Weapon Parts: how Dead Space 3 builds a gun out of frames, tools and tips

Weapon parts are the materials scattered around the environment in Dead Space 3 that are used to craft new weapons with different abilities. Instead of finding a schematic for a finished gun, the player finds components and works out what they add up to, which is why two runs through the game can end with completely different arsenals.

What goes into a weapon?#

A Dead Space 3 weapon is assembled from three kinds of part, and understanding which slot does what is most of the system. The frame decides the size and the built-in bonuses. The tool part decides what the weapon fires. The tool tip decides how it comes out.

Frames split into compact for one-handed weapons and heavy for two-handed. Compact Standard and Heavy Standard give no bonuses but are cheap to make. Compact Elite and Heavy Elite come with all circuit slots already unlocked, and both exist in Mk-II and Mk-V variants that carry a reload bonus, with Mk-V worth double. Four named frames add fixed stats: Weller's Compact Frame with RLD +4, Hammond's Heavy Frame with CLP +3, the EarthGov Compact Frame with SPD +3 and the S.C.A.F. Heavy Frame with DMG +3. Weller's and Hammond's support top tools only.

Tool parts are the working core of the gun. The Military Engine is the S.C.A.F. weapon, the Plasma Core cuts with ionized plasma, the Rip Core fires rotating saw blades, the Tesla Core is an engine built for high current electric welding, the Pneumatic Torch is an incendiary device fueled by compressed gas, the Survey Charge is a seismic tool that fires explosive canisters, and the Telemetry Spike is a mining tool that fires tempered alloy bolts. The Hydraulic Engine is different: a bayonet-style attachment for stronger melee that only fits lower tools.

Tool tips finish the job. Conic Dispersal spreads projectiles wide, the Compressor focuses them, the Directed Ejection Field fires accurate and instant shots, the Directed Suspension Field produces bursts or suspended ammunition, the Precision Tip gives sniper accuracy, the Rail Accelerator adds specialized projectiles, the Repeater turns the weapon fully automatic, and the Diffraction Torus gives each weapon a property specific to itself. Every tip has Mk-II and Mk-V versions worth SPD +2 and SPD +3.

Three extra modules sit outside that structure. The Explosive Module and the Electric Module trigger an explosion or an electrocution on the last few shots fired, up to five, and work with the Rivet Gun, the Javelin Guns, the Rivet Shotgun, the Line Gun Mine and the Anchored Bolas. The Rotator Cuff Module turns an upper tool ninety degrees and cuts reload time in its Mk-II and Mk-V forms.

How do you build the old weapons?#

Almost every gun from the first two games can be recreated, which is the part of the system most players are actually chasing. A Plasma Core on a compact frame with the default tip gives the Plasma Cutter. Conic Dispersal widens it into the Plasma Disperser, Repeater turns it into the weaker but automatic Plasma Repeater, and the Planet Cracker tip, available only with a Dead Space 2 save on the same drive, makes it stronger still.

A Tesla Core with the default tip is the Line Gun. A Plasma Core with a Precision Tip on an upper tool is the Contact Beam, and the same core with a Diffraction Torus on a lower tool is the Ground Diffractor, which is the old Contact Beam secondary fire. A Telemetry Spike with the default tip is the Javelin Gun on a heavy frame and a Rivet Gun on a compact one. A Rip Core rebuilds both fire modes of the Ripper depending on the tip.

The Military Engine covers the conventional guns. Default tip on a compact frame gives a submachine gun, and a Compact Directed Ejection Field gives a powerful revolver. On a heavy frame the default tip is a semi-automatic carbine, Repeater gives a pulse rifle that fires bullets and ejects cartridges rather than energy packets, Precision Tip gives the Seeker Rifle, Conic Dispersal gives a shotgun with strong knockback, Compressor gives an assault rifle with the fastest reload in the family, and the Rail Accelerator gives the Bullpup Rifle, which is more accurate but slower to fire and reload.

The standouts#

Two combinations get singled out as unusually strong. The Galvanizer, a Military Engine with a Directed Suspension Field, fires three to four shot bursts with good accuracy, long range, high damage and a decent clip, and it works well even poorly upgraded. The Chain Lightning Gun, a Tesla Core with a Diffraction Torus, throws an electric arc that jumps to three nearby targets, which makes it the crowd answer once it is upgraded.

The Survey Charge covers the explosives: a grenade launcher on the default tip, the Detonator trip mines on a Directed Ejection Field, a Line Gun Mine on the Compressor, incendiary grenades on the Diffraction Torus, and a rocket launcher on a Directed Suspension Field that hits extremely hard and will kill the shooter indoors. The Pneumatic Torch handles fire, with the Cryogenic Torch on a Precision Tip freezing targets through a building stasis effect that fires in an arc.