So after numerous requests and teaching loads of people individually I’ve decided to make a guide of it so that I can just link people to this thread. I will add to this over time with a few other methods and variations but for a starter I will share my basic method of forging gem tools with no defects (all going RNG well) and no quirks.
This method will work for 5 items at a time maximum and I may get generous and add my 9 items at a time method in the future.
I will be referring to a plain old diamond T6 durability hammer in this example. This requires the AOE boon to level 4, the Damage boon to level 8 and the remainder of your levels into the Durability boon.
Ingredients list
- Corrupted Boon Compound 1
- Defect Reversal Catalyst
- 3 types of Gum (Special, Effect, Longevity)
- Fate Paste 2
- Protection Paste 2
- Vigor Catalyst 2
- Deconstruction Resin 3
- Setting Resin
Phase 1 - Setting the Boons
This is the painful phase, the horrid RNG phase and can take anywhere from 1 - 40 attempts to get the desired boons.
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Step 1: Special Gum. Corrupt Compound x1 (or x2 if the first misses). If you get an unwanted boon then deconstruct. If you get the correct boon then Vigor Catalyst 2.
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Step 2: Effect gum. Corrupt Compound x1. If you get an unwanted boon then deconstruct. If you get the correct boon then Vigor Catalyst 2.
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Step 3: Longevity Gum x2. Protection Paste then Fate Paste. Corrupt Compound x3. Vigor Catalyst. Again, if you get the wrong boon then deconstruct.
Note:
I use only 1 gum at a time just as a personal preference. Using 2 at a time will increase your chances of success marginally.
Phase 2 - Leveling the boons
I prioritize leveling the damage boon first, then the AOE boon and then whatever is remaining into the durability boon and I use the gums to “control” this. I use this order as the AOE and Damage levels are non negotiable and doing the AOE second minimizes any chance of reaching AOE level 5.
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Step 1: Effect Gum. Protection Paste then Fate Paste. Corrupt Boon x3. Vigor Catalyst.
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Step 2: repeat step 1 and you should now have level 8 damage (if all went well)
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Step 3: repeat step 1 but use special gum instead. This should get you to AOE level 4… all going well.
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Step 4: repeat step 1 but with Longevity Gum this time. Keep repeating until you run out of Vigor or Stability. Then apply Setting Resin instead of the Catalyst
Obviously this isn’t going to pan out exactly this way every time, you will need to make decisions at every step based on where your boon points have gone depending on how the RNG gods have favored you or not.
When leveling the boons you can apply gums more than once to increase the chance that the boon points will go where you want them to, so occasionally I will apply 2x a gum and other times I will apply 1x special and 1x effect to try and split the 3 lots of compound between the 2 boons. All of this is dependent on each situation of course. Just bear in mind that any extra gums you apply are costing you vigor that could be used for defect reversal instead and even 20 stacks of a gum is no guarantee.
Making the correct decisions is what will be the deciding factor between forging a hammer with level 4 or 5 durability and forging a hammer with level 9 or 10 durability. You will get better at making these decisions the more you forge.
Controlling defect points
The Defect Reversal Catalyst costs 200 vigor to use so it is expensive and must be used sparingly. A good rule of thumb is to basically use it whenever your defect bar is around 50%. Any higher than 50% and you are taking a big risk, but also RNG can be a fickle mistress and give you a defect with a bar only 5-10% full.
Always apply your defect reversal AFTER you have done the vigor catalyst. Even if you have to cut your rotation short and apply only 2 compounds.
If at any time you get a bad defect then I’m afraid I’m going to have to recommend that you deconstruct. BUT some defects have little or no effect on the quality of the hammer, ie critical chance or critical damage have no effect on the hammers ability to one shot rocks. An energy defect isn’t bad and even a lower durability defect can be acceptable. Obviously a damage defect is bad, and an action speed defect will hurt too.
Again, with practice, you will learn how many times you can use this ingredient throughout the forging process and eventually defects should become a rarity.
GOOD LUCK
If people appreciate this I will add more variations and techniques in the future.
But this is a cost effective method that gets high end results, it can be applied to any gem tool or weapon just by choosing the appropriate gums and it has served me well for the longest time.
Feel free to ask any questions you might have and please do post screenshots of any results you wish to share good or bad.
