I Ascended My Gear in Avowed: The Ultimate 2026 Upgrade Grind Guide

Oh, souls of the Living Lands, listen up! If you’re not mainlining the sheer dopamine rush of watching your favorite blade evolve from a rusty toothpick into a god-slaying entity in Avowed, you are playing this Obsidian masterpiece wrong. It’s 2026 now, and while half the gaming world is off chasing some new holographic fad, I’m still living in Eora, obsessing over every last scrap of metal, every elusive herb, and spending way too many sleepless nights tracking down chests in the most ludicrous corners of the map. The progression system in this game isn’t just a mechanic; it’s a lifestyle, a religion, and frankly, the sole reason my partner thinks I’ve been communing with woodland spirits.

Before we dive into the glorious chaos, feast your eyes on the sacred altar of ascension—the upgrade station where magic happens and materials vanish.

Throwing your hard-won loot into this beautiful contraption is like making a pact with a very demanding, pixelated deity. It demands tribute, and if you show up empty-handed, you might as well be beating a giant bear with a noodle.

Let me break down this glorious, skin-peeling, branch-snapping madness for you. The upgrade system might look simple on the surface—oh, just five categories? Wrong. It’s a labyrinth of interdependency where one missed plant can turn your legendary sword dream into a decade-long depression. You see, there are five essential families of upgrade items, each with their own blood-pressure-spiking rarity tiers: Common, Fine, Exceptional, Superb, and Legendary. I’ve constructed a table below, a sacred tablet if you will, detailing these heavenly curios. Every single one of them has consumed a part of my soul, and honestly, I’d do it again.

The Holy Five Categories of Ascension

Category	Purpose	My Emotional State When Farming
🌿 Herbs	The universal lifeblood. Every single weapon and armor piece, from a flimsy dagger to a breastplate that weighs more than a troll, consumes these.	Hyperventilating while staring at a single Paradisan Ladder.
🌳 Wood	Essential for all wooden paraphernalia—shields, wands, and those magnificent bows that make you feel like a stealth god.	Hacking branches in a frenzy, channeling my inner lumberjack.
⚔️ Metal	The heavy stuff for your swords, daggers, maces, and every melee weapon that goes clang.	Running through the Emerald Stairs screaming “WHERE IS THE STEEL?”
🦎 Armor Material	Pelt, hide, skin. The macabre trophies you need to stop an arrow from turning you into a pincushion.	Hunting stelgaers with the ferocity of a man possessed.
💎 Adra	The tier-breaking catalyst. If you want to push an item from Common to Fine or from Superb to Legendary, you cough up the Adra.	Hoarding these like a dragon, then weeping when I accidentally upgrade the wrong boots.

My Excruciating, Exhilarating Methods of Procurement

Acquiring these items is not a casual stroll; it’s a full-contact sport. Here’s how I’ve stockpiled my armory over countless hours in the Living Lands, turning myself into a peripatetic scavenger.

• Herb Havoc: Imagine me, crawling on my belly through Dawnshore, snatching up Paradisan Ladder from every glowing bush. But wait, you need Fine herbs? Suddenly I’m in the Emerald Stairs, frantically hoarding Hylea’s Talon, bargaining with traders who look at me like I’m insane because I bought out their entire stock. Every chest I open is a gamble—will it be a legendary tome or just another Admeth’s Wyrt? It’s a thrill ride! For the truly obsessed, breaking down unique gear you’ll never use can yield some emergency herbs, but that feels like selling your children for firewood.

• Wood, Metal, and Skin Pandemonium: The grind for wood branches is a splinter-filled nightmare. That Softwood Branch in the tutorial zone? Cute. Try farming Blackwood Branch in Galawain’s Tusk while dodging high-level enemies that can one-shot your sorcerer. The secret? Weapon and armor traders become your best friends. Empty your coin purse every time you see a White Steel Chunk or a Balarok Skin. And if you’re a true glutton for punishment, breaking down unused shields and wands gives you a miser’s trickle of materials. Here’s a peek at the brutal beauty of dismantling an item just to get that one Steel Chunk you’re craving.

• Adra Anxiety: Oh, the legendary Adra Ban. Just typing that gives me palpitations. You can’t just find these on a corner bush. They lurk in secret chests guarded by environmental puzzles or enemies that view you as a light snack. Some traders might sell Awakened Adra, but at a price that would bankrupt a small kingdom. And when you finally disassemble a unique weapon you bought from a wandering merchant, watching that Corrupted Adra pop out is a mix of victory and deep, existential dread because you know you’ll never, ever find another one.

The Grand Geographical Lottery

Here’s the kicker that makes this grind a masterpiece of territorial tourism. The tier of your upgrade component is tied directly to the region you’re sweating in.

• 🏞️ Dawnshore – Your Common tier paradise. Iron Chunks, Pelts, Softwood Branches, and the omnipresent Paradisan Ladder are so abundant you’ll think the game is easy. Spoiler: it’s not.

• 🌳 Emerald Stairs – Fine tier heaven. This is where Hardwood Branches, Steel Chunks, and Tanned Hides start popping up, and you realize you’re going to be farming until your eyes bleed.

• 🌵 Shatterscarp – Exceptional tier fever dream. Hunting for Petrified Wood Branches, White Steel Chunks, and Stelgaer Leather while the sun beats down. Pure, unadulterated madness.

• 🦷 Galawain’s Tusk – Superb tier crunch time. Blackwood Branches, Living Iron Chunks, and Balarok Skins are guarded by fauna that see you not as a threat but as a snack delivery service.

• 🌸 The Garden – The legendary finish line. Here, you finally taste Glasswood Branches, Living Steel Chunks, and Dragon Hide. But the real prize? The Bloodwrithe Toadstool, an herb so spectacularly named it deserves its own spin-off game. And the Adra Ban, the ur-mythic crystal that will test the very limits of your sanity.

But wait, my fellow completionists, there’s a twist! Occasionally you’ll stumble upon a higher-tier metal or wood in a lower-tier area, hidden in a grotto patrolled by ridiculously over-leveled enemies. It’s like Obsidian planted little dopamine traps just for us. I’ve risked entire permadeath runs just to snag an early Living Steel Chunk.

The Fabled Parade of Every Single Item (A Visual Feast)

For those who, like me, need a wallpaper-worthy visual reference to memorize, here is the exhaustive, glorious catalog. I’ve embedded these directly into my cerebrum.

Type	Common	Fine	Exceptional	Superb	Legendary
🌿 Herb	Paradisan Ladder	Hylea's Talon	Admeth's Wyrt	Cave Coral	Bloodwrithe Toadstool
🌳 Wood	Softwood Branch	Hardwood Branch	Petrified Wood Branch	Blackwood Branch	Glasswood Branch
⚔️ Metal	Iron Chunk	Steel Chunk	White Steel Chunk	Living Iron Chunk	Living Steel Chunk
🦎 Armor	Pelt	Tanned Hide	Stelgaer Leather	Balarok Skin	Dragon Hide
💎 Adra	—	Adra	Awakened Adra	Corrupted Adra	Adra Ban

In the end, this grind isn’t for the faint of heart—it’s for warriors, fanatics, and those of us who find true peace only when our arsenal sparkles with the word "Legendary." So sharpen your pickaxe, pack your herb bag, and remember: in Avowed, the real treasure isn’t the upgraded sword, it’s the tears of joy and exhaustion you shed along the way. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find one more Adra Ban. It’s only been three hundred hours.