Evil West: Best Upgrades & Perks

It goes without saying that, if you're planning on whittling down the vampire hordes in Evil West, you're going to need to prioritize unlocking specific weapons, upgrades, and perk trees. The good news there is that Calico, the Western hub in which you'll spend a lot of your time between levels, hosts a workbench for you to augment your tools and above all, your trusty Gauntlet.

Anyway, with so many of each upgrade to spool through, which of them should you aim to purchase first to help give you a leg up on the competition? Well, if you have the points to spare, then these are the five perks you should prioritize and hurl your points at over everything else on the grid.

5. Chain of Command

As much as Evil West tries to get you to experiment with its slew of ranged weapons and projectiles, chances are you'll always wind up going back to using your Gauntlet. And it's because of the sheer quality and raw power of the melee weapon that you'll no doubt want to pour even more perk points into boosting its overall damage output. To do this, you're going to want to invest in the Chain of Command node, which boosts your strength with the Gauntlet by an additional 30% for each time you upgrade it.

Of course, it all boils down to which types of weapons you prefer to utilize out on the battlefield. But then, given that a great chunk of the game does involve being swarmed by armies of enemies, it does make sense to have a sturdy melee weapon to keep you from yielding to a good old fashioned mobbing. Therefore, if you have the points, then be sure to treat your Gauntlet with the respect it deserves, as it will be your best friend for all the while you wield the pad.

4. On the Spot

Depending on the difficulty setting you've applied, some foes in Evil West can actually wind up slaughtering you in less than a few hits. To avoid this, you will of course need to make the most of the health pickups that downed enemies drop within levels. The only issue is, even with all the weak spots you can shoot to boost your chances of receiving a health pickup, the actual drop rate is still disappointingly low. Fortunately for you, equipping the On the Spot perk can double your chances of getting a higher quality health boost.

As you progress further and further into the main campaign, you'll come to find certain bosses that have the power to whittle down your health in mere seconds. Evil West, being the oh so forgiving game that it is, will equip these bosses with various weak spots, which you will be prompted to hit when using a ranged weapon. Do yourself a favor here and purchase the aforementioned perk for a chance to turn those enemies into chunky cash cows, complete with an unlimited supply of health drops.

3. Death Defied

Somewhere around the midway point in the campaign you'll eventually topple over the fourteenth level, which will grant you access to the Death Defied perk. Activating this life-saving node, as you can probably imagine, means being able to bounce back from death at the last second and getting a second wind. It also means getting the gift of three-second invulnerability, which means Jesse can collect himself before diving head first back into the heat of battle.

Unfortunately, you won't be getting your hands on this incredibly useful perk until the latter half of the campaign, which means you'll have to make do with the perks you already have until hammering down that fourteenth milestone. Once in sight, though, you should definitely consider using your hard-earned point to unlock the Death Defied node—especially if you're playing on a tougher difficulty.

2. Very Very Frightening

Once you reach level 16, you're going to have the best of both the melee and ranged worlds served to you on a silver platter. With the end of the campaign in sight, you're going to want to invest in the best possible perks to aid you during those final battles. And believe me when I say, if you don't have the Very Very Frightening perk enabled, then you're really going to struggle toppling over those final few hurdles.

When in Supercharged mode, the Very Very Frightening perk will automatically spawn random bolts of thunder in the area, which essentially wipes the entire board clean while you focus on the primary target. So, if you'd much rather remove the possibility of having countless mobs flanking you left, right, and center, then be sure to punch a hole in this perk as soon as it becomes available.

1. Enhanced Combo

After wading through a huge chunk of the lengthier levels, you'll come to find yourself overpowered and somewhat tired of having to hack through the same old undead enemies. As luck would have it, there is a shortcut that can help reduce your time on the grind by making combos more efficient and twice as ravenous.

Unlocking the Enhanced Combo perk at level 16 will grant you the ability to not only extend your basic combo, but give it that extra little oomph to help eliminate all the small fry. The only downside to this perk is that it isn't technically available to purchase until a little later on in the campaign. That said, if you've been racking up points by the motherload, then you should see it pop up long before the finale.

So, what's your take? Do you agree with our top five weapons and upgrades? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.