Cabal's New Upgrading System

Upgrading simply by clicking on a core, then clicking on the item you wish to upgrade, is now a thing of the past. Upgrading items via any Core Alchemist has likewise gone the way of the dinosaurs, visible only in the museum of old screenshots. (Well, I am not talking about force core upgrades, now - only the +8 to +12 item level upgrades can be done anywhere. To fill the item slot you still need to visit your friendly local Alchemist.) The upgrading process now has a completely new, separate interface, that is accessible either via right-clicking on a core, or by clicking on the small button on the lower left side of your personal inventory screen.



The Upgrade Interface button on the inventory screen


The new Upgrading Interface

It doesn’t take much to figure out what is where on the new upgrading system. Item on the left, core/s at the right, and the section to display the result, along with the upgrade button, at the bottom. You add the item, the needed amount of cores, try to think positive thoughts, and hit the upgrade button. Succeed, and the item gains +1 upgrade level. Fail, and you can lose 1 to 2 upgrade levels.


The following guide should show you how simple it is:


Find a semi-decent item...


...add it, along with cores...


...and try to be lucky...


...or not, as the case may be

With the new system upgrading doesn’t take only one core. For the first couple of levels it does, after that you need two, then three, then four cores. Trying to upgrade with less cores is not possible. It is also not possible to use say Highest Cores on anything other than Mithril or Lycanus, while High Cores only work on Osmium to Sigmetal levels. Yes, cores are now limited to their actual item level.

The following list shows the amount of cores needed, per level (one a slightly related note, using a perfect core means you only need one core, instead of say two or three or whatever the case may be).


Core requirements for every upgrade level

One of the big questions also referred to the amount of stats items will gain for every +. EST provided the following table:


Item stat gains per upgrade level

Upgrading Astral Bikes did not change. You still need to right-click on the coating kit, then click on the bike. Their upgrading level is also still limited to +7, and failing the upgrade from +6 to +7 will still reset the Astral Bike to +0 again.


Credits: Cabal EU