Survive the Swarm Weapons

Survive the Swarm is a multi-weapon survivor-like. The bottom-left HUD holds several weapons at once, each with a level number, and they auto-attack while you move. You are not swapping a single gun. You are stacking a loadout and walking an oval so every tool can clip the swarm. This page names only what studio shots and public runs actually show: the starter sword, boomerangs, Machine Gun, and a Mage staff players call possibly strong. No invented artillery, no fireballs, no fake DPS.

Letter grades and “what to tap first” belong on the weapon tier list and the parent tier list. This guide is how the tools behave in the loop from How to Play. If a weapon still loses because you walked through blues, fix the kite on How to Survive before you blame the bar.

Starter sword

You join with a sword kit. It auto-attacks. It is how you learn that standing still is a death. Range is the weakness you can see without a stat sheet: you must keep a rim, not a melee hug. That is why studio copy says keep distance from attacking insects even when your first tool looks like a close-range weapon. Circle, dash Shift/Space when the ring pinches, and let the sword work on the edge.

The sword can stay on the loadout after other tools appear. Vampire Survivors-style bars do not always replace slot one. Treat it as the teaching weapon and as backup melee coverage if projectiles are busy behind you. Do not sell the idea of the sword because a clip on Trenchline used a gun — that clip still needed an oval.

Boomerangs

Official screenshots show boomerangs as yellow and red returning projectiles. Returning shots are kite-friendly: you walk away, the projectile comes back through the pack, you keep vacuuming purple crystals. They are one of the few tools we can describe from studio art rather than community naming.

Boomerangs still need space. If you reverse into the swarm to “catch” a throw, you wasted the pattern. Keep the same courtyard belt described on maps. Pillars can clip projectiles in your head even when the game does not show a damage number; do not stand so close to stone that you eat red cubes for a prettier screenshot.

Machine Gun

Machine Gun is a community-confirmed tool. A public Trenchline run reached wave 76 with Machine Gun at level 5. That single sentence teaches two systems: the gun exists, and weapon levels on the loadout rise during a long run. It does not teach a fire rate, a magazine, or a hidden drop table. We will not invent those.

What you can use: Machine Gun is an auto-attack that wants you to keep moving while it works, same as the sword. Pair it with the in-run level-up panel so character LVL and weapon level are not confused — upgrades splits those layers. Wave 22 footage showing LVL 7 while waves are in the twenties is the reminder that the WAVE timer is not your gun level.

Mage staff, stacking, and what we refuse to add

Players mention a Mage staff as possibly strong. Mage as a hero trades HP for damage; the creator has said using her drops HP faster even though she fights strong. A strong staff on a brittle kit is not a beginner default. Unlock her after the starter oval is boring, then read best heroes and builds.

Stacking is the design. Several icons, several levels, simultaneous auto-attacks. Your job is to give them a rim. Team Invincibility and Stun All Enemies (both 30 seconds, both 49 currency) do not add a fourth weapon; they buy time for the existing bar to work when the courtyard closes. Dash is not a weapon either. E ATTACK! appears in some views — see controls — and still does not replace the loadout.

GeekOut Studio announced a turret in January 2026. Track it on new weapons. Until it is on your bar, it is not a loadout slot. This page will not fill empty squares with guessed guns.

Building a bar for a longer run

Start sword. Add what the run actually offers — boomerangs when you see returning yellow/red shots, Machine Gun when it appears, staff only with eyes open on HP. Vacuum crystals so both character levels and weapon levels move. Shop 49 only for a real surround. Optional Robux can double some end-of-run rewards after the bar did its job; it does not socket a secret weapon.

Difficulty rounds and a public wave 92 clip with several revives still show a stacked loadout plus movement. Servers up to 60 mean other players’ projectiles occupy the same air; do not stand in their kite line to “share DPS.” Pre-flight with the loadout checklist, redeem codes in a menu, and keep Discord plus the GeekOut Studio group on wiki links.

Weapons in Survive the Swarm are a short, honest list on purpose. Learn the four names we can defend, stack them on the bottom-left bar, and let auto-attack work while you walk. The weapon tier list can argue grades. This page only argues that a full bar on a broken oval is still a death.