How to Upgrade Your Gear to Legendary in ESO

Legendary gear is the gold-standard finish for equipment in The Elder Scrolls Online. It offers the strongest item quality bonuses available, but the upgrade process can consume a serious amount of crafting material. A careless attempt can burn through valuable tempering alloys, dreugh wax or chromium grains without producing a useful improvement.

The right approach depends on your role, build and available budget. A damage dealer usually gains the most from gold weapons, while a tank may prioritise a front-bar weapon, shield and key armour pieces. Healers also benefit greatly from upgraded weapons, though expensive jewellery improvements often belong later in the plan.

Before spending anything, check that the item is worth keeping. A perfect trait, suitable set, correct enchantment and the right item level matter more than its current colour. Upgrading a poor-quality drop to legendary does not fix an unsuitable trait or an incorrect set combination.

ESO players in Australia also need to account for the local market. Gold materials can be expensive when purchased through guild traders, especially with prices shown in gold rather than Australian dollars and no simple cash shortcut. With North American server latency common for Australian players, a reliable build and properly maintained equipment can make difficult content feel more consistent.

What Legendary Quality Actually Changes

Equipment quality progresses through white, green, blue, purple and gold. Each improvement raises the effectiveness of the item’s primary stats. On weapons, this means higher weapon or spell damage. On armour, it increases the item’s armour value. Jewellery receives stronger enchantment-related benefits as its quality improves.

Gold quality does not add a new set bonus, alter the item’s trait or change its level. A legendary Hunding’s Rage sword remains the same set item as a purple one, with the same trait and enchantment. The improvement simply makes the existing item more powerful.

For most builds, item level is equally important. Level 50, Champion Point 160 gear is the practical endgame standard because it reaches the current equipment cap. Improving a level 40 item to gold creates a costly piece that will soon be replaced. Check the level before visiting a crafting station.

Quality improvement is also separate from enchanting, transmuting and reconstructing. You can change a trait at a transmute station, apply a new glyph at an enchanting station, or recreate a collected item through the Item Set Collection system. These decisions should usually be settled before the final gold upgrade.

Materials and Crafting Passives You Need

Each equipment type uses different improvement materials. Weapons require Tempering Alloy, armour uses Dreugh Wax, and jewellery uses Chromium Grains. Lower-quality upgrades use other materials, such as Honing Stones for weapons, Mastic for armour and Terne or Iridium materials for jewellery.

The final purple-to-gold step is the expensive one. A weapon improvement typically consumes Tempering Alloy, armour requires Dreugh Wax, and jewellery needs Chromium Grains. The exact amount depends on your crafting skill and relevant passive abilities. A fully developed crafting character has a much better chance of reaching 100 per cent success with fewer materials.

Blacksmithing’s Metalworking, Clothing’s Tailoring and Woodworking’s Woodworking passives reduce the cost of improving their respective equipment. Jewellery Crafting has its own skill line and passive progression. Investing skill points into these areas is worthwhile if you regularly maintain several characters or craft for a group.

Improvement materials come from refining raw resources, deconstructing equipment, daily crafting writs, hirelings, guild traders and occasional rewards. Surveys are especially valuable because they provide concentrated resource nodes. If you are buying materials, compare several guild traders in major hubs such as Vivec City, Mournhold, Elden Root or Alinor rather than accepting the first listing.

Prepare the Item Before Spending Gold Materials

Start by confirming the set, trait and enchantment. A damage dealer may want Precise, Nirnhoned or an infused weapon depending on the build, while a tank may require sturdy armour or a decisive one-handed weapon. The correct choice varies between stamina, magicka, hybrid, PvE and PvP setups.

You can change a trait with transmute crystals if the item is bound and the trait has been researched. Reconstruction is useful for replacing a lost set piece, but it may produce a lower-quality item that still needs improvement. If the item came from a dungeon, trial or arena, make sure the reconstructed version has the desired weight and slot before investing in it.

Research requirements apply to trait changes and crafting, not to the simple act of improving an item. You can upgrade a suitable drop at a crafting station without knowing its trait. Still, researching common traits early gives you greater flexibility when a build changes.

Do not confuse a glyph with an item’s quality. A gold weapon can carry a weak glyph, and a purple weapon can have an excellent one. Apply the appropriate enchantment after the equipment decision is final, especially when using expensive Kuta-based glyphs. If you play long sessions, comfortable controls also matter; a physical accessory such as Atomic Bands can be part of a broader setup that reduces wrist and hand fatigue during repeated dungeon runs.

Which Gear Deserves the Upgrade First

Weapons are generally the best first target. Gold quality adds meaningful damage or healing power, and most characters actively use two bars. A main damage weapon, arena weapon or perfected trial weapon can justify the material cost when it is part of a finished build.

For tanks, the priority is more situational. The front-bar weapon and shield often deserve attention because they are used for blocking, taunting and applying debuffs. A back-bar ice staff or restoration staff may be equally important for a particular setup. Gold armour gives additional protection, but the performance gain per material is usually less dramatic than the gain from a weapon.

Healers should normally upgrade their active restoration staff, destruction staff or arena weapon before golding every body piece. A support build may rely on a specific set combination, so verify that the item is genuinely part of your final loadout. In trial groups, a small improvement to healing output can matter less than maintaining the right buff, trait and skill rotation.

Jewellery is the most expensive category for many players because Chromium Grains can be difficult to accumulate. Purple jewellery is often perfectly adequate for regular dungeons, overland play and early progression. Save gold jewellery upgrades for irreplaceable rings, necklaces or mythic items that remain central to the build.

The Safe Upgrade Process

Visit the appropriate crafting station for the item. Choose the improvement tab, place the equipment in the slot and select the correct quality level. The interface shows the required materials and the current success chance before you confirm the action.

Never rely on a low displayed chance for a valuable piece. Add enough improvement materials to reach 100 per cent whenever possible. A failed improvement can consume materials while leaving the item unchanged, and the loss is particularly painful with Chromium Grains or a large stack of Tempering Alloy.

Use crafting boosters and passives before beginning. A character with fully developed improvement skills, relevant research and a crafting-focused setup will spend fewer materials than a combat character with no crafting investment. If your main character is not a crafter, use an alternate character or trusted guildmate rather than gambling with a rare item.

Once the quality is upgraded, check the enchantment, trait and set bonuses again. Equip the item and inspect the character sheet to confirm that the expected damage, resistance or healing values have changed. In ESO, small errors such as an uncharged weapon glyph or an accidentally wrong bar weapon can undermine the benefit of a successful upgrade.

Spend Resources Where They Matter Most

A sensible upgrade plan protects your gold reserves and keeps your build flexible. Do not gold every item simply because you can. Some pieces are temporary, easily replaced or used only for casual content. Prioritise equipment that will remain in your loadout for trials, veteran dungeons, Battlegrounds or serious solo play.

The following priorities suit many ESO characters, though a specific class build may change them:

Build knowledge can also prevent wasted upgrades. For example, a character using a Psijic-based rotation may need to understand the skill line before deciding whether a weapon or mythic item is truly permanent; the Psijic Order guide explains how that progression fits into broader character planning.

Gear category Final improvement material Usual priority Main reason
Weapons Tempering Alloy Very high Strong increase to damage, healing or weapon utility
Heavy, medium or light armour Dreugh Wax Medium Raises armour value and supports defensive thresholds
Rings and necklaces Chromium Grains Low to medium Expensive, with benefits that may be smaller than weapon gains
Shields Dreugh Wax Medium to high for tanks Improves armour while supporting blocking setups
Arena or mythic items Depends on item type High when permanent Often central to a specialised build

The best upgrade order is therefore practical rather than universal. A veteran damage dealer might gold two perfected weapons and leave most armour purple. A tank entering hard-mode content may choose a shield and defensive body pieces earlier. A healer supporting an organised trial group might upgrade a restoration staff first, then improve a crucial arena weapon.

Remember that legendary quality is the final polish on a good item, not a substitute for good item selection. Confirm the level, set, trait, enchantment and role before spending rare materials, then upgrade the pieces that remain in your build for the long haul.