The goal of this guide is to make a quick rundown of all the important gameplay elements so that someone seeking guidance could easily orient themselves within the game without being distracted by a plethora of unimportant details.

This guide has started as a personal project for debloating the Synthetik FSG, and while I think I've succeeded in my task - there always was a compromise of cutting less useful (but still somewhat meaningfull) information for the sake of conciseness that I had to take. Thus, as this is not a direct competitor, is a self-proclaimed successor and improvement to FSG, and as a promise held - I feature this guide:
https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2589155679
Do note, that even though that's a big guide, it still, in its own words, requires of you to have the wiki open while reading it and I can confirm that without it open you'll not get the full picture.

Essentials: Luck, Movement speed;
Class dependent essentials: Dodge, Max health;
Class dependent secondary: Currency increase, Scavenging*;
Upgrade once or twice: Health regen*, Shield regen, Ammo gained;
Better than nothing: Critical chance, Armor;
Don’t bother: Max shield.

This does not take into account recycling and other sources of stat gains.
* - Recieves a penalty on looping.

● Primary stats: Movement speed, Scavenging
● Secondary stats: None
● Core Item: Core of the class
● Important thresholds: LVL 25, Prestige
● Specialization: PUps
● Starting perks: Charge, Routine
● Starting items: None
● Starting pistols: 57

Pros: Commando modules, very dynamic and engaging gameplay, strong baseline ability synergy with class modules, great self sustain.
Cons: Requires all class unlocks to function properly, predominantly solo play class, mostly useless weapon specialization.

● Primary stats: None
● Secondary stats: Shield regen, Movement speed, Dodge
● Core Item: Core of the class
● Starter Weapon: Workhorse
● Important thresholds: LVL 15
● Specialization: Sniper Rifles, DMRs, Penetration
● Starting perks: Switch Position
● Starting items: None
● Starting pistols: PXS, G17, Titanium Eagle (< LVL15)

Pros: Rogue pistols, the least unlock demanding class in the game, very trivial game plan, decent self sustain.
Cons: Incompatible with coop play, very tedious gameplay loop with unnatural pace breaking mechanics, very limiting weapon specialization.

● Primary stats: Movement speed or Health point family
● Secondary stats: Ammo gain
● Core Item: Scrappable
● Starter Weapon: Worse than nothing
● Important thresholds: LVL 5, LVL 15
● Specialization: SMGs, Shotguns, MGs, Stuns, Active reloads (PUps)
● Starting perks: I-Frame
● Starting items: Stun grenade
● Starting pistols: XM2

Pros: Guardian modules and XM2 guardian pistol, 3 weapon slots, very dynamic and engaging gameplay, stun specialization, specialization in wide weapon type variety.
Cons: Has to waste an extra module for a proper core item, has trouble regaining momentum after moderate mistakes, unnatural and annoying early game meta, base equipment is worthless.

● Primary stats: Movement speed, Luck
● Secondary stats: None
● Core Item: Scrappable
● Starter Weapon: Better than nothing but still trash
● Important thresholds: LVL 15, LVL 20, LVL 25
● Specialization: Shotguns, Single shot weapons, First shot critical weapons
● Starting perks: I-Frame, Push forward
● Starting items: None
● Starting pistols: XM2

Pros: Guardian modules and XM2 guardian pistol, ability to get double the baseline cap of platings on demand, great synergy of different weapon types within specialization.
Cons: Has to sacrifice module power for one of the abilities to take effect, relies too much on RNG, no proper self sustain, base equipment is worthless.

● Primary stats: None
● Secondary stats: Movement speed, Health point family, Ammo gain, Luck
● Core Item: Core of the class
● Starter Weapon: Almost good enough to be an Epic
● Important thresholds: LVL 10, LVL 15, Prestige
● Specialization: MGs, P90, Bounce
● Starting perks: Charge
● Starting items: None (Road flare)
● Starting pistols: 57

Pros: Raw unrestrained firepower, 3 weapon slots, extra attachment choices, strongest starting kit.
Cons: Offence is the defense, relies a bit too much on RNG, strongest only in counterattack against overwhelming (in number) forces, has to run with 1 less item slot for most of the playthrough.

● Primary stats: Luck, Movement speed
● Secondary stats: Currency increase, Scavenging
● Core Item: Core of the class
● Extra item: Workhorse
● Important thresholds: LVL 15, LVL 20, Insanity
● Specialization: Launchers, Other, MGs, Items, Laser weapons
● Starting perks: None [1], Transmute [2]
● Starting items: Unidentified potion [1,2], Seth-up [1] (recycled for UP)
● Starting pistols: 57, PPQ-H, Titanium Eagle

Pros: Generates excessive amounts of wealth, starts with 2 good items, build versatile with specialization in spawners.
Cons: Specialist modules, massive resource sink, weak and annoying to play early game, can only outpace other classes in the postgame, has trouble staying under maximum item and money limits.

● Primary stats: Max health, Dodge
● Secondary stats: Movement speed
● Core Item №1: Gimmick
● Core Item №2: Multitool
● Important thresholds: LVL 20, Prestige
● Specialization: SMGs, MGs, Special ammo ( - incendiary)
● Starting perks: Switch Position
● Starting items: None
● Starting pistols: PXS, G17, Titanium Eagle

Pros: Rogue pistols, starts with 2 items, essentially a dodge tank, umbra cloak is a great multitool, can generate extra bit of wealth, can’t be OHKOd.
Cons: Has no initial game plan, offensive tools are rather bland, relies a bit on RNG.

● Primary stats: Max Health
● Secondary stats: Movement speed, Luck
● Core Item: Worthless, until it isn’t
● Starter Weapon: Worthless, until it isn’t
● Important thresholds: LVL 20
● Specialization: Launchers, ARs with launchers, Other
● Starting perks: None (Multiply or Overdrive)
● Starting items: None (Auto Overclocker)
● Starting pistols: 57

Pros: Specializes in the strongest weapon type, can't be OHKOd, basic.
Cons: Specialist modules, no defensive tools.

The strongest set of perks. Offer great survivability under most conditions.
I-Frame
● Taking health damage over 100 grants [1s] of total damage immunity and has a [10%] chance of granting one plating, absorbing one full hit. 12 seconds cooldown.
Charge
● Dashing [SHIFT] grants [10%] critical strike chance for 2 seconds and damage immunity while dashing.

All-rounder perks that will most of the time have their effect active be it through easily fulfilled conditions or automatic/permanent effects that they apply.
Shielded
● Kills refresh [200] of maximum shield strength - passively increases maximum shield by [70].
Weapon Mastery
● Shotguns and SMGs have a [20%] chance adding one shell to spare ammo when fired, chance halved for other weapons. Stunning effects last [25%] longer.
Switch Position
● Ejecting a weapon grants a [60%] damage reduction and movement speed for [2s] - 5 seconds cooldown.
Evasive Maneuvers
● Increases dodge chance by [10%]. Dodging triggers a minor dash and replenishes one bullet in the current magazine.
Shadow Dance
● Grants [3] dodge chance and [7%] increased healing for each 3 seconds of being infight, stacks 3 times - resets on taking damage.
Perfection
● Every 5th inflicted Headshot passively increases critical strike chance and critical damage by 1% and heals for [20%] missing health. Crit bonuses stack up to [10] times.
Routine
● Active reload grants Routine, increasing armor penetration by [2] and movement speed by [2%]. Stacks 8 times - Failing loses all.
Drill
● Each consecutive hit grants one stack of Drill with [3%] increased firerate and [5%] reduced weapon deviation. Stacks 10 times. Misses halve the stacks.
Sun Rising
● Every 300 Heat produced passively increase burn and crit damage by 1%. Stacks [40] times and reaching the max heals to full HP once.

Like general offensive perks, perks tied to heat thresholds don’t have any complications staying active throughout the most of your run, however the positive effects are usually very basic.
Aegis MK5 Platinum
● Grants [60%] reduced shield regeneration delay and [40] increased movement speed if heat is over 35.
Overdrive
● Items cool down [35%] faster and weapons eject up to [35%] faster if heat is over 40. Increases movement speed by 30.
Calculated
● Take [15%] increased damage under 50 Heat and deal [25%] more damage when over 50 heat. Overheating no longer removes shields and grants a strong shield buff for 6 seconds.
Forged by Fire
● Grants up to [10%] critical strike chance and [30%] higher firerate the higher the weapon Heat.

While the drawbacks of these perks can be quite severe in the early stages of a playthrough, the benefits in the long run are well worth the extra effort.
Warmup
● All newly found items start with [3%] more item power for each conquered level. Increase base heat value by [5].
Madness
● Increases credits gain by [15%] for each consecutive kill, combo diminishes after 5 seconds. Decreases accuracy by [15%].
Transmutate
● The first recycled item grants a replacement of the same rarity and [2] Plating. Passively increases recycling gain by [35%].

Less useful general offensive perks.
Recovery
● Kills increase healing gained by [15%], lasts [5] seconds, can stack.
Head Hunter
● Headshots have a [50%] chance of refunding 1 bullet to spare ammo and refresh [10%] of missing shields. Damage over 300 doubles the effect, shotguns excluded.
Keeping Distance
● When no enemy is within 600 range, gain [25%] increased firerate and [15] increased armor damage absorption.
Elemental Power
● All inflicted slow, poison, fire, or bleed effects last [30%] longer (radiation deals more damage). All effects applied by shots have a [15%] chance to have triple strength.
Well Oiled
● All items grant [4] maximum health and heal for the same on activation - stacks 50 times. Item activations have a [2%] chance of resetting running cooldowns of all items.

Perks that depend on active reloads are generally not that good, since for most weapons, when you are reloading them, you are not doing that in the open and when you leave out of the cover to engage the enemy the bonus is either already gone, the enemy is just too far away or is preoccupied with something other than shooting you straight. However when utilized with SSWs or paired with Heat vent on shotguns their performance becomes similar to the generally good ones.
Push Forward
● Active reload grants a brief surge of [40%] bonus movement speed and recoil control. Increases pistol damage by [10%].
Enrage
● Active reload grants [15%] chance to critically strike with any weapon for 3 seconds, doubled if over 60 heat. Passively increases weapon heat generation by [10%].
Keeping Cool
● Hitting active reload refreshes [75%] of shields, grants a [250] shield buff that lasts 3 seconds and reduces current weapon heat by 10.
Press the Attack
● Active reload grants a brief surge of speed with [20%] dodge chance and [35%] increased accuracy while moving for 2 seconds.
Focus
● Active reload grants [30%] improved recoil control and increases item cooldown speed by [100%] for 2 seconds.

Power up based perks have close to no practical utility on any class but Raider, which neither has access to most of these, nor suffers from a lack of choice for better perks.
Pickup perks have a problem of being either heavily RNG based or an overkill for the aspect they are supposed to be boosting.
Shield Overclock
● Grants [150] increased shield regeneration per second. In addition, found shield powerups last [5] seconds longer.
Scrap Plating
● Chance to find Scrap scattered around, granting 1 plating on pickup. Plating deflects all damage for one hit.
Bits and Pieces
● Each obtained plating instance grants a stacking [15%] bonus in damage and critical damage. Refreshes on new pickup and lasts 10 seconds.
Killer
● Headshots deal [15%] more damage and increase the chance of finding damage powerups by [75%].
Field Rations
● Health crates grant [75%] increased health and permanently increase healing by [5%]. Ammo crates grant double ammo.
Multiply
● All ammo regeneration effects are amplified by [35%]. Picking up ammo grants slight ammo regeneration for [20] seconds.
Force Unleashed
● Picking up Powerups heals for [12%] missing health and all powerups last [6] seconds longer (Powerups always last longer depending on how fast they were picked up).

Health state perks are bad. You never want to stay low, because staying low will guarantee that the next mistake will be your last, the ones that require you to be healthy will not help you in critical moments, where you want to have the most help you can get and neither would actually help you get out of said critical state.
Stimulants
● Get [5] weapon lifesteal when below 30% of maximum health. Decreases damage dealt by 10%.
Die Hard
● While at full health, never take more than 75 health damage - damage dealt to rank 1 or 2 Elite enemies is increased by [30%]
On the Edge
● Grants [15%] increased critical strike chance below 35% health and [50] health regeneration over 85% health.
Scarred
● Increases existing life steal and health regeneration by [35%] as well as armor by [10] when shields are down.
Status Extender
● All user affecting positive and negative status effects last [35%] longer and status effects don't deal damage below 25% health.

There are very few weapons that benefit from high heat and even those most of the time penalize you for overheating while still harnessing the potential for a chain overheat suicide.
Power Tuning
● Increase Headshot damage and running ammo regeneration by [35%] if weapon heat is below 30. Passively increases weapon heat generation by [20%].
Inner Fire
● Grants [20] health regeneration while in combat for a maximum of 10 seconds. Instantly increases weapon heat by 25 and sets shields to half strength after the maximum duration.
Unceasing
● Increases heat generation by [25%]. Dash now resets current heat, refreshes shields and reduces Dash cooldown all by [30%]. Increases dodge chance by 5%.

Perks that rely on taking damage, while bad, are not entirely worthless like some consecutive entries will be. You will take damage once in a while and the effect will proc, but the further you go, the less damage you can take, which would mean that with progression these perks would lose most of their value.
Berserk
● Taking health or shield damage grants Berserk stacks, increasing fire rate and decreasing fire rate slowdown by [1%]. Stacks up to 40 times and is lost after not taking damage for 12 seconds.
Wicked
● Taking health damage briefly slows the attacker with a chance to stun depending on damage amount and reflects up to [150] damage.
Blood Borne
● Grants a [2] second time window after taking damage over 300 to gain the lost health back or even more with weapon lifesteal. 15 seconds cooldown.
Grenadier
● Getting hit by an explosion refreshes shields and grants a strong damage and firerate buff for [3] seconds. All Grenades, placeable mines & traps have [20%] reduced cooldowns.
Chromatic Alloy
● Taking health damage over 50 has a [25%] chance of granting 50 armor for 5 seconds, 20 seconds cooldown.

Make use of an effect and the main working aspect of the perk becomes useless. Most of the perks are not even that good, instead being laughably bad or even outright worthless.
DMR Conversion
● Found weapons with magazine sizes from [10] - [20] are modified to semi-automatic, with increased damage and reduced fire rate.
Against the Odds
● Grants [25%] increased maximum health and heal an additional [7%] of maximum health each healing instance over 100 HP but take an additional 10% damage.
Weapon Drop
● A random common class weapon is sent to the proceeding teleporter after obtaining 50 kills. Higher module power decreases the requirement.
Specialized Ammo
● Grants [1] selections of custom ammo types at first teleporter usage and passively increases critical damage by [35%].
Drone Mod
● Allows your companion drone to fire. The drone has a range of [750] and a firerate of [50] shots per minute. Companion drone is only available when solo.
Pack A Punch
● The first found weapon is upgraded [3] times and also gains [15%] more weapon damage.
Weapons Deal
● Starting Pistols and weapons come in a non standard variant and weapon upgrade shops cost [25%] less.

Standing still in this game is a very very bad idea, and where you can stand still – you don’t need said perks to help you out.
Fortify Position
● Barricades and destroyable objects have [75%] more durability. Increases maximum ammo and starting ammo for all weapons by [30%].
Into Battle
● Deal [15%] more damage, take equally less damage and grants [35%] stronger shield regeneration if within 175 range of an enemy.
Backstab
● Attacking out of combat deals additional [5%] damage for each second being out of combat. Exiting a teleporter or beginning a wave grants stealth for [7] seconds.
Discipline
● Standing still quickly diminishes shield regeneration delay and heat. Increases maximum health by 100.
Freeze!
● Standing still while in combat grants [2] seconds of [60%] total damage absorption, 10 seconds cooldown.
Hold Breath
● Standing still continuously stabilizes the stance, reducing weapon deviation and recoil by up to [135%] and increasing critical strike chance by up to [40%] - resets on shots fired.
Take Cover
● Standing near intact destructible cover grants [40%] increased shield regen and [20%] increased accuracy. Increases maximum shields by 50.

Curse of the LETHARGIC
● 40 luck for -5 dodge, 1.25 reload and ejection time.
Curse of the IGNORANT
● Damage absorb for 0.5 currency rate. Inverted scaling with current absorb.

Tribute of the FLESH
● Refill HP and ammo, get 2 vials and 2 Upgrade Kits for 250 or 150 max HP.
Curse of the FLESH
● +40% currency rate for half your max HP.

Prayer
● Chance to lift a temporary curse prematurely, get a buff and/or data.
Tribute of the COPPER
● Refill HP and ammo for 666 credits (and 100 data when poor).

Curse of the WICKED
● 20% damage for -30% damage absorb.
Curse of the PARTISAN
● 250 Shield and remove temporary curse for -50% damage absorb.


Offer strong unique effects.

CARIO
● +1 dash and 5 dodge.
MAEL
● Slow resistance.
ZION
● 0.75 item cooldown time. Next item is upgraded.
ENSIFERIUM
● +1 weapon slot and 2 UKs.
AEON-FFD
● 0.65 shop prices.

Won't do anything what an upgrade kit can't fix.

TARO
● 1.15 crit chance, crit damage and crit cap.
PU-55
● Terror level is decreased by 30. 1.35 damage to Elites.
HOBB-S
● 1.25 ricochet damage, 20% chance to ricochet.
RYNN
● 1.35 DoT damage and damage cap.

Without having a particular build that would benefit from said effects - the worth of each individual one is nil if not negative.

KEVV
● Next generated weapon is of ULTRA variant.
PURE 759
● 1.50 powerup drop chance.
SAVNT
● 1.40 to effect duration.
KOKOVA
● 1.30 healing and +3 vials.
RHETT
● 1.75 enemy FF, 0.2 FF.
LUKA
● 1.25 pistol damage, +25 minimum heat.

These items can find use in most situations - they patch up holes in your defenses or boost your strengths, sometimes they do both. It takes a very specific setup or a set of circumstances to find yourself in a situation where you won't be able to fit any of these into your build.


Struggling with Raptor, APC and Last Defender? Didn’t get movement speed buffs or a proper weapon to pass the threshold that makes boss stages playable? These are the items for you. Essentially crutch items that almost always will serve their purpose.


Become useless or close to useless on loop and serve no purpose but to boost your survivability in the early game. Take these if you don’t believe in yourself, but really want to achieve the challenge completion.


Items that will boost your damage output without you having to babysit and micromanage them (most of the time). Pretty much are just filler items.


Items that are exclusive in usefulness to the particular class they come with.



When I was level 15 engineer upgrading my weapons, my friend, former engi main, always been pacing back and forth asking "What are you doing there, why aren't you moving?". First time I didn't respond, but then he started shooting at me while shouting "Why are you silent, what's wrong with you?" throwing expletives around and threatening to force proceed to the next level through killing me. Also, he complained when I didn't drink potions not as in when I reach maximum stacks, but right after reaching a next stage, arguing that it's going to go to waste: "I drink after transitioning to the next stage and you should too!" One day I am playing solo and see the stream live icon pop up, well I drink my potions, pause the game and switch to the steam overlay, there is a big button to show viewers of the stream, well I click it and see that there is my friend, watching my stream and writing in chat: "What's wrong with you? Are you rеtarded? What the hell are you doing there?" By the way he constantly drinks potions when playing engineer which makes him get poisoned, like 5 times a stage, and then complains that it burns and that he has to eat it up with scrap. ████ed up in short. Real story. I'm not a troll.



Good for distraction, bad for anything else. Differences are in ability to soak/deal damage and active/cooldown timers.



While similar to active damage boosters (that'll come next), this category is a bit more interesting since each item offers some unique utility. Whatever that utility is worth a slot is up to you to decide, however all of them being active items is a big factor that one must consider when making the decision.

Unlike flat damage boosters, you need to babysit these items to make them worth using, and frankly, there are other things that would be more deserving of your attention.


Active damage dealing items that are only really worth using in the Tactical mode.


Spawn a delayed AoE, DoT or delayed AoE DoT on your cursor. When not deliberately abused are worse than crutch items for tactical, when abused turn the game into an idler.



Flat damage boosters that have the potential to harm the user, the trade in my opinion isn’t worth it.


So weak or so inferior to other items that they are not even worth considering.




Non-essential items for set building.


Take one of the items - get a different gameplay experience, for any other purpose they aren't worth it.

Either extremely underwhelming or, while not the most OP broke, one of the more useful weapons every class could rely on. Flamethrowers are included and they are the former.
Key parameter: None.

"Explosives" launcher with probably the largest and the safest AoE out of all the weapons. Tends to run low on ammo in the first half of the game.

HIG-S while having better damage, cooling rate and perk than Flak has a little problem with explosion size.

Legendary version of HIG-S, but without its useful passive ability and with an annoying explosion SFX.

One of the most represented and one of the least diverse weapon type in the game. ARs aren’t exactly awful, but the guns themselves, the mechanics by how they operate – are never the deciding factor that is going to reserve a slot for such a weapon in your loadout. On average at their base are good enough to be variant insensitive.
Key parameter: Recoil.

Stick with it for long enough and it will melt through shields in addition to having the laser weaponry™️ pinpoint accuracy.

For a non laser weapon has surprisingly good deviation and recoil control, makes up for having the strange 5 burst firing mode. It’s important for its item cooldown reduction passive.

The most average AR you could think of however its normal ammo pierces targets and bullet hits steal health.

Most weapons in this category slow your movement down and are extremely heat, firerate and magsize sensitive. The only weapon type that can make use of the tri bolt attachment and ammo regeneration effects properly.
Key parameter: Magsize, Heat;
Allergic to _ penalty: Firerate.

The best starter weapon, obviously plays off the heavy gunner specialization and its prestige upgrade, but is reliably better than most of the available arsenal and can serve you well into the loop.

The only decent, chance tokenable LMG. RPK - is garbage; Chaos launcher - (while doesn’t decrease movement speed) is unwieldy, doesn’t penetrate and deals puny amounts of damage; Armageddon, Gladiator and LG-2 – are non-tokenable and the latter two have spin up time before shooting.

LG-2 in a form of a legendary. Has a problem of popping up way too late into a run where you have neither an extra weapon slot nor stacked upgrade kits. You either swap your current main for or you pass on the weapon entirely, no other way around it.

Apollon 5 in a form of a legendary. Similar issue to the one of the Gladiator minigun.

Deal massive damage per shot and have 2 upgrade paths: the last straw path and the magsize path. The last straw path assumes that you are going to nail every active reload meaning that it’s going to be very sensitive to anything that affects eject and reload mechanics, as well as being very allergic to irregular ammo expenditure chances and magsize increases (which may come with variants or core stat weapon upgrades). The magsize path is the opposite of the last straw one, however both require almost perfect attachment rolls.
Key parameter: Magsize/Reload and ejection times;
Allergic to _ penalty: Heat.

Without either of the variant ammo (toxic/AP) is an extreme health hazard for you. If upgraded for magsize, becomes a better version of Y-L that deals more damage and doesn’t require you to stand still to shoot.

Get high enough chance to not spend ammo, nail the heat print attachment roll and normal stages will play themselves.

Would be inferior ARs if it wasn’t for class specializations and AR uniformity, however with their overall weaker stats and higher firerate SMGs are quite sensitive to the magsize and ammo gain changes.
Key parameter: Ammo reserves;
Allergic to _ penalty: Magsize.

Despite its “weak” perk is actually strong enough to melt 2-3 targets in a single mag dump. Eats through ammo reserves and is the only weapon that is worth sticking with if you are doing an exclusively item centric build.

Inferior Medic FMG of higher rarity. Shields are a bit less important than health and due to the weapon having the laser damage type - it struggles with shielded enemies.

If Tactical Observer was left overnight collecting stacks, was converted to full auto and overheating didn’t cause self damage – it would be P90. Well, it actually would still be slightly worse due to having lower mag capacity and no laser weapon™️ control.

Great active reload window, unsalvageably bad deviation for precision shooting and awful buckshot range. No particular weapon is head above the rest in this category.
Key parameter: None;
Allergic to _ penalty: Heat, Range.

Have massive stability issues on any class that isn't sniper and in any firing mode that’s not semi-auto, also allergic to deviation increase variants and attachments. Reserved for solo in less hectic pre loop gamemodes where methodical approach has enough space to prosper.
Key parameter: Deviation;
Allergic to _ penalty: Range.

Very awkward weapon to use that makes up for it in damage. Unlike nemesis, it’s chance tokenable and doesn’t immediately put you on the suicide watch list when acquired as the weapon comes with its own non-bouncing ammo.

[Arena DLC]
This is the sole DMR that not only just works, but also has a useful passive perk. Sure, it has some trouble with base deviation value, and 'weapon class' restrictions still apply to it, but that's nothing compared to the weapon actually being worth using due to superb movement stability (and a small movement speed buff).

Usually aren’t good enough to become anything more than a pistol substitute.
Key parameter: Magsize.

Inferior in almost every sense to normal weapons.
Preferred attachments: Lucky Dangle, Vital Data Collector, 4x4 Pin, Multiplier.

The best pistol in the game.


If you absolutely can’t stand shotgun playstyle on Breacher.

Stealth is a very practical utility, especially when you don’t have to waste a main weapon slot on it.


For when you really need a DMR like weapon early game.



While pistols have their use, sometimes even past the early game, having a stat bonus in the late game is way more useful than having none.

Variants that don’t make or break a weapon, if you see any of these the performance will align with your expectations.

● 15% increased damage
● 25% increased firerate
● 20% decreased heat generation
● 25% decreased recoil
● 50% increased ammo reserves
● 100% magsize increase
○ Increased rarity directly to Divine

Lightweight
● 65 increased movement speed
● 25% increased cooling



Military Spec
● Weapon cannot get jammed
● 25% faster reloading
● 50% faster ejecting


Re-Active
● +10% to bonus damage on active reload
● +20% to bonus damage on perfect active reload
● +20% to bonus firerate on perfect active reload
● 25% faster reloading
○ +0.5s slower ejecting

Standard
● No modifiers to base stats.

More advanced variants that are still more or less vanilla, just a bit more ammo hungry.

Modular [VK I]
● 2x stats modified on a single upgrade instance
○ 25% reduced ammo gain

● 35% increased damage (+10% for each rarity below legendary)
● 25% increased firerate (+10% for each rarity below legendary)
● 15% + 1 magsize increase
● 25% decreased recoil
● 50% faster cooling
● 50% decreased deviation
● 25% faster reload speed
● 80% faster ejection speed
○ 40% Reduced ammo gain
○ Increased rarity directly to Divine
○ Has a 1% chance * Luck to drop

● 20% increased damage
● 25% increased firerate
● 25% magsize increase
● 20% decreased recoil
● 20% decreased deviation
● 25% faster reload speed
○ 30% reduced ammo gain
○ Increased rarity (Common -> Rare, Rare -> Epic, Epic -> Legendary)

Alpha
● Removes all heat on ejection
● 15% increased damage
● 15% faster reloading
● 15% increased firerate
● 15% decreased recoil
○ 15% reduced ammo gain

Relic [VK II]
● 7% chance to regenerate health on hit
● 15% increased damage
○ 15% reduced firerate
○ 15% decreased recoil control
○ 15% reduced ammo gain

While these variants aren’t exactly awful, the benefit in trade is usually questionable, you’d wish you’ve gotten a baseline variant, but at least these won’t break most types of weapons.

Scavenger
● 1.35+5 increase to ammo gained
● 35% increase to max ammo
● +5 ammo per pickup
○ 20% slower reloading
○ 20% reduced mag size

Burst Plus
● 15% increased damage
● 20% decreased recoil
● 15% increased firerate
○ Semi-auto burst
- +1 for precision rifles (or weapons affected by DMR Conversion)
- +3 for SMGs, ARs and other weapon types
● Can occur on non-burst weapons

Hyper Burst
● 25% increased damage
● 25% reduced recoil
● 40% increased firerate
○ Automatic burst
- +1 for precision rifles (or weapons affected by DMR Conversion)
- +2 for SMGs, ARs and other weapon types
- +4 for machine guns
○ 25% increased heat generation
○ 75% increased burstfire delay

This group is very limited in its utility, find one of these on a wrong weapon and said weapon becomes the primary candidate for disposal given the first opportunity.

Stabilized
● 75% increased movement accuracy
● 15% increased cooling
○ 35% or +4˚ increased deviation


Siege V.
● 50% increased magsize (+1 minimum)
● 30% increased ammo reserves
● 30% increased ammo gain
● 15% decreased heating
○ 20% increased recoil
○ 10% or +3˚ increased deviation
○ 75% longer ejection
○ 25% longer reloading

C-Charged
● 15% increased crit chance, ignores crit chance cap
○ 5˚ increased deviation



Taiga Hunter
● 30% increased damage
● 25% increased HS damage
● 25% reduced deviation
● 25% Increased recoil control
○ 35% reduced ammo gain
○ 35% reduced firerate
○ 35% lower magsize (or longer reloading time for weapons with 1 or 2 round magsize)

● 10% chance to self damage when firing based on current HP
● 66.6% increased damage
● 33% decreased heat
○ 33% reduced firerate
○ 33% reduced ammo gain
○ 33% increased recoil
○ Increased rarity to Legendary

Overclocked
● 40% higher firerate per heat
● 150% overheat firerate
● 30% faster reloading
● 30% faster cooling
○ 20% reduced ammo reserves
○ +15 minimum heat (base heat is 10)
○ 20% increased heat generation

Printing
● Slowly regenerates ammo (0.5/s) in current non-empty mag
● 200% increased ammo printing
○ 20% slower reloading
○ 20% slower ejecting
○ 50% reduced ammo gain

These are the worst variants the game has to offer, and while specific variants can sometimes outright break weapons, make them unusable, these variants will always make them inferior to the baseline configurations.

Prototype [VK II]
● 65%-160% damage range (12.5% increase in damage)
● 25% HS damage increase
○ 35% higher jamming chance
○ 10% reduced firerate
○ 10% increased heat
○ 35% slower reloading
○ 35% slower ejecting

Kaida Elite
● 30% decreased recoil for first shot
● 30% HS damage increase
○ -3° deviation
○ 50% decreased movement accuracy

Heavy [VK I]
● 30% increased recoil control
● 20% increased magsize
○ 30 decreased movement speed

Converted [DMR Conversion]
● 25% increased damage
● 40% decreased deviation
- Modifies preexisting variant stats
○ 25% decreased firerate
○ 10% increased heat generation
○ 100% increased recoil
○ Fire mode changed to semi-auto

These are essential attachments that are so strong that they can break some weapons with their positive effect.

Custom fitting
● Bonus based on weapon type (SMG, DMR/SR, MG, Special, Combined type).
Hyper Accelerator
● Penetration/penetration damage and bullet velocity for -5% damage.
Reload Vent
● Reload vents heat and returns ammo. 10% Less heat generated.
Backup Printer
● Shooting prints ammo depending on heat and magsize. Results in 20% less heat.

Outside of Tac Grip, these attachments are safe all-rounders.

Angled grip
● Smaller movement speed debuff while shooting and better accuracy.
H-P Laser
● Movement stability, deviation. Adds an aiming laser.
Tac Grip
● -20% Recoil and -5° deviation when standing still.
-5% Recoil.
Reducer
● Kills reduce item cooldowns by 1 sec.
-3° Deviation.
Digitalizer
● Different recoil mechanics.

These attachments are only useful for very extreme cases on either end of the magsize spectrum or specific builds revolving around ammo consumption chances. Can work as filler if there are no better options.

Caliber Reduction
● +15% Recoil control, +15% magazine size and -15% deviation for -10% damage.
Short Magazine Spring
● +30% Magazine size. Can’t reload until dry.
Ammo TP
● 15% to not spend ammo.
Ammo TP MkII
● 20% to not spend ammo.


Barebone Allocator
● Losing shields or getting hit grants ammo regen. Stacks.
Offload Cycler Ultra
● +40% Firerate.
Tri-Bolt-Carrier
● Tripple barrel for -20% damage and firerate, +30% deviation, +10% recoil and +10 base heat.

These attachments change how your weapon behaves, usually necessary only when fixing weirdly “balanced” weapons, burst variants or negative effects of some other attachments. Keep in mind, that burst fire mode is garbage and semi-auto can essentially be bumpfired with a mousewheel.

Titanium Rifling
● Bullet travel distance. No damage falloff or increased distance damage increase.
Dynamic Reflector
● +10 Armor penetration. Bullets bounce an additional wall.
Hair Trigger
● Semi->Auto, Burst/Auto->Semi +30% damage.

Simple damage upgrades with no drawbacks. Won’t do anything what an upgrade kit can’t fix.

Custom fitting
● Bonus based on weapon type (HG, SG, AR).
Lucky Dangle
● +0.25 luck per kill until +100 luck. 5% to deal 200% damage, can crit.
Titanium eternium rifiling
● +75% Crit damage for -5% crit chance..
Last Straw
● Last shot damage increase and special bullet effect chances. Scales with magazine size.
Impact CPU
● 50% more damage to turrets and props. Halve healing rate of enemies hit.
Silver Bullet Alloy
● 2% more damage to elites per 100 of your HP. Destroy 1 additional plating.
Twin Link I
● 12% to fire an extra projectile.

Usually will not do anything for your currently equipped weapon.

Unstable randomizer
● Stack a different variant and class bonuses on top of existing ones for 15% damage.
Cranial Targeting CPU
● +100% HS damage for -15% damage and 10 shield per shot.
Vital Data Collector
● +25 Max health per 4 kills until +400 max health.
Power Link 4x4 Pin
● Active reloads grant boosts.
Backup
● -?% Ejection and reload speed, +40% spare ammo and +20% ammo gain.
Hotswap
● Unlock all extra ammo.
Generate heat on demand.

In principle very similar to the next group of attachments, but with more practical benefits and less severe drawbacks.

Eraser Cell
● Kills spawn orbs that grant 2 ammo, 50 shield and 5 heat.
Multiplier
● +25% Firerate and -20% heat generation, 40% to get a double ammo pickup.
Auto/Semi -> 5-round Burst. n Burst -> n+3 Burst.

Worthless damage upgrades with very expensive drawbacks. Outside of Muzzle compensator on Apollon – are never worth it and will break most weapons.

Muzzle Compensator
● +15% Damage for +3° deviation and +10% recoil.
Directional Disperser
● -30% Recoil, +25 movement speed, +20% damage and firerate for +25-30° deviation.
Eternium Amalgam
● +25% Damage, +20% firerate, -10% recoil and -3° deviation, but can barely move holding it.
Super Heavy Compound
● +50% Damage for movement speed, 30% less range and increased damage falloff.
Wormhole Mag
● Headshots grant 1 bullet.
-20% Magazine size.

In tactical mode your starter items are replaced with 2 random items from a predefined selection, your player character gets a severe stat penalty particularly to healing, base shield capacity and movement speed, but all items spawn at 200% base power + bonus modifiers. You also get a starting money bonus to counterbalance the fact that now stronger items cost more money at the shops.

● Predefined list of possible items: Stun grenade, Flash grenade, Composite 4, Steel trap;
Stun grenade – great on RG, decent on Breacher, worse than Flash against bosses and fine against regular groups of enemies.
Flash grenade – the best stunning utility for bosses, but otherwise very annoying to use.
Composite 4 & Steel trap – mildly useful in very early game on excessively slow or fast classes respectively, but otherwise completely overshadowed by proper build setups.

● Tokened items: Rosarius, Lightning boots, Kunai throwing knifes;
The most important issue of early Tactical is inability to maintain prolonged engagements due to missing shields, slow movement speed and no immediate option for dealing fast and consistent burst damage, items presented in the header of this paragraph patch particular setbacks each with their respective abilities. The last chance token slot can be reserved for a generally good or a class specific item, like magic mag, or living bomb for breacher.

● Tokened weapons: LSMG;
Similar to the recommended items, LSMG is meant to rectify one of the innate drawbacks that are forced on you via said challenge mode.

Ultimately, Tactical mode, like Madness, is not that much different from a normal playthrough, however it is leaning towards HA somewhat, and while HA recommendations could work for Tactical, with proper setup that's intended to compensate for the drawbacks forced on you by the mode, excessive survivability strategy of HA would be unnecessary and the game can be played as usual.

As of this moment this is the hardest challenge mode of the game. You dish out more damage, but enemies deal even more damage to you, where in some cases you will not survive even a single hit making it almost unfair.

● Tokened items: Refractor crystal, Living bomb;
● Tokened weapons: AS-VAL, M79, Spectre, HIG-S, Scrap Cannon [Arena DLC];
● Recommended starting and shared modules: I-Frame, Charge, Switch position;
● Essential stats: Dodge, Movement speed, Max health (Assassin, Demolitionist);
Where toughing out hits is close to impossible, innate or acquired abilities that let you ignore or otherwise avoid suffering damage altogether - skyrocket in their relative usefulness.

VR stage requires of you to either have a great movement speed or to be extremely conscious about summoning units.
Military base, while obviously requiring of you to have a solid build may also warrant for an explosive offensive utility due to severe danger posed by the phaser enemies.

Guardian secondary modules: Scrap plating, Aegis, Wicked.
Riot Guard: Core stacks based default.
Breacher: Living bomb+Homing rocket RPG.

Rouge secondary modules: Evasive maneuvers, Shadow dance, Perfection+Die hard, Backstab.
Sniper: Default SR based.
Assassin: Whatever (if you can’t beat HA with Assassin, you won’t beat it with any other class).

Commando secondary modules: Routine, Drone mod, Drill.
Raider: HIG-S based default.
Heavy Gunner: CUK P90 fishing.

Specialist secondary modules: They all suck, lol, none are even worth being a starting module.
Engineer: Summons.
Demolitionist: Default.

Generally, to beat HA you need to understand and master the game, understanding and mastering the game mostly comes from playing HA and mastering HA will make the default mode seem like a joke. Outside of that the only major tip I could give is don’t attempt HA runs with a particular class as long as you haven’t passed all of the important leveling thresholds on it.

Most elements within this guide are grouped into categories that represent some idea or share a template model that’s identical or extremely similar between the individual elements (when an element matches criteria for several categories its final grouping is decided by the most dominant aspect). Shared aspect of each category is evaluated and assigned a rank according to this table:


And now for the ranking lists themselves, do note however that the rank of a group does not represent the average rank of individual elements.

I’ve used this fanmade strategy guide as a base reference-citation material for my work (since it is easier to copy text from a document rather than ripping it or god forbid manually transcribing the entire text straight from the game):
https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1883334369 I haven’t done any rigorous testing to determine whatever all values are up to date or not, however I’ve fact checked things that were readily available to me (variants, perks, classes).

Synthetik Gamepedia[synthetik.gamepedia.com] - secondary information source.

Method by which the assets were ripped:
https://test-steamproxy.haloskins.io/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2188157148
And that's the end of this guide. While it can look a bit too basic, maybe even primitive in regards to what it is supposed to do, the alternative of overcomplicating, overexplaining things is not just worse for the purpose of this guide (which is to provide the essential puzzle pieces from which everyone could easily assemble the entire picture themselves), but might not even be viable long term approach for maintaining relevancy, in my opinion. Plus, even if adding a separate section for Tricks and Advanced Synergies (that could contextualize, give insight on the framework of knowledge behind the decision making process) could be useful , it would be really hard to flesh it out completely, to make exhaustive.

I hope you can find this guide useful and won't feel shy expressing your thoughts in the comment section whenever you feel like some addition or correction suggestions would be appropriate.