The Arsenal - Super Smash Bros.

With Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recently coming out after a long wait, fans of this platform fighter can now experience everything this game has to offer, from the characters to the stages to even the items. Despite not being a favored feature for competitive play, items contribute a large part to the game’s atmosphere. But when looking at just what this crew of powerful characters can use, which of these items are the best?

To clarify, we will only be looking at items that can be picked up or otherwise interacted with during a match, so weapons and gear that a character carries into battle as part of their move-set don’t count. For those, certain characters may get an Arsenal article of their own in the future.

Here is the Arsenal of the Super Smash Brothers.

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Best Close Combat Weapon – Hammer

First seen in the original Donkey Kong arcade game, picking up the Hammer gives the wielder a few seconds of going into a frenzy trying to pound whoever comes close to them. Hits from this large weapon do a lot of damage and can send opponents flying. There is a chance that the head may fly off the Hammer leaving you helplessly swinging the handle around for no damage, but even then, the head can afterwards be used as a throwing weapon for heavy damage.

Best Ranged Weapon – Super Scope

Based on the real peripheral for the Super Nintendo, the Super Scope in Smash Bros. is a laser gun that can shoot rapid-fire laser shots or be charged up to shoot one large blast, Samus Aran style. The smaller shots are a good way to rack up damage and keep opponents away from you and the large shots can effectively KO high-damage targets.

Best Thrown Weapon – Spiny Shell

These spiky terrors are most infamously seen in the Mario Kart racing games, where they seek out the racer in first place and end their lead with a well-paced explosion. They work similarly in Smash Bros., where after being thrown, they hover over the fighter currently in the lead (except the one who threw it) before slamming down on them and exploding, launching them off and dealing heavy damage.

Best Explosive Weapon – Smart Bomb

First seen in the Star Fox games, where they give the members of the Star Fox team powerful explosives to fire, the Smart Bomb is a thrown weapon that creates a similarly large explosion after hitting an enemy. It creates a large blast zone that traps enemies within it damaging, racking up damage for them before launching them at the end.

Best Assembly Weapon – Daybreak

Coming from Kid Icarus: Uprising, Daybreak is a very powerful weapon and the same can be said for it in Smash. In a match, it comes in three pieces that can be picked up during the fight and can be knocked out of another character’s possession for someone else to pick it up. When someone collects all three pieces, they can form a large cannon that can fire a devastating energy beam. Catching someone in this beam is an almost guaranteed KO.

Best Healing Item – Heart Container

In the Legend of Zelda series, Heart Containers both heal Link and add an extra bit of overall health to his life bar. In Smash, this item heals 100 points from your damage meter. No extra conditions, no complications, no sharing with opponents or teammates; it simply heals the user, no fine print. Something that simple, yet that effective, is hard to disregard.

Best Defense Item – Franklin Badge

Those who have read previous articles here may remember seeing this item in the Arsenal for Ness and his friends from Earthbound. In that game, this badge can reflect any lightning attacks shot at the wearer back to sender, making it useful against some key opponents that used electrical attacks. In Smash, this item gets upgraded to being able to reflect energy-based projectile attacks, making it very useful against characters who use such moves, of which there are several.

Best Summoning Item – Master Ball

From the Pokemon series, this ball used to capture Pokemon has a 100% capture rate, making it a very effective item to use against rare Pokemon, particularly legendaries. This is reflected by the item’s appearance in Smash, where they are guaranteed to summon a legendary or mythical Pokemon that can deal out powerful attacks or buffs to aid the player who summoned them. Assist Trophies and normal Poke Balls are present too, but there’s more of a chance you could get ineffective assist characters or flat-out duds.

Best Power-Up – Smash Ball

A Super Smash Bros. original, this item floats around the stage until a character attacks it and breaks it apart like a piñata. Afterwards, when they start glowing with energy, they can use their Final Smash ability, a strong super move that, if applied correctly, can almost guarantee a KO on an opponent, or at least, inflict a high amount of damage on them. The resulting moves are always on theme with the character that uses them and are always a spectacle to behold.

Best Power-Down – Timer 

Another Super Smash Bros. original, this clock slowly floats down to the stage after appearing. When grabbed by a fighter, time temporarily slows down for everyone else but the user, allowing them to pound on the competition while those affected try to adjust and hope they don’t get KO’d before the effect expires.

Best Miscellaneous Item – Special Flag

Originating from the Namco game Rally-X, this 8-bit flag was a high-scoring item that would double point totals for every subsequent item collected. In Smash, this is a very valuable item, not for directly affecting the battle, but because when held up for a few seconds, this item would grant the user a free point in timed battles or an extra life in stock battles. The effect can be interrupted however, so users must make sure they’re in a safe place where they can avoid getting hit before using it.

Best Item Container – Rolling Crate

The items in Smash don’t always appear on their own. Sometimes, they appear in special containers. They can house one or many items and come in many forms like capsules, barrels, party balls, or crates. They can even change appearance depending on which stage they appear on, gaining a futuristic look on outer space or futuristic stages or appearing as gift-wrapped presents on more whimsical stages. The Rolling Crate stands out among these as not only do they hold items, if they are hit but not destroyed, they can go rolling off in a direction and can cause damage to whoever they run into. Fighters can even stand on these crates, giving them another function as a platform.

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What did you think of these choices? Is there an item you think should have been highlighted? What characters do you think have an arsenal worth looking at? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!

The Arsenal - Ness and His Friends (EarthBound)

Welcome to The Arsenal, where we highlight the best weapons and items a character can carry. In this entry, we’re taking a trip to Eagleland as we analyze the best weapons and items used in the SNES role-playing game EarthBound by the game’s main characters, Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Kai. (I refuse to call him Poo, so since “Kai” is one of the other default naming choices for the character, I will use that instead for the duration of this article.) Since most of the items in the game don’t have pictures attached to them, some generic pictures from Google Images will stand in for most of them.

So, what does Ness carry in that backpack of his? Let’s find out.

Here is The Arsenal of Ness and His Friends from EarthBound.

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Best Weapon for Ness – Gutsy Bat

Obviously a big fan of baseball, Ness utilizes baseball bats as his weapon of choice and the best of these is the Gutsy Bat. While the Legendary Bat is technically stronger, with 10 extra bonus attack points than the Gutsy Bat, this bat also drastically increases the Guts stat for Ness, increasing the chance for critical hits. The Casey Bat is also way stronger than the Gutsy Bat, but it also misses most of its attacks. Having the strongest weapon in the world won’t do any good if you can’t hit anything with it. Sometimes, reliability beats out raw power.

Best Weapon for Paula – Holy Fry Pan

By far the strongest weapon for Paula, this piece of clobbering cookware also increases Paula's chance for critical hits by increasing her Guts stat by a few points. Aside from that, frying pans just seem to be a common choice for a good improvised weapon, as zombie games like Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising can attest to.

Just don't try actually cooking with them afterwards.

Best Weapon for Jeff – Gaia Beam

As the group scientist, Jeff has more of a preference for guns and high-tech weapons and this (presumed) laser gun is the strongest among them. After some work with a broken antenna and probably some other materials, Jeff can create the most powerful weapon in his arsenal. While it doesn't give him any additional stat boosts, it never misses. Whether that is because this is such a good weapon or because Jeff is such a good shot isn't that clear, but what is clear is that arming Jeff with the Gaia Beam will add some power to your party.

Best Weapon for Kai – Sword of Kings

Kai doesn't always use weapons. Having trained his body and mind in his distant homeland of Dalaam, he feels more comfortable using his own fists or his PSI powers during a battle. When he does wield a weapon however, the Sword of Kings is his weapon of choice. Though it's mostly because it's his only weapon, it does give him a little extra power during a fight.

(This next item is represented by the PK Yomega, an actual EarthBound yo-yo on sale on Fangamer. #NotSponsored)

Best Weapon for Any of Them – Combat Yo-Yo

While the previous entries talked about weapons that were exclusive to their specific characters, this entry talks about weapons that any of them can use. All four playable characters in EarthBound can equip a small variety of yo-yos or slingshots, but the best of them is the Combat Yo-Yo, having the highest stats of any of the other non-exclusive weapons. However, Kai's attack power decreases whenever he equips this or any other yo-yo, so, best to just focus on the other three with this one.

Best Attack Item – Bag of Dragonite

Known as Dragon Powder in the Japanese version, this item can transform the user into a dragon to unleash a powerful attack. This attack is so powerful in fact that it can even inflict damage on one of your allies if they're standing too close and the only enemy this doesn't work on is the game's end boss, Giygas. Dragons are well-known to be powerful creatures, so being able to become one and plow through enemies makes this a definite ace-in-the-hole for these adventurers.

Best Worn Defense Item – Franklin Badge

Found before Ness's battle with the Happy Happyist Cult to save Paula, the Franklin Badge is able to reflect lightning based attacks back towards their sender, which is good not just for Ness's fight against the cult's leader, but against any other character that uses lightning attacks. Over the years, it has become such a well-known part of the Mother universe, it was even made into an item in the Super Smash Bros. fighting games, now able to reflect any energy-based attacks, lightning or otherwise. That is one powerful shield.

Best Carried Defense Item – Super Plush Bear

Speaking of shields, this pumped-up teddy bear works better as one than you would otherwise think. In EarthBound, this plush toy is able to absorb damage from enemy attacks in place of the characters. It works a bit like the Substitute move in Pokemon, where a generic Poke Doll stands in for the actual Pokemon and just takes all the damage for a short time until it breaks.

Best Key Item – Sound Stone

Given to Ness close to the beginning of the game, the Sound Stone is one of the most important items in the game. Over the course of the game, the Sound Stone will collect melodies from the My Sanctuary locations that Ness and company will find throughout their adventure. After collecting all of them, he will be transported to the land of Magicant and come back with his inner potential unlocked. This item's purpose is basically to be a huge power-up for Ness in preparation for his fight with Giygas.

Best Jeff-Exclusive Item – Multi Bottle Rocket

Jeff is the only member of the main group with no psychic powers, but he makes up for it by being a mechanical genius able to use things that the other group members have no idea how to work. He has several items in the game that can only be used by him and the most offensively powerful of these is the Multi Bottle Rocket. Displayed in Super Smash Bros., where Jeff appears as an assist character, after Jeff activates this item, multiple fireworks rockets shoot up into the sky before flying down into an enemy and exploding, like small heat-seeking missiles.

Best Status Effect Item – Cup of Lifenoodles

An item that can revive dead or fainted characters is perhaps one of the best status effect items you can find in a video game. For EarthBound, that comes in the form of the Cup of Lifenoodles. Not only does this instant noodle dish bring back unconscious characters, it also cures any other status effects that characters could have. From poison to paralysis and even unconsciousness, this meal can cure it all.

(Believe it or not, this is an image from the EarthBound game guide. Yes, I have a copy.)

Best Enemy-Specific Item – Jar of Fly Honey

For this entry, we have an item that is used to help defeat a specific enemy. Found in Threed, the Jar of Fly Honey is used to help defeat the boss Master Belch. It happens to be his favorite food and if the heroes carry a jar into battle and toss it to him, he'll be too distracted eating it to fight back, so they are just free to beat the blob down and the fight will be an easy win.

Best Food for Ness, Paula, and Jeff – Kraken Soup

As expensive as this stuff is, it better be good.

This food item can be found at the restaurant at the beach-side resort town of Summers. It is the most expensive item on the restaurant's menu, but it's worth the price as eating it will fully restore all the HP for whoever of these three eats it, making it a very nice item to have as they're going on with their adventure. Hope they have some good thermoses to pack it in.

(Pictured: My best guess as to what this item looks like.)

Best Food for Kai – Brain Food Lunch

Another quirk between Kai and the rest of the EarthBound kids is that as he is not used to Western culture, any food he eats only recovers a standard amount of his health when eaten regardless of how much health anyone else recovers. The same does not apply when it comes to Eastern food such as this filling meal. Known as the Satori Lunchbox in the Japanese version, if Ness, Paula, or Jeff eat this meal they do recover a large amount of health, but for Kai, he recovers twice that. Make sure to pack plenty of these along with that Kraken Soup when facing a big boss.

Best Condiment – Jar of Delisauce

In EarthBound, condiments can be added to certain food items to increase their nutritional value, and with that, how much HP or PP they can recover. They include items like ketchup, salt, cream, sugar, and this special Eastern sauce. Found in a restaurant in Dalaam, this sauce can be added to any food and boost its effectiveness, where as the other condiments can only be added to certain foods. Versatility is the key here and it probably says something about how good this sauce is.

Best Medicine – Secret Herb

Remember how the Cup of Lifenoodles is able to cure any status effect, even waking up unconscious party members? This item is exactly like that except it's medicine instead of food. Not to dip into the realm of theories, but the Cup of Lifenoodles might even have some of these secret herbs mixed in with it. There is another medicine item called the Horn of Life that can do the same thing, but the Secret Herb is a little easier to get a hold of, so this item wins the slot.

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What did you think of this article?  What EarthBound items did you think deserved a highlight? What characters do you think have an arsenal worth showing off? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!

The Arsenal: Batman (DC Comics)

Welcome to The Arsenal, where we look at the best weapons and items used by different characters in media. In this entry, we’re looking at the best equipment used by Gotham’s dark knight, one of the members of the DC power trio, the Batman. Batman has had a lot of gadgets over his long history in comic books, but for this list, we’re focusing on items that he is likely to carry on him regularly.

What are the best items in this iconic hero's utility belt? Let's find out.

Here is the Arsenal of Batman.

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Best Mobility Item - Grapple Gun
One of the most well-known pieces of Batman's inventory, the Grapple Gun has seen a lot of use over the years, which just proves how effective of a tool it is. Batman uses this to reach high areas he is unable to climb to, use the rafters of a building to flank an enemy, recover from a fall, and more. 

Best Infiltration Item - Lock Pick
It may not be the flashiest thing that Batman carries with him, but when he is trying to take the subtle approach when sneaking around a villain's lair, trying to kick down a locked door just won't do. That's where the lock pick comes in handy. Just a little work with this little tool and Batman can make his way through a locked door, chest, or explosive locked with key no problem.

Best Environmental Item - Gas Mask
Considering how many of Batman's rogues gallery utilize airborne toxins in their schemes, from the Joker to Scarecrow to Poison Ivy, a good gas mask is invaluable when facing down these villains. Putting this on allows Batman to fight unhindered even if a room is flooded with mutant plant spores, fear toxin, Joker venom, or whatever else the villains decide to blow his way. Fighting bad guys is a lot easier when you don't have to worry about poison gas throwing you off.

Best Surveillance Item - Mask Visor
Part of the package of being Batman is being an incredible investigator and detective, so it goes without saying that any tools that can help that only make his job go smoother. Built into the lenses of the cowl of the Batsuit, this visor can switch settings to infrared, ultraviolet, and night vision, and some depictions of it can even identify the weak points of an enemy. So, not only can it identify threats and allow him to avoid detection, but it can even aid in combat.

Best Batarang - Explosive Batarang
The Batarang is such an iconic part of this hero's inventory, it warrants having its own category. Apart from his own two fists, this bat-shaped shuriken is Batman's go-to offensive weapon. It even has different varieties that produce different effects upon hitting a target, from producing gas to a simple tracking device. The one highlighted here however is the Explosive Batarang. Mostly used against destructible enemies, like robots, or powerful villains where the normal Batarangs just won't do, the explosive variety packs a bit more wallop, either blowing up on contact or on a time-delay.

Best Other Weapon - Freeze Blast
First seen in the video game Batman: Arkham City, the Freeze Blast is an ice grenade created by Mr. Freeze that can encase whatever it hits in ice, be they enemies that need to be immobilized or obstacles that can be shattered after being frozen. They become very useful when Batman really wants to get the drop on a bunch of thugs; he could freeze some of them and fight the rest without having to worry too much.

Best Escape Tool - Smoke Pellets
Simple smoke bombs may not be as impressive as some of the other pieces of Batman's equipment, but their usefulness shouldn't be underestimated. Whenever Batman needs to make a quick getaway from a place without being seen or an effective entrance into a place swarming with thugs, a good cover of smoke can mask his entrance so people can't see him coming or going.

Best Vehicle - The Batmobile
While vehicles like the Batplane have other features that the land-based Batmobile doesn't have (not the least of which includes being able to fly), as stated a few times before here, Batman thrives on stealth and surprise and a plane is a little less stealthy than a car. On top of being Batman's primary method of transportation, the Batmobile is an armored vehicle loaded with its own arsenal of gadgets that allows batman to quickly get to where he needs to go and can even be remotely summoned when he needs it.

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What did you think of these picks? What's your favorite Batman gadget? Who else do you think has an arsenal worth observing? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!

The Arsenal: The Heroes of Overwatch

Welcome to The Arsenal, where the best weapons and items from across media are put on display. In this entry, we’re looking at the best weapons used by the various characters in the popular hero shooter, Overwatch, and determining which ones are the best fit for different categories. Also, we are only looking at characters playable in the main game, so characters currently being tested on the PTR won’t count here. (Sorry Orisa.)

(You'll be in the action soon enough.)

What different niches can be filled by these (currently) 23 heroes and villains? Let’s find out.

Here is The Arsenal of the Heroes of Overwatch.

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Best Melee Weapon – Genji’s Dragonblade

Even in a first-person shooter, melee weapons can still carve out their own niche, literally in this case. Genji’s Dragonblade katana is so powerful, the game only lets him use it as his ultimate and when he draws his sword, he is an almost unstoppable fighting force. He can take down most opponents with only one or two strikes and his agility and quick reflexes only aid him in quick kills while wielding this blade.

Best Pistol – McCree’s Peacekeeper

It may have the smallest clip compared to other pistols, holding only six shots, but this revolver is an example of quality over quantity. One well-placed headshot can down most foes and even body shots can still do heavy damage because of the power behind each of these bullets. McCree can even fan the hammer to quickly unload all his current bullets into a target, which is great for shredding targets up close. If your aim is on point, using the Peacekeeper will make taking down targets look easy.

Best Shotgun – Roadhog’s Scrap Gun

Two characters best known in this game for wielding shotguns are Reaper and Roadhog and of those two, Roadhog’s Scrap Gun is the more versatile of the two. The Scrap Gun holds the same amount of shots as Reaper’s one of Hellfire Shotguns, but it can be loaded with just about anything. He reloads the gun by opening it, shoving a handful of scrap metal pieces inside, then closing it up, so he technically doesn’t have to use bullets. Also, when he uses his ultimate, Whole Hog, he attaches a grinder to the gun, which turns it into a machine gun, rapidly firing scrap metal to damage and push away enemies.

Best Automatic Weapon – Soldier: 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle

With the variety of different weapons that the characters in Overwatch use, only a few characters have a primary weapon that could be considered automatic, with characters like Bastion, Sombra, and Tracer being some of the ones that come to mind. Perhaps the best automatic however would be Soldier: 76’s Heavy Pulse Rifle. This gun carries heavy damage with a decent rate of fire and its alternate fire allows it to fire Helix Rockets, explosive shots that travel quickly and deal a high amount of damage.

Best Thrown Weapon – Ana’s Biotic Grenade

From McCree’s flashbangs to Junkrat’s traps to Genji’s shurikens, there are a lot of thrown weapons used by the characters in Overwatch, but perhaps the most versatile one would be Ana’s Biotic Grenade. As a support character’s item, the Biotic Grenade is more than a weapon for dealing damage. It will burst heal any allies caught in its blast radius and also increase any healing they get for a short time afterward. Meanwhile, for enemies, in addition to damage dealt, it also prevents damage from healing up for a short time.

The healers can’t save them then.

Best Sniper Rifle – Ana’s Biotic Rifle

Along with the Biotic Grenade, Ana has another strong support tool with the most unique sniper rifle in the Overwatch roster and possibly one of the most unique in all of gaming, the Biotic Rifle. Unlike other snipers, Ana can’t get headshot kills with her gun, but in addition to damaging enemies, Ana can heal her teammates by shooting them. Used with the Biotic Grenade, Ana’s rifle can bring her allies back to full health with just a couple of shots and she can use her scope to focus on a target when she needs more accuracy.

Best Non-Firearm Long Range Weapon – Hanzo’s Storm Bow

Hanzo stands out from the crowd by using a bow and arrows when almost everyone else in the roster uses some kind of gun, but his skill with it shows that he can keep up just fine. As one of the (currently) few snipers in the game, Hanzo needs pinpoint accuracy to score a kill and it shows when that accuracy is there as the arrows can hit hard and do a lot of damage. Hanzo even has a few trick arrows to use. The Scatter Arrow can split into several different arrows and ricochet off of surfaces and the Sonic Arrow allows him and his teammates to see approaching enemies, even behind walls.

Best Explosive Launcher – Pharah’s Rocket Launcher

Junkrat may be the character known for being obsessed with explosives, but the slot for this category goes to Pharah with her rocket launcher. While the grenades that Junkrat launches can bounce off of walls, the rocket launcher encourages more accurate shooting. The rockets do a lot of damage even to surrounding targets and they can push targets back, making it a good zoning tool as well and with Pharah firing from the skies, she has a good view of the battlefield to shoot them off.

Best Heavy Weapon – Zarya’s Particle Cannon

Of all the large or heavy weapons that are used in the game, the most versatile one would be Zarya’s Particle Cannon. If you’re strong enough to wield this monster of a gun, it allows the wielder several options in combat. It can fire a beam of energy or explosive blasts of energy for offense or project barriers around yourself or allies for defense. With Zarya’s Ultimate, the cannon can shoot out a gravity bomb that can suck in opponents into one central area. If we take Heroes of the Storm into account, it can also shoot a different gravity bomb that can repel enemies from a central area.

Best Energy Gun – Symmetra’s Photon Projector

Given the setting, several weapons could count for this category, but after Zarya’s Particle Cannon (which is already listed above), perhaps the best fit here would be Symmetra’s Photon Projector. While it’s debatable if Symmetra’s other abilities are linked to the device, the actual weapon packs a decent amount of power. After taking some time to focus on an enemy, the Photon Projector does continuous damage to them as long as Symmetra is close to them. She doesn’t even have to aim because the beam from the weapon follows the target. As an alternate fire, she can charge up a ball of energy to fire off. It does a lot of damage, but it moves slowly enough that someone paying attention can easily walk out of its way, so it is best used when teammates are firing in the same direction.

Best Unique Weapon – Mei’s Endothermic Blaster

This category covers weapons that don’t function like any of the others and can’t easily be categorized with other kinds of weapons. In that regard, Mei’s Endothermic Blaster is one of a kind among the cast of Overwatch. This gun’s primary fire is basically a freeze ray, doing damage to opponents while freezing them in place in ice, but this gun has many other features as well. With its alternate fire, it can create large icicles and shoot them off towards a target, which works especially well if that target was just frozen still. Then, with a press of a button and a pull of the trigger, the blaster can also generate walls of ice that block all projectiles and damage and keep enemies away.

Best Gun Turret – Bastion’s Configuration: Sentry

While Torbjorn and Symmetra are known for their turrets, special mention in this category was given to the character in this roster who can actually turn into a turret. When Bastion switches into Configuration: Sentry, he becomes a large stationary minigun that can fire several bullets at a rapid speed. In this mode, he can dry up a tank’s shields and health in a matter of seconds and weaker targets can get shredded in seconds, especially if they are up close. He can also rapidly switch out of Sentry mode if he needs to move and repair himself to recover from damage taken.

Watch out for surprise Bastions hiding around corners.

Best Healing Device – Lucio’s Sonic Amplifier

Setting the offensive capabilities to the side, Lucio’s Sonic Amplifier may not be the quickest acting healing device, but it is possibly the most effective. While set on his healing boost song, Lucio’s Sonic Amplifier gives off an aura that heals a steady amount of damage to multiple allies at once. He doesn’t have to do anything other than stand near his allies for the healing to take effect, so he can attack and heal at the same time.

The healing effect continues if Lucio’s teammates are close enough to hear his music and he can even increase the volume of his music (with his ability Amp It Up) to increase the amount of damage it heals for. Finally, with his Ultimate, Sound Barrier, Lucio uses the device to generate a large amount of sound shields for his teammates and while they don’t last long, they work for withstanding an enemy assault in a pinch.

Best Power-Up – Ana’s Nano Boost

Ana once again makes a contribution to The Arsenal with her power-up Ultimate, the Nano Boost. Using a wrist-mounted dart launcher, Ana can super-charge one of her teammates, dramatically increasing their attack power (and at one point, their speed). This could allow a strong teammate or one about to use their Ultimate to charge in and take down a large chunk of the defending team, potentially fueling a push towards an objective or stopping one from the opposition.

Few things strike fear into an Overwatch player like a nano-boosted Genji using his Dragonblade.

Best Power-Down - Zenyatta's Orb of Discord

From the best power-up to the best power-down, we now take a look at the best item for weakening someone, Zenyatta’s Orb of Discord. After Zenyatta shoots this out, the opponent it gets attached to takes more damage from any attack that hits them. Teammates can then use it to focus on and quickly take down a problem target. While the orb itself doesn’t do any damage and returns to Zenyatta if nothing is done with it, it is a powerful tool for those that can utilize its strength.

Best Armor or Worn Weapon – D.Va’s Mech

 To some D.Va’s mech may only loosely count as armor, but it encompasses her body and protects her from damage, so here, it technically counts. Aside from providing protection, her mech is also equipped with Fusion Cannon shotguns, boosters for short flight, her Defense Matrix Shield which can essentially delete projectiles that hit it, and has a self-destruct button which can blow away any enemies in its vicinity. D.Va can even summon a new mech using a wrist device after her previous one has taken enough damage or she used its self-destruct feature. This thing is a powerhouse.

And as some added perks, her emotes show that it’s also equipped with a music player, a link to whatever game account she uses so she can play video games on the go, compartments for snacks and drinks, and there is probably a video camera somewhere in there; how else would she livestream her battles?

Best Shield – Reinhardt’s Barrier

While a few characters, most notably tanks, use a shield of some sort, none are as useful or as highly regarded as Reinhardt’s barrier. When activated by this futuristic knight, this energy shield can take up to 2000 points of damage, easily the most of any shield currently in the game, and allies can shoot through the shield, making it a good rally point for teams to make a good play. It also regenerates its energy whenever it’s not in use, so if it breaks, Reinhardt just needs to wait a few moments before he can go back to the front lines to protect his team. It doesn’t protect against everything however and it won’t stop inattentive teammates from running through the shield and getting blown up afterwards, but other shields have the same problem.

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What did you think of these picks? What is your favorite Overwatch weapon? Who else do you think has an arsenal worth watching? Make your voice hear in the comments below. Thanks for coming!