Stick It to the Stickman Gun Moves Tier List: Ranged Skills

Ranged gun moves decide whether a corporate climb in Stick It to the Stickman ends at the Help Desk or reaches the Executive Penthouse, and this stick it to the stickman gun moves tier list ranks every stapler, glue cannon, and pistol shot for the 1.0 meta. Ranged portfolios are dominant in the September 2026 patch because they can keep the stickman out of grab range while still stacking environmental damage, which is why most top-tier speedrun boards lean on a gun-first chain. Every entry below was weighted by raw damage, crowd control, upgrade ceiling, and how cleanly the move slots into a high-floor build that also reads well on a stick it to the stickman funny moves tier list.

How the Ranged Tier List Is Scored

The 1.0 ranged roster spans more than twenty named gun moves, but only a handful scale into the late-game Billionaire Bunker floors where the Founder, Chief Security Officer, and Head of Sanitation punish anything that can't reset between waves. Scoring is split across five axes, each weighted to reflect the average matchup a solo player sees on Corporate Ladder floors 8-15. The numbers below come from a combination of community damage logs posted on the official Free Lives Discord and a sticky-note-style tally on r/Stickittothestickman where players logged per-shot damage and wind-down time after the 1.0 balance pass.

Raw DPS is the headline number, but Portfolio Versatility is where most ranged moves live or die in the current patch. A stapler that melts a single boss loses value if it cannot clear the eight cubicle drones that spawn behind the player, while a glue cannon with low single-target output still climbs a tier or two because it disables the floor and lets the next move in the chain land cleanly. The score below averages those axes into a single rating out of 100, which then maps to a letter tier in the rankings further down.

The scoring system also borrows the framework used in the broader stick it to the stickman tier list, but it isolates ranged weapons because ranged and melee share very different design space in 1.0. Ranged moves tend to have higher wind-up, lower frame data, and stronger synergy with positioning perks like Smoke Form and Titanium Cranium, so a tier list that blended them with fists and kicks would be misleading for anyone building a range-first chain.

Ranged Gun Move Tier Rankings

This is the full S-through-D ranking for every ranged gun move confirmed in the 1.0 build. The table lists the move, its weapon family, the tier it lands in, the average score, and a one-line note describing its role. Each move is also flagged with the Funny tag if it shows up regularly on community stick it to the stickman funny moves tier list threads, since humor value is a real factor for the lighter Billionaire Bunker runs.

The table is intentionally weighted toward S and A picks because those are the moves that decide high-floor clears. Anything in B is a fine transitional piece during a run, but most players will want to respec out of it once the Tier 3 stapler and glue cannon evolve. The C and D tiers are the moves a player keeps for fun chains, and they still see play in the lighter Billionaire Bunker runs where the score ceiling is less important than the visual gag.

S Tier: The Stapler, Glue Cannon, and Mail Grenade

The S tier is the trio that every current top build runs at least one of, and most meta runs run two. Golden Stapler Barrage is the single highest-DPS move in the game, and it consistently tops the stick it to the stickman dps tier list because its Tier 3 evolution adds a homing arc that chews through boss armor while the player stays behind a filing cabinet. Executive Glue Cannon is the most defensive pick in the S tier, and it sits at the top of the stick it to the stickman survivability tier list because its slow patch keeps enemies rooted long enough for melee finishers to land without exposing the stickman to a grab. Flaming Mail Grenade rounds out the trio by combining top-tier area denial with a damage-over-time burn that scales with the Caffeine Addict perk, which is why it is the most common capstone for stick it to the stickman meta builds ranking on the current speedrun leaderboards.

All three moves share one structural trait: they are High Wind-Up, High Reward projectiles. The wind-up is what makes them feel clunky in the Help Desk floors, but it is also what makes them so much stronger than the B tier once the player has the Patient Shooter and Office Triage perks unlocked. According to community data on the official Discord, a player who lands all three of these S-tier moves in a single run clears the Billionaire Bunker Founder fight in roughly 38 seconds, which is about 12 seconds faster than the next-best hybrid chain.

A Tier: Copier, Mug, and Nerf Dart

The A tier is where the meta becomes genuinely fun, because every pick here shows up on the stick it to the stickman funny moves tier list while still being viable on a high-floor clear. Telekinetic Copier Blast is the most strategic pick because it functions as both a damage move and a knockback tool, and it ranks among the stick it to the stickman most versatile archetypes for any hybrid chain that wants to use a move to interrupt a boss charge. Coffee Mug Pistol looks like a meme on paper, but the Tier 3 evolution turns it into a fast-firing single-target burst that pairs cleanly with the Caffeine Addict archetype, since both stack coffee buffs at the same time.

Nerf Dart Volley is the odd one out because it is the only A-tier move that scales with crowd density rather than boss HP. It is the strongest move in the game for clearing the cubicle drone waves on floors 4-7, and most top players slot it in as a Tier 2 transition while they wait for the glue cannon to evolve. The downside is that against single boss targets the volley splashes poorly, so it drops out of the build by floor 10 in any serious speedrun.

B and C Tier: Budget Chains and Meme Builds

The B tier is where the move pool gets a lot more honest about its limits. Hot Lead Memo and Rubber Band Shotgun are both moves a new player will pick up on floors 2-3 and feel good about, but they cap out in DPS long before the Chief Security Officer enrage timer. Stapler Single Shot is the budget version of the S-tier stapler, and it is genuinely worth running as a placeholder until the gold variant drops, because it shares the same animation timing and helps a player learn the wind-up window for the real chain.

The C tier is where the stick it to the stickman funny moves tier list really lives. Coffee Steam Burst and Promotion Letter Ricochet are both visually hilarious and mechanically weak, and most players will only slot them in for a low-stakes co-op run where the goal is to enjoy the office chaos rather than clear the Founder. They are not bad moves, but they are moves that need a specific build to function, and most players will outgrow them within a few hours of 1.0 play.

Top Ranged Builds for 1.0

Three builds currently sit on top of the stick it to the stickman meta builds ranking for solo players, and all three are built around the S-tier moves above. Each build assumes the player has unlocked the Tier 3 version of the move, which generally happens on floor 5 of Corporate Ladder or through the Neurolink mastery track in Billionaire Bunker.

The Boardroom Burner is the build that posts the fastest Founder kill on the current speedrun boards because it chains the highest single-target damage move in the game with a Tier 3 Flying Kick finisher that the player can use to close distance if a boss breaks through the stapler wind-up. It is also the build that scales best with the broader stick it to the stickman s tier archetypes picks, so it is a safe starting point for anyone trying to break into the top 10% of runs.

The Glue Wall Tactician is the safest build in the game for solo players who want to clear every floor without taking a hit, and it tops the stick it to the stickman survivability tier list because the glue cannon creates a 3-second hazard zone that lets the player reposition behind cover. It is slower than the Boardroom Burner, but it is the only build that consistently clears the Head of Sanitation fight without a single grab animation, which is why most casual streamers default to it.

The Founder's Wrath build is the rarest because it requires the Neurolink Adept archetype and the Metal Arms perk, but it is also the highest-DPS option in the game when the player can land the full chain. It is the build that shows up most often on stick it to the stickman boss killer builds tier list discussions, and it is what most players chase once they have already mastered the Boardroom Burner chain.

Tips for Picking the Right Ranged Move

Choosing a ranged move is less about raw power and more about which archetype and perk stack the player is running. The tips below are the patterns that show up most often in successful community logs, and they are the same patterns a new player should follow if they want a build that scales into the late game without needing a full respec on floor 10.

• Anchor on one S-tier move, not two. Running both the stapler and the glue cannon in the same chain sounds strong, but the wind-up overlaps and most players lose more damage to missed shots than they gain from having two top moves. Pick one S-tier as the anchor and let the second slot be a fast A-tier finisher.

• Match the move to the archetype, not the other way around. Caffeine Addict wants fast, short-wind-up moves like the coffee mug pistol, while Ego Maniac wants long-wind-up moves that can be charged while the hyper-armor headbutt holds aggro. Picking a build first and then a move makes the Tier 3 evolution far more reliable.

• Always keep one crowd control move in the chain. Even a B-tier crowd control move like the Nerf Dart Volley is worth a slot, because the floors where players fail most often are the mid-game floors with mixed waves where a single boss spawns alongside eight drones.

• Save the Tier 3 evolution for the boss, not the trash. Most new players pop the Tier 3 evolution on the first enemy they see, which is a mistake because the evolution animation locks the player out of perk triggers for several seconds. Save the gold variant for the boss arena.

• Use cover during the wind-up. The Executive Glue Cannon wind-up is long enough that a player standing in the open will get hit, but a player behind a filing cabinet can charge it for free. Cover use is the single biggest separator between B-tier and S-tier players in the current patch.

These tips are not just generic advice; they come straight from the top 50 community runs logged on the official Stick It to the Stickman Steam page, where the developers share the highest-scoring chain logs each week. Players who follow all five tips almost always finish the Corporate Ladder climb in the top quartile, and most of them transition cleanly into the Billionaire Bunker mode without needing to rework their portfolio.

The 1.0 balance patch also tightened ranged DPS by roughly 8% to keep melee from falling behind, so a player who learned the game in the beta may notice that their old stapler chain feels a touch weaker. That is intentional, and the developer has confirmed on the Free Lives official site that the change is meant to keep the stick it to the stickman most versatile archetypes viable rather than letting any one move dominate. The takeaway is that ranged is still strong, but the player who can flex into a hybrid chain with one of the B-tier finishers will always outscore a player who tries to brute-force every fight with the S-tier stapler alone.

Ranged Move Synergy with Archetypes

Archetype choice changes how every ranged move feels, and the synergy table below is a quick reference for which moves to slot into which archetype. It is built off the stick it to the stickman meta builds ranking data, but it is filtered specifically for ranged portfolios.

A new player should pick the archetype first, then look at this table to filter which ranged moves are even worth considering. The "Worst" column is not a hard avoid, but those moves generally feel worse in the listed archetype because their animation timing fights the perk stacking the archetype is built around. The "Best" column is where a player should anchor their first serious build, and most of those pairings also show up on the stick it to the stickman tier 3 move upgrades ranked discussion threads, which means the community broadly agrees on the same anchor picks.

Archetype synergy is also where the stick it to the stickman funny moves tier list starts to overlap with the competitive tier list. The Coffee Mug Pistol is funny, but it is also genuinely the best move for the Caffeine Addict archetype, which is a fun reminder that the developers built the joke moves to be mechanically interesting. Players who skip them purely because they look silly are leaving real DPS on the floor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best ranged gun move in Stick It to the Stickman 1.0?

The Golden Stapler Barrage is the top pick on the stick it to the stickman dps tier list because its Tier 3 homing arc chews through boss armor while the player stays behind cover. It pairs cleanly with the Ego Maniac archetype and the Titanium Cranium perk, which lets the player tank a grab if the wind-up is interrupted by an enemy spawn.

Which ranged move is best for survivability?

The Executive Glue Cannon tops the stick it to the stickman survivability tier list because its slow patch roots enemies for roughly three seconds, which gives the player time to reposition behind a filing cabinet before the next wave spawns. It is the move of choice for any solo player trying to clear the Head of Sanitation fight without a single grab animation.

Are the funny ranged moves actually viable?

Yes, several of them are competitive. The Coffee Mug Pistol is a top-five pick for the Caffeine Addict archetype, and the Telekinetic Copier Blast is a strong A-tier move that shows up on most speedrun leaderboards. A move being on the stick it to the stickman funny moves tier list does not mean it is mechanically weak; it just means it also reads as a visual gag during a co-op run.

How do I build a ranged-focused chain in 1.0?

Anchor on one S-tier move like the Golden Stapler or Glue Cannon, then pair it with a fast A-tier finisher such as the Nerf Dart Volley or Coffee Mug Pistol. The portfolio should also include at least one crowd control move, and the player should save the Tier 3 evolution for the boss arena rather than spending it on trash enemies.

What is the most versatile ranged archetype?

The Neurolink Adept is the most versatile ranged archetype because the Telekinetic Copier Blast doubles as a knockback and damage tool, which lets it slot into hybrid chains that mix ranged poke with melee finishers. It is the only archetype that can comfortably run both the S-tier stapler and a Tier 3 Chainsaw Slash finisher without the wind-up overlapping.