Upgrade Materials in Remnant: From The Ashes are very different from Crafting Materials. Technically, they're in the same category, but putting Iron or Lumenite crystals in the same classification as the materials that make up Boss Weapons doesn't make much sense. They have two entirely different functions!
Crafting Materials are what McCabe manages to turn into new Weapon Mods or Weapons. While Upgrade Materials are what Rigs uses to up the damage/defense of all the players gear. But, there's a lot of little things players should know about these items, so let's take a closer look.
What Are Upgrade Materials Used For?
Let's start things off by breaking down exactly what Upgrade Materials do, since it's pretty simple:
- Rigs, the Blacksmith of Ward 13, uses them to Upgrade Normal Weapons up to level 20, Boss Weapons up to level 10, & Armor Sets to up to level 20 (for each piece).
- Certain materials, such as Simulacrum, are used to upgrade the number of Dragon Hearts a player can carry at one time at the Root Moter (one of the smartest NPCs in the game).
- But, that's not all, certain Trinkets & Armor sets, such as the Scavenger's Ring & Scavenger's Set, turn the act of picking up Scrap or Upgrade Materials, into damage/defense buffs.
What Are The Different Types?
There are 6 different "types" of upgrade material, and once a weapon reaches a certain upgrade level, it needs to use the next material on the list in order to ascend any higher. From lowest to highest rarity, it's pictured in the image above. But, for those who want it listed out as well, here they all are from least to most rare:
- Iron
- Salvaged Iron
- Galvanized Iron
- Hardened Iron
- Lumenite Crystals
- Simulacrum
At first, players might only see Iron or even Salvaged Iron dropping from enemies & breakables. But, as they level up more and get farther into Remnant's campaign, the higher tier materials naturally start showing up as well.
How Many Are Used For Each Piece Of Armor Or Weapon?
Let's break it down a bit, how much of each material should players expect to spend upgrading something to max level? Let's use a full set of armor as a metric, since they all use the same amount & have the same cap:
Iron, Forged Iron, & Galvanized Iron:
- Chest Piece: 60 Total
- Boots: 45 Total
- Helmet: 30 Total
- 135 Total
Hardened Iron:
- Chest Piece: 70 Total
- Boots: 42 Total
- Helmet: 28 Total
- 140 Total
Boss Weapons:
- +1: 3 Lumenite, 10 Iron
- +2: 3 Lumenite, 15 Iron
- +3: 3 Lumenite, 20 Iron
- +4: 5 Lumenite, 15 Forged Iron
- +5: 5 Lumenite, 20 Forged Iron
- +6: 7 Lumenite, 15 Galvanized Iron
- +7: 7 Lumenite, 20 Galvanized Iron
- +8: 9 Lumenite, 15 Hardened Iron
- +9: 9 Lumenite, 15 Hardened Iron
- +10: 12 Lumenite, 1 Simulacrum
Now, How Are Players Supposed To "Farm" Them?
Exactly how are players supposed to farm all these materials? It's necessary info since each piece of Armor & each Weapon requires so many of them. The easiest way is just to run through the campaign or Adventure Mode, breaking everything in sight while trudging along, hoping they drop. But, there are other methods:
- Finding a Warp Crystal right next to where an Elite Enemy spawns, killing it, touching the crystal, backing out, then killing them again over & over. This is the best method for gaining Lumenite Crystals especially.
- Going through Rhom or Reisum & just slowly walking around, breaking everything (also a great way to farm Scrap easily).
- Clearing out a bit of progress in Adventure Mode & then coming back to see if Ace refreshed her shop.
- Joining some random player's game, helping them clear out a Realm or two, and heading back home with a bunch of Upgrade Materials in tow.
- Rerolling Adventure Maps and hunting down the single piece of Simulacrum in each Realm.
Quite frankly, most of these upgrade Materials aren't hard to come by, other than Lumenite Crystals or Simulacrum, so it isn't too difficult to build up a hefty pile of them without realizing it.
What Trinkets Or Armor Sets Help Out With This Grind?
This guide has covered what each material is, what it's used for, how to farm it, and why players need it, but what about items that help make this grind easier? That's right, there are actually a decent variety of different items in Remnant that increase the likelihood of finding certain Upgrade Materials. Just to list a few:
- The Adventurer's Armor Set: Increases the chance of Materials spawning from breakables (up to 30% increase with the full set)
- Loop Of Prosperity (Ring): Doubles the amount of Metal Materials gained on pickup (Requires getting 25 Boss Kills in the Survival Mode that's part of the Corsus DLC).
- Pearl of Luminescence (Ring): 70% chance to double the Lumenite Crystals dropped from killing elite enemies (the ring spawns randomly in Yaesha maps)
Some of these Trinkets require a fair bit of work or puzzle-solving, like the Loop of Prosperity, while others are basically handed to the player such as the Adventurer's Set. Either way, with the right gear, farming Upgrade Materials becomes easier than it already was.
Some Final Advice
Lastly, let's just go over some little pieces of info people don't seem to know about in relation to Upgrade Materials
- Ace's shop holds on to any item sold to her, including Upgrade Materials, which means players can sell their materials for immediate scrap, then buy the Materials back later.
- Players can break down higher-rarity materials into lower-rarity variants at Ace's shop as well
- There's a single Simulacrum hidden throughout each Realm, and while it allows players to upgrade any gear to its max level, it's highly recommended to use them on increasing max Dragon Heart capacity first.
- Higher-rarity Iron Materials are dropped based on the player's highest leveled gear, not their average gear level or their equipped gear.
And that's that! Upgrade Materials are pretty plentiful in Remnant, and the way both Simulacrum & the Adventure Mode works makes it very easy to max out gear quite early. That said, the enemies scale based on the player's gear as well, so it's a bit of a balancing act between leveling everything equally that really makes a character "feel overpowered".