How to Get Weapons

Personal Weapons Overview

Personal weapons decide boarding fights, tower defense during green smoke, and on-foot extracts. You carry one active gun — slot 1 primary, slot 2 sidearm, slot 3 multi-tool per keyboard controls.

Meta rankings live on weapons tier list: 1874 Petros shotgun and Anti-Reactor Rifle top Storm Dive; 866/9 rifle dominates Voyage learning.

Weapons spawn from brown, green, and red crates — tier escalates with POI danger.

Town Weapon Spawns

Towns spawn mixed brown and green weapon crates after zombie clears. Segen shop backrooms teach bolt rifles; Venedig canals favor shotguns from green crates. Always check ammo type before swapping — wrong ammo is useless weight.

Fort Armories

Fort armories behind red doors hold green and red tier weapons plus ammo tins. 80mm breach required for outer doors — then personal weapons on shelves. PvP contest peaks here.

Player and NPC Drops

Killed raiders drop equipped weapons on body. NPC Trampler captain tables hold sidearms. Insured weapons may return to owner — loot fast.

Crafting Weapons

Crafting at landmark reactors and onboard benches outputs weapons when recipes unlock via tech tree. Gunpowder and Fabric components common inputs.

Weapon	Tier	Best Source
866/9 Rifle	A	Town green crates
1874 Petros	S	Fort red crates / player drops
Blitz Pistol	B	Universal sidearm spawns
Anti-Reactor Rifle	S situational	Dreadnought / artifacts

Ammo Pairing

Every weapon needs matching ammunition — pre-craft bolts before Storm Dive. Boarding loadouts: shotgun + smoke grenades + frags.

Mode-Specific Picks

Voyage: 866/9 + Blitz Pistol for weight efficiency. Storm Dive finals: Petros + timed bombs for leg destruction. Fort overwatch: M82 before door breach.

Weapon Selection guide expands matchups.

Extracting Weapons

Secured weapons in inventory extract. Loaded turret ammo extracts; floor weapons do not. Before tower, stash backup sidearm in internal bay.

Early Access Balance

Weapon stats shift during EA from June 22, 2026 — verify patch notes before hard-committing crowns to licenses.

How to Get Weapons — Field Walkthrough

Acquire player weapons from loot, crafting, and PvP. Apply this guide during live raids in SAND: Raiders of Sophie, not just in hangar theory. Every technique assumes you will extract with a Radio Beacon Box (~2000 crowns), green smoke at the radio tower, and roughly two minutes of active defense.

Carry backup fuel rods, secure Black Boxes (~500 crowns) and Mechanical Parts in internal storage bays, and review storage safety before high-value POIs. Switch between 40mm cannons for zombies and drones and 80mm cannons for enemy Tramplers, Ironclad robots, and fort red doors.

Cross-reference How to Get sibling guides via related links at page bottom. Update strats after patch notes during Early Access from June 22, 2026.

Voyage and Storm Dive Context

Voyage mode is the safest environment to practice how to get weapons techniques: lower rival density, flexible extract timing, forgiving fuel economy. Master the loop here before Storm Dive finals where Dreadnought and Sandworm Pit concentrate artifacts and red-tier crates.

Storm Dive adds shrinking map pressure — plan extract vector before entering hot zones. Squads should assign driver, gunner, boarder, and quartermaster per solo vs squad roles. Solos prioritize stealth, early tower calls, and Sand Runner mobility.

If your Trampler is destroyed, pivot to on-foot extraction with Beacon and highest-value items only. Rebuild later via blueprint rebuild plus Mechanical Parts.

Loadout, Crafting, and Tech Tree Links

Hangar tech tree unlocks directly enable or gate how to get weapons strategies. Follow tech tree unlock order before selling Black Boxes for quick crowns. Research components from industrial POIs feed landmark crafting at landmark reactors.

Personal weapons: 866/9 rifle for general work, 1874 Petros shotgun for boarding, M82 for extraction overwatch — see weapon selection. Trampler cannons: cannon matchups explains 40mm versus 80mm.

Use tier lists for meta builds and map pages for POI navigation. Controls references cover tower F-key extraction and Trampler driving under fire.

Risk Management and PvP

Third-party squads contest profitable routes — audio discipline wins fights. Engine-off parking, ridge-line driving, and smoke disengages from smoke and stealth extend survival.

Boarding offense and defense decide vehicle fights: boarding offense versus boarding defense. NPC Tramplers and player walkers share 80mm weak-point doctrine from enemy Trampler combat.

Solo players avoid fort assaults and Storm finals until 80mm, parts stockpile, and insured blueprints are ready. Extract when bays are 70% full — greed causes death spirals.

Step-by-Step Raid Integration

Standard session: deploy with checklist → navigate using extraction point awareness → execute how to get weapons objectives → consolidate inventory → drive to tower → Beacon and green smoke → defend two minutes → bank loot in hangar.

Failure recovery: die with parts and blueprint intact, rebuild Trampler, run efficient Voyage recovery per efficient loot run. Never repeat the same overextended route without learning.

Share this page with squadmates so roles align — one guide read prevents five conflicting calls during extract timer.

How to Get Weapons — POI and Landmark Reference

Named landmarks anchor navigation: Segen and Kaiserplatz towns for mixed loot, Feste Königsmarck forts for 80mm doors, Archipel von Leopold shipwrecks for Black Boxes, Dreadnought and Sandworm Pit for Storm Dive finals — full list on landmarks map.

Town clears require zombie kills before crates unlock efficiently — town zombies. Fort pushes need minefield awareness and Ironclad clears — fort assault. NPC patrol farming between Hangar Citadel and open dunes feeds Black Box income.

Buried treasure and coastal wrecks supplement crown routes without max PvP — buried treasure, shipwrecks. High-tier red crates live in fort vaults and Dreadnought decks — high-tier crates.

How to Get Weapons — Economy and Inventory Discipline

Physical loot rules: secured inventory, internal Trampler bays, and loaded turret ammo extract; floor loot is lost. Radio Beacon Boxes (~2000 crowns) are simultaneously wealth and extract requirement — never drop during boarding.

Black Boxes (~500 crowns) compete with tech tree needs — consult hangar before selling. Mechanical Parts are rebuild insurance — mechanical parts guide. Chardonnay and Documents auto-convert to crowns on extract — efficient filler from town offices.

Inventory management uses real-time Tab — organize inside cover. Quartermaster squads haul green crates while gunners hold angles — inventory guide.