How to Upgrade Guns in Atomfall

There are no traditional progression systems in Atomfall. Instead of gaining experience or unlocking new abilities, the entirety of your growing power is based on acquiring new skills via manuals, and activating them by spending Skill Stimulants. Skills are handy upgrades to the various actions you can perform in Atomfall. However, very few of them will significantly improve your combat prowess. If you want to be a bigger threat in an encounter- and maybe save on ammunition- you’ll have to upgrade your guns. Doing so isn’t immediately possible; there’s a few prerequisites you’ll need to meet before you can start tinkering. Here’s how to upgrade guns in Atomfall.

How to Upgrade Guns in Atomfall

Upgrading your guns is an effective way to increase the overall damage you can dish out to enemies. It’s also pretty easy to do once you’ve figured out how. Because of this, Atomfall locks the ability to upgrade guns behind the “Gunsmith” skill. “Gunsmith” is part of the Crafting skill tree, under the Survival category. If it’s not in your skill menu, then you need to find the Crafting Skill Manual to reveal it. There are two guaranteed ways of getting a Crafting Skill Manual, both of which are described in a separate guide you can read by clicking here. Once you’ve acquired the skills, you’ll need seven Skill Stimulants to unlock “Gunsmith.” Once you do, you’ll also unlock new crafting recipes for any gun you’ve collected!

Guns in Atomfall are stronger the higher quality they are. These qualities are: Rusty, Stock, and Pristine, with Pristine being the best quality a gun can be. Two of the same gun, with the same quality, can be combined to make the same gun of a higher quality. In other words, two Rusty guns will make a Stock gun, and two Stock guns make a Pristine gun. The best way to upgrade a gun is to find enemies using it, dispatch them, and then loot their bodies for another copy of it.

Most of the enemies in the zone drop Rusty weapons, though some will occasionally carry a Stock version. Large guns, like submachine guns and rifles, take up one of your four heavy weapon slots. Collecting enough of them to upgrade will take longer depending on what your inventory looks like. Small guns, like pistols and revolvers, are a lot easier to upgrade because they take up less space in your inventory. However, enemies in the zone don’t use them as often. Keep this in mind when planning your upgrades!

In addition to multiple versions of the same gun, upgrades will require varying (and increasing) amounts of Scrap and Gun Oil. Scrap is a fairly common material, and can be found in almost every area in the zone. Gun Oil, however, is a bit rarer. You’ll generally only find this in bunkers manned by Protocol soldiers, or in abandoned military installations. In other words, check out the areas in Skethermoor to find lots of Gun Oil for upgrades!

If you don’t see a crafting recipe for the kind of gun you’re trying to make, it might be because you haven’t found or made the lower quality version of it yet. There aren’t many, but some guns in Atomfall are modified from their normal counterparts, and can’t be upgraded. Upgrading your guns in Atomfall makes a huge impact on ammo conservation. Make sure to save up Skill Stimulants for the “Gunsmith” skill! In the meantime, go digging for buried treasure in the zone for Gun Oil and Scraps, or maybe use what you find to trade for the guns you need for upgrades!

Atomfall will release for PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC on March 27, 2025. It is immediately available in Early Access for PC.