Upgrades are how the player improves their Weapons and Shields in Dark Souls 3. The player will need to provide Blacksmith Andre with Upgrade Materials in order to be able to Infuse or reinforce their equipment. Different items unlock different Infusions, but the player will be able to reinforce their gear from the beginning. Infusing Weapons and Shields will typically remove any initial scaling the item may have in exchange for a static elemental damage and/or altered scaling based around a specific stat. Players will be able to undo infusions using a Shriving Stone without losing reinforcement levels. Contrary to past installments in the series, Armor is not upgradeable. Note that to get the achievement (Steam) all infusions must be used on the same character.
Upgrade Materials
In Dark Souls 3 you can improve the damage/protection (and potential Scaling) on your Weapons and Shields. To do this you must have the appropriate amount of the relevant Upgrade Materials, Souls and access to Blacksmith Andre. Titanite Shards will reinforce a Weapon or Shield up to +3, Large Titanite Shards will reinforce the item from +4 to +6, Titanite Chunks will reinforce the item from +7 to +9, and a Titanite Slab will be required to reinforce to +10. Titanite Scales and Twinkling Titanite are used to reinforce special weapons to +4, but will similarly require a Titanite Slab to reach their final upgrade of +5.
Titanite Shard
+1 to +3
Large Titanite Shard
+4 to +6
Titanite Chunk
+7 to +9
Titanite Slab
+9 to +10
+4 to +5 (for items that upgrade with Titanite Scales and Twinkling Titanite and Shields)
Titanite Scale
+1 to +4
Twinkling Titanite
+1 to +4
Infusions
In Dark Souls 3 you can infuse many different Weapons and Shields with Gems that change the properties, damage type or Scaling. In order to infuse a Weapon or Shield to your chosen type you must: 1) have found and give the appropriate Coal to Blackmsith Andre, 2) have a Gem of the chosen type, and 3) have the required Souls. The exceptions here are Refined, Raw or Fire which require no Coal to be given. You can use a Shriving Stone if you wish to remove the Infusion from your Weapon or Shield (this must also be done at Blacksmith Andre). Again, not all Weapons and Shields can be Infused so check the Weapons pages to verify which can and can't.
These weapons CANNOT be infused: Bows, Greatbows, Crossbows, Chimes, Talismans, Staves, Pyromancy Flames and any weapon that upgrades with Twinkling Titanite or Titanite Scale.
Spell / Item Buffing: Infusions which add any non-physical damage or status effect remove the ability to buff the weapon with spells or consumables. Only the following infusions allow buffing: Raw, Refined, Heavy, Sharp and Hollow.
Shriving Stone
Removes Infusion
Refined Gem
Balances Str/Dex Scaling, -Base Dam
Raw Gem
Removes Scaling, +Base Dam
Fire Gem
- Base Dam, Removes Scaling, +Fire Dam
Farron Coal
Allows Heavy, Sharp & Poison Infusions
Heavy Gem
+Str Scaling, -Base Dam
Sharp Gem
+Dex Scaling, -Base Dam
Poison Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Poison Aux
Sage's Coal
Allows Crystal, Blessed & Deep Infusions
Crystal Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Mag Dam, +Int Scaling
Blessed Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Faith Scaling, +HP recovery
Deep Gem
-Base Dam, Removes Scaling, +Dark Dam
Profaned Coal
Allows Dark, Blood & Hollow Infusions
Dark Gem
-Base Dam, -Dex/Str Scaling. +Dark Damage, +Faith/Int Scaling
Blood Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Bleed Aux
Hollow Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Luck Scaling, +Luck stat when hollow
Giant's Coal
Allows Lightning, Simple & Chaos Infusions
Lightning Gem
-Base Dam, -Dex/Str Scaling, +Lit Dam, +Faith Scaling
Simple Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Magic Damage, +FP Recovery
Chaos Gem
-Base Dam, -Str/Dex Scaling, +Fire Damage, +Int/Faith Scaling
Weapon Upgrade Chart
Soul Transposition
Soul Transposition in Dark Souls 3 is the process of converting a Boss Soul into a Weapon, Ring or Spell. In order to create items you must have the specific Boss Soul, you must have the Transposing Kiln which drops from Curse-Rotted Greatwood, and you must speak with Ludleth of Courland in Firelink Shrine. Below is a list of items that can be created through Soul Transposition, what Boss Souls are required for them and how much it costs.
Soul Transposition List
Note that through Ludleth, Twin Princes' Greatsword can be created by fusing Lothric's Holy Sword and Lorian's Greatsword.
Boss Souls and other special souls in Dark Souls 3 are powerful items that can be converted into new Weapons, Magic, or Items via Soul Transposition from Ludleth of Courland. They may also be consumed to gain a large amount of souls.
Boss Souls
Soul | Item 1 | Item 2 | Item 3 | Souls Gained If Consumed |
---|---|---|---|---|
(0 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 2,000 | |
(1,000 Souls) |
(1,000 Souls) |
- |
3,000 |
|
(1,500 Souls) |
(1,500 Souls) |
- | 3,000 | |
(0 Souls) |
(10,000 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
|
(0 Souls) |
- |
- | 5,000 |
(0 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(0 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 10,000 | |
(5,000 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 10,000 | |
(0 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(3,000 Souls) |
(3,000 Souls) |
- | 12,000 | |
(0 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(5,000 Souls) |
(5,000 Souls) |
- | 15,000 | |
(5,000 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 10,000 | |
(0 Souls) |
( 0 Souls) |
- | 15,000 | |
(10,000 souls) |
(10,000 souls) |
- | 12,000 | |
(0 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(5,000 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(5,000 Souls) |
(10,000 Souls) |
(5,000 Souls) |
16,000 | |
(5,000 Souls) |
(0 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(10,000 Souls) |
(15,000 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
(10,000 Souls) |
(3,000 Souls) |
- | 20,000 | |
|
(10,000 Souls) |
(10,000 Souls) |
- | 20,000 |
|
(5,000 Souls) |
(15,000 Souls) |
- | 20,000 |
|
(20,000 Souls) |
(5,000 Souls) |
- | 20,000 |
- Anonymous
This is more convenient but i honestly kinda prefer ds1 weapon upgrades
- Anonymous
chaos is very good in ds3
BUT I LIKE IT BETTER WHEN IT SCALE WITH HUMANITY
but yeah understandable why they had to change it, cuz there was no humanity to use in ds3
- Anonymous
I really miss +15 weapons. Like, i would GLADLY spend 15 slabs for a +15 weapon.
- Anonymous
Did anyone kill cheese wheel, he's really soft and my sword keeps sticking in him, he's in the dungeon of dairy demons, near stackleback joe of laxo lane. Hope someone can help. Stay cheezy during this time, head cheese out!
- Anonymous
Does anyone have an outline of the best weapons for each infusion?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
So even though it's 2020 I think some people have gotten to a point where they can answer this question: Can you add multiple gems to one weapon? Example: Raw Sharp Hand-Axe or Refined Crystal Storm Ruler
- Anonymous
Am I the only one that thinks there should be a Ferron gem to make any weapon do extra damage to abyssal enemies.
is it me or are infusing a small weapon makes it better and infusing a large weapon gets worse
- Anonymous
A friend and I will have the same weapon (ex. Friede's scythe) and mine would have much less attack power than his. Both of our weapons are fully upgraded and we don't know why.
- Anonymous
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- Anonymous
so I am new and I don't understand how this works do I have to work me way up to +10 starting from +1 or can I just go straight to +10 and if I make a weapon +1 can I infuse it again to make it higher then a +1 or is it stuck at +1 for good?? plz explain
Can be onxy blade and another boss weapon to reinforce to 10 + through Ng ?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
What I find llacking about infusions is that they only alter damage and add some minor gimmick. Off the top of my head, I would add these suggestions for physical infusions (because elemental infusions are a whole 'nother can of beans) on top of what they already do;
1. Heavy infusion - increase standard/strike damage by 10%, reduce thrust/slash damage by 10%, increase weight and stability/poise, increase STR requirement by 5
2. Sharp infusion - increase thrust/slash damage by 10%, reduce standard/strike damage by 10%, decrease weight and stability/poise, increase DEX requirement by 5
3. Raw infusion - reduce counter and WA damage by 15%, reduce STR/DEX requirement by 7, reduce stamina consumption by 3 on all weapon actions.
3. Refined infusion - increase counter and WA damage by 15%, increase STR/DEX requirement by 7, increase stamina consumption by 3 on all weapon actions.
- Anonymous
I literally beat the game before I figured out how to reinforce shields...
- Anonymous
hey if i upgrade a twinkling titanite weapon to +2 does that count as like +4 for normal so i'd be playing with people who have upgraded up to +6?
- Anonymous
Does the elemental damage portion of the gem scales with their coresponding stats? eg. lighting damage from lightning gem.
Upgrade materials can't be picked up by other players. Upgraded Equipment however can be traded, provided that the dropped item does not have a higher upgrade level than the other person's highest upgraded weapon. This also works for any infused weapons, and also special and boss weapons. (Example: if a friend makes a +0 Lightning Long Sword, he/she can trade it to you as soon as you reach the first area of the game.)
Every weapon requires it's respective amount of Titanite to upgrade, depending on if the weapon is Normal, Special, or Boss. Normal weapons upgrade with regular Titanite, Speacial weapons with Twinkling Titanite, and Boss weapons with Titanite Scales.
Every piece of upgradeable equipment requires a Titanite Slab to reach maximum upgrade level. All forms of Titanite, except Titanite Slabs, can be farmed/bought.
Normal weapons can be Infused by the Blacksmith with special Gems. Each Gem modifies the weapon's Stats and Scaling on a different level, and are used by specific Character Builds. (Example: a Refined Gem modifies the weapon by equalizing the weapon's Strength and Dextery scaling. It is commonly used on "Quality"(Refined) Character Builds, whom focus on leveling Strength and Dexterity alike.)
- Anonymous
nerfed the hell out of elemental infusions...big disappointment. Even with scaling on int/faith, the resistances of most enemies makes all status/elements moot to raw damage. Sad blacksmith...
- Anonymous
so i have done every infusion and it wont give me the achievement. Help
- Anonymous
If you think you have finished the achive don't keep using your gems or you will just waste them. Make sure that the page is reset you might have just missed the thing alerting you that you have got it.
- Anonymous
Deep gem and Dark gem sounds similar to deep web and dark web...
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just tested this, the infusions have to be on the same character, it won't count infusions you do on an alt..
- Anonymous
Hollow gems DO NOT reduce str/dex scaling, as far as I can tell.
- Anonymous
Does reinforcing a staff increase the magic damage output or does it simply increase the physical damage output if you swing the staff like a weapon?
- Anonymous
Don't forget that you can transpose both of the swords from the twin princes together to get one with the special ability of both.
- Anonymous
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Soul of Rosaria is missing. Her soul gives you the Bountiful Sunlight miracle.
- Anonymous
Why the ***** one of the merchants doesn't sell infusion gems? just why? WHY?
- Anonymous
How does this affect multiplayer? I heard at a certain upgrade you can't play with certain players, can't find info on it though.
- Anonymous
Hi. I just upgraded an Irithyll Straight Sword to +5, but the achievement didn't pop. Do I have to upgrade a weapon to +10 to get the trophy? Thanks.
- Anonymous
I don't know if anyone can help me with this I have infused lots of weapons with as far as I can tell every infusion however I haven't got the trophy for it ant help or ideas as to why
- Anonymous
Why do "elemental" gems remove all scaling? It's kinda pointless
- Anonymous
I love how From Software added gems that give you more str/dex scaling. Makes all the builds, that would be considered noob builds in previous games, legit builds to play with.For example: I love ultragreatswords and curved swords, but one is str weapon, and the other is dex weapon. Now I can use refined gem, create balanced(30/30) character and switch between both whenever I feel like it.
- Anonymous
Hi,Brand new to these games. Its amazing so far.If i infuse my sword with a fire gem and i upgrade my weapon while it is infused, after i remove the infusion (if i chose to do so), would the sword be upgraded even though the upgrades did not have an effect while infused with fire gem?
- Anonymous
Need to add in transposition for Rosaria's soul. Gives "Radiant Sunlight" or something along those lines, restores large hp for people in a large vicinity. I'll get the actual description/function when i wake up in ~8 hours if someone doesn't have it by then.
Same as previous 2 ds games... the infusions looked not favorable unless just want to play around with it. Still think normal upgrade path has the best damage overall for all enemies.
i upgraded the blessed shield you get from undead settlement to +5 and compared it to a +0 ceastus and the shield healed me every ~3 secs and my ceastus every ~4 secs
- Anonymous
So physical infusions like Heavy or Sharp can be buffed and elemental infusion like Lightning and Crystal can not be buffed. What about the Blessed infusion then? Lots of contradictionary opinions about it but does anyone know for sure? Can you buff a Blessed infusion with a Blessed Weapon or a Lightning Infusion with a Lightning Blade? Also what about Blessed with Lightning or Lightning with Blessed?
- Anonymous
There is one soul on the soul transposition list that isnt from a boss and only has 1 transposition, Rosaria's soul -> Bountiful Sunlight miracle. not sure why it isnt listed
- Anonymous
I'd be cool if next to each possible infusion would be noted if weapon with this infusion can be enchanted.For example you can cast magic weapon on sword with sharp infusion, but you can't cast it on the same sword with fire infusion.
- Anonymous
If i understand the system in Dark Souls 3 correctly, infusing a weapon will add elemental damage but removes any scaling a weapon might have had before. Is it still worth uprgading a weapon before infusing it? So does the extra base damage you'll get through upgrading transfer over to a infused weapon? And will this also influence the ammount of elemental damage you will add to a weapon?
- Anonymous
Do the effects of each gem scale with specific stats? Should I level up my intelligence before infusing my sword with fire?
- Anonymous
With what do we upgrade infused weapons? titanite shard and etc?
- Anonymous
Based on my experience with these games Str would add more AR to a weapon than Dex but I am wondering if this has been balanced a little more or if I have been mistaken in some way. Please let me know if I am wrong, because I really would like to know if it has changed in some way.
- Anonymous
If they only affect the base damage, and not the scaling, then these could be used to seriously beef up any build with a melee focus, no matter the weapon used.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Can infused weapons be buffed with spells? If so, which ones can be buffed?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
In the Irithyll Dungeon area, saving Siegward from his cell rewards you a slab.
I shall resume non-physical infusions as "pretentious crap".
12
+18
-1