Enshrouded 1.0: How to Upgrade Weapons at the Blacksmith (Item Upgrades and Runes)

In Enshrouded 1.0, you upgrade weapons with Runes, and so do shields, armor and rings. The upgrade menu sits with Oswald Anders, the Blacksmith, in the ITEM UPGRADES tab of his crafting menu. You unlock levels one at a time, and early weapons like the Rusty Short Sword and Rusty Sword cost 46 Runes per level.

Quick answer: Talk to Oswald Anders, pick “Craft – Upgrade”, open the ITEM UPGRADES tab, select your weapon, and press “Unlock” with 46 Runes in hand for an early weapon’s next level.

How to upgrade a weapon

Bring the weapon you want to upgrade, either in your backpack or on your action bar, along with enough Runes to cover the next level. Then go to Oswald.

Open your backpack and hover over the weapon to check whether it can be upgraded. An upgradable item’s tooltip shows its level, such as “LEVEL 1/3”, lists the damage and enhancements tied to each locked level, and ends with “Upgrade at: Blacksmith”.

Backpack tooltip of the Rusty Short Sword in Enshrouded 1.0 showing Level 1/3, the enhancements for Levels 2 and 3 and Upgrade at Blacksmith — The Rusty Short Sword’s backpack tooltip: Level 1/3, the enhancements for each locked level and “Upgrade at: Blacksmith”.

Walk up to Oswald Anders and press E (“Talk & Craft”). His dialogue panel opens with “Craft – Upgrade” at the top of the list, above his quest lines.

Oswald Anders the Blacksmith dialogue panel in Enshrouded with Craft - Upgrade at the top of the list — Oswald Anders’ dialogue panel with “Craft – Upgrade” at the top.

Choose “Craft – Upgrade”. This opens Oswald’s crafting menu, which has four tabs: BLACKSMITH, ITEM UPGRADES, MANUAL CRAFTING and BACKPACK.

Oswald's crafting menu open on the Blacksmith tab, with the Item Upgrades tab next to it — Oswald’s crafting menu opens on the Blacksmith tab, one tab away from Item Upgrades.

Switch to the ITEM UPGRADES tab using Q and E. The first time you open it, a message explains that “All upgradable items from your backpack and action bar are listed here.” The list is split into Equipped, Backpack and Action Bar groups.

Item Upgrades tab showing its first-open tutorial message about backpack and action bar items — The Item Upgrades tab shows a one-time tutorial explaining where upgradable items are listed.

Pick the weapon you plan to improve. Its level and rarity appear alongside the enhancements at each level. A “NEXT: LEVEL 2” panel lists the changed damage, the additional enhancement and the Rune cost. The Rusty Short Sword’s damage rises from 11 to 14.3.

Rusty Short Sword selected in Item Upgrades, with its locked Level 2 upgrade costing 46 Runes — The Rusty Short Sword’s Level 2 upgrade, with its damage gain and 46-Rune cost.

Press the “Unlock” button at the bottom of the panel to buy that level with your Runes.

Weapon upgrade costs in Runes

How many levels a weapon has depends on the item. The Common Rusty Sword tops out at 1/2, while the Uncommon Rusty Short Sword goes to 1/3. Each level is a separate purchase.

Weapon	Upgrade	Cost	What you get
Rusty Short Sword (Uncommon)	Level 2	46 Runes	+2 damage, +1.3 Magic Shroud Damage
Rusty Short Sword (Uncommon)	Level 3	46 Runes	+1 damage, +12% Backstab Damage
Rusty Sword (Common)	Level 2	46 Runes	+2 damage, +1.3 Blunt Damage

Item Upgrades screen in Enshrouded 1.0 for the Rusty Short Sword Level 3 costing 46 Runes with Requires Previous Level — Level 3 of the Rusty Short Sword: 46 Runes, +12% Backstab Damage, and “Requires Previous Level” until Level 2 is unlocked.

Fully upgraded, the Rusty Short Sword reaches 15.4 damage. The Rusty Sword’s single upgrade takes it from 11 to 14.3. The Magic Shroud Damage bonus on the Rusty Short Sword is listed as “10% of base damage”.

Rusty Sword selected in Item Upgrades, showing its locked Level 2 upgrade for 46 Runes — The Rusty Sword’s only upgrade, Level 2, also costs 46 Runes.

Runes and Legendary Runes

Runes can enhance weapons, shields, armor and rings. If you’re short, the game’s rune text points to salvaging gear:

“Salvage weapons, shields, armors and rings to recover runes, allowing you to reuse them and customize your arsenal.”

Legendary gear requires Legendary Runes. At the Blacksmith (all Blacksmith recipes), 25 Runes can be exchanged for 1 Legendary Runes; this option is available only after your first pickup of Legendary Runes.

Legendary Runes do not come back. The item text is explicit: “Once used, legendary runes become an integral part of the imbued equipment and cannot be recovered.”

How to upgrade a weapon

Weapon upgrade costs in Runes

Runes and Legendary Runes

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