If you're looking to dive into reverse engineering, starting with the right tools can make a significant difference. Here are some of the best tools recommended by experienced reverse engineers on Reddit:

Essential Tools

Disassemblers and Decompilers

• Ghidra: A free and open-source software reverse engineering (SRE) framework developed by the NSA. It supports multiple platforms and architectures. "Get ghidra. Go to github and find a project on the platform you want to target like windows/linux/osx. Build the project and load the bin into ghidra and work on understanding and documenting the bin."

• IDA Pro: A powerful commercial disassembler and debugger. While it's not free, many professionals consider it indispensable. "Depending on how good you are at RE in general.. Take a look at this book https://www.amazon.com/IDA-Pro-Book-Unofficial-Disassembler/dp/1593272898"

• Radare2: A command-line reverse engineering framework that supports multiple architectures and file formats. "Radare2 is a powerful command-line tool that can be used for binary analysis, debugging, and more."

Debuggers

• x64dbg: A free and open-source x64/x32 debugger for Windows. "x64dbg is a great debugger for Windows, especially for beginners."

• GDB (GNU Debugger): A command-line debugger available for many Unix-like systems. "Write code in C, now you have to debug it because your code sucks - switch to the assembly view in the debugger and look around."

Hex Editors

• HxD: A free hex editor for Windows that is simple and easy to use. "A hex editor, I typically use HxD."

• CrystalTile2: Useful for Japanese games and visual novels due to its support for Shift-JIS character encoding. "I recommend CrystalTile2 or hexecute for Japanese games since most hex editors don't support Shift-Jis character encoding which most Japanese games and visual novels use."

Memory Readers

• Cheat Engine: A popular tool for game hacking that can also be used to read and modify process memory. "I like to use cheat engine."

Additional Resources

• Compiler Explorer (Godbolt.org): A web-based tool that allows you to compare C++ code to assembly. "You can use a compiler explorer https://godbolt.org/ for that"

• Pwn College: An online platform with courses and challenges to help you learn reverse engineering. "Pwn College and PicoCTF are good resources"

• Guided Hacking: A forum and community focused on game hacking and reverse engineering. "I started learning reverse engineering from guidedhacking, it's mainly RE for game hacking but everything you learn can be applied to any RE project."

Subreddits to Explore

• r/ExploitDev

• r/ReverseEngineering

• r/HowToHack

• r/cybersecurity

These tools and resources should help you get started and provide a solid foundation for your reverse engineering journey. Happy hacking!