Archaeologist build

4 dig sites appear on the map each wave, stay on one for 5 to 6 seconds to dig up a crate
Gain 75% more materials from recycling crates
+3% XP Gain for every crate collected
+25% pickup range
-50% materials dropped from enemies

Unlock and starting weapons Open Combat Shotgun in the calculator Archaeologist on Nightmare

How players win with Archaeologist Community consensus

Meat Tenderizer with HP Regeneration while working the dig sites; the item that recycles for more materials completes the economy. Early waves are slow because there is little time to dig.

Meat Tenderizer

Stats: HP Regeneration.

Primal Dread Nightmare Mode Guide (jldark89) (2026-11-07): Posted after Update 1.2; Nightmare difficulty. Mentions Mech being nerfed in a beta at the time of writing.

Summarised in our own words on 13 November 2026; check the patch date of each source against PC 1.2.

Weapons Archaeologist boosts most Computed from rules

Archaeologist: ordered by how much Archaeologist's modifiers raise each weapon's damage compared with a character without modifiers, then by damage per second; weapons Archaeologist doesn't boost fall back to raw DPS. Reference profile: Archaeologist's own stats plus 20 points bought in the weapon's main scaling stat, both multiplied by Archaeologist's modifiers; one weapon, its highest tier, no items, single target, every projectile hits. 89 of 95 equippable weapons scale with a stat Archaeologist can raise.

#	Weapon	Boost	DPS	Main stat	Hit	Cooldown
1	Combat Shotgun IV	×1	350.6	Ranged Damage	32 ×8	0.75 s
2	Machine Gun IV	×1	250.7	Ranged Damage	22	0.09 s
3	Minigun IV	×1	228.9	Ranged Damage	20	0.09 s
4	Obliterator IV	×1	223.2	Ranged Damage	700	3.23 s
5	Flaming Brass Knuckles IV	×1	170.3+ burn 7×18	Melee Damage	100	0.59 s
6	Power Fist IV	×1	170.3	Melee Damage	100	0.59 s
7	SMG IV	×1	160.8	Ranged Damage	24	0.15 s
8	Double Barrel Shotgun IV	×1	149.4	Ranged Damage	29 ×6	1.20 s
9	Fist IV	×1	143.1	Melee Damage	84	0.59 s
10	Revolver IV	×1	138.5	Ranged Damage	80	0.59 s

Starting weapons by the same measure

Legendary-only weapons

These exist only at tier IV, cost a Legendary shop slot and carry the Legendary set penalty of −20 Max HP per weapon of the class. At the same profile: Chain Gun 722.9 DPS; Gatling Laser 493.2 DPS; Excalibur 418.2 DPS; Scythe 243.2 DPS.

Items for the stats this build buys Computed from item data

Ranked by points per base material after Archaeologist's multiplier; prices rise each wave. Downsides are listed because they hit other stats.

Ranged Damage main stat of the top weapons

Items that use Archaeologist's effects

4 dig sites appear on the map each wave, stay on one for 5 to 6 seconds to dig up a crate

+3% XP Gain for every crate collected

What the modifiers change Computed from rules

Archaeologist has no stat multiplier, so the weapon decides the stat. At the reference profile the highest single-target damage comes from Combat Shotgun IV (350.6 DPS).

crate collected → XP Gain: +3% XP Gain for every crate collected.

Assumptions and method

Damage per hit = round(trunc(base + Σ stat × scaling) × (1 + %Damage/100 + class %Damage/100)); crits average in as chance × round(hit × multiplier). Formulas are datamined from the game code; weapon numbers come from the game-file tables.
Cooldown is the tooltip value, which includes the attack animation. Reload weapons average the long cooldown over its shot count. Attack Speed divides the tooltip, an approximation: the game divides only the cooldown frames.
Not modelled: pierce, bounce, explosion splash, knockback, on-hit and kill-count effects, structures, and how often the weapon actually reaches enemies. Multi-projectile weapons assume every projectile hits the same target, which favours shotguns.
Version: Brotato PC 1.2 with the 12 November 2026 patch. Reviewed 12 November 2026.