In Dragonflight Season 3, the gear that is dropped from most content are parts of upgrade tracks that can utilize Flightstones and Dreaming Crests to increase their ilvl up to a certain point. Gear that is crafted with Spark of Dreams via a profession can also be upgraded to higher ilvls through a slightly different process using the same Dreaming Crests.

HOW TO UPGRADE DROPPED GEAR

Gear that is dropped or received in quest rewards in virtually all content at level 70, including items from most enemies, raids, dungeons and related content will drop within a specific "upgrade track" tier. Each track has a range of item levels that piece can be. The tracks are:

Explorer: ilvl 415 - 437
Adventurer: ilvl 428 - 450
Veteran: ilvl 441 - 463
Champion: ilvl 454 - 476
Hero: ilvl 467 - 483
Myth: ilvl 480 - 489

These item tiers drop the the following content:

• Explorer and Adventurer: most open world content, quests, and dungeon difficulties below Mythic+
• Veteran tier: Mythic+ dungeon levels 2-8 drops, Raid Finder Amirdrassil, Weekly Emerald Dream zone quests
• Champion tier: Mythic+ levels 9-16 drops, Normal Amirdrassil, Raid Finder Fyrakk's trinkets, Great Vault rewards for Mythic+ levels 2-7
• Hero tier: Mythic+ levels 17+, Heroic Amidrassil, Normal Fyrakk's trinkets, Great Vault rewards for Mythic+ levels 8-17
• Myth tier: Mythic Amirdrassil, Great Vault rewards for Mythic+ levels 18+
  • Fyrakk's trinkets fro Mythic Amirdrassil are ilvl 496 which is higher than any other item can reach this season

When you have a piece of Season 3 gear that is not at the max ilvl of its track, for example a Veteran piece that is ilvl 447, you can upgrade that item at one of the Item Upgrade NPCs in the world to push its item level higher, thus raising all the stats on the item.

Location of Item Upgrade NPCs

• Valdrakken - Corxian - /way 44.3 36.5 - In the training dummy/PVP vendor area, entrance at /way 40.3 45.4
• Valdrakken - Erza - /way 38.6 37.1 - In a small building where the Primal Researchers and Storm Sigial quests are picked up
• Emerald Dream Central Encampment - Cuzolth - /way 49.8 62.9 - Standing outside near a tree and a forge
• Inside Amirdrassil - Cuzolth - Right next to the repair NPC near entrance/spirit release point
• Zaralek Caverns - Cuzolth - /way 56.6 56 - Inside the central building/inn of Loamm
• Forbidden Reach - Researcher Baneflare - /way 37.5 59.4 - At the basecamp with all the quest NPCs
• Inside Aberrus - Cuzolth - Right next to the repair NPC near the entrance/spirit release point

To upgrade the items at these Item Upgrade NPCs, you need Flightstones and may need Dreaming Crests.

• Flightstones are a currency that you can keep track of in the Currency menu (default hotkey: U). You can hold up to 2000 Flightstones at a time, and there is no limit to how many Flightstones you can receive per day/week. Flightstones are rewarded in most activites, including world quests, world treasures, dungeon completion, raid bosses, and more. The harder the content, the more Flightstones you get from it.
• Dreaming Crests are items that are tracked in the Currency menu (default hotkey: U). You need 15 of a particular Dreaming Crest to upgrade an item of a relevant level. There are four tiers of Dreaming Crests and they are recieved from varying levels of content.
  • Whelpling: Raid Finder Amirdrassil, Dungeon difficulty below Mythic+ level 7, World Quests, Treasures, and Emerald Dream activities
  • Drake: Mythic+ levels 6-10, Normal Amirdrassil, Weekly Events in Emerald Dream and well-watered Dreamseeds
  • Wyrm: Mythic+ levels 11-15, Heroic Amirdrassil
  • Aspect: Mythic+ levels 16+, Mythic Amirdrassil
    
    • There is a cap to how many crests of each level you can obtain. This cap increases as the season progresses. If you are capped on a higher level crest, you will instead be rewarded the next level crest downard. So if you are capped on Wyrm's Dreaming Crests for the week, the next activity you do that would reward more Wyrm's Dreaming Crests will instead reward Drake's Dreaming Crests if you're not already capped.

There is an NPC named Vaskarn in the central encampment in the Emerald Dream that allows you to trade down your Dreaming Crests on a 1:1 basis. For example, you can buy 15 Wyrm's Dreaming Crests for 15 Aspect's Dreaming Crests. Additionally, there will be an upgrade exchange if your average item level is higher than the max level a particular Dreaming Crest can provide. For example, if you're already using ilvl 454 gear in all slots, then you'll be able to trade up your Whelpling's Dreaming Crests for Drake's Dreaming Crests at a 6 to 1 ratio (90 Whelps for 15 Drakes). Crest caps still apply.

The cost of upgrading gear is variable depending on what kind of equipment it is, the tier of the item, what upgrade level it's currently at, and whether or not you already have an item for that equipment slot that is a high ilvl.

• Explorer: Only costs Flightstones
• Adventurer: Only Flightstones up to ilvl 437, then Flightstones + 15 Whelpling's Dreaming Crest per upgrade up to 450
  Veteran: Flightstones + 15 Whelpling's Dreaming Crests per upgrade until 450, then Flightstones + 15 Drake's Dreaming Crests per upgrade until 463
• Champion: Flightstones + Drake's Dreaming Crests per upgrade until 463, then Flightstones + 15 Wyrm's Dreaming Crests per upgrade until 476
• Hero: Flightstones + 15 Wyrm's Dreaming Crests per upgrade until 476, then Flightstones + 15 Aspect's Dreaming Crests to 483
• Myth: Flightstones + 15 Aspect's Dreaming Crests per upgrade until 489

If you already have an item that is a higher ilvl for the same equipment slot you're trying to upgrade, then the amount of Flightstones needed per level is reduced, and all Crest requirements are removed. For example, if you have an ilvl 447 Helmet, then upgrading another Helmet of any level below that will only cost a reduced number of Flightstones and zero Dreaming Crests.

You need to have two high-level Rings and Trinkets for this discount feature to take effect. Same for classes who dual-wield weapons, like rogues. A single high-level 2-handed weapon that your class can equip will count as have both weapon slots covered for this discount, so a mage with an ilvl 447 staff won't need Dreaming Crests to upgrade a 1H sword or off-hand item.

HOW TO UPGRADE GEAR CRAFTED WITH SPARK OF DREAMS

High-tier crafted items are Epic quality items that require a "Spark" as one of their primary reagents. For Dragonflight Season 3, you need to be using a Spark of Dreams for high-tier crafts.

If you played in Dragonflight Season 2, you should know that crafted items cannot be as high of an item level as dropped gear in Season 3. This is effectively a nerf to crafted items compared to their peak power in Season 2.

Items crafted with a Spark of Dreams can be up to ilvl 463 depending on crafting quality. Additionally, you can include an Enchanted Wyrm's Dreaming Crest or an Enchanted Aspect's Dreaming Crest as an Optional Reagent to a high-tier crafted item that has a Spark of Dreams to boost the ilvl even further. Both of these Enchanted Dreaming Crests are crafted by characters with the Enchanting profession, which can be ordered via Crafting Requests for non-enchanter character.

Enchanted Wyrm's Dreaming Crest - ilvl 463-476

• 60x Chromatic Dust
• 10x Vibrant Shard
• 2x Resonant Crystal
• 1x Dracothyst
• 1x Nascent Wyrm's Dreaming Crest (sold by Andoris for 45 Wyrm's Dreaming Crests in Valdrakken Artisan's Market by the Enchanting station)

Enchanted Aspect's Dreaming Crest - ilvl 473-486

• 80x Chromatic Dust
• 15x Vibrant Shard
• 4x Resonant Crystal
• 2x Dracothyst
• 1x Nascent Aspect's Dreaming Crest (sold by Andoris for 60 Aspect's Dreaming Crests in Valdrakken Artisan's Market by the Enchanting station)

If you are not crafting your own equipment, then these optional reagents need to be added by you in the Craft Request if you need it freshly made or included in a Recraft Request of an existing version of the item. It is highly recommend to find a skilled crafter to make your higher-level gear, as it takes significant time investment into the profession knowledge trees to successfully craft ilvl 476 and 486 items.