HANDCANNON TIER LIST: BRIGAND, ARTZY, WEDGE
Table of Contents
If you run a Cryo freeze core, a Heat enabler, or any reaction-driven striker on Talos-II, your Handcannon choice is doing more heavy lifting than your essence rolls. The class is the elemental-application backbone of the meta — every SS pick on this list ships a double-trigger passive that either inflates the wielder’s own damage or stacks a susceptibility debuff on the target.
This is the full Handcannon tier list as of Patch 1.2.5, broken down by wielder, breakthrough cost, and how cleanly each weapon’s passive maps onto its intended operator’s rotation. Brigand’s Calling for Tangtang and Artzy Tyrannical for Yvonne remain the two SS locks; everything below them is contextual.
TL;DR - Key Points
- Brigand’s Calling is the Tangtang sig-lock — +56% personal Cryo DMG self-buff plus +16.8% Arts Susceptibility on the same Battle Skill cast at 9/9 makes it the most double-dipping passive in the Handcannon pool.
- Artzy Tyrannical scales with Crit, not infliction — 3-stack stacking via critical hits gives Yvonne +117.6% Cryo DMG ceiling during Solidification windows; uniquely suited to her multi-hit Battle Skill kit.
- Wedge is the universal neutral 6-star — Main Attribute scaling means zero mismatch penalty on any reaction-heavy DPS; +44.8% Arts DMG on reaction triggers stacks separately from its Battle Skill buff.
- Clannibal applies a 25s-cooldown susceptibility debuff — Powerful for coordinated bursts, but the long cooldown forces rotation alignment with your main DPS’s burst window.
- OBJ Velocitous punches above 5-star weight — Ultimate Gain Efficiency makes it Fluorite’s best-in-slot and a sneaky Wulfgard option in Laevatain teams.
- Avoid the generic-stat trap — A signature 5-star that aligns with a character’s main attribute frequently outperforms a mismatched 6-star, especially for Ultimate-cycle operators.
Why Handcannons Matter More Than Their Base ATK
Handcannons are the high-frequency elemental delivery platform for Caster and Striker operators. Their job in the team rotation is not to push raw DPS the way a Greatsword does — it’s to spam Battle Skills and Combo Skills that inflict Combustion, Solidification, Electrification, or Corrosion fast enough to feed the squad’s main reaction enabler.
That fundamentally changes how you should evaluate a Handcannon. Base ATK is a tiebreaker, not a primary stat. What actually matters is whether the passive triggers on the same input that the operator was already pressing, and whether the buff window matches the team’s burst cadence. Brigand’s Calling is the cleanest example: Tangtang’s standard combo flow detonates Whirlpools on Battle Skill, and the passive happens to trigger on Battle Skill Cryo Infliction. The passive is the rotation.
The class is currently distributed across four Caster/Striker mains: Tangtang (Cryo, Agility/Strength), Yvonne (Cryo, Intellect/Agility), Wulfgard (Heat, Strength/Agility), and Fluorite (Nature, Agility/Intellect). Most Handcannon tiers are calibrated around those four — universal options like Wedge and Clannibal are the exceptions.
The Attribute Scaling Math
Every operator has a Primary (Main) Attribute and a Secondary Attribute, and the weapon’s stat slots either align with them or they don’t. The ATK multiplier formula is:
ΔATK = 0.5 × P + 0.2 × S
Where P is your Primary Attribute point total and S is Secondary. Each Primary point contributes a 0.5% ATK multiplier; each Secondary point contributes 0.2%. That’s a 2.5× efficiency gap, which is why a “wrong-attribute” 6-star routinely loses to a “right-attribute” 5-star.
The four attributes also carry defensive utility on top of damage scaling:
| Attribute | Damage Scaling | Defensive Utility |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 0.5% ATK if Primary | +Max HP |
| Agility | 0.5% ATK if Primary | +Physical DMG Reduction |
| Intellect | 0.5% ATK if Primary | +Arts DMG Reduction |
| Willpower | 0.5% ATK if Primary | +Treatment Received |
For Handcannon wielders specifically:
| Operator | Class | Element | Primary | Secondary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yvonne | Caster/Striker | Cryo | Intellect | Agility |
| Tangtang | Caster | Cryo | Agility | Strength |
| Wulfgard | Caster | Heat | Strength | Agility |
| Fluorite | Caster | Nature | Agility | Intellect |
This is the alignment table you use when judging stat slots on any Handcannon. A weapon offering +156 Agility is significantly better for Tangtang than +156 Strength, even if the absolute number is the same.
Handcannon Tier List (Patch 1.2.5)
| Tier | Weapon | Rarity | Base ATK | Stat 1 | Stat 2 | Best On |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SS | Brigand’s Calling | 6★ | 505 | Agility +156 | Attack +39% | Tangtang |
| SS | Artzy Tyrannical | 6★ | 505 | Intellect +156 | Crit Rate +19.5% | Yvonne |
| SS | Wedge | 6★ | 500 | Main Attribute +132 | Crit Rate +19.5% | Any reaction DPS |
| SS | Clannibal | 6★ | 490 | Main Attribute +132 | Arts DMG +43.33% | Reaction support |
| S | Home Longing | 6★ | 490 | Agility +156 | Cryo DMG +43.33% | Tangtang |
| S | Navigator | 6★ | 490 | Intellect +156 | Cryo DMG +43.33% | Fluorite / Yvonne |
| A | OBJ Velocitous | 5★ | 411 | Agility +124 | Ult Gain +37.14% | Fluorite / Wulfgard |
| A | Rational Farewell | 5★ | 411 | Strength +124 | Heat DMG +34.67% | Wulfgard |
| A | Opus: The Living | 5★ | 411 | Agility +124 | Arts DMG +34.67% | Budget Agility DPS |
| B | Long Road | 4★ | 341 | Strength +93 | Arts DMG +26.0% | F2P Wulfgard |
| B | Howling Guard | 4★ | 341 | Intellect +93 | Attack +23.4% | Budget Yvonne |
| C | Peco 5 | 3★ | 283 | Main Attribute +79 | Attack +33.6% | Starter only |
Numbers are at Level 90 / Stage 4 Breakthrough where applicable. Passive values reference 9/9 max-potential figures unless noted otherwise.
SS-Tier Deep Dive: The Lock-In Picks
Brigand’s Calling — Tangtang Sig-Lock
Brigand’s Calling is the Cryo support standard. The passive, Detonate: Brigand’s Bane, is a dual-trigger design that does two of the most valuable things in the game on the same input:
- Self-buff: When the wielder applies Cryo Infliction via Battle Skill or Ultimate, gain Cryo DMG Dealt +56% for 20 seconds (at 9/9).
- Team debuff: When the same Battle Skill or Ultimate applies Arts Susceptibility, the target takes Arts DMG +16.8% for 20 seconds.
It also ships a flat +44.8% Cryo DMG Dealt baseline. Tangtang’s rotation generates Whirlpools via Combo Skill and detonates them via Battle Skill, which is exactly the input the passive watches for. Both halves of the passive trigger on the same press — that’s why this weapon is locked to her.
Stage 4 breakthrough cost: 125,700 Gold, 23 Cast Die, 5 Auronyx, 50 Heavy Cast Die, 3 Kalkonyx, 5 Umbronyx, 8 Igneosite, 16 Quadrant Fitting Fluid.
Tangtang's Brigand's Calling Loop
─────────────────────────────────────────
1. Combo Skill "River, to me!" ──► Generate Whirlpools
2. Battle Skill "IMA WAVERIDAAH!" ──► Detonate
│
├──► Cryo Infliction
│ └─► +56% Self Cryo DMG (20s)
│
└──► Arts Susceptibility
└─► +16.8% Target Arts DMG Taken (20s)Artzy Tyrannical — Yvonne’s Critical Stack Engine
Artzy Tyrannical is built for multi-hit critical sequences. The passive, Fracture: Artzy Exaggeration, gives +39.2% Cryo DMG Dealt per stack, stacking up to 3 times on critical hits from Battle or Combo Skills (triggers once every 0.1s). It also provides flat +44.8% Cryo DMG Dealt and +44.8% Cryo DMG Taken on enemies.
Yvonne’s kit is the rare case where you can hit the 3-stack cap almost every rotation. Her Battle Skill is a multi-hit Cryo sequence designed to inflict Solidification, and the per-tick crit checks mean stacking happens passively while you’re already pressing the buttons you’d press anyway.
At max stacks during a Solidification freeze window, you’re sitting on roughly +117.6% personal Cryo DMG on top of the baseline +44.8%. There’s no other Handcannon that scales this aggressively on a single operator.
Stage 4 breakthrough cost: 125,700 Gold, 23 Cast Die, 5 Auronyx, 50 Heavy Cast Die, 3 Kalkonyx, 5 Umbronyx, 8 Tachyon Screening Lattice, 16 Wulingstone.
Wedge — The Universal Neutral
Wedge’s edge is Main Attribute +132, which adaptively reads whoever is holding it. Equip it on an Intellect main, you get +132 Intellect. Equip it on Agility, you get +132 Agility. No mismatch penalty.
The passive, Infliction: Wedge of Civilization, stacks separately based on two triggers:
- Flat +33.6% Arts DMG Dealt baseline.
- +22.4% Arts DMG on Battle Skill cast (15s).
- +44.8% Arts DMG on Arts Reaction trigger (15s).
The two buff effects don’t stack with themselves but apply separately — meaning a clean rotation pulses both windows at once for a combined +67.2% reaction window. Wedge is the right answer for anyone running fast, reaction-heavy elemental cycles where you don’t want to commit to a single-element specialist weapon.
Clannibal — The Susceptibility Debuff Tool
Clannibal carries +43.33% Arts DMG and the passive Infliction: Vicious Purge: after consuming an Arts Reaction, the target suffers +28% Arts DMG Taken of the consumed element for 15 seconds. Cooldown is 25 seconds.
That cooldown is the catch. Twenty-five seconds means you can’t time this against every burst — you have to align it with your main DPS’s biggest hit. In Laevatain teams, that means consuming Combusted right before Laev opens up. In Cryo teams, it means consuming Solidification at the start of a freeze window.
It’s a powerful piece, but rotational discipline is required. Brigand’s Calling out-performs it on Tangtang because the buff window matches the rotation natively rather than forcing you to align it.
S-Tier: The Strong Alternatives
Home Longing — The Tangtang Battle Pass Pick
Released through the “Dark Currents” Protocol Pass as Tangtang’s secondary signature, Home Longing scales Cryo DMG +43.33% alongside +156 Agility. The passive, Suppression: Olden Moon, grants flat ATK +19.6% and stacks Cryo/Nature DMG +22.4% per stack (up to 2 stacks, gained after Combo Skill, consumed on Battle Skill cast).
Tangtang’s standard rotation is exactly two Combo Skill casts before detonating with Battle Skill. That maps cleanly onto the 2-stack cap — you’ll always be at max stacks when Waterspouts go off. Home Longing is not Brigand’s Calling, but it’s the strongest BP-tier option in the class and a legitimate F2P-correct choice.
Navigator — The Multi-Element Crit Platform
Navigator pairs +156 Intellect with +43.33% Cryo DMG and a Crit-flavored passive: Infliction: Lone and Distant Sail grants +9.8% Crit Rate flat, plus +9.8% Cryo/Nature DMG (doubled to +19.6% if self-triggered) and Crit Rate +5.6% (doubled to +11.2% if self-triggered) after a Solidification or Corrosion application.
The doubling on self-trigger is the key clause — it means Fluorite (Corrosion applier) and Yvonne (Solidification applier) both effectively run a much stronger version of the weapon than a non-applier teammate would. Pair it with a crit-scaling kit like Yvonne and the passive starts approaching Artzy Tyrannical territory.
A-Tier: The 5-Star Workhorses
OBJ Velocitous — The Sleeper Pick
OBJ Velocitous looks like a Fluorite-only weapon on paper (Agility + Ultimate Gain Efficiency +37.14%), and her signature passive scales ATK and Nature DMG per stack of Arts Infliction consumed. But the Ultimate Gain stat opens up a non-obvious second home: Wulfgard in Laevatain Heat teams.
At Wulfgard’s Potential 5, his Ultimate resets his Combo Skill cooldown. The bottleneck in that build is Ultimate uptime — the more often he Ults, the more Heat Infliction stacks he generates for Laevatain to consume. OBJ Velocitous accelerates that loop directly. If you don’t have Rational Farewell yet, this is the substitute.
Rational Farewell — The Heat Specialist
Rational Farewell is Wulfgard’s purpose-built Handcannon. Strength scaling matches his Primary Attribute, and the passive Pursuit: Aid from the Past grants a flat +28% Battle Skill DMG, then +44.8% ATK for 15 seconds when his Combo Skill applies Arts Burst or Combusted.
Wulfgard’s whole job in Heat compositions is gating Laev’s burst window by stacking Combustion. The +44.8% ATK self-buff lands during the exact window he’s enabling — meaning the weapon makes both his contribution and Laevatain’s payoff bigger in the same rotation.
Stage 4 breakthrough cost: 125,700 Gold, 23 Cast Die, 5 Auronyx, 50 Heavy Cast Die, 3 Kalkonyx, 5 Umbronyx, 8 Igneosite, 16 Triphasic Nanoflake.
Opus: The Living — The Budget Tangtang
Opus is the universal 5-star Agility option for anyone running reaction teams: +124 Agility, +34.67% Arts DMG, and a passive that grants +8.4% Crit Rate plus ATK +21% per stack (up to 2) on Arts Reaction trigger. It’s not as elegant as Brigand’s Calling, but it’s a reliable placeholder for Tangtang or any Agility-scaling reaction DPS until you secure a 6-star option.
B-Tier and C-Tier: The Transition Weapons
| Weapon | Use Case |
|---|---|
| Long Road (4★) | F2P Wulfgard placeholder. Strength +93, +26% Arts DMG, +33.6% ATK on Combo Skill cast for 20s. |
| Howling Guard (4★) | F2P Yvonne placeholder. Intellect +93, +23.4% ATK, +33.6% ATK on Battle Skill hits for 20s. |
| Peco 5 (3★) | Pure starter transition. Adaptive Main Attribute, flat +33.6% ATK. Replace as soon as a 5-star is available. |
The 4-star tier is the realistic stopping point for f2p accounts that haven’t pulled into the Handcannon pool yet. Long Road in particular is a surprisingly competent floor for Wulfgard given how cleanly its ATK buff triggers on his rotation.
Optimal Pairings by Operator
Tangtang — Cryo Sub-DPS / Support
- BiS: Brigand’s Calling
- Battle Pass: Home Longing
- 5-Star Fill: Opus: The Living
- Gear Set: Bonekrusha (Heavy Armor T2, Wristband T1, Mask T2) for Agility, Strength, Cryo/Electric DMG, and Battle Skill DMG scaling on her detonation Waterspouts.
Yvonne — Cryo Main DPS
- BiS: Artzy Tyrannical
- Alternative 6-Star: Navigator
- 5-Star Fill: None ideal; Howling Guard as 4-star floor.
- Gear Set: MI Security (Intellect, Agility, Crit Rate). 3-piece grants +5% Crit Rate; critical hits stack ATK +5% up to 5 times, then add +5% Crit Rate at max stacks — directly amplifying Artzy’s per-stack scaling.
Wulfgard — Heat Enabler
- BiS: Rational Farewell
- Substitute: OBJ Velocitous (for Ultimate uptime in Laev teams)
- 5-Star Fill: Long Road
- Gear Set: Hot Work (Exoskeleton, Pyrometer, Gauntlets) — Heat-application sub-DPS scaling that feeds Laevatain’s burst windows.
Fluorite — Nature Caster
- BiS: OBJ Velocitous (signature; Agility + Ult Gain matches her cycle)
- Alternative 6-Star: Navigator (Corrosion self-trigger doubling)
- General Option: Wedge (Main Attribute scaling, reaction Arts DMG)
Essence Slotting and the Triple-Match Bonus
Every native Handcannon at max level ships three slots: Stat 1 (3/9), Stat 2 (3/9), and a unique Passive (1/9). To push past the native ceiling, you slot an Essence farmed from Energy Alluvium Sites and refine it through the etching loop. A flawless triple-match unlocks all three slots to their +6/+6/+3 caps, putting the weapon at 9/9 across the board — plus a unique glowing cosmetic on the weapon model.
For Handcannon priorities:
- Brigand’s Calling: Agility + Attack + Detonate
- Artzy Tyrannical: Intellect + Crit Rate + Fracture
- Wedge: Main Attribute + Crit Rate + Infliction
- Navigator: Intellect + Cryo DMG + Infliction
Farming-target zones matter: for Intellect/Cryo (Yvonne) builds, focus the Originium Science Park and Origin Lodespring Alluvium Sites. For Agility/Ultimate (Tangtang, Fluorite), redirect Sanity toward Hub and Wuling City sites where Agility and Ultimate Gain stats spawn at higher rates.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Pulling a generic 6-star over a signature 5-star. Clannibal looks like a stat-stick upgrade until you do the math: a P5 OBJ Velocitous outperforms Clannibal on Fluorite because Agility scaling beats Main Attribute scaling when you’re already on a Main = Agility character, and Ultimate Gain matters more than flat Arts DMG for her cycle.
Ignoring stat slot alignment. A 6-star with +156 Intellect is not a Tangtang weapon. The 2.5× efficiency gap between Primary and Secondary scaling means you’re effectively losing 60% of the attribute slot’s value running it cross-attribute.
Forgetting that Clannibal has a 25-second cooldown. Players who try to hit the Arts Susceptibility debuff every rotation will find themselves out of sync. Treat it like an Ultimate — line it up with your team’s biggest burst window once per cycle, not every Battle Skill.
Etching without an Engraving Permit. The variance on unlocked essence farming is brutal. Save Sanity for primary materials until you have permits banked, then run targeted Severe Alluvium sites for the specific attribute/skill combos your Handcannon needs.
Treating Wedge as a primary. Wedge is exceptional as a neutral flex pick when you’re rotating multiple reaction DPS through one weapon slot. But on any single dedicated DPS, a signature option will beat it — Main Attribute scaling parity is a floor, not a ceiling.
Watch List: What Could Shift This Tier List
- Patch 1.3 (projected early June 2026): Mi Fu is currently rumored Electric, and a new Heat/Physical polearm Guard (Camille) is confirmed for second half. Neither is a Handcannon wielder, but a new Caster or Striker class arrival could reshape the Handcannon pool.
- New Heat enablers: Wulfgard’s role is currently exclusive to him. Any new Heat-applying Caster would create a second home for Rational Farewell and reshape the Heat tier.
- Cryo support inflation: If a future Cryo operator is released with native +Arts Susceptibility application, Brigand’s Calling’s value drops marginally — the debuff portion of its passive becomes redundant in compositions running that new unit.
- Arsenal Exchange refresh (“Budding Anew”): Brigand’s Calling has historically rotated through the exchange. Keep ~80-120 Arsenal Tickets banked for the next rotation if you missed the original banner.
Final Read
The Handcannon tier list is more bimodal than other weapon classes. Brigand’s Calling and Artzy Tyrannical are locked sig-tier picks for Tangtang and Yvonne respectively — there is no honest argument for running anything else on them once a copy is in hand. Wedge fills the universal neutral role for any rotating reaction DPS slot, and Clannibal is the rotation-discipline specialist for teams that can align its 25-second debuff with a primary burst.
Below SS, the rankings tighten. Home Longing and Navigator are real 6-star options with specific homes. OBJ Velocitous punches well above 5-star weight on Fluorite, and Rational Farewell remains the cleanest Wulfgard-specific design in the game. The 4-star tier is functional but explicitly transitional — Long Road and Howling Guard will get a new account through early endgame, but you’ll want to upgrade before pushing Umbral Monument floors 5+.
Whatever you pull, the recurring lesson is: align stat slots with operator Primary Attributes first, passive triggers with rotation cadence second, and let base ATK be a tiebreaker. The 2.5× scaling gap between Primary and Secondary attributes is the load-bearing rule of the entire Arsenal system.
FAQ
Is Brigand’s Calling worth pulling if I already have Home Longing?
Yes, for Tangtang specifically. The Arts Susceptibility debuff portion of Brigand’s Calling doesn’t exist on Home Longing — that’s a team-wide multiplier that benefits every other DPS on the squad, not just Tangtang. If Tangtang is your Cryo support anchor, Brigand’s Calling raises the ceiling of every team she’s in.
Can Yvonne use Wedge instead of Artzy Tyrannical?
Functionally yes, but you’re leaving meaningful damage on the table. Artzy’s 3-stack mechanic scales specifically with her multi-hit Battle Skill kit, and the third Fracture slot lets her hit the cap reliably. Wedge is a solid stopgap until you secure Artzy, but it’s a downgrade in the long run.
Is OBJ Velocitous better than Brigand’s Calling on Fluorite?
For a pure damage comparison, Brigand’s Calling has higher base stats. But Fluorite’s kit is Ultimate-cycle dependent, and OBJ Velocitous’s Ultimate Gain Efficiency feeds that cycle in a way Brigand’s Calling does not. Most Fluorite optimizers run OBJ Velocitous as her signature.
What’s the breakthrough cost for SS-tier Handcannons?
All 6-star Handcannons share the same Stage 4 baseline: 125,700 Gold, 23 Cast Die, 5 Auronyx, 50 Heavy Cast Die, 3 Kalkonyx, 5 Umbronyx, plus 8/16 of two weapon-specific materials (varies — Igneosite, Tachyon Screening Lattice, Quadrant Fitting Fluid, Wulingstone, Metadiastima Photoemission Tube depending on weapon).
Should F2P players save for Brigand’s Calling or settle for Home Longing?
If you have Tangtang and can secure 120 pulls, Brigand’s Calling is the right priority. If you’re below that floor or already have a competing target (a different signature for a main DPS), Home Longing via Protocol Pass is sufficient for clearing current endgame content.
Does Clannibal stack with itself across multiple Handcannon users?
No. The debuff is unique to the wielder’s reaction trigger, and the 25-second cooldown is per-weapon. Running two Clannibals doesn’t double-stack the Arts DMG Taken penalty — you’d just be wasting a weapon slot.
What essence skill tag should I target for Wedge?
Infliction. Wedge’s passive triggers on Battle Skill casts and Arts Reactions, both of which align with Infliction-tagged essence rolls. Pair with Main Attribute primary and Crit Rate secondary for the cleanest 3/3 match.
Is Peco 5 worth investing in long-term?
No. Peco 5 is a starter transition piece — use it until you can secure a 5-star Handcannon, then disassemble. Putting Breakthrough materials into Peco 5 past Stage 1 is a misallocation; save those Cast Die for your eventual 5-star or 6-star.
How much does the Artzy Tyrannical glow effect cost?
The glow activates when you slot a 3/3-matched Flawless Essence (Intellect + Crit Rate + Fracture) and hit Full Potential on the weapon through duplicate rolls. The Essence side requires Engraving Permits and Sanity; the Potential side requires additional weapon copies. It’s a long-tail prestige goal, not a meta requirement.
Will Brigand’s Calling get power-crept by future Handcannons?
Possibly, but unlikely in the short term. The double-trigger passive (self-buff + team-wide debuff on the same input) is one of the most efficient designs in the game’s current pool. Until a new Handcannon ships with a comparable dual-mechanic, Brigand’s Calling holds its SS slot.
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