Final Fantasy XIII - Weapon Upgrading Guide

[Mumblez]

I hope this is not going to make me look stupid but in this very very helpful guide, how do I determine what is a 2nd tier weapon? For example is Paladin a teir 2 weapon?

[TWOxACROSS]

Paladin is a first tier weapon. The guide doesn't point it out too well, you just sorta have to look at the stats :P

[ColdRoxas]

So i shouldn't even touch the upgrading system until chapter 11? Just use all weapons in their base stats until then?

[SBrawlers]

You don't even have to upgrade at chapter 11, you can beat the main storyline without upgrading, actually the only thing I can think of is upgrading the death resist gear before the final fight. However, if you want to farm Adamanchelids or Adamantoises before the final fight, then yes upgrade. Hope this was helpful though I know it might seem a bit confusing.

[ikbendeman]

Calculating Needed Experience

This is probably the only part of this guide I can't help you with, its going to require a lot of math and each item has a different Exp value. What I can help you with is determining how much Exp your item will require to meet its maximum level. You see, each item has a set value in which the Exp require increases every time it gains a level.

For Example: Blazefire Saber requires 300 Exp to get to level 2. At level 2, it requires 357 Exp to get to level 3. 357-300 = 57

The maximum level for Blazefire saber is 26, therefore:
300->357->414->471->528->585->642->699->756->813->870->927->984->1041->1098->1155->1212->1269->1326->1386->1440->1497->1554->1611->1668->1725

Added together is: 26328 Exp to get from lv. 1 to lv.*

Since I have yet to discover a formula for this and until some math wizard comes up with one, I'm afraid you'll have to do this manually. The same principles apply accessories, but I'm not going to list all of those >_>

The formula the game uses for each level is (for this particular weapon anyways, and for every level after 1)
300(1+.19(n-1))

therefore:
lvl1: 300(1+.19(1-1)) = 399x1 = 300
lvl2: 300(1+.19(2-1)) = 300x1.19 = 357
lvl3: 300(1+.19(3-1)) = 300x1.38 = 414

and therefore:
26328 = 300+300(1.19)+300(1.38).... etcetera

Unfortunately its been too long since I've taken math and I cannot think of a way to simplify this equation. obviously we would like 26328 to by y and 300 to be x, plug in x and go.... any math majors out there? I could write a shell script to do it but I'd really prefer a formula... especially since most people dont use *nix

---------- Post added at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 PM ----------

Here's a formula for calculating the exact amount of experience needed for a weapon:

E = LA+1/2(L^2-L)B

L is the number of levels needed to max out a weapon (26 for the Blazefire).

A is the amount of experience needed to go from level 1 to level 2 (300 on the Blazefire).

B is the extra amount of required experience that gets added for every level (57 for the Blazefire).

nevermind read through all of the forum before replying... you're a genius.

[Hinata]

Alternative formulas to fit any taste

If you know the exp needed at target level, overall exp you need is

((exp_for_curr_lvl)+(exp_for_target_lvl))*n/2

where n is the number of levels between target and current, namely (target_lvl)-(current_lvl)+1

On the other hand, if you DO NOT know the experience needed for the target lvl and only know the increment, you may use

(n/2)*(2*(exp_for_curr_level)+(n-1)*increment)

where n is the same as above

[Zneaky]

THE FORMULA.
Bear with me as I do my best to explain the formula you can use to determine the amount of experience needed to level a weapon or accessory to *Star* quality.
I’ll be using Lionheart (lighting’s weapon) as the example.

***Spoiler***
Lionheart needs to level 20 times because the max level is 21 which is Star level.
Lionheart needs 1,500exp to get level 2, then to level 3 it will need 1674exp.
This makes the difference 174. 1674-1500=174

i =1,500 (exp from lvl1)
n=20 (the amount of times the item needs to be leveled)
j=174 (the increase in exp total each level).

So with your computers calculator *must be in scientific mode, NOT standard* you can put
i*n+j*n*(n-1)/2 (this is the algebraic formula)
“Translated”, it will be 1,500x20+174x20x19/2 = 63060exp

Or with a *standard* calculator first calculate 1,500x20 = 30000exp.
then do the rest of the formula 174x20x19/2 = 33060exp. Finally just add 30,000 and 33,060 together to get 63060.

You should be able to use this formula on any weapon/accessory and just change the values accordingly.
*note* you will have to subtract the exp you spent to get the x3 multiplier from the total as this formula does not include the values for this.

There are websites that just plain put the total in a statistic database layout for all weapons, but I like math so
I hope this helps =D

[crystalknight]

great post op! i just got a ps3 with ff13 over the weekend, on chapter 7 right now and will definitely refer to this when the time comes. i usually don't do sidequests (i'd rather spend that time on a new game)