Weapon Upgrade Materials and Costs in Phantom Blade Zero

Weapon upgrades use one metal by weapon type plus Solvent, and every main weapon shares the same Remnant Dust bill. Phantom Edges are the exception: each one wants its own material and never asks for Solvent. The three caps — 30, 35 and 60 — are not three different systems; they are the same system under three different conditions.

How to unlock weapon upgrades #

Upgrades unlock when you find the smith Forge at the Outpost in Weeping Creek Valley. After that first conversation, you never need to return to the smithy: any bell opens the same menu under Upgrade Equipment.

1. Reach the Outpost in Weeping Creek Valley

   Start from the Outpost Courtyard bell and look for the small door beside the two guards.

2. Open the west passage and climb the stone path

   Talk to Forge to open the west passage, then follow the stone path up to the smithy.

3. Talk to Forge twice and choose Upgrade Weapons

   The second conversation adds the Upgrade Weapons option. After that, the upgrade menu is available from any bell under Upgrade Equipment.

4. Pick Main Weapons or Phantom Edges

   The menu has two tabs. Main weapons use metal by weapon type plus Solvent; Phantom Edges use one dedicated material each and no Solvent.

Which material each weapon type needs #

Main weapons are grouped by how you hold them, and the game gives each group a different metal. Every main weapon also needs Solvent, which is the shared consumable in the recipe.

The two Phantom Edge examples with public names are the Dread Axe, which uses Darkfire Charcoal, and the Iron Gauntlets, which use Exotic Copper Ingot. Those are the shape of the recipe, not a complete list.

Upgrade costs, level by level #

Only the first two upgrades of one weapon have published numbers, so this is a sample rather than a full curve. Jagged Steel is the cleanest test case because two sources describe the same levels.

The jump from 1,080 to 1,620 is a 50% increase, which is not enough to prove a formula. Do not extrapolate the rest of the table from two rows.

What a full 1 → 30 run costs

One wiki lists the complete cost for the Wild Oriole Sword. We are printing it because it is the only full total available, not because we have reproduced it.

The same page lists the weapon at Lv.1 with 295 damage and 104 guard break, and at Lv.30 with 1,150 damage and 406 guard break. Those panel values are consistent with a roughly four-times damage curve, which is why the Dust total is high but not absurd.

There is also an Upgrade to Max option in the menu. It skips the repeated confirmations, not the cost: you still need the full Dust and material bill before it will run.

The three caps: 30, 35 and 60 #

The base cap is Lv.30. New Game Plus raises it to Lv.35 once you reacquire the same weapon, and a weapon with a +1 to +6 modifier can go further, up to Lv.60 at +6. The conditions stack, so a +6 weapon in New Game Plus is the top of the ladder, not a separate weapon class.

Mirage Estate is the gate for everything past 30. The source that documents the +6 ceiling is a single wiki, so the exact unlock condition for the first +1 is still open.

Reverting a weapon and Reforge Talismans #

Reverting sends a weapon back to Lv.1 and refunds every material and every point of Remnant Dust you invested. It is free up to Lv.10; above that, it consumes a Reforge Talisman.

The two talisman types are not interchangeable. Two free Phantom Reforge Talismans sit on a stone pillar in the hidden cave behind the waterfall at Great Waterfall, in Weeping Creek Valley. That is the cheapest way to undo a Phantom Edge upgrade; main weapons have to be paid for.

One source describes the refund without mentioning a level restriction at all. We are keeping the level split because the more detailed source states it explicitly, and the whole point of a revert is that you can afford to experiment.

Soul Tempering is a separate system #

Soul Tempering is not another word for upgrading. It is a one-time material infusion that changes a specific weapon's behaviour, costs 5,000 Remnant Dust plus one material, and has its own location at Myst in the underground tavern in Pangzhen. In the upgrade UI, press P to switch to it; the interface turns purple.

One source counts 47 Tempering materials, split into 24 for main weapons and 23 for Phantom Edges, with each material tied to one weapon. A collectibles overview counts 46. Both numbers are printed here because the missing item has not been identified.

For the blade most players meet first, the Jagged Steel page covers its Lv.5–25 skills. For which weapons are worth spending this bill on, see the early weapon list.

FAQ #

Sources #

Screenshots and credits

• No third-party screenshots, key art or soundtrack files are used on this page; every figure here is written from testing notes and the sources listed above.
• When screenshots are added, they will be captured by Parryline during normal gameplay, and each caption will name the platform and build plus the capture method.

Data is based on the current version of Phantom Blade Zero. Last updated Nov 8, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us with a screenshot and we will re-test it.