Clean the Supermarket Upgrade Tier List

1. Tier List at a Glance

Clean the Supermarket's upgrade tree is unusually clean — Tidyverse's canonical /build/upgrade-order/ reference assigns each of the 12 progression upgrades a fixed priority slot (1-12), and the optimal purchase order follows that slot order almost exactly. The S/A/B/C tier system below collapses those 12 slots into 4 meaningful purchase phases. S tier is the non-negotiable foundation. A tier is the mid-game power spike. B tier is the late-game throughput layer. C tier is the endgame quality-of-life refinement.

Category split: 4 Carry · 4 Speed · 2 Automation · 1 Utility · 1 Ability. See Section 9 for per-category breakdown.

2. Tier Analysis — Why Each Rank Matters

The tier ranking system here is throughput-driven rather than novelty-driven. The question isn't "which upgrade is the most interesting?" — every progression upgrade in Clean the Supermarket is mechanically sound on paper. The question is "which upgrade compounds the most into your currency-per-second rate?" The answer drives the S/A/B/C split.

S Tier — Baseline (Non-Negotiable)

The four S-tier upgrades — Carry Capacity Tier 1 and 2, Movement Speed Tier 1 and 2 — form the foundation that every other upgrade multiplies against. Without S-tier active, your sort loop stalls at 1-3 items per trip and 100% baseline traversal time. With S-tier active, you carry 3-4 items per trip and move ~50% faster than the unupgraded baseline. The compound effect: every subsequent upgrade purchase produces more value because the baseline it multiplies against is larger. There is no scenario in any documented playstyle where an S-tier upgrade is the wrong purchase at its priority slot.

A Tier — Mid-Game Multipliers

Carry Capacity Tier 3 (priority slot 5), Jump Height Tier 1 (slot 6), and Auto-Shelve Tier 1 (slot 8) sit in the mid-game power-spike band. Each fires its value differently. Carry Tier 3 transitions the sort loop from "walk-stack-walk-place" to "sweep-clear-walk-place" — most aisle floor piles become single-trip clears. Jump Height Tier 1 unlocks the A7 top-shelf placements that are physically unreachable without it (completion-blocker for full runs). Auto-Shelve Tier 1 eliminates manual-click placement, which is the highest-fatigue action across the run. All three are best purchased after S-tier and before B-tier.

B Tier — Late-Game Throughput

Carry Capacity Tier 4+ (slot 9), Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ (slot 10), and Movement Speed Tier 3 (slot 7) layer on top of the S+A baseline for the late-game throughput tail. Carry Tier 4+ pushes single-trip clears past the 40-slot stretched-row barrier. Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ tunes the placement speed on those long rows. Speed Tier 3 caps the speed progression tree. All three pay off, but the marginal multiplication over A-tier is smaller than the A-over-S multiplication — they're refinements, not foundations.

C Tier — Endgame Quality-of-Life

Pickup Range (slot 11) and Ability Slots (slot 12) are the final two purchases in the canonical priority order. Both are quality-of-life rather than throughput multipliers. Pickup Range saves 0.3-0.8 seconds per pickup (compounds across hundreds of pickups in a run). Ability Slots enables simultaneous active abilities (Auto-Shelve + Pickup Range both fire at once instead of one at a time). Neither is essential for completion, but speed-run loadouts that target sub-30-minute 100% completion lean on both.

3. Which Upgrade Should You Buy First?

If your currency budget for the first 5 minutes of a run can only afford one upgrade, the answer is unambiguous. Carry Capacity Tier 1. There is no playstyle in any documented loadout where another upgrade out-prioritizes Tier 1 carry as a first purchase. The reason is the multiplicative-baseline argument from Section 2 — every subsequent upgrade depends on the carry baseline being active.

Step 1 — Carry Capacity Tier 1 (Priority slot 1)

See /wiki/upgrades/carry-capacity-tier-1. Doubles per-trip item capacity from 1 to 2. That single doubling cascades into your currency-per-second rate, your travel-time-to-shelving-time ratio, and the wall-clock to clear your first aisle. The currency cost is the lowest in the upgrade tree and the ROI is the highest. Buy immediately.

Step 2 — Movement Speed Tier 1 (Priority slot 2)

See /wiki/upgrades/movement-speed-tier-1. Cuts traversal time roughly 25-30% across the perimeter loop (A1-A4). Pairs multiplicatively with Carry Tier 1 — the carry+speed combination is the single foundational pair of upgrades that every veteran loadout starts with. Buy second, immediately after Carry Tier 1.

Step 3 — Carry Capacity Tier 2 (Priority slot 3)

See /wiki/upgrades/carry-capacity-tier-2. Doubles per-trip capacity again to 3-4 items. Transitions the sort loop into batch mode. By this point you should be earning enough currency from cleared aisles that the Tier 2 purchase pays back inside 2-3 minutes. Buy third.

Step 4 — Movement Speed Tier 2 (Priority slot 4)

See /wiki/upgrades/movement-speed-tier-2. Speed Tier 2 unlocks the cross-passage shortcut tactical pattern — the speed-running through the central passage that lets you chain non-adjacent aisles. Mandatory before the mid-store aisles (A5-A8) start stretching aggressively. Buy fourth, completing the S-tier baseline.

4. 🟢 S Tier — Baseline (4 upgrades)

All 4S-tier upgrades share a defining trait: they form the multiplicative baseline every other upgrade compounds against. Skipping any S-tier upgrade degrades every subsequent purchase decision. The four entries here — Carry Capacity Tier 1 + 2, Movement Speed Tier 1 + 2 — are the canonical "always buy in this order" foundation. Total cost across all four sits well within the first 10 minutes of any run's currency accumulation.

• Carry Capacity Tier 1

  Priority 1 upgrade — Double trips per aisle immediately

  Priority slot 1

• Movement Speed Tier 1

  Priority 2 upgrade — Cut travel time between departments

  Priority slot 2

• Carry Capacity Tier 2

  Priority 3 upgrade — Batch three to four items per run

  Priority slot 3

• Movement Speed Tier 2

  Priority 4 upgrade — Necessary before center-store aisles expand

  Priority slot 4

Top S-Tier Synergies

Carry Tier 1 + Speed Tier 1 — the foundational pair. More items per trip × less travel time per trip = compound throughput. This pair alone delivers roughly 3-4× the currency-per-second rate of the unupgraded baseline. Most veteran runs report the carry-speed pair pays back its combined currency cost inside the first cleared aisle.

Carry Tier 2 + Speed Tier 2— the second-pair compound. By the time both Tier 2 upgrades are active, you're batching 3-4 items per trip and moving at ~50% above baseline. The mid-store aisles (A5-A8) become tractable. This pair is the prerequisite for Auto-Shelve Tier 1 in the canonical priority order, so completing it unlocks the next tier of progression.

Carry Tier 1 + Carry Tier 2 — the carry-stack pattern. Some loadouts front-load both carry tiers before Speed Tier 1, particularly in solo perimeter-only runs where traversal distance is short. Not the canonical pattern but documented as viable for restricted-route playstyles.

Why No Other Upgrade Is S Tier

Auto-Shelve Tier 1, Jump Height Tier 1, and Carry Capacity Tier 3 are all excellent A-tier purchases but none of them are baseline. Each depends on the carry+speed Tier 1-2 cluster being active first. Buying Auto-Shelve Tier 1 with only Carry Tier 1 + Speed Tier 1 active produces marginal value because the per-trip volume isn't high enough to exploit the placement automation. The S-tier ceiling is structural, not subjective.

5. 🔵 A Tier — Mid-Game Multipliers (3 upgrades)

A-tier upgrades fire their full value once the S-tier baseline is active. Each of the 3 entries — Carry Capacity Tier 3, Jump Height Tier 1, Auto-Shelve Tier 1 — produces a distinct kind of leverage. Carry Tier 3 amplifies batch throughput. Jump Height unlocks structurally-blocked placements. Auto-Shelve cuts placement-action fatigue. Veteran completion runs hit all three before the 50% completion milestone.

• Carry Capacity Tier 3

  Priority 5 upgrade — Supports snacks and beverage batching

  Priority slot 5

• Jump Height Tier 1

  Priority 6 upgrade — Unlock top-shelf placement in hygiene aisles

  Priority slot 6

• Auto-Shelve Tier 1

  Priority 8 upgrade — Assists shelf placement when standing at correct row

  Priority slot 8

Carry Capacity Tier 3 — The Sweep-Run Inflection

See /wiki/upgrades/carry-capacity-tier-3. Pushes per-trip capacity to 5-6 items. The mental model shifts from "how many trips do I need" to "which aisle do I commit to next." Most aisle floor piles become single-trip clears. Specifically pairs with A5 (Drinks), A6 (Snacks), and A10 (Pantry) where item silhouettes batch well at high volume.

Jump Height Tier 1 — The A7 Unlock

See /wiki/upgrades/jump-height-tier-1. The first "unlock"-style upgrade rather than a throughput multiplier. Without it, you can collect every A7 (Health & Beauty) floor pile item but you physically cannot complete the top-tier row placements once stretching shelves push rows vertically. A7 maxes at ~60-70% completion regardless of how many items you sort. Mandatory for completionists chasing the 100% badge.

Auto-Shelve Tier 1 — The Click-Fatigue Eliminator

See /wiki/upgrades/auto-shelve-tier-1. Item snaps into the correct slot when you're standing at the correct row. Eliminates per-placement click action — the highest-fatigue action across the run. Highest value in A4 (Frozen) and A6 (Snacks) where mis-sort risk from visually similar packaging is highest. Buy after the Carry Tier 2 + Speed Tier 2 prerequisite is satisfied.

6. 🟡 B Tier — Late-Game Throughput (3 upgrades)

B-tier sits in the "real cost, real value, not foundational" band. All 3entries — Carry Capacity Tier 4+, Movement Speed Tier 3, Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ — produce meaningful late-game gains, but the marginal multiplication over A-tier is smaller than the A-over-S multiplication. They're refinements, not transformations. For completion-focused runs, all three are worth buying; for speed-runs, all three are mandatory.

• Movement Speed Tier 3

  Priority 7 upgrade — Prepares for dairy and frozen back-wall runs

  Priority slot 7

• Carry Capacity Tier 4+

  Priority 9 upgrade — Maximizes stacking for extended aisles

  Priority slot 9

• Auto-Shelve Tier 2+

  Priority 10 upgrade — Improves placement speed on 40+ slot aisles

  Priority slot 10

Carry Capacity Tier 4+ is the highest-impact B-tier purchase. Pushes single-trip clears past the 40-slot stretched-row barrier that emerges in late-game A5/A6/A10. Without Tier 4+, the late-game stretching shelves cap your throughput at the Tier 3 ceiling. With Tier 4+ active, even the most aggressive stretching becomes a single-trip clear. See /wiki/upgrades/carry-capacity-tier-4.

Movement Speed Tier 3 caps the speed progression tree. Biggest impact on A3 (Dairy) and A9 (Meat) — the back-wall corridor traversals. With Tier 3 active, the cold corridor and back-wall meat traversals become chain-able by a single solo sorter. Without Tier 3, those chains split across multiple players in co-op runs. See /wiki/upgrades/movement-speed-tier-3.

Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ refines the automation behavior unlocked by Tier 1. Where Tier 1 eliminates the per-slot click action, Tier 2+ specifically reduces the time-per-placement once the click is automatic. Biggest gain in late-game stretched rows (40+ slots). See /wiki/upgrades/auto-shelve-tier-2.

7. ⚪ C Tier — Endgame Quality-of-Life (2 upgrades)

C-tier is endgame refinement. Both entries are quality-of-life rather than throughput-multiplier upgrades. Pickup Range and Ability Slots both pay off, but the per-purchase value is smaller than B-tier and the prerequisite chain pushes them to the very end of the canonical priority order.

• Pickup Range

  Priority 11 upgrade — Quality-of-life enhancement

  Priority slot 11

• Ability Slots

  Priority 12 upgrade — Enables multiple simultaneous active upgrades

  Priority slot 12

Pickup Range extends the radius at which you interact with floor-pile items. Saves 0.3-0.8 seconds per pickup, which compounds across the hundreds of pickups in a run. Biggest value in A9 (Meat) and A4 (Frozen) where refrigerated case layouts offset items from the standard walking path. See /wiki/upgrades/pickup-range.

Ability Slots enables multiple simultaneous active abilities. Without it, you can only have one active ability running at a time. With Ability Slots, Auto-Shelve + Pickup Range fire simultaneously, creating a compound late-game power state that no other configuration matches. The slot 12 placement reflects that without other ability-tier upgrades unlocked first, Ability Slots has nothing to stack. See /wiki/upgrades/ability-slots.

8. Why This Ranking? (Meta Analysis)

The S/A/B/C distribution above looks lopsided — 4 S, 3 A, 3 B, 2 C — but this matches how the upgrade tree actually plays. Tidyverse designed the canonical priority order to front-load multiplicative baseline upgrades (S tier), follow with category-distinct multipliers (A tier), layer on throughput refinements (B tier), and cap with quality-of-life (C tier). The structural shape of the upgrade tree maps cleanly onto the S/A/B/C bands.

Why Carry and Speed Dominate S Tier

The carry-and-speed category split isn't arbitrary — these two attributes are the only ones that compound multiplicatively with every other progression action. More items per trip × faster traversal = compound throughput across every aisle, every cycle, every shift. Jump Height, Auto-Shelve, and Pickup Range each affect a specific subset of actions (top-shelf placements, click-fatigue elimination, pickup radius respectively). Only Carry and Speed touch the whole sort loop.

Patch Stability

The canonical /build/upgrade-order/ priority slots have been stable since the Tidyverse launch on 2026-06-16. No documented post-launch patch through 2026-06-29 has rebalanced effects, prerequisites, or slot assignments. Any future Tidyverse patch that affects priority slots, effect mechanics, or prerequisite chains will be documented in each upgrade's Patch History section and a top-of-page changelog note here. Currency costs may shift across patches without affecting the priority order, since the relative ROI of each upgrade is structural rather than cost-dependent.

Solo vs Co-op Loadout Differences

Solo runs lean harder on Speed Tier 1-2 because traversal time compounds across the entire shift on a single player. Co-op runs accelerate stretching shelves through shared progress, which pushes Carry Tier 3 and Auto-Shelve Tier 1 slightly earlier in the canonical cadence. The S/A/B/C boundaries don't shift, but the within-tier purchase order tilts: solo runs follow the literal slot order (1, 2, 3, 4, ...), co-op runs may reorder slots 3-8 based on which player is feeling the stretching-shelves pressure first. The class system in Roblox Clean the Supermarket doesn't differentiate upgrade access — every player has the same /build/upgrade-order/ tree.

Currency Budgeting Across Tiers

Each tier has its own currency-cost profile. S-tier purchases pay back inside 2-3 minutes of activation. A-tier purchases pay back inside 5-7 minutes. B-tier purchases pay back inside 8-12 minutes. C-tier purchases pay back across the entire late-game tail (15-25 minutes). If your run targets sub-30-minute completion, focus on S+A tiers only and skip C entirely. If your run targets 100% completion regardless of time, the full S+A+B+C order is the optimal path.

9. Upgrade Tier List by Category

S/A/B/C severity tier and upgrade category (carry/speed/automation/utility/ability) are independent axes. The category split is useful when you're planning your currency spend within a single play session — e.g., "I want to max carry first, then speed, then automation." Here's how the 12 upgrades split by category.

🎒 Carry Capacity (4 upgrades)

The four carry tiers — Tier 1 (slot 1), Tier 2 (slot 3), Tier 3 (slot 5), Tier 4+ (slot 9). Each tier doubles the previous tier's per-trip capacity. Carry is the single most-purchased category in any veteran loadout because of its compound effect with Speed. Tier 1 + 2 are S-tier baseline. Tier 3 is A-tier mid-game power spike. Tier 4+ is B-tier late-game throughput. There is no "skippable" carry tier in any documented playstyle.

🏃 Movement Speed (3 upgrades + Jump Height)

Movement Speed Tier 1 (slot 2), Tier 2 (slot 4), Tier 3 (slot 7). Jump Height Tier 1 (slot 6) also lives in the broader "movement" band even though it's formally a separate category. Speed Tier 1 + 2 are S-tier baseline. Speed Tier 3 is B-tier late-game cap. Jump Height Tier 1 is A-tier completion-unlock for A7. The full speed-category compound (Tier 1 + 2 + 3) delivers ~80% faster traversal than the unupgraded baseline.

🤖 Automation (2 upgrades)

Auto-Shelve Tier 1 (slot 8) and Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ (slot 10). Tier 1 is A-tier — eliminates the per-placement click action and dramatically reduces mis-sort risk in A4 (Frozen) and A6 (Snacks). Tier 2+ is B-tier — tunes the placement speed on stretched rows. Both depend on the carry+speed baseline being active first; buying either before Carry Tier 2 + Speed Tier 2 wastes their multiplicative potential.

⚙️ Utility (1 upgrade)

Pickup Range (slot 11) is the only utility-category upgrade in the canonical tree. C-tier endgame quality-of-life. Saves 0.3-0.8 seconds per pickup, compounds across hundreds of pickups in a run. Highest value in A9 (Meat) and A4 (Frozen) refrigerated layouts. Optional for completion runs, mandatory for speed-runs.

✨ Ability (1 upgrade)

Ability Slots (slot 12) is the only ability-category upgrade. C-tier endgame. Enables multiple simultaneous active abilities. Pays off only after other ability-tier upgrades are active (Auto-Shelve Tier 2+, Pickup Range). The last purchase in the canonical priority order — no scenario where Ability Slots out-prioritizes any other upgrade.

10. Recommended Loadouts by Run Type

Not every run targets 100% completion. Sometimes you're grinding a single aisle for currency, sometimes you're speed-running the 25% milestone, sometimes you're running solo on PC and sometimes you're co-op with 4 friends. Here are the recommended upgrade loadouts for each common run type.

Speed Completion (sub-30 minute 100%)

Buy S-tier completely (slots 1-4). Then A-tier completely (slots 5, 6, 8). Then B-tier completely (slots 7, 9, 10). Skip C-tier — Pickup Range and Ability Slots' per-second savings don't pay back in a sub-30 window. The S+A+B path is 10 upgrades total; speed-runs purchase all 10 before the 50% completion milestone.

Full 100% Completion (no time pressure)

Buy everything in canonical priority order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. All 12 upgrades. C-tier purchases pay off over the long tail as you grind through the 75-99% completion percentage. This is the documented "veteran completion" loadout.

Casual / 25% Milestone Only

Buy S-tier only (slots 1-4). Stop. The 25% completion milestone is achievable with just the carry+speed baseline; A-tier and beyond are over-investment for short runs. If you're returning to the game casually, S-tier-only is the documented minimum-viable loadout.

Solo Perimeter-Only (A1, A2, A3 focus)

Buy S-tier completely (slots 1-4). Add Carry Tier 3 (slot 5) and skip Jump Height Tier 1 (A7 is the center-store target, not perimeter). Skip Auto-Shelve entirely (perimeter mis-sort risk is low). Add Speed Tier 3 (slot 7) for the back-wall A3 → A9 traversal. This is the 6-upgrade "perimeter speed" loadout for currency grinding without full completion ambition.

Co-op 4-Player Full Completion

All 4 players buy S-tier in canonical order. After S-tier, the 4-player team should rotate Auto-Shelve Tier 1 (slot 8) earlier than canonical priority because shared stretching-shelf progress accelerates the mid-store difficulty curve. Two players should still grab Jump Height Tier 1 for A7 coverage; the other two can defer it. Co-op accelerates the priority order by 1-2 slot positions for slots 5-8 in the canonical tree.

11. Common Loadout Mistakes

Several upgrade-order mistakes appear repeatedly in community discussion threads and in the documented "why my run stalled" analysis posts. Each mistake follows the same pattern: a player buys an upgrade that's individually powerful but doesn't multiply against their current baseline. The result is wasted currency and a stalled progression curve. Avoid these patterns.

Mistake 1 — Buying Auto-Shelve Before Carry Tier 2

The single most common loadout mistake. Auto-Shelve Tier 1 is an A-tier upgrade with high perceived value (eliminates the per-placement click action) and players reach for it early to reduce hand fatigue. The problem is multiplicative: Auto-Shelve's value scales with the number of items you're placing per trip. Buying it while you're still carrying 1-2 items per trip wastes ~70% of the upgrade's potential. The fix: wait until Carry Tier 2 minimum, ideally Carry Tier 3, before purchasing Auto-Shelve. The per-trip volume should be 3-4+ items before the automation pays back its currency cost.

Mistake 2 — Buying Jump Height Tier 1 for Non-A7 Reasons

Jump Height Tier 1 has the most misunderstood value proposition in the upgrade tree. Players buy it expecting a general mobility boost — "jumping over stuff is faster than walking around stuff." In practice, the jump animation has its own duration, and the speed gain over walking around an obstacle is marginal except for very specific A7 (Health & Beauty) top-shelf placements. If your run doesn't target A7 completion, Jump Height Tier 1 is over-investment. The fix: only buy Jump Height Tier 1 if you're committed to clearing A7 to 100% in this run.

Mistake 3 — Skipping Speed Tier 1 for Carry Tier 2

The canonical priority order alternates carry-speed-carry-speed for slots 1-4. Some players try to front-load both carry tiers, buying Carry Tier 1 then immediately Carry Tier 2, deferring Speed Tier 1 to slot 4. This is documented as viable only in solo perimeter-only runs (A1, A2, A3 focus) where traversal distance is short. For any run that includes mid-store aisles (A5-A8), skipping Speed Tier 1 delays mid-game momentum by 15-20% wall-clock. The fix: follow the canonical 1-2-3-4 order unless your run is explicitly perimeter-restricted.

Mistake 4 — Hoarding Currency for B-Tier Without Finishing S+A

Some players see the late-game B-tier upgrades (Carry Tier 4+, Auto-Shelve Tier 2+) and try to save currency for them by skipping intermediate purchases. This is the inverse of Mistake 1 and equally wrong. B-tier upgrades only fire their full value once the S+A baseline is active — buying Carry Tier 4+ before Carry Tier 3 produces less value than the simpler Tier 3 purchase because the prerequisite chain is enforced. The fix: spend currency the moment a slot becomes affordable in the canonical order. Hoarding is documented as the second-biggest currency-leak across community-shared run analyses.

Mistake 5 — Buying Ability Slots Without Other Ability-Tier Upgrades

Ability Slots is the slot-12 endgame upgrade that enables simultaneous active abilities. Some players buy it early as a hedge — "I'll have it ready when I get more abilities." This wastes currency because Ability Slots has zero value without other ability-tier upgrades to stack. Auto-Shelve Tier 1+2+ and Pickup Range are the canonical "stackable" upgrades; without owning at least two of those three, Ability Slots is dead currency. The fix: buy Ability Slots only after owning at least two ability-stackable upgrades.

12. Currency Math — How Many Items per Upgrade

The currency system in Clean the Supermarket rewards a flat amount per correctly-shelved item. The math for each upgrade is therefore expressible as "items shelved before this upgrade pays back its cost." Tidyverse hasn't published exact currency-per-item or upgrade-cost values, so the numbers below are veteran-validated estimates from community-shared run logs.

S-Tier Payback Window

Carry Capacity Tier 1 pays back inside ~15-20 items shelved at the unupgraded baseline. Since A1 (Fresh Produce) alone respawns ~40 items per cycle, Tier 1 pays back inside the first cycle. Movement Speed Tier 1 has a slightly longer payback (~25-30 items) because its value materializes through travel-time savings rather than direct items-per-trip. Carry Tier 2 pays back in ~30 items because the doubled capacity halves trip count, compounding earnings. Speed Tier 2 pays back in ~40 items.

A-Tier Payback Window

Carry Tier 3 pays back in ~50-70 items. Jump Height Tier 1 has an unusual payback profile — it doesn't accelerate currency-per-second; it unlocks A7 top-shelf placements that would otherwise be inaccessible. Treat its currency cost as an "unlock fee" rather than a payback investment. Auto-Shelve Tier 1 pays back in ~80-100 items if you're carrying Carry Tier 2 or higher (less if you bought it before Tier 2, which is Mistake 1 above).

B-Tier Payback Window

Carry Tier 4+ pays back in ~120-150 items. Speed Tier 3 pays back in ~100-130 items. Auto-Shelve Tier 2+ pays back in ~140-180 items. All three B-tier upgrades have longer payback windows than S+A, which is expected — they're late-game refinements layering on the existing baseline rather than baseline upgrades themselves.

C-Tier Payback Window

Pickup Range pays back over ~200-250 items via the cumulative per-pickup time savings (0.3-0.8 seconds per pickup × the number of pickups in the late-game tail). Ability Slots pays back over ~300+ items because the compound effect requires multiple stackable ability upgrades to be active. Neither C-tier upgrade pays back inside a typical 25%-milestone run; both target full-completion or speed-run loadouts.

Run-Level Currency Accumulation

A full 100% completion run shelves the 1000+ in-game items across multiple cycles (the supermarket cycles through chaos states, so the same item respawns multiple times before final completion). The cumulative items-shelved count across a full run is in the 1,500-3,000 range depending on how many respawn cycles you trigger. This is more than enough currency for all 12 upgrades with significant surplus. There is no "currency starvation" scenario in any documented playstyle — every upgrade in the canonical priority order is affordable at its priority slot.