Set in the same universe as the acclaimed Pillars of Eternity series, Obsidian Entertainment’s new video game doesn’t feature an automatic weapon upgrade system. That means you can often be under-geared if you don’t prioritize upgrading your stuff. Fortunately, only armor and weapons require such enhancements, so you don’t have to worry about other items’ combat potential. But how can players know how to level up their equipment? This system in Avowed requires understanding its fundamental rules, so let’s learn more about how it works.
TL;DR — Avowed Upgrade System Explained
- No level scaling → upgrading gear is essential.
- Upgrades are done at Workbenches in Camp.
- Weapons, armor, and unique items require specific materials.
- Each quality tier has sub-tiers (Common 1–3, etc.).
- Enchantments are permanent and can only be applied once.
Table of Contents
Materials
To advance your stuff, you’ll need dedicated materials to increase the combat potential of your armor and weapons. To do this, go to the workbench at any Camp (the only location where you can access workbenches). Once there, select an item that requires a level-up and invest the upgrading resources from your inventory. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see how many supplies you have. You have all the resources necessary to increase your armor or weapon stats if you see a shiny anvil icon next to your inventory items.
When you select an item in your inventory, you’ll see its current quality level. These tiers are separated into four categories:
- Common (green)
- Fine (blue)
- Exceptional (purple)
- Superb (red)
- Legendary (gold)
These tiers break down into sub-tiers (Common, Common 1, Common 2, and Common 3), so each item level-up requires multiple uses of resources. Therefore, plan which weapons you want to level up to avoid wasting supplies in the future. Here, you will find out what resources you’ll need to level up your items:
Herbs – required for all item level-ups.
| Tier | Herb |
|---|---|
| Common | Paradisan Ladder |
| Fine | Hylea’s Talon |
| Exceptional | Admeth’s Wyrt |
| Superb | Cave Coral |
| Legendary | Bloodwrithe Toadstool |
Wood – required for leveling up bows, wands, and grimoires.
- Softwood Branch (Common)
- Hardwood Branch (Fine)
- Petrified Wood Branch (Exceptional)
- Blackwood Branch (Superb)
- Glasswood Branch (Legendary)
Metal – required to advance bladed weapons.
- Iron Chunk (Common)
- Steel Chunk (Fine)
- White Steel Chunk (Exceptional)
- Living Iron Chunk (Superb)
- Living Steel Chunk (Legendary)
Skins and hides – required for armor advancements.
- Pelt (Common)
- Tanned Hide (Fine)
- Stelgaer Hide (Exceptional)
- Balarok Skin (Superb)
- Dragon Hide (Legendary)
Adra – required to advance a unique item to a higher tier.
- Adra for Common 3 to Fine
- Awakened Adra for Fine 3 to Exceptional
- Corrupted Adra for Exceptional 3 to Superb
- Adra Ban for Superb 3 to Legendary
Where can you find materials?
Herbs
You can obtain them in various areas by following the Universal Herb icon on your compass, opening chests, and checking trader’s wares. The more you explore, the better your chances of gathering the herb.
Metal, wood, and armor items
You can get them by opening chests and checking armor and weapon traders. It’s also obtainable by breaking down gear.
Adra
You can get it by breaking down unique weapons and armor found during your travels. It’s also available in secret chests from various traders or within the area.
Moreover, you can find various resources in their dedicated locations:
- Dawnshore – Common tier resources.
- Emerald Stair – Fine and Exceptional tier resources.
- Scatterscarp – Exceptional and Superb tier resources.
- Galawain’s Tusks – Superb tier resources.
Item Enchantments
In addition to the workbench, the Camp gives you an Enchanting Table for enchanting your unique weapons. It’s highly advisable to do so, as combining a high-tier item with the best enchantment can make you unbeatable in confrontations with various threats of the Living Lands.
When you enter the Enchantment station menu, you’ll have two enchanting options:
- Improve your unique weapon’s current enchantment.
- Pick a different enchantment so that the item behaves differently.
It’s important to note you cannot undo an enchantment, and each weapon can only be enchanted once. As with standard item improvements, you’ll need the required resources to enchant the item. These include:
Awakened Wood, Bear Claw, Beetle Shell, Binding Copper, Dank Spores, Ogre Blood, Primal Flame, Primal Rock, Primal Water, Primal Wind, Spider Leg, Spirit Residue, Vessel Bone, Vessel Flesh, Xaurip Tongue.
Conclusion
Hopefully, our quick guide helped you grasp how the item advancement system works in Obsidian Entertainment’s new game. Whenever you obtain a valuable item you want to use regularly, remember to improve and enchant it to enhance its stats. The best part is all the required resources are scattered throughout the game world, and you shouldn’t have trouble finding them when progressing through the story. This game brilliantly merges its encouragement of exploration with a linear narrative, letting you steadily advance along with the plot.