It’s often difficult to tell the difference between a roguelike game and a bullet hell game. Projectiles, fires, living beings, and shadows will flood the screen and overwhelm the character in either genre. Weapons that can clear out that chaos are invaluable, but these weapons are often difficult to use and unlock to maintain the game’s high difficulty.

In Curse of the Dead Gods, that weapon is the mace. The lineup of maces has become a staple of expert builds for the express reason of clearing out rooms quickly without taking damage. Still, even the pros debate about which mace is best suited for the task. After putting them all through the runs, the community does have some preferences on which maces are up to the task and which ones are better off being swapped out.

7 Stone Hammer

Great mods in Risk of Rain 2 can beef up weapons beyond their normal capabilities. At first glance, such a mod is unnecessary for the Stone Hammer in Curse of the Dead Gods. The starting mace doesn’t have any modifiers, but it is tied for the most base damage of any mace in the game.

So why doesn’t it rank higher on this list? Despite the high damage, the game demands more than just numbers. This weapon is a great starter weapon because it’s strong for those first few rooms. But it falls out of favor by the halfway point because there just isn’t any hook to build off of.

6 Spark Hammer

When attempting a speedrun, it’s good to use a weapon that can take out multiple enemies at once. Just ask the Hades crowd about speedrunning. So the mace is a given, but what kind of mace will do best? Well, if clearing fast is the goal, using one with a prominent lightning buff on it is never a bad choice.

Despite its worst-in-class base damage, the lightning helps to make this a relevant weapon early. And it has some upside late with the extra source of damage. If clearing out groups is the number one priority, this is a good weapon, but the two types of damage are a kind of a hat on a hat. There are better options for those who need more versatility.

5 Jewel Hammer

Synergy is important to every dungeon crawler, like Loop Hero. One of the things that makes Curse of the Dead Gods so hard is that such synergies are random and hard to come by. For those that have a tough time managing when to have a torch out and when to have a weapon out, the Jewel Hammer is here to save the day.

In addition to having the highest damage in the game for maces, it also provides passive illumination. With so many rooms requiring torches out and fires lit, it is definitely a perk to have this hammer. Most players have mastered switching between weapon and torch, but for those who don’t like doing this, there is a perfect weapon for you.

4 Forge Hammer

Debuffs are a given for roguelike gamers. Some enemies can hardly be eliminated without first applying some kind of debuff to them. The next evolution of a debuff is the primer; a debuff that makes another source of damage more powerful.

Conversely to the Jewel Hammer, a weapon for people who hate switching weapons, the Forge Hammer is for players who love to switch weapons. Any enemy who is on fire will receive critical hits from the Forge Hammer. Pros love tools like this. It takes the average gamer some time to figure out the balance, but the payoff for mastering the technique is a guaranteed method of scoring critical hits.

3 Slaver’s Mace

As much as video gamers like to talk smack about the “grind” process, a fun and engaging gameplay loop makes it so that the grind is the entire game. Hades, for one, mastered the grind. Curse of the Dead Gods, its spiritual successor, also doubled down on the grind lifestyle.

Still, it’s undeniable that runs will speed up and go smoother after unlocking certain weapons and abilities. The Slaver’s Mace contributes to this end by making every finisher a critical hit. This regular source of burst damage makes the rotations much more deadly. It is especially powerful at shrinking down group sizes by killing one mob participant at a time.

2 Seeker’s Mace

There are certain unlocks in games that change how the game is played. Getting a new class in Loop Hero is a fun way to shake things up. Getting a new weapon in Curse of the Dead Gods can shake things up as well. Acquiring the Seeker’s Mace, however, does more than shake things up, it can knock the roof off of the labyrinth.

This mace gains 5% base damage per relic carried. When does it end? That’s just the thing, this boost is never capped. By the end of a lucky run, players can be doing monstrous amounts of extra damage and laughing at anything that stands in their way. If you are a relic hawk, there is no better mace for you than this one.

1 Desperation, Xbeltz’aloc’s Sceptor

Players will use them to heal in-between stages while delving deeper on each run in Curse of the Dead Gods. However, for wielders of the aptly Desperation, it’s actually the monsters that want you to heal up.

For every percentage point of missing health, the base damage of the mace will increase by that number. At 25% health remaining, the mace will be doing quadruple damage. This absolutely murders tough bosses, who score a hit on you only to find out they’ve just made you even more powerful. Counter to standard play, going blow-for-blow benefits the player more than the monsters, making this the most powerful mace in the game.

NEXT: 10 Best Roguelike Games, According To Metacritic