Merit

A merit is the currency awarded for achieving goals within Torn, which generally give Medals along with Honors. Merits can be earned in many ways (e.g. achieving a certain level, stat point, number of attacks, etc.) and can also be bought at the points building for 250 points. There is a limit on the amount of merits that can be bought; one merit can be bought for every 2 levels you upgrade, leading to a maximum of 50 merits that can be bought at level 100.

Merits can be reset for a cost of points. The first reset costs 500 points, increasing 250 points at a time (second reset costs 750 points, and so on) up to a cap of 5000 points per reset.

Free Merit Reset

Free merit resets work in a similar fashion as the special (free) refills. These resets can be used whenever you want, but must be used before being able to purchase one with points. Using a free merit reset will not increase the points cost as it would for purchasing one, and will remain the same as it was--these do stack.

Free merit resets can only be obtained upon completion of the Book "High School For Adults." However on special occasion a free merit reset may be awarded by game admins due to extenuating circumstances. Though, recently, free merit resets have been awarded to users every year. No one knows if this is definite or temporary.

Upgrades

Merits are used to gain bonuses, all of which are incremental (price increases by 1 merit after every upgrade) and you can upgrade them up to 10 times, at a cost of 55 merits in total.

Fighting Stats

You can spend merits to give you a passive bonus to Battle Stats (3% per upgrade). A passive bonus is constantly modifying your Fighting Stats, as they increase by a fixed percentage rate.

Note: At 10/10 upgrades stats act as if they are boosted by 30%.

Sharpness: Passive bonus to Speed

Brawn: Passive bonus to Strength

Protection: Passive bonus to Defense

Evasion: Passive bonus to Dexterity

Weapons Upgrades

These upgrades will increase your accuracy and damage done with the weapon type of your choice:

Note: Each upgrade adds 2.5% damage and 0.2 accuracy.

Heavy Artillery Mastery

Machine Gun Mastery

Rifle Mastery

SMG Mastery

Shotgun Mastery

Pistol Mastery

Club Mastery

Piercing Mastery

Slashing Mastery

Mechanical Mastery

Temporary Mastery

Note: Temporary Mastery will not increase the effect of a non-damaging stat modifier, such as a flash grenade or pepper spray. It will, however, still increase the potency of using a damaging temporary weapon, such as a grenade or a HEG.

Miscellaneous Upgrades

Nerve Bar: Increases maximum nerve bar by 1 point.

Critical Hit Rate: Increases critical hit rate by 0.5% (Base critical hit rate is approximately 12%.)

Life Points: Constantly modifies life by +5%. (As your life goes up as you level, spending your merits on this at level 1 and levelling up to 50 with them is the same as spending them on this at level 50 for the first time.)

Crime Experience: Boosts crime experience by +3%.

Education Length: Decreases education course length by 2%.

Awareness: Increases ability to find items (note: even with 10/10 awareness, it is still possible to never find anything, it is down to luck, and this just increases your luck.)

Bank Interest: Increases bank interest by 5%.

Masterful Looting: Increases money gained from mugging by 5%.

Stealth: Increases ability to do stealth attacks (unclear how much this determines the ability to "Stealth" someone.)

Hospitalizing: Increases time when hospitalizing people by 5%.

Addiction Mitigation: Reduces the negative effects of addiction by 2%

Employee Effectiveness: Increases employee effectiveness by +1

Historical Notes

You used to be able to upgrade daily Casino token gain by +10 per level. This was removed on 02/03/12 when token refills were implemented.
Merits used to be able to be spent on gaining stats, health, Yasukuni Swords, Rusty Swords, and Firewalk Virus.
Critical hit rate upgrade modified as part of this patch.
Hospitalization merit changed from previous +10 minutes to +5% as part of the Medical Revamp 2021