Ratchet & Clank: Upgrading weapons Ratchet & Clank Guide
Last update: 16 April 2022
On this page of our guide to the game Ratchet & Clank, you will find out how to improve weapons. You'll learn what you need to do to get new upgrades and deal even more damage.
Upgrading weapons is one of the most important things in the game. This directly impacts the effectiveness of a given weapon in combat, but also gives a lot more. Some of the weapons offer additional bonuses, such as a higher chance of an enemy dropping a Raritarium crystal, or a holocard, or increasing the amount of bolts that enemy drop upon death. The weapons are upgraded in two ways - on their own, and by spending Raritarium crystals in the store.
The process of upgrading the weapon on its own happens when you use the weapon in combat - every bullet you shoot, grenade you throw, or a Proton Drum ball thrown increases the experience bar of a weapon. Unfortunately, you can't just stand at the store replenishing your ammo and shooting in the air - the weapon must hit an enemy.
Each weapon has its own progress bar, filling which will increase the level of the said weapon. Each firearm starts at 1st level, and the maximum it can reach is the 5th. Increasing the level causes the weapon to deal more damage, as well as unlocks new possible upgrades in the store. Additionally, getting to the fifth rank gives a weapon a unique name, look, and an additional attribute - like shooting three projectiles instead of a single one.
A separate process is upgrading the weapon with the help of Raritarium. Those are special crystals that are sometimes dropped by enemies (some of the weapons increase the chances of that happening), as well as collected from Raritarium deposits (all of them are mentioned in the walkthrough).
To be able to upgrade weapons in such a way, you must first enter the store and select the weapon you want to enhance. Upgrade screen is divided into dozens of segments, each one of those being a single upgrade giving a specific bonus to a given weapon. The segments are unlocked gradually - you must unlock the one sticking to the upgrade you want to unlock first. Each one of those upgrades cost 1 Raritarium.
Additionally, each level of experience your weapon gains unlocks unique upgrade segments (marked with the yellow question mark). If you manage to unlock all of the upgrades surrounding such a segment, the weapon will be given a unique characteristic - like the ability to shoot more than a single ball of Proton Drum, or increasing the range of Combustor's projectiles. Those segments offer extremely powerful, unique bonuses, which is why you should always focus on getting them.
You should use only a small number of weapons, so that you can increase their levels and unlock powerful upgrades as quickly as possible. This way you will have access to a number of extremely powerful weapons, making the elimination of enemies a breeze.