To upgrade an Amber in Valor Mortis, collect another copy of the same Amber. If that Amber supports upgrades, acquiring the duplicate raises its rank and strengthens its passive effect. Only some Ambers can be upgraded this way, so finding a second copy of one Amber does not mean every Amber has multiple ranks.
This system is separate from unlocking Amber slots. Character levels determine how many Ambers you can equip, while duplicate pickups improve supported Ambers you already own. You do not upgrade an Amber merely by leveling William, unlocking a slot, or finding a different Amber with a similar effect.
The Amber menu is where the name, passive effect, and rank information can be checked.
How Amber upgrades work
Ambers are equippable accessories that provide passive effects. Their bonuses cover areas such as health recovery, Ferrofluid Flask behavior, firearm handling, parrying, Transmutations, and Catalyst gains. A new Amber adds a new passive option to your inventory. A duplicate of an upgradeable Amber improves the existing passive instead.
The upgrade process has three requirements:
- You must already own the Amber.
- The new pickup must have exactly the same name.
- That Amber must be one of the Ambers that supports additional ranks.
For example, collecting Wound that Heals for the first time gives you that Amber. Collecting Wound that Heals again is the duplicate that upgrades it. Collecting Tomorrow’s Promise afterward would not improve Wound that Heals because it is a different Amber with a different passive effect.
The supported upgrade trigger is acquiring the duplicate itself. Weapon upgrade materials, Ferrofluid materials, Catalysts spent on character levels, and Amber-slot unlocks belong to other progression systems. Do not spend time looking for an Amber recipe or treating a locked equipment slot as an incomplete Amber upgrade.
Because not every Amber has duplicate ranks, use the Amber’s exact name rather than its broad category when planning an upgrade. Two Ambers can both affect health or firearms while remaining completely separate items.
A step-by-step Amber upgrade method
Use this process when you want to improve a particular Amber without turning the search into a complete collectible run:
- Choose the passive you actually want to strengthen. Open the Ambers section of the inventory and note the Amber’s exact name. Similar effects are not interchangeable for upgrade purposes.
- Confirm that documented duplicate locations exist. An Amber with several separate pickup locations gives you a clear duplicate route. If only one placed copy is documented for your target Amber, do not assume another copy exists.
- Mark the locations you have already cleared. A short note helps prevent revisiting a chest or miniboss location you have already cleared.
- Travel to the relevant Lantern and follow the local directions. Duplicate Ambers can come from chests, minibosses, or side-quest rewards, so the final action depends on the selected copy.
- Acquire the same named Amber again. The duplicate pickup is what raises the rank on an upgradeable Amber.
- Check the Amber after the pickup. Compare its rank or passive description with the state you recorded before collecting the duplicate. This also prevents a newly acquired but similarly themed Amber from being mistaken for an upgrade.
- Repeat only when another documented copy remains. Do not assume unlimited ranks or farm ordinary enemies for random duplicates; the known duplicate routes use placed pickups and rewards.
A chest route is usually the most direct when its path is already open. A miniboss route requires winning the encounter before the Amber is awarded. A quest-reward route requires completing the relevant objective, so it may take longer even when the reward is located in an earlier area.
Documented duplicate routes
The examples below are focused on Ambers with several placed pickup locations. They are not a complete Amber-location list. Once you own one copy, a later copy of that same Amber becomes the upgrade pickup.
| Amber | First documented copy | Second documented copy | Third documented copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wound that Heals | Vale of Wrath, Wolfsbane Field: chest in the cellar entered during Lost Boy | Vale of Wrath, Under the Bridge: defeat the miniboss on the hill beside the house | Cursed Hollow, Deep Water: backtrack from the Lantern and defeat the miniboss on the path |
| Tomorrow’s Promise | Fallen Village, Marketplace: reward from Lullaby | Cursed Hollow, Village Church: reward from the third step of Till Death | Fortress, Chapel: chest reached through the underground sewer route and a ladder into a long room |
| Dominatus | Valley of Ashes, Military Camp: chest inside a tent near the hill through the camp | Caverns, Last Sunlight: defeat the miniboss near a campfire on the left side of the cavern | The Outskirts, Broken Bridge: chest on platforms to the left of the wall-jump route |
| Bountiful Harvest | Fallen Village, Fields: reward from The Scarecrow | Vale of Wrath, Under the Bridge: reward from The Deserter | City of Orphans, Tribunal Square: defeat the miniboss above the second ladder near the tower shortcut |
| Bottomless Well | The Battlefield, Onslaught Arch: burn the gold vines behind the Lantern’s cliff route and open the chest | Caverns, Weeping Ledge: reward from Homesick | City of Orphans, Tribunal Square: defeat the miniboss beside the chest in the courtyard |
Keep ranks separate from Amber slots
Amber ranks and Amber slots solve different problems. A duplicate raises the rank of a supported Amber, improving that passive. A slot lets you equip another Amber at the same time.
The first Amber slot becomes available at Level 5 through the Level Up screen at a Lantern. Additional character progression unlocks more slots later. Reaching those character levels does not upgrade the Ambers already in your inventory, and collecting duplicate Ambers does not unlock another slot.
If you have several Ambers but cannot equip one, that is an equipment-slot issue rather than an upgrade failure. If you can equip an Amber but want a stronger version of its passive, follow a documented duplicate route instead. Keep the two goals separate when checking the Level Up screen.
The open Amber slot row is separate from duplicate-based Amber rank upgrades.
Perfect Copy can create another point of confusion. Its passive increases the ranks of other equipped Tier 1 and Tier 2 Ambers. That is an effect produced while Perfect Copy is equipped, not evidence that you permanently collected another copy of every affected Amber. Check the underlying Amber again without relying on Perfect Copy before recording a permanent duplicate upgrade.