How to upgrade weapons in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has plenty of weapons hidden all over the game. When you find a weapon, you can use it to craft a better one or upgrade it to make it even stronger. 

This can be confusing and expensive, so we’ve created this guide on everything you need to know about upgrading weapons in Infinite Wealth.

How weapon upgrades work in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

You unlock the ability to upgrade your weapons in Chapter Four. Visit Julie’s Gearworks in East Waikikik Hula Ave; or the Anaconda Mall (you also unlock one when you return to Yokohama). There are four things you can do in Julie’s workshop

• Craft Weapons
• Weapon Upgrades and Brands
• Material Exchange
• Investment

We’ll go through all of these, starting with the last one.

Investment

You can upgrade Julie’s Gearworks to level four. Each time you spend money at the workshop, you raise it by that amount. If you don’t have anything you want to upgrade, you can use the Investment option to simply give money to the store and raise the level without actually upgrading or crafting any weapons. Not necessary, but it’s good if you don’t know what to do with your extra funds.

Material Exchange

This isn’t very useful. You can dismantle a weapon you don’t need to get some upgrade materials for stronger weapons. The only problem is that you get only a couple of parts. You may as well sell unneeded weapons instead of this.

Weapon Upgrades and Brands

Using this option, you can enhance your current weapons. Use weapon parts and money to boost the attack and magic damage of an existing weapon up to +50. 

Brands are similar to weapon enchantments. You can slot in three gems into your weapon to give it an elemental damage boost, higher critical chance, status effect, and other things. The best place to find these materials is inside underground dungeons.

Craft Weapon

This is where it gets a little confusing. To craft a weapon, you don’t really build a new weapon from scratch. Instead, you use an existing weapon and transform it. This gives the weapon new abilities, powers, and a new look. This is also where the workshop level comes into play, as you need a high enough level to craft certain weapons. 

Should you upgrade or buy weapons in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?

Since I managed to beat the game, I experimented with a lot of different weapons, and my general impression is that upgrading weapons simply isn’t worth it. Money in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is scarce during the early game, and spending it on weapons you will replace isn’t worth it. The game wants you to buy new weapons and upgrade them as you go. Sure, you can do that, but you can also try my method.

In Chapter Six, you unlock Dondoko Island. Go there and get five stars. You will need to put the main game on pause for a while, but once you get those five stars, you’ll have earned around $500,000. Take that money and buy three (or four if you have more) six-star weapons. These are the second-best weapons in the game, and will pretty much carry you until the end of the game. I recommend buying the six-star surfboard, the six-star gun, and the six-star dominatrix whip (Rod). Seriously, these were such a good investment that I didn’t have to worry about new weapons for quite a while.

When you start doing lower underground dungeons, you should consider upgrading to seven-star weapons, which are the best in the game. Until then, don’t bother with weapon upgrades or brands. Save the money and materials for seven-star weapons.