Cyberpunk 2077 may have had a buggy launch, but it now offers a seamless gaming experience that keeps players returning for more. Be it story missions or weapons, Cyberpunk 2077 has plenty to offer. While Night City can be unforgiving, players can take advantage of the different types of weapons the game throws at them.

Most players will get the job done with the weapons they find, but there will come a time when they will need to upgrade said weapons. Unfortunately, Cyberpunk 2077 does not provide instructions on how players can upgrade their weapons, but this guide provides step-by-step instructions for upgrading weapons and other helpful tidbits.

Updated October 27, 2023 by Erik Petrovich: In the original release of Cyberpunk 2077 weapon upgrades could be crafted for just about any weapon in the game. With the 2.0 update that released just before the Phantom Liberty expansion comes an overhaul of the weapon upgrade system Cyberpunk 2077 players are used to. No longer can players upgrade all weapons, now only iconic weapons can be upgraded. The process is pretty similar to how to upgrade weapons in Cyberpunk before the 2.0 update, but just limited to these specific weapon types. Weapons can be upgraded in other ways, like by attaching scopes and mods. But when it comes to how to upgrade weapons directly, by improving their core stats, only a select few can be improved with crafting components following this method.

How to Upgrade Weapons in Cyberpunk 2077

There is no denying that weapon mods are key to keeping V powerful throughout Cyberpunk 2077, but they can only do so much. Players will also need to upgrade weapons to keep up with the enemies they face in Night City. Unfortunately, only Iconic weapons – weapons with the golden rarity accent – can be directly upgraded in the crafting menu.

To upgrade weapons in Cyberpunk 2077, follow these simple steps:

1. Open the Game Menu
2. Select Inventory, then Crafting, and then scroll to the Upgrades tab.
3. Select an Iconic Weapon to upgrade.
4. Players will be given a preview of the weapon with new stats, including information like Attack per Second, Damage, DPS, etc.
5. Ensure the required Components are available to upgrade the weapon. The Components required for the upgrade appear to the left of the player’s stats.

Players can only upgrade weapons that are in their inventory. Weapons stashed away in a vehicle or V's apartment, for instance, will not be available in the Upgrades menu.

How To Get Upgrade Components

The Components required to upgrade weapons depends on the number of times it has been upgraded. With the 2.0 update, only Iconic weapons can be upgraded a limited number of times, and though the early upgrades are fairly cheap on materials, later upgrades get expensive.

To upgrade weapons, players must have a huge number of the same tier of Components as the weapon. For instance, players will need Tier 2 components to upgrade a Level 2 iconic weapon, Tier 4 components for Level 4 iconic weapons, and so on. To upgrade an iconic weapon to Level 5++ from 5+, it takes a massive 200 Tier 5 crafting components.

One of the best places to get crafting components in Cyberpunk 2077 is, in fact, the player's inventory. Broken weapons will automatically convert into crafting materials at the same tier of the weapon being salvaged, weapons in V's inventory can be manually salvaged as well. If the player decides they don't want a weapon, and it's not valuable enough to pawn off, there is an option to turn it into crafting components. Head to V's backpack and hover over unwanted Weapons, then press the input for Salvage to turn it into parts.

Keep an eye out in the open world for lootable containers, too, and pick up side quests like the NCPD assault missions for some quick materials from the environment and looted from enemy Wanted targets.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

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