Refinement System (Thor)

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 Enriched versions of these two ores, which, when used by a special upgrade NPC, increases the chance of successfully upgrading an item.

Upgrade NPC Locations

• Inside Prontera (prt_in) 63,60
• Inside Morroc (morocc_in) 73,38
• Payon (payon) 144,173
• Inside Alberta (alberta_in) 29,59
• Basement of Juno Armory (juno) 119, 137
• 2nd floor of Einbroch Blacksmith Guild (einbroch) 255, 108
• Basement of Lighthalzen Weapon Shop (lighthalzen) 194, 35

Upgrade Requirements

To upgrade equipment, make sure you have the following:

• Equipment
• Money
• Reagent

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

• Mid and Low Headgears
• Accessories
• Any items that are not equipment
• Any equipment that specifically says it cannot be upgraded

Reagents and Cost

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.

• Weapon Lv. 1 - Phracon (200 Z from NPC Shop) + 50 Z Fee
• Weapon Lv. 2 - Emveretarcon (1,000 Z from NPC Shop) + 200 Z Fee
• Weapon Lv. 3 - Oridecon (Monster drop) + 5,000 Z Fee
• Weapon Lv. 4 - Oridecon + 20,000 Z Fee
• All Armor Types - Elunium (Monster drop) + 2,000 Z Fee

Notes :

If you use Enriched Oridecon or Enriched Elunium from the kafra shop, the cost stay the same.

If you use HD Ordidecon or HD Elunium from the kafra shop, the fee is always 20 000 Z.

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.

Effects Gained

An upgraded weapon get the following bonus to ATK and MATK (for conciseness, only ATK is written) :

• Weapons
  • Weapon Lv. 1 - Every +1 upgrade gives 2 ATK, 0~3 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +7 safety limit, and ? ATK for every High Upgrade pass +15.
  • Weapon Lv. 2 - Every +1 upgrade gives 3 ATK, 0~5 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +6 safety limit, and ? ATK for every High Upgrade pass +15.
  • Weapon Lv. 3 - Every +1 upgrade gives 5 ATK, 0~8 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +5 safety limit, and ? ATK for every High Upgrade pass +15.
  • Weapon Lv. 4 - Every +1 upgrade gives 7 ATK, 0~14 ATK for every Over Upgrade pass the +4 safety limit, and 12 ATK for every High Upgrade pass +15.

A +20 level 4 weapon gives 201~424 extra ATK and MATK.

Notes:

• The Over Upgrade ATK and MATK is random for every hit and gives a minimum of 1. This bonus is not shown on the status window or affected by the Max ATK from Crit and Maximize Power or the Max MATK from Recognized Spell.
• All upgrade bonuses are cumulative so refining a level 4 weapon from +15 to +16 increases your bonus ATK and MATK from 106~259 to 125~292 (7 for the upgrade, 0~14 for the Over Upgrade and 12 for the High Upgrade).

• Armors
  • Every upgrade gives floor[( 3 + current upgrade ) / 4] Equipment DEF
  • Every +1 upgrade at +1 ~ +4 gives +1 Equipment DEF
  • Every +1 upgrade at +5 ~ +8 gives +2 Equipment DEF
  • Every +1 upgrade at +9 ~ +12 gives +3 Equipment DEF
  • Every +1 upgrade at +13 ~ +16 gives +4 Equipment DEF
  • Every +1 upgrade at +17 ~ +20 gives +5 Equipment DEF

Example : a +10 buckler will give 40 + 1+1+1+1 + 2+2+2+2 + 3+3 = 58 DEF.

Upgrades are useful, as for weapon upgrade, it increases your damage. For armors, it reduces damage you 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.

• Weapons
  • Weapon Lv. 1 - Safety Level +7
  • Weapon Lv. 2 - Safety Level +6
  • Weapon Lv. 3 - Safety Level +5
  • Weapon Lv. 4 - Safety Level +4
• Armors
  • All armor types have Safety Level +4

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(Purified) Oridicon/Elunium and Mighty Hammer

HD Oridicon and HD Elunium can be used by talking to Mighty Hammer inside Prontera. Your gear must be +7 or higher in order to begin upgrading it with HD ore.

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.

To attempt to upgrade an item that is +10 or higher, talk to Vestri (prt_in 90, 72) in the north room of the Prontera upgrade shop.
For armor, the player must have 100,000z and 1 Carnium.
For weapons the player must have 100,000z zeny 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 level 10 are very, very low, on the order of 10%.

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 50,000 Zeny fee per exchange. The exchanging can be done by talking to Austri (prt_in 85, 71) in the north room of the Prontera upgrade shop.

The Kafra shop sells HD Carnium and HD Bradium, which can be used on the Dwarf Mighty Hammer in Payon or inside Eden Group. Failing will result in losing one refine level, instead of three levels or breaking. The item will not fall below +10 when using HD materials, but can when using regular materials.

Success Chances

Success chance with normal metals

Chances to successfully refine an item with normal metals are:

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor
+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%
+10 -> +11	18%	18%	18%	8%	8%
+11 -> +12	18%	18%	18%	8%	8%
+12 -> +13	18%	18%	18%	8%	8%
+13 -> +14	18%	18%	18%	8%	8%
+14 -> +15	18%	18%	18%	8%	8%
+15 -> +16	17%	17%	17%	7%	7%
+16 -> +17	17%	17%	17%	7%	7%
+17 -> +18	17%	17%	17%	7%	7%
+18 -> +19	15%	15%	15%	5%	5%
+19 -> +20	15%	15%	15%	5%	5%

Success chance with enriched metals

Success chances using Enriched Oridecon/Elunium are:

Upgrade	Lv. 1	Lv. 2	Lv. 3	Lv. 4	Armor
+4 -> +5	100%	100%	100%	90%	90%
+5 -> +6	100%	100%	90%	60%	60%
+6 -> +7	100%	90%	75%	60%	60%
+7 -> +8	90%	60%	30%	30%	30%
+8 -> +9	60%	30%	30%	30%	30%
+9 -> +10	20%	20%	20%	10%	10%

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