Does downgrading result in loosing material?

[Tyrant]

...was wondering. I downgraded a mod and a weapon to upgrade new ones but could not get them to the same level as the previous ones.
If the game clealy teaches this I must have missed that.
Thx in advance-

[Kappa]

downgrading should give you back half the materials iirc ( corrupted weapon that you cleanse won't give you back corrupted shards ).

Not sure about simulacrum for both normal and corrupted weapons.

I suggest you not to level up weapons too much ( I finished nightmare with +5 boss weapons and +10 normal ones ). Save it for apocalypse or after several hours of game.

[Xaelon]

You get something like 75% of materials spent back when de-leveling weapons or mutators, with the exception of Simulacrum. The game does not return spent Simulacrum.

Which is why I suggest only upgrading weapons to +19/+9 unless you really like them. Getting most upgrade mats isn't tough, but you only get one simulacrum per world, IF you can find it.

The difference between +19 and +20 or +9 and +10 is pretty minor anyway, there's no reason to cap something out unless it's one of your favorite weapons.

[Kappa]

Worth mentioning that simulacrum might also drop from bosses ( higher chances the highest the difficulty ), and that those that spawn in the map are usually in the same spot.

[Tyrant]

Thx to all for clearifying!