Difference between revisions of "Unique Variant"

Revision as of 22:40, 7 May 2011

A unique variant Jelly Helm with an increase to elemental defense is denoted by a star.

When crafting an item, there is a low probability that you may get a randomized unique variant, a special version of that item with an added bonus. Unique variants seems to occur approximately 10% of the time while crafting. You can not choose the unique variant you obtain; however, variants can be transferred when that item is upgraded. "Unique variant" is commonly annotated as UV.

These bonuses appear apart from, and are not affected by, other bonuses that come with the original item.

Crafting

Receiving a unique variant while crafting a Haze Bomb.

There is a small chance of creating a unique variant each time that you craft a new item, and this is the only way to obtain unique variants: pre-made items purchased from vendors will never offer a unique bonus. You may increase the probability of getting a random unique variant simply by crafting many copies of the same item.

There is also an option to transfer the unique variant when you upgrade an item. If you de-select this option, then the new item crafted will reset to a normal item with a new chance at gaining some random unique variant.

Unless an existing bonus is being explicitly transferred to a new item (as described above), each step in the upgrade process provides a new chance at a variant. For example, a unique variant can appear when crafting a cutter, or it may only appear when the cutter is upgraded into a striker. For items with long crafting chains, this may provide as many as five chances at obtaining a variant bonus per item.

When upgrading a unique variant, the recipe screen will have an option to "Transfer Unique Variants."

A transferred unique variant crafting message looks the same as the initial creation of a unique variant.

Crafting Strategy with Alchemy Paths

Due to the ability to transfer a variant through multiple steps, a relatively economical way to obtain unique variants is to mass produce the first item in a crafting chain. For example, a unique Ash of Agni (crafting cost: 300 energy) can be produced by crafting a large number of haze bombs (10 energy each) and upgrading only the haze bomb that has a unique variant.

Types of Unique Variants

A normal Haze Bomb (left) compared to a Haze Bomb with a unique variant of "Damage Bonus vs Slime: Low."

Weapons

In general, weapon bonuses focus on making the weapon faster or more effective. These bonuses are separate from bonuses that the weapon would naturally gain: thus a gun can have a unique reduction in charge time, even before the standard charge time reduction bonus appears at level 5.

These bonuses are also separate from other properties of the weapon- for example, a bomb can gain increased attack speed, despite the fact that bombs only have a charged attack.

Any weapon can have one of the following three basic possibilities; each possible bonus varies in size from low to ultra. It is presently unknown whether these bonuses are a fixed value, or a percentage of the weapon's default power.

• Attack speed increased
• Charge time reduction
• Damage bonus vs (construct, gremlin, fiend, beast, slime)- pick one monster family

For example, a Striker can have "attack speed increased: high" or "bonus damage vs beasts: moderate," but not both.

Armor

Armor unique variants focus on adding protection against damage or status effects. Unique variants can add defense against attacks that the armor would not normally protect against.

The size of these bonuses does not depend on the stats of the item, and instead are set to fixed numerical protection bonuses ranging from low (5 points) to ultra (25 points). For high-level items, base armor values can be very high- as a result, bonuses to status resistances are more noticeable than bonuses to damage protection. Possible types of unique variants are:

• Bonus damage protection from (normal, piercing, elemental, shadow): pick one damage type
• Bonus status resistance against (stun, freeze, sleep, poison, fire, cold, shock, curse)- pick one status effect

For example, a Wolver Cap can have "bonus protection vs shadow: moderate" or "bonus freeze resistance: low," but not both.

Ability Ratings

Unique variant bonus amounts are described by ability ratings, whether or not the stat is displayed by a bar. On armors, the boosts can go up to a Maximum! (6) rating, although Ultra (5) cannot be obtained. For weapons, boosts can go up to a Very High (4) rating.