Last of Us 2: Best Weapon Upgrades to Get First

The Last of Us 2 continues the story of main protagonists Joel and Ellie as we continue their story from where we last left them at the end of the first game. As you might expect, there are tons of human and infected enemies to fight in the sequel, and you’ll need the right weapons to deal with them. Here are the best weapon upgrades you should get first in The Last of Us 2.

Best Weapon Upgrades to Get First in The Last of Us 2

The best weapons upgrades are completely subjective, and depending on what your play style is like, you may prioritize certain upgrades over others. We’ll try to focus on both stealth and combat-heavy upgrades in this guide, and recommend the best weapons you should prioritize in different situations.

Bow

• Draw speed
• Stability
• Range finder

The bow was the ultimate stealth weapon in the first game, and that continues to be the case in The Last of Us 2 as well. It’ll kill regular enemies with just one body shot, but there’s one caveat: you need to have the arrow drawn all the way for it to be an instant kill.

Because of this, you should definitely prioritize upgrading the bow’s draw speed as soon as you can. After that, you’ll want to focus on the range finder upgrade to increase its range. Stability is the least important upgrade here as you’ll most likely be still or crouching most of the time when using the bow, so try to grab the other two upgrades first.

Pump Shotgun

• Fire rate
• Stability
• Capacity

The shotgun is a staple when it comes to infected encounters, and the best weapon upgrades for it are capacity and fire rate. With increased capacity, you can fire off more shots to deal with hordes, and with increased fire rate, you can shoot more frequently.

Double Barrel Shotgun

• Stability
• Reload Speed
• Damage

Unlike the pump shotgun, you can’t upgrade the capacity on this one. However, the double barrel shotgun is more powerful and you can easily make up for that shortcoming by upgrading both reload speed and damage.

Hunting Pistol

• Stability
• 4x scope
• Damage

The hunting pistol is a fantastic long range weapon that will instantly kill most enemies with just one body shot. If you want to make it even more ridiculously powerful, go for the damage upgrade first, then go for the scope for better accuracy and range.

These are our picks for the best weapons you should upgrade first in The Last of Us 2, but we also wanted to give a special shout out to the classic revolver, which is probably the best handgun in the game (barring the hunting pistol). Increasing the reload speed and damage on that thing will make it a reliable enemy killer in most situations, and it’s definitely worth upgrading once you’ve sorted the rest of your weapons.

Be sure to check our guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.