When I first pulled the Nightingale Blade from a Fae Tower chest in the Swamp Realm, I thought it was the best melee weapon I’d ever get. That lasted until I tried to take down a level 25 Warden and it barely dented their armor, even with perfect critical hits. I spent three afternoons testing methods, wasting materials, and talking to other veteran players to figure out how to upgrade nightingale blade the right way, so you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did. This guide breaks down every part of the process, from required materials to common pitfalls that will ruin your upgrade if you’re not careful.
What You Need Before You Start Upgrading Your Nightingale Blade
You can’t just walk up to a basic workbench and upgrade this legendary weapon. First, you’ll need to meet a few non-negotiable prerequisites, plus gather rare materials that only spawn in higher-tier realms. If you skip any of these steps, the upgrade option won’t even show up in your workbench menu, so double-check this list before you start farming.
- 12 x Infused Iron Ingots (smelted from iron ore mixed with Tier 2 Fae Essence at a Smelter Tier 2)
- 8 x Shadow Weave (dropped by Shade enemies in the Dark Forest biome, with higher spawn rates during new moons)
- 5 x Corrupted Gemstone (found in hidden chests in Sunken Ruins, or dropped by elite Fae enemies in the Mountain Realm)
- 1 x Unmodified Base Nightingale Blade (if you’ve already added enchants to your existing blade, you’ll need to remove them first or the upgrade will fail)
Important note: If you have a modified variant of the Nightingale Blade that you got from a event drop, it can’t be upgraded. Only the base version that drops from regular Fae Tower chests qualifies for the stat boost. I learned this the hard way when I tried to upgrade a holiday event variant and lost 4 Corrupted Gemstones for no reason.
Step-by-Step Process to Upgrade Nightingale Blade
The actual upgrade process is straightforward once you have all your materials gathered, but there are small quirks in the game that can make it fail if you don’t follow the order exactly. I messed up my first attempt by walking away from the workbench mid-upgrade, so I lost half my materials and had to farm for another two days to try again.
First, make your way to a Tier 3 Infused Workbench. You can only upgrade legendary gear at a Tier 3 workbench, so if you haven’t unlocked that blueprint yet, you’ll need to complete the main quest “Restoring the Realm Network” first to get access. Place the workbench in a safe, covered area — if it rains during the upgrade, the process will short out and consume your materials without giving you the upgraded blade.
Next, open the workbench menu and navigate to the “Legendary Gear Upgrade” tab. Select the unmodified Nightingale Blade from your inventory and place it in the dedicated upgrade slot. Add all the required materials to the adjacent slots, making sure you’re using Infused Iron Ingots, not regular ones. The game won’t warn you if you use the wrong material, so double-check before you confirm.
Hit the confirm button and stand still for 10 in-game seconds while the upgrade processes. Don’t open any other menus, don’t move away from the bench, and don’t accept any friend invites during this time — all of these have been known to cancel the upgrade. Once it’s done, you’ll have the upgraded Nightingale Blade in your inventory, with base damage bumped from 45 to 78 and the innate 12% lifesteal perk unlocked.
Best Enchants to Pair With Your Upgraded Nightingale Blade
The upgraded blade already has great base stats, but adding the right enchants will make it powerful enough to take down endgame bosses in just a few hits. I’ve tested 12 different enchant combinations over the past month, and these three work best for both stealth and open combat builds.
The first enchant you should add is Lifesteal Boost. Stacking this with the blade’s innate lifesteal gives you up to 20% lifesteal per hit, which means you can fight entire packs of Shades without using a single health potion. I’ve used this combo to solo a level 30 Fae Tower without any healing items, so it’s well worth the cost of the enchant.
Second, add Shadow Step if you prefer a stealth build. This enchant lets you teleport 3 meters behind an enemy every time you land a critical hit, which is perfect for getting out of tight spots or ambushing high-health targets before they can call for backup. It doesn’t work as well for open combat builds, though, so skip it if you prefer to fight head-on.
Third, add Fae Damage Bonus if you spend most of your time exploring higher-tier realms. Most endgame enemies are Fae-aligned, so this enchant adds 15 extra damage per hit against them, cutting boss fight times by almost 30% in my experience. Avoid adding fire damage enchants at all costs — they cancel out the blade’s shadow-based lifesteal perk, so you’ll lose the biggest benefit of the upgraded weapon.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Upgrading Your Nightingale Blade
I’ve seen dozens of players waste hours of farming time because they made one of these simple mistakes. Most of these aren’t explained anywhere in the game, so knowing them ahead of time will save you a lot of frustration.
The first mistake is upgrading the blade before you reach level 20. The upgraded Nightingale Blade has a level 20 equip requirement, so if you upgrade it when you’re level 15, you’ll have to wait 5+ levels to use it. The materials you’d spend on the upgrade are better used for lower-tier gear that you can equip right away to make leveling faster.
The second mistake is using low-quality materials to save time. If you use regular iron ingots instead of infused ones, the upgrade will only give you a 10% stat boost instead of the full 70% you get with the right materials. It’s better to spend an extra day farming infused ingots than to waste all your resources on a mediocre upgrade.
The third mistake is having a full inventory when you start the upgrade. There’s a common bug that deletes the blade entirely if you don’t have enough empty inventory slots when the upgrade finishes. Always make sure you have at least 10 empty inventory slots before you start the upgrade process to avoid losing your blade entirely. I lost my first upgraded blade to this bug, and I had to farm for a whole week to get another base version to upgrade.
Once you know how to upgrade nightingale blade, it quickly becomes the most versatile melee weapon in the game for almost every build. I’ve used mine for over 60 hours of playtime now, and I still haven’t found a better weapon for both stealth runs and open world boss fights. If you’re struggling to farm any of the required materials, try teaming up with one or two other players — material drops are shared in group play, so you’ll cut your farming time in half. It’s well worth the effort to get this upgraded weapon in your loadout.
