Where upgrades unlock
During The Oni’s Apprentice, a Spirit Mirror gains the Enhance Equipment/Abilities menu. It contains two connected but separate systems:
- Basic and Special Skills use Power Stones, Oni Stones and Red Souls.
- Equipment Enhancements improve Clothing, Sword and Gauntlet through several material families.
PowerPyx’s current completion route counts 54 Power Stones, 54 Oni Stones, 25 Fine Silk Cloths and 25 Tamahagane. Those totals are completion-planning figures, not the cost of one early build.
Choose upgrades by the job they solve
There is no single fixed optimal build. Use this order as a decision filter:
- Core defence: unlock and practise Deflect before buying damage to cover for missed timings.
- Exploration: if you want 100% completion, reserve Oni Stones for Oni Vision: Treasures, Oni Vision: Treasures 2 and Oni Vision: Search Range.
- Boss consistency: improve the Hozuki Pouch and equip charms that solve your current survival or resource problem.
- Convenience and economy: consider soul absorption while attacking, additional charm capacity and quick item use once the essentials are comfortable.
- Damage: invest in Sword and Issen branches when you already survive openings but need to convert them into faster stamina breaks or health damage.
Some skill branches appear only after later Oni Portals or bosses. Do not treat a missing node as a bug; check the complete skill list for its stated unlock point before spending around it.
Equipment and its material families
| Equipment | Main benefit | Common material path |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing | Health and stamina | Hempen Cloth, Cotton Cloth, Leather, Fine Silk Cloth |
| Sword | Attack power | Whetstone, Iron, Tempered Iron, Tamahagane |
| Gauntlet | Oni powers and soul absorption | Malicite and boss-derived Genma materials |
Each category has multiple proficiency tiers with smaller enhancements inside them. A purchase may fill part of the current tier without immediately changing the displayed proficiency level. Because the three categories draw from different material families, a Clothing purchase does not always delay the next Sword or Gauntlet improvement.
Buy rare materials without emptying your wallet
PC Gamer’s material guide reports that Yorimasa begins selling materials after Yasui Konpiragu is purified, and that the shop expands after major story missions. Later stock can include Leather, Fine Silk, Tempered Iron, Tamahagane, Malicite Mass, Byakue’s Talisman and Dohatsu-ten’s Horn.
The stock is finite and high-tier items can cost more than 8,000 Red Souls. Revisit the shop after major missions, but check your next skill cost before buying every material on sight. If Red Souls are the bottleneck, prioritising the skill that increases red-soul yield early gives the investment more time to pay back.
Before a collectible sweep
Unlock the three Oni Vision search upgrades before starting a full cleanup pass. Hold Oni Vision while moving through previously visited areas and use the 274-item collection checklist to identify the category you still need.
You can continue free-roam cleanup before the final mission The Clash At Rendaino. After completing the story, Continue returns you to the start of that mission. Keep a manual save there before making large trophy-related purchases or beginning New Game+.
What carries into New Game+
Enhanced Basic and Special Skills, Hozuki Pouches, selected items, Charms, Genma Notes and Lion Dogs carry over according to the PowerPyx roadmap. Clothing, Sword and Gauntlet enhancements, Red Souls and Spirit Mirror unlock progress do not.
That split changes the value of late spending: permanent skill upgrades help a Carnage run, while equipment upgrades may be better finished on the current save if you are pursuing full completion. If your immediate obstacle is a fight rather than completion, use the 18-fight boss guide before grinding materials for a problem that better timing can solve.