Upgrade Your Arsenal for Tactical Supremacy
Last time, we explored skill customization—now, let’s talk weapons. Thorn firearms can be modified with a range of attachments, adjusting their properties for more precision, firepower, or utility. Rarer components introduce alternate fire modes that apply status effects, while epic mods unlock powerful abilities triggered by specific combat actions.
Alongside scavenging, the Workbench allows you to craft discovered parts, expanding your tactical options as you progress.
Common Parts: Passive Upgrades for Reliable Damage
On a recent run, I scraped together enough salvage to craft a single Common weapon part early on. When I reached a crafting bench, I had a choice: upgrade the optic on Vivian’s Longshot rifle or equip a new magazine. I went with the magazine—more shots before reloading meant I could take riskier, aggressive positions, maximizing damage by consistently hitting weak points.
Common parts provide passive stat boosts, making weapons more efficient and reliable.
Rare Parts: Alternate Fire Modes and Status Effects
Further into the city, I came across a Rare Muzzle attachment capable of Immobilizing Rifters. I paired it with my Ratler shotgun to handle Strikers—the teleporting melee units that can easily breach backlines. Since they need a full turn before striking, stopping them in place was an effective way to neutralize the threat without burning excessive AP on a kill.
Rare parts add powerful secondary effects, opening up new tactical options.
Rifter Weapons: One-Time Use, Devastating Impact
Rifters don’t just drop salvage—they also leave behind their formidable weapons. These firearms pack serious stopping power but come with a major drawback: they can’t be reloaded. Once the magazine is empty, they’re gone.
Turning Sentinel weapons against them is one of my favorite tactics. Their accuracy and sheer force make headshots the best choice—though to maximize their potential, you’ll need to strip away the enemy’s rechargeable shields first.
Experiment, Adapt, and Overcome
Every run demands different tactics, and the gear you discover will shape how you fight. You can always respec your skill tree to capitalize on your loadout, but some of our QA testers have already come up with creative, unexpected solutions that we hadn’t anticipated.
We’ll be diving deeper into gameplay strategies in the next Dev Diary on March 11, and you can catch us live at Quebec DemoNights on February 20. Looking forward to seeing what strategies you come up with!