The Blood of Dawnwalker: How to Upgrade Weapons and Armor

Gear in The Blood of Dawnwalker ages out fast. A sword you picked up at level 8 will still be a level 8 sword when Coen hits 16, and the damage gap shows up almost immediately in fights. The fix is not crafting or a workbench in your inventory. You have to walk up to a vendor and pay.

Quick answer: Talk to a blacksmith, armorer, or the witchcraft vendor Vera, pick “Improve my equipment!” in the dialogue menu, select the item, set the target level, and hold the confirm button to spend the Denarii. The item’s level and base stats jump to match your character level.

What upgrading changes, and what it leaves alone

Upgrading scales an item’s level up to your current character level, and scales its base numbers along with it. For a weapon that means DPS and the damage range. For armor and bracers it means the armor value. A Master shortsword sitting at level 15 with 176 DPS gets pulled up to level 17 and gains damage accordingly.

What it does not touch are the passive stats and bonus attributes rolled onto the item. Critical hit chance, stamina cost reductions, damage against supernatural enemies, and similar modifiers stay where they are. So an upgrade keeps a favorite weapon competitive on raw numbers, but it will not turn a weak affix set into a good one.

Cost scales with two things: how high the item’s tier is, and how high your level is. Early on, bumping a Master shortsword by two levels runs a few hundred Denarii. Late in a playthrough, keeping a legendary blade current can run into the thousands per upgrade.

Aspect	Effect of upgrading
Item level	Raised, capped at your current character level
Weapon DPS and damage range	Scales up with the new level
Armor value	Scales up with the new level
Passive stats and bonus attributes	Unchanged
Rarity or tier	Unchanged
Cost	Rises with item tier and your level

Doing the upgrade at a vendor

Open the map and set a marker on a settlement that has a blacksmith or armorer. Most major towns in Vale Sangora have at least one, and Svartrau City has several clustered near its gates.

Vale Sangora world map with the cursor resting on a settlement marker — Pick a settlement marker on the map before travelling to a smith. Image: Rebel Wolves

Check where you currently are before committing to the trip. Vendors keep normal hours, so a stall you can see on the map may be shuttered if you arrive at night.

Map screen centred on Coen's own position with nearby locations visible — The map centred on Coen, showing which vendor settlements are closest. Image: Rebel Wolves

Travel to the settlement. Maragir is a reliable early stop, sitting south of the Maragir Wealds with its smith in the middle of town.

Map view of the Maragir region with settlement icons around the central village — The Maragir area on the map, with the village that houses an early smith. Image: Rebel Wolves

Walk to the vendor’s stall and interact with them. The armorer in Maragir stands out in the open, so you can reach them without clearing any quest first.

Coen walking through a village at dusk with the quest tracker visible in the corner — Heading through the village toward the vendor stall. Image: Rebel Wolves

Choose “Improve my equipment!” from the dialogue list. The other options cover buying and selling, so picking the wrong one just opens the shop inventory instead.

Pick the piece you want to improve. Weapons, chest pieces, trousers, bracers, rings, and amulets all show up in the same list.

Upgrade Item screen with a trouser piece highlighted in the equipment list — The Upgrade Item screen, where you select the piece to raise. Image: Rebel Wolves

Set the target level. You can stop short of your character level if you are short on coin, and the preview updates the stat gain and the price as you adjust it.

Hold the confirm button to pay. The Denarii come out of your purse and the item’s level, DPS or armor value update on the spot in the same panel. If the numbers have not moved, the hold did not register and the purchase never went through.

Blacksmith and armorer locations in Vale Sangora

Blacksmiths handle weapons and sometimes stock Manuals, which are used for Coen’s skills and abilities. Armorers cover protective gear. In practice both open the same upgrade interface, so whoever is nearest usually does the job.

Vendor	Where to find them
Blacksmith, Maragir Village	Eastern Vale Sangora, in the centre of town
Blacksmith, Svartrau City	Near the market by the North-East Gate
Blacksmith, Parlita	Western Boar’s Back region
Blacksmith, Briar Sloughs	Northwest of the region, by the Uriashi Hermitage Shrine north of Parlita
Armorer, Tantari	South of St. Tyna’s Convent
Armorers, Svartrau City	Two of them, at the North-West Gate market and the West Gate market
Armorer, Maragir	North of Svartrau City
Vera, witchcraft vendor	Swamps west of the Maragir Wealds

Vera is the odd one out and worth remembering early. She sits close to where the campaign opens, sells assorted items, and improves equipment without being a smith at all. If you find something strong in the first few hours and want it to keep pace, she is the shortest trip.

When an upgrade does not go through

Three things account for most failed attempts. You cannot push an item past your own character level, so the slider will refuse to go higher no matter how much coin you have. You need the full Denarii cost in hand, and the price climbs sharply for legendary and epic gear at high levels. And the confirmation is a hold, not a tap, which trips up players who are used to a single button press.

Note: because upgrading only moves base stats, it is worth deciding whether a piece is worth the coin before you pay. Gear with useful affixes, such as a legendary weapon carrying critical hit damage or bonus damage against supernatural enemies, holds its value across a whole playthrough. Ordinary gear is usually cheaper to replace than to keep patching.

Since costs rise with your level, the practical habit is to upgrade in batches rather than after every level-up. Let a few levels accumulate, then make one trip to a smith and bring your main weapon and chest piece current in a single visit. That keeps your damage and survivability in step with the valley without draining your purse on incremental one-level bumps you would only have to pay for again an hour later.