[Guide] How to Refine (Video Walk-through and Commentary)

TheDan - Sanctuary

TheDan's How-To Refining Guide

Please note this is my personal speculation on things, and how it's worked for me, not actual facts, but my professional opinion of how the system works. This guide is useful up to +8/+9, as I don't recommend going past +9 when Oceans are cheaper than the cost of risk at that point. The purpose of this guide is to complement the data and math of previous guides that WarrenWolfy made.

Why you should do it

Lots of math supports that it's cheaper to refine without, and I've also rarely spent more than what it would have cost to orb, the only items that are of higher risk are G16 weapons. Not going into detail here, I think WarrenWolfy explained it pretty nicely already in his guide. The purpose of my guide is the "how to" aspect of it.

Where To Refine

- My personal refining spot where I've had the best luck was at the Plume Elder.
- There are rumors about higher refining rates at the specified land Officers, but I've personally seen no difference other than when I've tried +11ing with tisha at Immolation. I've had consistent success at Plume Elder though, so that is the spot I recommend.

What To Expect and Prepare For It

- Test your results on Asterelle's Refining Simulator too if it's your first time
- From my professional experience on average, this is what I estimate to be SAFE to have a high guaranteed success rate for armor. If you are refining a weapon, then double all the mirage counts as it is 2 mirage per weapon attempt instead of 1.
- I advise you not to try the higher end refines unless you are prepared to fail and back it up with the quantity of materials ready in hand. Keep in mind you never want to leave refining with less than what you started with.

+1 ~ 5 Mirages
+2 ~ 10 Mirages
+3 ~ 30 Mirages
+4 ~ 100 Mirages, 5 Tienkang
+5 ~ 300 Mirages, 15 Tienkang
+6 ~ 500 Mirages, 25 Tienkang, 5 Tisha
+7 ~ 1000 Mirages, 50 Tienkang, 20 Tisha
+8 ~ 1500 Mirages, 100 Tienkang, 30 Tisha
+9 ~ 2500 Mirages, 150 Tienkang, 50 Tisha

How to Obtain what you need

- I personally just farm my mirages from BH and fairy chests, but you can also buy mirages from shops near the Archosaur Elder. But pertaining to Tienkang and Tisha stones, you have a variety of options. You can get event gold by utilizing PWI sage demon event card promotions, Heroic chest promotions, DQ grinding, Refine aid sales, and Tiger Event

How to do it

-Use mirages to go from 0-3, Tienkang stones from 4-6 (4-5 if you're only planning to go to +6 or +7), and Tisha for 7-9. Oceans are calculated to be cheaper than the cost of risk associated with trying anything above +8/9.
-If you fail anything below +5, continue using the same refining window to spam mirages back up to +3. Repeat process with Tienkang stones until it's +5 or +6.

Compare your success with what it would have cost with orbs

- This will show you how many 1* orbs are needed to make the orb. Compare it to what it will cost you if you were to refine without orbs. It's significantly cheaper to refine without 1* up until +8/9, where you can use Oceans.

1* 1
2* 4
3* 10
4* 25
5* 60
6* 130
7* 215
8* 405 (Ocean)
9* 750 (Ocean)
10* 1370 (Ocean)
11* 2525 (Ocean + 1155 1* Orbs)
12* 4645 (2 Ocean + 1905 1* Orbs)

These are the certain areas will increase your odds to refine for a certain level according to Duke Blacke.

- Again, I don't personally believe they make a difference except for +11 tisha at Immolation Camp.

Refine Areas
+1 The Harshlands
+2 The Frozen Path
+3 Avalanche Canyon, Thousand Wood Ridge, Windswept Grasslands, Courage Path, Land of Buried Bones
+4 Haunted Path, Tradewind Village, The Great Lake, South Barrier Mountains
+5 City of Misfortune, Shining Tide Woods, Stairway to Heaven, The White Ridge
+6 Ancient Wall, Dragon Wilderness, Valley of the Hidden Orchid, Black Mountain
+7 Broken Plain, Silk Ridge, Peach Blossom Grove, Ridge of the Dreaming Cloud
+8 Ancient Peak, Wellspring Village, Deserted Sea
+9 Vibrant Cliffs, Fragrant Hills, Walled Stronghold
+10 Mount Lantern, Sundown Town, King's Feast
+11 Immolation Camp, Dribbling Spring, Swamp of the Wraiths
+12 Forest of Haze, Dragon's End, Plain of Farewells

Data I got from http://pwi-wiki.perfectworld.com/index.php/Refining.

Hope this guide helped, I've also included a video commentary and walk-through. Post your results!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7bTtgZkFSk

TheDan - Sanctuary

reserved

AlphaOmegaX - Dreamweaver

Thankyou for your guide Dan.

I followed the technique you use and has good success. I was able to +7 my G14 neckless, CloudCharger Wings and my G16 Arcane Helmet. In total i used 1651 mirages and 37 Tien and 11 Tisha. The neckless and helmet was easy using less than 300 mirages, but the robe was a mare, had +6 9 times before i got +7.

I can see why some people get dicouraged doing this. i had 14 failed refines in a row two times when refining my robe. Now im not experienced in refining at all really. But i think i did well and im happy with the results i got. So thankyou again, top guide b:victory

BoomBastic - Lothranis

A question, how do you make your +11? did you Tisha +10 items and if fail, use new +10 orb? or did you make +11 orbs? Just curious what method you think is best and cheapest..

And gj on a great video guide..

Zanryu - Dreamweaver

BoomBastic - Lothranis wrote: »

A question, how do you make your +11? did you Tisha +10 items and if fail, use new +10 orb? or did you make +11 orbs? Just curious what method you think is best and cheapest..

And gj on a great video guide..

People usually Tisha and use +10 orbs if they fail. So long as you get it within 4 or so tries you've saved/broken even.

Jaabg - Sanctuary

Zanryu - Dreamweaver wrote: »

People usually Tisha and use +10 orbs if they fail. So long as you get it within 4 or so tries you've saved/broken even.

It hurts if you get +11 on the 5th~7th try, makes me want to cry. Most people tend to get lucky with it though.