Best Weapons to Upgrade: What to Upgrade First

Knowing the best weapons to upgrade in the Resident Evil 4 Remake (RE4) will let you maximize your damage output and spend your Pesetas efficiently. Check out our picks for the best guns to tune up and which stats to upgrade first!

Best Weapons to Upgrade

Top Early Weapon Upgrades
Max Out the Combat Knife's Durability Buy and Upgrade the SR M1903 Save Handgun Upgrades for the Red9

Max Out the Combat Knife's Durability

One of the best early investments you can make is maxing out your Combat Knife's durability. Slowing down how fast Leon's knife deteriorates increases the number of times you can parry and execute foes, saving you from repairing it too often.

Combat Knife Location, Stats, and Upgrades

Buy and Upgrade the SR M1903

The SR M1903 is a solid long-range rifle with massive weak point damage, making it an excellent weapon to buy and upgrade early in the game. In particular, we recommend upgrading its Power and Reload Speed to boost its damage output and improve its slow reload time.

In addition, we highly suggest buying it in Chapter 2 when it first appears at the Merchant's shop, as his limited-time deal gives you a free Scope attachment, improving your accuracy with the gun.

SR M1903 Location, Stats, and Upgrades

Save Handgun Upgrades for the Red9

We recommend sticking with the base SG-09 R until you can get the Red9. The Red9 is a large step-up in terms of damage, and you can pick it up for free during Chapter 4, making it worthwhile to save your Pesetas for upgrading this powerful Handgun.

Red9 Location, Stats, and Upgrades

What to Upgrade First

Prioritize Power Upgrades for Guns

When upgrading your weapons, we recommend maxing out Power first, as improving a gun's damage output means you waste fewer bullets and spend less time reloading during combat.

Tune Up Reload Speed First for Low Capacity Weapons

However, when enhancing guns with a low Ammo Capacity, we suggest leveling up its Reload Speed stat once before upgrading its Power. Placing one point into a low-capacity weapon's Reload Speed improves its usability in the heat of battle and is always a worthwhile investment.

Enhance Knife Durability Before Power

Since you will primarily use knives for parrying, stealth kills, and finishing off foes instead of direct attacks, it's best to upgrade their Durability first before Power. Having high knife durability also means that you repair them less often, saving Pesetas in the long run.

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