How to upgrade weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 has changed with the introduction of 2.0. The update that arrived alongside Phantom Liberty has completely revamped crafting and weapon upgrades, to the point where you can no longer upgrade any Cyberpunk 2077 weapons that are not iconic, aka unique or legendary.
So if you have any iconic weapons you've fallen in love with thanks to their unique perks and attributes, look no further - this is how you can upgrade them to make them even more powerful.
Cyberpunk 2077 weapon upgrades explained
Upgrading iconic weapons in Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 requires crafting components. These are literally items called 'crafting components' - chances are you'll have found a fair few of them during your time in Night City so far. They are split into tiers, from tier one all the way up to tier five.
Tier one crafting components are the equivalent of tier one weapons, also known as common. You can craft weapons of any tier, provided you have the right amount of crafting components, but you cannot upgrade them, since upgrades are limited to iconic weapons only.
To upgrade iconic weapons in Cyberpunk 2077, you must do the following:
- Enter the crafting menu and navigate to upgrades.
- All of the iconic weapons in your inventory will be listed - select the one you want to upgrade.
- If you have enough crafting components, you will be able to spend them on upgrading it.
One aspect that is uncertain is what determines the specific rarity of crafting component needed. I have iconic weapons across the first four tiers that all require tier four crafting components to upgrade. I also have some tier five iconic weapons that require tier four crafting components - but also plenty that require tier five crafting components.
One thing is for certain, and that's when you upgrade a tier five weapon once to tier five+, the quantity of crafting components required jumps up from 75 to 200. For one single upgrade. I picked up my old save file from pre-Phantom Liberty and have since finished the expansion, and I only have 140 tier five crafting components in total, so it will take a lot of farming if you want to successfully upgrade all of your iconic weapons.
If you're in dire need of crafting components, your best method to acquire some quickly is to disassemble any unwanted weapons you've looted. Make sure you're picking up any weapons off enemies you kill, then disassemble them in your inventory. You'll receive crafting components for that tier for every weapon you disassemble. You can also loot plenty of crafting components, but you'll find far more of the lower tiers this way, and the higher tiers of crafting components are the ones that you'll need the most of.
