Nier Replicant Upgrade Materials - where to get all items for weapon upgrades
Combat is a major part of Nier Replicant, and in order to master combat you'll need to make the most of many of the systems around it, like magic and the different attack methods you can deploy. However, once you find the best weapon for you, you'll then want to focus down on upgrades to that particular implement of destruction. In order to upgrade, you'll need upgrade materials - and as in many RPGs, this is where the grind comes in.
Weapon upgrades are a useful and important part of Nier Replicant for a lot of reasons. For one, there's several trophies & achievements attached to forging upgrades for your weapons. Second, and more obvious, upgraded weapons are more powerful and will serve you better in Nier Replicant's combat. A fully-upgraded weapon with a couple of powerful Words attached can buff you to the point that combat encounters are breezy affairs.
The main issue with upgrades is the cost. You'll want to collect all 30 weapons in order to see Nier Replicant's various endings - and all of those can be upgraded. You'll need a wide variety of materials - and some of them are very expensive or rare. To make your life easier, this page lists how to get all of the upgrade materials, including tips for the best places to farm certain materials that you'll need a lot of to complete your weapon upgrades.
- How to Upgrade Weapons in Nier Replicant
- Upgrade Material Farming & Gathering Tips
- Full Upgrade Materials List & Farming Locations
How to Upgrade Weapons in Nier Replicant
You'll unlock weapon upgrading early on in the game as part of the main story. The first time you head to 'The Junk Heap', you'll be directed towards a building that's actually the 'Two Brothers Weaponry' store, which sells various items and more importantly has a Forging option to Strengthen Weapons. This will be locked off at first, but the main story will see you gather some materials and do a sort of tutorial weapon upgrade to teach you how the system works - after that, you're on your own. The upgrade shop is available all game after it's initially unlocked, except for a brief interlude at the halfway point of the game where it'll be closed. If you find that it's unavailable, just advance the story a little further - it'll reopen again soon enough.
Each weapon starts out at level 1 and maxes out at level 4. Each level upgrade will require several materials and a handful of gold to forge and strengthen it. Naturally, the higher the level of the weapon, the more materials it will cost to improve. The cash cost is always 1000 Gold each time. If you need it, we have a separate page that lists all weapons in Nier Replicant alongside their stats at every upgrade level.
There's 30 total 'normal' weapons in Nier Replicant, plus three included DLC weapons accessible via a book in your house. You'll need to upgrade all of the normal weapons to get your hands on the forging and upgrade related trophies - and that means hundreds of mats will be required in order to upgrade them all.
Upgrade Material Gathering & Farming Tips
When the time comes to gather weapon upgrade materials, you'll need to turn your attention to Nier Replicant's enemies, as for the most part you'll be getting the upgrade materials as drops from defeated enemies. You'll notice drops as the orbs that come out of enemies when they die; green orbs are common or uncommon items, while yellow/golden orbs contain rare items.
These drops remain on-screen for a while but do eventually disappear, so you might want to prioritize moving towards them to automatically pick them up even if you're still in combat.
You can also use Words to increase your drop rate. Words featured in the 'mah' group all act to increase drop rate chance, which levels up the chances of a drop and the chance of that drop being rarer. Consider heading into the word edit menu to change up your words in this direction before hitting the grind.
Finally, many materials are also available from shops throughout the world. Several locations even have dedicated material shops, and even the Two Brothers Weaponry itself sells some materials. This is an expensive way to do things, however - but if you've been raking it in by completing side quests, catching fish or cultivating flowers, you might have the gold to spare.
Upgrade Materials List & Farming Locations
Below is a list of every upgrade material in the game, plus some direction on where to find and farm it. The locations we list might not be exhaustive, but they should be enough to get you through the game and upgrade trees. There are other materials beyond this, but these are the only ones used in upgrades - everything else is either for side quests, or can be freely sold.
- Amber
- Black Pearl
- Broken Antenna
- Broken Arm
- Broken Battery
- Broken Earring
- Broken Lens
- Broken Motor
- Broken Pottery
- Broken Saw
- Broken Wristwatch
- Clay
- Complex Machine
- Copper Ore
- Crystal
- Damascus Steel
- Dented Metal Bat
- Eagle Egg
- Elaborate Machine
- Fluorite
- Forlorn Necklace
- Giant Egg
- Gold Ore
- Iron Ore
- Large Gear
- Machine Oil
- Memory Alloy
- Metal Piercing
- Meteorite
- Moldavite
- Mysterious Switch
- Natural Rubber
- Pearl
- Pyrite
- Rusted Clump
- Rusty Bucket
- Rusty Kitchen Knife
- Scorpion Claw
- Silver Ore
- Simple Machine
- Stopped Clock
- Stripped Bolt
- Subdued Bracelet
- Titanium Alloy
- Twisted Ring
Junk Heap Level B2. Blow up a barrier to take the northern path; this leads to a large room filled with crates - which have a chance to drop this rare material, among some others.
Seafront Beach - available as a natural gathering drop in the area.
Drops from Robot enemies in the Junk Heap. Common.
Drops from Robot enemies in the Junk Heap. Common.
Commonly drops from the Flying Robots in the Junk Heap.
Can drop from the adult magic-casting Shades that are found in the Northern Plains and atop the Lost Shrine.
Dropped by robots in the Junk Heap, in particular the basic, boxy, grounded robots. Two Brothers Weaponry also sells it for just over 1000 Gold per unit.
Drops often from the flying robots found throughout the Junk Heap dungeon.
Available from a gathering point, but only rarely - it shows up at a spawn directly beneath the house of the Aerie Chief, and on the path leading out of the Aerie back to the Plains.
A rare drop from smaller shades. We’ve found these to drop on both the Northern and Southern Plains - and they seem more likely from the armored small shades with helmets than the unarmored ones.
Once you’ve collected all five fragments in the story, return to the Forest of Myth to get a side quest, ‘A Magical Stone’. If you complete this quest, you can talk to the Fortune Teller again to replay the prologue. The hat-wearing enemies here can be farmed here.
A rare drop from the armored shades that carry the large tower shields. These can be found in both the Northern and Southern Plains, but their spawning is also partially governed by the in-game weather; in sunny but mildly overcast weather, more spawn than when it is completely overcast. Additionally, you can find some of these Shades in the Shadowlord’s Castle during your story-based trip there.
Once you’ve collected all five fragments in the story, return to the Forest of Myth to get a side quest, ‘A Magical Stone’. If you complete this quest, you can talk to the Fortune Teller again to replay the prologue. The enemies here can be farmed, and some can drop Broken Wristwatches.
Available from resource deposits across the world, though the most common place to find it is at several spots within the rooms of the Barren Temple, which the story takes you to, with more visits for side quests. You can also buy it from the Facade Materials Shop.
A moderately uncommon drop from the larger types of Shade. Part of a series alongside the Simple Machine (common) and Elaborate Machine (Rare). These appear all over, including in the Barren Temple, the Lost Shrine if you return there right before the final battles, and on the Southern Plains approaching Seafront town.
- A good way to farm these can be to use the rules in the Barren Temple to kill only the larger enemies that drop them, then do whatever the forbidden move in that room is to reset the room, thus respawning the enemy again. The best room for this is the one that forbids magic.
- Alternatively, go to the Lost Shrine, where two of these enemies ambush you as you climb the tower. Exiting and re-entering forces a respawn.
- Finally, if you complete the quest A Magical Stone, which is only accessible at the very end of the game after collecting all five fragments but before heading for the final battle, you can talk to the Fortune Teller lady to replay Nier’s prologue. The enemies here can be farmed for all three machines.
You’ll need a lot of these for weapon upgrading. It’s found commonly at various resource deposits throughout the world, including on the Eastern Road - though to be honest, the better bet is to buy what you need from Two Brothers’ Weaponry outside the Junk Heap, also where you’ll be doing your upgrades, for 480 Gold a piece.
Crystals can be gathered from resource deposits in the Desert and Barren Temple, but they are significantly rarer drops. However, you’ll only need a handful. You can also buy them from the Facade Materials store for 2400 Gold.
Most easily found in the Junk Heap dungeon. Head down to the Basement Level 2, B2F - you’ll want to blast away a barrier with a bomb to access a northern pathway. In a large room here there’s a bunch of crates - and when you smash them, they can drop Amber, Fluorite, or Damascus Steel. You can reset by exiting and re-entering the area.
You can also get it from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A. Unlike the other materials this bonus level can net you, Damascus Steel is pretty rare here.
While you might be tempted to just ignore the smaller shades out in the world, Dented Metal Bats are a good reason why you might not want to do that - the more you kill, the more chance of this rare drop. Small shades are absolutely all over the place.
However, a good farming spot is in the 2nd Basement Floor (Underground Facility: B2) of the Mansion; in one of the first rooms here 40+ of these shades spawn in waves. Because it’s near the stairs, you can kill them, go up a floor, then come back down, forcing a respawn. Dark Whirlwind makes this easy work, too.
An annoyingly rare drop from a resource node that’s found underneath the Mayor’s house in The Aerie. One thing you can do here is use the Aerie’s nature to cheese it - if you don’t get the Eagle Egg drop, you can keep jumping into the abyss until you die. When you respawn, the resource node will be back… giving another change for the gods of random drops to bless you.
If you're far enough in the game where Aerie is no longer an option, you can also get it from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
Part of a series alongside the Simple Machine (common) and Comlex Machine (uncommon). Like those, it drops from the larger shades, but is the rarest of the three. The shades you need are common, appearing in places including in the Barren Temple, the Lost Shrine if you return there right before the final mission, and on the Southern Plains approaching Seafront.
- A good way to farm these can be to use the rules in the Barren Temple to kill only the larger enemies that drop them, then do whatever the forbidden move in that room is to reset the room, thus respawning the enemy again. The best room for this is the one that forbids magic.
- Alternatively, go to the Lost Shrine, where two of these enemies ambush you as you climb the tower. Exiting and re-entering forces a respawn.
- Finally, if you complete the quest A Magical Stone, which is only accessible at the very end of the game after collecting all five fragments but before heading for the final battle, you can talk to the Fortune Teller lady to replay Nier’s prologue. The enemies here can be farmed for all three machines.
This rare drop can be found in a few places, but the easiest location to gather Fluorite is in The Junk Heap dungeon. Head down to the Basement Level 2, B2F - you’ll want to blast away a barrier with a bomb to access a northern pathway. In a large room here there’s a bunch of crates - and when you smash them, they can drop Amber, Fluorite, or Damascus Steel. You can reset by exiting and re-entering the area.
Alternatively, you can also complete the ‘Disturbing the Sleep of Kings’ side quest, which is required to get a weapon, and then return to the Barren Temple. You can now head towards the boss area - on the bridge here, there’s resource nodes that have a decent chance of dropping Fluorite, as do the other nodes in the temple. Beware, however - not every node in the temple spawns every time you load the area - only some of them.
This material is a rare drop from the adult mage-like Shades that are heavy on the magic. You can find these enemies in the Northern Plains (weather dependent - it needs to be overcast), and at the top end of the Lost Shrine, right before the boss room.
In the Northern Plains, they’re scattered about - by both bridges, near the boar, and some generally roaming the plains. In the Lost Shrine, you can use the boss room door to force respawns, entering and exiting.
You can get Giant Eggs from resource nodes that are scattered around your home village. You can reload the area to force respawns if you need. There’s still an element of randomness to what comes from the village resource nodes.
You can get this rarest of the ore-based resources from the Desert, Aerie, and Barren Temple - all from resource gathering nodes. Unfortunately, this ore isn’t available for sale from the weapon upgrade shop either, thanks to its rareness.
You can also get these from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
Iron is one of the more common ores, but you’ll need a number of them for upgrades. They’re found at a lot of resource nodes right across the world, from the Eastern Road to the Desert, Aerie, and more. It can also be purchased at the weapon upgrade smithy for 1000 Gold.
This is one of the rarer drops from the enemies of the Junk Heap. It more commonly drops from the stronger robots, including the large bipedal robots.
This is one of the most significant items you’ll want, as this material is required to complete a side quest that locks away one of the weapons. But you’ll also need some for upgrades. We’ve got a full guide on where to farm Machine Oil, but the short version is that it’s a rare drop from the flying robots in the Junk Heap.
Memory Alloy is another Junk Heap dungeon drop - but this one only comes from the P-33 robots (aka Beepy) that you encounter both in the story but also during side quests and in the dungeon at large. There’s only a handful of these in the whole dungeon - you’ll just need to grind your way through level B2. Repeatedly. Thankfully, you don’t need too many of them.
You’ll need a handful of these for upgrades. They’re a rare drop from the annoying flying shades that spawn in the desert after you complete your second visit to Facade (with the wolves) in the second half of the game.
The flying shades only spawn when you get near their spawn points. There are three of them that can be reliably found in the desert: one near Facade’s entrance (roughly halfway between the nearest two sand fountains), one easily found inside the Sandstorm, and one near the stairs leading to the Fast Travel boat, on top of one of the smallest hills/dunes.
The meteorite weapon upgrade material is another one found on a resource node out in the world - it’s one of the rarer drops specifically from resource nodes in the Desert.
Meteorites can also drop from the nodes inside the Barren Temple. For your best chances, complete the ‘Disturbing the Sleep of Kings’ side quest to unlock the whole dungeon again. On the bridge to the boss room, there’s two resource nodes out there, plus some scattered across the other dungeon rooms.
You can also get Meteorite from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
To get Moldavite, you’ll need to scour and constantly reload the Desert and Barren Temple gathering points - or you can buy it at the Seafront Materials store, but it’s eye-wateringly expensive.
Don’t forget, in the Barren Temple if you complete the ‘Disturbing the Sleep of Kings’ side quest, you can access more of the dungeon again including the bridge to the boss room, which has two resource nodes.
You can also get these from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
A more simple one - the Mysterious Switch loot drops from the flying robots found in the Junk Heap. It’s uncommon - so not the most common, but not as rare as some others. These robots are all throughout every floor of the dungeon, though there’s a great farming spot in the middle of the first floor near where you first enter.
This appears at resource node spawns in the Southern and Northern Plains, but is also available for purchase fairly cheaply (700 Gold) at the Seafront town materials shop.
There’s a handful of resource nodes scattered across the shores of the Seafront Beach areas - not just the main beach, but anywhere in the town that there’s sand. These have a rare chance to drop the Pearl material. Alternatively, it’s sold in Seafront also.
You’ll need a number of Pyrite materials - and it’s another one that unfortunately is found at resource gathering nodes in the Desert overworld area and also the Barren Temple dungeon.
Remember that within the dungeon, if you complete the ‘Disturbing the Sleep of Kings’ side quest, you can access a little more of the dungeon, including the bridge to the boss room which holds two nodes.
The best place to get Pyrite, in our experience, is to go to the entrance of the Barren Temple and check the first two rooms' gathering nodes. Then, leave the temple and come back in, the nodes will respawn.
You can also get Pyrite from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
The Rusted Clump is a relatively unique material for upgrades - it can only be found as a random-chance drop from fishing. We’ve seen them all over - Seafront, the Northern Plains, the Eastern Road - use a lure, and every so often you’ll fish up some handy junk.
The best place to get Rusted Clump from fishing is from the Desert fishing spot. Use a Sardine, and reel in when the bait fully submerges under the sand. You'll get a lot of junk like pails and cans, but also about a 25% chance of getting a Rusted Clump.
You can also get these quite easily from the wooden crates in the 3rd room behind the third door in the World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
As with the above, the Rusty Bucket - which is huge, by the way - can sometimes be dragged up by fishing as a junk catch instead of an actual fish. This can happen in any place where you fish, and you should use a regular lure, the most basic bait, to minimize how many regular fish you catch.
A rare drop from small shades roaming around the Northern Plains. Also dropped from the small hat wearing shades in Southern Plains & Shadowlord's Castle.
Once you’ve collected all five fragments in the story, return to the Forest of Myth to get a side quest, ‘A Magical Stone’. If you complete this quest, you can talk to the Fortune Teller again to replay the prologue. The hat-wearing enemies here can be farmed here.
Scorpions Claws are the most common drop from Scorpions, which can only be found in the desert. They spend most of the time under the sand and will only jump up and attempt to poison you once you are really close, be careful!
Well, you’ll need a whole lot of this for your weapon upgrades, and Silver Ore doesn’t come cheap - it’s sold by the upgrade shop itself, but for 1500 Gold. If you want to gather it, it’s an uncommon drop from resource nodes right the way across the world; nowhere in particular seems a best option.
This is one of a set alongside the Complex Machine (Uncommon) and Elaborate Machine (Rare) - and those rarities makes this the common, easiest of the trio to get. They’re dropped by the larger types of shade you fight commonly - the taller, lanky, adult-sized ones. There’s a few locations you can find these including the Barren Temple, the Lost Shrine right before the end of the game, and on the Southern Plains en route to Seafront town.
- A good way to farm these can be to use the rules in the Barren Temple to kill only the larger enemies that drop them, then do whatever the forbidden move in that room is to reset the room, thus respawning the enemy again. The best room for this is the one that forbids magic.
- Alternatively, go to the Lost Shrine, where two of these enemies ambush you as you climb the tower. Exiting and re-entering forces a respawn.
- Finally, if you complete the quest A Magical Stone, which is only accessible at the very end of the game after collecting all five fragments but before heading for the final battle, you can talk to the Fortune Teller lady to replay Nier’s prologue. The enemies here can be farmed for all three machines.
This is a rare drop from the shades that use swords that are found both in the Underground Shrine and also in the Lost Shrine. Keep in mind they spawn less often in the Lost Shrine later on in the game when the enemy presence there elevates. For farming purposes, the multi-floor underground lab is arguably best for these, as you can farm the enemies, then switch floors to force respawns.
Commonly dropped by the basic robots in the Junk Heap - or you can purchase it from the Two Brothers Weaponry shop, which does your upgrades.
The Subdued Bracelet material is a pair with the Metal Piercing item, in that it drops from the airborne shades that appear in the Desert in the later parts of the game, after you’ve finished the story associated with your second visit to Facade (that’s the storyline with the wolves).
The flying shades only spawn when you get near their spawn points. There are three of them that can be reliably found in the desert: one near Facade’s entrance (roughly halfway between the nearest two sand fountains), one easily found inside the Sandstorm, and one near the stairs leading to the Fast Travel boat, on top of one of the smallest hills/dunes.
Another Junk Heap loot item; the Titanium Alloy is drops from robots in the Junk Heap, though how common it is varies. On smaller robots, it’s rare - but if you dig deeper into the dungeon, larger robots drop it more commonly. There's more specific guide on how to get Titanium Alloy, if you need it.
Again, you can hope to get some for free from the crates in the third door of World of the Recycled Vessel -- the diary in your house after seeing Ending A.
Drops from the armor-clad shades found in the Lost Shrine and Aerie, and can be handily farmed during the later stages of the game when the Lost Shrine is teeming with enemies.