10 Soulslike Games With The Best Weapon Upgrade Systems

One of the biggest draws to a good Soulslike is the feeling of progression it bestows. Players advance from a lowly soldier jumping at shadows to a powerful and cunning warrior, capable of bringing the gods themselves to their knees. Most Soulslikes feature many different progression systems to help players along this path, and one of the most common progression paths is weapon upgrades.

Through clever use of upgrade materials and modifications, a player in a good Soulslike can create a weapon that’s truly special. Some games feature combos and damage affinities that can lead to some deeply overpowered combinations. Here are Soulslikes with some of the best weapon upgrade mechanics on offer.

10 Dark Souls

Setting the Stage

The Soulslike genre wouldn’t be where it is today without Dark Souls. This iconic action RPG set the standard for the genre in many ways, including weapon upgrades. Players must collect titanite pieces to upgrade their weapons, with higher-level upgrades requiring larger and more exotic forms of the mysterious metal.

Players can also choose a specific upgrade path for their weapons to further modify them, adding special damage types like fire and magic. These additional properties make the game’s weapon system very intricate, but the downside is they can also be difficult for new players to figure out, leading players to waste valuable materials if they’re not careful in selecting how they want their weapon to develop.

9 Lords of the Fallen

Back to Basics

2023’s Lords of the Fallen, like its 2014 predecessor, is a love letter to Dark Souls and takes after the series quite closely. This is especially evident in its weapon upgrade system, which should be familiar to anyone who played the original Dark Souls. Once players have found the blacksmith NPC, they can trade her increasingly hefty chunks of the valuable mineral Deralium in exchange for improvements to their weapons.

In lieu of Dark Souls‘ occasionally clunky upgrade paths, Lords of the Fallen opts for a more streamlined rune mechanic. By giving the blacksmith special tablets found throughout the world, players can slot runes into their weapons, granting them special abilities and damage types.

8 Dark Souls 2

Stepping It Up

Dark Souls 2 fell short of its predecessor in a few ways, but thankfully its weapon upgrade system remains solid. The basic mechanics of the game’s weapon upgrades remain largely unchanged; players still trade titanite to a blacksmith for upgrades. Divergent upgrade paths are now tied to consumable items as well.

One major change in Dark Souls 2 comes from boss weapons. In the first game, players had to max out a specific type of weapon in order to transform it into a boss weapon. In Dark Souls 2, players must simply defeat the boss in question and trade its soul to one of two blacksmiths to receive the associated item.

7 Nioh

Playing Catch Up

Compared to some of its counterparts in the genre, Nioh has a very simple weapon upgrade system. Rather than worrying about gathering materials and finding a blacksmith, players upgrade their weapons through a mechanic known as Soul Match.

Using Soul Match, players can sacrifice a weapon to bring a different, less powerful weapon up to its level. This lets players stick to a weapon type they’re familiar with without making high-level weapons of a different type completely useless since they can always be sacrificed to keep a preferred weapon on the right track.

6 Dark Souls 3

Streamlining Success

In many ways, Dark Souls 3 is the ultimate culmination of the entire trilogy. This can certainly be seen in its weapon upgrade system, which streamlines things considerably from the first two. With fewer varieties of titanite to track down, players will much more reliably be able to upgrade any weapon in their arsenal. This makes it much easier to experiment with different weapon types without fear of running out of materials.

Another way Dark Souls 3 streamlines things is by reducing the number of blacksmiths in the game. The first two games had three or four blacksmiths scattered throughout the world, each of which offers specialized services. Dark Souls 3 features just one blacksmith located prominently in the hub, letting players easily manage all their weapons no matter where they are in the game.

5 The Surge 2

Sci-Fi Strength

While most Soulslikes remain firmly in the fantasy trappings of the series that started it all, The Surge 2 follows its predecessor into a bold new future. This strange sci-fi Soulslike offers much more robotic foes than Dark Souls fans will be used to, and the game’s weapon upgrade mechanics reflect this.

In order to upgrade a weapon in The Surge 2, players will need to combine it with parts taken from their fallen foes. The game’s dismemberment system is key here, as players will need to physically remove the pieces they need from their foes in order to use them on their own gear.

4 Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Tricks Up Your Sleeve

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a considerable departure from the other Soulslikes in FromSoftware’s stable, namely because of how much it diverges from the previous games’ RPG mechanics. Unlike the Dark Souls trilogy, Sekiro does not have a large stable of swords, axes, and other fantasy weapons for players to choose from. Instead, it has a katana and a prosthetic arm.

Over the course of the game, Sekiro‘s titular protagonist can unlock a variety of upgrades for the tools concealed in his prosthetic arm. The axe blade, shuriken, flame vent, and other tools hidden in this mechanical prosthetic complement Sekiro’s katana nicely, and knowing which tools to upgrade is key to success in this brutal action game.

3 Lies of P

Mix And Match

The bizarre steampunk Soulslike Lies of P borrows its fast-paced, high-energy combat from Bloodborne, but its weapon customization system is much more distinct. While weapon blades still follow a linear progression system familiar to Dark Souls fans, players can also dig into customizing weapon handles.

Altering a weapon handle grants the tool new properties and alters its grade, allowing for more in-depth customization of each part of P’s arsenal. Players can take this customization a step further by disassembling weapons entirely, mixing and matching blades and handles until they’ve created something truly unique.

2 Elden Ring

A Weapon To Kill A God

FromSoft’s explosively popular open-world Soulslike takes a lot of mechanical inspiration from the previous games in the series, improving on them in scope and scale with a truly vast map for players to freely explore. The developer’s signature linear weapon upgrades return, with a separate matching series of upgrade materials for the game’s new spirit summons.

Elden Ring takes full advantage of the more streamlined mechanics seen in games like Dark Souls 3. The game uses Whetblades to determine damage affinities, and this also determines which Ashes of War can be granted to a weapon to customize it still further. These affinities can be freely and easily switched at any Site of Grace, letting players customize weapons on the fly wherever they go.

1 Bloodborne

The Perfect Tool For A Hunter

It’s hard to name a Soulslike that isn’t heavily focused on weapons, but Bloodborne takes these all-important tools of destruction to a whole new level. Each individual weapon in Bloodborne is unique, with a varied moveset and a transformation ability that opens up even more options in the heat of battle.

Unlike the Dark Souls trilogy, which required different types of titanite for different weapons, every weapon in Bloodborne is improved by the same set of bloodstones, making it much easier to keep preferred weapons up to date while also experimenting with new tools. Players can fortify their weapons even further with blood gems, which can be freely swapped around to add damage, affinities, and even new abilities. Players are freely allowed and even encouraged to constantly experiment with their arsenal, crafting whatever weapon will be perfect for putting down the next menacing beast.