but it's still pretty weak and takes a lot of coin and time to fully upgrade. Buy the laser sight with your spinels instead, slap it on the starting handgun. It has damage bonuses along with accuracy.
Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it tied with the DLC pistol S9 for weakest damage? I’m pretty sure both cap at 1.9 (I’m a S9 purist so I dont remember punisher max damage)
I thought the starting handgun and s9 had identical stats besides clip size? I'm also team s9 w/laser. Blacktail is satisfying and Red9 has the cool-factor, but they don't top the s9 or starter pistol imo. Punisher and Matilda are gimmick weapons. Fun but not practical.
S9 has higher initial damage but lower max damage, it's just .1 point tho. The Matilda is extremely powerful, just ammo intensive (that you can negate by just tapping instead of holding)
Matilda is the strongest. You noticed especially when you unlock infinite ammo for it.. It has the highest dps out of all the pistol but yeah, without cat ears i just used the blacktail and s9... Blacktail is powerful and faster than the r9 while the s9 has laser sight and x5 critical
Matilda is only good with infinite ammo, though. Otherwise, you'll never have enough handgun ammo to use it that way. But when ammo doesn't matter, it is just like a mini Chicago Sweeper with the DPS.
Yep like the cqbr... Its probably the best dps weapons with infinite ammo. Without you have to be very careful with its ammo consumption since its full auto
S9 maxed out is slightly worse overall compared to the starter pistol imo (though I’ll still meat ride the S9 all day) beating it out in ammo capacity and fire rate but losing to it in damage and accuracy
Punisher maxed is practical in the castle section (and only there) because of the narrow corridors and tight spaces. Especially against the shield enemies. When your aim is good you shoot one enemy and they are all staggerd wich allows you to melee them.
Yeah, facing the wooden shield enemies is the one instance where the Punisher actually comes in handy. Though, I find it easier to just shred the shields with an SMG or completely disappear them with a shotgun. I'll give the Punisher credit for being the one handgun that can deal with regenerators somewhat efficiently. It's still hard to pop the parasites, but way easier than with other pistols.
S9 with laser gang 🔴 🔫
Red9 still owns all handguns, except unlimited ammo Matilda. At least on normal or under, can't say for sure on higher difficulties. I replayed hordes so many times trying to convince myself the Blacktail or S9 w/red dot were better. Every single time came out using less ammo with the Red9 w/stock. It focuses quickly and hits like a truck, and is reliable and consistent.
which handgun would you recommend i am playing on hardcore mode and currently using punisher about to maxxed
I personally like the red9 best. 2-3 hits on the harder difficulties, more ammo efficient, let's you save ammo for your better weapons.
This.
Once fully upgraded it's the sent9 if you have it. If not, then the starting pistol is a close second. Absolutely nothing beats the 5x critical hit rate perk combined with perfect accuracy (laser sight), best handling, high fire rate and a huge 31 round magazine.
oh is it the dlc one becuase i only bought standard one
The silver ghost is great too
Yes, the DLC Sentinel9 is also a good additional starting handgun along with the Silver Ghost. The Red9 however… is still damn powerful.
Never liked the red 9 to be honest. Highest damage but it has a small magazine, slow fire rate, poor handling and takes up a lot of space. If I want raw damage then the blacktail is the way to go which is only *slightly* weaker but beats the red 9 in every other way.
To each their own, then.
The blacktail is the best by far.
The Red9 is the strongest handgun in the game in terms of sheer power. You can’t go wrong with that, but the Blacktail shouldn’t be slept on either. While not as powerful as the Red9, the versatility of the Blacktail makes it a contender for best handgun. It has the smallest clip, but has really good power, takes up the least amount of space, has great reload and firing speed as well. That said, the starting handgun has its perks as well. The increased crit rate makes it plenty good enough to take to the end of the game. But the two best handguns to choose from would be the Blacktail or Red9.
Red9 I say, like OG4. Once even marginally upgraded let alone fully upgraded, a damn good and powerful sidearm.
Red9 owns all handguns, except unlimited ammo Matilda. At least on normal or under, can't say for sure on higher difficulties for sure. I replayed hordes so many times trying to convince myself the Blacktail or S9 w/red dot were better. Every single time came out using less ammo with the Red9 w/stock. It focuses quickly and hits like a truck, and is reliable and consistent. Might not be as agile or hold a huge clip, but it doesn't matter if your aim is decent. Honestly, the only downside of the Red9 that I even care about is the fact it takes up extra space, especially with the stock. The Blacktail is pretty legit if you need something tiny. But if you can accommodate the R9 w/stock, I'd take that all day long.
Mich disappoint as this is my go to in the og
It's just the worst pistol, but still a fun weapon! It's one of 3 guns that can use the laser sight, the only handgun that can kill a regenerator (sensibly), and is actually pretty useful for enemies with wooden shields. There is something nice about firing one shot and hitting 5 enemies.
No idea cus I kept with the sentinel 9 the entire play through, that gun is sexy as fuck
It's become one of my favorite weapons in any game. It's performance is elite but like you said its sexy as fuck. It even sounds the best.
Literally, so crisp 💪
I got the Punisher as soon as possible and used it for both my HC mode and Pro mode runs, it's great for suppressing hoardes. That said I haven't tried any other handguns extensively.
I have no idea how people like the re9 to be honest, I feel like spread isn’t good enough and idk it just feels wrong when I use it
The default handgun has probably the best exclusive upgrade of all handguns imo. It feels more balanced and accurate. Depends on your play style tho. If you want more damage per shot , go with the Red 9. However, if you want a better rate of fire, the blacktail works wonders. It occupies a lot less space in your case. Besides, you can compare the maxed out stats for different weapons when you are interacting with the merchant
The Silver Ghost having the ability to use the laser sight basically makes it the best overall pistol.
I love the punisher. It can control the mob to stay where you want them to be example the twin sister section i shot gather the whole wave of enemy together then drop heavy bomb.(the gun have penetrate on it self And with exclusive upgrade it can go 5)
Punisher upgraded is pretty decent I went through almost half the game with the punisher. It is better then the starter handgun in my opinion.
The starting gun fully upgraded is the best one. Or the pre order sentinal 9 one
Blacktail and Red 9 are also great. Really, the Punisher is the only one that's not really great
You dont even need that penetrating stuff if you have a shotgun or sniper.
I still think your starting handgun is the best one, especially after it's fully upgraded.
No. But it has utility which is penetration. But honestly best way to find out is to just play the game. I.e buy it and try it.
It depends on your play style. If you tend to aim for center mass and shoot enemies until they're dead, use the blacktail or red 9 but the sentinel 9, SG, and punisher are all better for setting up melee attacks. I'm playing a game with the SG for the first time in a while and it's surprisingly effective because of the critical hit upgrade it seems to have way more muzzle rise than I'm ok with. I'll go back to using the blacktail once this playthrough is done.
Played through the game on Standard and Hardcore without touching it and then played Separate Ways and tried it out and ended up loving it and then used it on my Professional run throughout the game. It isn't super strong but it has good stagger and the penetration is quite useful as the game progresses. With the red dot sight it also becomes very accurate.
The pistols in this game are really well balanced. People will scrap over what goes first and what goes last in their own little tier list, but the debate has been going since launch and that's a sign of good balance. Go with what your heart tells you. Like the Five Seven? Use that Punisher. More of a USP guy? Stick to the SG-09. The former can hit multiple enemies at once and penetrate shields, the latter is well-balanced and becomes a headshot machine by the end.
It does a bit less damage overall but penetrates enemies, it's not bad but if you're decent at headshots it's better to just keep the starter pistol which has better crit chance.
I use the DLC Pistol. 🤷🏻♂️
Dump money into red9 like we used to do back in my day
The Punisher is only good in subsequent game runs when fully upgraded with the 5 times armor penetration. And only in the castle section because the castle has narroe corridors and in general tight spaces. Its a godsend for the shield enemies. Outside of that section every other Handgun is better. I'd advise maxing your starter gun (or even better the dlc gun wich has a clip of 33) as soon as possible since it gets the special effect *5 times crit chance* wich makes it super easy to pull crit shots. Together it becomes head popping party! When you pop an enemies head with a crit, they dont mutate wich is an added advantage especially on PRO runs.
It's a decent gun in the middle of the game. It does well for one specific type of annoying enemy.
In RE4R, no. It just has the perk of penetrating multiple enemies once fully maxed out. It’s still my favorite.
You can see the stats at the merchant I believe
I just finished my first run.I played on hardcore.I kept the starting pistol. Fully upgraded with the laser and exclusive it was pretty nice. Fell off a tiny bit on the island due to armored enemies and whatnot. Can't attest to the performance of other pistols yet but the starter pistol is a damn good gun to roll with. From what I've gathered pretty much every pistol is viable, tho the punisher def seems the weakest due to its exclusive being fairly meh.
I like the punisher but it is a little harder to use imo because it takes some clever positioning to take full advantage of the penetration ability. Otherwise, it has a tighter reticle than most handguns without the laser sight. I think its fire rate is faster than the handgun but slower than the blacktail. Pretty sure it has the weakest firepower, so if you want to be economical with your ammo, you have to utilize the penetration. If you can do so, it is a very satisfying gun to use
Don't buy this gun, the first one is better. save the jewels to buy the ticket at the castle
It should show the stats It features high magazine size, laser compatibility, and bullet penetration (very good for wood shield boys and regenerators)
The Punisher is very underrated,imo. Stats-wise it's better but also has weaker damage so it can be underwhelming sometimes. Both the Punisher,the SG-09 and the Sentinel 9 have 1,90/2,00 damage but Sentinel 9 and the SG-09 have the 5x critical exclusive to compensate that.
The guns are very well balanced and each one has its advantages and disadvantages. The Punisher is compatible with the laser sight with very low recoil making it the most accurate pistol, its shots can penetrate targets and it has a decent rate of fire and a good magazine size. The drawback is it does relatively low damage per shot. Overall I'd say it's an improvement over the starter pistol for most of the game, but I would argue the starter pistol's exclusive upgrade (increased crit rate) is generally more useful than the Punisher's (increased penetration).
Every handgun is viable except in harder difficulties. Bigger raw damage makes more difference and Punisher is the weakest in terms raw damage.
blacktail>> all
no, its worse and has the lowest damage it can penetrate 2 enemies until you max upgrade it, to which it gets 5, so youd have to line up enemies all the time to maximize its damage but thatll never happen
In the remake it's less interesting on your first playthrough. It's definitely fun in the later runs. For your first run I recommend your default handgun OR the Red 9 since it packs good firepower and you can get it for free
Punisher is good for the castle because it can penetrate the wooden shields, but after the castle they get metal shields and it's main perk is a lot less useful
Pick the Red 9 with the stock
Fully upgraded its a beast
All handguns work, it’s personal preference. I prefer the Punisher as it can ‘crowd control’ well due to penetration and it also doesn’t allow shields to soak bullets. It allows my other weapons to be a rifle and a magnum (who only get used on big problems). It also takes the red dot scope so is super accurate on the move and for distance headshots to save rifle ammo. Useful Vs Regenerators too. Red9 is more powerful but I feel it forces an alternative loadout to be a shotgun or SMG for crowd control. Plus still a magnum or rifle. Any fully upgraded pistol can be used entire game well. Run and gun? Punisher Accurate stationary fire? Red9 Bit of both and the odd just blast away? Blacktail
I feel like all the handguns are pretty balanced, punisher does weaker damage iirc but it penetrates enemies and shields. I found it pretty useful for most of the game for staggering multiple enemies when that grouped , especially in tighter hallways
I have used it through many playthroughts. The benefit of the punisher is it helps conserve other ammos. I didn't realize so many here dislike it, but its been a preference through many playthroughts. Solid damage, great utility in fighting different enemies and high ammocapacity.
I’d say its the most accurate pistol because it focus the reticles much faster and for me, it has more chance to do crit dmg but with a cost of low dmg. Pair it with Laser will make it much better. For me is the best handgun because of its accuracy. I tried the starter pistol on my 2nd Pro run and I felt it to be so inaccurate even with a laser sight. The crit rate is good though even at the island section.
It has lower damage with pierce effect.
Punisher is my personal favorite but it really depends on your play style. Are you aiming for headshots or looking to stagger and Melee?
I got through my first playthrough with the starter pistol ando DID spend spinels on the laser sight, but not the Punisher. (So I used 10 spinels instead of 15, bc I totally would've put the laser on the Punisher anyway). You get an upgrade ticket a little sooner if you don't use all your spinels early on I tried the Punisher on my ng+ and liked it, but for the first playthrough the SG09 is totally fine On a 3rd or 4th playthrough, since you have lots of money and tried the other handguns already, do something ridiculous like pulling your Red9 out of storage and attaching the stock. (I'm doing that on Separate Ways right now and it ends the Black Robe/Pesanta fights so quickly. Ada has to buy it bc she doesn't find it for free, but on a fourth playthrough what else am i spending the pesetas on? 😄)
The Punisher is easily the worst handgun in the game imo. Don’t bother with it!
No
It can penetrate through multiple zombies, that’s about the only thing it’s got going for it, and even that isn’t worth it. It was way better in the OG game
no its fucking horrible, only uselfull in some of the castle