Crafting

Crafting Basics
While you want to use N level gear when starting out with characters, once a character has grown, you will want to use crafted gear for your units. Events are frequently focused on obtaining the recipes and Materials for creating crafted equipment.

N Level Equipment

 * N level equipment technically is not crafted, but bought from the store.
 * Early game, you should buy the N equipment for any unit type that you use.
 * You can enhance level N equipment to Level 40 with nothing more than Adamantine.
 * The stats for N level is equipment follows a fixed growth pattern, so every level 15 Bronze Knife will have the same exact statistics.
 * You will use the N level gear with every new unit in working to gain equipment experience levels for your characters.


 * The Excalibur sword levels up like N level gear, with a fixed growth curve and no awakenings required, but is a UR level weapon. You will need weapon experience level A to use it without a stat penalty.

Crafted Equipment
Crafted equipment requires collecting recipes, materials, and secret books of refinement to be combined to generate increasingly powerful gear.

Level Progression
Crafted equipment progresses from the "base" level ("+0") up to +5. Increasing the level of a piece of equipment requires 2 copies of the equipment and an additional recipe for that equipment to obtain. The copies must additionally be of a minimum level to craft.

Why would you level an item up?
There are two benefits to leveling an item up.


 * 1) Each item has a special ability that gets enhanced with each tier of increase.
 * 2) * For example, Nagnarok gets a Slash Damage bonus, and at each level it goes up.
 * 3) * i.e. The slash bonus is +0, +2, +3, +5, +8, then finally +15 when you reach +5.
 * 4) Your odds for rolling increases in stats upon level up get a boost.
 * 5) * This bonus is typically 2x level for the major stats
 * 6) * i.e. You are 10% more likely to roll an ATK boost at each level on a Nagnarok +5 than it is on a base sword.

For all the details of a specific piece of equipment, visit the WotV:FFBE Equipment Calculator.

Equipment Types
Equipment Types determine both the maximum stats in each category for a weapon as well as the odds that any level up will increase each specific stat.

Most crafted equipment has two or three possible types of the following available. Some equipment has only one type available.

The base ("+0") weapon type is randomly generated.

After June 2010, when creating +1 or higher equipment, the type is inherited from one of the weapons you are using as an ingredient for the upgraded weapon.

If both pieces of equipment have the same type, it is automatically the same, if the types are mixed, you are allowed to pick which type the new piece of equipment will inherit.

Leveling Equipment
When a piece of equipment gains a level, each statistic that is not full will have a fixed percentage of increase for any given stat.
 * The increase per "hit" is set per recipe, but is consistent across equipment types.
 * The odds for each stat will vary based on the equipment type.

For example, for the Nagnarok sword, HP will always grow by +2 per "hit", Attack by 4, Magic by 3, Accuracy by 1, and Evade by 1 when a level is "hit". The odds of a "hit" for ATK, however is 36% for an Attack type, 21% for a Magic type, and 41% for a Vital type.

Seals
Using Seals when upgrading equipment will raise your odds of rolling a specific stat each turn. Since every stat gets a unique roll for increase, using seals can increase any given stat's opportunity by 1.5x its normal odds, up to a 15% increase if the odds are greater than 30% to begin with. To use seals for every level, you will need 49 seals for a single piece of equipment for the corresponding stat.

Hammers
Hammers are used to raise a given stat by a fixed rate. You can use hammers at any point in the crafting process. Sometimes hammers can be used to maximize a stat early to increase your odds a pity rolls, other times you want to hold the hammers until after you've fully crafted the equipment. The most common use case is to max the HP stat of an accessory early to increase pity rolls

'Pity Roll'
If there are no hits on a level up roll, then a single "pity" point will be applied to the equipment type's primary statistic.

To further the Nagnarok example, if you have a +0 Magic Nagnarok and add 1 level, you have a 27% chance to get 2 HP, followed by a 21% chance to get 4 attack, then a 30% chance to add 3 magic, then a 2% chance at accuracy, then a 1% chance for Evade.

Theoretically, you can get all 5 stats to hit in one level, but if you have bad luck and do not get even one of these bonuses, you will get a +1 bonus to the Magic stat, as this is the weapon's type.

If any given stat is at its maximum value, then there will be no roll for it, increasing your odds for a pity stat increase.

Crafting Strategies
Various strategies for crafting have been suggested by various community members:
 * Build to +2, and disassemble until you get a great roll, using no seals or hammers.
 * Build until the number of +1 stats remaining is 1 per level, then max HP or other hammer stat.
 * "You can safely aim for a +3 lvl30 or +4 lvl 40 equipment, while wasting 0 resource toward your future +5 craft, as they are needed in the recipe!"
 * Evaluate the level or value of a piece of equipment you wish to reach by the number of books required to obtain a stat.
 * Build to +5, using seals for all 49 levels, hammer remaining wanted stats.