Improved Weapon Balance

OVERVIEW

A few weapons are either somewhat underpowered when compared with other options, or lack a compelling identity to encourage their use on repeat playthroughs. This mod attempts to address those concerns and improve overall balance with targeted, conservative adjustments. Most weapons have had small tweaks to key secondary stats to make them feel more unique and viable, leaning into their existing core strengths.

Several exclusive upgrades have had their multiplier slightly reduced, with the difference redistributed earlier in the weapon's base upgrade curve. This allows those weapons to feel stronger earlier, and lessens reliance on their exclusives. Upgrade costs have been adjusted accordingly.

Balanced around Professional difficulty; mileage may vary on lower settings. Alternate "buff-only" Lite version also available. Pak versions for use as add-ons for Berserker and Valkyrie are also available. A compatibility add-on for Befalling of Night is also available. Separate Ways is supported by default; Mercenaries support is enabled via optional add-on.

==// Knives //==

Combat Knife

• Headshot wince multiplier added: 1. 0x → 5. 0x

• Damage increased: 0. 6 / 0. 7 / 0. 8 / 0. 9 / 1. 0 → 0. 8 / 0. 9 / 1. 0 / 1. 1 / 1. 2

• Wince rate increased: 1. 5 / 1. 8 / 2. 1 / 2. 5 / 2. 8 → 1. 5 / 2. 25 / 3. 0 / 4. 0 / 5. 0

The Combat Knife's attack speed and overall solid performance are improved by further specialization into opening enemies up for melee attacks, provided you can land the headshot. Knives feel like they should have greater headshot wince overall — it's a knife to the face, after all — but giving it to this one alone makes the choice of whether to switch to the Fighting Knife later more interesting.

Primal Knife

• Damage reduced (optional): 0. 80 / 0. 90 / 1. 00 / 1. 10 / 1. 20 → 0. 50 / 0. 60 / 0. 70 / 0. 80 / 0. 90

• Durability redistributed/increased: 1. 60 / 1. 80 / 2. 00 / 2. 20 / 2. 40 → 2. 00 / 2. 50 / 3. 00 / 3. 50 / 4. 00

• Additional repair cost when fully broken increased by 50% (optional)

• Exclusive upgrade cost increased: 10k → 35k (optional)

The Primal Knife's exclusive upgrade, indestructibility, is so strong that it needs greater trade-offs. To compensate, more of that upgrade's value has been added to the base curve, making your decision to go with durability over stun or raw damage more meaningful earlier in the game.

It also makes an excellent dedicated low-damage secondary/back-up knife in this configuration. If you intend to use it this way, an optional add-on is available that removes all random kitchen/boot knife drops — though if you intend to utilize the Bolt Thrower, you may want to keep those for crafting.

Fighting Knife

• Headshot damage multiplier increased: 1. 5x → 1. 75x