Stellar Blade will 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 from Final Fantasy 13, which folded into a gun. Her primary weapon aside, Eve eventually gets a gun upgrade for her drone in Stellar Blade too. This also unlocks a new skill tree that fans can use to mod this drone into a more battle-friendly model. Here are the drone upgrades in Stellar Blade players should focus on first.

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8 Charge Blaster Rail

Fire A Concentrated Beam

The Charge Blaster Rail will add an attachment to the drone which fires concentrated blasts of non-elemental energy. Players can think of it as Stellar Blade’s version of Mega 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.

7 Stinger Missile Pod

Lock-On Missiles For Perfect Accuracy

The Stinger Missile Pod upgrade 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.

6 Enhanced 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 Slugs will increase the attack power of these bullets by 20%.

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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 in a shooter like Call of Duty. Players should use the slug-based rounds on smaller enemies or enemies they can’t reach with their sword.

5 Slug Magazine Expansion 1

Get More Basic Bullets

Slug Magazine Expansion 1 will 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 in Stellar Blade and 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.

4 Shotgun Shell Magazine

Control Your Zone With A Blast

The Shotgun Shell Magazine upgrade 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.

3 Explosive Shell Magazine

Turn Those Bullets Into Rockets

The Explosive Shell Magazine is 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.

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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 or bosses that are extremely hard to damage in Stellar Blade.

2 Hacking Tool

Get Into Chests Easy

The Hacking Tool upgrade 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 in Stellar Blade will have good loot, like upgrades for Eve’s various pieces of gear.

1 Scanner Upgrade

Explore The World With New Eyes

It feels like forever since a big game like Stellar Blade had a scanning option akin to the Detective Mode in the Batman Arkham series. 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.

Stellar Blade

Platform(s)

PS5

Released

April 26, 2024

Developer(s)

Shift Up

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment