REPO Strength explained and how to upgrade it

REPO strength upgrades are a great way to improve your looting ability and monster-slinging skills. Lifting heavy items and enemies requires muscles, which is a pity, considering that the heaviest items are usually the most valuable and the thickest monsters tend to be the most dangerous.

Luckily, you can upgrade your REPO strength stat as soon as you’ve completed your first extraction. This strength guide will show you how to get the upgrades as well as the number of strength upgrades required to yeet a heavy monster.

How to use strength in REPO

Strength is one of the main player stats in REPO, alongside health and stamina. It affects your ability to lift things, which not only includes items, but also monsters. This means that the strength stat has two main purposes:

• A higher strength stat makes it easier to loot valuables as you’ll be able to carry heavier items.
• The strength stat determines which monsters you can grab and throw, thus dealing damage without a weapon. As you would expect, smaller REPO monsters typically weigh less than the big ones.

To check your current strength level, open the map (press ‘tab’). If you have any strength upgrades (one strength upgrade equals one strength level), you will see the number of upgrades on the left side of the map. If you’re new to REPO, your strength level is probably zero.

To be clear, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to play REPO at low strength, but if you find a valuable, heavy-weight item, you must ask one or two teammates to help you carry it. So, if you’re stuck with a low strength level for now, it’s helpful to create a maximum-size REPO team.

How to upgrade strength in REPO

It’s possible to boost your strength with strength upgrades, available in the Service Station (the in-game store). After each successful round, you and your allies will return to the Service Station to spend your hard-won money. Although the available items are randomised, strength upgrades are nearly always there. Look for the orange packets; it’ll say ‘strength upgrade’ when you hover over them.

The upgrade will initially cost you $6,000. However, every time you return to the Service Station, the price will go up. If you have enough money, you can buy two or even three strength upgrades at once, to save money in the long run.

Place the strength packs on the extraction platform and press the button to complete the purchase. When you start the next round, you’ll find the strength packs in the truck. Beware that you still need to pick them up and interact with them to receive the strength boost - make sure you do this before entering the next level.

REPO strength requirements

Which valuables you can or can’t loot is mostly linked to their size; anything small, such as a diamond, ring, or cup, shouldn’t be a problem at strength level zero. Something bigger, such as the glass rhino display, will be difficult at strength level zero but easy at strength level 2.

When in doubt, try to lift the item very carefully. For example, if you find a large display sitting on a table, try lifting it upwards a bit instead of dragging it towards you, which might cause it to tumble off the table. That way, if you can’t hold it, it won’t take much damage.

With monsters, it’s a different story. You can’t just ‘test’ whether you’re strong enough to hold them - if you try it and fail, it’ll likely be game over. If you’d like to know when you can hurl the mightiest foes across the room, this REPO strength chart will help you out:

• Strength level 0: you can throw Gnomes and Bangers. It’s also possible to grab the Spewer and shake it (to make it retreat).
• Strength level 4: you can lift the Animal, Rugrat, Mentalist, and Upscream. Instead of just shaking, you can also smack the Spewer now.
• Strength level 9: you can lift the Chef, Shadow Child, Bowtie, and Reaper.
• Strength level 13: you’ll be able to throw the heaviest monsters, which includes the Trudge, Clown, Headman, and Robe.

Even at high strength, there are some monsters you shouldn’t attempt to grab, including the Huntsman (he will shoot you in the face) and the Apex Predator. The Huntsman, who requires strength level 9, may work out if you bait him into firing or grab him after he shoots a teammate, but it’s hard to pull off. Given their respective invisibility and position on the ceiling, it’s likely impossible to grab the Hidden and the Eye.

And that’s how to use strength in REPO. For more tips on looting, take a look at our guide on how to play REPO. For more advice on how to defeat enemies, our list of all REPO monsters contains some handy tips.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.