Gun questions

[Midas]

I have a few questions about equipment, partly because it's changed a lot since launch, and partly because most of my playthroughs have revolved around stealth, melee, or hacking, so I never played with the guns a lot. It's hard to find answers online for some things, because the mechanics have changed and I don't know which answers are still relevant.

Upgrades:
How does upgrading weapons work? Some sources online said it just ups the weapon level until it reaches V's, but I don't see any level on my weapons anymore, and the weapons I've upgraded look like they went up in rarity. As far as I can tell, all weapons are the same level now, so is it just upgrading rarity? In that case, why can't I upgrade some weapons if they are lower tier (green, for example), and I definitely have the mats to upgrade them? They don't even show up in my upgrade menu.

Weapon types:
Power, Tech, Smart. Smart and Tech are obvious, but is Power just bad? The Ricochet seems very hard to make use of and that seems to be the only benefit to Power weapons. Am I missing something? Is it build-relevant? Are there other perks to Power weapons?

Assault Rifle / SMG woes:
I'm playing a Reflex build, built into mainly blades, but also a bit into the assault rifle/smg stuff, yet these weapons just seem... bad. They don't seem to do a lot of damage, the recoil isn't very reasonable (especially SMGs) and I find myself constantly either falling back to precision single-shot weapons, or just pulling out my blade and killing the enemies with their own bullets. I'm right now using a Copperhead as one of my weapons, but I feel like I'm just carrying it because it's tied to my build, not because it's actually doing me much good.

Pistols:
Why use a pistol? Other than when carrying a body or driving, it seems like basically any other weapon would be preferable?

Bonus question: What's the deal with precision rifles? One I found was like a shotgun, charged up and fired a perfect ring of 5 shots at once, another I got was the special one from Nash, which just seems to spray a burst of bullets with poor accuracy, and one I'm looking at right now, an SOR-22, is basically a semi-auto battle rifle. Why are these three completely different weapons all 'precision rifles'. What build is supposed to use them?

[NorthernDavid]

Upgrades: This one you have out of date info. As of version 2.0 you can only upgrade iconic weapons. You upgrade those by tier, so tier 1 to tier 1+ to tier 2, same as cyberware after 2.0. Weapons of the same type in the same tier will do the same damage (adjusted for weapon mods.) Again only the iconic weapons can be upgraded, everything else you just gotta find at a better tier.

Weapon types: Big thing with ricochet is that with the right builds and weapon mods it can give good damage, and bounce nicely, you get a hud indicator as well, is it worth it, that is up to you. Smart and Tech also require spending points in either int (for smart weapon perks) or tech (For tech weapon perks) rather than just agility body or cool.

As for the weapon types I dunno, I find silenced pistols can be great for stealth, they do a lot of damage per shot compared to some of the others even if they fire slower, not as much as snipers but are easier to aim up close. ARs and SMGs do have recoil limiting weapon mods (the kind you plug into the weapon) available if that's your thing, the smart versions recoil isn't as much of a thing on those with the tracking bullets. Another factor is what attributes you want to emphasise on your character as pistols use cool now (I think) smgs and ars use reflex and shottys use body.

[Midas]

Ah, seems I need to find an iconic assault rifle, then. I have an iconic SMG (Fenrir) but I don't like it very much.

[[=]Josiah]

Highly recommend watching Sam Bram's videos on YouTube. He covers every weapon type in an entertaining but informative way.

The short answers:
1) Only Iconic weapons can be upgaded.
2) Some Iconic weapons are acquired only as blueprints and you have to craft them yourself. Suspected Organized Crime Activity gigs are a good source for some of the best.
3) Fenrir is the second fastest SMG (the top one being Problem Solver) with a very large magazine and also uploads Cyberware Malfunction so is very useful on boss fights.
3) I don't use power weapons for richochet, I use them as the highest per-round ranged weapon. Neither tech nor smart pistols can match a Nue in one-shot-headshot damage. They're also the only weapon type that can take silencers.
4) Assault rifles really got the short shrift (I blame Halo) but there are iconics that feel -and can be upgraded to be- very powerful (Hawk, Kyubi xMod2, Psalm 11:6). Unless you need the range or precision, though, SMGs and pistols are superior weapons in this game (SMGs have higher rpm and pistols do higher single-shot damage).
5) My go-to stealth loadout is:
Slot 1: Stealth Pistol (silenced Nue/iconic Nue, usually, until I get Pride)
Slot 2: Silenced fast SMG or AR in case I fail stealth. I prefer AR as they use a different ammo pool (my go-tos: Ajax or Psalm 11:6)
Slot 3: high damage stealth weapon (either a Punk Knife/Claw or a silenced Kyubi)
6) Pistols are incredibly powerful. They are better than sniper rifles, in this game, as you can mod certain weapons to give near sniper-rifle range with zero damage reduction over distance and they fire faster than snipers so any follow-up shots can be done before the enemy has a chance to alert their allies. Aside from limited scope choices, power pistols are probably the single best gun in the game (Pride is just nuts!).
7) I don't get precision rifles, either, except for variety (same goes for LMGs).

[Midas]

Originally posted by =Josiah:

Highly recommend watching Sam Bram's videos on YouTube. He covers every weapon type in an entertaining but informative way.

The short answers:
1) Only Iconic weapons can be upgaded.
2) Some Iconic weapons are acquired only as blueprints and you have to craft them yourself. Suspected Organized Crime Activity gigs are a good source for some of the best.
3) Fenrir is the second fastest SMG (the top one being Problem Solver) with a very large magazine and also uploads Cyberware Malfunction so is very useful on boss fights.
3) I don't use power weapons for richochet, I use them as the highest per-round ranged weapon. Neither tech nor smart pistols can match a Nue in one-shot-headshot damage. They're also the only weapon type that can take silencers.
4) Assault rifles really got the short shrift (I blame Halo) but there are iconics that feel -and can be upgraded to be- very powerful (Hawk, Kyubi xMod2, Psalm 11:6). Unless you need the range or precision, though, SMGs and pistols are superior weapons in this game (SMGs have higher rpm and pistols do higher single-shot damage).
5) My go-to stealth loadout is:
Slot 1: Stealth Pistol (silenced Nue/iconic Nue, usually, until I get Pride)
Slot 2: Silenced fast SMG or AR in case I fail stealth. I prefer AR as they use a different ammo pool (my go-tos: Ajax or Psalm 11:6)
Slot 3: high damage stealth weapon (either a Punk Knife/Claw or a silenced Kyubi)
6) Pistols are incredibly powerful. They are better than sniper rifles, in this game, as you can mod certain weapons to give near sniper-rifle range with zero damage reduction over distance and they fire faster than snipers so any follow-up shots can be done before the enemy has a chance to alert their allies. Aside from limited scope choices, power pistols are probably the single best gun in the game (Pride is just nuts!).
7) I don't get precision rifles, either, except for variety (same goes for LMGs).

I'm not really playing stealth in this current build, and my character's blades are generally already enough to cover combat within a 30m range or so. How are pistols better than sniper rifles if they can't have full scopes and do less headshot damage? Even without building for it, just picking up something like the Nekomata I mentioned either one-shots to the head, or almost one-shots. The pistols I've tried in similar situations, even with a stealth headshot with a silencer, barely do half a target's health.

I wasn't aware of the upgrade limitations last time I had a Nue, so I don't have a good high-tier one anymore to test with. Most of the iconic pistols so far seem... mediocre (Kongou, Death & Taxes, X-MOD2, Dying Night) I don't think any of those are a Nue, though? The highest damage iconic pistol I have is the Death & Taxes, but its burst fire is awful to work with.

[Liquid Inc]

Originally posted by Midas:

I'm not really playing stealth in this current build, and my character's blades are generally already enough to cover combat within a 30m range or so. How are pistols better than sniper rifles if they can't have full scopes and do less headshot damage? Even without building for it, just picking up something like the Nekomata I mentioned either one-shots to the head, or almost one-shots. The pistols I've tried in similar situations, even with a stealth headshot with a silencer, barely do half a target's health.

I wasn't aware of the upgrade limitations last time I had a Nue, so I don't have a good high-tier one anymore to test with. Most of the iconic pistols so far seem... mediocre (Kongou, Death & Taxes, X-MOD2, Dying Night) I don't think any of those are a Nue, though? The highest damage iconic pistol I have is the Death & Taxes, but its burst fire is awful to work with.

Only Sniper i carry is Breakthrough.
That sniper let me kill some glitched out 6th street gang members at one of the NCPD points. They'd glitched inside a building, so the only way to kill them was getting something that could penetrate cover. Breakthrough's one of the few that can do that.

Kongou and Dying Night are both decent enough pistols at the start, as well as the X-mod one. Infact, all three im still carrying in my invent at level 60. Kongou is capable of single shot headshots on enemies, but given how early you can get it, there's always going to be better eventually.

I'll put a worthy mention in for Comrade's Hammer. Single shot, Explosive pistol. IMHO, it's great for car chases!
If they don't spin out, they blow up