How To Upgrade Weapons In Atomfall

Ranged weapons in Atomfall aren't nearly as strong as other weapons you can find scattered across the Quarantine Zone. While guns can pack a punch, you often need to hit a headshot with them to deal serious damage.

Of course, this can be difficult with how inaccurate the guns can be with all the idle sway and recoil each one possesses. You can strengthen your ranged weapons overall with a few key skills in Atomfall, but there's also a somewhat hidden ability that allows you to upgrade Atomfall weapons.

How to upgrade weapons in Atomfall

The weapon upgrade system isn't usable right from the start of the game. In fact, it will likely take you at least several hours to access it.

You can only start upgrading weapons once you unlock a specific Survival skill in Atomfall. That skill is called "Gunsmith," and it's at the top of the middle column in the Survival skill tree, which you can see by going to your inventory and then tabbing over to the "Skills" menu. There's a good chance that column in the Survival tree will be greyed out for you, however.

This is because you need to find a specific Training Manual to learn the three skills in the middle column. Training Manuals can be given to you by NPCs for completing a quest, or they can be looted out in the world of Atomfall. The specific Survival Training Manual you're looking for to unlock the Gunsmith skill can be acquired in a couple of different ways. It's called the "Master Crafting Manual."

Ways to get the Master Crafting Manual

Murder in the Church

The easiest way to unlock the Master Crafting Manual is by earning a reward from the Murder in the Church investigation in Atomfall. This investigation takes place in Wyndham Village, which can be visited by going to the northern part of Slatten Dale.

The manual is given to you by Morris Wick if you accept a bribe from him near the end of the quest. We won't go into too much more detail, as it would spoil the quest. But if you accept Morris' bribe and don't side with the Vicar or Protocol, he'll give you the Master Crafting Manual, which you can learn to unlock the Gunsmith skill.

Interchange Data Store D

The second way to get the Master Crafting Manual is all the way in the Interchange. There are several ways to access the Interchange, as it's at the center of Atomfall's plot. Any way you get in the Interchange, you need to find Data Store D. This is located on the northwest side of the Interchange and it sits opposite from Data Store C near the entrances to Wyndham Village and Casterfell Woods.

The easiest way to access Data Store D is by using the Wyndham Village entrance to the Interchange. The Interchange entrance in the village is located at the electrical substation near St. Katherine's Church on the eastern side. The substation is guarded by Protocol soldiers, but you can kill or dodge them and use the substation entrance to access the Interchange.

However, you can also reach Data Store D from the Central Processing Unit room in the Interchange. Any way you get there, once you're inside the bottom of the building, you need to insert an Atomic Battery inside the processing unit on the second floor. Once that's inserted, the room powers on. You can now head to the bottom floor, where the servers have been flooded, and there's an electrical current running through the water.

From the floor above the flooded area, hop on the server racks above the water to reach a junction box on the opposite wall. Here, use your Signal Redirector to turn off the junction box, which disables the electricity and opens a door on the left side of the flooded area. Open this door and loot the Master Crafting Manual that's sitting on top of a table.

Those are the two ways we know of to acquire the Master Crafting Manual. However, there could be more methods that have yet to be discovered in Atomfall.

Once you learn the Master Crafting Manual, you have to go into your Skills menu and learn the Gunsmith skill. This costs seven Training Stimulants, so it's not cheap. However, the cost is well worth the reward, as upgrading your weapons is a lifesaver in many combat encounters near the end of the game.

Using the weapon upgrade system in Atomfall

After learning the Gunsmith skill, you can now access the upgrade system from the menu in Atomfall.

At this menu, you're able to see all of the ranged weapons in the game. Of course, you want to focus on the weapons that you currently have equipped, as those are the ones you'll immediately benefit from upgrading.

When you click on a weapon's icon on the lefthand side of the upgrade menu, you'll see what resources it costs to upgrade the weapon. Usually, you need Gun Oil, Scrap, and one or two of the weapons themselves. For example, in the screenshot below, we need two of the Leamington 12-Gauge Shotguns (Rusty) to create a new Leamington 12 Gauge Shotgun (Stock). As you upgrade more, you need more and more of the weapon to create a new one.

Upgrading weapons basically means you're improving their condition in Atomfall. If you start with a Rusty gun, upgrading it once improves it to "Stock," which allows it to function better. You can continue upgrading a weapon until you reach the maximum condition for it, which is "Pristine." Upgrading also requires more resources each time, so you want to ensure you're always looking for Gun Oil and Scrap whenever you find them in Atomfall.

While the weapon upgrade system won't make your weapons overpowered against enemies, it does make them easier to use, and that's good enough in an unforgiving game like Atomfall.