Marvel’s Avengers guide: Currencies and upgrade materials

Marvel’s Avengers has 11 different currencies on the Gear screen alone. Each has its own purpose, and you’ll need all of it as you level up and increase your gear score.

In this Marvel’s Avengers guide, we’ll explain each of the game’s currencies so you know how to get them and what to do with each.

Credits

Credits are Marvel’s Avengers’ premium currency. The only way to earn Credits is via the Challenge Card system or buying them with real cash.

You can spend Credits in the in-game Marketplace for special cosmetics like skins, takedowns, and Challenge Cards.

Units

Units are, like Credits, a cosmetic currency. But unlike Credits, you earn Units entirely in-game. You can collect them from chests, from the Challenge Card, and by upgrading the SHIELD or Inhuman Resistance factions.

You can spend Units at the cosmetic vendor in your Outposts. They’ll offer a variety of cosmetic items that rotate daily and weekly.

Fragments

Fragments are your cash in Marvel’s Avengers. You can acquire Fragments by dismantling gear, opening resource crates, or from chests.

You can use Fragments to buy gear items from vendors at your Outposts.

Upgrade Module

The Upgrade Module is the most important resource in your entire arsenal. You’ll need a lot of these. You can earn Upgrade Modules from chests — especially DNA chests — and dismantling powerful gear pieces. You can also buy them with Fragments.

You need Upgrade Modules to upgrade your gear, and you’ll need a lot of them to go from the soft cap of 130 to the hard gear cap of 140. Save as many as you can as you level up, you’ll need hundreds in the endgame.

Nanite, Nanotube, Catalyst, Plasma

These four resources all share the same purpose and acquisition method. You can earn Nanintes, Nanotubes, Catalysts, and Plasma by defeating enemies and destroying colored resource crates on missions.

Different gear pieces require a mixture of different resources. For one gear piece, you may need Nanites, Plasma, and Upgrade Materials, while another will only need Catalysts. These resources are key, so make sure you destroy crates whenever you see them. You should have over 1,000 of each by the time you reach 130 on one of your characters.

Polychoron

Polychorons are second only to Upgrade Modules. You can get these from certain missions and completing daily Assignments for both the SHIELD and Inhuman Alliance factions.

You’ll need to use these to upgrade your Major Artifacts, which add anywhere from +1-10 Power directly to your character. Without a fully upgraded Major Artifact, you can’t take your hero from the gear cap of 140 to the max cap of 150. You’ll need a lot of these in the endgame, so make sure you do all your daily missions.

Uru

Uru is like Polychoron but for your Minor Artifacts, and it’s much easier to get. You can get Uru from doing Drop Zones — the super quick missions — and from some chests.

To upgrade your Minor Artifacts to 140, you’ll need some Upgrade Modules and Uru. You should have quite a bit more of this than you need by the endgame.

DNA key

You need DNA keys to open DNA chests. You can get DNA keys by completing Villain Sector missions.

DNA chests offer tons of resources and great gear. They also only spawn in Vault missions. If you’re running the daily Villain Sectors for the Polchorons, you can use your DNA keys to get some extra Upgrade Modules by running a Vault Mission. Check out our separate guide on how to farm DNA keys.