Upgrade ladybug armor?

[Brakiri]

Hi,

I just learned that the materials to upgrade armor are finite and will not respawn.
I haven't reached the Hedge lab yet but I have the ladybug armor and a crossbow.

As there are other, better armor sets in the higher tier, is it worthwhile to upgrade the ladybug armor or should I wait until I get better armor?

[seven]

I too worried about this after reading warnings of 'don't upgrade lower tier items'. But in single player I found a lot of upgrade materials (through lots of exploration), and you eventually learn how to craft those, so I wouldn't worry about upgrading to level 5. Well, not tier 1 items, but certainly ladybug armor I would.

[Brakiri]

Thank you for your answer! :)

[RequiemsRose]

If you are playing solo, you will still end up finding more than enough materials, especially at lower tiers (wont have to worry much until you hit the third tier, supreme stuff basically because by then you not only have far more options but you will also have more specializations you can upgrade into as well but the supreme tier is the rarest tier). You can also eventually unlock renewable alternate recipes for those upgrade materials, you just usually do so after the point you want your initial upgrades.

As far as ladybug armor specifically, in my opinion if you are going to upgrade a lower tier armor that might just be the best to do it with. In my current game i am firmly in tier 3, near the ending even, and im still rocking the ladybug set 90% of the time (with ant lion being the other 10% for the sizzle protection mostly). It's especially good if you are a more melee focused character considering that between the piece bonus, the set bonus, and the upgraded sleek bonus, you are less likely to get staggered/stunned while blocking, you have a chance to trigger a trickle heal when you do block, and any healing items you do use (food, bandages, the trickle heal you can already trigger, etc) will heal slightly better as well. It can be a powerfully tanky build that is especially good at not dying even in bad situations, especially if you are good with the block system and can also add delights like parry master and whatever mutation is related to your main weapon (i mostly find myself using my axe, despite it not actually being the most effective sometimes, so in my case the chopper mutation is also a good option).

[Duneman]

At different story beats you unlock recipes for infinite basic upgrade mats; well, technically from the Auxiliary Burgle Chips. For some of the elemental stuff you can get infinite from the 'buried treasure' spawns.

Before the Black Ant Lab it's fine to get your favorite Tier 2 items up to +5 reinforcement. Once you're in the Upper Yard proper you can go +7 on your favorite Tier 3 items.

As for the Ladybug Armor, it's a fine set overall. It might only have Tier 2 defense, but is still Heavy Armor with the 30% resistance. The +Healing from making it Sleek(at +6) means you can get full heals from Beefy Smoothies even without Molar support.

[ulzgoroth]

Upgrading everything to level 5 is at most mildly inconvenient. I wouldn't upgrade everything right away, because that may make upgrading something actually useful more annoying to upgrade, but you get renewable recipes.

Upgrading past level 5 is a bit different.

[Brakiri]

Ok, thanks for the hints.
I did upgrade the normal Crossbow because I read that getting the Ox crossbow requires killing the ox bug which seems to be very tough.
Both items (ladybug armor an crossbow) are at level 4 I think and I just found some upgrade materials.
Most enemies can now be handled so that should suffice for now.

[Serpiko82]

Ladybug armor and crow crossbow are two of the best T2 options while you're still in the lower yard, and you're going to use them for quite some time, so don't be afraid to spend quartzite on them.

[Duneman]

Yeah, if you Peep the Ox Beetle you'll see that it is weak to Salt. There's a giant Salt Mine in the Sandbox so it is really easy to make Salt Arrows to use against it. The +5 Crow Feather Crossbow will make nice dents in the beetle with Salt Arrows. You can also have the Salt Mace by that point. IIRC it's also in the Sandbox from finding a key as 'Buried Treasure'.

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by Brakiri:

Ok, thanks for the hints.
I did upgrade the normal Crossbow because I read that getting the Ox crossbow requires killing the ox bug which seems to be very tough.
Both items (ladybug armor an crossbow) are at level 4 I think and I just found some upgrade materials.
Most enemies can now be handled so that should suffice for now.

Before going into the upper yard I had well over 100 brittle quartzite, and had upgraded a few weapons along the way. There's a lot of that stuff lying around if you search. I have a little less marble but a lot of that too with two different upgraded armor sets.

So what I'm saying is I definitely wouldn't worry about what you're spending here.

Though I would also definitely look at getting an antlion armor. It's a tier 3 armor you can make in the lower yard. And if you're specializing in the crossbow, the antlion armor's somewhat specialized set perk would really work for you.