Bright Hub's Guide to Upgrading Everything in Final Fantasy 13

First thing's first. If you're trying to upgrade everything in this game, you're going to be spending a lot of money. If you're spending a lot of money, then you're going to need to grind a lot of money. Chances are very good the only way you're going to do this is by farming turtles. There's no quicker way to get money than platinum ingot drops, so that's what you're going to have to do. If you were hoping to find a faster place, sorry, you're out of luck. We also have a full Final Fantasy XIII Walkthrough that goes chapter by chapter, so check that out as well.

Ge neral Tips

Don't sell anything that's not expressly labeled as one of the money components. These include: Credit Chips, Incentive Chips, Platinum Ingots, and other such components. You'll know the difference, because most non-money components will sell for less than 100 gil.

Don't sell accessories unless you have more than one of them. Even then, they're typically not worth enough to be sold for enough value.

Plan your upgrades. Don't waste an Ultracompact Reactor on something that only needs 500 exp to cap out. Try to always have a 3x exp multiplier when you're dropping the synthetic components for the fastest exp.

For the Treasure Hunter challenge: Each character has 8 weapons. Each of these eight weapons evolves into a different Tier 2 weapon. Each Tier 2 weapon evolves into the same Tier 3 weapon. You only need to evolve one ultimate weapon out of the 8 possible to complete the challenge.

For the Treasure Hunter challenge: You will need the following number of each catalyst. Check the next page for information on their locations and drop rates. This is for weapons only. Accessories depends on what ones you find along the way.

• 15x Perovskite
• 14x Uraninite
• 12x Scarletite
• 6x Trapezohedron
• 3x Adamantite
• 3x Cobaltite
• 1x Dark Matter

Upgrade Efficiency

The most efficient way to upgrade a weapon from start to finish is to abuse the exp multipliers. The multipliers have several thresholds; 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, and 3x.

The absolute cheapest way to upgrade all the way to 3x exp is to use Sturdy Bones, Vibrant Oozes, or Barbed Tails. 36 of any of these items will take an item from 1x exp to 3x exp. They can be bought from Creature Comforts for 80 gil each. This means it will cost you 2,880 for each 3x multiplier you want.

To get the 3x multiplier you can do one of two things: Drop all 36 components at once, resulting in an instant 3x. Or you can use the efficient, but time consuming, way. 

For the absolute most efficient exp out of multipliers, you can put the components on a few at a time. Starting from 0, put 4, bringing the multiplier to 1.25x. Then add another 4, which have a 1.25x multiplier and bring it to 1.5x. Then add 7, which brings it to a 1.75x. Then add 3 to bump it to 2x. Finally, drop 18, bringing it to 3x.

This method is slightly more time consuming, but it maximizes the (negligible) exp from the organic components.

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