How to make the most of your weapons in Nioh 3.
Knowing how to upgrade your weapons in Nioh 3 isn’t the be all and end all in the open-world RPG, especially as new and rare weapons are given to you at every corner. Though, if you find a weapon you really like and wish to keep a hold of, you may want to look into what the Blacksmith has to offer.
The Blacksmith’s options for upgrading your weapons aren’t as straight-forward as you’d expect at first, but improving the level, value, or changing the abilities of your weapon is easy enough after a few visits to the Eternal Rift. To help you out though, here’s how to upgrade weapons in Nioh 3.
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How to upgrade weapons in Nioh 3
To upgrade weapons in Nioh 3, you’ve a few things that you’ll need to do before tweaking your gear. The first of these things is actually unlocking the Blacksmith, and the second of these things is then unlocking Soul Matching with her (which is how you’ll upgrade your weapons).
First things first, you will need to defeat Jakotsu-Baba in the Crucible of Warring States at the very beginning of the game. After this, you’re taken to Hamamatsu and given the Guiding Mirror. This item then automatically teleports you to the Eternal Rift area, where the Fox-masked Blacksmith is now available for you to speak with. Make sure to grab the Shrine before leaving so that you can come back!
Your options with the Blacksmith at this point are as follows:
- Forge — you can use crafting materials such as Wood, Ingot, Leather Cord, and Lacquer to forge new weapons and armor.
- Forge Tools — you can use unique crafting materials to forge tools such as Arrows, Healing Pills and Rejuvenation Pills.
- Remodel — you can use crafting materials to remodel weapons and armor, changing the abilities of any gear that has a +Value. For weapons, this changes the reference stat for attack power. For armor, this increases defense in exchange for another stat.
- Disassemble — you can choose to disassemble existing items you own to get the forging materials from them, which you can then use for forging and remodeling. Materials received depend on type and rarity of the item being disassembled.
The above options are a matter of disassembling weapons for crafting materials, and crafting new weapons.
If you wish to upgrade your weapons, engage in dialogue with the Blacksmith to unlock the A Fierce Flame Myth (side mission). You will need to complete this Myth to unlock weapon upgrades.
For the Myth, you want to visit Lake Sanaru and head north of Maisaka Post Shrine, then west through the Lesser Crucible here. If you then follow the Scampuss in the upcoming area and ascend the mountain, you’ll be able to loot Kagutsuchi’s Magatama, which you can then return to the Blacksmith in Eternal Rift.
By returning this item to the Blacksmith and concluding the Myth, you’ll unlock new options with her such as Soul Matching, which is how you can upgrade your weapons.
The options unlocked with the Blacksmith after completing her Myth are as follows:
- Soul Match — Soul Matching allows you to raise the Level or +Value of your preferred weapon or piece or armor using Yellow, Viridian, and Azure Soul Cores. Increasing an item’s Level or +Value will increase the attack or defense value of that item. Gear levels cannot exceed anymore than your own Level plus two.
- Soul Extraction — Soul Extraction allows you to disassemble your items – much like the Disassembling option – but you’ll receive materials needed specifically for Soul Matching rather than those needed for Forging.
So if you wish to increase the power or defense of an item (and therefore upgrade it), you’ll want to use Soul Matching and whatever materials you currently have (or complete Soul Extraction to get these materials) to increase its Level or +Value. This will also cost you some Gold, so bear that in mind.
Upgrading your weapons requires some legwork, but once it’s done, it’s done. Good luck!
For more on Nioh 3, take a look at our list of bosses, where to find all Scampusses, and how to change your appearance in-game.
