How to upgrade tools and gear in Nightingale

The tools and gear you put on in Nightingale reflect how well you can handle your realm’s many threats and challenges. Eventually, these need to become more powerful, and you have to upgrade them.

You might think you need to craft new versions of these items, and you do when you first begin the game, but after doing this once or twice it’s time to start upgrading. The way you upgrade them makes it easier to track down higher-quality resources and handle the tougher foes that cross your path. Here’s what you need to know how you can upgrade your tools and gear in Nightingale.

Where to upgrade your tools and gear in Nightingale

You can upgrade your tools and gear by crafting an Upgrade Station at your base in Nightingale. These can work for every weapon, tool, and gear piece you’re wearing in Nightingale, and the only resource you need to feed it is Essence.

The type of Essence you have to use varies depending on the upgrades you’re making. For example, the first upgrades you make in Nightingale from Simple weapons to Uncommon means you need to use T1 Essence, and you can regularly find this while exploring an Antiquarian world. You can earn them by collecting resources, completing quests for NPCs, assisting in fights, or defeating enemies who regularly drop them. I have found fighting is one of the best ways to earn T1 Essence.

After you have enough Essence, go to the Upgrade Station and choose the item you want to improve. The process may take a few seconds after you’ve made your selection, and you can only do one at a time. When the item is finished, pick it up from the crafting station, and it should return to the previous slot on your hot bar. These items come with an increased Gear Score, which is important to unlock Sites of Power and progress the main story of Nightingale.

Although the process is the same at higher levels, you need to upgrade the Upgrade Station before making better equipment, which also means tracking down Augments. You need to find these by progressing through the main story and unlocking additional Major Realm cards, which give you access to more robust resources. If you’re struggling to improve your gear or can’t find a way to enhance your crating stations, focus on the main quests in your journal in Nightingale is likely the best way to spend your time.