Mass Effect Legendary Edition
127 Achievements
2915 XP
120-150h
Epic
Gunsmith
ME3: Upgrade any weapon to level 10.
25 XP
2.0%
How to unlock the Gunsmith achievement in Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Definitive Guide
This achievement requires you to go into NG+ on Mass Effect 3 after already upgrading some weapons as far as you can.
The weapon upgrade station is located on the bottom level of the Normandy, in the shuttle bay. It will be one of the glowy panels in front of you when you get off the elevator. On your first playthrough, you can only upgrade weapons to level 5.
If a weapon needs to be found instead of being purchased or given to you, that weapon will max out at level 7 until you find it in game. Upon finding a weapon in NG+, it will increase by 3 levels.
What I personally would recommend is to purchase up to level 5 on three weapons: M8 Avenger, M3 Predator, and M4 Shuriken
You are required to have the M8 Avenger and M3 Predator by time you finish the opening section. And you can find the M4 Shuriken in one of the camera rooms on Mars (which will make it level 7)
Upon reaching the point in which you can be on the Normandy, head back down to the shuttle bay and use your money from the previous playthrough to max out at least one of your weapons (the M8 Avenger wouldn't let me go past 8 personally, that's why i recommend upgrading more than one gun)
Upon reaching level 10 with one, your achievement will unlock
The weapon upgrade station is located on the bottom level of the Normandy, in the shuttle bay. It will be one of the glowy panels in front of you when you get off the elevator. On your first playthrough, you can only upgrade weapons to level 5.
If a weapon needs to be found instead of being purchased or given to you, that weapon will max out at level 7 until you find it in game. Upon finding a weapon in NG+, it will increase by 3 levels.
What I personally would recommend is to purchase up to level 5 on three weapons: M8 Avenger, M3 Predator, and M4 Shuriken
You are required to have the M8 Avenger and M3 Predator by time you finish the opening section. And you can find the M4 Shuriken in one of the camera rooms on Mars (which will make it level 7)
Upon reaching the point in which you can be on the Normandy, head back down to the shuttle bay and use your money from the previous playthrough to max out at least one of your weapons (the M8 Avenger wouldn't let me go past 8 personally, that's why i recommend upgrading more than one gun)
Upon reaching level 10 with one, your achievement will unlock
19 Comments
IIRC from playing the ME3 multiplayer back in the day, not every gun could get to level 10. I couldn't max the Avenger either, but some random Sniper rifle I bought for Garrus let me level it from 5 and I never got another one of those. It might vary from weapon to weapon.
By Fooga on 20 May 2021 04:19
I genuinely don't know what causes it to be completely honest with you. One of the guides for the original Mass Effect 3 actually tells you to do the Avenger. Maybe it's class based?
By PangoBara on 20 May 2021 04:53
Mass Effect Legendary Edition gives you forty gamesave slots. To get a ME3 end of game gamesave that will enable you to get the Gunsmith achievement in NG+, make sure before you go to the final part of the game, that you have a free save slot or two available. If not, you will have to delete a gamesave slot and repeat the Citadel end section.
I did not have an available save slot when I finished the game and had to delete a save to free up a save slot. Then, I had to repeat the final end section where you have to go into the beam, get onto the Citadel, have the interaction with Anderson, the Illusive Man, and the Catalyst. That's when I got an ME3 end of game save that would import a set of level 5 weapons.
I did not have an available save slot when I finished the game and had to delete a save to free up a save slot. Then, I had to repeat the final end section where you have to go into the beam, get onto the Citadel, have the interaction with Anderson, the Illusive Man, and the Catalyst. That's when I got an ME3 end of game save that would import a set of level 5 weapons.
1 Comment
Don't know you are being downvoted. It's true. I had to replay the final mission after freeing up save slots because no option to import ME3 character was available for a NG+.
By Meeze on 05 Feb 2022 21:52
In addition to the information in the other two guides, these are the only 4 guns in ME3 that will be available to upgrade to level 10 after Priority: Mars (since you need to pick the gun up to be able to upgrade to level 10). Certain guns are in your loadout by default depending on your class, so to be safe, don't rely on those ones.
- M-92 Mantis, already in loadout for Infiltrators. LOCATION: At the beginning of the level, to the right once you drop through hole in fence.
- M-23 Katana, already in loadout for Soldiers, Vanguards and Sentinels. LOCATION: On a downed enemy in the corridor after the contamination laser room.
- M-4 Shuriken, already in loadout for Adepts and Engineers. LOCATION: In the corner of the office where you activate a terminal, after doing your first stealth kill.
- M-15 Vindicator, never in loadout. LOCATION: In gun locker after tram ride.
This is the only achievement in the whole series that requires you to play a new game+, but I completed it 50 minutes into that New Game+.
1) Before you hit the point of no return in your first game
, upgrade the weapon you would like to level up to at least V (5), my Avenger was at 6 I think somehow.
2) Complete your first playthrough of ME3.
3) Start a new game with that first character and carry over all your previous save's gun levels.
*Helpful: I turned the difficulty down to Narrative so I could run around and melee everything to work on Bruiser as well.
4) Run through the game to the point you get control of the Normandy. About 50 minutes.
5) After meeting with the Citadel Council for the first time, hit the Normandy's shuttle bay and level up a weapon to X.
6) BOOM.
It should cost 30-35K credits, which I made running through to that point in the game, not including what carried over in the new game+.
1) Before you hit the point of no return in your first game
2) Complete your first playthrough of ME3.
3) Start a new game with that first character and carry over all your previous save's gun levels.
*Helpful: I turned the difficulty down to Narrative so I could run around and melee everything to work on Bruiser as well.
4) Run through the game to the point you get control of the Normandy. About 50 minutes.
5) After meeting with the Citadel Council for the first time, hit the Normandy's shuttle bay and level up a weapon to X.
6) BOOM.
It should cost 30-35K credits, which I made running through to that point in the game, not including what carried over in the new game+.
This is supposed to be supplementary to Man785's solution.
Also I will be using 1-10 for the gun levels rather than the roman numerals. If you have problems converting between the two, that's a you problem.
First and foremost, even if you never use the M-8 Avenger upgrade it to level 5 before finishing your first playthrough. I will explain why below in section 3.
1. New Game + Bump
Also I will be using 1-10 for the gun levels rather than the roman numerals. If you have problems converting between the two, that's a you problem.
First and foremost, even if you never use the M-8 Avenger upgrade it to level 5 before finishing your first playthrough. I will explain why below in section 3.
1. New Game + Bump
All weapons obtained in your first playthrough get bumped up a level on your second playthrough (new game +). So if you upgrade any weapon to level 5 it will be at 6 upon starting the second playthrough. I had 9 guns all at level 5. They all were bumped to level 6 and everything that I left at level 1 was at 2 upon starting the second playthrough.
2. Reacquire BumpDuring your second playthrough weapons get bumped up a few levels when reacquired. You get +2 upon reacquire if the weapon was at level 5 when you finished the first playthrough. You get +3 upon reacquire if it was below level 5.
3. M-8 AvengerSo, why did I ask you to upgrade the M-8 Avenger? Simple. It is the first gun you reacquire in your second playthrough.
Towards the end of the prologue with Anderson you can grab it off the ground by the beacon used to signal the Normandy. The pistol Anderson gives you does not count as a reacquire.
Assuming you upgraded the M-8 Avenger to level 5, it will be instantly bumped to level 6 for New Game + and then bumped to level 8 when reacquired in the prologue.
After that you only need 17500 credits for the last two levels (7500 for level 9 and 10000 for level 10) to upgrade when back on the Normandy.
Towards the end of the prologue with Anderson you can grab it off the ground by the beacon used to signal the Normandy. The pistol Anderson gives you does not count as a reacquire.
Assuming you upgraded the M-8 Avenger to level 5, it will be instantly bumped to level 6 for New Game + and then bumped to level 8 when reacquired in the prologue.
After that you only need 17500 credits for the last two levels (7500 for level 9 and 10000 for level 10) to upgrade when back on the Normandy.
EA did a surprisingly great job updating the achievements in this collection to be more user-friendly, and then they dropped the ball considerably with this one. Unfortunately, you will need a short NG+ run to complete this, as you can only get to Level 5 in upgrading any weapons in your first play of the game. Make sure you max out at least the M8 Avenger and M3 Predator, but do a few other guns to be safe, as it appears different classes can only max out certain weapons.
Once you have your weapons maxed in your first playthrough, begin a second run and go ahead and drop your difficulty to Narrative. Run through the first few missions until you have access to the Normandy again, and use the workbench to upgrade one of your weapons to Level 10 to unlock the achievement.