Anthem has a bug where the worst weapon in the game is also the best. The issue was first discovered by redditor YeetLordSupreme, who stumbled upon the issue while experimenting with builds and loadouts.
According to the redditor, the Level 1 Defender Rifle - the starter rifle that everybody has when first beginning a campaign - dealt 286 damage per bullet against a scar trooper. The same user's Level 45 Masterwork Ralner’s Blaze dealt 1184 per bullet. At this point, everything sounds normal, but after a closer inspection, players have concluded that these damage numbers are actually meaningless. The Level 1 Defender rifle was able to kill an enemy scar trooper with just four shots, whereas the level 45 masterwork rifle took six bullets to off the same enemy. Several other players responded to the thread with similar experiences, with each mentioning how the level 1 Defender rifle was stronger by far compared to anything else they had picked up in the game, regardless of level or rarity.
Anthem players have expressed concern over the discovery, noting that if it’s not just a bug, then the way the entire game was balanced must be inherently flawed. Streamer Boogie2988 addressed the issue in his latest upload, shown below.
Despite the hype and anticipation prior to the game’s release, Anthem has a had a rough launch. Even with several updates and overhauls in response to feedback from the community, the list of problems with BioWare’s latest title just keeps getting longer and longer. It’s getting harder and harder for the fans who actually do enjoy the game to keep enjoying the game, what with glaring bugs like this one. By making the default weapons stronger than any other weapon in the game, Anthem, which belongs to the popular looter-shooter genre, has become utterly pointless. Similar to the gameplay in looter shooters like Destiny 2 and the Borderlands franchise, the point of Anthem is to engage players in intense combat using their equipped weapons and equipment, and then reward those player with rare and powerful gear. If in a game like Anthem, the default weapons are better than any other weapon in the game, what’s the point?
Granted, BioWare has taken severe steps to address these bugs, identify their root causes, and apply fixes with haste and fervor. From what we’ve seen so far, Anthem was released way before it was ready. We still have high hopes for the title, and we’re definitely looking forward to the day where Anthem is the game it always meant to be, but right now, it’s a mess of bugs and headaches that we’re hesitant to get into.
