Two separate upgrade ladders run on the same anvil at the Blacksmith, and both of them can destroy the item you feed in.
- Fortification is the
+Nladder,+1up to+15. It eats Fortification Stones. - Light Fortification is the Shining ladder: Dimly Shining, Shining, Brightly Shining, Cold Shining. It eats Shining Jewels.
They are independent: a +12 item can be ungraded light, and a Cold Shining item can be +0. Accessories and support gear use their own stones, gems and catalysts, but follow the same numbers. (The in-game help panel still claims accessories cannot be fortified. That text is out of date.)
What one attempt costs
Material counts are driven by the required level of the item, not by how far up the ladder you already are.
| Item level | Fortification Stones | Shining Jewels |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | 5 | 1 |
| 11 to 20 | 10 | 2 |
| 21 to 30 | 15 | 3 |
| 31 to 40 | 20 | 4 |
| 41 to 50 | 25 | 5 |
| 51 to 70 | 30 | 7 |
| 71 to 90 | 35 | 8 |
| 91 to 110 | 40 | 9 |
| 111 to 140 | 45 | 10 |
| 141 to 170 | 50 | 11 |
| 171 and up | 50 | 12 |
When an item has both a level requirement and an accumulated-level requirement, material counts and the fee use the higher of the two. Your character's current level does not set this cost.
The jewel has to match the grade you are climbing into: Dimly Shining Jewel for the first step, then Shining, Brightly Shining, Cold Shining.
The blacksmith's fee is item level x grade factor x step factor, counted in copper (100 copper = 1 silver, 10,000 copper = 1 gold).
| Grade | Low | Normal | Rare | Epic | Legend | Artifact | Avatar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Factor | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Step factor for fortification, by the level you are attempting from: +0 to +4 is 10, +5 to +7 is 20, then 40, 60, 80, 120, 180, 270, and 405 for the final step. For light fortification it is 20, 40, 80, 160.
An Epic level 50 chest attempting +14 to +15 therefore pays 50 x 3 x 405 = 60,750 copper, about 6 gold. Money is not what this system costs you.
How an attempt resolves
Three rolls happen in a fixed order, and the first one that hits ends the attempt.
- Destroy roll. If it hits, the item breaks. Nothing else is checked.
- Success roll. If it hits, the item goes up one step.
- Downgrade roll. If it hits, and you are above
+0, the item goes down one step. Otherwise nothing changes.
The order matters: the listed success number is not your real success rate. That is (1 - destroy) x success, and your chance of losing a step is (1 - destroy) x (1 - success) x downgrade. Stones and catalysts are consumed on every attempt, successes included.
Fortification table
Raw roll values. Breakage is identical with or without the basic Catalyst.
| Step | Break | Success | Downgrade | Success (Catalyst) | Downgrade (Catalyst) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +0 to +1 | 0% | 100% | 0% | 100% | 10% |
| +1 to +2 | 0% | 90% | 5% | 100% | 15% |
| +2 to +3 | 0% | 80% | 10% | 95% | 20% |
| +3 to +4 | 0% | 70% | 20% | 85% | 30% |
| +4 to +5 | 0% | 60% | 25% | 75% | 35% |
| +5 to +6 | 0% | 50% | 30% | 65% | 40% |
| +6 to +7 | 5% | 35% | 15% | 50% | 25% |
| +7 to +8 | 10% | 30% | 15% | 45% | 25% |
| +8 to +9 | 15% | 25% | 15% | 40% | 25% |
| +9 to +10 | 20% | 20% | 15% | 35% | 25% |
| +10 to +11 | 25% | 15% | 10% | 30% | 20% |
| +11 to +12 | 30% | 15% | 10% | 30% | 20% |
| +12 to +13 | 50% | 15% | 10% | 30% | 20% |
| +13 to +14 | 60% | 15% | 10% | 30% | 20% |
| +14 to +15 | 70% | 15% | 10% | 30% | 20% |
Worked example, +9 to +10 with no catalyst: 20% broken, 16% success, 9.6% dropped to +8, 54.4% nothing happened.
What the steps give you
The number of stat lines a fortified item carries depends only on its level:
| Fortification | Lines granted |
|---|---|
| +1 to +3 | 1 |
| +4 to +6 | 2 |
| +7 to +11 | 3 |
| +12 to +15 | 4 |
The stats, and the order they unlock in, are fixed per slot. The fourth line is always extra Strength, and it stacks on top of any Strength already granted.
| Slot | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Damage | STR | DEX | STR |
| Head | DEF | INT | VIT | STR |
| Chest | DEF | INT | STR | STR |
| Leg | DEF | VIT | DEX | STR |
| Hand | DEF | STR | INT | STR |
| Foot | DEF | DEX | VIT | STR |
| Support | Damage | DEX | STR | STR |
| Necklace | DEF | DEX | STR | STR |
| Ring | Damage | VIT | STR | STR |
| Earring | DEF | INT | STR | STR |
A level 50 weapon, for reference: +3 gives +3 Damage. +6 gives +6 Damage and +3 STR. +11 gives +13 Damage, +12 STR, +10 DEX. +15 gives +24 Damage, +24 STR, +18 DEX and another +8 STR.
Catalysts
Every catalyst has a minimum count for the item's level. Bring fewer and the attempt runs on the plain no-catalyst odds, and the catalysts are spent anyway. The basic Catalyst needs the same count as the stones (25 for a level 50 item). The premium ones need 1 to 20.
| Catalyst | Effect on fortification |
|---|---|
| Catalyst | The table above: more success, more downgrade, same breakage. |
| Anti-Decay Super Catalyst (and the Star version) | Downgrade to zero, small success bump, breakage untouched. Cannot be used in light fortification. |
| Risk-free catalyst | No breakage, but success collapses past +8: 16.6% at +9, 9.4% at +14. Downgrade still applies. |
| Fatal Risk-Free Catalyst | No breakage, no downgrade, 0.8% success on the last step. |
| Black and White Stone Catalyst | Flat 50% breakage every step. Survive the roll and success is guaranteed. |
| Secret Catalyst of Dwarven Royal Family, Secret Catalyst of Lunia Kingdom | The same 50/50 gamble. |
| Strong Protective Catalyst (and the Lunia Kingdom version) | No breakage, base success and downgrade, with a better 20% from +10 up. |
| Lunia Anti-Breakage Catalyst (Lunia Creation for accessories) | Best odds in the game below +12: 95% at +1, 75% at +5, 45% at +6, 35% at +10, no breakage. From +12 it turns: 20%, 40% and 60% breakage on the last three steps with a 30% downgrade. |
Light Fortification
There is no downgrade roll here. A failure either breaks the item or does nothing.
| Step | Break | Success | Success (Catalyst) | Strong Protective | Anti-Breakage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| into Dimly Shining | 10% | 15% | 20% | 0% break, 30% | 0% break, 70% |
| into Shining | 40% | 15% | 20% | 30% break, 30% | 0% break, 35% |
| into Brightly Shining | 70% | 15% | 20% | 60% break, 20% | 0% break, 17% |
| into Cold Shining | 90% | 15% | 20% | 80% break, 20% | 0% break, 2% |
Bare, that first step is 10% broken / 13.5% success / 76.5% nothing. The last step is 90% broken / 1.5% success. The Secret Catalysts behave differently here: they do not touch the break roll, but anything that survives it succeeds.
The payoff is large. A level 50 weapon gains +12 Damage, +2 STR and +4 to DEX, INT and VIT at Dimly Shining, and that doubles at every grade, reaching +96 Damage, +16 STR and +32 to DEX, INT and VIT at Cold Shining. Pieces that already carry a Max HP or Max MP line get that boosted too (+4, +7, +14, +29 at level 50). Light grades also unlock extra identify slots: see Identify and Item Options.
When it breaks
A destroyed item is not deleted. It sits in your bag, unusable, until you take it back to the blacksmith with a restoration stone and 10 silver.
- Magic Stone of Restoration (the alchemy and drop one) always needs exactly 1, whatever the item level, but it wipes both ladders: the item returns at
+0with no Shining grade. - Ultimate Restoration Stones put the item back exactly as it was the instant before it broke. The count scales with item level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 across the same bands as the stone table above, and 18 or 20 at the very top.
- The goddess-blessed Magic Stones also keep everything, and always need 1.
Browse every stone, jewel and catalyst in the item browser.