Upgrades were added in v0.08, and can be used to permanently increase speed and damage of various weapons and tools, or even attach a flashlight to some weapons. You can also utilize temporary upgrades to add fire or poison effects to your weapon.
Note:
The upgrade bonuses and penalties shown here appear to differ from those in game. The values listed here could be outdated.
Gameplay[]
The upgrade process as seen in the inventory
The status of the currently selected upgrades is shown as a bar filled in the stats' colors beneath the crafting mat: blue indicates speed upgrades, whereas damage upgrades are displayed as a yellow portion of the bar.
As of update v0.15, there is a maximum amount of 30 upgrades a player can add to a weapon or tool at a time.
- You can make a combination of these upgrades.
- For a balanced weapon with improved speed and damage, add 20 feathers and 10 booze. This adds 1 damage and 1 speed.
- To get the most damage without sacrificing any of the weapon's default speed, add 15 booze and 15 feathers. This adds 2.25 damage and 0 speed.
- To get the most speed without sacrificing any of the weapon's default damage, add 24 feathers and 6 booze. This adds 1.80 speed and 0 damage.
Because there is a diminishing return on 30 of one upgrade type, adding 30 glass to a weapon actually is not the highest damage possible.
- The best damage upgrade, sacrificing speed, adds 14 booze and 16 teeth. This adds 4.40 damage and subtracts 2.20 speed.
Guide[]
Speed Upgrade[]
Speed upgrades are also known as feather upgrades, they are permanent.
- Feathers + Sap will upgrade speed, which raises the pure attack speed of that weapon while decreasing the damage.
- Feather: +0.1 Speed, -0.05 Damage
1  |
= | 1  |
+ | 1  |
+ |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed Upgrade |
Feather | Sap | One of these weapons |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Crafted Axe |
Rusty Axe |
Modern Axe |
Crafted Club |
Upgraded Stick |
Machete | Tennis Racket |
Club |
30 Feather Upgrades
Damage Upgrade[]
Damage upgrades are also known as teeth upgrades, they are permanent.
- Teeth + Sap will upgrade damage, which raises the damage output of that weapon while decreasing the speed.
- Tooth: +0.1 Damage, -0.05 Speed
1  |
= | 1  |
+ | 1 |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Upgrade |
Teeth | Sap | One of these weapons |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Crafted Axe |
Rusty Axe |
Modern Axe |
Crafted Club |
Upgraded Stick |
Machete | Tennis Racket |
Club |
30 Teeth Upgrades
Damage+ Upgrade[]
Damage+ upgrades are also known as glass or booze upgrades, they are permanent.
- Booze + Sap will be converted to Glass shards. Glass shards will increase damage output twice as much as teeth, though it will also decrease the speed of the weapon twice as much as teeth.
- Glass: +0.2 Damage, -0.1 Speed
1  |
= | 1  |
+ | 1 |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Upgrade+ |
Booze | Sap | One of these weapons |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1  |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Crafted Axe |
Rusty Axe |
Modern Axe |
Upgraded Rock |
Crafted Club |
Upgraded Stick |
Machete | Tennis Racket |
Club |
30 Glass Upgrades
Weapon Stats Calculator[]
Fire Upgrade[]
Fire upgrades were originally added in v0.08 with cloth only upgrades. In update v0.32, players were able to add cloth and booze, which increases the benefits by up to 3x times the burn length and swing amount, however this was removed without notice or reason.
You can combine a weapon and cloth for a temporary fire upgrade, which can make the upgraded item serve as a light source, a heat source to prevent cold damage, and a way to set enemies on fire.
The weapons you can grant the temporary fire upgrade with cloth.
Include the Modern Axe, Upgraded Stick, Crafted Club, Rusty Axe, Plane Axe, Club and Crafted Axe.
When pressing and holding the hotkey to activate the lighter (default L), you can light the upgraded weapon or tool on fire.
IMPORTANT: If you apply 30 upgrades to any of these weapons, you will no longer be able to attach booze for a fire upgrade.
1  |
= | 1  |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Upgrade |
Cloth | One of these weapons |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Crafted Axe |
Rusty Axe |
Modern Axe |
Crafted Club |
Club | Upgraded Stick |
Fire Upgrade Guide[]
Fire Upgrade Mechanics[]
To attach fire upgrades to an applicable weapon (see the below table), right click on that weapon, this will place it on the crafting mat. Right click on cloth, then click the cogwheel to combine. If you wish to upgrade it further, right click on one booze, then click the cogwheel to combine.
- It doesn't matter how many times a weapon with cloth or cloth and booze gets extinguished. Extinguished meaning, going into water, standing in rain, or putting it into your inventory the timer will keep getting paused and it won't remove the upgrade.
- Adding cloth to a weapon, once it is lit, adding cloth will restart the timer and swing count
Fire Upgrade Stats[]
- Swinging weapons reduces the time they burn for. Each swing takes a percentage off the burn length, based on how long it burns for combined with how many swings it can make before being removed.
For example, a modern axe with cloth only will swing 7 times or burns for 110 seconds before being extinguished. Based on this information, 110 divided by 7% is 14.2 which is the percentage each swing will take off the burn time which is around 15 seconds in this case. If you add cloth and booze to the modern axe, it will swing 21 times or burns for 300 seconds. 300 divided by 21% is 4.7. Therefore, each swing removes 4.7% off the burn time. Which is around 14 seconds. This is around the same amount of time as cloth only but you have an extra 190 seconds to play with. Basically, the higher the percentage number, the worse it is. For example, the rusty axe with and without booze has the highest percentage. Making it the worst weapon for burning or fire upgrades.
| Weapon | Burn Length Seconds | Swing Amount | Swing % off burn time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modern Axe | 110 | 7 | 14.2% |
| Upgraded Stick | 240 | 8 | 12.5% |
| Crafted Club | 110 | 9 | 11.1% |
| Rusty Axe | 80 | 3 | 33.3% |
| Plane Axe | 50 | 4 | 25.0% |
| Crafted Axe | 90 | 4 | 25.0% |
| Upgraded Rock | * | * | * |
- The Upgraded Rock can accept fire upgrades though it will set you on fire. It is pointless to test the lengths for this reason.
Poison Upgrade[]
Poison upgrades are temporary upgrades for specific weapons that was added in v0.69.
Poison upgrades appear to have the same effect as poison arrows, in that they provide a damage over time effect, whilst slowing the enemies movement and attack speed. They have a set amount of hits before wearing off. Hitting trees or stick trees will also take off the poison upgrade. It appears only bladed and piercing weapons can accept these upgrades.
1  |
= | 4  |
OR | 4  |
OR | 1  |
OR | 1  |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poison Upgrade |
Twin Berries |
Snow Berries |
Amanita Mushroom |
Jack Mushroom |
One of these weapons |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Crafted Axe |
Rusty Axe |
Modern Axe |
Upgraded Spear |
Incendiary Spear |
Katana | Machete |
| Version | Changes |
|---|---|
| v0.70 | Poisoned weapons will now display a visual |
| v0.69b | Fixed weird visual on the held poisoned plane axe |
| v0.69 | You can now poison most weapons by combining them with poison berries, or poison mushrooms.
The list of possible recipe displayed while combining ingredients on the crafting mat now shows only distinct entries (i.e.: 3 recipes yield a poisoned plane axe, it will display “Poisoned Plane Axe” only once instead of 3 times) |
Flashlight Upgrade[]
Flashlight upgrades won't increase the stats of a weapon, though it will help you to see in dark areas whilst utilizing these applicable weapons.
1  |
= | 1  |
+ | 1  |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flashlight Upgrade |
Flashlight | Electrical Tape |
One of these weapons |
1  |
1  |
1  |
1  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chainsaw | Modern Bow |
Crafted Bow |
Flintlock Pistol |
| Version | Changes |
|---|---|
| v0.71 | Flashlight upgrades added to the game
It is now possible to tape plastic torches onto the bows, the flintlock and the chainsaw |
Paint Upgrade[]
Paint upgrades have been removed from the game as of v1.0. Information is left here for reference purposes.
Painting a weapon wasn't technically an upgrade, though it was altering the weapon. It did not increase any stats or change the weapon any in way except its color. Only the plane axe, upgraded stick, and upgraded rock were able to have their weapons color changed. They required the paints to be crafted first:
1  |
= | 2  |
+ | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Paint |
Blue Berry |
Sap |
1  |
= | 2  |
+ | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Paint |
Marigold | Sap |
Once the paints had been crafted, they could be attached:
1 |
= | 1 |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Painted Weapon |
Blue Paint |
One of these weapons |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Upgraded Rock |
Upgraded Stick |
1 |
= | 1 |
+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Painted Weapon |
Orange Paint |
One of these weapons |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|---|---|---|
| Plane Axe |
Upgraded Rock |
Upgraded Stick |
Placing Upgrades[]
- When placing weapon upgrades, you can change the angle of the teeth/glass/feathers being placed, but the angle has no impact on the performance of the weapon. (As of v1.0, manual placement/rearrangement is not longer available.)
- Changing the angle when placing teeth has little visual effect due to their small size.
- After putting feathers on a weapon, if you then attach cloth and light it, the feathers will not burn off.
- You are unable to attach feathers or teeth to the upgraded rock. It will only accept glass shard upgrades.
- The weak spear can be upgraded with feathers and teeth, but it does not accept glass shard upgrades. When you attempt to combine a bottle of booze and sap with a weak spear, the cogwheel will appear, but when you click on the cogwheel the weak spear falls onto the crafting mat and you don't get the upgrade. You will waste one sap and one bottle of booze if you try, so it's best to avoid attempting altogether.
- When converting the weak spear into an upgraded spear, the upgrades don't carry over to the upgraded spear as it cannot be enhanced with.
- If you throw your enhanced weak spear and lose it, you can craft another one and your upgrades will reappear on the new weak spear.
Removing Upgrades[]
To remove upgrades from a weapon, right click on the weapon you wish to remove the upgrades from, this will place it on the crafting mat. Place your cursor over the weapon, a letter C should appear. Press C to remove the upgrades.
- When removing upgrades, you will lose all the sap you spent on upgrading that weapon. You will also only receive 40% of the upgrades back of what you spent.
For example: 10 feather spent will return 4 feathers, 10 teeth spent will return 4 teeth, and for 10 booze spent, will return 4 bottles of booze.
- You cannot remove single upgrades from a weapon, you can only remove every upgrade attached to that weapon.
- You cannot remove fire upgrades from a weapon, though this isn't an issue, as they are not permanent upgrades.
- Removing glass upgrades is different to removing feather and teeth upgrades. When removing glass upgrades, it can pay to have no booze in your inventory. If you were to remove 30 glass upgrades, this would return 12 bottles of booze. The problem with that is you can only carry 7 booze. Therefore, you will lose a lot of booze, but you will lose all the refunded booze if you have 7 booze in your inventory. Smashed glass is returned into its bottle form with alcohol inside.
The table below outlines what you received back for each number of upgrade removed. Glass is different because you can only hold 7 Booze. All other booze will be lost beyond 7.
| Removing Feathers & Teeth | Removing Glass | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amount
Attached |
Amount
Returned |
Amount
Lost |
Amount
Attached |
Amount
Returned |
Amount
Lost |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 5 |
| 8 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 6 |
| 11 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 7 |
| 12 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 8 |
| 13 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 8 |
| 14 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 5 | 9 |
| 15 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 6 | 9 |
| 16 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 6 | 10 |
| 17 | 6 | 11 | 17 | 6 | 11 |
| 18 | 7 | 11 | 18 | 7 | 11 |
| 19 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 12 |
| 20 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 7 | 13 |
| 21 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 7 | 14 |
| 22 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 7 | 15 |
| 23 | 9 | 14 | 23 | 7 | 16 |
| 24 | 9 | 15 | 24 | 7 | 17 |
| 25 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 7 | 18 |
| 26 | 10 | 16 | 26 | 7 | 19 |
| 27 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 7 | 20 |
| 28 | 11 | 17 | 28 | 7 | 21 |
| 29 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 7 | 22 |
| 30 | 12 | 18 | 30 | 7 | 23 |
Damage Comparison[]
This table outlines the amount of hits with each weapon it takes to kill a Painted Cannibals on hard mode. Keep in mind, this table does not take other variables into consideration such as speed, energy, other enemies around at the time, etc.
| Weapon | 30 Feather Upgrades | 30 Teeth Upgrades | 30 Glass Upgrades | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 20 STR | 99 STR | 20 STR | 99 STR | 20 STR | 99 STR |
| Modern Axe | 18 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 5 |
| Upgraded Stick | 137** | 52 | 34 | 16 | 21 | 11 |
| Crafted Club | 17 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 15 | 5 |
| Rusty Axe | 17 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 5 |
| Plane Axe | 28 | 14 | 17 | 9 | 15 | 7 |
| Crafted Axe | 22 | 10 | 22 | 7 | 16 | 6 |
| Upgraded Rock | - | - | - | - | 12 | 5 |
| Tennis Racket | 138** | 51 | 34 | 16 | 23 | 11 |
| Spear | 78** | 28 | 28 | 13 | - | - |
** Due to the low damage, high hit amount, and enemy health regeneration. These weapons were very ineffective at killing so the numbers will vary around these amounts. All other numbers are very accurate.
Known Bugs[]
- When saving and reloading a game, the upgrades from a weapon may disappear although this is only visual[confirmation needed].
- When crafted clubs that have the burning weapon upgrade have never been lit, the option for it to be lit when you leave and come back to that game save will no longer appear and you cannot combine it with cloth again either. This is the case with PS4 and may be with PC as well[confirmation needed].
- When dying in Multiplayer and picking your backpack back up you lose all applied upgrades[confirmation needed].
Update History[]
| Version | Changes |
|---|---|
| v1.08 | Fixed stashing a weapon while lighting it on fire possibly breaking the burning upgrade and also possibly leaving lighter in a state it cannot light any weapon on fire anymore |
| v0.72b | Fixed missing plane axe speed upgrade |
| v0.72 | Fixed battery level able to fall below 0% when flashlight is taped to a weapon
Fixed incorrect text for listed taped light recipes when adding a plastic torch to the crafting mat Fixed issues with rusty axe upgrading & upgrade disassembling You can now upgrade the enemy club Upgrade distribution UI no longer replaces the recipe list when not needed, for example with Rock & Cloth on the crafting mat which would show it for the Upgraded Rock recipe and thus hide the Repair Tool one |
| v0.69b | Fire lit weapons not setting enemies alight |
| v0.69 | Weapon speed calculation now clamps negative values so that a slow weapon like the crafted axe with full damage upgrade doesn't end up with wrong animation speed value and is unable to properly cut down trees |
| v0.64 | Machete can now be upgraded with teeth, booze or feathers ! |
| v0.62 | Fixed bonuses from upgrades on weapons not properly restored after loading a saved game (retroactive !) |
| v0.53 | Fixed a case of upgrade not completing if there previously was a full recipe on the crafting mat without room for the product in inventory
Tennis racket can now receive tooth, glass and feather upgrades ! Fixed “Sticky” upgrade recipe tooltip not showing up |
| v0.48 | (Multiplayer) Fixed weapon upgrades not showing on remote player if he hasn't opened inventory once since starting game |
| v0.46c | Fixed stick + cloth upgrade recipe not working when not owning bow |
| v0.46 | (Multiplayer) Cloth, tooth, feather and booze weapon upgrades are now visibly synced to other players ! |
| v0.45 | Fixed shutting down upgrading system before having applied all 5 views of a single glass shard upgrade leaving crafting system in a partially broken state
Fixed disassembling upgrades not properly clearing up bonuses (100% retroactive) Fixed disassembling upgraded stick upgrades breaking it Fixed disassembling upgrades causing burning upgrade cloth to no longer show up in inventory |
| v0.44 | It is now possible to remove fixed upgrades from weapons (tooth/feather/glass): Place an upgraded weapon alone on the crafting mat and press the “Craft” button. Upgrades will visibly fall off the weapon and about 40% of the tooth/feather/booze will be returned to the inventory if there is room for it |
| v0.43 | Fixed 2d filling cog not functioning properly in specific cases, i.e. upgrade recipe matching some ingredient with a recipe which currently has all its ingredient on the crafting mat but not valid amounts yet (like arrows & speed+ upgraded stick) |
| v0.42 | Upgrade recipes now show the 2d filling cog when there's at least 2 different ingredients on the mat |
| v0.39 | Fixed incompatibility between stashing lighter while holding burning weapon and put out burning weapon features from last patch
Fixed molotov/burning weapons sometimes getting put out when player has water at ankle level (Performances) Optimized fire warmth system |
| v0.38 | Now saving cloth (burning) weapon upgrade
Burning weapons are now put out and can be relit for remaining burn duration when entering a water trigger Burning weapons are now put out and can be relit for remaining burn duration when stashed (i.e. when climbing rope) |
| v0.37 | Revamped upgrade system: You now get to manually position your upgrades ! Start by making the upgrade recipe as usual, then rotate the item with Horizontal/Vertical input actions (WASD on keyboard by default), aim with mouse, and left click to place ! Repeat until all upgrade views are in place or right click to cancel upgrading
Fixed positioning of glass upgrade views Audio – new audio event for upgrade success Fixed upgrades not properly applying bonus + also fixes reloading flare gun with flares Having a burning weapon in right hand now counts as a light in regards of the equip light tutorial in caves New fire effects! Adding item to weapon rack structure now properly clears up cloth and/or fire |
| v0.36 | Closing inventory or removing an item from crafting mat while implanting upgrades now attempts to instantly place all the views |
| v0.35 | (Multiplayer) Fixed player's weapon fire not following weapon perfectly on remote avatar
(Multiplayer) Now syncing rotation of fire particle, should better follow weapons |
| v0.33 | Only fuel based fire weapons (such as molotov) will now cause enemies to flail around on fire, otherwise they will receive fire damage, stagger back but still remain able to attack |
| v0.32 | Added upgrade recipes to all items with the burning weapon upgrade: Add booze (after cloth, as a second upgrade) to triple burn duration and slightly increase light intensity |
| v0.31 | Glass shard upgrade views are now 50% smaller
Made glass upgrade material more transparent and more reflective Fixed burning weapons not emitting light |
| v0.30 | Lowered weapon fire light intensity |
| v0.28 | (Multiplayer) Fixed issue where upgrades for weapons would not show up |
| v0.25 | Fixed weapon fire light having a really big range and lighting up entirety of caves! |
| v0.24 | Fixed upgrades not spawning renderers when reaching max amount
Removed upgrade counters in inventory item tooltip Now displaying weapon speed & damage values (upgrade bonus included) in inventory item tooltip Now displaying preview for weapon speed & damage upgrade bonus when adding ingredients on the crafting mat ! Lowered penalty of each upgrade type |
| v0.23 | When items placed on the crafting mat match with upgrade recipes it will now be listed in the same fashion as normal recipes !
Reduced burning weapons memory allocations Light fire weapons animation added! |
| v0.22 | Tweaked weapon upgrade stats – making a weapon lighter will now also lower its damage slightly. Lowered all upgrade amounts. |
| v0.21 | Fixed upgraded stick counters not showing properly when adding ingredients to crafting mat
(audio) Setting a weapon alight plays fire start sfx |
| v0.20 | New game stats: Cooked Food, Burnt Food, Cancelled Structures, Built Structures, Destroyed Structures, Repaired Structures, Edible Items Used, Items Crafted, Upgrades Added, Arrows Fired, Lit Arrows, Lit Weapons, Burnt Enemies, Exploded Enemies
Improved burning weapon formula fire scale formula to look better with higher durations Fire weapons now emit much more light! |
| v0.19 | Fixed missing Tooth & Feather upgrade recipes for stick & stick upgraded
Burning weapons & arrows no longer burn things when not attacking with it Burning weapon stay up longer when idle but use fuel quickly when attacking |
| v0.16 | Upgrade balance: Inverted bonus curve, it now goes from small (10%) to big (100%)
Fixed booze upgrades still not showing up for some weapons |
| v0.15 | Fixed held plane axe upgrade visuals positioning
Fixed booze upgrade visuals Fixed loading upgrades from saved games (not retro-active) There is now a limit to the total amount of upgrades per item (currently set to 30 for all weapons. You can choose to have either 30 teeth or 10 teeth + 20 Feathers, or 10 teeth + 10 Feathers + 10 booze etc.) Visual added to show item upgrades distribution when crafting upgrade recipes Bonus per upgrade now decays as you use a single upgrade type |
| v0.13 | Lowered damage from un-upgraded rock weapon |
| v0.12 | New upgrade recipes: Stick/Upgraded Stick + Blue/Orange paint
New upgrade recipes: Rock/Upgraded Rock + Blue/Orange paint New upgrade recipes: Plane Axe + Blue/Orange paint |
| v0.10 | Fixed issue with weapon upgrades have no or very little effect |
| v0.08d | Fixed glass upgrade recipes for most weapons
Fixed Plane Axe's Cloth on crafting mat (for fire weapon upgrade) |
| v0.08b | items now spin around as upgrade are applied!
Increased amount of impact upgrades have on weapons Fixed upgrades not showing on weapons after loading a saved game Fire weapons will no longer be lit when lighting a regular fire increased length fire stays on some weapons Fixed missing audio on weapon fire |
| v0.08 | Feather, Teeth and Glass Upgrades added to the game
Cloth/Fire Upgrades added to the game Cloth/fire upgrading system added – add cloth to your weapons and set them alight First pass at infinite weapon upgrading! use collected items to upgrade your weapons. Use teeth, feathers and glass shards to improve weapon speed and damage. |
| v0.05 | Raised player fire damage amount |