Are Upgrade Gears more important than other collectibles?

Yes. They feed the three upgrade trees along with Crystals. Coins buy Traveler stock; Gears make you actually survive bosses.

How do I max out the health bar?

Invest Upgrade Gears and Crystals into the health tree and pick up Clock Heart Pieces, especially in Clockmaker’s Rest.

Duskfade Upgrade Gears and Crystals: Best Upgrade Order

What Upgrade Gears Do

Upgrade Gears are the high-value pickup. Every one of them should go into a tree, not sit in the inventory “for later”. If you are dying to Tick Town bosses, you are behind on Gears, not on aim.

Crystals vs Upgrade Gears

Crystals are the other upgrade currency. You spend them alongside Gears. Do not treat Crystals as vendor trash and do not confuse them with Coins.

The Three Upgrade Trees

There are three trees. Early on, the mistake is maxing one bar and ignoring the others.

Which Tree to Invest In First

Split the first Gears. A slightly thicker health bar plus a slightly thicker Temporal Energy bar beats a huge health bar you cannot fuel. Special-attack power can wait until you have seen a few boss telegraphs.

Where to Spend Your First Upgrade Gears

One node in health.
One node in Temporal Energy.
A movement or combat node only if you already bounced off a specific encounter.

How to Max Out Your Health Bar

Clock Heart Pieces, especially around Clockmaker’s Rest, plus full investment in the health tree. The matching achievement is “Max out your health bar”.

How to Max Out Your Temporal Energy Bar

Star Core Fragments and the Temporal Energy tree. Same rule as health: pickups plus spend, not one or the other.

The Traveler’s Shop and the Shopaholic Achievement

Coins belong here. Buy objects and upgrades until the shelves are empty for Shopaholic / “Buy all of the Traveler’s objects and upgrades”. Do this after the story, when you know which regions still have Coin clusters.