Summary
Stellar Bladewill give the heroine, Eve, one weapon primarily for the entire game. Her sword is called Blood Edge and it is a rather cool design for a blade, as it collapses after battle and she sticks it in her hair like a ribbon.
It’s kind of like Lightning’s sword fromFinal Fantasy 13,which folded into a gun. Her primary weapon aside, Eve eventually gets agun upgrade for her drone inStellar Bladetoo. This also unlocks a new skill tree that fans can use to mod this drone into a more battle-friendly model. Here arethe drone upgrades inStellar Bladeplayers should focus on first.
8Charge Blaster Rail
Fire A Concentrated Beam
TheCharge Blaster Railwill add an attachment to the drone which fires concentrated blasts of non-elemental energy. Players can think of it asStellar Blade’sversion ofMega Man’s classic Buster Shot. Instead of firing a big burst of energy, Eve’s blast will be in the form of a beam that will continually damage enemies until it dissipates.
Below Charge Blaster Rail on the grid are Overcharge 1 and Overcharge 2. These will allow players to charge the beam up longer for stronger attacks, although this will put Eve at a disadvantage by standing still for that long.
7Stinger Missile Pod
Lock-On Missiles For Perfect Accuracy
TheStinger Missile Podupgrade will add a missile attachment to the drone. Once activated, players can hold down the aim button and the drone will lock onto enemies before firing missiles. It’s kind of like turning the drone into a mini mech, as many mech-based games have lock-on missiles that function like this, from Armored Core to Zone of the Enders.
There are Guidance System Upgrades below this on the skill tree that will add more ammo and more lock-on targets. It’s useful in situations where Eve has to target enemies from afar.
6Enhanced Slugs
Power Your Basic Bullets
Slugs are the name given to the drone’s basic bullets, which is odd since slugs, in normal gun terms, typically refer to shotgun shells. Semantics aside,Enhanced Slugswill increase the attack power of these bullets by 20%.
It may not sound like a lot, but everything will help in the heat of battle. The drone fires about as quickly as a semi-automatic rifle ina shooter likeCall of Duty. Players should use the slug-based rounds on smaller enemies or enemies they can’t reach with their sword.
5Slug Magazine Expansion 1
Get More Basic Bullets
Slug Magazine Expansion 1will increase the number of slug rounds from 30 to 40. There is another expansion after that, which will maximize the slug rounds at 50.
However, this is not the only way Eve can increase the maximum ammunition she carries with her.
Exospines work as basic armor inStellar Bladeand initially, players can equip one to Eve, but eventually, Lily will unlock a second slot in the story. One of the best ones is called Eagle Eye-Type Exospine, and it will raise the amount of ammo for all drone weapons.
4Shotgun Shell Magazine
Control Your Zone With A Blast
TheShotgun Shell Magazineupgrade will unlock a shotgun attachment for the drone, which is great for controlling a war zone. If enemies get too close and are about to flood Eve, players can disperse shotgun shells to back them up.
The upgrade has a decent range, but the effectiveness is much better up close and personal. It’s the same way that shotguns operate in other games as they are meant to deal damage in a wide area of effect. Unfortunately, Eve can’t score any cool and bloody headshots with these bullets.
3Explosive Shell Magazine
Turn Those Bullets Into Rockets
TheExplosive Shell Magazineis the upgrade that will follow the shotgun attachment and this will turn bullets into rockets. These rounds are the strongest in the game, and they work well both from a distance and up close. It’s probably better that players use these shells from a distance as the blowback can be distracting.
The amount of missiles players will get is rather limited, so they have to make wise decisions in-between refills. These rocket-like rounds should be saved for enemies that have strong shields orbosses that are extremely hard to damage inStellar Blade.
2Hacking Tool
Get Into Chests Easy
TheHacking Toolupgrade will allow players to bypass certain chests in the game. Most chests are locked with passwords that players have to find notes for on corpses, but some other chests play out like mini-games and the Hacking Tool brings up these prompts.
The Hacking Tool applies to chests wherein players have to input directional buttons on the PS5 controller to access the items inside. Typically, these chests inStellar Bladewill have good loot, likeupgrades for Eve’s various pieces of gear.
1Scanner Upgrade
Explore The World With New Eyes
It feels like forever since a big game likeStellar Bladehad a scanning option akin to the Detective Mode in theBatman Arkhamseries. Players can use the drone to highlight enemies, corpses, or items nearby. Things will stay highlighted for a limited time and players cannot scan again until the drone goes through a cooldown period.
The Scanner Upgrade ability will decrease the time between cooldowns, and it will increase the range and length of scanned items. This is great while exploring some of the more open areas like the Wasteland or Great Desert zones.
