🔧 How Weapon Enhancement Works in PSO2 NGS (Big Picture)

All weapon upgrades happen at the Item Lab NPCs in the main cities. The Fandom and official manuals break the system into a few different menus: Item Enhancement, Limit Break, Add Augments, Unlock Potential, Add Preset Skills, Multi-weapon, and Exchanges.

For basic enhancement itself:

• Item Enhancement lets you “level up” weapons and armor.
• Each enhancement level increases Attack for weapons and Defense for armor.
• You feed other weapons as fodder to raise this EXP bar. Weapons enhance weapons, armors enhance armors.
• Silver and Gold equipment are pretty bad to use in combat but give a lot of enhancement EXP, so they’re basically “XP bricks” for the lab.

When you enhance:

• You pay N-Meseta
• You add fodder items
• The game rolls Success or Great Success

Both classic PSO2 manuals and the NGS Item Lab page confirm this Success vs Great Success system; Great Success simply gives more enhancement EXP, so you may gain more levels than expected from the same fodder.

The default Great Success rate is around 10%, but it can be boosted by campaign buffs or consumable items like N-Enhancement Success Rate boosts.

Early on, gear can only be enhanced to +20, but with Limit Breaks you push that cap higher (and eventually much higher on late-game weapons).

🧱 Step 1 – From +0 to Your First Caps (Enhancement Basics)

Before we touch Limit Break or Potentials, you need to understand the first chunk of grinding.

How to enhance efficiently at low levels

1. Pick the weapon you actually want to use.
2. Don’t dump a ton of resources into a weapon you’ll drop in an hour.
3. Use Primm/Silver/Gold weapons as fodder.
4. Gold/Silver weapons reward more enhancement EXP and are literally designed to be food.
5. Enhance in batches.
6. Instead of throwing one weapon at a time, load up a batch of fodder and check the “result” level preview.

• If the number jumps several levels, that’s normal.
• Great Success can push it even higher.

1. Watch your Meseta.
2. Meseta costs scale with level and rarity, so don’t waste money over-enhancing junk.

Early enhancement caps

According to the current NGS item enhancement documentation:

• At first, gear caps at +20, full stop.
• You’ll later Limit Break to push that cap to +30, +40, +50, +60 and +70 on many series.
• With newer patches, some high-rarity late-game weapons (like 13★ Legend tier) can reach up to +100, based on their grind tables on Arks-Visiphone.

So if you’re early–mid game:

• Don’t stress about +100 yet.
• Just aim to push your weapon to each cap as you unlock Limit Breaks, and replace it when you get a clearly better series.

🧨 Step 2 – Limit Break Explained (Raising the Grind Cap)

“Limit Break” sounds scary, but it’s just:

A menu option that raises the maximum enhancement level of your weapon.

The Fandom and guide sites describe it like this:

• Initially, gear can only be enhanced to +20.
• Each Limit Break adds +10 to that cap (20→30→40→50→60→70).
• You do it at the Item Lab, pay N-Meseta, and consume specific ores/minerals (Monotite, etc.), which you get from gathering in Exploration Sectors.

As you Limit Break more:

• The material and Meseta cost increases
• The weapon becomes much stronger, because you can stack more grind levels on it

Later updates added extra steps for top-end weapons, letting some 12★ / 13★ endgame series go well beyond +70, all the way to +90 or +100 with their own upgrade paths and special materials.

When should you Limit Break?

Good times to Limit Break:

• You’re using a weapon series that is clearly a keeper for a while (recent patch, strong potential).
• You already enhanced to the current cap (e.g. +20), and you’re starting to feel underpowered.
• You’re trying to hit a Battle Power requirement for new content.

Bad times to spam Limit Break:

• On a starter Primm weapon when you’re already getting drops from newer series.
• On something that’s 10 levels behind the current content, where you’ll replace it soon anyway.

General rule:

Limit Break aggressively on “main” weapons you plan to keep. Be stingy on throwaway gear.

💥 Step 3 – Weapon Potentials (Your Hidden Power Multiplier)

If grind is your Attack stat, Potentials are your bonus multiplier.

The NGS item enhancement article explains that:

• Potentials are weapon-only passives.
• Each weapon has one unique Potential, which:
• Increases its damage by a set Potency %, and
• Adds an extra effect: more PB gain, crit damage, damage reduction, conditional buffs, etc.
• Potentials can be leveled up to Level 6 in NGS.

Separate community guides and videos emphasize that raising potential levels is a massive DPS gain, often more impactful than a few extra grind levels.

How to unlock a Potential

At the Item Lab, you use Unlock Potential:

• You select your weapon
• Pay N-Meseta
• Use specific upgrade items (Photon-type materials, series-specific stones, late-game drops, etc., depending on the weapon/series)
• You unlock Potential level 1, then raise it step by step to level 6

The exact material list depends on the weapon series. Some late-game series are more expensive but also more powerful.

Why Potentials are priority, not luxury

A few key reasons you don’t want to skip this:

• Potentials often give a flat damage boost on top of your grind—sometimes comparable to stacking multiple strong augments.
• Many also give quality-of-life effects, like extra PB gain or resource restoration, which indirectly boosts DPS (more PB = more burst).
• They interact with class skills, EX augments and fight rhythm in a way grind alone never will.

If you’re choosing between:

• upgrading a weapon from, say, +62 → +64
• or taking its Potential from level 3 → 4 or 4 → 5

You’ll usually get more value from the Potential level increase.

🛠️ Step 4 – Grind Levels, Augment Slots & Preset Skills (How They Connect)

Weapon enhancement doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It ties directly into:

• Augment slots
• Preset Skills (Fixa)
• Multi-weapon setups

Extra augment slots from higher enhancement

The NGS enhancement page spells this out:

• When you enhance a piece of equipment to +30, +40 and +50, each of those thresholds adds one augment slot.

So:

• Below +30 you’re stuck with fewer augments
• At +30 you gain an extra slot
• +40 adds another
• +50 adds another

On newer high-end weapons and units, late-game systems let you go beyond and end up with up to 8 augment slots, which is why endgame builds feel so stacked.

This is one of the biggest reasons people push grind so hard:

Every extra slot = another big augment = another chunk of potency & stats.

Preset Skills (Fixa) and why enhancement matters

The same page mentions Preset Skills, which are special traits like Fixa Fatale (crit rate), Fixa Termina (crit damage), and Fixa Attack (small potency).

• They’re rolled randomly on dropped equipment
• You can transfer them to your preferred weapon by using the item with Fixa as fodder
• The equipment has to be the exact same type (same series) to transfer

You want your main weapon:

• Properly enhanced
• With its Potential unlocked
• And a good Fixa on top

Because enhancing a different weapon later just to get a new Fixa is expensive, it’s better to:

1. Pick a weapon series that is mid/long-term viable
2. Hunt a good Fixa version
3. Enhance that one

Multi-weapon and enhancement

Multi-weapon is also part of the Item Lab toolkit. It:

• Lets you merge two weapon types into one item so you can use both PA sets from one slot.
• Uses the base weapon’s grind, Potential, augments and Fixa
• Does not by itself increase raw Attack — it just improves flexibility.

That means:

Your multi-weapon is only as strong as your enhancement, Potential and augments on the base weapon.

So proper enhancement is still the foundation.

📈 Step 5 – What to Upgrade First (Order of Operations)

NGS throws a lot of systems at you. Here’s a clean priority list that keeps things sane.

1. Choose your “main” weapon series

Don’t dump high-end resources into something that will be obsolete next patch. As a rule:

• Pick a weapon series from the current episode / late-game
• Check that it has a good Potential and works for your class
• Ideally get one with a usable Fixa (Termina, Fatale, etc.)

Once you’re pretty sure “this is my main,” then you move on.

2. Grind to a comfortable level (don’t chase perfection yet)

Push your weapon up to a practical baseline:

• Early/mid-game: +30–40 is usually fine
• Late-game: +60+ once you’re settled on the weapon
• Endgame: eventually +80–100 on high-rarity series if you’re committed

Don’t rush +100 if:

• Your Meseta is low
• You’re still testing if you even like that class/weapon

3. Unlock and level the Potential

As soon as you’re confident in the weapon:

• Unlock Potential Level 1
• Gradually raise it (Level 3 is a nice intermediate goal, 6 is the real endgame)

Because Potentials often act as big damage multipliers with strong passives, they’re one of the best investments you can make.

4. Limit Break when you hit a cap

Whenever you hit a grind cap and the game won’t let you enhance any further:

• Go to the Item Lab
• Limit Break using ores + Meseta
• Push your cap to the next bracket (20→30→40→50→60→70, and higher on late-game gear)

Only do this if:

• You’re sure you’ll keep the weapon for a while
• You’re aiming for more augment slots or need BP

5. Push grind to unlock augment slots

Once you’re in the +30–50 range:

• Those extra slots unlock at +30, +40, +50
• Your DPS jumps a lot when you start filling them with real augments

Use that to:

• Slot some basic Might/Precision/Tech or better augments
• Upgrade toward late-game augments (Domina, Halphinale, EX augments etc. from your other blog post)

6. Only chase +80–100 on long-term weapons

Going from +60 → +80 → +100 is expensive:

• High Meseta cost
• High material cost
• Can feel punishing if you later swap to a new series

Treat “full cap” as something you do on:

• Your main class’s main weapon
• A weapon series that’s clearly endgame-ready

💡 Meseta-Saving Tips for Smarter Enhancement

You don’t need to be rich to enhance well. Just avoid the usual traps.

Use the right fodder

From both the PSO2 enhancement guide and NGS writeups:

• You get bonus EXP when fodder shares rarity and weapon category with your base weapon.
• Gold/Silver weapons in NGS are intentionally designed to be super-efficient fodder.

So:

• Feed same-type Gold/Silver to your main weapon when possible
• Dump random trash drops into low-value weapons, not your main one

Don’t over-invest in “stepping stones”

You’ll pick up temporary upgrades a lot:

• Early 3★/4★/5★ series
• Older 7★/9★ weapons from previous episodes

Enhance them enough to:

• Meet BP checks
• Not feel useless in combat

Then stop. Don’t push them to 70+ or max Potential if you already know you’ll replace them.

Use Great Success in your favor

Great Success gives extra enhancement EXP. The manuals and item lab pages confirm:

• There’s a base Great Success chance
• You can boost it with support items (Great Success +%, Enhancement Success Rate +%, etc.)

Best places to use such items:

• On big enhancement jumps (when you’re feeding a lot of valuable fodder at once)
• On weapons you’re aiming to push to high caps, not on junk upgrades

Use Exchanges for better materials

The Item Lab also has an Exchange Enhancement Materials menu:

• You can trade low-tier augments and materials into higher-grade resources
• This includes more advanced raw materials needed for high-level Limit Breaks

If your inventory is full of random low-tier stuff, turning them into something actually useful can save you a lot of time and Meseta.

🛡️ Example Upgrade Paths (Early, Mid, Endgame)

Let’s put it into simple scenarios so you can map it to your own account.

Early game – “Just started NGS”

• Pick a Primm or low-rarity weapon you like
• Enhance it to around +10–+20
• Maybe Limit Break once if drops are slow and you can’t replace it yet
• Don’t worry about Potentials or 8-slot augments yet

Your only job early on is to not feel weak and keep up with main story demands.

Mid game – “Cleared main story, entering higher ranks”

• Swap to a more modern 5★–7★ or early 8★ series weapon
• Enhance to +30–+40
• Unlock Potential Level 1–3
• Limit Break as needed to hit BP checks and get extra augment slots
• Start putting basic augments on your weapon and units

At this stage, you want a weapon that feels “solid” in combat and gives you room to grow.

Endgame – “1000+ hours, living in high-rank sectors”

• Choose a top-tier late-game weapon series (12★ or 13★, depending on patch)
• Enhance and Limit Break it toward +70–+100 (or whatever the current cap is)
• Max out Potential to level 6
• Add a strong Fixa
• Fill all augment slots with high-end augments (Domina / Halphinale / EX / etc.)
• Multi-weapon it if you need another attack style on the same item

This is the point where your weapon feels “finished” and the grind shifts more toward farming content rather than upgrading the weapon itself.

🚀 Optional Shortcut if You Hate the Grind

If you’re the type of player who loves actually playing difficult quests but doesn’t enjoy:

• Farming ores and fodder weapons for hours
• Min-maxing Meseta efficiency
• Running back and forth from the Item Lab to check caps

You can always let a boosting / farming service handle the boring part while you focus on missions, boss fights and fashion.

It’s not mandatory, but it’s a way to skip straight to the fun part with a properly enhanced weapon in your hands.

🏁 Conclusion

Weapon enhancement in PSO2 NGS isn’t just “make number go up.” It’s a full system made of:

• Grind levels that raise raw Attack and unlock more augment slots
• Limit Breaks that push your enhancement cap from +20 up through +70 and, for modern endgame weapons, as high as +100
• Potentials that add huge damage multipliers and powerful passive effects up to level 6
• Preset Skills, augment slots, and multi-weapon options that all scale with your enhancement progress

If you:

1. Pick a long-term weapon series
2. Enhance it steadily while watching your Meseta
3. Limit Break when you hit caps
4. Unlock and level Potentials early
5. Push grind to unlock augment slots
6. Only chase full +80–100 on true endgame weapons

…your gear will start feeling properly strong, and all your other systems (augments, EX augments, Fixa skills) will actually have a foundation to shine.

Whenever you’re ready, drop #17 and the next title, and we’ll keep building your PSO2 NGS guide library. 🔧✨