Step-by-Step Guide for How to Hone and Transfer Gear in the Lost Ark
The majority of your endgame progression in Lost Ark comes from upgrading your equipment. This guide will teach you how the processes of Gear Honing and Gear Transfer work!
What is Gear Honing, and how does one go about doing it?
Gear Honing is simply the act of bringing your equipment to the Gear Upgrade NPCs that can be found in the main cities of Luterra, North Vern, Arthentine, Rohendel, Yorn, or Annika.
Several sets of materials are used in the process, and each tier of content has its own set of materials to hone their skills on. They are both made up of a similar set of five materials that are given slightly different names in each. These materials allow you to upgrade your gear to a maximum Honing Level of +20 – 25, which raises their item level by 20 each time they are upgraded, for a total of 400 – 500 average gear score after you have completed your upgrade. In Tier 3, the increase in Item Level is reduced to a maximum of +5 per upgrade. This is necessary in order to progress into each new “Tier” of content, which is only accessible through these upgrades. At the moment, only +15 is required to advance to a higher tier or unlock additional content. Visit a Gear Honing NPC, which can be found in every major city, as the first step in the process. Once you’ve arrived, speaking with the NPC will reveal the Gear Honing and Transfer menu options.
Once we have chosen the item we want to upgrade from the left-hand side, we feed it Item XP using XP Shards. This only needs to be done once per Honing Level. A piece of equipment’s item level will only be reset if a Honing attempt is successful and you reach the next item level for that piece of equipment. In most cases, this will cost several thousand XP Shards.
The next step, which is optional, is to include Success Materials. These have a maximum chance of increasing your honing chance by 20%. Despite the fact that they are not required for honing, they can be extremely beneficial in the later stages of the process due to the fact that honing costs increase as Item Level increases. There is only one Success Material for each Tier 1 and Tier 2, but there are three different rarities of them for each Tier 3.
Finally, it is necessary to confirm the Honing, which will consume Destruction or Guardian Stones depending on whether you are honing a weapon or armor, and confirm the Honing. Honing also necessitates the use of both Leapstones and additional XP Shards in order to complete each Honing. The Honing will be successful or unsuccessful depending on your Honing chance. However, regardless of the outcome, Destruction Stones, Guardian Stones, Leapstones, and additional XP Shards will be consumed for each attempt at Honing.
Materials for honing and where to obtain them
Each of the five materials used in Lost ark gear honing is described in greater detail below.
XP Shards are a type of currency
Since they function in a similar manner to XP Shards, the first honing material can also be referred to as such. These are referred to as Harmony Shards in Tier 1, Life Shards in Tier 2, and Honor Shards in Tier 3. They are referred to as Harmony Shards in Tier 1 and Life Shards in Tier 2. Using these will grant you Item XP, which will allow you to hone your items. They can also be used to attempt the Honing process once an item has received enough XP.
XP Shards can be obtained from the majority of level 50 daily and weekly content. Included in this are Abyss and Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, Secret Maps, Towers, and Una’s Tasks, among others. Chaos Dungeons will provide the greatest number of XP Shards on a daily basis, typically awarding several thousand per encounter.
A limited quantity of Tea and Libra Guild Vessel can be purchased on a weekly basis from the Tea and Libra Guild Vessel, which can be found near the major ports. In a similar vein, when you run Chaos Dungeons after exhausting your Aura of Resonance, a currency will be dropped. This currency is tied to a specific roster and can be exchanged for additional materials, with each Tier of content having its own set of currencies that are distinct from the others. Chaos Exchange Vendors can be found near the Chaos Dungeon Entrances in major cities, where they can be traded for Lost Ark gold shop.
Honing Stones are a type of stone used for polishing
Honing Stones are the second type of Honing Material, and they can be found in both the Destruction (weapon) and the Guardian (armor) variations. These are used in conjunction with XP Shards and other materials in an attempt to refine the weapon. The Destruction/Guardian Stone Fragments are found in Tier 1; the Destruction/Guardian Stone Stones are found in Tier 2; and the Destruction/Guardian Stone Crystals are found in Tier 3 (the highest tier). Honing Stones, like XP Shards, can be obtained from a variety of Level 50 content sources. There are no first-clear rewards for Abyss dungeons, Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, or Towers (except for the first clear). Chaos Dungeons are also the best source of these materials on a daily basis, typically granting a few hundred each time.
Similar to XP Shards, a limited quantity of Tea and Libra Guild Vessels can be purchased from the Tea and Libra Guild Vessels, which can be found near major ports. Talking to the Chaos Exchange Vendor will allow you to purchase these items with your newly acquired currencies from the Chaos Dungeon.
Stepping-stones
Leapstones are a type of currency that can be used to attempt the honing process in addition to money. These are required for each and every attempt, and they will frequently act as bottlenecks in the progression of the student. In Tier 1, they are referred to as Harmory Leapstones; in Tier 2, they are referred to as Life Leapstones; and in Tier 3, they are referred to as either Honor Leapstones or Great Honor Leapstones, depending on your Item Level. Leapstones, like the other materials, can be obtained from a variety of content at the Level 50 level. This includes Abyss Dungeons, Guardian Raids, Towers, and Una’s Tasks, to name a few examples of what is available. In-game tasks and Guardian raids are the best daily sources of these materials, with each typically granting a few dozen per task and raid, respectively. The Weekly PvP TournamentOften, just completing Una’s Task will result in several of them, making it worthwhile to engage in PvP at least once a week.
These can also be found in Boss Rush Reward chests, but entry tickets for Boss Rush can also be obtained through RNG drops from Chaos Dungeons as well.
While these are no longer available for purchase from the Tea and Libra Guild Vessel in ports, they are still available in limited quantities from the Chaos Exchange Vendor in a secluded location.
Fusion Materials are a type of material that can be used in nuclear fusionFor honing in Tiers 2 and 3, Fusion Materials are an additional item that must be obtained. They work in a similar way to Leapstones in that they are consumed with every attempt, whether successful or unsuccessful. They can also act as a stumbling block to further development. These can only be obtained from a limited number of sources. They can be obtained through a variety of means, including sidequests, stronghold crafting, and the Welcome Challenges. The most common method of obtaining them is through stronghold crafting. The only constraint on the amount of materials you can obtain through fishing, hunting, or excavation, as well as your crafting queue in your stronghold, is your Life Skill materials.
In particular, you will require Lost Ark gold shop of the blue rarity for fishing, hunting, and excavation, all of which can be obtained from the appropriate regions. There are two different recipes that allow you to make them as bound cheap Lost Ark Gold by using materials that are exclusive to your Stronghold, or as unbound items by using materials that are not exclusive to your Stronghold. You can choose between the two options. Whenever possible, it is preferable to make them unbound so that they can be placed in Roster Storage, allowing multiple characters to use them at the same time.
Materials for Increasing Your Chances of Success
Materials for the final set of materials are completely optional, and they are more difficult to come by. Each time you use these materials before attempting honing, you can increase your Honing Success Chance by up to 20% for the current Honing attempt. These materials are depleted after each honing attempt in which they are used.
- These are referred to as Star’s Breath in Tier 1
- Moon’s Breath is the name given to them in Tier 2
- Solar Grace, Solar Blessing, and Solar Protection are the terms used to describe these in Tier 3
- Unlike most other materials, these are relatively exclusive and do not come from many of the same sources as the rest of the collection
- These are typically awarded for completing a Cube Dungeon, and they are only occasionally awarded for participating in Gold or Red Portal events in Chaos Dungeons
- All tiers also have additional items that can be used to increase their success by 10%, but only for upgrades between +7 and +15
- These are referred to as Honing Books
- These are extremely rare drops from Abyss Dungeons, so keep an eye out for them
- They do not have access to any other resources at this time, but they can be just as beneficial as other Success Chance Materials
The Advantages of Honing Your SkillsOnly one major reason exists for honing your equipment, and that is to make your character stronger and progress through the game’s later stages. Not only do you become stronger, but you also gain access to more difficult content, such as more difficult Abyss Dungeons. Some content that you may already be doing on a daily basis, such as Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids, will become more difficult and rewarding as a result of this update. This aids in the acceleration of the later stages of the progression process.
What is Gear Transfer and how does one go about doing it?Transferring your Honing Level from one piece of gear to another is accomplished through the process known as Gear Transfer. Some of the reasons for this include quality differences between the two tiers of gear, as well as carrying over some progress from the previous tier of gear. The use of special materials is not required in the case of Honing, in contrast. This process only requires silver, but it is expensive and can quickly add up if used on a regular basis. Thus, it’s best to only do it when you have a compelling reason to do so, such as upgrading from a Rare set of current gear to a Heroic or Legendary set of equipment in the same tier. Similarly to the Honing process, we’ll be visiting the same NPC to begin the Gear Honing process. In this case, however, it is the Gear Transfer option that we are interested in. Due to the fact that no additional materials are required, the process of performing Gear Transfer is greatly simplified.
First, we choose the Target Gear Piece (Gear for Transfer), which is the piece to which we want to transfer the upgrades, from the drop-down menu. Using this method, the Lost Ark gold for sale on the right side of the screen will be limited to those that are eligible for Gear Transferring to items that are located in the same slot.
Then, using the right-click menu, select the Gear that will be used as the Source Gear (Material Gear) or the piece from which the upgrade will be derived. This will place it in the designated location in the middle of this UI, similar to how it was placed previously.
The UI will now display how much the Transfer will cost, as well as the piece of equipment that will be created as a result of the Transfer in the middle of the UI. Then accept the warning that the gear that was used to transfer has been lost, and the Honing Level has been transferred to the new piece of gear, by selecting Confirm Transfer.
Gear from the same tier will transfer in a 1:1 ratio with the other gear. This means that you can transfer any honing levels you have earned to a new piece of gear in the same tier, regardless of rarity, and use them to advance your character’s level. Having this information is advantageous because each tier of Abyssal Dungeons grants access to crafting materials for both a Heroic set as well as for a Legendary set.