There are 68 different Gun Upgrades players will see during their time with 20MTD, and all of them are separated into groupings of four. Once a player grabs the first Upgrade in a Tree, two other Upgrades related to the first one start to show up before the Ultimate Upgrade of the Tree can then appear. With that in mind, let’s go over all 17 Upgrade Trees, the Upgrades in them, and which ones are the best.
17 Vitality
Who would have thought that the Upgrade Tree centered around survivability (usually a critically important Power Up) would be last in the rankings? But the current meta of 20MTD is centered around Glass Cannons (both the concept of a Glass Cannon and the “Glass Cannon” Rune in-game). More Health just isn’t worth grabbing over other options like more Damage, Fire Rate, etc.
People only really grab the 1st Upgrade, Vitality, as a last resort heal in times of crisis, and the next two Upgrades, Anger Point and Giant, are absolutely abysmal. The Ultimate, Regeneration, is incredibly good, but not good enough to warrant the size increase with Giant.
16 Magic Lens
The Magic Lens mechanic is incredibly strong. The only problem is in order to make the most of Upgrades, players must fire through a “lens” that rotates around them, which is difficult in a game where players need to aim at specific enemies to get by them and survive. And Focal Point, the Ultimate Upgrade for the Tree, halves the size of the lens, making it even more difficult.
For someone who can play around the Magic Lens rotation, this is a great Upgrade Tree. However, for everyone else who can’t, it’s not worth much until the last couple of minutes in a run.
15 Rapid Fire
When it comes to the Rapid Fire Tree, players almost always grab the first Upgrade, but then ignore both of the secondary upgrades until nothing else looks good. At that point, they might grab those, and then finally grab the Ultimate Upgrade for the Tree.
The Rapid Fire Upgrade is fantastic and instantly improves most guns in the game, and Light Bullets is about equal in terms of usability. Rubber Bullets, on the other hand, is the worst Upgrade in the Tree, and is almost pointless if the player has invested in any Upgrade Trees that give Piercing. The Ultimate, Siege, is also good (though situational), but is best for Crossbow runs.
14 Glare
To put it in terms that Vampire Survivors fans would understand, the Glare Upgrade Tree is this game’s “Garlic”. Glare allows the player to automatically deal damage to any enemy that enters their spotlight (labeled as their “Vision Radius” in-game). On paper, that sounds amazing, and the Sight Magic Upgrade, in particular, seems absurd as it applies on-hit effects.
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Unfortunately, as of June 2022, there have been some player reports of issues with Glare simply not working on some enemies. That said, even ignoring the bugs, Glare wouldn’t rank much higher. It isn’t something that players build around, and is more of an additional bit of passive damage.
13 Magnetism
Even if some Upgrades in 20MTD don’t buff any Offensive traits, they do start buffing these stats further down their Upgrade Tree. In this tree, a player who grabs Magnetism, which only buffs how far away they’ll pick up XP, will also get a +10% chance to refill ammo from Recharge. They also get a +25% Vision Range from Watch & Learn, and basically a constant +35% Fire Rate buff from the Ultimate Upgrade, Excitement.
Recharge in particular can really propel some runs, as it stacks incredibly well with other ammo-refilling Upgrades such as Energized or Siege.
12 Holy Shield
The Holy Shield Tree is both a crutch and a curse depending on the player. It can be a lifesaver for beginners who tend to get hit a few times. But if that person also invests in the other Upgrades of the Tree such as Divine Blessing or Divine Wrath, it can be a waste, since those Upgrades have no effect while the Holy Shield is down.
The only reason that this helpful tree ranks so low is simply because of the Blessing Rune. If players invest in this rune, it starts them off with Holy Shield already.
11 Ghost Friend
The Ghost Friend is the primary Summon that 20MTD players likely think of when they imagine summons in-game. The Magic Dagger is non-sentient, the Magic Lens is more of a mechanic, and the Dragon is only seen halfway through most runs. In any case, the Ghost Friend is an adorable little specter that follows the player around, similar to a Binding of Isaac Familiar.
Sadly, all the other Summons besides Ghost Friend are absurdly good. Most players only grab the Ghost Friend initial Upgrade so that they get access to the general Summon Buffs that the other three Upgrades grant.
10 Quick Hands
The Quick Hands Tree is the poster-board example of a tree with a fantastic first Upgrade, but mediocre additional Upgrades. Quick Hands is amazing for just about every single gun, and is an Upgrade that players tend to unconsciously always grab first, but the rest of the Upgrades are pretty situational.
Armed & Ready is good on most weapons, but doesn’t make the gun feel different outside of low Clip Count guns like the Crossbow and Shotgun. Fresh Clip is similar, but it’s godlike for low Clip Count guns. The Ultimate Upgrade, Kill Clip, is a good Upgrade overall, but by the time it starts appearing in the Level Up menu, players have likely already decreased their Reload Time to a point they’re happy with anyway.
9 Haste
This is another Tree in which almost every skill is incredible except for one. Haste is a big help in maneuvering around enemies when things start getting chaotic, and Run & Gun is even better depending on the gun the player is using. Unfortunately, Blazing Speed is really forgettable. It’s not bad by any means, but nobody picks it over Run & Gun.
Meanwhile, In the Wind might be one of the best Upgrades in the game overall. It buffs Bullet Damage by a gigantic 40% after 40 seconds, and this buff stays until the player is hit.
8 Take Aim
Some know the Take Aim Upgrade Tree as the oh-so-helpful Bullet Speed tree. Players may just assume that Bullet Speed in this game only applies to how “fast” the Bullet goes, but it also increases distance. This is exactly how people can turn the Shotgun from a short-range king into an emperor of medium-range destruction.
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There is no real downside to grabbing any Upgrade in this Tree. The only possible exception is the Penetration Upgrade with the Grenade Launcher, but that’s a hyper-specific case.
7 Double Shot
Who doesn’t want an Upgrade that simply allows the player to fire more Bullets per shot? Increased projectiles are a highly-favored upgrade in any Shooter-type game, and the Double Shot Upgrade Tree is no different.
That said, while Double Shot is one of the best Upgrades in the game, the rest of its Upgrades are a bit more situational. Fan Fire, for example, is only useful on low Clip Count guns. Fusillade, however, is good on just about every build.
6 Dragon Egg
The current biggest issue with 20MTD in Early Access is the clarity of foe versus friendly projectiles in a run. The game uses a dark color palette, with the bullets being a bright, de-saturated yellow. The problem is, Summons and Summon Projectiles are also this same shade of yellow, and enemies’ eyes are the same color as well. When there are a ton of enemies, projectiles, and summons on screen all at once, it can be very hard to tell what’s what.
The Dragon Summon suffers from this the most, but it’s still an interesting and fun Upgrade Tree. That said, there’s almost no point grabbing it in a 10-minute run, or 10 minutes into a 20-minute run, as the Dragon takes 3 entire minutes to hatch.
5 Electro Mage
As of June 2022, Elemental Damage is overpowered in 20MTD, so much so that there’s almost no reason to do a run without using them in some capacity. Players aren’t restricted to using one Element type (Lightning, Fire, and Ice). The damage is absurd, and each Element has some Upgrade that completely trivializes the game (Soothing Warmth, Energized, Shatter).
That said, the Electro Mage Tree is the lowest-ranked Elemental Tree. This is simply because players don’t choose who gets struck by the Lightning unless they’re playing as Spark.
4 Pyro Mage
There is absolutely no reason to avoid the Pyro Mage Upgrades in any game or with any Weapon. These Upgrades are always fantastic to grab.
Among them, the Ultimate Upgrade Soothing Warmth even makes it easier to survive to the end of the run for those who haven’t invested in the HP-recovering Runes yet. This Upgrade Tree literally has no downsides.
3 Frost Mage
The only reason Frost Mage ranks higher than Pyro Mage is that the Freeze Status Effect is so helpful for surviving to the end of a run. Once a player gets to the later portions of a run (where things tend to get hairy) and the entire screen is filled with enemies, it becomes hard to move at all.
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Thankfully, with Freeze, this becomes much easier. Not only that, but the Frostbite Upgrade makes it easier to kill the tentacle-type monsters that start spawning in the second half. Meanwhile, the Ultimate, Shatter, can completely break the game balance.
2 Light Weaponry
The Light Weaponry Upgrade Tree is by far the best Summon Tree overall. For one, the Magic Dagger is ridiculously strong, scaling with the damage of the player’s bullets as well as with Summon Damage buffs. Second, the Heavy Weaponry Scythe is this game’s equivalent of the Holy Bible from Vampire Survivors.
Last but not least, this Tree is focused on weapons that automatically kill enemies on their own. Not only that, but the third Upgrade, Sharpen, is just a flat 40% damage buff to all Summon Damage.
1 Power Shot
Fans of the game probably weren’t expecting the Power Shot Upgrade Tree to be number one, but there’s a good reason for this. Damage is the most important aspect of most rogue-lite games, and 20MTD is no exception.
Therefore, the Tree that buffs player damage the most, on average, is the king, and that’s exactly what this Tree does. Plus, Reaper Rounds lead to the absurdly useful Synergy of Death Rounds, so of course, this Tree is top-ranked.
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