HvZ Blaster Guide, Fall 2017

Its been a long time since I posted my absurdly long guide to primaries, and I think its time I write a new, shorter one, considering the fact that HvZ is starting up again with the beginning of the semester, and the fact that there are many new blasters available.

Structure:

I'll be breaking this guide down into a few parts, to make it easier for people to find what they're looking for. I'll start out with a brief overview of the different brands of blasters that are available, then cover my top 5 choices, and then discuss some other good options.

Brands:

Nerf:

Obviously the most well known of the blaster companies, Nerf has a huge lineup with tons of blasters to choose from. Many of their blasters use their "clip system," allowing them to hold large numbers of darts and reload quickly. Their darts and magazines have become the "standard" in the hobby, with most people using them, making darts and magazines plentiful on the field. Nerf products tend to be very high quality plastic, well built and will last a long time. The downside is the prices. Nerf products tend to be the most expensive of all the companies, running between $25-80 for a good primary, depending on what blaster you're looking at. While Nerf was the go to option in the past, recently many other companies have improved their products significantly, leaving Nerf as a considerably worse option now than ever before. 

Buzz Bee/Air Warriors:

Buzz Bee used to be the brand that was considered to be the "knock off" or "off-brand" competitor to Nerf, with significantly worse plastic quality and performance. Recently, however, they have improved their products immensely, and now provide blasters that perform on par with or better than Nerf products for significantly lower prices. These blasters are compatible with Nerf darts, and many newer blasters are compatible with the Nerf magazines as well. The only downside of Buzz Bee products is still a noticeably worse quality plastic, but not bad enough to count them out. 

Dart Zone

Dart Zone is an... interesting company. They started out with a few random blasters that were interesting, but not particularly exemplary. Since then they've expanded extremely quickly, producing many high quality blasters. With their new line up, they've managed to establish themselves as a company with well performing blasters that are cheaper than Nerf, while still maintaining high build quality. The downside to Dart Zone is their blasters not utilizing a magazine system, meaning no compatibility with Nerf magazines.

Zuru

Zuru is a brand that I won't be talking about much in this guide. They have some high quality products that perform well and are compatible with Nerf darts, but their only "primary" level blasters are not compatible with Nerf magazines, and while they aren't bad products, Buzz Bee has many that do the same jobs, just better. Zuru does have some new interesting and possibly HvZ worthy blasters coming out sometime in the future, but for right now, they aren't a great option. 

BOOMco

Ah BOOMco, my love. This brand is Mattel's answer to Hasbro's Nerf line, developed as a direct competitor to Nerf. This brand is the most different of all the companies, with blasters and clips that are 100% incompatible with Nerf, Buzz Bee, Dart Zone, or any other company. Their blasters are very well built and use a very good type of dart, but their lack of compatibility and current rarity make them a debatable choice for HvZ. That being said, I will state that I have used BOOMco in HvZ for about 3 years, but I will do my best to consider all kinds of players before recommending BOOMco to everyone. 

Other:

Some blasters may be listed as "Stats Blast" or "Adventure Force". These blasters are the Toys R Us store brand, Stats Blast, and the Walmart brand, Adventure Force. These blasters are all repaints or slight reshells of other blasters, but perform the same as the originals.

Top 5 "Stock" Blasters for New Players or Players Who Don't Intend to Mod

5. Dart Zone/Stats Blast Magnum Superdrum

Price: $20 MSRP

Includes: Blaster, 40 Darts

Pros: High capacity, easy reload, good performance, low price

Cons: No magazine, slow reload, very wide

Opinion:

This blaster is definitely one of my favorite products, and easily my favorite of the Dart Zone blasters. With its 40 dart capacity drum, you have plenty of ammo for most missions, and the open front of the drum allows for easy loading of extra darts on the field. In HvZ, this blaster could easily be run with just the blaster and a bag of extra darts, loading more into the drum whenever theres a spare second. The big downside to this blaster is also the drum, however. Despite the high capacity, if you do run out of darts, you can't easily do a total reload, instead being forced to place darts into the drum one at a time. If you're able to stay topped up throughout a mission, this blaster is amazing, but if you have to go through all 40 in a short time, you'll then be out of the action for a long time reloading, a problem you wouldn't have with magazine fed blasters. This blaster is the only one on this list that doesn't use clips or magazines, and I would certainly recommend it for someone who doesn't like the idea of carrying extra magazines. 

4. Nerf Elite Retaliator

Price: $25 MSRP

Includes: Blaster, 12 Dart Magazine, Barrel Extension, Stock, Vertical Foregrip, 12 Darts

Pros: Comes with a lot of parts, good performance, magazine compatibility, easy to modify

Cons: Slightly expensive, comes with a lot of parts that you may not need

Opinion:

The Retaliator has been a staple of HvZ and Nerf in general for years. I often recommend this blaster to new players, since it comes with a stock, barrel and foregrip already, making it quite modular out of the box. For only $25, it is definitely one of Nerf's cheaper offerings, and well worth the money. Since the retaliator is such a common blaster, it is also one of the easiest blasters to find modification kits and parts for, but it doesn't need these parts to function as a perfectly capable, if not extraordinary HvZ primary. If you really want to buy a blaster actually from Nerf for some reason, than the Retaliator is a great option and can be made even better in the future if you decide to modify it. 

3. BOOMco Halo Blaze of Glory

Price: $35 MSRP (Rumored)

Includes: Blaster, 8 Dart Clip, 8 Darts (Rumored)

Pros: Pump action, BOOMco darts, can't jam

Cons: Incompatible with Nerf darts and magazines, expensive, unknown performance, hard to find ammo

Opinion:

This blaster is kinda cheating, since it isn't actually out yet, but if it were out it would probably get the number 1 or 2 spot. This is the only BOOMco blaster on this list, utilizing proprietary clips and darts. The darts are much more accurate and durable than Nerf darts, and the clips hold a lot more shots, with 20 and 40 dart clips available. This will be the first pump-action BOOMco clip fed blaster, making it a great candidate for HvZ, assuming that the performance is good when it comes out. Besides the major downside of not being able to share ammo with all of your Nerf-compatible fellow humans, BOOMco as a brand has been slowly disappearing, making it harder to find ammo and clips in stores, forcing you to buy them from amazon. If you care to invest the time and money to find the darts and clips, BOOMco accuracy, lack of jams and durable darts will reward you greatly.

2. Buzz Bee Air Warriors Tactical Storm/Adventure Force Eradicator

Price: $16-22 

Includes: Blaster, barrel extension, stock, 2 10-dart magazines, 20 darts (Tactical Storm) or 3 10-dart magazines, 30 darts (Eradicator) 

Pros: Magazine fed, cheap, comes with stock and barrel, comes with 2 or 3 magazines, good performance

Cons: Comes with parts you don't need, comes with bad darts (Tactical Storm)

Opinion:

The Tactical Storm/Eradicator is basically Buzz Bee's version of the Nerf Retaliator. It also comes with a barrel and stock, is also top primed, and is around the same price point. The Tactical Storm/Eradicator, however, comes with extra magazines, more darts and is generally a bit cheaper. Out of the box, the performance is also very slightly better than the retaliator, although the darts the Tactical Storm comes with are Buzz Bee's not so great super darts. Because this blaster comes packaged with multiple magazines, it is a great blaster for new players to enter the game with. While 2 10-dart clips isn't an ideal amount of ammo, it's better than getting one 12-dart clip like you do with the Retaliator. Ultimately, this is a cheap blaster that performs very well and comes with multiple magazines, making it a great option for new players.

1. Buzz Bee Air Warriors Thermal Hunter/Interceptor

Cost: $22 (Interceptor) or $25 (Thermal Hunter) MSRP
Includes: Blaster, Stock, Scope, Rail Adaptor, 10-dart Magazine (Thermal Hunter) or 2 10-dart Magazines (Interceptor)
Pros: Pump action, magazine fed, includes multiple magazines (Interceptor), cheap, good performance
Cons: Stock is too short, comes with bad darts (Interceptor), Scope and rail adaptor are useless, slight compatibility issue

Opinion:

The Thermal Hunter/Interceptor is an amazing blaster, and currently the blaster I will be recommending to everyone who wants to get into HvZ. The pump-action priming mechanism makes it easy to fire very quickly, the performance out of the box is slightly better than the Nerf standard, and it is very cheap for what you get. While Nerf magazines require a tiny bit of modification to fit properly in the blaster, it will function with them even without the modification if you give them a good smack. The Interceptor (Kmart exclusive) comes with 2 magazines AND is cheaper, making it a great choice, despite the awful Buzz Bee Super darts. The Thermal Hunter comes with a gimmicky heat sensitive scope, which is fun but useless, and also brings the price up a few dollars despite only coming with 1 magazine. The Thermal Hunter at least comes with Buzz Bee's Precise Pro darts, which are significantly better darts than the Super darts. Despite the short stock and useless scope and rail adaptor, these blasters are the cheapest pump-action primaries you can get, and their low price and high performance make them an amazing choice for newer players. 

Other Blasters to Consider/Runners Up

BOOMco Mad Slammer

This blaster is the one that I've used in HvZ for about 2 years now, so I can't write a guide to blasters without discussing it. It is a slam-fire only blaster, meaning it doesn't have a trigger, and uses BOOMco clips that feed horizontally. The priming method is essentially pump action, and the internal catch and release allows you to use the blaster as though it has a trigger, despite the lack of one. The plunger is huge and takes spring upgrades easily, and you can get a very good rate of fire out of the blaster with a little bit of practice. Unfortunately, with the recent decline of BOOMco, this blaster is quite hard to find, but if you commit to finding one and learning its quirks, it will reward you with an incredibly dependable primary that you will come to love. 

Nerf Elite Stryfe/Rebelle Rapid Red

I hate battery powered blasters, and don't typically like to recommend them to new players, but the Stryfe is a blaster that has been around for years and is definitely one of the most popular blasters to modify. As a result, there are TONS of modification kits and guides available for this blaster, and if you commit time and money to modification, the Stryfe can be an amazing blaster. I still hate it though. 

BOOMco Flipbow and Breakflip

Definitely two of the most fun blasters I've ever used, these two options from BOOMco are clip fed and have unique priming mechanisms. They're both blasters that I've personally used in HvZ games, and they work well, but are difficult to find these days and not very easy to modify. 

Nerf Elite Rampage

The first blaster I ever used in HvZ, the Rampage is a pump-action side fed blaster. While I used to recommend this blaster to everyone, with the release of the Interceptor/Thermal Hunter, I no longer see a reason to recommend this blaster. It is more expensive, doesn't perform as well, and is harder to find. If you find one cheap however, the build quality is better and with a simple spring upgrade it can be a great blaster for HvZ. 

Nerf Rival Nemesis

This is an interesting blaster for sure. With a 100-ball hopper, the Nemesis could be a game-breaking force, but it is extremely expensive and uses Rival High-Impact Rounds, a type of ammunition not very common in HvZ. If you want to really really commit to HvZ and are okay with buying a LOT of ammo, then the Nemesis can't really be beaten, but its large size, heavy weight and immense price leave it off my list. 

Literally Any Other Blaster

I'm a strong believer that any blaster that you find and learn to use can be the right HvZ primary for you. I myself have always tried to use blasters that are a little bit more unique, because I like to stand out, and as a result I sometimes use blasters that aren't necessarily the best blaster objectively. However, if you pick a blaster for any reason, and then use it in a few games and get used to it, pretty much any blaster can serve you well. My list is supposed to be recommendations for new players, but it is by no means an end-all be-all guide to good HvZ blasters. Besides, in the end, we all become zombies.