The strategies of when to upgrade your Weapon and Armour, and to what, are numerous. Essentially, it comes down to what you want to accomplish, and when.
Reasons To Upgrade Weapon First[]
- Offense! You want your Shatter/Thieving Skills to do more damage in your player fights
- You're a Thief, and killing players from below means you're up against stronger, better-armored opponents. You'll need the triple multiplier of the T skill to do as much damage as possible so you don't die.
Reasons To Upgrade Armor First[]
- To protect your horse so you can have more forest fights for more days
- To try for more self defense kills, which is more likely if you're camping in Blue Realm or the round just began
- To make more money in the Forest, due to fewer healing costs
Upgrade Patterns[]
Many players who advance quickly have more-or-less set equipment that they wait for and buy in order every time, with few exceptions. Usually, 1m/1m is achieved around the time the player has enough experience to reach level 12. Some players routinely try to level up to 12 with less, like 1m/200k, or 400k/1m or the like. Others routinely like that heftier protection against Turgon, and wait for Blood Amour.
- Dagger/Leather Vest, Huge Axe/Iron Armour, Power Axe/Armour of Death, Wan's Weapon/Full Body Armour, Crystal Shard/Magic Protection (except for first DK)
- Short Sword/3k, 30k/30k, 200k/200k, 1m/Blood Armour, 10m/10m (except for first DK)
- Stick/3k, Long Sword/3k, 30k/30k, 200k/200k, 1m/1m ... (tilo's Plan A)
- Stick/3k, 30k/30k, 30k/150k, 200k/Erdrick's Armour, 1mil/4mil...(Ram's 0-1 DK)
- Stick/3k, 10k/30k, Twin Swords/150k, 1mil/200k, 1mil/1mil...(Ram's 2+ DK's)
The equipment that is skipped the most are the 100k (Bone Cruncher/Graphite Armour) and 150k (Twin Swords/Erdrick's Armour) items. They cost a lot compared to the 30k (Huge Axe/Iron Armour) you probably have on, and with just another day or so's cash from the forest, or a handy Bank Robbery or bank double, you can get the 200k (Power Axe/Armour of Death) item instead and get those extra Strength/Defense points.
Other Considerations[]
Where you put your Gems may influence whether you upgrade your weapon first, or your armour. If you save the prince/princess a few times early on, that can add up to the difference between one armour/weapon and the next, all by itself, and should be taken into account when you think about what you will upgrade next.
Upgrading equipment to get a kill for the day is tempting, but keep in mind what you'll do with that Level of equipment tomorrow. Which level forest will you be in, how much will you earn there daily, and how many days will you have to save up before you can upgrade it again?
If the equipment you're hankering for is some you know you plan to be holding onto for several days, it's a good buy. If you're considering a piece of equipment you don't normally buy, that's when you need to be careful, weighing your potential success today vs future successes the next few days. If you hamper your progress by costing yourself too much money buying an Able's Sword, and then end up needing the Wan's Weapon anyway, you'll likely be kicking yourself if your competitors end up passing you.
Upgrading at Level 12[]
Most players make level 12 with approximately a Wan's Weapon and Full Body Armour. There will be some 400k items (Able's Sword/Able's Armour) and some 4m items (Spear of Gold/Blood Armour) in there, and occasionally even 200k items (Power Axe/Armour of Death).
With a Wans Weapon and Full Body Armour, there are only 3 or 4 forest monsters that you can safely attack and feel reasonably sure of killing every time. Upgrading to the Blood armour or Magic Protection is a step some players use, as it protects them from surprise powermoves from Mutated Black Widow and the like, while they're tiptoeing along and looking for the Forest monsters they can kill. If you're constantly dying in the forest with your Full Body Armour, you're not earning the gold you need for that next big upgrade.
For your first time at level 12, you're probably going to need some serious equipment for your DK: Nira's Teeth/Belar's Mail, Blood Sword/Belar's Mail, Blood Sword/Crystal Shard, or some other hefty combo, and likely a Fairy as well. It's very probable that you'll be on level 12 for well over a week this first time around, so upgrading to an item that doesn't practically hand you the dragon's head just wastes your hard-earned gold and ruins your interest-gathering.
In other words, if you have 4 Thieving Skills, you'll want to consider saving for the Blood Sword, and if a fairy comes along before that, you can take a shot with the Nira's Teeth if you want. If you have 5 or more Thieving Skills, you can probably buy the Nira's Teeth/Belar's Mail combo with confidence and sit back and wait for your fairy, which you might not need, depending on luck and gem placement. If you're a Mage, and you have Light Shield + 1 or 2 Thieving Skills, you're probably looking to order the Blood Sword with a side of fairy. The Magic Protection might do you fine, but you might need the Belar's Mail if the dragon hates fairies that day.