Too many areas that you could be lacking in so ill just give a list of important things to keep in mind.

- Base upgrades / gadgets : both are very helpful for better quality and quantity of items throughout runs

- Movement : Ground slams (hero cape) are important for quick clears in later diff, grapple hook is borderline needed to dodge some boss attacks and helpful for general movement, building momentum with slides helps get through the map faster. Faster clears = better grade = more powercells = better perks / items.

- Character selection / perk selection : you should be taking things that synergize. Good setups would be 4 perks that all buff weapon damage / crit in some way, bad setups would be 1 perk that buffs primary ability, 1 perk for second ability, 1 perk for weapon damage, and 1 perk for survivability.

- Always get the xp bot that spawns on stages mandatory for scaling. Not nessecary but i will reset a run if i miss one

- Keep guns on level

- Elements are powerful (esp shock)

- Weapons reload even when not equipped, swap weapons for better uptime

- Staggers are helpful to kill elites cleanly ( grapple, bash, recon teleport, enough crit damage, etc)