Which Armor Matrix Upgrades To Get First in Saros

1 hour ago 1

Published May 3, 2026, 4:32 PM EDT

Usama Mehmood is a Senior Writer at DualShockers with more than five years of experience in the video game industry. He has been writing professionally since 2021 and covering games since 2022, with work spanning guides, lists, reviews, and features across action-adventure games, JRPGs, open-world titles, racing games, and narrative-driven releases.

Before joining DualShockers, Usama contributed to eXputer, where he worked as a Senior Writer and Editor for over three years, managing editorial teams while continuing to write guides, reviews, lists, and featured pieces. He also previously contributed to Phrasemaker and worked as a short-term media journalist for his university’s article outlet. Usama holds a Doctorate in Physiotherapy from the University of Lahore.

Saros is finally out, and it makes some incredible changes and leaps over what Returnal offered, with a bunch of new mechanics as well as finer details. While my recent review of the game has made it clear why it's my GOTY front-runner, we're not here for any opinions today because we're here to go in-depth on one of the new systems introduced here.

The Armor Matrix is Housemarque's answer to introducing proper permanent progression to their brand-new Bullet Hell Roguelite. With each run that you survive, you can head back to The Passage and trade your Lucenite to give Arjun a permanent set of stat boosts and other beneficial passives.

Saros Review: Housemarque Delivers a Masterful Loop of Survival and Loss

Saros proves Housemarque’s engaging and precision gameplay mastery once again.

And if you want to learn what the best nodes are to get early on from this sprawling tree, then stick around because this guide's tailored for you. Oh, and just in case you know, this is coming from someone who Platinum'ed Returnal and set some high PR times for its endless Tower of Sisyphus mode.

Which Armor Matrix Upgrades to Prioritize

Resilience Nodes and Resilience Attribute Enhancers

It goes without saying that HP is one of the most vital stats in Saros. The game will throw everything it has at you to make you slowly falter and ultimately succumb to your death. Most importantly, Aether won't heal you as much in the beginning, which is why grabbing the Resilience nodes for Arjun in the Armor Matrix is one of the best early investments.

This will ensure you're a bit tankier and can absorb a couple more hits before going down in the fight. The Attribute Enhancers are also vital, since you'll be able to increase your Resilience stat during gameplay to further bolster Arjun's survivability.

Drive Nodes and Drive Attribute Enhancers

You can never have too much of your main currency to splurge on Roguelites, and the same goes for Saros, as Drive is one of the core attributes that determines how quickly you can charge up your Weapon Proficiency when you collect Lumenite off of enemies.

And having access to higher-level weapons means you can find better attachments on them and with more attributes, so if you're looking to maximize Arjun's weapon roster, then keeping your Drive up will be incredibly important. And honestly? I think it should be on par with your amount of Resilience stat, too.

I'd also strongly advise that you prioritize Command as the third attribute to upgrade in the Armor Matrix tree, since it affects your Shield Capacity and Power Weapon Usage. I understand that many will want to use the Shield as much as possible, but keep in mind it's better to use it to absorb the blue orbs for the free Power Weapon gauge refills.

And of course, having more Command attribute points will also allow you to use your Power Weapon more often, which can be pivotal to helping you shift the tides of battle in your favor during heated combat segments in Saros.

Proficiency Segments

The Proficiency Segments are pretty self-explanatory, as these allow you to increase the total limit of your Weapon Proficiency whenever you're beginning a new run. Which means that you can easily close the gap between getting higher proficiency weapons to optimize your damage and loadout for the runs.

If you get the Proficiency Segments nodes in the first tier, this should also help you make a beeline straight towards the Second Chance, one of the most important early-game upgrades in Saros.

These are found mostly in the latter parts of each tier on the Armor Matrix, but if you get the chance, try to spend any remaining or extra Lumenite on them, especially when you reach the mid-to-late-game stages.

Restoration Upgrade

You'll be able to first find these upgrades in the second tier of the Armor Matrix after beating Prophet, the game's first actual boss fight. The Restoration Upgrade will allow you to make your Aether drops' healing more effective, meaning more HP restored for each one you pick up out in the wild.

Furthermore, this node is always going to be surrounded by smaller ones that allow you to find Aether more frequently. Again, stats take priority first, so make sure you slowly work on this when you don't have the smaller Attribute nodes to grab.

Key Storage

And finally, once you get through to the end of the first tier in the Armor Matrix, make sure you end up getting the Key Storage node, as this will allow you to gain an extra Carcosan Key when starting out to help you unlock more chests or rooms whilst exploring the biomes.

You'll most likely end up getting this last, solely because you have the multi-attribute enhancer nodes before it that increase all three of your stats, so make sure you get this only when you feel like you have extra Lumenite lying around.