Though not "best", IMO by far the most universal weapons are
Spirit weapons on the grounds almost no enemies resist them. You can find more optimal weapons, e.g. fire vs ice & ice vs fire, etc., but the Spirit weapons are the most reliable if you want flexibility. There is also a case to be made for the universality for physical weapons, but Elemental damage is nice because it bypasses armor.
I've also just updated the ancient and largely-forgotten "high-class" tables:
Hand,
Light,
2-Handed,
Bow and
Off-Hand weapons. The Hand/Light/2-Handed tables are particularly useful as combine and list relevant weapon types.
For the most part I made 12-ish DPS the cut-off (less for Bows), but also listing weaker weapons if they have a utility particularly Stun or Paralysis, or if the weapon is reasonably available early, that puts the "lower limit" down at the
Magma Shortsword /
Enchanted Vulcan Bow /
Lightning Greataxe level.
Level of course plays a significant role, I don't consider
Sword of Flames or
Sword of Shock to be "high-class", however they are each available from the
Travelling Armorer. If you happen upon him at very low level with 3k in your pocket, they are definitely high-class
for you, and for several levels.