Gear colors: what is what?
| Color | In-game grade | Item level | Enhance up to | Manastone slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| white | Common | 1–20 | +5 | 1 |
| green | Rare | 9–35 | +5 | 2 |
| blue | Epic | 23–45 | +10 | 3 |
| gold | Unique | 36–102 | +15 (from item level 54, a separate stage adds +1 to +5 on top) | 4 |
Source: MetaBot (global client data). There is nothing above gold (Unique) at the start of season 1. Gold gear from item level 54 up requires level 45.
Item level is your gear's power number. Every enhancement level adds +1 to it (Game8, Marcus), which is why enhancing the right pieces is the easiest way into better dungeons. The plan by threshold: What to do after level 45.
Before 45: gear is disposable
While leveling, you equip whatever is better and extract the old piece. No guide found a piece from before ~level 40 worth keeping (space4games). All you need is:
- your weapon (and guard, if you use one) a few levels up, nothing crazy;
- amulet and belt to +10 and Morph (below), because they stay for a long time;
- Daevanion crystals spent right away: Daevanion board guide.
From ~40 you start keeping pieces that you will later move with Gear Transfer (space4games).
Enhancing (+10, +15, +20)
You enhance in the Growth/Enhance window with Enhance Stones and Kinah. The game shows the success chance before each attempt.
| Level | Chance | On failure |
|---|---|---|
| +1 to +10 | 100% | no failure |
| +10 → +11 | 65% | you lose the stones and Kinah, the item stays at +10 |
| +11 → +12 | 50% | same |
| +12 → +13 | 35% | same |
| +13 → +14 | 25% | same |
| +14 → +15 | 20% | same |
| past +15 | 66% → 20% | a separate stage (Grobs: Breakthrough, MetaBot: Amplified Enhancement) with a new material. How many levels depends on item level: 54–62 only +1, 70–78 up to +3, 86 and up to +5 (MetaBot) |
Rates and pity: MetaBot (global client). Each failure adds +5% to the next attempt at that level. Grobs and couga54 also confirm 100% up to +10 and that the item never breaks.
What it costs: on gold gear at item level 102, a single +10 → +11 attempt is 360,000 Kinah and 9,310 stones, and the whole road from +0 to +15 averages ~15M Kinah and ~190,000 stones (MetaBot). So:
- +10 and stop on anything you will not keep for weeks (couga54).
- Only push past +10 on your final pieces.
Clash Runes are the exception. A failed enhance drops the rune's level (MetaBot), and according to Aragon and Game8 a rune can even be destroyed. Never enhance the rune you are wearing. Enhance a spare, equip it, and only then try the old one.
What to enhance first?
- Amulet and belt to +10, then Morph (section below). Five sources agree: Aragon, Game8, space4games, couga54, EPIC PLK.
- Gold weapon, guard and bracelets to +10. You will not replace them soon, at least not before the raid (Marcus, Aragon, Game8).
- Gold dungeon armor (Draupnir, then Vakron) to +10. Blue pieces +5 at most (couga54).
- Everything else waits.
Substance Morph for amulet and belt
Better amulets and belts do not drop from dungeons. You upgrade their color yourself:
- Enhance to +10 (every level is 100%; you need a scroll + stones + Kinah).
- Unequip the item (Morph does not work on equipped gear).
- Open Substance Morph in your Cube and turn it into the next color. It is 100%, and the item goes back to +0.
- Repeat: green → blue → gold. Gold amulet and belt are item level 65.
Sources: space4games, MetaBot, EPIC PLK, Marcus. Scrolls: amulet scrolls come from the Abyss Monolith (Empyrean Trace feathers), belt scrolls from Strongholds (2 per Stronghold, the only source according to couga54). The Monolith level you need is reported differently (Aragon 21, space4games 30).
After the last Morph, stop enhancing them. Stone costs climb very fast (Aragon).
Substance Morph is also used for other things: crafting Odyle Energy (Odyle Energy guide), wings from feathers, the Vakron guard from vouchers.
Gear Transfer: moving enhancement to new gear
Gear Transfer moves progress from an old piece to a new one of the same type. So when you swap Vakron armor for Ferocious Horn, you do not enhance from zero (couga54).
| What carries over | According to |
|---|---|
| enhancement level | yes (Grobs, space4games, Game8) |
| soul binding | yes (Grobs, space4games, Game8) |
| Breakthrough (+16…+20) | sources disagree: Game8 yes, Grobs no |
| Manastones, Theostones, Potential | lost (Grobs, space4games) |
Transfer costs Transfer Stones, which are expensive. It pays off on heavily enhanced pieces, not at +3 (Game8). You cannot transfer from a higher grade to a lower one (MetaBot). According to the client text (MetaBot), only soul-bound gear can be used as transfer material. No other source mentions this, so check the Transfer window.
Old gear: extract or keep?
Item Extraction (in your Cube) breaks an item down. Before you confirm, you see the rewards and the cost (space4games). You get:
- Enhance Stones. Grobs: you get all of them back as long as the item never went past +10 (only he says this);
- a skin for your Wardrobe, kept forever. The skin collection gives stats (Game8, space4games).
What you lose: Manastones and Theostones (red warning before extraction, space4games).
When NOT to extract:
- a piece you will move with Gear Transfer;
- gold pieces with good soul binding (couga54);
- weaker gold pieces can be kept as material for soul binding (Sync) on other pieces (Game8).
Other options: hand the item in for Supply Requests (scroll icon in the tooltip; rewards AP and stones) or sell it if it is tradeable (Game8).
Manastones and Theostones
Manastones are stones with random stats for gear slots (1 slot on white, 4 on gold). On jewelry (necklace, earrings, rings, bracelets) the same thing is called Soulstones, and the amulet and belt have no slots (MetaBot). An engrave rolls the stats in the slots. According to the client text (MetaBot), you can tick which slots to reroll and keep the rest. Before launch, Grobs said all 4 always reroll. Check the window before you click.
How to use them early:
- Cheapest Manastones on everything, one click per piece. A grey line is +1 item level, a green one +2 (Marcus).
- Keep good (Superior) ones for gold pieces you will keep (MetaBot, Grobs). They are lost when you change gear.
Theostones are an "on-hit chance" effect, weapon only. In PvE they do almost nothing (Grobs).
Soul binding: what it is and when
Soul binding adds extra random lines to gold gear (MetaBot). These can be normal stats, but also skill levels: active skills only on weapons and rings, passives on everything else (Grobs). It is one of the routes to skill levels 16 and 20.
- Sync changes one line and consumes another item as material.
- Reset rerolls all lines.
- The binding value goes up step by step, and so does the cost: step 10 is 632,000 Kinah and 102 Soul Codex (MetaBot).
- A bound item can no longer be sold or traded (space4games).
For a beginner: do not bind anything before 45, and do not bind gear from your first dungeons. Get a piece you will keep first (Grobs).
Common mistakes
- Enhancing every piece to +10 while leveling. The stones go into something you replace two days later.
- Trying to Morph an equipped amulet (unequip it first).
- Good Manastones in Draupnir gear.
- Extracting a gold piece that rolled skill levels.
- Enhancing the rune you are wearing.
The best gear for your class (weapon, stats per slot) is in the Gear tab of the class guide, e.g. Templar or Gladiator.