Two upgrade systems, and players mix them up
Blasphemous has two things you can call “upgrading”, and they use different currencies and different gates.
Sword levels come from kneeling at a Mea Culpa altar. There are 7 of them, and each one is a fixed +1 level and +4 Strength. You cannot grind levels — you have to find the altars, which means sword level is a map-progress counter.
Ability upgrades are bought at those same altars for Tears, but each one also has a minimum sword level. This is why a player holding 8,000 Tears can still see an upgrade they cannot buy.
There is no helmet, no armour, no second weapon. If you are searching for “Blasphemous helmet upgrades”, the system does not exist — defence is entirely Rosary Beads.
Sword levels and what each one is worth
| Level | Strength | Damage of a basic hit |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 10 | 10 |
| 1 | 14 | 14 |
| 2 | 18 | 18 |
| 3 | 22 | 22 |
| 4 | 26 | 26 |
| 5 | 30 | 30 |
| 6 | 34 | 34 |
| 7 | 38 | 38 |
The wiki states the basic attack damage always equals the Strength stat, so this table is also your damage table. Level 7 is the maximum — there is no eighth altar, so 38 is the hard ceiling on base damage.
One warning carried from the wiki: damage is severely reduced if you take the Penitence of the Unwavering Faith. A level 7 sword does not behave like 38 Strength under that penitence, so do not measure a run by sword level alone.
All 15 Mea Culpa upgrades
Five trees, three steps each. The level column is the minimum sword level required, not the level you will be at.
Last Words — the combo extender
| Upgrade | Level | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Words | 1 | 2,000 | Fourth hit in the combo, Strength ×4 |
| Ascending Edge | 2 | 7,000 | Hold up on the fourth hit: uppercut, also lifts you higher than a jump |
| Azure Cyclone | 4 | 11,000 | Hold down on the fourth hit: two-hit whirlwind |
This is the tree to buy first. The fourth hit is a flat damage increase on every enemy you meet, and Ascending Edge doubles as the game’s only height upgrade.
Sinful Wrath — charged heavy attack
| Upgrade | Level | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sinful Wrath | 1 | 500 | Hold attack to charge; release for Strength ×4 |
| Holy Wrath | 3 | 8,000 | Cuts the charge time |
| Wrath of the Twisted One | 6 | 15,000 | Release also fires a projectile for Strength ×4 |
Sinful Wrath at 500 Tears is the cheapest real damage upgrade in the game. Its second job matters more than its damage: a heavy attack that lands while an enemy is mid-attack stuns them instantly, which is how you set up executions.
Fervorous Blood — the ranged disc
| Upgrade | Level | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fervorous Blood | 2 | 2,000 | Blood disc, medium range; throwing it stops your fall mid-air |
| Sacred Blood | 5 | 7,000 | Disc returns, hitting anything it passes through twice |
| Bleeding Miracle | 7 | 20,000 | 96 flat damage explosion at the disc’s furthest point |
Fervorous Blood damage scales oddly with sword level rather than Strength: 30 at level 2, then 40, 45, 50, 60 and 60 at level 7. The explosion from Bleeding Miracle is a flat 96 regardless.
Weight of Sin — plunge attack
| Upgrade | Level | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight of Sin | 1 | 500 | Plunge straight down, Strength ×3 on landing, can open secret passages |
| Weight of Justice | 3 | 2,700 | Wider landing shockwave |
| Consecration | 6 | 13,000 | Vertical beam above you on a high plunge |
The 500-Tear first step is worth buying early purely for exploration, because the plunge uncovers passages that look like solid floor.
Sacred Thrust — dash lunge
| Upgrade | Level | Cost | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sacred Thrust | 1 | 1,500 | Lunge from a dash, Strength ×3, big hitbox |
| Sacred Lunge | 2 | 2,300 | Damage becomes 35 + sword level × 14 |
| Sacred Onslaught | 4 | 9,000 | Damage becomes Strength ×4 |
Sacred Thrust is the easiest stun setup in the game according to the wiki, which makes it a combo enabler rather than a damage pick.
Tree totals: Last Words 20,000 / Sinful Wrath 23,500 / Fervorous Blood 29,000 / Weight of Sin 16,200 / Sacred Thrust 12,800. All 15 upgrades: 101,500 Tears.
Bile Flasks — the only healing upgrade
Healing is a separate currency sink. Six tiers, each costing Quicksilver plus Tears.
| Tier | Heal | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | starting flask |
| 2 | 70 | 1,000 |
| 3 | 100 | 3,000 |
| 4 | 130 | 7,000 |
| 5 | 160 | 14,000 |
| 6 | 190 | 21,000 |
Tier 6 heals 190, which is close to a full late-game health bar for the cost of one flask. The whole ladder costs 46,000 Tears, and the jump from tier 1 to tier 2 (+30 healing for 1,000 Tears) is the best value in the game.
Two beads change the flask economy rather than the flask itself. Bead of Gold Thread halves the roughly 2-second drinking animation to about 1 second, which is the difference between a heal that lands and a heal that gets cancelled. Pelican Effigy stops damage from cancelling the heal at all.
You refill flasks in exactly three ways: kneeling at a Prie Dieu, paying at a Blood Fountain, or killing an enemy with the Sphere of the Sacred Smoke bead equipped — and that last one has a high chance of failing.
What “maximum” means for each stat
Several achievements are literally “reach the cap”, which makes them a useful checklist for what still scales.
| Cap | Achievement | What raises it |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum health | Six Stinging Pains | Health upgrades found in the world |
| Maximum fervour | Baptism of Faith | Fervour upgrades, plus +25 per sword level |
| Maximum flask capacity | The Fountain of Life | Additional flask slots |
| Maximum bead slots | Engracia | Knots of Rosary Rope given to Engracia, 2 → 8 |
| All altar abilities | Blood and Tears | Buying all 15 upgrades above |
| Maximum sword level | Mea Culpa | All 7 altars |
Fervour is worth noting separately: it caps at 20, a single execution grants 9.98 points, and two executions leave you 0.05 short of 20. That is why prayers feel expensive — the resource is deliberately tuned just under two executions.
Buying order that respects the gates
The level requirements make the order mostly self-enforcing, but the Tears order is not obvious.
- Sinful Wrath (500) and Weight of Sin (500) — both available at level 1, both change how you fight rather than just adding damage.
- Last Words (2,000) — the fourth hit is your damage floor for the rest of the game.
- Bile Flask tier 2 (1,000) — 30 extra healing per flask for the price of half a sword upgrade.
- Ascending Edge (7,000) at level 2 — height and damage in one purchase.
- Sacred Thrust (1,500) into Sacred Lunge (2,300) — the stun route if you rely on executions.
- Everything else as Tears allow. Fervorous Blood’s 20,000 final step is the last thing most players buy.
Sword hearts are a separate 11-item system (9 original + 2 DLC) that changes Mea Culpa’s behaviour rather than its stats — see the hearts guide for those, because they interact with damage far more than raw Strength does.
Related guides
- Blasphemous Jump and Platforming Guide — Ascending Edge, air control and the terrain relics
- Blasphemous Mea Culpa Hearts Guide — all 11 hearts (9 original + 2 DLC) and how they change damage
- Blasphemous Fervour Guide — how the 20-point pool and executions actually work
- Blasphemous Tears of Atonement Guide — where to farm the 147,500 Tears these upgrades cost
- Blasphemous Achievements Guide — all 45 achievements and which ones are upgrade-gated
- Blasphemous Hub — all guides for this game