Iconic weapon upgrading question after 2.0

[glitchHiker]

This is now my second playthrough, my first was long before the 2.0 update. Are iconic weapons now stuck with the stats/level you unlocked them at? Like if I grabbed the Fenrir at level 10 and were to upgrade it to tier 5 right away, will it always be locked to whatever tier 5 damage is for a level 10 weapon? Will a level 50 tier 1 stock pos eventually outclass it or is there some way to upgrade or recraft it at a later character level? Should I just wait to unlock certain iconic weapons or is there a way to upgrade them to level 50 damage later on? Thanks.

[Geargrinder]

afaik you can't upgrade to tier 5 right away, it's level locked. So it wouldn't matter when you grab a weapon.

Then again, I don't know for certain since I haven't started a new game from lvl 1 after 2.0.

[Graf Erik]

There are no weapon levels anymore, there are just tires. 1 to 5++. With in between level, so 1, 1+, 2, 2+...5, 5+, 5++

You can upgrade all iconics to 5++, you cant upgrade none-iconics.

A fully upgraded 5++ iconic will always be very, very good. On par with all regular 5++ weapons (meaning the best there are in game).
Iconics arent necessarily outright 'better' than normal variants, they are more 'different', have some special effects/abilities. By the brute numbers normal weapons are often even better than iconics (higher dps), but iconics will be better when you adapt your playstyle to their special abilities.

Waiting to pick up waepons early will at best save you a few low level upgrade materials.