
Veteran build
- +1% Damage for every 1% of missing health
- +2 Horde waves every 10 waves
- HP is not restored between waves
- -100 HP Regeneration
- -100% Life Steal
- Fruits are not attracted at the end of waves
Unlock and starting weaponsOpen Combat Shotgun in the calculatorVeteran on Nightmare
How players win with Veteran Community consensus
Machine Guns are recommended; the low-HP mechanic is hard to exploit when Luck brings many fruit, so the guide plays it like Well Rounded.
- 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.
- Editorial Low-HP Machine Gun Horde Breaker - brotato-builds.com (undated): Site-authored 'Editorial' build with no community votes; item names not cross-checked against the in-game list.
Summarised in our own words on 13 November 2026; check the patch date of each source against PC 1.2.
Weapons Veteran boosts most Computed from rules
Veteran: ordered by how much Veteran's modifiers raise each weapon's damage compared with a character without modifiers, then by damage per second; weapons Veteran doesn't boost fall back to raw DPS. Reference profile: Veteran's own stats plus 20 points bought in the weapon's main scaling stat, both multiplied by Veteran's modifiers; one weapon, its highest tier, no items, single target, every projectile hits. 89 of 95 equippable weapons scale with a stat Veteran 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 IVStarting option | ×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 IVStarting option | ×1 | 160.8 | Ranged Damage | 24 | 0.15 s |
| 8 | Double Barrel Shotgun IVStarting option | ×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
Machine Gun#2 of 89, 250.7 DPS at tier IV
SMG#7 of 89, 160.8 DPS at tier IV
Double Barrel Shotgun#8 of 89, 149.4 DPS at tier IV
Carbon Bow#47 of 89, 63.2 DPS at tier IV
Rail Gun#51 of 89, 60.1 DPS at tier IV
Tranq Rifle#53 of 89, 59.1 DPS at tier IV
Sticky Grenade#67 of 89, 41.8 DPS at tier IV
Molotov Cocktail#84 of 89, 19.6 DPS at tier IV
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; Drill 116.7 DPS.
Items for the stats this build buys Computed from item data
Ranked by points per base material after Veteran'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 Veteran's effects
Fruits are not attracted at the end of waves
Alien Worm+3 Max HP; +2 HP Regeneration; -1 HP recovered from consumables
Lemonade+1 HP recovered from consumables
Lost Organ+6 Harvesting; -1 HP recovered from consumables
Penguin+1 HP Regeneration; +1 HP Regeneration until the end of the wave when picking up a consumable while at maximum health
Weird Food+2 HP recovered from consumables; -2% Dodge
Boosted Mitosis+50% chance for mutated enemies to drop a mutation fruit; -1 Armor; -3 Evolution
Cauldron+50% pickup range; +20% Damage for 2 seconds after picking up a consumable; -2 HP Regeneration
Fruit BasketEnemies have a higher chance of dropping fruits; -3 HP Regeneration
+1% Damage for every 1% of missing health
Penguin+1 HP Regeneration; +1 HP Regeneration until the end of the wave when picking up a consumable while at maximum health
Small Fish+10% damage against targets above 75% health; -3% Attack Speed
Pocket WatchOnce per wave, enemies and their projectiles are slowed by 75% for 5 seconds when you fall below 40% health; -4% Dodge
Sunken BellOnce per wave, you explode for 100 (+500% Melee Damage, +500% Ranged Damage, +500% Elemental Damage, +500% Engineering) damage when you fall below 40% health
VirusHitting evolved (mecha and mutated) enemies that have less than 50% health has a 25% chance to charm them; -5% Attack Speed
Extra Stomach+1 Max HP when picking up a consumable while at maximum health (max +8 per wave)
Giant BeltCritical hits deal 10% of an enemy’s current health as bonus damage (1% for bosses and elites)
Regeneration PotionHP Regeneration is doubled when you have less than 50% health; +3 HP Regeneration
What the modifiers change Computed from rules
Veteran 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).
- missing health → Damage
- +1% Damage for every 1% of missing health.
Never offered to Veteran
Item groups: lifesteal, lifesteal and hp regeneration, hp regeneration.
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 .













