Phantom Blade Zero Weapon Upgrade Materials to Lv 30

To upgrade a weapon in Phantom Blade Zero, meet the Forge at the Outpost in Weeping Creek Valley, then pay each level in your weapon class’s metal, Solvent and Remnant Dust, either with her or at any bell under Upgrade Equipment.

Weapon upgrades raise a weapon’s level, and each level step is paid for with three things: the metal that matches the weapon’s class, a Solvent, and Remnant Dust. The Forge, the eldest of the Three Sisters, handles this, and after you meet her, every bell gets an Upgrade Equipment row with Main Weapons and Phantom Edges tabs. Phantom Edges follow a separate material track and skip Solvent.

Steam’s global achievement page lists Overwhelming Force (upgrade a weapon to level 30) and Skill Over Strength (upgrade a Phantom Edge to level 30). Completion rates change from day to day; the Steam achievement stats page has the live figures.

The costs below come from third-party guides, some dated before patch 1.0302256 of 4 November 2026 and some undated. S-GAME’s notes for that patch list no change to upgrade costs or materials, though they do mention updated weapon descriptions. The guide figures were not re-checked in the game after the patch.

The figures above are the level 30 achievement target, the price Quick Hand Zhang charges for first-tier metal, and his price for either Reforge Talisman.

The first visit also runs a tutorial in which Jagged Steel’s level 1 to 2 upgrade is free and you are then prompted to revert it.

The metal and the Solvent step up together. The table below uses the level you reach after upgrading, as GrindnStrat lists it: levels 2 to 10 use the basic metal and Solvent, levels 11 to 20 use Polished metal and Concentrated Solvent, and levels 21 to 30 use Flawless metal and Universal Solvent.

Phantom Edges use one dedicated material plus Remnant Dust, on a three-tier track that depends on the Edge type. The levels at which an Edge moves from one tier to the next are not stated in the guides read.

Per All Things How, Jagged Steel costs 2 Forged Metal, 1 Solvent and 1,080 Remnant Dust for level 1 to 2, then 4 Forged Metal, 2 Solvent and 1,620 Remnant Dust for level 2 to 3. Sanguine Twin, a Dual-Wield weapon, starts at 2 Twinned Metal, 1 Solvent and 990 Remnant Dust. Its listed early steps rise to 4 Twinned Metal and 2 Solvent, then to 6 and 3, and level 6 to 7 still costs 6 and 3. Those examples do not give a formula for later levels.

Sanguine from level 1 to 30 as a worked example

Wikily’s extracted data gives Sanguine’s 1 to 30 total as 320,805 Remnant Dust, plus 52 Forged Metal, 26 Solvent, 54 Polished Forged Metal, 27 Concentrated Solvent, 81 Flawless Forged Metal and 54 Universal Solvent. Adding those lines gives 187 pieces of metal and 107 of Solvent for that one weapon (our sum). GrindnStrat’s Sanguine brackets, 26,730 for levels 2 to 10, 76,725 for 11 to 20 and 217,350 for 21 to 30, add up to the same 320,805. For scale, the Mirrorwood Lóng Pillar bell Store stocks 12 of each first-tier metal and 36 Solvent, while Sanguine’s first metal tier alone takes 52 Forged Metal and 26 Solvent.

Costs differ by weapon

Sanguine’s total is an example for that weapon only. Sanguine Twin starts at 990 where Jagged Steel starts at 1,080, and GrindnStrat’s Wooden Sanguine brackets (24,300, 69,750 and 144,900) sum to 238,950 (our sum). Wikily’s per-weapon pages are community data and show other level 30 Dust totals, as below.

The documented material sources are chests, world pickups and limited-stock shops. S-GAME’s director Liang Qiwei said in a group interview, relayed by MP1st, that enemies do not return by design, that map resources are limited, and that players should explore thoroughly to get stronger. Separately, Game8 quotes him saying resting at a bell restores health, vials and Phantom Edge ammo without reviving standard enemies. On one point guides disagree: All Things How reports that enemies killed near your death spot can reappear after you respawn, while PowerPyx says defeated enemies do not respawn.

GamerFuzion reported an empty Outpost shelf on returning. Shop stock is limited; whether or when it refills is not established by that one observation. A Crimson Forest chest near a ladder’s base holds Darkfire Charcoal, Mechanical Gear and Incense Ash, and Ancient Timber sits in a roadside rubbish heap about 10 metres from the Red Serpent House bell. The guides read do not say where Polished and Flawless main-weapon metals come from, so check the item card and shops as you reach new regions.

Because the director describes map resources as limited, it pays to know which fights and side quests you are routing through; the Phantom Blade Zero boss order and rewards guide y el True Ending guide to quests and missables cover that routing.

From the upgrade panel, All Things How describes pressing T to open the Downgrade menu and holding Space, which returns the weapon to level 1 and refunds the Remnant Dust, metal and Solvent, with Owned and Refund columns shown before you confirm. The director also said weapon levels can be reset so players can try other weapons.

Community guides (GamingProMax y DTGRE) say the revert is free through level 10 and that a matching Reforge Talisman is needed above that. All Things How’s max-level page quotes in-game text that resetting after upgrading requires 1 Phantom Reforge Talisman, without naming a level. Per those guides, talismans are not interchangeable between weapons and Phantom Edges.

Both can also be world pickups, for example two Phantom Reforge Talismans on a rock pillar in the cave behind the Great Waterfall in Weeping Creek Valley. Soul Tempering, handled by Myst in Pangzhen, is a separate system costing 5,000 Remnant Dust plus a key item per weapon, and reverting a level does not undo it.

Guides do not agree on whether the track continues past 30 or where the Realm of Mirage fits in.

Level 30 is the achievement target this guide covers, not a confirmed maximum. An official cost table from S-GAME and the total material available in one cycle are not stated in the Steam notes and posts checked.

Sources and Confidence

The table names the source of each claim. Guide figures were not re-checked in the game after patch 1.0302256.