Mycopunk Upgrade Grid and Pattern Infusion Explained
Every upgrade is a shape on a hex grid. You slot those shapes next to each other, so the real limit is geometry, not slot count. In 1.0 most stats also scale with pattern size: shrinking an upgrade weakens it, infusing a bigger pattern into it buffs it. Small one-hex upgrades are the ones you can stack deep.
Mycopunk's upgrade system is not a skill tree and it is not a mod list. Every upgrade is a physical shape you place on a hexagonal grid, and the limit is geometry: two big upgrades cannot share a grid that one chevron-shaped upgrade plus three single-hex upgrades would fit into. Understanding that one sentence is the difference between a build that works and a grid full of wasted space.
The grid, in plain terms
Each weapon has its own grid. Upgrades drop as hex patterns — a single hex, a line, an L, a chevron, a block — and you slot them so their shapes do not overlap. Rarity decides how strong the roll is: Standard, Rare, Epic, Exotic, plus Oddity in the endgame.
Because space is the constraint, the strongest builds in practice are not made of the strongest individual upgrades. They are made of upgrades with efficient shapes. A single-hex upgrade with decent stats is almost always worth a slot, because it leaves the rest of the grid usable.
| Pattern shape | Cost in space | Where it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Single hex | 1 cell | Stat sticks, stackable effects |
| Line (2-3) | 2-3 cells | Weapon-specific stats, reload, damage |
| Chevron / L | 3-4 cells | Behaviour changes, elemental converts |
| Block | 5+ cells | Build-defining effects you plan around |
You can view the order in which upgrades apply by holding CTRL (or L3 on a controller) in the upgrade screen. The small icons under the grid list the same order. That ordering matters when two upgrades modify the same stat, because later entries resolve on top of earlier ones.
Pattern infusion is the real system
Infusion lets you push one upgrade's pattern into another. This is where Mycopunk stops being a normal looter shooter: you can physically reshape your upgrades, cutting a huge block down to a small shape to fit more into a grid, or feeding a large pattern into a small upgrade to make that upgrade stronger.
The 1.0 launch changed the rules here, and it is the single most controversial change in the patch. Most upgrade stats now scale with how much the pattern size changed:
- Infusing a smaller pattern into an upgrade reduces most of its stats.
- Infusing a larger pattern into an upgrade improves its stats.
- Upgrades whose stats depend on surrounding cells are exempt from the scaling rule.
Shrinking is still right when you need space for a build-defining upgrade, but shrink the upgrade whose stats you care least about. Infusing upward is the new min-max lever: feed a big pattern into a cheap single-hex upgrade and it becomes a stat monster.
Turbocharges: read the text, not the number
Turbocharge is a separate tier that sits on specific upgrades and exotics. Most of them change how an upgrade behaves rather than simply adding a percentage. Examples from the 1.0 notes: a Jackrabbit turbocharge that increases flamethrower damage while you are ignited, a Globbler turbocharge that adds +1 magazine size, a Photon Disc turbocharge that further raises elemental chance, and a Caustic Grenade turbocharge that makes your heavy weapons hit harder.
Because these are conditional, their value depends entirely on your loadout. A turbocharge that triggers while airborne is dead weight on a build that never jumps. When you get one, decide whether your build already does the thing it asks for.
Rarity is a floor, not a ceiling
Rarity tells you the stat band a roll can land in. It does not tell you the roll you got. Two Epics of the same upgrade can differ noticeably, and a well-rolled Rare can beat a badly rolled Epic for your specific build.
The economy around this: crafting an upgrade you have never discovered costs more normal resources and, importantly, more Saxonite. Crafting a duplicate or an already-known upgrade is cheaper. So discovery matters more than perfection early on — find the upgrade first, then chase the roll.
A build order that works for new grids
- Fill the grid with single-hex and line upgrades first. Cheap, efficient, and they give you a functioning weapon immediately.
- Add one behaviour upgrade — elemental conversion, extra projectile, or an on-reload effect — once you have space.
- Infuse only when the grid is full. Infusion is a space solution, not an early-game power spike.
- Keep one grid per weapon that you never touch. Swapping weapons mid-run is common in Mycopunk, and a half-built second grid is worse than a finished third-tier one.
Where the system goes deep
The 1.0 patch added a large set of new upgrades and turbocharges across the whole arsenal — cryo conversions for the Cycler and DMLR, healing on Plate Launcher plates, plasma arcs for the Trident, blood consumption for the Carver, and a queen-related ammo rework for the Accelerator. None of them are mandatory, and that is the point: the grid exists so that a support build, a chainsaw-with-a-deflector-shield build and a "turn yourself into a bomb" build can all be built from the same parts.
Last checked 2026-10-21 against the 1.0 and 1.0.1 announcement and patch notes and the developer devlog on infusion changes.
