A welcome aspect of The Last of Us 2 is its deep character and weapon upgrade system that allows for dynamic changes to the characters’ skillsets and arsenal abilities. Each gun that you get in the game, except for a few exceptions, has at least three or four modifications you can add to improve the weapon.

Not all modifications are created equal, though, and some can be saved to buy in newgame+. Since Parts can be scarce depending on the level of difficulty you’re playing on, here are some gun modifications that players can wait to buy while they invest in more important upgrades.

10 Semi-Auto Pistol Recoil

Ellie’s semi-auto pistol will be your bread and butter since it’s the gun you’ll likely find the most ammo for. A good tip is to invest early in this weapon with upgrades. While recoil can be a pain on your rifles or shotguns, with this pistol it’s not really that much of an issue.

Fire rate and capacity are far more important upgrades to invest in. For the semi-auto pistol, the recoil mod isn’t an upgrade you should worry about until you have excess parts.

9 Bolt Action Rifle Capacity

The bolt action rifle is a great weapon for long-range combat. With its high damage and the ability to add a scope as a modification, the rifle can be one of the deadliest weapons in the game.

This gun is loud, though, and the way enemies converge on you so quickly in this game means that you won’t have many opportunities for sustained fire with this weapon. Avoid the magazine capacity mod and instead, get the scope and damage upgrades.

8 Semi-Auto Rifle Scope

Until late in the game with one fully automatic weapon, this semi-auto rifle provides the best option for sustained fire for players looking for quicker gunplay that you find in other shooter games.

The Burst Fire modification is a must with this gun and should be combined with the magazine capacity upgrade to maximize this weapon’s potential. This gun works best as a mid-range weapon since you’ll be using burst fire often, and so a scope isn’t a necessary upgrade.

7  Double Barrel Shotgun Stability

There are several great weapons in The Last of Us 2 that allow players to feel an awesome sense of being an absolute warrior. The Double Barrel Shotgun that you get access to with Abby is one of those weapons.

This gun packs an incredible punch and can down most non-special enemies with one blast. Because shotguns are such close-range weapons, in particular this shotgun, the modification that reduces sway isn’t needed. Enemies should be pretty close to you when using this gun, so missing from a slight sway shouldn’t be a problem.

6 Bow Draw Speed

The bow is a great weapon for two reasons, allowing players to recollect used ammo most of the time and letting players take out enemies without breaking stealth.

The bow is a weapon that you’ll use when you have plenty of time to survey enemy locations, select optimal targets, and line up shots. Because you’ll mainly be using this weapon during scenarios where being fast isn’t critical, draw speed on the bow is a modification you can avoid in favor of the Rangefinder upgrade.

5 Crossbow Reload Speed

This is another weapon that you get access to during the Abby segments of the game. Just like the Double Barrel Shotgun, it’s a fun weapon that provides a change of pace from the arsenal players have with Ellie.

Similar to the bow in how this weapon is ideally used in scenarios where players can take their time selecting the best target for a stealth arrow kill, the reload speed modification isn’t a vital upgrade. With the crossbow, the scope mod is a much better usage of Parts.

4 Pump Shotgun Stability

The Pump Shotgun is a weapon you find early in the game with Ellie, allowing her to deal immense damage to enemies unfortunate enough to cross her path. Similar to Abby’s shotgun, this is a slow-firing weapon that takes a while to reload, and so the Fire Rate and Capacity modifications are important.

The Stability upgrade, on the other hand, is not that vital of modification and can be left to purchase when players have Parts burning a hole in their pockets.

3 Revolver Reload Speed

This is a great secondary handgun that Ellie can use in combination with her semi-auto pistol. With its Damage boost modification, this gun can pack a punch and should be rotated often into players’ primary weapons set.

With its high damage, the gun’s fire rate is slow and so players are recommended to invest in the Fire Rate upgrade. In situations where you need to reload in order to kill an enemy coming at you, it’s better to just switch to another available weapon. And so, the Reload Speed mod can be avoided.

2 Military Pistol Recoil

Similar to Ellie’s semi-auto pistol, the military pistol is a gun that players will find plenty of ammo for and thus will likely be used more often than other guns. Because of that, it’s a smart move for players to invest early in multiple upgrades for this weapon.

As such a compact gun, the military pistol has very little kick and so players can safely avoid the Recoil modification. The Fire Rate and Capacity upgrades are much more worthwhile investments for this gun.

1 Hunting Pistol Scope

Players shouldn’t sleep on this weapon. It’s an incredibly powerful gun that essentially amounts to a handheld shotgun, being able to inflict very high damage with uncommonly good accuracy.

The Damage modification is the upgrade players should invest in first and foremost. Beyond that, this weapon is best used in close to medium-range combat situations, and so a scope isn’t a vital upgrade and players can save their Parts to spend on other mods for other weapons.

NEXT: 10 Lingering Questions We Have After The End Of The Last Of Us 2