Last updated: 25 June 2026

Resident Evil Requiem Weapons & Upgrades Guide

Resident Evil Requiem splits its arsenal between two very different playstyles: Leon Scott Kennedy wields an expanding military loadout upgraded with credits at Supply Boxes, while Grace Ashcroft relies on a handful of carefully conserved firearms backed by blood-crafted consumables. Knowing which weapons to prioritise — and when to spend your limited upgrade resources — is the difference between scraping through each chapter and owning every encounter.

01Weapon Types at a Glance

The game stocks a wider variety of firearms than most recent entries in the series. Both characters share access to some weapons, but Leon's roster is significantly larger and ammo-generous.

02Leon's Upgrade System — Credits & Supply Boxes

Leon upgrades weapons exclusively at Supply Boxes found at key safe zones — the first becomes available at the BSAA Camp in East Raccoon City. To fund these upgrades he must equip the Tactical Tracker, which converts every enemy kill into spendable credits. Stop fighting without it equipped and you are burning free currency.

The upgrade shop is divided into tiers. Tier 1 and Tier 2 improvements are available from the standard Tune Up tab from the start of the game. Tier 3 upgrades are locked inside the Advanced Tuning panel, which only unlocks after finding and destroying all 25 Mr. Raccoon memoriam scattered across Raccoon City.

Upgrade categories across all weapons include:

• Barrel modifications — PVD Barrel, Ceramic Coated Barrel; boost damage output or handling.
• Magazine extensions — High-Capacity Mag upgrades cost 2,000–7,000 credits depending on tier; reduce reloads in sustained fights.
• Trigger improvements — increase fire rate, critical for the Matilda IMP burst timing.
• Stability stocks — reduce recoil on rifles and the longer shotguns.

Basic upgrades run from about 1,000 credits while top-tier enhanced variants reach 8,000 credits each. The golden rule: finish upgrading one weapon before touching a second. Spreading credits across three half-improved guns is the fastest way to struggle on higher difficulties.

03Grace's Arsenal — Blood Crafting & Coin Boosts

Grace operates on a fundamentally different economy. She starts with the B934 Pistol found on the West Wing dining room floor, then gains access to the more capable S&S M232 from the second-floor bar and lounge counter. The S&S M232 staggers zombies reliably and should be considered her primary weapon for the entire campaign.

Because traditional weapon upgrades are off the table, Grace's power growth comes from two sources:

• Stabilizers and Steroids — permanent stat boosts bought with Antique Coins at the Care Center Parlor. These raise Grace's aim stability and damage output globally, making every firearm she touches more effective.
• Charms — equippable modifiers that alter specific gear performance without spending coin currency.

Her most distinctive tool is the Blood Collector, which lets her harvest blood from downed zombies, buckets, and transfusion bags. At craft stations that blood becomes handgun ammunition, med injectors, hemolytic injectors (which instantly kill most standard zombies and prevent mutation into Blister Heads), Molotov Cocktails, and Acid Bottles. Managing your blood supply carefully is Grace's equivalent of Leon's credit management — it is the heart of her entire economy.

04Ammo Conservation — Making Every Round Count

Regardless of character, ammo discipline separates efficient runs from desperate scrambles. Several principles apply across the board:

• Headshots first, always. A clean headshot drops a standard zombie in one round from any handgun at close-to-mid range. Body shots can take three or four rounds and still leave the enemy mobile. The ammo cost of bad aim compounds quickly in dense encounters.
• Reserve the Requiem Revolver. The Requiem fires rare 12.7x55mm rounds that hit extremely hard. Both characters can access it, but its ammunition is scarce. Use it on named enemies, boss weak points, and armoured mutations — never on basic zombies.
• Match the weapon to the room. Shotguns (W870, 990-TAC) in tight corridors where one blast clips multiple targets. Rifles in open areas where you can safely stand back. SMGs and the Clatter Carbine for fast-moving enemy groups that close distance too quickly for a bolt-action rhythm.
• Leon's hatchet is always free. The Hatchet has a durability bar but it is re-sharpenable at any time and can execute weakened zombies in one hit. Use it to finish low-health enemies instead of spending a bullet.
• Grace should avoid fights entirely when possible. Her stealth-first design means alternate routes, environmental distractions with thrown bottles, and using hemolytic injectors only when blocking is inevitable. Every zombie she bypasses is several crafting materials she does not burn.

05Best Weapons by Character & Difficulty

The recommended toolkit shifts as you push into higher difficulty settings, but the core loadout philosophy holds constant.

On Insanity difficulty, Leon benefits most from fully upgrading the Classic 70 rifle in the order Stability → Fire Rate → Damage, then keeping the W870 as a room-clearing backup. Grace on Insanity rewards even more aggressive stealth — consider spending Antique Coins on Steroids before Stabilizers, as raw damage-per-injector matters more than pistol accuracy when fights are unavoidable.

06Upgrade Priority Roadmap

If you are unsure where to spend your first resources, follow this order:

• Leon early game: Equip the Tactical Tracker immediately. Save roughly 4,000–5,000 credits before your first upgrade purchase, then put everything into the Alligator Snapper's magazine and damage. A larger magazine means fewer reload windows during enemy rushes.
• Leon mid game: Once the W870 Police shotgun is in hand, invest in its damage barrel first. The shotgun's crowd-clear value per shell jumps dramatically. Then circle back to a trigger upgrade on your sidearm.
• Leon late game: Prioritise the Classic 70 rifle Stability stock — without it, follow-up shots after recoil are too slow to keep pressure on bosses. Fire Rate and Damage upgrades follow after Stability is maxed.
• Leon Tier 3 unlock: Collect all 25 Mr. Raccoon memoriam before the final chapters if possible. Tier 3 upgrades offer the biggest individual stat jumps and make the endgame encounters considerably more forgiving.
• Grace throughout: Spend Antique Coins on Stabilizers first, then Steroids. Keep your blood reserves above half whenever you reach a safe zone — never arrive at a boss section without at least two hemolytic injectors and a full pistol mag.