Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a very different sort of game for the Yakuza franchise. It's still quite long and just as ridiculous as all the pure open-world beat em' up Yakuza games that came before it. But, this one is primarily a JRPG experience instead of a beat 'em up experience.\

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And, like most classic and modern JRPGs, there are ultimate weapons to be found/made that require an absurd amount of time and effort investment to be obtained. Now, the weapons, accessories, and armor in Yakuza: Like A Dragon might seem overwhelming at first with all the different options and branching upgrade paths, but it's actually pretty simple. There are really only a few "best" options for each category, at the end of the day. So, for players trying to get through either variation of the Millenium Tower, here’s how to get to go about getting the best gear.

Updated July 17th, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: With so many more JRPGs seemingly coming out each year, now seemed like an apt time to go back and take another look at the ambitious game that was Yakuza: Like a Dragon. And, funnily enough, even though Like a Dragon seemed like it was slowly attempting to pass the 'protagonist torch' from Kiryu to Ichiban, the next game in this spin-off line, Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased Release, goes right back to making Kiryu the main character. Though, fans don't need to worry too much, as it seems to then switch back to Ichiban in Yakuza Like a Dragon 8, now known as Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. So, for those who aren't interested in Kiryu's exploits between Yakuza 6 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, here's how to get the best armor in Ichiban's game.

Hold On To Everything

First and foremost, don’t sell any materials, weapons, or items if possible. Most of the time, the yen Ichiban makes from selling something is laughably small anyway, so there's no real incentive for selling this stuff, especially considering all the other routes there are in-game for making money. Just hoard everything, as most people tend to do in JRPGs anyway.

The best stuff in Yakuza: Like A Dragon is either stuff that is crafted or upgraded from a 'base' piece of equipment, and both of these methods require quite a bit of random materials that are a pain to actively search for when needed.

Use Ichiban Confections To Get Infinite Yen

This next tip could not be more important, focus on the Ichiban Confections mini-game as soon as it's available. Not only is this tip crucial for someone trying to get the best gear, but it’s just a good piece of advice for anyone playing Yakuza: Like A Dragon, in general. In just about every single Yakuza title, there’s a series of substories where the protag ends up managing some type of business. Kiryu usually does real estate in multiple games such as Yakuza 4, the 'Mad Dog of Shimano' Majima had his own Hostess bar in Yakuza 0, and now Ichiban has his confectionary shop by the name of Ichiban Confections.

In Like A Dragon, getting all the way through the Ichiban Confections substory takes a fair bit of time. But, once players get to the end of this substory, they'll be able to repeatedly 'run' the Ichiban Confections (and all the other properties) at max level to gain around 3 million yen for about 5 minutes worth of time. There is quite literally no better method of generating money in the game, and is the true example of Like a Dragon's 'Infinite Wealth'.

Fully Invest In The Romance Workshop

The Romance Workshop, run by Sumire Sawa, is a location that players will unlock relatively early on. And, it’ll serve as the crafting hub for weapons and gear for the entirety of the game. In it, players can upgrade their weapons, craft new armor, craft accessories, buy new weapons/armor, and even chat up Sumire to lead to substories (and even a romance option).

Because of how upgrades work in Like a Dragon, any of the weapons that can be upgraded past EX are the 'best gear in the game', which makes things simple.

To get a bit more in-depth, here's a full example of how just one weapon upgrade path works from start to finish, how much it costs, and what branching paths look like, using Ichiban's first Bat as an example:

But, at certain points during this upgrade chain, players won't be able to proceed with the next upgrade until they invest in Sumire's Shop to get her the needed equipment to take their equipment to the next level. So, if there's ever a point where the next upgrade doesn't appear, even though the player knows there should be an option there, that's the sign it's time to invest. But, players should be able to tell just looking at the table above that it's quite costly to get from the Self-Proclaimed Hero's Bat to the Legendary Hero's Bat EX EX, which is exactly why the Ichiban Confections progress is pretty much mandatory (luckily it's also just a fun side activity overall).

Figure Out What Each Job's "Foundation" Weapon Is

Eventually, every weapon upgrade hits a wall. At this point, the final upgrade for it will be an 'EX' upgrade, rather than a +1 or +2, and this usually happens with Elemental Attribute Upgrade Paths like Ichiban's Flaming Lumber, the Detective Job's Icy Traffic Wand, or the Bodyguard Job's Red Hot Blade.

The more 'standard' weapons (and each of the 21 jobs in the game has at least one) can be upgraded all the way to EX+9 (or EX EX). However, keep in mind that the monetary investment to get there is unbelievable and the base game should be easily completable without even getting into anything past an EX +1 upgrade.

It's highly recommended that players don't build the higher EX weapons on every single Job in the game, it would require an absurd amount of grinding. Instead, either use the Elemental Upgrade Paths or stay around EX +3 or EX +4 until the player is sure which Job each Party Member will stick with in the endgame.

Therefore, while it may break the immersion a bit (though the constant cutscenes should fix that), save Ichiban some time and do a bit of research to figure out ahead of time which weapon for each job is the “foundation” for the eventual EX+9 variant. Luckily, there are plenty of other weapons in the game to characters over, damage-wise, until their "ultimate" version can be built.

While this may seem like it'll ruin the fun of all the different weapons by restricting the player to only caring about one for each Job, this isn't necessarily true thanks to the modern design sensibilities of Like a Dragon. The player will absolutely not be able to afford all the upgrades on their Job's core weapon from EX to EX EX all at once. So, between each upgrade, they can invest in and mess around with all the other weapons that are much cheaper to upgrade. Additionally, there's plenty of reason to switch to Elemental Weapons for certain fights, or for specific Job Changes, so the max upgrade for each weapon path almost always stays viable.

Start That Grind For Materials & Money

Now that all the building blocks are in place, it’s time to start grinding, as this is a traditional mechanic of any real JRPG. Whether this is grinding for the materials to craft the "EX EX" weapons, the money needed to upgrade them, the money needed to upgrade the Romance Workshop, or just grinding for money while also grinding for levels. Though, be aware, by far the most optimal place to grind is the Sotenbori Battle Arena, so waiting until that gets unlocked might be a decent idea in the long run.

After that, a lot of players tend to grind in the Millenium Tower, but because this area is much more difficult, especially considering the battle with Amon, it's not as reliable as the Battle Arena.

Money & Materials Obtained? Time To Upgrade

Let’s hypothetically say that the player got to the Battle Arena and farmed everything they needed. They got all the Golden Bugs, Cough Drop Tins, Raw Ore, and more that they'll have Sumire smush together to somehow upgrade their metal bat. So, what now? Well, it’s time to go back to the Romance Workshop and go about the repetitive process of upgrading them, one by one.

Just remember, for the late upgrades, it’ll cost upwards of millions of yen for each rank-up, with the amount increasing with every upgrade level. This means it might be less frustrating to just do the math beforehand and walk into the Workshop overflowing with money, which again, should be easy to do by going along the Ichiban Confections route.

There Are Other Options For Non-Completionists

This is all good and nice to know, but what about the players that don’t want to spend all their time grinding in Like A Dragon for absurdly overpowered weapons? It can't be overstated that going along this path of massive money investment and weapon upgrades is only for those who like to complete absolutely everything in a game and get their characters to the absolute peak of their possible power.

For everyone else who just likes to play a game, experience the story, do a few substories, and then relax with some Karaoke, there's no need to commit to any of these methods. Honestly, these EX weapons are massively overpowered and are kind of just overkill in all combat situations anyway. So, for those who want the “best gear” but don’t want to burn themselves out grinding, the higher floors of the Battle Arena or certain expensive shops like Le Marche are the best bet. This is where players can get gear like the Dragon Soul Bat, the Staff of the Five Wisdoms, and much more.

What About Crafted Armor?

With all that said, what about armor? This whole conversation seems to be entirely focused on the weapons and not the armor in Like a Dragon. Well, there are two big reasons that this is more focused on weapons as opposed to armor. One, armor in Like a Dragon isn’t 'upgraded', meaning players can’t keep improving their favorite armor piece to keep it relevant.

Two, armor doesn't make nearly the same difference in combat that weapons do. They're important, sure, but it's more about the Job itself and the role they fill in the party than the armor they wear. So if the goal is the “absolute pinnacle” of armor in the game, then it would have to be the Quixotic-class gear Ichiban can craft at the Romance Workshop once it's at max rank. There are light and heavy versions of the Quixotic Armor for the head, body, and feet, with the major difference between them being the elemental or physical resistance they give. Otherwise, most of the armor players can earn from the Battle Arena will easily carry them into the finale and post-game content.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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