How to upgrade weapons in Atomfall

Atomfall upgrade weapons - A soldier in Wyndham — (Image credit: Rebellion)

Want to upgrade weapons in Atomfall? Though there's no way to improve your melee weapons beyond acquiring skills, you can buff your guns in the game, and most importantly, get rid of that horrible rust coating every single one of them—there's nothing more satisfying than blasting some filthy outlaw with your pristine Webley revolver.

Annoyingly though, weapon upgrades are locked behind a specific skill, and you can only acquire skills in Atomfall by reading the manuals containing them. That can mean a lot of wandering around aimlessly—that is, unless you read this guide, in which I tell you where to find the right skill manual for the job. Handy, huh?

How to upgrade guns

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Atomfall Morris choice - Master Crafting Manual — The Master Crafting Manual unlocks the Gunsmith skill(Image credit: Rebellion)

You need the Gunsmith skill to unlock gun upgrades in Atomfall, but since this isn't one of the twelve skills you start with, you'll need to acquire it first. Gunsmith is located in the second column at the top in the survival grid and, as with any other skill, you'll need a manual to unlock it. The skill book in question is the Master Crafting Manual.

While there are usually multiple skill manuals of each kind hidden around the map, the earliest opportunity to grab this one is in Wyndham Village during the lead that involves St. Katherine's church and the murder of Maisie. If you play your cards right—using the linked guide—you can get the Master Crafting Manual as a reward from Morris the village shopkeeper.

Once you've read the book, you'll need seven skill points to learn Gunsmith, which means finding seven Skill Stimulants—these are usually located in bunkers but you can get them as quest rewards also. Now you have the skill, you can upgrade a gun using extra copies of it you have plus some gun oil and scrap, and each gun has two upgrade levels.

Say I want to upgrade my trusty—though rusty— Mark.VI Revolver, I'd need two Mark.VI Revolvers (Rusty) to turn it into a Mark.VI Revolver (Stock) and then two Mark.VI Revolvers (Stock), to turn it into a Mark.VI Revolver (Pristine), fully upgrading it and removing the rusty coat. So, to upgrade a weapon fully you need:

Sidearm (revolver or pistol)

4x rusty versions of the gun to turn into two (Stock) versions
7x gun oil and 7x scrap

Long arm (rifle, SMG, or shotgun)

4x rusty versions of the gun to turn into two (Stock) versions
7x gun oil and 16x scrap

This includes the total amount of scrap and gun oil required to make both (Stock) versions as well as turning those two versions into the final (Pristine) variant.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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