The Coolest Weapons Ever Made

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Ancient weapons expert Dash Rendar goes over some of the coolest weapons in history

Co-authored by Dash Rendar and Eric McClure

Last Updated: January 27, 2026 Fact Checked

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• The Coolest Weapons from History
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• Modern Weapons
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• From Pop Culture

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Whether you’re working on a creative story and you want to find the perfect signature weapon for a character, you’re digging through military history looking for a famous weapon, or you’re simply just trying to look at some cool guns and swords, we’ve got you covered. Here are the absolute coolest weapons from history, contemporary warfare, and our favorite movies, books, video games, and anime. Enjoy!

Some of Our Favorite Historical Weapons

Ancient weaponry expert Dash Rendar says some of the coolest weapons in history include the English warbow longbow (a longbow that’s over 80 pounds) and the Roman javelin. Other cool weapons include:

• Sword cane: exactly what it sounds like: a cane with a sword tucked inside of it
• Push dagger: a T-shaped knife with a handle fitted for your palm
• Ngulu: a bulky sword ending with a curved hook, for beheading people
• Urumi: a braided whip with blades embedded into each braid

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Section 1 of 3:

The Coolest Weapons from History

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   Sword cane Sometimes known as the sword stick, we’re going to start the list off with this absolute banger of a ridiculous weapon. It’s a cane with a sword tucked inside of it. By pulling on the handle while holding the body of the cane, you remove a rapier-style sword from its sheath! Yes. This was a real weapon people actually used.

   • Origin: 17th-century England. These canes became popular across Europe as a last-minute backup weapon in case robbers accosted you. The Samurai of feudal Japan carried a similar weapon known as a shikomizue when they wanted to remain armed without drawing attention to themselves.
   • Weapon type: Sword.
   • Fun fact: This is one of the most controversially legislated weapons in the United States. In some states, sword canes are 100% legal and unregulated. In other states, you need a concealed carry license.
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   Push dagger Also known as a fist knife, this T-shaped knife has a handle fitted for your palm. It’s designed to be held with a closed fist so that you can punch-stab your way out of a fight. That’s right. We just used the verb “punch-stab.” Cool, right?

   • Origin: Ancient India. Variations of this knife may have been used in ancient India, but the push dagger really rose to prominence with the French during World War 1. The knives were an easy-to-store and effective option for melee trench warfare.
   • Weapon type: Knife.
   • Fun fact: Gamblers in the Wild West used to carry push daggers as self-defense tools in the event that a fist fight broke out at the card table.
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   Chokuto Chokuto is a Japanese word that translates to “straight sword.” Before the iconic katana rose to prominence, many Samurai carried these slick weapons. Its simplicity and elegance really make it stand out against the other weapons from history.

   • Origin: 13th century Japan.
   • Weapon type: Sword.
   • Fun fact: A few pristine examples of these swords still exist, with one of them (Kondou Sou Kantou Tachi) being over 1,000 years old!
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   Iklwa Also known as the ixwa, this African weapon is a short spear with a rounded base to the blade, making it a formidable and lethal stabbing weapon.

   • Origin: Late 1700s Africa, in what would eventually become the Zulu kingdom.
   • Weapon type: Spear
   • Fun fact: A version of this weapon called the “yklwa” is one of the most unique and popular weapons in Dungeons and Dragons. Iklwas also make appearances in the Black Panther comics and movies.
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   Ngulu If the phrase “Bantu execution sword” doesn’t sound absolutely awesome to you, we don’t know what to tell you. This rounded hook sword was popular among the Bantu tribes of Africa as a tool for beheading condemned people. The bulky sword contains several points in its straight portion before ending with a curved hook designed to perfectly match the curvature of the human neck.

   • Origin: Early 1800s Congo.
   • Weapon type: Sickle-style sword.
   • Fun fact: The owners of these blades were seen as authority figures. They’d even decorate their ngulus to make them stand out amongst their peers.
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   Bō staff The bō (or “bo”) staff is a famous traditional weapon in martial arts. It may look like a simple length of wood, but these staffs were carefully crafted and sanded to provide the optimal combination of striking speed and weight.

   • Origin: 1477, Japan.
   • Weapon type: Staff.
   • Fun fact: We know the bō staff originates in such a specific year because that’s the year Emperor Sho Shin took control of the island of Okinawa. To help keep the peace, he banned all bladed weapons. As a result, the people started making makeshift weapons out of staffs!
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   Urumi This is maybe the first truly bizarre weapon on our list. What happens when you cross a whip with a sword? You get the urumi! This strange whip featured more than 10 blades that were embedded into the ends of the whip’s braids, so you could cut, hook, or slash your target quickly and at a great distance. It’s not just extremely cool, it’s also ridiculously hard to use—there are stories of famous warriors accidentally killing themselves with these things.

   • Origin: Ancient India. The first recorded reference to the weapon dates to the 12th century.
   • Weapon type: Whip
   • Fun fact: There’s actually no evidence that urumis were used on battlefields. They were absolutely used in the Indian martial art known as Kalaripayattu, and organized fights to the death were probably held with these whips, but it makes sense that it’d be too impractical of a weapon to use in a chaotic battle.
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   Xiphos You may have never heard of this sword, but you’ve absolutely seen these. The xiphos was a favored sword of the Greek hoplites, the citizen-soldiers of the Greek city-states of Sparta and Athens. It’s a short, broad sword with a thick blade that made it perfect for both offense and defense.

   • Origin: Ancient Greece.
   • Weapon type: Sword.
   • Fun fact: If you look at any ancient Greek art of warriors or battles, the swords you’ll see are almost all going to be xiphoses.
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   Kusarigama The kusarigama is one of the craziest-looking weapons in all of history. It has a small wood handle with a scythe blade attached to the end of it. Then, on the backside of the blade, there’s a chain with a counterweight attached to it. This traditional Japanese weapon was designed for self-defense. The idea was that you could throw the chain and counterweight after spinning it above your head to wrap up opponents at a distance. Alternatively, you could hold the counterweight and throw the bladed end. If you needed a close-range weapon, you’d just hold the chain in your nondominant hand and fight with the scythe.

   • Origin: ~12th century Japan.
   • Weapon type: Versatile.
   • Fun fact: In the anime Naruto, the supporting character Tenten uses a kusarigama.
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    Spiked mace There are dozens of different variations of the mace from history, but we’re going to highlight the spiked mace as the coolest version. This weapon is basically a sleek club with a series of sharp spikes sticking out of the end of it. It’s just raw, brutal, and intimidating energy all over the place.

    • Origin: Prehistory. Versions of the mace actually predate written language. The spiked mace itself first shows up around 500 AD.
    • Weapon type: Club.
    • Fun fact: The pepper spray variant “mace” is named after this weapon. The story goes that the pain from the mace spray was supposedly just as painful as being struck with a medieval mace.
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    Tachi The tachi is like a giant, mostly ceremonial version of a Samurai sword. If you’ve ever played a video game about Samurai and you had a boss fight with a fella wielding a comically long sword, it was probably a tachi. These giant, powerful swords had a subtle curve to them, and they were designed to cut through enemies in a single blow.

    • Origin: ~8th century Japan. They really became popular around the 11th century, though.
    • Weapon type: Sword.
    • Fun fact: The tachi wasn’t always used in battle, although it was popular among Samurai when it came to mounted battle. The weight of the sword made it much easier to cut through targets on a whim.
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    Spatha The spatha is a straight, double-edged sword with a thick base that fed into a sharp point. Like the Samurai and the tachi, the spatha was a favored weapon among cavalry warriors in the Roman army.

    • Origin: Ancient Rome.
    • Weapon type: Sword.
    • Fun fact: Romans slowly moved towards preferring the spatha because of their encounters with the Germanic tribes. They found it too hard to succeed against the German tribesmen and their broad shields without bringing a heavier sword to the fight.
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    Broadsword We almost left the broadsword off the list because it’s a little too commonplace compared to the other weapons on our list, but honestly…what’s cooler than a giant sword?!

    • Origin: Late Middle Ages (1300-1500 AD).
    • Weapon type: Sword.
    • Fun fact: “Broadsword” is technically a category of weapon. If it’s a giant sword with some kind of basket or guard separating the blade from the handle, it qualifies as a broadsword. The specific sword most people picture when they hear “broadsword” is actually a basket-hilted sword.
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    Scimitar The scimitar is iconic. These single-edged swords have a smooth but distinct curve to them that make them ideal for slashing through opponents. That curve, combined with the light weight of the weapon, also makes them perfect for drive-by strikes on a horse, which is where the weapon really used to shine.

    • Origin: 9th century Khorasan (modern-day Iran and Afghanistan).
    • Weapon type: Sword.
    • Fun fact: Nobody who actually used a scimitar in history would have ever referred to their weapon as a scimitar. They would have called their blade a shamshir, kilij, or talwar. The word “scimitar” is actually a French and Italian word that Europeans used to describe these swords.
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    Shotel There are cool swords out there, sure, but few of them are so cool that they were literally used to swoon women off their feet. The shotel is a curved sword. Actually, let’s rephrase that…the shotel is the curved sword. Its giant loop looks almost comically long, and the ridiculous loopy shape was meant to cut around any kind of shield or blocking weapon.

    • Origin: 11th century Ethiopia.
    • Weapon type: Sword.
    • Fun fact: Many men in Ethiopia only carried a shotel as symbol of their wealth and strength. Over time, the culture in Ethiopia evolved to the point where a man’s shotel became a symbol of his romantic desirability.
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    Nine-ringed broadsword Despite its name, the nine-ringed broadsword looks absolutely nothing like the traditional European broadsword. That’s probably because it wasn’t invented or used in Europe. This Chinese weapon is almost comically large. The giant blade sticks out of the handle and sits almost 12 inches (30 cm) wide on some models. It also contains 9 miniature “ring” blades that stick out of the edge, designed to tear through flesh and deepen the wound when hitting a target. The rings could also be used defensively to “catch” the opponent’s weapon when they attack you.

    • Origin: We don’t know. It’s likely that this broadsword predates 12th-century China, but the weapon hasn’t been well-documented in history.
    • Weapon type: Sword.
    • Fun fact: The nine rings were included because the number “nine” is considered lucky and holy in ancient Chinese culture.
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    Kukri The kukri (or khukuri) is a large knife with a distinctive curve in the second half of the blade. The base of the blade also features two distinct divots, so the edges could be used to make tiny handheld cuts or trim the peel off of a fruit. This sort of makes it like an impressive utility knife.

    • Origin: 7th century Nepal.
    • Weapon type: Knife.
    • Fun fact: The kukri is the national weapon of Nepal!
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Section 2 of 3:

The Coolest Modern Weapons

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   PHASR Rifle Short for “personnel halting and stimulation response” rifle, the PHASR rifle is a nonlethal weapon that uses light to stun people. When the trigger is pulled, two non-lethal lasers are fired. Anyone in the path of the gun will be completely dazzled, confused, and stunned.

   • Origin: US, 2009.
   • Weapon type: Energy weapon.
   • Fun fact: It looks almost exactly like the carbine rifle from the Halo video games.
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   EMP Gun EMP is short for electromagnetic pulse, which is a burst of energy that can disrupt or completely disable electronics. What makes the EMP gun unfathomably cool is that it fires the EMP waves in a straight line so that you can shut down drones, computers, and other electronics from a distance.

   • Origin: US, 2019.
   • Weapon type: Energy weapon.
   • Fun fact: EMP attacks are one of the most popular tropes for apocalyptic films. From GoldenEye to Escape from L.A., Hollywood writers seem absolutely obsessed with this stuff.
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   Ballistic knife The ballistic knife is kind of what a child would come up with if they were asked to invent a super cool weapon. It’s a basic knife—handle, hilt, blade—with one major difference: there’s a button on the handle that sends the blade flying in the direction you’re pointing it. Surprise! The knife is a gun knife! And the bullets are blades! Super cool.

   • Origin: 1970s Russia.
   • Weapon type: Versatile.
   • Fun fact: Possessing a ballistic knife is a federal crime in the United States. This makes the ballistic knife the most illegal weapon in the country! There isn’t even a federal law banning the possession of enriched uranium, but lawmakers 100% put the “dagger” in the ballistic knife.
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   CornerShot After the ballistic knife, the CornerShot is probably what a child would come up with if they were asked to invent a second super cool weapon. This absolutely ridiculous gun does what its name implies—it shoots bullets around corners. It looks just as silly as it sounds.

   • Origin: Israel, 2003.
   • Weapon type: Gun.
   • Fun fact: France tried to develop something similar in 1914 called the periscope rifle. They thought it would help to have a gun that would fire around corners when trenches were invaded.
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   Active Denial System (ADS) The ADS is a directed-energy weapon that fires beams of energy at the same wavelength as the waves in a microwave. Think about that for a second. Yeah, it’s a literal heat gun. When fired, anyone in the range of the ADS will begin to experience second-degree burns. The idea here is that the weapon would effectively deter attackers without dealing lethal force.

   • Origin: 2002, USA.
   • Weapon type: Energy weapon.
   • Fun fact: An ADS was deployed during the US invasion of Afghanistan, but it has been pulled from official service since 2010.
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   Kamikaze Drone Also known as a loitering munition or a suicide drone, the kamikaze drone is more unhinged and crazy than it is “cool” but it’s still worth mentioning. These warheads are programmed to hit a specific target. Here’s what makes them unique, though: they’ll float around in a designated area just waiting for the target to appear if they can’t find it. Once the target does appear, the drone immediately flies down and explodes on its target.

   • Origin: 1980s, Israel.
   • Weapon type: Missile.
   • Fun fact: A lot of the drone warfare captured on film from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is footage captured from kamikaze drones.
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Section 3 of 3:

The Coolest Weapons from Pop Culture

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   Lightsaber (Star Wars) Okay, it’s maybe the most predictable option for the top of the list here, but it’s got to be the coolest weapon of all time, right? From Darth Vader’s iconic red lightsaber to Darth Maul’s double saber, there are just so many phenomenal and entertaining scenes in the Star Wars universe that feature these things!

   • Fun fact: The lightsaber was likely inspired by a 1933 issue of The Magic Carpet Magazine, which featured a man who fought giant spiders with “light swords.”
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   Hidden blade (Assassin’s Creed) The hidden wrist blade is an important weapon in the Assassin’s Creed games. With the click of a button, a spring-loaded blade shoots out of a wrist guard you’re wearing, making the assassinating business a total breeze. It’s slick, it’s fun to use, and it’s got one of the best sound effects in the history of video games.

   • Fun fact: The hidden wrist blade is inspired by real-life historical accounts of assassins hiding knives in their shirt sleeves, but no such spring-loaded assassin knife existed historically.
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   Zorg ZF-1 (The Fifth Element) The ridiculous pod weapon from the film The Fifth Element is capable of a lot. In fact, we’re just going to list all of the things it can do instead of describing the bulky space gun or listing a fun fact. This gun has:

   • Guided bullets. The gun can pull bullets back through time with a replay button.
   • A rocket launcher.
   • An arrow launcher.
   • A net launcher for non-lethal takedowns.
   • A flamethrower.
   • An ice cube system that allows the gun to freeze people in place.
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   The Snake Ray (Rick and Morty) In season 2, episode 5, Rick and Morty are enlisted by the President to create a catchy tune that will save planet Earth from certain destruction. The President threatens Rick and sends two Secret Service agents after him. In turn, Rick turns them into snakes with some kind of snake ray. The weapon is confusing, stupid, and very random. It is also very cool to turn people into snakes, though.

   • Fun fact: The game Enter the Gungeon has a gun called the Snakemaker, which is a reference to the weapon from this show. It has a 25% chance of turning enemy NPCs into snakes.
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   Sting (Lord of the Rings) Sting is the blade that Frodo is gifted by Bilbo in Lord of the Rings. It’s an Elven shortsword that was made in Gondolin during the First Age, so it’s obviously a pretty big deal. It turns blue whenever Orcs are close, which ends up being a pretty important quality in a weapon when you’re walking into Mordor.

   • Fun fact: In the books, Sting is actually a small dagger. Peter Jackson made it bigger in the film adaptations to make it more visually interesting.
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   Type-1 energy sword (Halo) The energy sword from the Halo universe is a borderline magical piece of Covenant technology. It’s the signature weapon of the Sangheili (the Elites), and it is instantly recognizable for its glowing plasma energy. Using the weapon in the game is so fun because you can “jump” to legal targets when you time the strike right, and the energy slices straight through targets to kill them in one hit!

   • Fun fact: The design of the energy sword is inspired by the Katar, a ceremonial weapon from South Asia.
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   Red scissor blade (Kill La Kill) The anime Kill La Kill is full of high-stakes kinetic energy, and it wouldn’t be possible without the main character, Ryuko, and her signature weapon—an oversized, giant red scissor blade. It’s actually a very important part of the plot, so we won’t spoil anything here, but the red scissor blade ends up being not only cool, but really deep.

   • Fun fact: The blade comes from a special set of scissors called “the rending scissors,” which can sever life energy from foes.
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   Death Note (Death Note) Bet you didn’t think we’d have a literal notebook on our list when you opened the article, huh? The titular Death Note is a supernatural notebook that kills anyone whose name you write in it.

   • Fun fact: If you’re not an “anime person” but you’ve always been curious about the genre, Death Note is a great show to check out. It’s very accessible and fun, and it skips over a lot of the “super anime” tropes that often turn Western viewers off.
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   Portal gun (Portal) The portal gun, from the Portal video game series, is a high-tech gun that fires…well, portals. The rub is that the portal you create when you pull the trigger opens up to the previous portal you fired. So, you could fire one portal in the ceiling, another portal directly underneath it on the floor, and then jump in for an infinite loop!

   • Fun fact: Portal is frequently cited as the greatest game ever made. The mechanics, tone, and gameplay are so perfectly in sync that it’s hard to find anything wrong with it!
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