II. What advantages are there to forging?
III.What are the disadvantages?
IV. How can I get by these disadvantages?
V. So what are option items?
VI. So how powerful can items get?
VII. When should I forge?
VIII. Forging Tips
I. What is forging?
Forging is the process of combining two pieces of armor or two weapons to make a stronger weapon from it. It’s really as simple as that. When you forge weapons, you take normal weapons and you turn them in to ‘Rare’ weapons, which then can be combined to make ‘Unique’ weapons which can be upgraded in to ‘Ancient’ weapons. With armor, you take normal armor and make ‘Rare’ armor from it and then you can ‘Enhance’ it to make it even stronger.
Example of Forging:
+ 
= 
Keep in mind that there are only set combinations that can be made with forging. You can’t combine any two weapons to make a new weapon. Only two specific weapons make the new weapon. Two normal weapons make a ‘Rare’, two rares make a ‘Unique’ and adding an accessory to a ‘Unique’ will allow the making of an Ancient. The same goes for armor, except putting two normal will make a ‘Rare’ armor, putting two 'Rare' together will make a 'Unique' and the ‘Enhanced’ version is the one after it.
II. What advantages are there to forging?
You would initially think that the biggest gain to forging is the extra attack power you get from combining two weapons, right? So just buying two weapons from the store and combining them will give you a powerful weapon? Actually, that is probably the smallest advantage from creating a forged weapon.
The biggest advantage is the fact that when combining two weapons, the modifiers to that weapon are pulled into the next generation of that weapon. What do I mean? If you have a sword that has +5 to strength and combine it with the corresponding sword that is +5 to strength, you will get a sword that gives you a whopping +10 strength bonus. This is the biggest advantage of forging weapons. Of course this takes a bit longer to get these weapons because weapons with modifiers can only be gained through quests and from enemies rarely. But the results are so much greater.
Technically, if you have two ‘Rare’ weapons that are made of four normal weapons with modifiers, that will give each ‘Rare’ both modifiers and making an ‘Unique’ from that will give it all four modifiers. Moving that to ‘Ancient’ will give it yet another modifier from the accessory it combined with. It is quite possible to have a weapon that is stronger than a weapon that is 10+ levels above it by careful combination.
III. What are the disadvantages?
The chance of breaking both pieces of equipment. That is the biggest disadvantage is the fact that your preciously created puzzle pieces can easily be shattered if you are unlucky. With each successive level the chances of success decreases. The chances of getting a ‘Rare’ item are about 50/50 or around that area. Those chances only decrease as you move up to ‘Unique’ (It is quite possible to try and make a Unique item 10 times and fail) and even harder to make an ‘Ancient’. In fact it’s a cold day in hell when you succeed in making an Ancient.
Untested: I am not sure, but also the higher level of the equipment might affect the forging success so while a Benezar's armor might be 90%, a Kael could easily be 10%. Info on that would be appreciated.
IV. How can I get by these disadvantages?
Preservation stones. When a preservation stone is applied, even if you fail (which you will. A lot) you will keep both of the pieces of armor or weaponry instead of them shattering in to nothingness, leaving you a sobbing mess on the floor as your preciously crafted swords crumble in to dust.
How do you get this item? From what we can tell so far, Cash Shop. It’s as easy as that. Who said they weren’t going to make money off of it?
V. So what are option items?
Option items are rare drops that can be found whenever you kill a monster. When I mean rare it’s easily a 1/1000 chance or even less. However, these items, while rare, are very good as they can be added in to a forging to increase the power of the weapon that comes out. When creating a ‘Rare’ item, you can put in one Option item and it will take on the property of that option item. Option items have things such as 5% more physical damage or things such as that. When creating a ‘Unique’ item, you have the choice of putting in two separate option items.
These can also be found from fishing or very rare quests.
VI. So how powerful can items get?
i. Weapons
Normal Weapon (1-2 Modifiers) + Normal Weapon (1-2 Modifiers) + Option Item =
Rare Weapon (2-4 Modifiers + Option Item Modifier)
Rare Weapon (2-4 Modifiers + Option Item Modifier) + Rare Weapon (2-4 Modifiers + Option Item Modifier) + Option Item + Option Item = Unique Weapon (4 - 8 Modifiers + 4 Option Item Modifiers)
Unique Weapon (4 - 8 Modifiers + 4 Option Item Modifiers) + Accessory = Ancient Weapon (4 - 8 Modifiers + 4 Option Item Modifiers + Accessory Modifier)
ii. Armor
Normal Armor (1-2 Modifiers) + Normal Armor (1-2 Modifiers) = Rare Armor (2-4 Modifiers)
Rare Armor (2-4 Modifiers) + Rare Armor (2-4 Modifiers) = 'Unique' Armor (4-8 Modifiers)
'Unique' Armor (4-8 Modifiers) + Option Stone = 'Enhanced' Unique Armor (4-8 Modifiers + Option Item Modifier)
You see why people are so obsessed with forging? The difference is huge.
VII. When should I forge?
This depends on three things. The first is how much of a difference the weapon or armor will make on you, the second is what level of forging you want to go up to and the third is how much time/money you’re willing to spend. All three go hand in hand.
i. How much difference will the armor or weapon make?
Look at the level 21 Unique Sword. It has 113 attack basically plus the modifiers from the previous combined weapons. Comparing that to all other weapons, the only thing that can really compete with it is the level 28 Normal sword and the level 29 Rare Sword, having 116 and 138 attack respectively. That is a 7-8 level difference before you can catch up to that. However is it really all that hard to get from level 21 to 28, considering the fact that you can easily level down the two weapons beforehand to reach it even faster?
Always consider how long you are going to be using said weapon before you make the investment of time and money of forging it. If you’re just going to be using it for a day or two, think about whether or not it is worth all the trouble of breaking and such. However if you have managed to forge the level 61 Unique Sword and the closest alternative is 7 levels later? Those levels will take some time and that extra damage will be of great use to you.
So as a general rule of thumb, the higher level you are, the more useful it is to forge. At earlier levels it really isn’t worth it, so when you do it, don’t get too wrapped up in it. You can if you want, but it’s really not going to make or break you.
ii. What level of forging do you want to go up to?
When forging you have to consider whether or not it’s really worth it to go past Rare to Unique and whether or not it’s really worth it to go up to Ancient. Remember that each time you go up a level, the chances of failure increase exponentially. Sometimes it’s better to stay at a Rare item if that has the stats you want. Getting greedy and going up to Unique could easily destroy both items and force you to play with a weapon that’s a lot worse than even the one you had originally. So carefully consider whether going up to the next level really makes all that much of a difference.
You should NEVER go up to the next level simply for the attack bonus. It isn’t worth it unless you are using weapons without modifiers. Only consider going up to the next level if you have two weapons with modifiers that will create an even more powerful weapon when being put together. That’s the only time it’s worth it to take the risk.
iii. How much time/money are you willing to put in to it?
Let’s face it. Forging is expensive and it takes a lot of time. It becomes time consuming gathering the correct weapons and armor, whether through hunting or questing, and then when they break, as they always will at one time or another; you have to get them again. To get a truly powerful weapon or armor you have to be willing to put in a lot of effort beforehand. This also comes hand in hand with money if you’re buying them.
Or real life money if you’re buying preservation stones. Honestly it’s all up to you on how dedicated you are. This is the most fail-safe method but as we don’t know how much they cost? Well, it’s all up to you.
VIII. Forging Tips
1. Always plan ahead. Be sure to not only look at your eventual item of creation but at what level the ‘normal’ items that you can buy in the shop or get from a monster catch up with this weapon or armor. Be sure that it is worth it. You will be putting time and effort in to this. The rule of thumb is that lower level weapons don’t tend to meet this requirement very often.
2. While weapons usually don’t meet the ‘Useful’ requirement early on, armor almost always does. The Benzear armor set easily trumps Hard Leather and if you learn anything in the game it’s that you will be glad for every armor point you can get when you manage to kill a monster with one HP left. Armor also tends to be much easier to forge so while going for weapons early is a pretty bad idea, always go for armor. It will be a god-send later on.
3. Don’t forge two items bought from a shop. The damage difference really isn’t worth the amount of money you’ll end up spending, especially at higher levels.
4. Find out where you can get the materials for that weapon or armor from monsters and kick the crud out of them. Kick the crud out of as many of them as humanly possible. Kill them even after you’ve gotten the materials. Get more of the materials. The same goes for quests. Do as many of them for that item as you can.
5. Don’t settle for the first material equipment you get. Most likely there is a better item that will pop up. Going back to Tip 1, you have to be willing to put some forethought in to this. The difference between an armor that gives +4 physical defense and one that gives +8 physical and +8 magical is pretty large and can appear in the span of only a few hours. Also having extra will help if you manage to screw up. Which you will. A lot.
6. Collect option items. They make a huge difference in the end. Even if it takes a while, find those boss creatures, with a party or not, and beat the stuffing out of them until they drop them. Always store any option items you find unless someone makes you a really good deal or they are entirely useless (+ Magical attack for a human), because they will come in handy later.
7. Be patient. You will fail. A lot. Especially if you’re going all the way to Ancient items. Just keep at it. Again, goes back to Tip 1. If this is really worth it, don’t despair. Preservation stones can help with this.
8. Take a break from time to time. It will get frustrating so don’t try to do it all in a single sitting. That’s bad for your health. Also, NEVER watch the bar rolling. Nothing is more stressful than watching it approach Success only to roll back to Fail. Just look away. It’s for your health.
9. Don’t blame YNK and for goodness sake, don’t blame God, Allah, Yahweh or any other form of diety. It’s not just you. Everyone’s having bad luck. The forging rates are to make them a goal to be aspired to. So suck it up and keep forging.
10. Level down and requirement down are everyone’s best friend. Just because the next armor you can forge is three levels ahead? It might be worth it to put in that extra money to level it down. Remember, the longer you can have the weapon or armor, the more 'worth' it is to forge it. So if you can level down it, you should consider forging it more.
11. When it’s all said and done, enjoy your weapon or armor. You sure as hell deserve it. Remember, it's a game. Enjoy your accomplishment.
