The Ultimate MENACE Weapons Guide

Weapons determine whether you control the battlefield or get wiped out in the first few rounds. In this MENACE Weapons Guide, you’ll learn how to equip your squads properly and dominate the battlefield. From choosing the right rifles to mastering special weapons and managing ammo, understanding your arsenal is key to winning tough missions in MENACE.

The Basics: Squad Weapons vs. Special Weapons

In MENACE, your loadout choice directly affects your squad’s performance in combat. There are two main weapon types, and understanding the difference is crucial.

Squad Weapons/Infantry Weapons

When you equip a squad weapon (infantry weapon), every unit member receives one. This increases your overall firepower but also multiplies supply costs based on squad size.

Common squad weapons include:

• Shotguns for close combat
• Submachine guns for aggressive pushes
• Assault rifles for versatility
• Battle rifles for more serious mid-range damage

Special Weapons

A special weapon replaces the gun of only one squad member. These are more powerful and situational.

Examples include:

• Rocket launchers
• Mortars
• Machine guns
• Sniper rifles

Many require deployment and stationary positioning. Use them wisely to control key areas and counter specific threats.

Weapon Stats Explained

Understanding weapon stats in MENACE separates random shooting from smart tactical decisions. Here is what each value actually means for your squad on the battlefield.

• Trade Value: Determines a weapon’s worth on the black market. The rarer the weapon, the higher its value.
• Range: The maximum number of tiles the weapon can hit. Some attacks also affect adjacent tiles, slightly extending their effective range.
• Hit Point Damage: The base damage per shot before armor or other modifiers reduces it.
• Armor Damage: How much durability a target’s armor loses when blocking a shot.
• Armor Penetration: Compared against enemy armor to determine the penetration chance. If penetration is equal to or higher than armor, it always goes through.
• Suppression: Applied when hitting a unit. Reduced suppression applies when hitting the same tile or nearby tiles.
• Elements Hit: Limits how many elements in a unit can be killed by a single shot. Prevents a single attack from wiping out entire squads.
• Rate of Fire: Number of shots per attack. Each shot is calculated separately. Squad weapons fire this amount per squad member.
• Accuracy Modifier: Bonus or penalty added to the weapon’s hit chance.
• Ammunition Count: Total available ammo before needing resupply.
• Logistics Cost: The supply cost required to equip this weapon for a squad or vehicle.

Weapon Skills

In MENACE, you don’t just equip weapons; you use them via skills. Every weapon grants at least one skill to the unit carrying it, and that skill determines how the weapon behaves in combat. Most weapon skills are straightforward attack abilities, though some also offer tactical utility.

Here’s how it usually works:

• Squad weapons typically grant one skill
• Special weapons often grant multiple skills
• Some weapons offer alternative firing modes, such as a mortar that can launch explosives or smoke

When you activate an attack skill in MENACE, each element in the unit equipped with that weapon fires at its rate of fire.

This has major implications:

• Bigger squads deliver significantly more shots with squad weapons
• Casualties directly reduce your total fire output
• Special weapons remain largely effective even if the squad shrinks

In short, squad weapons scale with squad size, whereas special weapons deliver consistent impact regardless of losses.

Ammo and Dropoffs

Ammo matters in MENACE, but the game handles it intelligently so your units never become dead weight.

Instead of counting every bullet, the system uses a hybrid approach:

• Squad weapons have unlimited ammo
• Special weapons have limited ammo
• Vehicles may mix both, like an MG with unlimited fire and a rocket launcher with only a few shots

This keeps regular infantry reliable while treating heavy weapons as a strategic resource.

You can:

• Replenish ammo during combat
• Increase ammo capacity with certain accessories

Managing special weapon ammo is crucial. Wasting rockets early can hurt you later.

Understanding Dropoffs

Distance also plays a major role in combat effectiveness. In MENACE, weapons lose efficiency over range due to what the game calls dropoff.

Here’s what changes over distance:

• Accuracy decreases the farther you shoot
• Damage and armor penetration drop for kinetic weapons
• Armor becomes more effective at longer ranges

Every weapon has an ideal range.

• Submachine guns struggle at long range
• Sniper rifles dominate at distance but are weaker up close

There are exceptions. Rocket launchers don’t lose damage over distance because their power comes from explosives, not kinetic force. Positioning is everything. Distance can protect you or completely undermine your firepower.

The Best Squad/Infantry Weapons

Let’s be honest. Your starting weapon, the C1A2 SPC Carbine, is terrible. It deals low damage, has weak penetration, and has slow impact. It feels more like a warning shot than actual firepower. Replacing it should be your first goal in any campaign.

Here are the weapons that actually carry missions.

• K PAC Assault Rifle: The reliable all-rounder. Solid rate of fire, good armor penetration, dependable at most ranges. If you are unsure what to equip, pick this. It simply works.
• ARC Assault Rifle: Shorter range but hits harder. Strong against health and armor. Perfect for aggressive squads that push forward.
• Crowbar Battle Rifle: High damage, high penetration, strong suppression. Lower rate of fire, but devastating per shot. Excellent for accurate leaders who can capitalize on precision.
• SMGs: High volume of fire. Ideal against unarmored targets and fast-moving threats.
• Shotguns: Brutal at close range. Within a few tiles, they tear through armor and instantly erase targets.

Match the weapon to the squad’s role. That’s how you win firefights before they begin.

The Best Special Weapons

Every squad in MENACE has a Special slot, and it’s where your real tactical power comes from. Special weapons aren’t about volume. They are about impact.

Choosing the right one can completely change how a mission plays out.

• Sniper Rifles and Anti-Materiel Rifles: Precision tools with serious stopping power. An Anti-Materiel Rifle can tear through light vehicles and heavily armored infantry. Essential when facing walkers or mechanized threats. Best used by squads with high accuracy or perks like Tankbuster.
• RPGs and Rocket Launchers: Never deploy without at least one. If enemy armor rolls in and you have no rockets, you are in trouble. Ammo is limited, so save it for priority targets.
• Machine Guns, LMG or HMG: Built for suppression. They lock down areas, pin enemies in place, and control the flow of combat. Ideal for defensive operations and for holding choke points.

Dominate the Battlefield with PLITCH!

If you want to fully test different weapon setups without risking a failed campaign, PLITCH’s MENACE cheats give you the freedom to experiment safely.

Struggling against heavy armor or elite infantry? Activate Godmode or Unlimited Armor (Current Squad) to see how specific weapons perform under pressure. Want to maximize your offensive potential? Use Unlimited AP (Current Squad) or Refill Action Points (Current Squad) to fire more often and test suppression builds.

To analyze weapon impact more clearly, try No Suppression (Current Squad) or flip the advantage with Easy Kills (Infantry). You can also boost progression with Super Stats (Current Squad) or adjust logistics with Set Supplies Multiplier to freely experiment with expensive loadouts.

This way, you can refine your strategy before committing to a real run.

Check out this blog and our YouTube channel to learn more about PLITCH!

Happy Gaming!

More MENACE guides:

• MENACE Tips and Tricks for Beginners
• MENACE Vehicles & Vehicle Weapons Guide