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There are a lot of Augments in Dune Awakening and sifting through them all can feel overwhelming when there's so many bonuses, penalties, and effects to read. This Tier List will help to steer you towards the Augments most worth paying attention too. We'll tell you about all the best Augments in Dune Awakening, so you can make the correct choice when Augmenting your gear.
We've structured this Tier List based on which Augments are most useful/powerful across all content, rather than creating a separate list for both PVP and PVE. However, in the discussion we do note the key strengths & weaknesses of each.
Hopefully this Tier List can help you think about which Augments are worth pushing for in the Overland Testing Stations.
Note: This Tier List will be a living Tier List, updated as new Chapters of content are released and balance patches change the meta.
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Dune Awakening Best Augments - Tier List
This Tier List is focused on the power of Augments at higher Grades, when the bonuses they provide becomes much more substantial and more heavily outweigh any listed drawbacks. Augments are obtained in the Overland Testing Stations, which were added in the Chapter 3 update.
Garment Augment Discussion
Garment Augments can be fitted into any piece of Armor, with the exception of the Tactical Radiation Suit, which cannot use Radiation Mitigation Augments.
S-Tier Discussion
Woven Reinforcement & Blade-warding Weave
These Augments can roll up to 4% Blade Mitigation at Grade Five, providing a noticeable boost to your Blade defence. Not only can this help your survivability against regular enemies or players with melee weapons, but when fighting bosses the difference is life saving. In Testing Station 195 (Poison) the boss's Knee Charge ability can catch you off guard, potentially one-shotting you at higher difficulties. To avoid one-shots like this, we just need to wear some Blade Mitigation armor and add a few Woven Reinforcements or Blade-warding Weaves.
Dart-proof Latticing & Penetrative Reinforcement
These Augments give up to a 5.5% increase to Dart Mitigation, giving you fighting chance against ranged attacks when your shield goes down from damage or during firefights. Dart Mitigation is useful almost everywhere, but finds a lot of value when fighting the Testing Station 152 (Electric) boss, because it can allow you to tank more shots from the boss's gun.
Garment Reinforcement
Garment Reinforcements give up to a 20% increase to your Armor Value, increasing your damage reduction. This Augment slots best into your Chest Piece, which should have the highest base Armor Value, with Helmets and Leggings getting the second most value.
A-Tier Discussion
There are no Garment Augments in A-Tier because the perceived value of an A-Tier augment does not align with any of the Garment Augments.
B-Tier Discussion
Flame-resistant Fabrics & Radiation Absorbing Fabrics
With only 3% Fire Mitigation added at most from a Grade Five Flame-resistant/Radiation Absorbing Fabric, these Augments don't provide enough Mitigation when you need it most. At Grade Three, the earliest Grade they drop at, they'll only give a tiny 1.38% Fire Mitigation at most. By the time you have farmed enough of these Augments, you're probably at a difficulty where the extra Fire Mitigation won't be saving your life anyway. A dedicated player could double Augment their Forge set to get at most 30% more Fire Mitigation, but that's a lot of effort for a specialty outfit, only really helpful in Testing Station 136 (Fire).
Curative-infused Padding & Detoxifying Fabrics
These Augments can give 4% Poison Mitigation at Grade Five, which is a decent boost, but Poison damage is one of the more avoidable damage types in the game. In PVP you might find yourself getting poisoned more often, however in that situation it's likely a different type of damage mitigation would serve you better.
C-Tier Discussion
Radiation Shielded Latticing
A Radiation Mitigation Augment that can't be slotted into the one piece of armor you'd like to put it on the most, the Radiation Suit. 6% Radiation Mitigation is quite high for an Augment, but if you need to resist radiation, you're better off just wearing a Radiation Suit.
Energy Dispersing Padding & Energy Resistant Weave
Energy is a fairly uncommon damage type in Dune Awakening and even though you can get 5.5% Energy Mitigation from these Augments at Grade Five, you'll struggle to find a good use case for them. If damage mitigation applied to shields, these Augments might prove useful, however damage mitigation from armor only applies once your shields are down.
Concussive Dampening & Concussive Redirection
These give up to a 4% Concussive Mitigation, but very few things deal this kind of damage. Explosive damage counts as Concussive, but it's probably preferable to just move away from a grenade, than slot a bunch of these into your armor.
Desert-tested Weave
Up to 100% Heat Protection is at least a large bonus for its type, but when would you really need it outside of a Fremen cosplay? You'll be able to avoid sunstroke, but a Literjon in your pack already mitigates that without taking up a slot in your armor.
Melee Augment Discussion
Melee Augments can be used by all melee weapons.
S-Tier Discussion
Blade Sharpener
Blade Sharpener is the undisputed king of melee Augments, giving up to a 70% increase to your Blade Damage at Grade Five. This Augment has no downside and is fairly common, making it an easy choice for your first Augment on any melee weapon.
Heavy Blade Adjuster
Like the Blade Sharpener, this Augment can roll up to 70% increase to your blade damage at Grade Five. This Augment is preferred over Edge Optimizer, because the downside of 10% increased Block Stamina Cost, doesn't really come into play. Blocking is not used very often and when it is, you won't really feel the difference.
Edge Optimizer
The third best Melee Augment is the Edge Optimizer, which still offers up to a 70% increase to Blade Damage at Grade Five. This time it comes at a cost of 10% increased Attack Stamina Cost, which isn't that big a penalty, but makes Blade Sharpener and Heavy Blade Adjuster a priority over the Edge Optimizer.
A-Tier Discussion
There are no Melee Augments worthy of a place in A-tier, with the difference between S-Tier and B-Tier being so huge.
B-Tier Discussion
Blade Grip Adjuster & Aggressive Grip Adjuster
These Augments just scrape into B-Tier, climbing their way out of C-Tier despite their limited use case. Up to 20% reduced Attack Stamina Cost is an okay bonus for the player who likes to spam blade attacks, however having to give up a 70% damage boost from a higher tier Augment makes these a tough sell. If there wasn't already three great damage Augments, you might be able to slot one of these in as a third, but as it stands there are far better alternatives.
C-Tier Discussion
Blade Flexi-coating & Defensive Grip Adjuster
Both of these Augments give a 20% reduction to Block Stamina Cost, however Defensive Grip Adjuster comes with an added penalty to Attack Stamina Cost. These Augments are truly useless, enabling you to block a little more than you could before. The only thing they have going for them is they don't actively hurt your damage like the Blade Optimizer and Lightweight Adjuster do. You would be better off recycling these for the Schematics.
Blade Optimizer & Lightweight Adjuster
Both of these Augments actually penalise your Blade Damage by 5% or 7%, and all you get in return is up to 20% reduced Attack Stamina Cost and/or 20% reduced Block Stamina Cost. This is such an incredibly bad deal that I would put these Augments even lower if I could.
Protective Coating
Protective Coating is a unique Augment that can be added to any weapon or armor piece.
B-Tier Discussion
Protective Coating
At first glance this Augment seems great, no more Durability Death Penalty on your gear. The problem is you have to sacrifice an Augment slot to get it and when Augments are so powerful, you are losing out on a lot. The extra Mitigation on your Armor or Damage on your weapon might have kept you alive to begin with.
Shared Ranged Augment Discussion
Shared Ranged Augments can be used by all ranged weapons.
S-Tier Discussion
Heavy Caliber Upgrade
The undisputed queen of Ranged Augments giving up to a massive 70% increase to your ranged damage at Grade Five. This Augment has no downside and is fairly common, making it an easy choice for your first Augment on any ranged weapon. The variant of this Augment is called House Heavy Caliber Upgrade, but it cannot be obtained from Overland Testing Stations or at high Grades.
A-Tier Discussion
Disruptive Coating
Shield Damage is fairly hard to come by and the up to 20% bonus Shield Damage you can get from this Augment is nothing to sneeze at. It's in A-Tier for its use on high shield damage weapons, like the Experimental Lightning Gun.
Quick-release Trigger
Up to 34% increased Rate of Fire with no downside is a solid bonus, but it works best once you already have a damage bonus Augment on your weapon already.
Tactical Enhancer
Headshot damage is additive, but for weapons that love to click on heads the up to 50% Headshot Damage of Tactical Enhancer is quite strong.
B-Tier Discussion
Capacity Expander
Up to a 50% increase to Clip Size is an okay boost, but most weapons already have a specialty Augment which gives you a much bigger increase. If Clip Size increases weren't so prevalent elsewhere, the Capacity Expander would be valued a lot higher.
C-Tier Discussion
Precision Barrel Adjuster
In a vacuum up to a 25% bonus to Accuracy is nice, but we have to look at the opportunity cost when deciding on the best Augment. This kind of bonus just doesn't pay off at the end of the day, especially when it's competing with direct damage increases.
Barrel Extender
If all you can get is an increase of up to 25% Effective Range, you're not going to see much of a difference except in some very rare cases. Maybe a Lasgun would like this most, but the Lasgun already has an extender that increases Effective Range by 50%.
Quickloader
10% faster reloads is such a small bonus that you'll hardly even notice it, even if you have a weapon with a very small clip size. Lots of other Augments pair this bonus with other bonuses, which leaves the Quickloader far behind in value.
Recoil Adjuster
This Augment will reduce your recoil by up to 50% but it won't stop your accuracy from getting worse as you shoot. The recoil of weapons in Dune Awakening isn't too bad, so the need for recoil reduction isn't really necessary.
Weapon Specific Augments
These Augments are restricted to specific weapons and can only be used by the weapons listed at the start of each category.
Disruptor M11 Augment Discussion
Disruptor M11 Augments can be used by A Dart For Every Man and Sardaukar Intimidator.
S-Tier Discussion
Disruptor M11 Sprayer doesn't care if you want to deal shield or health damage, so it will pair perfectly with whatever other Augments you use. A huge clip size and Rate of Fire increase, with a small penalty to Reload Time is a great trade off.
A-Tier Discussion
Disruptor M11 Amplifier gives a nice damage increase, without the hit to Clip Size that Disruptor M11 Heavy Kit has.
Disruptor M11 Precision Tuning gives a large increase to Clip Size, reduces Recoil and increases Accuracy, but we like it most for the Clip Size.
Disruptor M11 Quickloader has solid Rate of Fire increase, with a little boost to Reload Speed and a small Accuracy/Damage downside. We value this most for the Rate of Fire increase.
B-Tier Discussion
Disruptor M11 Heavy Kit has a sizeable Damage increase, but the hit to Clip Size makes us prefer other alternatives to get a Damage boost.
Disruptor M11 Shield Breaker gives a boost to Shield Damage, and Effective Range, but it comes with a penalty to Rate of Fire, so we'd rather just use a Disruptive Coating.
Drillshot FK7 Augment Discussion
Drillshot FK7 Augments can be used by Ambition, Penetrator, and Regis Burst Drillshot.
S-Tier Discussion
Drillshot FK7 Sprayer gives a nice boost to Rate of Fire and a huge boost to Clip Size. It's like two augments in one and goes a long way to make up for the drillshot's small Clip Size.
Drillshot FK7 Optimizer gives a large Damage increase and Recoil Reduction for only a tiny hit to Accuracy. Drillshots are in sore need of extra Damage and the tiny hit to Accuracy is worth the sacrifice.
B-Tier Discussion
Drillshot FK7 Amplifier adds another nice boost to Damage, unfortunately this time it comes with a penalty to Clip Size, which is something we'd prefer to avoid. This Augment relies on you already having a Clip Size Augment slotted, like the Drillshot FK7 Sprayer, so it can't quite reach A-tier.
C-Tier Discussion
Drillshot FK7 Tactical Adjuster gives a bonus to Headshot Damage, Accuracy and Effective Range, but with a small hit to Rate of Fire. Drillshots can't headshot through shields, so we can't really capitalise on the Headshot Bonus very often.
Drillshot FK7 Quickloader gives a bonus to Headshot Damage and penalises our Clip Size, but drillshots can't headshot through shields, so you're unlikely to make good use of the bonus.
Flamethrower Augment Discussion
Flamethrower Augments can be used by Glasser and Vaporizer.
S-Tier Discussion
Flamethrower Amplifier has a high bonus to Damage and reduction in Recoil, making it one of the best Augments you can get. Unfortunately it can only be used on a Flamethrower, which is one of the worst weapons you can get.
A-Tier Discussion
Flamethrower Superheater increases your Rate of Fire and would add a nice bonus to Burning Damage, if the Fire Damage-Over-Time effect scaled well. As it stands this Grade Five only Augment just doesn't do enough to stand out.
B-Tier Discussion
Flamethrower Nozzle Extension gives an okay boost to Clip Size and Extended Range, making it a decent Augment, but it doesn't improve the Flamethrower's poor Damage stat.
C-Tier Discussion
Flamethrower Quickloader has Recoil Reduction and a small boost to Reload Speed. It combines two Shared Range Augments, the Recoil Adjuster and Quickloader to make an Augment that remains mediocre.
GRDA 44 Augment Discussion
GRDA 44 Augments can be used by Perforator and Shellburster.
S-Tier Discussion
GRDA 44 Amplifier provides two stats we love, a large Damage boost and Spread Reduction. It takes a small hit to Effective Range, but that doesn't stop this Augment from being amazing.
A-Tier Discussion
GRDA 44 Expander can more than double your Clip Size and increase Effective Range by 25% for a tiny hit to Damage. It's a pretty good deal, but we'd prefer damage through raw stats when firing extra shots costs more durability.
GRDA 44 Optimizer gives us the Damage we need, but it lowers our already low Clip Size. The burst damage might be worth the sacrifice, depending on the situation.
B-Tier Discussion
GRDA 44 Sprayer is basically just a Quick-release Trigger with a downside. We don't really need to double stack Rate of Fire, but the Sprayer or Quick-release Trigger can be a good third Augment.
C-Tier Discussion
GRDA 44 Micro-Rigidity Coating only gives us some Effective Range and Accuracy, but it hits us with a reduced Clip Size, a terrible trade.
JABAL Spitdart Augment Discussion
JABAL Spitdart Augments can be used by Dunewatcher and Regis Tripleshot Repeating Rifle.
S-Tier Discussion
JABAL Spitdart Expander is a total game-changer for the Regis Tripleshot Repeating Rifle, catapulting the Clip Size by up to 300% and giving Rate of Fire. This Augment is one of the best there is and turns the Tripleshot into an S-tier weapon.
JABAL Spitdart Amplifier is almost as good as a Heavy Caliber Upgrade, the only difference being a tiny hit to our Recoil. An easy choice for your second or third Augment.
B-Tier Discussion
JABAL Spitdart Tactical Enhancer helps out our Headshot Damage, but it's most useful on the Dunewatcher and we already have other Damage options, including the Shared Range Augment Tactical Enhancer.
C-Tier Discussion
JABAL Spitdart Disruptive Coating makes us trade Clip Size for Shield Damage when we could get Shield Damage without the downside through Disruptive Coating. You're not breaking shields with a Spitdart anyway, so give this one a miss.
JABAL Spitdart Range Adjuster gives a bonus to Effective Range and Accuracy at the cost of some Reload Speed. These aren't really stats we're concerned about and are not worth an Augment slot.
JABAL Spitdart Toxicity Amplifier can give you a 200% bonus to the weapon's Poison Damage-Over-Time effect. Unfortunately the poison doesn't scale and some testing has shown this Augment might be bugged and not properly increasing the damage.
Karpov 38 Augment Discussion
Karpov 38 Augments can be used by Experimental Lightning Gun, Indara's Lullaby, and Salusan Vengeance.
A-Tier Discussion
Karpov 38 Heavy Kit has a bonus to Damage, but at the cost of Clip Size. Damage at a cost is usually not what we're looking for when Heavy Caliber Upgrade exists.
Karpov 38 Pressurizer gives bonus Damage at a cost again, this time lowering Rate of Fire with the added perk of Accuracy and Shield Damage. It's good overall, but we really would prefer something that doesn't have a significant drawback, so this Augment sits in A-Tier as well.
Karpov 38 Precision Kit comes with Headshot Damage and up to 100% Clip Size, which is a pretty great bonus with only a little hit to Accuracy. Hitting consistent headshots is hard for rifles and the longer you shoot the less accurate you become, so this combo isn't as nice as it might seem.
B-Tier Discussion
Karpov 38 Dart Sprayer is not built like other Sprayer Augments, which usually add a secondary bonus. It copies Quick Release Trigger's Rate of Fire and reduces Damage by 5% making this an inferior choice to a Shared Range Augment.
C-Tier Discussion
Karpov 38 Focuser does a lot of things that aren't that important. A decent bonus to accuracy and recoil, with a small bonus to reload. It's not bad but it takes 5% off your damage and only really benefits you with some added accuracy.
Lasgun Augment Discussion
Lasgun Augments can be used by Black Market K-28 Lasgun.
S-Tier Discussion
Lasgun Amplifier has the Damage we need and we only take a small hit to Effective Range, a pretty good trade.
A-Tier Discussion
Lasgun Harmonizer is a good second and great third Augment for the Lasgun, giving it Power Cost Reduction and a good Rate of Fire increase.
Lasgun Focuser is a more situational Augment because it gives good Damage, but the drawback of extra Power Consumption makes your Lasgun even more of a burst weapon.
C-Tier Discussion
Lasgun Extender isn't giving you direct Damage or Rate of Fire, but some Effective Range and Accuracy. In theory the Effective Range would help you out against targets that are farther away, but really it's not going to help you more than another Damage or Rate of Fire Augment.
Maula Pistol Augment Discussion
Maula Pistol Augments can be used by Shishakli's Bite and Way of the Misr.
A-Tier Discussion
Maula Pistol Disruptive Coating's drawback is enough to push it just out of S-Tier, but it's still a very strong pick. Damage to Health and Shields is a fine bonus, but taking a hit to Clip Size is going to affect our rating here. If you value the Shield Damage on your Maula, you could bump this up to S-Tier.
Maula Pistol Expander is a good Augment that doesn't do enough by itself and needs some Damage to get value. The increase to Clip Size and Rate of Fire is really nice, with only a small hit to Damage and Accuracy.
B-Tier Discussion
Maula Pistol Sprayer isn't nearly as good as some of the other Sprayer type Augments and loses out to Quick-release Trigger.
C-Tier Discussion
Maula Pistol Tactical Enhancer provides a boost to Headshot Damage, Accuracy, and Recoil Reduction, but it hits our Rate of Fire and Clip Size. This isn't really what we're looking for on a Maula pistol, you're better off going raw Damage.
Missile Launcher Augment Discussion
Missile Launcher Augments can be used by The Ancient Way.
S-Tier Discussion
Missile Launcher Fragmenter increases your Splash Radius, which is huge for The Ancient Way, because this weapon is best used to take out groups of enemies. Hitting two enemies instead of one can be seen as doing double damage, making this a very worthwhile Augment. It also gives a little bump to Reload Speed which is a nice bonus.
Missile Launcher Heavy Payload is a huge Damage boost and all you lose is a little Shield Damage, which you probably weren't using The Ancient Way for anyway. This Augment is on par with the Heavy Caliber Upgrade Augment, so it comes highly recommended.
C-Tier Discussion
Missile Launcher Disruptive Coating really is quite a sad Augment, with stats equal to the Disruptive Coating Augment you can put in any weapon, but with a hit to our Reload Speed. The Ancient Way is much better when used against unshielded targets, but even if it wasn't this is a pretty poor Augment.
Missile Launcher Quickloader is solving a problem The Ancient Way doesn't have: Accuracy and Recoil aren't an issue for a single shot, lock-on weapon. You get 10% Reload Speed, but lose 5% Damage, which is a terrible exchange.
Pyrocket Augment Discussion
Pyrocket Augments can be used by Plastanium Pyrocket.
S-Tier Discussion
Pyrocket Supercharger is such a fantastic Augment for such a terrible weapon. Big Damage and Rate of Fire in exchange for 20% worse Reload Speed makes this an easy pick for your Pyrocket.
B-Tier Discussion
Pyrocket Quickloader combines the bonuses of Capacity Expander and Quickloader, in exchange for a little drop in Accuracy and Shield Damage. This Augment is okay, but it doesn't do much to overcome the Pyrocket's poor damage output.
Rafiq Snubnose Augment Discussion
Rafiq Snubnose Augments can be used by Regis Disruptor Pistol and Seethe.
S-Tier Discussion
Rafiq Snubnose Heavy Kit is absolutely incredible for the Seethe. It provides raw Damage and Headshot Damage, two stats that Seethe really wants. The downside of 20% less Rate of Fire doesn't end up being a huge detriment because firing too fast with the Seethe will ruin your Accuracy.
A-Tier Discussion
Rafiq Snubnose Expander seems better than it actually is because doubling your Clip Size can be both good and bad. When using a Seethe your damage is coming from landing headshots. With an increased Clip Size you can fire up to six times in a row, which sounds great, but after the third or fourth shot your Accuracy drops significantly, making it difficult to land the headshots you need. Regis Disruptor Pistol might like the extra Clip Size, but you'd probably prefer to do a mass burst in one or two shorts, rather than spreading your damage out.
B-Tier Discussion
Rafiq Snubnose Quickdraw Assembly needs to do more than it does for it to be really useful. Less Recoil, better Accuracy, and a small increase to Reload Speed are nice, but the 5% hit to Damage sours the deal. There's no real damage bonus here and while this might help you land more consistent headshots, it ends up being worse than a Tactical Enhancer Augment.
C-Tier Discussion
Rafiq Snubnose Disruptive Coating trades half your Clip Size to give you the same Damage that a Heavy Caliber Upgrade would. This Augment makes a Seethe practically unusable, but the Regis Disruptor Pistol can make use of it if you want to keep your unshielded damage high.
Rafiq Snubnose Sprayer is just a worse Quick-release Trigger and we aren't interested in firing faster, we just want to deal more damage.
VULCAN GAU-92 Augment Discussion
VULCAN GAU-92 Augments can be used by Bashar's Command and Plasma Cannon.
S-Tier Discussion
VULCAN GAU-92 Disruptive Coating will give your Plasma Cannon more Damage to health and shields for a tiny penalty. One of the most generous damage boosts you will find in an Augment.
VULCAN GAU-92 Expander gets the Plasma Cannon to a Power Consumption breakpoint with the Young Sparky Mk6, where you can basically fire non-stop without depleting your power.
B-Tier Discussion
VULCAN GAU-92 Sprayer is just like the Quick-release Trigger Augment, but with some small downsides. This isn't something you would use unless there are no Quick-release Triggers available.
C-Tier Discussion
VULCAN GAU-92 Focuser reduces Rate of Fire, to give some Accuracy, Recoil Reduction, and Effective Range, which isn't really enough to make it worth using over a direct Damage increase Augment.
