Weapons in Arknights: Endfield are not simple stat sticks. They grow alongside your operators and quietly shape how combat feels as enemy patterns, durability, and pressure scale upward. A strong weapon left untouched quickly becomes a liability. An upgraded one turns tight encounters into controlled engagements.

This guide breaks down how weapon upgrades work, how each system connects, and how to invest resources without locking yourself into bad decisions later.

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Illustration of the Endadministrator, Perlica, and a male operator from Arknights Endfield.

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Understanding the Weapon Progression Framework

Weapon upgrades in Endfield operate through four distinct systems. Each system affects a different layer of performance, and none of them function in isolation.

Leveling increases raw combat stats
Tuning raises the level cap and improves weapon skills
Potential strengthens final skill effects through duplicates
Essences add flexible skill bonuses that can be swapped

You will interact with all four systems as you progress. The key lies in knowing when each one matters.

Efficient Weapon Growth at a Glance

The weapon upgrade screen in Arknights Endfield showing the Contingent Measure sword and EXP material slots. — Credit: Hypergryph

Upgrade Type	Primary Benefit	Required Resources
Leveling	Base stat increases	Weapon EXP
Tuning	Higher cap and skills	Tuning materials
Potential	Final skill strength	Duplicate weapons
Essences	Flexible skill bonuses	Enemy drops

Strong weapons do not come from rushing one system. They come from understanding how all four interact and investing with intent.

How to Level Up Weapons?

The Arknights Endfield weapon menu showing an operator equipped with the Tarr 11 sword. — Credit: Hypergryph

Weapon leveling forms the base of all progression. Every weapon has its own independent level, separate from the operator wielding it. Increasing a weapon’s level directly improves its core stats, especially attack values, which scale damage output across all encounters.

To access weapon leveling:

Open the Operator Overview
Navigate to the Weapons tab
Select the equipped weapon to open its detail screen

From here, you can review stats, skills, and available upgrades.

Gaining Weapon EXP

Weapons gain experience in two ways:

Using dedicated Weapon EXP materials
Consuming unused weapons as EXP sources

Gameplay footage of a combat encounter against Rhodagn the Bonecrushing Fist in Arknights Endfield. — Credit: Hypergryph

Each level gained increases base stats and pushes the weapon closer to its current cap. Early progression feels fast, but the game intentionally slows you down through level limits to introduce tuning.

If you exceed a weapon’s current level cap, the game does not waste EXP. Any overflow converts back into Weapon EXP materials, allowing you to reinvest later.

Weapon Level Caps Explained

Every weapon has a maximum level that cannot be surpassed through EXP alone. Early weapons often stop around level 20. Once you reach this limit, leveling halts until you perform a tuning upgrade.

Level caps exist to pace progression and prevent raw stat stacking from replacing tactical decision making. Treat them as checkpoints rather than walls.

Arknights Endfield official artwork featuring the Endfield Administrator, Perlica, and Chen Qianyu standing over a base map.

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Tuning Weapons to Unlock Growth

Tuning is the system that allows weapons to grow beyond their initial limits.

When you tune a weapon:

Its level cap increases
Its weapon skills improve
New upgrade thresholds unlock

Tuning requires weapon specific materials, which means preparation matters. Without tuning, excess EXP piles up with nowhere to go. For long-term weapons, tuning remains mandatory.

Weapon Potential and Duplicate Investment

Potential upgrades sit at the far end of weapon progression. They enhance a weapon’s final skill effects rather than its base stats.

To increase potential, you need:

Duplicate copies of the same weapon
In some cases, rare substitute patterns

Potential upgrades deliver noticeable gains but demand scarce resources. This makes them unsuitable for early experimentation. Save duplicates for weapons you know will remain relevant across multiple stages of progression.

Essences and Skill Enhancement

Essences introduce customization rather than permanence. Enemies drop these reactive substances, each tied to specific weapon skills or combat effects.

An in-game tutorial pop-up explaining how Essences drop from enemies to raise weapon skill levels. — Credit: Hypergryph

When infused into a weapon, an essence enhances compatible skills immediately.

How to Infuse an Essence

Open the weapon menu
Access the skill or essence section
Select an essence from your inventory
Infuse it into the weapon

The effect applies instantly and does not lock the weapon permanently.

Why Essences Are So Important?

Essences can be removed, swapped, and reused. This flexibility makes them ideal for adapting to enemy types, terrain changes, or mission modifiers. Unlike potential upgrades, essences reward experimentation without long-term cost.