Guides

Rage 2 guide: Currencies, upgrades, and components

And how to spend them

By Jeffrey Parkin May 17, 2019, 2:04pm EDT

Jeffrey Parkin (he/him) has been writing video game guides for Polygon for almost seven years. He has learned to love just about every genre of game that exists.

Rage 2 might be a pretty straightforward game — and a lot of fun — but the mechanics underlying it are not. There are menus within menus, and each has an associated currency or item.

It’s an overwhelming labyrinth at first, but we’re here to help you through it. We’ll break down the general currencies below, then talk about the menus where you’ll use them.

Currencies: Cash and Feltrite

There are two basic currencies — currencies not associated with a specific upgrade tree — in Rage 2.

Cash is the most obvious (and most literal) currency. It works how you’d expect. You pick up cash in the Wasteland, then take it to a vendor — like the The Loquacious Wanderer — to exchange it for items.

Rage 2 Feltrite meteorite — Embedded Feltrite in a meteorite

The other currency of the Wasteland is Feltrite. This one is a little weirder, because Feltrite is a currency but also a healing item.

Feltrite is the blue crystals you’ll find embedded in walls, squirreled away in Storage Containers, or on meteorites. It’s also the blue vials that pop out of enemies’ heads when you shoot them. Feltrite fills your health bar, but you’ve also got a wallet of Feltrite that you’ll spend on upgrades.

Upgrade currencies (and menus)

The rest of the currency-like items in Rage 2 are all tied to specific upgrade menus (or menus-within-menus). Let’s talk about each tab in your menu and the currencies you’ll use in them.

Inventory menu

Along the left of your Inventory menu, you’ll see a list of the throwable and injectable items you’re carrying. Over in the top right, you’ll see the current level of that item. You unlock the next level by buying an Upgrade Schematic from a merchant (with cash).

Once you hit level 2 for one of your items, you’ll be able to craft more of that item. The components you need, like explosive components or chemical components, are listed in the bottom left. You can find the components you currently have in the resources tab on the left under crafting materials.

Nanotrites menu

Rage 2 Nanotrite menu — Nanotrite abilities have levels and perks.

You unlock Nanotrite abilities by visiting Arks (usually after shooting your way through a lot of enemies). Once again, there’s a list of your abilities on the left, and each ability’s level on the right.

You unlock the next level of an ability by spending Feltrite. Each level comes with a boost to a related stat, like damage or range. Each level also unlocks a new tier of perks.

The middle panel on your Nanotrite menu lets you go to the Perks for that ability. This is an upgrade tree for each ability. You unlock Perks by assigning Nanotrite Boosters to them. Every perk costs one booster, regardless of tier.

You can buy Nanotrite Boosters with cash from merchants or find them in Ark Chests out in the Wasteland.

Weapons menu

Like your Nanotrite abilities, you’ll find new weapons in Arks. The Weapons menu looks similar as well.

On the right, you’ll see the level for each of your weapons. You’ll unlock new levels by spending Feltrite. Weapons also get a bonus with each level — watch the stats over on the left side to see them.

For each level, you’ll have the option to choose a mod, like a larger magazine capacity or a faster reload. To unlock a mod, you’ll spend Weapon Core Mods. At level 1, the mod will cost you one core. At level two, it will cost two, and so on. Weapon Core Mods are usually in Ark Chests.

Projects menu

Projects are abilities and upgrades tied to combat, engineering, and your magic-like abilities (Nanotrites). They’re all associated with the Project Dagger NPCs.

Unlike the other upgrades above, you don’t have to do anything special to unlock the next tier of a Project, you just need to buy two projects from the previous tier by assigning Project Points.

You earn Projects Points by earning XP for each of the NPCs by completing various locations, activities, and objectives for them. (That’s a long way to say: Do the stuff that pops up on your map, and you’ll earn points.)

You can see which map activities earn points for each NPC in the middle panel of your menu. Project Points are not specific to the NPC who gives them to you, so you can spend them on whomever you want.

Vehicles menu

Rage 2 vehicle upgrade menu — You can only upgrade the Phoenix, but you can get an ejector seat, so why would you need anything else?

Vehicle upgrades are a lot simpler. You can only upgrade your first car, the Phoenix.

Unlocking the upgrades requires auto parts. You can buy these for cash at vendors, find them in Ark Chests, destroy convoys to get them.

Augmentation currencies

Rage 2 Cyber Doc Augmentations — The Cyber Doc in Wellspring

The last type of upgrade and associated currency is specific to one vendor: The Cyber Doc in Wellspring. He sells augmentations that improve your health, overdrive, or weapon damage.

All of these augmentations cost one Life Gland, one Ark Tek Core, and one Neuronic Interface each. You’ll get these materials from Ark Chests or by defeating tough enemies like Cyber Crushers.

Rage 2 guide: Currencies, upgrades, and components

Currencies: Cash and Feltrite