Pragmata Best Firmware Upgrades — What to Prioritise First

Table of Contents

TL;DR

The Firmware Updater is separate from the Unit Printer. It uses Upgrade Components — yellow resource chips — not Lunafilament.
It upgrades three things: Hugh’s Suit, Hugh’s Primary Unit, and Diana’s Hacking.
You cannot respec these upgrades. Spend carefully — every decision is permanent.
Hacking is the single most impactful upgrade. Almost every enemy has plating that blocks raw gunfire. Hacking damage and OPEN duration matter more than gun stats early on.
Suit upgrades are your survival floor. Without them, bosses and elite bots from Sector 2 onward will knock you down in a few hits.
Primary Unit upgrades are lowest priority — not useless, just the last of the three to focus on.
Upgrade Components are limited. Explore thoroughly, complete Training Sims, and do not skip hidden paths.

What Is the Firmware Updater?

The Firmware Updater is one of two upgrade terminals in the Shelter. It is completely separate from the Unit Printer — the two machines handle entirely different systems and run on different currencies.

The Unit Printer uses Lunafilament and Pure Lunum to print and upgrade weapons, hacking nodes, abilities, and attachments. The Firmware Updater uses Upgrade Components — the orange-yellow chips you find hidden across sectors, in safe boxes, behind environmental puzzles, and as rewards for boss fights and high-tier Training Simulations — to upgrade three core stats: Hugh’s Suit, Hugh’s Primary Unit, and Diana’s Hacking.

There is one rule you need to know before you spend a single Upgrade Component: these upgrades are permanent. You cannot respec. Whatever you put into Suit, Primary Unit, or Hacking stays there. This is not a flexible system where you can experiment freely and correct course later. Every Upgrade Component needs to go where it genuinely matters.

The maximum upgrade level for each category is also gated by story progression — specifically, by your Shelter Level, which rises each time you defeat a sector boss and return with the License Key. This means you cannot rush ahead and max out everything immediately regardless of how many components you find. The tier unlocks as you progress through the campaign naturally.

The Three Firmware Categories — What Each One Actually Does

Diana’s Hacking

What it upgrades: Hacking damage, OPEN duration, and Heat Gauge buildup. Starting at Level 5, upgrades also increase how fast Diana builds the Heat Gauge on enemies.

This is the most impactful category in the Firmware Updater by a significant margin, and it is the one most players underinvest in because shooting feels more intuitive than hacking.

Here is the key thing to understand about Pragmata’s combat: almost every enemy bot has reinforced armor plating that blocks or heavily reduces raw gunfire. Hugh’s Grip Gun alone will not reliably kill most enemies without hacking first. Diana’s job is to expose the enemy — complete a grid successfully and the enemy enters the OPEN state, where its weak point becomes vulnerable and all incoming damage spikes dramatically. Hacking is not a supporting mechanic. It is the foundation of the entire combat loop.

Two stats within this category deserve specific attention:

Hacking damage determines how much the hack itself deals. Upgrading it lets you kill smaller enemies outright through hacking alone, without needing to follow up with weapons at all. That significantly reduces your consumable weapon usage in standard rooms.

OPEN duration is the one that matters most in boss fights and tougher encounters. OPEN duration controls how long an enemy stays vulnerable to gunfire after you complete a hack. Even a small increase — from 1.00 seconds to 1.25 seconds — creates the extra window needed to land a full Charge Piercer shot or a second burst from the Shockwave Gun before the enemy resets. In fights where damage windows are tight and every wasted shot counts, this is the upgrade that removes the frustration.

Heat Gauge buildup (unlocking at Level 5) increases how fast Diana charges toward her Overdrive Protocol — a powerful ability that immobilizes all nearby enemies, deals significant damage, and functions as your best panic button in overwhelming situations. Faster buildup means more frequent access to Overdrive.

Priority: Upgrade this first and keep it ahead throughout the campaign.

Hugh’s Suit

What it upgrades: Maximum HP and Defense.

Suit upgrades are your survivability floor. They do not make you feel more powerful in the way that hacking upgrades do — they just stop you from dying. That sounds boring until Sector 2 hits and enemy hits start landing for real damage.

On Standard difficulty, the larger bot types and bosses deal enough damage that being caught out even a couple of times during a fight can send Hugh back to the Shelter. The damage scaling ramps meaningfully between Sector 1 and Sector 3, and if your Suit upgrades have been neglected by the time you are fighting the more complex enemy compositions in the Lunum Mines and Central Port, fights become significantly more punishing than they need to be.

Bosses in particular are designed around AoE attacks that are difficult to fully dodge. More HP means more margin to absorb a hit you did not see coming, stay in the fight, and finish the hack rather than scrambling to heal and reset.

Suit upgrades also cover Defense, which reduces the damage each hit actually deals. More Defense means each Repair Canister heals a larger percentage of your effective health, compounding the value of every heal you get.

Priority: Second — upgrade alongside or just behind hacking throughout the campaign.

Hugh’s Primary Unit

What it upgrades: Damage, stagger rate, ammo capacity, and handling for the Grip Gun — and later, also the Pulse Carbine once it is unlocked in Sector 3.

Each upgrade level only improves one or two stats at a time rather than boosting everything simultaneously. You might pay for an upgrade and see only ammo capacity increase that level, with damage staying flat until a later tier. The game does not boost every stat at once, so individual upgrades feel incremental.

That said, the Primary Unit is still worth upgrading — just last among the three. The Grip Gun is your permanent fallback weapon, available in every fight no matter what else runs dry. Its stagger rate is particularly useful: high stagger forces enemies to flinch out of attack animations, giving you breathing room to complete a hack or reposition. Recoil reduction becomes relevant once you are firing during hacking minigames simultaneously, where you are splitting attention and inevitably waste shots without good handling.

Once the Pulse Carbine unlocks in Sector 3, Primary Unit upgrades at the Firmware Updater apply to both Primary weapons. The Pulse Carbine benefits especially from Heat Gauge buildup upgrades — if you are building around heat-based combat or the Combust Mode hacking chip, these upgrades become much more valuable in the late game.

Priority: Third — invest once Hacking and Suit are stable, and upgrade steadily from Sector 2 onward.

How to Prioritise Across the Full Campaign

Different sources recommend slightly different orderings, and both perspectives are valid depending on your playstyle. Here is a consolidated approach that works across all difficulty settings:

Early game — Sectors 1 and 2:

Start with Diana’s Hacking. The earlier you raise hacking damage and OPEN duration, the easier every standard fight becomes from that point forward. A few levels into Suit alongside it keeps you from dying to the harder hits that arrive in Sector 2. Hold off on Primary Unit for now.

If you are comfortable dodging and want to push damage as hard as possible, lean further into Hacking. If you are getting hit often or struggling with damage spikes, balance more into Suit sooner.

Mid game — Sectors 3 and 4:

Continue Hacking upgrades as new tiers unlock. Commit to Suit upgrades in parallel — the Main Excavation Site and Crane Operation Yard in Lunum Mines introduce enemy compositions that deal meaningful burst damage. Start putting Upgrade Components into Primary Unit once the first two categories feel stable. The Pulse Carbine becomes available in Sector 3, so Primary Unit investment starts paying dividends across both weapons from this point.

Late game — Sector 5 and cleanup:

By Central Port, all three categories should be receiving steady investment. New upgrade tiers unlock after each boss fight throughout the game, so return to the Firmware Updater every time you clear a sector. The Hacking upgrades that reduce Heat Gauge charge time become increasingly valuable in Red Zones and the late-game boss sequences, where Overdrive uptime makes a real difference.

How to Get More Upgrade Components

Upgrade Components are limited enough that you should explore every sector thoroughly rather than rushing the main path. Here is where they come from:

Environmental exploration is the primary source. Components are hidden across every sector — tucked behind Holo-Walls, in Safe Boxes, at the end of side paths, and inside rooms that look like dead ends. Many require the Lim Eraser or other story-unlocked abilities to access. If you find a blocked path, mark it and return after unlocking the right tool.

Boss rewards drop components automatically when you defeat each sector’s boss. These are guaranteed and cannot be missed.

Training Simulations are one of the best farming sources for components in the mid and late game. Completing Training Sim objectives at higher tiers rewards Upgrade Components alongside other materials. To unlock more Training Simulations, you need to find Training Data scattered through sectors — see our Pragmata training data locations guide for every location.

Data Shards hidden throughout sectors unlock specific unit printer options, and some also reward Upgrade Components directly on collection.

Escape Hatches — activating these in each sector functions as a checkpoint, but some also reward materials in the surrounding area when first opened. For all Escape Hatch locations, check our individual sector guides.

The key point: do not try to rush through sectors on the main path alone. The Firmware Updater runs on exploration. The more thoroughly you cover each area, the more components you have and the more cleanly you can keep all three categories progressing together. For a full breakdown of what each sector contains, see our Pragmata Unit Printer guide which covers the full Shelter upgrade ecosystem alongside the Firmware Updater.

Common Firmware Upgrade Mistakes

Spending everything on Primary Unit first. This is the most common new-player mistake. The Grip Gun feels familiar — it is a gun in a shooter, and upgrading a gun feels like progress. But it is the lowest-return investment of the three categories early on because raw gunfire is limited against armored enemies without hacking support. Hacking damage and OPEN duration make every fight better. Primary Unit upgrades make one weapon slightly more consistent.

Neglecting Suit until Sector 3. Some players push all Upgrade Components into Hacking and Primary Unit while keeping Suit at base level. This works in Sector 1 where enemies are manageable. It stops working in Sector 2, and by the time you hit the stronger enemy types in Sector 3 — including the invisible Creeper enemies in Terra Dome’s Soil Research — you will feel the gap. A few Suit upgrades earlier prevents multiple frustrating deaths later.

Assuming you can respec later. You cannot. There is no reset option for Firmware Updater upgrades. Every Upgrade Component you spend is a permanent decision. This is why understanding what each category does before spending matters.

Missing Upgrade Components by rushing sectors. Components are hidden behind exploration. Players who push the main story path without checking side rooms and Holo-Walls regularly arrive at late sectors significantly underleveled at the Firmware Updater compared to those who explored. Use Diana’s Item Scan ability from the Unit Printer to highlight nearby collectibles while you move through sectors.

Firmware Upgrades and Mods — How They Stack

Firmware Upgrades improve base stats permanently. Mods layer additional passive effects on top of those base stats. The two systems do not compete — they stack.

A higher base hacking damage from the Firmware Updater means every Mod that scales on hacking or damage output is worth more. Upgrading Hacking at the Firmware Updater first means your Decode node, your Expose node, and your Multihack all hit harder when you eventually equip them. The same principle applies to the Suit — higher base HP means damage-reduction Mods cover a larger absolute value.

Think of the Firmware Updater as your foundation and the Unit Printer’s Mods and Nodes as the structure you build on top. For the best Mods to pair with your firmware-upgraded stats, see our Pragmata best mods guide.

More Pragmata Guides

Pragmata is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam. Visit the official Pragmata website for more from Capcom.