One of the main indicators of which players are at the top of the Contra Returns rankings is firepower. Having a high amount of firepower doesn’t just allow players to challenge more game modes, it is also able to unlock additional content for the game. Even though a player’s firepower progresses naturally as they continue playing, the majority of players will still need to find new ways to increase the rate at which they improve so that they can improve their account overall.

One of the main reasons why players want to increase firepower is to become stronger in general. Since firepower is simply an indicator of how much damage you can deal with a unit, this indicator is used to determine if a player can even begin to attempt a PvE stage or if they can beat their opponent in the PvP mode. Regardless of the type of content players want to overcome in Contra Returns, they’ll always want to increase their firepower according to the difficulty of the stage.

Choosing the Right Hero

Before you even look at the firepower, you might want to look at whether or not you have the right Hero for the job. Each hero contains a specialization in a certain stat, which is why the way they move or attack is always different from other characters. There’s also the difference in the abilities which work best in certain situations, so some heroes are simply better in certain matchups.

When choosing what hero to use before entering the stage, determine the type of stage you’ll be dealing with. For example, shield-buster heroes perform well against stages with a lot of mechs. If you’re running a stage with time limits, a hero with high mobility and damage might be better suited for you. A good rule of thumb is that it’s generally better to choose heroes that are A-rank and above because they have higher base stats.

Skills and Awakening

Once you’ve chosen which characters you’ll most likely be using, it’s time to improve those characters’ firepower by upgrading their stats. Skills involve the character’s abilities, which can be upgraded using Gold up to the maximum amount that’s allowed by your account’s current level. As the ability’s level goes up, so too does the cost that you need for each upgrade. Farming gold by simply doing your quest is a good way to ensure acquiring enough of this resource.

Awakening is another way to improve your character. This involves collecting additional character shards of the unit you’re trying to upgrade. Awakening a character increases their stats and also unlocks a passive upgrade on one of the abilities that the unit owns. This drastically increases the amount of firepower that the character has, but can be difficult because shards are hard to obtain. This is especially true if you’re trying to awaken an A-rank character or higher.

Improving Weapons

Improving weapons is the main way to increase a character’s firepower. After all, the term “firepower” directly relates to the power of the weapon that you’re using on a certain character. Aside from collecting better versions of the guns you own, such as those that are of a higher rarity, there are also other ways you can increase your weapon’s firepower, even if you don’t have the resources to farm for a better weapon than the one you already own.

• Upgrading & Enhancements

Upgrading is the most basic way to improve your weapon’s firepower. If you’ve read our Contra Returns Beginner’s Guide [BlueStacks Beginner’s Guide to Playing Contra Returns], we mentioned that upgrading a weapon involves using EXP tickets that can be obtained from various game modes and rewards from events or missions. Upgrading simply increases the amount of firepower that a weapon has by improving its damage and firing rate per level.

Play Contra Returns on PC

Play Contra Returns on PC

Enhancements are more detailed version upgrades. This improves a weapon’s HP, attack damage, and critical chance per enhancement, which is applied to the hero you’re using. Enhancements provide huge boosts in firepower because they allow the player to upgrade the weapon as much as they want, as long as they have the materials needed to upgrade it further. Materials can easily be acquired by raiding story stages.

• Evolution & Modification

Evolution is similar to awakening since it requires weapon shards to activate the next level. Weapon shards are acquired through the Epic Weapon Shop either by purchasing them from the store or rolling for them in the gacha system. Evolving the weapon also improves the amount of firepower that the weapon has because it upgrades all of the weapon’s innate stats, but not by a huge margin. 

The real importance of evolving a weapon is to unlock modifications. Every time you evolve a weapon, a new modification is made available that either opens up a new way of attacking or simply gives a new passive ability. These unlocked abilities can be upgraded further through the modification system, which increases the value of the passive abilities. Players can also modify the weapon itself to increase the amount of stats that the weapon gives to the hero that wields it.

Super Weapons

Super Weapons are a special type of activated ability in the game that can only be used once at every stage. This deals an insane margin of damage to the enemy and is generally reserved for the final boss or the hardest enemy in a stage. Superweapons are, in essence, the biggest source of firepower in the game, but when it comes to upgrading them, the value that they give to your hero’s firepower is very small.

Upgrading super weapons involves spending Gold and an additional resource called Nuclear Batteries, which can only be acquired by attempting the endless mode. To be frank, the endless mode isn’t the most enjoyable game mode in Super Contra, simply because you have to go through multiple waves of the trash before you get to the point where the enemies start dishing out reasonable damage relative to your level. It’s pretty easy to farm though, so increasing your firepower by upgrading your superweapon is a pretty decent way to do it.