Last updated: 14 September 2026

Resident Evil Requiem Weapons & Upgrades Guide Best Weapons for Leon & Grace

Resident Evil Requiem splits its arsenal between two very different economies. Leon buys and upgrades a large roster of guns with Credits earned in combat; Grace works with a small, fixed set of firearms and instead grows stronger through coin-bought stat boosts and blood-based crafting. Spending either resource on the wrong thing early costs you a run, so here's how each system works and which weapons are worth prioritizing.

01How Leon Earns and Spends Credits

Leon's upgrade path runs entirely through an item called the Tactical Tracker, found on top of a Supply Box inside a tent at the Central Camp in East Raccoon City. Its in-game description is blunt about what it does: it's "a device that records combat data," and once you have it, Credits earned from kills can be spent at any Supply Box. On replays, the Tactical Tracker is simply in your inventory from the start rather than needing to be picked up again.

Supply Boxes are where those Credits actually get spent — you can buy weapons outright or pour Credits into attachment upgrades for guns you already own. Because upgrade costs scale with tier, the general rule experienced players follow is to fully commit to one weapon's upgrades before starting on a second, rather than spreading Credits thin across several half-upgraded guns.

02Best Weapons for Leon Kennedy

Leon starts with the Alligator Snapper handgun and a Hatchet, then expands into a much larger roster than Grace as the campaign progresses.

• Handgun — Silencer 9. Bought at a Supply Box for 5,500 Credits, it outclasses the starting Alligator Snapper once upgraded — bigger magazine, faster re-centering, and better precision for consistent headshots. Prioritize the Add-on Suppressor and a High-Capacity Mag.
• Shotgun — 990-TAC. Bought at a Supply Box for 7,000 Credits. Its semi-automatic action and tight pellet spread make it the strongest close-to-medium range option in the game. Upgrade the Ceramic Coated Barrel (damage) and Carbon Tube Extension (ammo capacity) first — together they make it Leon's most-used weapon for the rest of the campaign.
• Rifle — Classic 70. A bolt-action rifle Leon receives automatically partway through the Care Center chapter. Slow to fire and reload, but fully upgraded — and combined with finding the game's Mr. Raccoon collectibles, which unlock the strongest tier of upgrades — its damage rivals the signature Requiem revolver. The Marksman 1A sniper rifle, found in a BSAA supply container east of the Gas Station in East Raccoon City, is a faster-handling earlier-game alternative before the Classic 70 is fully built up.
• Revolver — Requiem. Leon's signature weapon, obtained automatically at the start of the East Raccoon City chapter. It fires rare 12.7x55mm rounds and hits harder than anything else in his kit, at the cost of slow re-centering between shots — save it for bosses and dangerous stragglers rather than regular zombies.
• Submachine gun — Sitri REVO3 A1, upgrading to Clatter Carbine. The Sitri REVO3 A1 (6,000 Credits at a Supply Box) is the earliest fully-automatic option and a strong crowd-control pick well before the midgame. The Clatter Carbine, unlocked later, has the highest damage, stability, and precision of any submachine gun in the game.

Spending order for a first playthrough: Silencer 9 first (cheapest real upgrade), then the 990-TAC as soon as you can afford it, then its barrel and capacity upgrades before touching a third weapon.

03How Grace's Progression Works Instead

Grace doesn't have access to Leon's Supply Box network. Her firearms have fixed stats rather than attachment slots, so instead of buying gun parts, she grows stronger through two separate systems.

• Antique Coins are found scattered through the Care Center (and from solving safe codes) and spent at a coin-operated upgrade machine there. Confirmed upgrades and costs: a Hip Pouch (3 coins) for two extra inventory slots, Steroids (4 coins) to raise max HP, a Stabilizer (4 coins) to improve gun handling and firepower — one guide notes it can drop a basic zombie from four rounds to as few as two — and an Override Manual (6 coins) that expands the Blood Collector's carrying capacity. Because inventory space is so tight early on, the Hip Pouch is usually the first purchase worth making.
• The Blood Collector lets Grace harvest infected blood from defeated enemies and other sources in the environment. That collected blood is then combined with other materials at craft stations to produce handgun ammunition and other consumables — it functions as Grace's version of Leon's Credit economy, so how much you fight (and how efficiently) directly limits what you can craft afterward.

04Best Weapons for Grace Ashcroft

• Handgun — S&S M232. Found at a counter in the Care Center's Bar and Lounge, West Wing. Every stat beats Grace's starting B934 pistol — more damage, a larger magazine, better stability, and a faster reload — making it a straightforward upgrade the moment you find it.
• Melee — Kotetsu. An unbreakable blade that never needs repairing, unlike Grace's starting knife. It's unlocked from the special content shop after finishing the game once, so it's primarily a New Game+ pick rather than something available on a first run.

Since Grace can't spend on attachments, her weapon upgrades are almost entirely about picking up the S&S M232 as soon as you reach the Bar and Lounge — there's no real tradeoff to holding onto the starting B934 once it's available.