Difference between revisions of "Crafting"

Revision as of 14:54, 3 November 2012

Crafting is the process by which knights make new equipment such as weapons and armor. Crafting an item is usually much less expensive than buying the item from a vendor. Crafting also offers a chance of acquiring unique variants.

Crafting an item requires a recipe, energy, crowns, and the materials listed in the recipe. When upgrading an item from one star level to the next, crafting also requires a precursor item. The knight assembles these ingredients at an alchemy machine. Crafting is not tied to any skill, and it always succeeds.

Basic Crafting

This section outlines the ingredients (recipe, materials, crowns, and energy) and procedure for crafting an item from scratch.

A recipe can be purchased from vendors in Haven, Clockwork Terminals, mission lobbies, and the Hall of Heroes, for a predetermined price:

• ★☆☆☆☆: 250 crowns
• ★★☆☆☆: 1,000 crowns
• ★★★☆☆: 4,000 crowns
• ★★★★☆: 10,000 crowns
• ★★★★★: 25,000 crowns

A recipe can also be purchased from other knights, for example through the Auction House, but usually for a higher price. When purchasing a recipe, the player can view its details by hovering his or her mouse over the recipe. Once a recipe is purchased, it appears in the knight's Arsenal, under the Recipes heading. Before the recipe is used, it must be learned. When a recipe is learned, it vanishes from the knight's Arsenal but appears in the knight's list of learned recipes. Once a recipe is learned, it cannot be unlearned or traded to another knight, but the item may be crafted as many times as the player desires.

Each recipe lists the materials that it requires. Most materials are acquired randomly while adventuring in the Clockworks. Some materials can be bought at Brinks for tokens and at Sullivan for Krogmo Coins. Materials can also be traded between knights, and hence sold in the Auction House.

An alchemy machine.

Once the knight has learned a recipe and assembled its materials, he or she can craft the item at an alchemy machine. These machines are scattered around Haven, and can also be found in Moorcroft Manor, Emberlight, mission lobbies, and guild halls. An alchemy machine requires a payment of energy and crowns for each item that it crafts. The cost of crafting roughly doubles with each star level:

• ★☆☆☆☆: 200 crowns and 10 energy
• ★★☆☆☆: 400 crowns and 50 energy
• ★★★☆☆: 1,000 crowns and 200 energy
• ★★★★☆: 2,500 crowns and 400 energy
• ★★★★★: 5,000 crowns and 800 energy

Upgrading

Crafting is not only used to make items from scratch. It is also used to upgrade items from one star level to the next. The recipe for an upgrade lists the precursor item in addition to the materials. The precursor item must be unequipped when it is used in the upgrade crafting. The upgraded item replaces the precursor item in the knight's Arsenal.

At high star levels, the precursor item must be heated. To upgrade a 1- or 2-star item, no heat is required on the item. To upgrade a 3-star item to 4 stars, the 3-star item must have heat level 5 or higher. To upgrade a 4-star item to 5 stars, the 4-star item must have heat level 10. Beyond these minimum requirements, the heat level of the precursor item has no effect on the quality of the upgrade. The upgraded item always begins at heat level 1.

If the precursor item is bound, then the newly upgraded item will also be bound. Because an item must be equipped to be heated, and equipping an item binds it, this rule means that any newly made 4- and 5-star item is bound. The item cannot be traded to another player, unless an unbinding fee is paid at Vise. Consequently, 4- and 5-star items are extremely costly, in comparison to 3-star items.

When performing an upgrade, the knight may elect whether to keep the unique variants (UVs) on the precursor. If he or she keeps the UVs, then the upgraded item will have those UVs, with no chance of more or better UVs. If he or she discards the UVs, then the upgraded item has the same chance of acquiring up to three UVs as an item made from scratch, without a precursor.

The upgrading process preserves accessories, as long as the upgraded version has the required accessory slot. That is, if the upgraded suit or helmet can carry the attached accessory, then it does. If it cannot carry the attached accessory, then the accessory is destroyed.

It is worth noting that the cost of upgrading a 4-star item to a 5-star item is larger than the total cost of making a 4-star item. In other words, most of the cost in making a 5-star item comes in the final upgrade.

Special Alchemy Machines

Apart from regular alchemy machines described earlier, there are several special alchemy machines that function differently. These alchemy machines cannot be used to craft any item; rather, each one has a predetermined library of items that it can craft. The knight does not need the recipes for these items; the recipes are "built in" to the alchemy machine.

• The Krogmo Alchemy Machine is near the western end of the Arcade in Haven.
• The Sanctuary Alchemy Machine can be found in the Sanctuary at the end of every Shadow Lair expedition.
• The Vise Alchemy Machine stands in the Operation Crimson Hammer mission lobby.

Other Links

• List of alchemy paths