The 146 upgrades, sorted by what matters
Every upgrade in the upgrade database carries three fields: type, rarity, and scaling. Rarity is the drop tier — a rough power band, not a verdict. The two fields that actually decide a pick are type (what it does) and scaling (how it grows).
The full set breaks down like this:
| Type | Count | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Damage | 33 | Flat and scaling damage boosts |
| Health | 24 | Max HP, healing, survivability |
| Elemental | 24 | Arcane, fire and on-hit procs |
| Skill | 18 | Ability, ammo and utility perks |
| Luck | 15 | Chance-based procs and crit-style rolls |
| Economy | 11 | Crystals, gold and drops |
| Speed | 9 | Movement, dash and airborne bonuses |
| Critical | 6 | Crit chance and crit damage |
| Greed | 5 | Greed-mode-specific perks |
| Weapon Mod | 1 | Direct weapon modification |
| Rarity | Count |
|---|---|
| Common | 56 |
| Epic | 46 |
| Rare | 21 |
| Legendary | 18 |
| Greed | 5 |
The anti-intuitive part: Common is not weak
56 of the 146 upgrades are Common, and the instinct is to skip them for the shiny Epic. Don’t. Common includes Autoloader (chance to auto-reload) and Anti Crit (20% damage up at the cost of crit chance) — perks that feed a basic loop better than a Legendary tuned for a build you are not running. The database’s scaling note is the honest tell: read it before you pick.
Top picks by type
- Damage — Aura Shot (+100 damage per second per level, linear) and Assassin (+1% damage per 10 one-shot kills, linear) compound if you are already killing fast. Eagle Eye, High Caliber and Full Metal Jacket are flat single-shot multipliers best on the Sniper or Marksman.
- Elemental — Arcane Blast fires AOE blasts alongside your shots; on a high fire-rate gun this chains constantly. This is the highest-ceiling type for the Orb Launcher and Arcane Wand.
- Luck — Arc Shot adds an arc of extra projectiles; Autoloader removes reload downtime. Both multiply a gun you are already holding down.
- Speed — Aerial Shot grants +50% damage per level while airborne, which stacks with the Orb Launcher’s slide-and-shoot loop. Powerslide and Speed Demon keep you moving.
- Critical — Sharpshooter and Critical Thinking double-dip on two-clawed guns (Laser Cannons, Dual Pistols) because both claws crit.
- Health — Amber Resin (+40% healing), Banana (+20% max HP) and Big Hearts are the survivability floor; take them when a run is slipping, not when it is safe.
- Skill — All You Can Eat (no ammo used for 2s after a kill) turns the Auto Rifle and Minigun into sustained DPS with zero downtime.
How to read scaling
Most scaling entries are Linear (a fixed percent multiplier per level) — predictable and safe. Some are Hyperbolic (big early, diminishing later) — strong in short runs, weaker the deeper you go. An upgrade that scales on every hit (Elemental, Luck procs) out-values a bigger one-shot bonus on a slow gun, because a 15/s Orb Launcher triggers it 15 times a second.
Related guides
- Upgrade Database — all 146 with rarity, type and scaling.
- Upgrade Types Guide — what each type does and how to tell them apart.
- Weapon Builds — which upgrade types fit each gun.
- Build Guide — combine a weapon, its mods and upgrades into one trigger.