This guide will go over all of the upgrades, their uses, and which one I would say are the best to take in a run. I will also go over each stage, and tips for beating the mode. Stage Tips and Tricks General tips Get useful upgrades in earlier stages, then try to balance your number of lives left and getting more upgrades in the later stages. Later stage levels have a better chance to give higher tier upgrades and will give more lives, though many lower tier upgrades are very useful. Challenge stages also increase these aspects, while adding extra obstacles (such as lasers) to parkour courses and placing more difficult enemies in arena levels. Enemies cannot see you in arena levels until you either move, attack, or use an ability. Parkour levels are generally easier to complete than arena levels, but this may vary from stage to stage or player to player. Choosing a route with shop or chance will allow an easier time, as there will be less levels to beat. Of course, if your goal is simply to have a fun run and get a strong build, then choose whichever levels you like. Stage 1 Stage 1 is pretty easy, with short levels. Prioritize getting upgrades, as losing won't have you losing much progress and the number of lives earned per level is small. Both parkour and arena levels are pretty easy. Arena levels in particular may have as few as 1 enemy to take down. However, there are no abilities at this stage to use, so keep that in mind. Stage 2 Stage 2 is still relatively easy, with longer levels and a noticeable increase in enemies per section. Doing levels for lives is more useful in this section. You will get access to either the shuriken or shadow ability, as well as access to their upgrades. Stage 3 Stage 3 introduces Scion enemies and mixes them with creeps, creating more difficult arenas. The parkour sections introduce more lasers and tighter jumps, but certain upgrades can make parkour sections more trivial. You will get access to the other ability between shuriken and shadow that you did not already have. Unfortunately, tempest is unavailable in Ghostrunner.exe. Stage 4 Stage 4 is the most difficult normal stage, with many enemies in arenas and long parkour levels. Some arena levels in this section will set you in the middle of all the enemies. Using shadow at the beginning of a section will regenerate some of the battery used back, so it is useful to lead with shadow to get out of the middle. Stage 5 Stage 5 introduces the wingsuit, making both arenas and parkour levels significantly larger. Enemies can notice you from farther away than usual, so lasers and projectiles are much more dangerous than close range attacks. Enemies in arenas are broken up between far away platforms, so ultimates likely won't be too impactful. Prioritize lives, as the long and difficult levels will likely force you to use a few. The final level is not too much larger than the other arena stages, but don't let your guard down. As long as you reach stage 5 once, you can choose to start immediately from stage 5 with 1 common, 2 rare, 2 epic, and 1 legendary upgrade alongside 10 lives. Feel free to restart until you get a lineup you like, but keep in mind many synergies may be hard to build up and flow abilities are not likely to be useful unless you forgo everything else. This makes starting from stage 5 actually quite tough. To make stage 5 easier, choose Ghost Landing as your legendary ability, as you will be invincible when gliding from place to place in arena levels and the final node. Upgrades All upgrades can appear as long as the proper tools are obtained. You must have the relevant ability to get upgrades for it. For example, you must have Shadow to get the option to take decreased battery usage. Additionally, you need the first level of an upgrade to take the second level. Lastly, I believe all ultimates are their level 1 versions. Upgrades similar to basegame upgrades Common Adrenaline Injector 1: Killing an enemy restores 10% stamina. Air Focus 1: Killing an airborne enemy grants 3 seconds of slowdown. Fear-Simulator 1: Regain 20% battery when perfect parrying a melee attack. Flow Booster: Gain 5% more speed per combo count for the duration of the combo. Flow Energy Regen 1: Energy is restored after a 10x combo. Flow Extension 1: Combos last 50% longer. Flow Shield 1: Gain a shield to block 1 hit after a 10x combo for the duration of the combo. Triggering the shield drains all energy. Flow Stamina Regen. 1: Stamina is restored after a 7x combo. Hydraulics Adjustment 1: Dashing costs 20% less stamina. Long Distance Thrusters 1: Dashing on the ground goes 50% further. Ghost Jammer: Gap-jamming during combat makes you immune to projectiles and melee attacks, but not environmental hazards. Short Circuit: Creates an electric shockwave around Jack when perfect parrying a melee attack. Tactical Retreat: Dashing backwards launches you into the air. Rare Advances Hologram Projector 1: Shadow skill costs 15% less energy. Air Focus 2: Killing an airborne enemy grants 6 seconds of slowdown. Blade Coating: You can block Scorchman's and Chook's laser attacks. This knocks you back a lot. Blink: Gain this ultimate for only the next arena round. Fanning mechanism: Reduces shuriken cost when throwing more than one. Fear-Simulator 2: Regain 50% battery when perfect parrying a melee attack. Flow Extension 2: Combos last twice as long. Flow Shield 2: Gain a shield to block 1 hit after a 8x combo for the duration of the combo. Triggering the shield drains all energy. Flow Stamina Regen. 2: Stamina is restored after a 5x combo. Flow Surge 1: Launch a surge projectile after a 6x combo. Flux: Gain this ultimate for only the next arena round. Hologram Battery 1: Shadow lasts 20% longer. Hydraulics Adjustment 2: Dashing costs 40% less stamina. Long Distance Thrusters 2: Dashing on the ground goes twice as far. Motoric Overheat: Gain this ultimate for only the next arena round. Oiled-Machinery 1: Reduce the cost of Shurikens by 15%. Overlord: Gain this ultimate for only the next arena round. Power Thrusters 1: Dashing into enemies shoves them. Allows Jack to gap-jam to them. Quick Step: Shadow costs 30% less, but only lasts for half the normal time. Sensory Overdrive: Gain this ultimate for only the next arena round. Shadow Booster 1: Move 10% faster while shadow is active. Shuriken Charger 1: Electrifies enemies in a small area around the shuriken. Works even if it hits the ground. Smooth Moves: Deflecting and perfect parrying is easier. Epic Advances Hologram Projector 2: Shadow skill costs 35% less energy. Energy Absorption: Use energy instead of stamina if Jack is out of stamina. Energy Distribution: Throw 3 Shurikens instead of 1. The extra shurikens will be thrown a bit to the left and right, but still track enemies. Flow Shield 3: Gain a shield to block 1 hit after a 6x combo for the duration of the combo. Triggering the shield drains all energy. Flow Stamina Regeneration 3: Stamina is restored after a 3x combo. Flow Surge 2: Launch a surge projectile after a 5x combo. Ghost Thrusters: Dashing during combat makes you immune to projectiles and melee attacks, but not environmental hazards. Glass Vampire 1: Doubles your combo. This does not disable blocking or have any other downside, unlike the base game equivalent. Hydraulics Adjustment 3: Dashing costs 60% less stamina. Long Distance Thrusters 3: Dashing on the ground goes thrice as far. Sharpened Blade: Slashing through blocking enemies with no downside. This does not count energy shields. Oiled-Machinery 2: Reduce the cost of Shurikens by 35%. Power Thrusters 2: Dashing into enemies shoves them with more force. Allows Jack to gap-jam to them. Shadow Booster 2: Move 25% faster while shadow is active. Shuriken Charger 2: Electrifies enemies in a large area around the shuriken. Works even if it hits the ground. Tracking System: Makes Shurikens easier to hit. Teleporter: Teleports Jack back to the hologram's position if hit during the timer. Disables invisibility. Extremely disorienting. Legendary Flow Surge 3: Launch a surge projectile after a 3x combo. Glass Vampire 2: Triples your combo. This does not disable blocking or have any other downside, unlike the base game equivalent. Shuriken Charger 3: Shurikens explode, breaking any shields or barriers the enemy has. This can kill Jack. Upgrades not in the base upgrade list Common Auto-deflect 1: Deflect bullets automatically when blocking at 150% the stamina cost of normally blocking. Energy Converter 1: Deflecting a bullet regenerates 10% energy. Four-Leaf Clover 1: 5% chance to survive a hit. Hologram Battery 1: Shadow lasts 20% longer. Iron Lungs 1: Total Stamina is increased by 25%. Method Block 1: Blocking costs 10% less stamina. Nerve Connector 1: Gain 20% speed for 5 seconds after perfect parrying a melee attack. Static Shock 1: Creates an electric shockwave around Jack when shadow ends. Surprise Gift: Reflected bullets explode, breaking any shields or barriers the enemy has. This can kill Jack. Rare Auto-deflect 2: Deflect bullets automatically when blocking at the normal blocking stamina cost. Energy Storage 1: Store 50% more battery. Four-Leaf Clover 2: 10% chance to survive a hit. Hard Landing: Creates a circles of wind that knocks enemies over when landing. Hologram Battery 2: Shadow lasts 50% longer. Iron Lungs 2: Total Stamina is increased by 50%. Method Block 2: Blocking costs 25% less stamina. Nerve Connector 2: Gain 50% speed for 5 seconds after perfect parrying a melee attack. Pressure Boots 1: Jump 100% higher. Static Shock 2: Creates a large electric shockwave around Jack when shadow ends. Epic Energy Storage 2: Store 100% more battery. Gravity Destabilizer 1: Grants a mid-air jump. Four-Leaf Clover 3: 15% chance to survive a hit. Intelligent Shuriken 1: Thrown Shurikens orbit Jack for 5 seconds when thrown, hitting nearby enemies. Disables throwing them at far enemies unless more than one is thrown. Iron Lungs 3: Total Stamina is increased by 100%. Pressure Boots 2: Jump 200% higher. Legendary Gap-Jammer Override: Jack can gap-jam towards enemies after a dash. Ghost Landing: Being midair for more than 1 second grants invulnerability until Jack touches the ground. Wallrunning, gliding, and gap-jamming do not count as touching the ground. Gravity Destabilizer 2: Grants two mid-air jumps. Intelligent Shuriken 2: Thrown Shurikens orbit Jack for 5 seconds when thrown, hitting nearby enemies. Disables throwing them at far enemies unless more than one is thrown. Unsure if there is a difference between ranks 1 and 2. H.O.T. : Time moves slowly when Jack stands still. This applies in parkour levels and while standing on moving platforms, but not while falling in the air or grinding on a rail. Poisoned Shuriken: Hitting an enemy causes them to fight on your side for 5 seconds, then die. This works even on enemies not normally affected by shurikens. Pressure Boots 3: Jump 300% higher. Shadow Assassin: Killing an enemy while invisible halves the remaining duration instead of removing it. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Upgrades The Good Upgrades Flow Extension 1 and 2 make all other flow abilities such as Surge, Shield, or Booster much more viable to use. Glass Vampire with Flow Extension and other flow upgrades is fantastic. Anything that makes dashing better or cheaper is very nice for closing the distance. Most shuriken upgrades are excellent. Making shadow cheaper or longer is great if you prefer shadow. Ghost Thruster and Ghost Jammer increase consistency, as does Smooth Moves. Feel free to skip if you feel confident in your abilities. Higher Jumps makes parkour levels easier. Double jump makes many of them trivial, but keep in mind that double jumping out of the wingsuit does not work well. Many legendary upgrades are ridiculous, but not all of them. The Bad Upgrades Stamina restores pretty quickly. I don't personally use Sensory Boost enough to need to restore stamina. Creating electric shockwaves is rarely useful. Shuriken Charger 1 allows shurikens to shock enemies normally immune to Shurikens, making it an exception to the rule. Perfect parrying melee attacks is not something I often have the time to do in later stages, so the relevant abilities are niche to useless. Power Thrusters 2 and Shuriken Charger 2 are never worth it, and be cautious with other upgrades skills, as there are diminishing returns on some of them. Shuriken Charger 3 exploding is really funny, but Poisoned Shurikens is nearly always better. I'm not sure how much Tracking System or Intelligent Shurikens 2 do, honestly. Quick Step might be good for some, but the base duration of shadow is short enough for me. The Ugly Upgrades (Ones with certain caveats to them) Ultimates only last for 1 arena round, and are not worth taking unless you want the boost for a final stage. Then they can be nice. Powers Thrusters can deal with shielded enemies well, but launching enemies off-stage prevents you from dashing up and slashing them, which takes barely more time, but has more control and restores battery. Teleporter removes invisibility, and is extremely disorienting when it activates. Place your doppelganger carefully. Sharpened Blade affects only one enemy as far as I know, but it absolutely destroys that enemy, so I think it's worth it. Intelligent Shurikens effect multiple enemies with any upgrades you have, but this overrides throwing them a far distance. Pair with Energy Distribution to avoid this problem. H.O.T. is an awesome reference, but times still moves, just a bit slower. It makes deflects and perfect parrying a breeze, but it's not useful in many other places, especially when waiting around in parkour stages. In a game with constant movement, this isn't the best legendary upgrade. Final Notes This was my first guide, so I hope you enjoyed it! I hope it helps unlock the arms and swords. I created this guide entirely myself. There may be some upgrades I could not find (notably, Adrenaline Injector 2+), and there may be information I could add or uses for upgrades I did not find. If you have anything to add, please note it in the comments and I add it in if it's useful. I will reference any additions by commentators below.