Beyond the Basics of Blacksmithing

So we've got the info on the components and the 'recipes' for making the gear, but there are a couple of ways in which the Blacksmithing process can be used to further the potential of the crafting process overall. Hopefully something here may be of use! Mastercrafted Gear On reaching 10 points in the Blacksmithing Skill, all of the weapons and armour you make from then on become 'Mastercrafted'. This applies a set bonus, specific to the type of gear you make: Weapons gain a +% damage bonus (Max +7%) Head armour gains a +% experience bonus (Max +6%) Chest armour/Robes gain a +% physical resistance bonus (Max +16%) Leg armour gains a +% bleeding resistance (Max +16%) Hand armour gains a +% mana bonus (Max +16%) Foot armour gains a +% health bonus (Max +16%) Shields gain a +% melee, range & magic block efficacy bonus (Max +16%) The exact bonus value is determined by the 'tier' of the weapon/armour (Azurite, Sylvanite, Prismere etc). A Mastercrafted Iron/Birch weapon gains a +3% damage bonus, +4% for Steel/Elm, right up to the +7% for Prismere/Ebony.

Manufacture of Components through Gems Now it gets interesting! xD When you salvage something, aside from the gear 'recipes', what determines the type of components you receive are the bonuses on the gear - Lightning & Shocking damage on a Greatsword can result in salvaging a Charged Hilt, +Health on a Helm can result in salvaging Hardened Rivets/Bindings etc. Using a Gem in the Blacksmithing process adds another such bonus which then can often be salvaged. What is special here however is that the bonuses provided from Gems made from Pristine Shards are of a very high tier. Therefore, when salvaging gear that was crafted using such Gems, the component salvaged corresponding to the Gem bonus may be of up to 'Flawless' (and therefore highest) quality. To demonstrate this with an example: Say you wanted to make a fiery sword. Naturally you want this sword to be as good as it can possibly be. The component required to add Fire & Burning damage to a Sword is a 'Flamed Hilt' with the most powerful version being the Flawless Flamed Hilt (30 Fire Damage, 20 Burning Damage). You however only have a 'Improved Flamed Hilt' which just doesn't cut it and therefore need a way to acquire the Flawless version. The Gem of Incineration adds 30 Fire Damage and 20 Burning Damage to whatever weapon it's crafted/socketed into (now where have we seen those damage amounts before!?). Therefore, you can use this to 'create' your Flawless Flamed Hilt. Create the Gem. A Pristine Fire Shard and a Pristine Magic Shard are required for this, in the 'Weapon Gem' category. Lower quality shards will result in a lower bonus on the Gem so only 'Pristines' will be used here else it defeats the object of making 'the best'. Now that you have your Gem, you need to craft it into a 'transfer weapon' - all this is, is a means to 'transform' the Gem bonus into a component. This weapon therefore doesn't need to be good. Since you're wanting a flamed hilt, any weapon that uses a hilt can be used here (Longsword, Greatsword, Daggers). Going with a Longsword, it requires a 'blade' component and a hilt to craft, so select weak components that you don't care about losing. Skip the Rivets and Grips (support components) since they're not necessary here, and finally add your Gem of Incineration. Confirm! You now have a Longsword with 30 Fire and 20 Burning damage that is otherwise weak. SAVE THE GAME NOW. Next salvage the Longsword - there will be a chance that you will gain a Flawless Flamed Hilt. Reload the game if you don't. Core components (such as Hilts) tend to get given as salvage quite often so it shouldn't take too long. With your Flawless Flamed Hilt, you can now craft your epic fiery sword and if you really wanted to, you could add another Gem of Incineration through the crafting process to end up with a Longsword with 60 Fire and 40 Burning damage. Note: The same process can be used to transfer Weapon Gem bonuses to any Hilt (Longsword, Greatsword or Daggers), Fulcrum (Faeblades or Longbow) or Shaft (Hammer). However, the Sorcery Weapons (Staff, Sceptre & Chakrams) cannot use Weapon Gems so the above process does not work for these. In the case of a Staff, the 'transfer weapon' can be a Hammer (since they both use Shafts), therefore allowing you to create a Shaft from a Hammer and then using it in a Staff when crafting the final weapon. Sceptre's and Chakrams share a Handle so unfortunately there is no way round it for them.

This process isn't confined to Weapon Gems/Components. Health Regen is a highly sought after bonus, and is found on Grips, Bindings or Rivets, the 'Flawless' versions of which give a bonus of +2 Health Regen. The 'Regenerating Gem' also gives a bonus of +2 Health Regen, so again this bonus is transferable. A Pristine Protection & Pristine Physical shard (as a Utility Gem) are required to make the Regenerating Gem. Since the bonus is found on

Grips/Bindings/Rivets, any gear that contains these can be used as the 'transfer gear' though sticking to armour may remove any confusion involving Weapon components. Selecting a piece of armour that uses 2 of the Grips/Bindings/Rivets can also be beneficial as demonstrated later. Using Might Gauntlets as an example here (which uses a Mitt, Grip, Lining and Rivets in it's crafting process), select any old Mitt and Grip (core components and therefore have to be used) but skip the Lining and Rivets. Finally add the Regenerating Gem. After saving the game, salvage these Gauntlets where you will have a chance of gaining Flawless Sustaining Grips or Rivets (+2 Health Regen). Even better, you can salvage both Grips AND Rivets so a little patience (and luck) makes it all the more worthwhile!

Requirements for this process: 7 points in Blacksmithing + 6 points in Sagecrafting The following list comprises of some of the Gems that can be used to transfer effects into Flawless components, all created in the same manner as the above examples: Weapon Gems (made from Pristine Shards) -> Weapon Components (Hilts, Fulcrums, Shafts (Hammers only)) Gem of Incineration (Fire + Magic) -> Flawless Flamed = 30 Fire & 20 Burning damage Gem of Winter (Ice + Magic) -> Flawless Frosted = 30 Ice & 18 Freezing damage Gem of Tempest (Lightning + Magic) -> Flawless Charged = 30 Lightning & 15 Shocking damage Gem of Rot (Poison + Physical) -> Flawless Infected = 48 Poison damage Galvanising Gem (2X Physical) -> Flawless Damaging = 30 Physical damage Saboteur's Gem (2X Protection) -> Flawless Piercing = 25 Piercing damage Gem of Bloodletting (Magic + Physical) -> Flawless Bloodseeker's = 15% chance to steal 25 Health Gem of Gluttony (2X Magic) -> Flawless Ravenous = 15% chance to steal 25 Mana Armour Gems (made from Pristine Shards) -> Armour Components (Lining, Trim, String) haven't really used these... Impregnable Gem (Poison + Magic/Physical) -> Flawless Rigid = +35 Armour Utility Gems (made from Pristine Shards) -> General Components (Grips, Bindings, Rivets) Hero's Gem (2X Protection) -> Flawless Strengthening = +20% Health Oracle's Gem (2X Magic) -> Flawless Divine = +20% Mana Regenerating Gem (Protection + Physical) -> Flawless Sustaining = +2 Health Regen per second Rejuvenating Gem (Magic + Fire/Ice/Lightning) -> Flawless Restoring = +2 Mana Regen per second Gem of Precision (Poison + Physical) -> Flawless Magnifying = +7% chance to Critical hit This process can be very useful if there's a specific component that you desperately desire that can be created in this way. Even more so however is the potential of using this at a relatively low level in the game, allowing you to create gear with far superior bonuses than you'd otherwise be able to acquire. You only need to be lvl 12 to get 7 Blacksmithing and 6 Sagecrafting (and even lower than that if you start taking skill potions and Jack of All Trade destiny bonuses into account), whilst Flawless components typically only start showing up near to the end of the game. It takes some effort (and likely some expense in obtaining Pristine shards and other components to use in the process), and isn't at all necessary in getting through the game on hard mode, but it's something that can be tried out if you so desire!

Duplicating Components Will be completed soon - see the above post for an example of this in the meantime