Resident Evil 4 Remake offers a plethora of weapons, a total of 29 weapons are there to be had and unless you plan on playing multiple New Game+ you will have to make a choice on what you upgrade and use. There are three Magnums for you to look over before deciding what to go for.

View Full-size

The Broken Butterfly is a great Magnum to use until you unlock the Handcannon in Resident Evil 4 Remake.

#1 - Handcannon¶

Whenever you’re thinking of the best Magnum, you have to have the Handcannon at the top, even if you’re not going to have it on your first playthrough. It is one of the strongest weapons in the game, second to maybe the Infinite Rocket Launcher (although the maxed out Broken Butterfly is stronger) due to its AoE capabilities. A new change with Resident Evil 4 Remake changes the ammo of the gun to use the Magnum rounds too.

The downside, then, to the Handcannon is how you get it in the first place. To get your hands on this incredible weapon, you’ll need to beat Professional Mode (the highest difficulty, unlocked after your first completion) without using any of the bonus weapons (such as the Infinite Rocket Launcher or Chicago Sweeper). It’s also an expensive gun to upgrade, totaling out at 540,000 when all said and done but its exclusive will give you Infinite Ammo which just edges it over the Broken Butterfly (although that is less of a point if you have the Cat Ears Accessory already).

#2 - Broken Butterfly¶

Taking the Handcannon out of the equation for a first (and second at best) playthrough, the Broken Butterfly is our choice for the best Magnum in the game. By their very nature, the Magnum class weapons are incredibly potent and will kill most enemies without much hassle, so you’re then looking at what other things you want in a Magnum.

The Broken Butterfly’s niche is that it is a fast-firing Magnum, and that’s important in a game that has enemies that come at you at alarming speed at times. Its exclusive will give it an even larger firepower boost, making it stronger than even the Handcannon!

The downside to the Broken Butterfly is that it’s not until the final few firepower upgrades that it gets close to the Killer7, but still, the massively improved reload speed makes this our winner.

You can obtain the Broken Butterfly by purchasing it from the Merchant as soon as Chapter 7 for money. You will get a discount on the weapon if you buy it in this Chapter.

#3 - Killer7¶

It should be said that there isn’t too much between the Killer7 and the Broken Butterfly and all Magnums are a win in your arsenal so don’t feel too bad if you go for the Killer7 over the Broken Butterfly.

The niche for the Killer7 is the fact that it’s all about raw firepower and is the strongest of the two first playthrough Magnums. Add on top of it the fact that it gets an Exclusive upgrade that massively increases its Critical Rate and not much is going to survive from a fully upgraded Killer7.

There are a few downsides to the Killer7 though, starting with its availability and cost. It first becomes available in Chapter 11 for 77,000 Pesetas, although you can get it discounted at Chapter 15 (the penultimate chapter of the game). On top of that, it’s a slow firing Magnum and its reload speed is even worse.