So I've now sunk about 20 hours into this game and I still haven't managed to make sense of the gun/weapon system.

As far as I can tell, guns have 3 stats 1. Level (which I can't actually find on the item card) 2. Rarity 3. Iconic (boolean)

Iconic weapons are "unique" and have special effects, appearances, etc.

But what I don't understand is how a unique weapon can have a non-legendary rarity.

And even more confusing is how completely garbage some of them are.

Take "Dying Light" the gun you get for free at the very beginning of the game. It's garbage, but it's already legendary AND iconic, that combo should mean "good gun".

Which leads me to believe I'm supposed to upgrade it, that's fine. But am I just supposed to upgrade it like... 100 times? Is there a limit?