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How to upgrade weapons - Diablo 4

Upgrading weapons in Diablo 4 helps fill the void before you find something better.
Josh Broadwell
Josh Broadwell
1

How to upgrade weapons in Diablo 4 is something you’ll want to figure out early. Enhancing your items, whether they’re weapons or accessories, is an important part of upgrading your character and can help smooth out some of your rough edges while you’re waiting for the next tier of gear to drop. Not every piece of equipment is worth upgrading, though, especially given how steep the upgrade cost is.

How to upgrade weapons in Diablo 4

A menu image showing the player character upgrading armor by paying rawhide

You can upgrade weapons, armor, and accessories at any blacksmith across Sanctuary, and pretty much every settlement – even the dinkiest, most backwoods hamlets – has a blacksmith. Speak with the smith, and choose the “Upgrade” tab. It’s the furthest on the right, next to salvaging and repairing.

Any equipment you can upgrade has a little pickaxe icon in the corner of the gear square. Select the item you want to enhance, and move it to the enhanced slot on the left side of the screen. You’ll see a preview showing which stats will increase and how much the upgrade costs. The item power level is guaranteed to increase by a set amount with each upgrade, and most of the bonus effects usually increase as well.

Should you upgrade weapons in Diablo 4?

Whether you should upgrade depends on the gear in question. You can upgrade common and magic-tier items, but you really shouldn’t. Upgrading these uses valuable resources, and any Rare-grade gear will almost certainly outclass your upgraded magic and common items. These lower-rank items offer fewer benefits as well.

A menu image showing the player upgrading weapons by paying silver ore

Rare items are worth upgrading if they come with stats or buffs that fit your current build. The first two or three upgrades use materials that are fairly common, and Rare gear usually holds its own for a while, until you reach World Tier 3 when Legendary gear becomes more common.Upgrading Legendary items is always a good idea, and you absolutely should upgrade Unique items. Unique is the highest equipment tier, so until Blizzard adds more, you’ll want to get the most out of them.

Diablo 4 upgrade costs

Here’s what it takes to upgrade weapons and armor.

  • Tier 1 weapons and accessories: Iron Chunk
  • Tier 1 armor: Rawhide
  • Tier 2 weapons and accessories: Silver Ore
  • Tier 2 armor: Superior Leather
  • Tier 3 (all gear): Veiled Crystal
  • Tier 4 weapons: Baleful Fragment
  • Tier 4 armor: Coiling Ward
  • Tier 5 weapons and armor: Forgotten Soul

If you're wondering what to do after upgrading your best gear and defeating Lilith, check out our Diablo 4 endgame guide. Don't forget to upgrade your potions along the way as well.

Contributing Editor
Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.

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