Upgrade Station

The Upgrade Station is the structure used to improve gear tiers. It applies to tools, weapons, armor, and Gateway Tablets, and raises an item’s tier step by step rather than changing it into a different item. For most equipment, the cost to reach tier 1 varies by item, while the cost from tier 2 through tier 10 follows a fixed pattern for each item type.

Upgrading gear is not uniform across categories. Tools, weapons, and armor all use different essence requirements once the item reaches higher tiers, and some equipment types also require specific essence variants. For example, armor upgrades can call for a specific essence type, and pieces from the same set may not all use the same essence. Weapons can require one specific tier 1 essence and one specific tier 2 essence depending on the weapon, while tools follow their own material pattern. Gateway Tablets keep their type, either Hunt or Extraction, when upgraded; only their tier, modifiers, and rewards change.

The tier costs are consistent enough to plan progression around the station:

• Tools: tier 2 costs 60, tier 3 costs 90, tier 4 costs 120 plus Any Tier 1 Essence (5), tier 5 costs 150 plus Any Tier 1 Essence (5), tier 6 costs 180 plus Any Tier 1 Essence (5), tier 7 costs 210 plus Any Tier 2 Essence (10), tier 8 costs 240 plus Any Tier 2 Essence (20), tier 9 costs 270, and tier 10 costs 300.
• Weapons: tier 2 costs 60, tier 3 costs 90, tier 4 costs 120 plus Any Tier 1 Essence (5), tier 5 costs 150 plus Any Tier 1 Essence (10), tier 6 costs 180 plus Any Tier 1 Essence (15), tier 7 costs 210 plus Any Tier 2 Essence (10), tier 8 costs 240 plus Any Tier 2 Essence (20), tier 9 costs 270, and tier 10 costs 300.
• Armor: tier 2 costs 40, tier 3 costs 60, tier 4 costs 80 plus Tier 1 Essence (5), tier 5 costs 100 plus Tier 1 Essence (10), tier 6 costs 120 plus Tier 1 Essence (15), tier 7 costs 140 plus Tier 1 Essence (20), tier 8 costs 160 plus Tier 2 Essence (10), tier 9 costs 180 plus Tier 2 Essence (20), and tier 10 costs 200 plus Tier 2 Essence (30).
• Gateway Tablets: tier 2 costs 25, tier 3 costs 50, tier 4 costs 75, tier 5 costs 100, tier 6 costs 125, tier 7 costs 150, tier 8 costs 175, tier 9 costs 200, and tier 10 costs 225.

Because the early tiers often require different base costs per item, it is efficient to check an item’s upgrade path before committing resources. The later tiers are more predictable, making the Upgrade Station a central planning tool for long-term gear progression.