Soulframe Weapon Tier List — Preludes 15 (All 55 Weapons)

Quick answer — the best weapons by stage

TL;DR: All 55 weapons in the Preludes 15 catalog, ranked by type. New players: no-gate starters — Wulder (Long Blade), Thistle (Bow), Gwylen (Magick), Nettle (Short Blade). Mid: Orst-III (76 ATK, Courage 12), Falx, Veilk (P15 new). Endgame: Marrow's Bane (Courage 21, Rare), Gathannan (Spirit 19, Rare), Seathorn (198 charged, Rare).

• Data source: every value below comes from this site's weapon catalog (55 published weapons, all Preludes 15–verified) — click any weapon name to cross-check.
• How to pick: match the weapon's Virtue gate to your build (see Virtues explained); below the gate = no attunement bonus.
• Three P15 additions: Veilk · Ilverac · Vrusht-IX — see the P15 new weapons box.
• Not a DPS sim: ATK, charged, stagger, and smite are catalog stats; real output depends on Virtues, Tempers, and your Pact.

Which weapon should I use in Preludes 15?

Pick by stage and Virtue, not raw ATK: a no-gate starter beats a 21-Courage Rare you can't attune. New envoys should run the free starters, then move to the low-gate picks in the three-stage table — and since Preludes 15 made Virtue respec free per loadout, you can retarget whenever your weapon drops.

How this list is built

• Grouping: by the catalog's type field — Long Blades, Heavy, Polearms, Bows, Magick, Short Blades, Flyblades, Shields (8 types). The community independently counts weapon classes by grip at "seven or eight" (community view) — which lines up with the catalog's 8 types.
• Columns: Attunement · Virtue gate · ATK · Charged · Stagger · Smite · Primary source — all straight from each weapon page.
• Gate notation: single gates read "Courage 12"; dual gates read "Courage 13 + Grace 11" — dual-gate weapons need both thresholds met for any scaling (Virtues explained).
• Rarity: (Rare) marks rare-tier weapons; anything unmarked is Common or Uncommon. P15 new marks the three weapons added in Preludes 15: Gods & Ghosts.

New in Preludes 15

Three weapons were added in Preludes 15: Gods & Ghosts (2026-06-10) — all three are Ode'n weapons and all are farmed from whole-weapon preview drops:

• Veilk — Polearm, Courage 13, Uncommon. 59 ATK / 60 stagger / 5% smite. Farm Discharged Nimrod on the Brewer of Hues / Sinecure line.
• Ilverac — Long Blade, Courage 12, Common. 52 ATK / 8% smite. Lowest Courage gate of the Ode trio; farm Gruul Seeker Ruthos.
• Vrusht-IX — Heavy mace, Courage 18, Common. 63 ATK / 60 stagger / 8% smite; charged throw is a lightning strike. Farm Crypt Crawler.

Weapon tier tables

Sorted by base ATK within each type. Click a weapon for the full page — stats, Tempers, and every drop source.

Long Blades (15)

Heavy (5)

Polearms (5)

Bows (6)

Magick (8)

Note the charged column: Magick staves (and bows) live on charged attacks — Seathorn's 198 charged is the highest charged value in the catalog. See charged-attack caps in Virtues explained.

Short Blades (10)

Short Blades trade ATK for speed — the catalog's twin-blade Rivt-II splits in combat for dual-strike attacks, which raw ATK doesn't show.

Flyblades (3)

Shields (3)

Three-stage recommendations (New player / Mid / Endgame)

Derived objectively from the tables above — New player: no gate or combined gates ≤ 8 (fits the 16 starting Virtue points); Mid: primary gate 11–15; Endgame: primary gate 16+, Rare tier, or dual gates ≥ 13+11.

Reading notes:

• ATK is not the whole story — Orst-III's 76 ATK comes with 74 stagger; Seathorn's 44 ATK hides a 198 charged attack. Compare all four stat columns plus your Virtue build.
• Dual-gate picks (Juniper, Odiac, Witan, Espadarte) are efficient for hybrid builds because their combined gates stay low.
• Acquisition difficulty matters: Zenith Founders weapons need the Wares of Zenith; Marrow's Bane and Gathannan are fragment drops from Vadagar Bear/Stag — see farming routes.

Moonsteel quick check

Moonsteel weapons are identified by a silver-colored vine in the top-left corner / a white-leaves icon (three independent community sources agree). Moonsteel is a rare cosmetic decoration with no combat bonus — don't pay a premium for it stat-wise. Related visual shorthand (community-sourced): weapon edge colors hint at Temper slots — colorless 0 / green edge 2 / blue (three-star) 3 / yellow 4 — see Chordstone refining for what Tempers do.

What to stockpile before P16

Community strategy (pre-P16): with the officially announced Temper crafting rework, lower-quality weapons will be bundle-refinable up to Legendary, unlocking their Tempers — so judge current drops by quality and Temper count only, and don't fuss over which specific Tempers a drop has.

• Quality first: a Sovereign or Legendary version of almost anything outranks a lower-quality duplicate — see the quality chain.
• Temper count second: multi-Temper drops (3+) are the stockpile targets — colors help (see Moonsteel quick check for the slot-count shorthand).
• For the full pickup/dismantle decision rules, see Inventory management; for the bundle mechanic itself, see the Preludes 16 preview.

Quality chain quick reference

Drop quality follows Military → Officer → Noble → Sovereign → Legendary (community-compiled). Pick up Legendary and Sovereign even when you own a copy — Legendary is the final stage with customizable Tempers, and refining a Sovereign one step saves materials (community consensus, three independent sources). Full rules, exemptions, and dismantle decisions: Inventory management.

Community feel

Community impressions — not catalog data; treat as opinions pending in-game re-testing:

• Duplicate drops match your highest rank (community-sourced): rank a weapon model to 30 and every later drop of that same model arrives at 30 — no re-levelling from scratch. Same model only; it does not generalize to the whole weapon class. Farming maths: farming routes.
• Polearms & Long Blades: "Gathannan is the strongest polearm; Marrow's Bane the strongest Courage long sword" (community view, transcribed from a creator video — happens to match the catalog: Gathannan is the highest-ATK polearm at 69, Marrow's Bane carries the top Courage gate at 21 and 40 stagger).
• Rapier feel (community view): described as a "favorite melee weapon" — long thrust range, right-click charge plus heavy throw, and a satisfying parry.
• Spirit-staff pragmatism (community view): on the early Spirit track, "Seathorn does the job" — a single Rare staff carries the build, and fly blades earn their slot as the Smite-fishing tool rather than as a damage stat. Same source builds it into a charged-Rune nuker: Tethren spirit build.
• Duelo passive note (multi-source community transmission): perfect dodges reportedly trigger bleed and leave a decoy — relevant if you pair agile Grace weapons with the Duelo Pact. The site's pact guide already carries the honesty note.

FAQ

Related guides

• Virtues explained — gates, attunement scaling, and charged-attack caps
• Inventory management — quality-chain pickup rules and capacity
• Preludes 16 preview — the Temper bundle mechanic behind the stockpile advice
• Chordstone refining — Tempers, quality upgrades, and refining costs
• Pact selection — match your Pact to your weapon family
• Farming routes — where to farm each tier pick
• Combat mechanics — parry, stagger, and finishers