Equipment upgrades: choose survival before convenience
Quick answer
Stamina and the Energy Shield are useful starting priorities; choose detection, healing and ship upgrades around the contract you actually run.
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Check rank requirements first
From update 0.26, shop access also depends on rank progression. Open Challenges in the Pause menu and complete the relevant tier before following an older shopping order. Credits alone no longer explain every locked item.
Build around your failure point
If chases repeatedly end before you reach cover, stamina is a more direct investment than extra convenience. If sudden close attacks end the run, practise the shield and improve it before filling the loadout with more tools. These are community recommendations rather than a universal mathematically optimal order.
Threat detection is useful when quiet enemies or uncertain corridors are the problem. A Health Injector becomes more valuable when poison or repeated damage prevents your team from finishing a contract. A Mini-map helps navigation, but it does not replace learning the route back to the shuttle.
Buy for a working plan
Do not buy containment solely because capture sounds lucrative if your team cannot yet identify the specimen and use its weakness. Ship ammunition support is useful when repeated damage phases exhaust supplies. Healing support addresses a different problem, so consider which shortage actually causes failed runs.
Before spending, ask: which contract will this purchase help, who will carry the tool, and what will we stop bringing to make room? Keep those roles explicit in co-op. Revisit the order when the active build changes rather than treating an old tier list as permanent.