In the exclusion zone, you’ll need a good weapon to keep you company if you want to survive and find Tatyana. Here’s our guide to the best weapons and upgrades for every situation.
Revolver
The Revolver is the first weapon you get in Chernobylite, and by far our favorite. The recoil, modest damage, and magazine size leave a lot to be desired, but its versatility, plentiful ammo, and ability to reliably kill NAR soldiers in 1 hit from medium distance makes it a reliable companion. For best results, carry two or three fully loaded revolvers to take advantage of their abundance and small size. With Olivier’s perks and these upgrades, you can be ready for any situation using only the cheapest ammo in the game.
For best results, try carrying one primary revolver with a big magazine, suppressor, heavy stock, and sniper scope as your main weapon for picking off guards in your path. For your backup, try carrying a second revolver with a belt magazine, softened trigger, compensator, reducer, and open red dot sight so that you can easily pick off several opponents in a hairy situation.
Revolver Magazine Upgrades:
- Big Cylinder: Our recommendation for revolver upgrades. Gives you 2 more shots before you need to reload, but more importantly, gives a boost to damage at mid and long range.
- Belt Magazine: The belt magazine is fun, giving you the largest possible number of rounds in the chamber. We recommend this upgrade on your backup revolver.
- Double Cylinder: The coolest looking, but worst revolver magazine. Gives you, essentially, an instant reload. For a cool looking build, run the double cylinder with the softened trigger, long barrel, heavy stock, and carabine. At that point, it’s basically an assault rifle replacement, which is helpful if you’ve taken the Pistol Damage perks from Olivier.
Revolver Barrel Upgrades:
- Rifled Barrel: +2 Range. Not as good as the long barrel or sniper barrel. Don’t build this.
- Long Barrel: +2 Range and +1 Damage. Strong overall.
- Suppressor: Damage -1 and Silenced. Our favorite, gives you a reliable weapon to use from stealth.
- Compensator: Recoil Reduction +1. Helps in sustained firefights, especially with Belt Magazine, Hardened Trigger, and Reducer.
- Sniper Barrel: +2 Range. Better precision at long range, perfect with Sniper Scope.
Revolver Sight Upgrades
- Carabine Sights: Simple metal sight, cheap to make and much better than not having a sight. Build this as early as possible.
- Closed Red Dot: Indicates your target with a red dot, gives a clear picture but obstructs your view.
- Open Red Dot: Like the closed red dot but without obstructing your view. Our favorite revolver sight.
- Sniper Scope: Gives your revolver a zooming sight for long distance fighting and scouting. Keep a revolver with one of these equipped and use it as a spyglass to survey situations before rushing in.
Shotgun
Based on the Russian Baikal MP-133, the shotguns in Chernobylite are classic video game shotguns that feel more or less the same as in Doom: perfect for making space or picking off isolated targets at close range. Against NAR Troops it can be tricky to find good spots for using shotguns, but against Shadows and Chernohosts you’ll be glad to have one. Against NAR Troops, we suggest equipping the chamber reinforcement, enhanced trigger system, Long Barrel, Reducer, and Thermal Vision Scope to turn the shotgun into a long gun that will easily clear out cramped hallways and tunnels. Against Shadows and Chernohosts, try using the Cassette Magazine, Automatic Trigger System, Widened Barrel, Reducer, and Open Red Dot Sight to quickly mow down a swarm.
Shotgun Magazine Upgrades
- Chamber Reinforcement: Damage +1 and Range +1. No-brainer upgrade to make.
- Extended Magazine: Magazine +1 Shell. Our least favorite shotgun upgrade, but maintains stability between shots better than the Cassette Magazine.
- Cassette Magazine: Recoil Reduction -1 & Magazine +2. Helps to reliably
Shotgun Trigger System Upgrades
- Enhanced Trigger System: +1 Range and +1 Stability. Versatile, easy to make, and our recommendation.
- Rough Trigger: +1 Stability and +1 Recoil Reduction. Good for a mid range weapon, like with the Extended Magazine and Long Barrel.
- Automatic Trigger System: Damage -1 and Recoil Reduction -1, makes the shotgun fully automatic. Great with the Cassette Magazine and recoil reduction to clear out large crowds.
Shotgun Barrel Upgrades
- Long Barrel: Damage +1 and Range +2. Like the enhanced trigger system, this is a great quality of life improvement, especially for dealing with NAR troops.
- Short Barrel: Damage +2 and Range -1. Probably suits someone, but we can’t recommend it.
- Widened Barrel: Damage +1 and Recoil Reduction +1. Clears out crowds, especially of Shadows.
Shotgun Stock Upgrades
- Reducer: Range +1 and Recoil Reduction +1. The perfect upgrade for any shotgun.
- Assault Stock: Stability +1. Close only counts with horseshoes and shotguns, so we’re not sure who needs increased stability on their shotgun, but this would help if that’s you.
Shotgun Scope Upgrades
- Open Red Dot Sight: Stability +1. Ideal for a room clearing build.
- Closed Red Dot Sight: Range +1. Ideal for a mid-range build.
- Thermal Vision Scope: Thermal Imaging. Situationally very useful, and our favorite shotgun attachment overall.
Assault Rifle
The Assault Rifle is versatile and highly customizable, but the best upgrades can be hard to craft in the early game. Invaluable for endgame content. We recommend trying Burst Trigger, Suppressor and Thermal Vision Scope for sneaking behind NAR lines; Sniper Trigger, Sniper Barrel, and Sniper Scope for a dedicated sniper rifle; or Drum Magazine, Military Trigger, Rifled Barrel and Closed Red Dot sight for mowing down Shadows.
Assault Rifle Magazine Upgrades
- Taped Magazine: Recoil Reduction -1, holds 2 clips of 20 rounds. Gives you a quick reload at the cost of stability.
- Extended Magazine: Holds 30 rounds. All upside, no downside. Easy to recommend.
- Drum Magazine: Stability -1 and Recoil Reduction -1, Holds 50 Rounds. For clearing rooms, especially of Shadows.
Assault Rifle Trigger Upgrades
- Military Trigger: Stability +1 and Recoil Reduction +1. Makes the AR better at what it does.
- Burst Trigger: Damage +1 and Recoil Reduction -1. Counter-intuitive stats make this feel like a waste of time compared to just using the military trigger and firing in busts.
- Sniper Trigger: Damage +2 and Stability +1. Changes the feel of the weapon. Our favorite attachment, especially for preserving ammo on harder difficulties.
Assault Rifle Barrel Upgrades
- Rifled Barrel: Damage +2. Straightforward upgrade, build it early and forget about it.
- Long Barrel: Damage +1 and Range +2. Great for long range engagements in the early days.
- Suppressor: Range -1 and Suppressed. Pairs well with the Burst Trigger, allowing you to quietly eliminate NAR troops on the edge of patrols.
- Sniper Barrel: Damage +2 and Range +2. Helps turn the Assault Rifle into a Sniper Rifle. You know you want to.
Assault Rifle Stock and Handle Upgrades
- Sharpshooter Stock: Stability +1 and Recoil Reduction +1. Good for most AR builds.
- Reducer: Range +1 and Recoil Reduction +1. Specifically good with Long Barrel or Sniper Barrel builds.
Assault Right Sights Upgrades
- Closed Red Dot Sight: Stability +1. Nice improvement for almost any build.
- Open Red Dot Sight: Just shows you what you’re pointing at.
- Sniper Scope: Range +1, zooming scope. Great with Long Barrel or Sniper Barrel Upgrades.
- Thermal Vision Scope: Thermal Imaging. Pairs well with Burst Trigger and Suppressor.
Molecular Plasma Thrower
In the very late game you can access the Molecular Plasma Thrower (MPT) that you’ll often see NAR troops using. Both the weapon and its ammo are expensive to craft, and its actual usage is clunky, so we can’t recommend it except as a novelty, though it does shine against Chernohosts in the very last missions of the campaign. The MPT has no upgrades.
