Refinement System

Overview

Equipment in Ragnarok Online can be 'upgraded' or 'refined' by upgrade NPCs in each major towns to make them more powerful. All equipment has a maximum upgrade level of +20, starting from +0. +0 items do not have any prefixes, but once they are upgraded, the number of upgrade levels will be displayed on the equipment - e.g. +5 Stunner. Upgrades above +10 use a different system, and it is very unusual to see gear upgraded above +10.

Also, you can turn in Rough Oridecon and Rough Elunium to create single refined Oridecon and Elunium, which are needed for upgrading Lv. 3 / Lv. 4 weapons, items and armors, respectively. The Kafra Shop offers cash shop version of those ores:

• Enriched ores which increases the chance of successfully upgrading an item.
• HD ores which have the same rate as normal ores, but protect an item from breaking (only degrade by 1 refine level instead) in case of upgrade failure.

Upgrade NPC Locations

• Inside Prontera prt_in6360 and prt_in9072
• Inside Morroc morocc_in7338
• Payon payon144173
• Inside Alberta alberta_in2959
• Basement of Juno Armory juno119137
• 2nd floor of Einbroch Blacksmith Guild einbroch255108
• Basement of Lighthalzen Weapon Shop lighthalzen19435
• 2nd floor of Eden Group, Suhnmi moc_paraup26185

Upgrade Requirements

To upgrade equipment, make sure you have the following:

• Equipment
• Zeny
• Reagent
• Blacksmith Blessing (optional, will preserve upgrade level in case of failure, usable from +7 up to +12)

To start refining, drag the items to be refined from inventory to the square box in the middle. The required ore will appear in the blue hexagon at the top. Blacksmith Blessing (when applicable) will appear in the red hexagon next to the ores. Select the ore to be used by clicking on the appropriate hexagon. You will have the option to use Blacksmith Blessing starting at +7 up to +12. The center blue hexagon will display the ore selected. The red hexagon will display Blacksmith Blessing if you chose to use it for this refine. Please note success rate for the refine will appear at the top of the display while the Zeny cost will be shown next to the Zeny icon at the Refine button.

Upgrade Level	Required Blacksmith Blessings per attempt
+7 -> +8	1
+8 -> +9	2
+9 -> +10	4
+10 -> +11	7
+11 -> +12	4

Not all item types can be upgraded. The following item types cannot be upgraded:

• Middle and Lower Headgears.
• Accessories.
• Any items that are not equipment.
• Any equipment that specifically says it cannot be upgraded.

Reagents and Cost

In order to upgrade, you need to provide a reagent in order to upgrade your equipment. Reagent required differs depending on weapon level of the equipment. As for armors, they all take same reagent regardless of type.

Money taken also differs depending on weapon level of the weapons.

Following list shows reagent + money required.

Equipment	Reagent	Fee
Weapon Lv. 1	Phracon	50z
Weapon Lv. 2	Emveretarcon	200z
Weapon Lv. 3	Oridecon	5,000z
Weapon Lv. 4	Oridecon	20,000z
Any Armor	Elunium	2,000z

Notes:

• If the player is using Enriched Oridecon / Enriched Elunium / HD Oridecon / HD Elunium from the Kafra Shop, the fee is 0z.

Refining Rough Oridecons and Eluniums

When you collect 5 Rough Oridecons and Rough Eluniums, you can convert them into a single Oridecon or Elunium by talking to an NPC in the upgrade shop.

• Note that you can make only one pure Oridecon or Elunium each time you talk to the NPC.
• This service does not cost any Zeny.
• Locas izlude155132 in Izlude will mass-convert rough ore into the pure ore.

Effects Gained

Weapons

An upgraded weapon will get the following bonuses (for conciseness, only ATK is written):

• Level 1 - Every +1 upgrade gives 2 ATK, 0~3 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +7 Safety Limit, 16 High Upgrade ATK from +15 to +16, and 1 ATK for every High Upgrade pass +16.
• Level 2 - Every +1 upgrade gives 3 ATK, 0~5 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +6 Safety Limit, 32 High Upgrade ATK from +15 to +16, and 2 ATK for every High Upgrade pass +16.
• Level 3 - Every +1 upgrade gives 5 ATK, 0~8 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +5 Safety Limit, 32 High Upgrade ATK from +15 to +16, and 2 ATK for every High Upgrade pass +16.
• Level 4 - Every +1 upgrade gives 7 ATK, 0~14 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +4 Safety Limit, 48 High Upgrade ATK from +15 to +16, and 3 ATK for every High Upgrade pass +16.
• A +20 Level 4 weapon has its ATK and MATK increased by 200~424.

Notes:

• The Over Upgrade bonus is random for every hit and gives a minimum of 0. This bonus is not shown on the Status Window or affected by the Maximum ATK from Critical Hit Damage and Maximize Power or the Maximum MATK from Recognized Spell.
• All upgrade bonuses are cumulative so refining a Level 4 weapon from +15 to +16 increases ATK & MATK bonus from 105~259 to 160~328 (7 for the upgrade, 0~14 for the Over Upgrade and 48 for the High Upgrade).

Level 1 Weapons
Upgrade Lv.	ATK & MATK Bonuses
	Base Bonus	Over Upgrade	High Upgrade	Overall Total
+1	2	-	-	2~2
+2	4	-	-	4~4
+3	6	-	-	6~6
+4	8	-	-	8~8
+5	10	-	-	10~10
+6	12	-	-	12~12
+7	14	-	-	14~14
+8	16	0~2	-	16~18
+9	18	0~4	-	18~22
+10	20	0~6	-	20~26
+11	22	0~8	-	22~30
+12	24	0~10	-	24~34
+13	26	0~12	-	26~38
+14	28	0~14	-	28~42
+15	30	0~16	-	30~46
+16	32	0~18	16	48~66
+17	34	0~20	17	51~71
+18	36	0~22	18	54~76
+19	38	0~24	19	57~81
+20	40	0~26	20	60~86

Level 2 Weapons
Upgrade Lv.	ATK & MATK Bonuses
	Base Bonus	Over Upgrade	High Upgrade	Overall Total
+1	3	-	-	3~3
+2	6	-	-	6~6
+3	9	-	-	9~9
+4	12	-	-	12~12
+5	15	-	-	15~15
+6	18	-	-	18~18
+7	21	0~5	-	21~26
+8	24	0~10	-	24~34
+9	27	0~15	-	27~42
+10	30	0~20	-	30~50
+11	33	0~25	-	33~58
+12	36	0~30	-	36~66
+13	39	0~35	-	39~74
+14	42	0~40	-	42~82
+15	45	0~45	-	45~90
+16	48	0~50	32	80~130
+17	51	0~55	34	85~140
+18	54	0~60	36	90~150
+19	57	0~65	38	95~160
+20	60	0~70	40	100~170

Level 3 Weapons
Upgrade Lv.	ATK & MATK Bonuses
	Base Bonus	Over Upgrade	High Upgrade	Overall Total
+1	5	-	-	5~5
+2	10	-	-	10~10
+3	15	-	-	15~15
+4	20	-	-	20~20
+5	25	-	-	25~25
+6	30	0~8	-	30~38
+7	35	0~16	-	35~51
+8	40	0~24	-	40~64
+9	45	0~32	-	45~77
+10	50	0~40	-	50~90
+11	55	0~48	-	55~103
+12	60	0~56	-	60~116
+13	65	0~64	-	65~129
+14	70	0~72	-	70~142
+15	75	0~80	-	75~155
+16	80	0~88	32	112~200
+17	85	0~96	34	119~215
+18	90	0~104	36	126~230
+19	95	0~112	38	133~245
+20	100	0~120	40	140~260

Level 4 Weapons
Upgrade Lv.	ATK & MATK Bonuses
	Base Bonus	Over Upgrade	High Upgrade	Overall Total
+1	7	-	-	7~7
+2	14	-	-	14~14
+3	21	-	-	21~21
+4	28	-	-	28~28
+5	35	0~14	-	35~49
+6	42	0~28	-	42~70
+7	49	0~42	-	49~91
+8	56	0~56	-	56~112
+9	63	0~70	-	63~133
+10	70	0~84	-	70~154
+11	77	0~98	-	77~175
+12	84	0~112	-	84~196
+13	91	0~126	-	91~217
+14	98	0~140	-	98~238
+15	105	0~154	-	105~259
+16	112	0~168	48	160~328
+17	119	0~182	51	170~352
+18	126	0~196	54	180~376
+19	133	0~210	57	190~400
+20	140	0~224	60	200~424

Armors

Every upgrade increases Hard DEF by Floor[( 3 + Curr_Upgrade ) ÷ 4].

• Every +1 upgrade at +1 ~ +4 increases Hard DEF by 1.
• Every +1 upgrade at +5 ~ +8 increases Hard DEF by 2.
• Every +1 upgrade at +9 ~ +12 increases Hard DEF by 3.
• Every +1 upgrade at +13 ~ +16 increases Hard DEF by 4.
• Every +1 upgrade at +17 ~ +20 increases Hard DEF by 5.

For Example: a +10 Round Buckler will have its Hard DEF raised from 90 to 108; [90 + (1 + 1 + 1 + 1) + (2 + 2 + 2 + 2) + (3 + 3) = 108].

Any Armors
Upgrade Lv.	Equip DEF Bonus
+1	1
+2	2
+3	3
+4	4
+5	6
+6	8
+7	10
+8	12
+9	15
+10	18
+11	21
+12	24
+13	28
+14	32
+15	36
+16	40
+17	45
+18	50
+19	55
+20	60

Upgrades are useful, as for weapon upgrade, it increases damage the player can inflict. For armors, it reduces damage the player will take.

Safety Level

The Safety Level is the maximum level of refinement that can be given to equipment with guaranteed success (0% chance of failure). Anything past the safety level has chance to fail, and failure means your equipment will be permanently destroyed, including any cards and other enchantments it may have had. You won't be refunded Zeny and the ore used to upgrade if it fails. Give careful thought before deciding if you want to upgrade a piece of equipment beyond its safety level.

Equipment	Safety Level
Weapon Lv. 1	+7
Weapon Lv. 2	+6
Weapon Lv. 3	+5
Weapon Lv. 4	+4
Any Armor
Shadow Gear

Breaking Protection

The more you get beyond the safety level, the higher are the chances that your equipment gets permanently destroyed, along with its cards or other enchantments. However, Kafra shop items are available that allow you to upgrade items without risk of permanently losing the item.

HD Oridecon & Elunium

During an upgrade attempt using HD Oridecon or HD Elunium, upgrade failure will only degrade the item by 1 refine level instead of breaking.

Enriched Oridecon & Elunium + Enriched Refine Event

Normally, Enriched ores have a chance of breaking the item. But during those events, in the case of upgrade failure the item will only degrade by 1 refine level instead of breaking.

Safe to 7 and 10 Certificates

Between +4 and +7, you may upgrade without risk of breaking OR degrading, at a cost of 1 Safe to 7 Certificate of the appropriate type, and one Elunium or Oridecon.

• These upgrades can be performed by Mighty Hammer moc_paraup38185.
• On a success, it gains 1 refine level, on a failure, only the certificate and ore is lost.
• The success rate is the same as normal upgrades. However, the item will not degrade on a failed attempt.

There are four types of certs:

• Safe to 7 Headgear Certificate
• Safe to 7 Weapon Certificate
• Safe to 7 Body Armor Certificate (Can be used for all armor types except headgear).
• Safe to 10 Certificate to attempt upgrading from +9 to +10. (Can be used for all armor types and weapon).

Monster Token

Periodically, on iRO, Monster Token events are held.

• During these events, players can use Monster Token for refinement by talking to the event NPC, Token Hammer aldeba_in99164 on the Kafra HQ in Aldebaran.
• Using 50 Monster Token and 50,000 zeny he can refine an equipment from +4 to +10 without degrading or breaking if fail, with a 23 hours cooldown per character.
• Monster Token are dropped from every monsters in the game at about 1% rate.

Non-iRO Protection Items

On some servers outside iRO there are some protection items that not available in iRO:

• Blessed Ores (Oridecon and Elunium): Similar effect with Safe to X Certificates with the difference the ores work between +6 and +12.
• Guaranteed to X Certificates: Gives 100% chance when you upgrade the equipments until to +X stated. The equipment refined with the cert will continously refined to +X once you select to upgrade it. These certificatess can be the most expensive protection items compared to other ores and certificates above.

Upgrades beyond +10

As of the Renewal update, it is possible to upgrade equipment beyond +10, as high as +20. To upgrade beyond +10, the player must start with an item at +10 or higher.

• For armor, the player must have 100,000z and 1 Carnium.
• For weapons the player must have 100,000z and 1 Bradium.

In the event of a failed upgrade attempt, the item may break, but more frequently, will lose three upgrade levels. The success rates of upgrading above +10 are very, very low, on the order of 20% for Level 1, 2 and 3 weapons and 10% on Level 4 weapons and armors.

It is possible to trade 3 Elunium or 1 Refined Bradium for 1 Carnium, and 3 Oridecon for 1 Bradium. In all cases, there is a 50,000z fee per exchange. The exchanging can be done by talking to Austry prt_in8571 in the north room of the Prontera upgrade shop.

The Kafra Shop sells HD Carnium and HD Bradium, which can be used on any refine NPC. Failing will result in losing one refine level, instead of three levels or breaking.

Success Chances

Success chance with normal metals

Chances to successfully refine an item on any iRO server (regardless of subscription status) or any other server with safe levels (typically subscription servers) with normal metals are:

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor	Shadow
+4 -> +5	100%	100%	100%	60%	60%	60%
+5 -> +6	100%	100%	60%	40%	40%	40%
+6 -> +7	100%	60%	50%	40%	40%	40%
+7 -> +8	60%	40%	20%	20%	20%	20%
+8 -> +9	40%	20%	20%	20%	20%	20%
+9 -> +10	19%	19%	19%	9%	9%	9%
+11 ~ +14	18%	18%	18%	8%	8%	N/A
+15 ~ +18	17%	17%	17%	7%	7%	N/A
+19 ~ +20	15%	15%	15%	5%	5%	N/A

This chart explains the cumulative chance of upgrading.

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor & Shadow
+0 -> +5	100%	100%	100%	60%	60%
+0 -> +6	100%	100%	60%	24%	24%
+0 -> +7	100%	60%	30%	9.6%	9.6%
+0 -> +8	60%	24%	6%	1.92%	1.92%
+0 -> +9	24%	4.8%	1.2%	0.384%	0.384%
+0 -> +10	4.56%	0.912%	0.228%	0.03456%	0.03456%

Success chance with Enriched Ores

Success chances using Enriched Oridecon/Elunium are:

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor / Shadow
+4 -> +5	100%	100%	100%	90%	90%
+5 -> +6	100%	100%	90%	70%	70%
+6 -> +7	100%	90%	80%	70%	70%
+7 -> +8	90%	70%	40%	40%	40%
+8 -> +9	70%	40%	40%	40%	40%
+9 -> +10	30%	30%	30%	20%	20%

• Note that red colored numbers mean no improvement over normal Oridecon or Elunium.

This chart explains the cumulative chance of upgrading.

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor / Shadow
+0 -> +5	100%	100%	100%	90%	90%
+0 -> +6	100%	100%	90%	63%	63%
+0 -> +7	100%	90%	72%	44.1%	44.1%
+0 -> +8	90%	63%	28.8%	17.64%	17.64%
+0 -> +9	63%	25.2%	11.52%	7.056%	7.056%
+0 -> +10	18.9%	7.56%	3.456%	1.4112%	1.4112%

Originally, the Blacksmith's skill Weaponry Research was believed to add 1% refining chance per skill level (up to 10% at skill level 10) to the Blacksmith. This has been proven to be false. However, the Mastersmith skill Upgrade Weapon will increase self-weapon refining chance by 0.5% per job level after job 50. At job 70 the smith has a +10% better chance to successfully refine a weapon than an upgrade NPC does.

iRO Refine Rate Events

Refine EventSuccess Rates with HD Carnium and HD Bradium

Chances to successfully refine using HD Carnium/Bradium when used at the NPC Mighty Hammer during Mad Bunny Refine Events (previously known as Refine Event Rave) are:

• Note:
  • +1 ~ +10 success rate using normal Oridecon/Elunium or HD Oridecon/Elunium are not affected by the Refine Event Rave in Renewal Servers
  • This event only affects Enriched Oridecon/Elunium and HD Carnium/Bradium rate.

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor
+10 ~ +11	40%	40%	35%	20%	20%
+11 ~ +12	40%	40%	35%	20%	20%
+12 ~ +13	35%	35%	30%	16%	16%
+13 ~ +14	35%	35%	30%	16%	16%
+14 ~ +15	30%	30%	25%	15%	15%
+15 ~ +16	30%	30%	25%	15%	15%
+16 ~ +17	20%	20%	20%	14%	14%
+17 ~ +18	20%	20%	20%	14%	14%
+18 ~ +19	15%	15%	15%	10%	10%
+19 ~ +20	15%	15%	15%	10%	10%

Refine EventSuccess Rates with Enriched Ores

Chances to successfully refine using Enriched Oridecon/Elunium during Mad Bunny Refine Events (previously known as Refine Event Rave) are:

Upgrade Lv. 1 Lv. 2 Lv. 3 Lv. 4 Armor & Shadow +1 -> +2 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +2 -> +3 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +3 -> +4 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +4 -> +5 100% 100% 100% 95% 95% +5 -> +6 100% 100% 95% 80% 80% +6 -> +7 100% 95% 90% 80% 80% +7 -> +8 95% 85% 70% 60% 60% +8 -> +9 85% 60% 60% 50% 50% +9 -> +10 55% 45% 45% 35% 35% Note that red colored numbers mean no improvement over normal Oridecon or Elunium. Non-iRO Success Chances This is the approximate upgrade success chances using regular metals on a server without safe upgrade limits. Cumulative chance with these figures from +0 in brackets: Upgrade Lv. 1 Lv. 2 Lv. 3 Lv. 4 Armor +0 -> +1 90% 90% 90% 90% 80% +1 -> +2 90% (81%) 90% (81%) 90% (81%) 80% (72%) 80% (64%) +2 -> +3 90% (73%) 90% (73%) 80% (65%) 80% (58%) 80% (51%) +3 -> +4 90% (66%) 80% (58%) 80% (52%) 60% (35%) 60% (31%) +4 -> +5 80% 80% 60% 60% 60% (18%) +5 -> +6 80% 60% 60% 40% 40% (7%) +6 -> +7 60% 60% 50% 40% 40% (3%) +7 -> +8 60% 40% 20% 20% 20% (0.6%) +8 -> +9 40% 20% 20% 20% 20% (0.1%) +9 -> +10 20% 20% 20% 10% 10% Success chance with enriched metals Success chances using Enriched Oridecon/Elunium are: Upgrade Lv. 1 Lv. 2 Lv. 3 Lv. 4 Armor +0 -> +1 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +1 -> +2 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +2 -> +3 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +3 -> +4 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% +4 -> +5 100% 100% 100% 60% 60% +5 -> +6 100% 100% 60% 40% 40% +6 -> +7 100% 60% 50% 40% 40% +7 -> +8 60% 40% 20% 20% 20% +8 -> +9 40% 20% 20% 20% 20% +9 -> +10 20% 20% 20% 10% 10% Note that red colored numbers mean no improvement over normal Oridecon or Elunium. See Also Upgrade Weapon (Mastersmith Skill) Enchantment Refinement and Cost calculator --JuicyJuices (talk) 03:34, 16 February 2017 (UTC) References