How to upgrade gear and the best upgrade to get first in A Plague Tale Requiem

Plague Tale Requiem is a thrilling third-person action-adventure experience available on PC and free to play with Xbox Gamepass. Amicia's story continues in this sequel, creating new obstacles and foes to overcome and brand-new possibilities, such as larger locations and expanded combat. You can utilize some familiar weapons and gear and learn to wield some new instruments as you struggle to survive the plague rats and avoid the French Inquisition. Continue to upgrade your equipment for better chances at survival and increase Amicia's power and ability.

How to upgrade your gear in A Plague Tale Requiem

Similarly to the first Plague Tale experience, you will use a workbench to upgrade your gear or craft. These workbenches are located in various places as you proceed and will offer you the opportunity to make your items more substantial and valuable. You will need tools and pieces to upgrade an item, and some of them may require larger amounts than others, depending on how significant the upgrade is. You can find tools and pieces while navigating through the locations, but it will require you to keep your eye peeled.

Each piece of gear you carry can be upgraded multiple times, but their consecutive upgrades will remain locked until the prior ones are activated. Hovering over each item and potential advancement in the menu will reveal a description of the benefits below and list how many pieces and tools are required for that upgrade.

Related: A Plague Tale Requiem pre-order bonuses– Pre-order Guide

How to get tools in A Plague Tale Requiem

You can find tools mostly in secret and golden chests as you explore Plague Tale Requiem. Tools are rarer to find than pieces, so look in every nook and cranny trying to find these golden chests. Golden chests are pretty common, but they are mostly off the beaten path, so they can take some effort to find. Secret chests, however, are harder to find and require a knife to open.

How to get pieces in A Plague Tale Requiem

You can find pieces in a lot of places in Plague Tale Requiem. You can always find them in golden and secret chests, like tools. You can find pieces in out-of-the-way locations sitting on a crate or something else. But this is mainly because you need far more pieces than tools.

You can also get pieces from getting recycling pots and bolts if you have the Recycling Tool upgrade in Instruments.

Related: A Plague Tale Requiem pre-order bonuses– Pre-order Guide

Best upgrade to get first in A Plague Tale Requiem

The best upgrades to focus on first are the advancements for the Instruments and Gear. Your Instrument works as an unlimited tool, meaning you will no longer need to collect tools to make upgrades. Once this upgrade tree is fully maxed out, upgrading the rest of your gear will be much easier. You will only need to collect pieces from here on out, which are much easier to locate than the tools.

Upgrading gear allows you to carry more pots, alchemical resources, and additional knives and Pyrite. Then finally, Alchemy, as you can create fire or bombs out of pots. Perfect for killing armored enemies.

Upgrades benefit your continued gameplay by making your weapons more potent and your gear more useful and successful overall. If you focus all your initial upgrades on maxing out the Instruments tree, you can get all your other equipment fixed up quickly, allowing for more seamless advancement in the story.

Looking for more Pro Game Guides Plague Tale Requiem content? Check out our guides on What languages does A Plague Tale Requiem support? or Is there co-op multiplayer in A Plague Tale Requiem?