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 300 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 with each subsequent reset costing an additional 250 points (ie 750 for the second, 1000 for the third). This continues 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 reset can be obtained upon completion of the Book : High School For Adults.

Free merit resets have been awarded to all users every year since 2018 as part of seasonal Christmas gift. But since 2025 free merit resets given out on Christmas Day will no longer stack with any other accumulated free merit resets. To receive one for free you have to use up any existing resets.

Sometimes on special occasion a free merit reset may be awarded by game admins due to extenuating circumstances.

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 1% damage and 0.2 accuracy. If fully upgraded to 10 merit’s for that weapon type you’ll have an increase of 10% damage and 2.0 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

Temporary Mastery will increase the potency and accuracy of the following a damaging temporary weapons which include: Molotov Cocktail, Grenade, Stick Grenade, HEG, Brick, Claymore Mine, Fireworks, Nail Bomb, Ninja Stars, Snowball, Throwing Knife, Trout. For more details, see the full list of damaging temporary weapons.

Temporary Mastery will not increase the effect of a non-damaging temporary weapons, such as a Flash Grenade, Pepper Spray, Party Popper, Needles or other similar. For more details, see the full list of non-damaging temporary weapons.

Miscellaneous Upgrades

Nerve Bar: Increases maximum nerve bar by 1 point per upgrade.

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

Life Points: Constantly modifies maximum life by +5% per upgrade. (As your life goes up as you level, spending your merits on this at level 1 and leveling up to 50 with them is the same as spending them on this at level 50 for the first time. If your total max health lowers because of faction tree changes, armor changes, or removing points from life points - your health will stay at the amount it was until you lose it normally.)

(Crimes 1.0) Crime Experience: Boosts crime experience by +3% per upgrade.

(Crimes 2.0) Crime Progression: Increases crime experience and skill gain by 1% per upgrade..

Education Length: This upgrade will decrease the amount of time you have to wait to complete an education course by 2% per upgrade. This upgrade will start working on the next education course you start. (This stacks with other benefits that lower education time: 10% from WSU stock, 10% from getting to the top of the education job. If a player has the 3 combined it’s 40% reduced education time total per course taken.)

Awareness: This upgrade will increase the amount of items you can find in the city by 20% per upgrade, however it will not necessarily increase their quality. (note: even with 10/10 awareness, it is still possible that some days you don't find anything.)

Bank Interest: Increases bank interest by 5% per upgrade. This upgrade will start working on your next investment.

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

Stealth: This upgrade will make you more likely to stay stealthed when beating an opponent by increasing your stealth level by +0.2 per upgrade. When you're stealthed, your name will be listed as 'Someone' so your enemy will not know who hit them (unclear how much this determines the ability to "Stealth" someone, this does stack with weapon mods that increase stealth.)

Hospitalizing: Increases time when hospitalizing people by 5% per upgrade.

Addiction Mitigation: This upgrade will reduce the negative effects that addiction causes by 2% per upgrade. Addiction will have less of an impact on your battle stats, employee effectiveness, and education / gym access.

Employee Effectiveness: Increases employee effectiveness by +1 per upgrade. (has no effect if you are the Company Director)

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