The Jungle Gun is the backbone of combat in DAVE THE DIVER: In the Jungle. Unlike the base game where you scavenge weapons mid-dive, this DLC hands you a single modular weapon that swaps between four modes on the fly: rifle, shotgun, net gun, and sniper rifle. Every hostile creature in Utara Lake is your problem to solve with this one tool, so knowing which upgrade paths to take makes a real difference.
Upgrades are unlocked through Muna in the village after clearing the DLC's early chapters. Each weapon mode has two branching paths, and only one path can be active at a time. The good news: you can use the Retrieve option to refund your resources and swap paths whenever you want. Early upgrades cost Doni (the local currency) and basic materials, but the later tiers demand rare drops from specific fish like Fire Eels. Plan your farming accordingly before committing to the final-tier upgrades.
For a complete look at what you'll be hunting in the lake, the Dave the Diver In the Jungle fish guide covering all Utara Lake species by depth zone is worth bookmarking alongside this one.
Jungle Gun upgrade path menu
How do you unlock Jungle Gun upgrades?
After finishing a handful of the expansion's opening story chapters, Muna becomes available in the village and walks you through the upgrade system. From that point, you visit her to spend Doni and materials on each weapon's skill tree. The two-path structure means you're never permanently locked into a choice, but swapping costs resources, so it's worth getting your first pick right.
What are the best rifle upgrades?
The lower path is the right call for the rifle. Start with the Power Rifle upgrade, which boosts single-target damage without burning through ammo. This makes it reliable against bosses and large fish where you need sustained, accurate output rather than spray coverage.
From there, commit to the Stacked Flame Rifle. Each shot applies a stack to the target, and once three stacks accumulate, the enemy takes a burst of bonus damage followed by ongoing burn. Against the bigger, tankier fish you'll encounter deeper in Utara Lake, this combo is consistently effective.
The electric path isn't bad, but its machine-gun design and area-of-effect focus work against you when enemies are fast-moving and spread out. The flame path handles more situations cleanly.
Stacked Flame Rifle upgrade
What are the best shotgun upgrades?
Lean into the shotgun's strengths and take the top path. The first stop is the Quattro Shotgun, which bumps pellet count to 5. More pellets mean more raw damage per shot, and this variant is particularly punishing against large targets like the Black Caiman.
The final upgrade on this path is the Sticky Penta Shotgun. You trade some raw damage for the ability to slow enemies on hit. This sounds like a downgrade until you're deep in a dive, low on oxygen, and trying to land shots on a fish that won't stop moving. Slowing an enemy lets you swap to the rifle or sniper rifle and land clean hits on weak points without chasing it around the lake.
What are the best net gun upgrades?
The lower path here is arguably the most important upgrade in the entire weapon tree. It unlocks the sleep ray variant, which puts fish to sleep regardless of species. This matters because some fish can only be captured while sleeping, and getting three-star encyclopedia entries on certain animals requires it.
The final upgrade choice comes down to playstyle. The Wave Sleep Gun has reasonable ammo and range, making it forgiving to use. The Pulse Sleep Gun is easier to aim if you're struggling to hit moving targets. Both are excellent, and this should be one of the first upgrade paths you complete.
Pairing the net gun's sleep capabilities with the restaurant side of the DLC pays off too. Check the full villager favorite gifts guide to see which caught fish translate directly into relationship-building with the village.
Wave Sleep Gun upgrade path
What are the best sniper rifle upgrades?
The sniper rifle is the trickiest call because both paths are genuinely strong. Here's the breakdown:
The Powerful-Armor Piercing Sniper (lower path) is pure burst. Three shots, each dealing the highest possible damage. If you're confident in your aim and want to obliterate bosses quickly, this is the pick.
The Explosive Ping-Pong Sniper (upper path) is the better all-rounder. It hits up to two targets per shot and carries more than double the ammo of the armor-piercing variant. Against bosses or large fish where you need sustained pressure rather than three perfect shots, this version is more forgiving and just as effective overall.
After extensive testing against the lake's tougher encounters, the Ping-Pong Sniper earns its place as the default recommendation, with the armor-piercing version reserved for players who want a high-risk, high-reward boss-killing tool.
Sniper rifle upgrade paths
Putting it all together
The Jungle Gun's four modes are designed to work as a system, not independently. The shotgun slows, the rifle burns, the sniper finishes, and the net gun captures. Upgrading them in that order of priority (net gun first for the sleep ray, shotgun second for crowd control, rifle third for sustained damage, sniper last for boss burst) gives you a functional combat toolkit before the DLC's harder encounters show up.
For everything else the In the Jungle DLC has to offer, the full Dave the Diver strategy guide collection covers recipes, fish locations, and villager quests in one place.