Introduction
Gear honing is the method of upgrading your gear to a higher item level (ilvl) to becoming stronger. Honing your gear to higher levels will increase its stats and unlock more features/content in the game.
Accessories do NOT count towards your item level, so you will need to increase your equipment honing level to raise your ilvl and equip better accessories.
When you hone your gear, if you are successful you will increase the level by +1.
There are 3 item “tiers”, which you can think of as expansions to the game. When you reach +15 gear by Honing your gear, you will replace the old gear with new gear for the next tier.
- Tier 1 – between 302 and 600 item level (up to +15 gear)
- Tier 2 – between 802 and 1100 item level (up to +15 gear)
- Tier 3 – 1302 item level or higher
Since the endgame is in tier 3 now, there are catch up mechanics for Tier 1 and 2. Once you reach Tier 3, things change slightly because Tier 3 is split into subtiers and you will go through different gear sets.
How to Hone your Gear
To begin Honing your gear, you must first find a [Gear Honing] NPC found in all main cities. Talk to them and select the “Gear Honing” option.
In order to hone the equipment, you must increase the Honing EXP on the equipment.
- You must use the ‘Shards’ material item to increase your Honing EXP.
- Different types of shards are used depending on the tier.
- Tier 1: Harmony Shards
- Tier 2: Life Shards
- Tier 3: Honor Shards
- The amount of EXP needed depends on the level of the gear.
- You do not need to increase the honing EXP again if you fail.
- If you are successful, you will need to raise the honing EXP for the next honing level.
Now that you have increased the Honing EXP to 100%, you can attempt to hone the equipment.
- There is a base success rate for honing the equipment, this depends on the current level and tier.
- Honing can fail, and and materials will be consumed, but the gear itself will not decrease in level or be destroyed.
- If the honing fails, you will gain “Artisan Energy” on that particular piece of gear, this increases your chance of success on your next attempt
- If you fail enough times, your “Artisan Energy” can increase to give you a 100% chance of success on the next attempt.
- If the honing is successful, the honing level of the equipment increases
- The higher the tier and level, the more materials are needed for each attempt
Increasing your success chance
There are 2 items you can use to increase your base chance of success. These items are consumed when used, regardless of whether you succeed or fail.
In addition to using these items, you can research the “Roster Help” research at your stronghold.The Roster Help research reduces the amount of EXP needed to hone and increases the success rate.
This research option is only available when your highest ilvl character reaches the next tier. However, it is very useful for gearing up your alts.
How to use Gear Transfer
Gear Transfer is useful to transfer your honing level to another piece of equipment.
Transfering gear of the same tier
- For example, you may want to move your +12 Rare Tier 1 Gloves onto Legendary Tier 1 Abyssal Dungeon Gloves.
- This is easy to do and will only cost silver. In this example, the Rare Gloves will be consumed and the Legendary Gloves will become +12.
- Using Gear Transfer between the same item tier will also transfer your Honing EXP and Artisan’s Energy
Transfering gear onto a higher tier
- When you reach Tier 2, you may also wonder what to do with your old Tier 1 equipment.
- Before you start Honing your new Tier 2 gear, make sure to use Gear Transfer to gain +1 on your new gear for a small silver cost
- For example, you may have +15 Rare Tier 1 Gloves that you want to move to your new Rare Tier 2 Gloves
- Using the gear transfer will consume your old Rare Tier 1 Gloves and your new Rare Tier 2 Gloves will become +1.
To get started, select the “Gear Transfer” option. On the left side, click the gear you would like to transfer the level onto. Then on the right side, click the material gear you would like to transfer the level from.
Tier 1 Honing Success Chance
Tier 2 Honing Success Chance
Tier 3 Honing Success Chance
Lower Tier 3
Mid Tier 3