Upgrading your weapons and artifacts in Genshin Impact is essential for maximizing your characters’ performance in combat. Below is an organized and detailed explanation of the upgrading process for both weapons and artifacts, including methods, materials required, and their respective effects.

Upgrading Weapons

1. Enhancing Weapon Levels
– Method: Increase a weapon’s level by feeding it enhancement materials. This can include enhancement ores or other weapons, even those deemed ‘junk’.
– Effect: Upgrading a weapon’s level boosts its base stats and substats. These improvements occur every five levels.
– Max Level: Each weapon has a maximum level cap that can be increased through ascension. Initial max levels can reach up to 20, extend to 40 after the first ascension, and ultimately reach 90 after several ascensions. Each ascension requires you to meet specific Adventure Rank thresholds.
– Materials: Enhancement ores can be mined from ore nodes throughout Teyvat or crafted at a blacksmith using gathered ores.

2. Ascending Weapons
– Method: Once a weapon hits its current max level, ascension is necessary to raise the level cap for further enhancements.
– Materials Needed: Ascension requires specific materials and advancing your Adventure Rank.
– Cap: You can ascend a weapon up to six times, with the ultimate goal of achieving level 90 for the highest power output.

3. Refining Weapons
– Method: Refining enhances a weapon’s unique special effects or passive abilities.
– Materials: You must possess duplicates of the same weapon to refine it.
– Effect: Each refinement increases the potency of the weapon’s special effect, up to five times, which can substantially augment its utility in battle.

Upgrading Artifacts

Artifacts, akin to gear, occupy five different slots: Flower, Feather, Sands (Hourglass), Goblet (Cup), and Circlet (Crown).

General Artifact Upgrading
– Leveling Up: Artifacts cannot be ascended unlike weapons. Instead, they level up by consuming other artifacts or artifact experience items.
– Effect: Leveling up improves both main stats and secondary stats, significantly enhancing your characters’ attributes in combat.

Set Bonuses
– When equipping multiple artifacts from the same set, you unlock powerful set bonuses that can further improve combat effectiveness.

Enhancement Process
– Materials: You can enhance artifacts using other artifacts or special materials acquired from domains, bosses, or quest rewards.

Summary Table

| Upgrade Type | Method | Materials Needed | Effect |
|——————|——————————————|——————————————|——————————————–|
| Weapon Level | Enhance in weapon menu | Enhancement ores or other weapons | Increases base stats and substats |
| Weapon Ascend | Ascend after max level | Ascension materials, Adventure Rank | Raises max level cap |
| Weapon Refine | Use duplicate weapons | Weapon duplicates | Improves special weapon effect |
| Artifact Level| Enhance artifacts | Other artifacts or artifact exp materials | Increases main and substats |

Conclusion
By following this structured approach to weapon and artifact upgrades, you can significantly enhance your characters’ combat effectiveness in Genshin Impact. Regularly upgrading and refining your gear ensures that you remain competitive as you explore the vast world of Teyvat and face tougher challenges.