Abyssus’s Soul Wheel is one of the most important systems you’ll need to learn about if you hope to survive the game’s punishing depths. Every expedition you complete, boss you kill, or treasure you dig up rewards Soul Fragments. The fragments are a permanent currency that can be invested into the Soul Wheel to purchase upgrades that redefine your character and gameplay.
While the Soul Wheel provides the liberty to shape your runs however you like, some upgrades are simply too enticing to resist. If you’re overwhelmed by the vast number of choices, this guide highlights the best Soul Wheel upgrades and explains why they should be your top priority early in your progression.
Early Tier One Priorities
When you’re beginning to work your way through the Soul Wheel, the Tier One upgrades are straightforward but incredibly practical. They offer survivability, damage, and flexibility—everything you’ll need to start chaining together successful runs.
Bountiful Bottles
Healing is rare in Abyssus, and nothing is worse than being forced to cut a good run short because you don’t have enough healing items. Bountiful Bottles gives you an extra syringe in your inventory, granting you more healing when you need it most. With this available from the get-go, it’s the perfect first upgrade to grab—it can make the difference between defeating an early boss or being forced to restart.
Picky Worship
As you navigate through the game, you’ll encounter Altars that present a decision between two Aspect Categories. Not all decisions fit all playstyles, and sometimes you’ll be stuck with categories that don’t work with your build. Picky Worship addresses this by allowing you to reroll altar choices. With up to three rerolls in a run if you max it out, this significantly increases the chances of building into something that both feels strong and cohesive.
Enhanced Weapons
Raw damage is always welcome, and Enhanced Weapons delivers it in spades. Each upgrade gives a flat 12% damage increase, stackable five times for a massive 60% bonus. Since this is still in Tier One, it’s also one of the cheapest and most accessible upgrades in the game. It plays particularly well with guns such as the shotgun or revolver, letting you shred through early depths like tissue paper.
Strengthening in Tier Two
Once you’ve collected enough fragments to break into Tier Two, the upgrades begin offering more flexibility and utility. These are geared toward making longer runs more sustainable.
Ability Abundance
Your abilities—grenades, anchor smashes, or other special moves—can turn the tables on a fight. Ability Abundance adds a use, which essentially translates into additional firepower or survivability in a tight spot. Since ability cooldowns and ammo are often limiting factors, this upgrade adds genuine consistency to your build.
Abyssal Stamina
Survivability is still key, and Abyssal Stamina provides a direct boost to your health pool. Upgradeable five times, this upgrade ensures that you can take more damage from elites and bosses, who like to hit for crippling amounts of damage. If you’re not sure where to spend Soul Fragments, spending it on health is never a bad idea.
Temple’s Rest
This upgrade unlocks the first Healing Shrine in the Abandoned Temple. Healing Shrines heal you completely and allow you to venture further into each expedition. Since it gives you a lasting checkpoint of healing, Temple’s Rest is best unlocked as soon as possible. Later versions of this upgrade feature shrines in other realms, but this first one is especially crucial.
Ancient Forge
Not as essential as healing, the Ancient Forge is still an excellent pickup. It makes weapon and ability upgrades spawn randomly in your runs, allowing you to upgrade your loadout mid-expedition. Some of these upgrades raise damage or ammo, and they’re a huge boost when the RNG goes in your favor.
Starting Funds
Keys are few and merchants are typically locked behind them. Starting Funds solves that problem by providing you with one guaranteed key and 100 gold at the beginning of each run. That all but ensures you’ll have a merchant available on your adventure, which is typically the difference between a good build and a bad one.
Powering Up in Tier Three
By the time you reach Tier Three, you will have sufficient fragments behind you to start aiming for upgrades that represent long-term advancement. They are upgrades that are expensive but tremendously impactful.
The Upgrade Altars here offer the chance to buff your Aspects and Blessings mid-run. These are essentially more chances to power up your build, and in roguelikes, any progressive upgrade goes a long way. As costly as it is, this should be prioritized once you’re deep enough into the Soul Wheel.
Keen Vision
Finally, one of the most rewarding skills to use in Abyssus is landing weakspot shots. Elites and bosses all have glowing weak spots, and the faster you can capitalize on them, the easier your battles will be. Keen Vision increases your weakspot damage with each upgrade, making precise shots that much more deadly. On guns like the Brine Revolver or crossbow, this upgrade can turn you into a boss-melting machine.
