Dragon Nest (Part Four)

Equipment

The equipment system in Dragon Nest is pretty simple and not as complex as that found in Magic Campus. In essence, almost all items found in the game are color-coded into 6 different "rarity or grades", "Normal" (White), "Magic" (Green), "Rare" (Blue), "Epic" (Orange), "Unique" (Purple) and "Legend" (Red). And naturally, the better the rarity of the item, the better the stats found on that item (with all other factors being equal).

In this system, the rarity of an equipment cannot be altered in any way and is determined right from the start (when it drops from a monster). With that being said, so how do you go about looting the better rarity items?

As far as I know, for item drops of rarity "Epic" and below, the difficulty of the dungeon and your level compared to the dungeon monsters would affect their chances of dropping. Let us take for example, Sanctuary Core in Abyss Mode (as shown in the above picture).

If I didn't remember wrongly, the recommended level for Sanctuary Core in Abyss Mode was around level 24. And since I was around level 25 (according to the screenshot), the final boss monsters still dropped some epic items although somewhat lesser than when I cleared it at level 23 or so.

Conversely, when I did a Raiders Ambush Point in Abyss Mode (recommended level 15), there was totally zero epic item drops from the final boss monsters. All the items that do drop from them mostly consisted of rarity "Rare" and below. This is most probably because I was way "higher leveled" than the monsters found in that dungeon instance. As for items of rarity above "Epic", I would guess that they will drop from the tougher dungeons like the Dark Lairs or Nests (ones that would require a party to clear).

Now that you know about rarity of an item (which is something we cannot change), let us take a look at the things that we can change.
Enhancement Potential

Enhancement potential is merely the lingo for upgrading your equipment in Dragon Nest. If you take an item such as armor or weapon to the blacksmith in any major towns (Calderock or Saint Haven), you have an option to upgrade it as long as you bring him the necessary materials.

But as far as I know, the materials you need depends on the rarity of the item your upgrading and how "upgraded" it already is. Items of "Normal" and "Magic" rarity (and at low upgrades) may not require any jewels and just needs some in-game coins (gold, silver, copper). However, upgrading "Rare" and above items would require the use of jewels like agates and/or diamonds of various sizes (fragments, rough, ordinary, etc) and quantity depending on item and upgrade levels.

And like all upgrading systems found in regular MMOs, there is a chance to fail the upgrade as you enhance the item more and more. Generally, an item is guaranteed to upgrade to +3 without fail and can be safely upgraded to +6 without the risk of losing the item. And at +7 and above, the item will start to glow, but that is also when you will risk losing the item unless you use "Item Protection Jellies" found in the cash item shop. For an idea of the chances of success, please refer to Dragon Nest Equipment Enhancement.

Initially, when the item is not yet upgraded, the "Enhancement Potential" section of the stats will not appear. Only when it has been upgraded at least once, will it appear. And as you upgrade it further, only the stats in the "Enhancement Potential" section will start to increase (while all other stats of the item remain as per normal).

Item being Upgraded	Stats Bonus (Enhancement Potential)
Armors	Max HP & MP
Weapons	Physical & Magic Attack Power

However, this is merely one of the ways to upgrade an equipment in Dragon Nest. There actually is another way of doing upgrades without the risk of losing your item or previous upgrades, albeit it being a more tedious process.

If you take a closer look at the items that the "Blacksmith" NPC sells, you would ought to find a particular tab called "Enhance Code". In this tab, you will find two particular types of codes being sold, "Spiral Codes" and "Vortex Codes". For each of these types of codes, there exists a "Rare" version and an "Epic" version. The "Rare" version can be used to upgrade rarity "Rare" equipments while the "Epic" version is used to upgrade rarity "Epic" equipments.

The best part about these codes is that they upgrade your equipment with 100% success rate, although they do work under certain limitations. "Spiral Codes" only work to upgrade an equipment by +1 while "Vortex Codes" would upgrade an equipment up to the upgrade level of that code. Additionally, these codes would only work on equipments of "their levels" and "types".

For instance, if you open up a "Level 40 General Spiral Code Common Pouch" of rarity "Epic", you might perhaps get a +7 "Level 40 Spiral Code" for say a "Helmet". This spiral code would then be only usable on a +6 Level 40 "Epic" helmet and once used, the code would upgrade the said helmet to a +7. If it was a "Vortex Code" instead, then the code can be used on any Level 40 "Epic" helmet of below +7. And this vortex code will then upgrade the helmet to +7.

Interested in buying these codes now, aren't you? But just wait a sec and take a closer look at them first. The pouches holding a random +7 to +10 spiral or vortex code requires you to pay up with "Comet Dust" while the +11 to +14 versions requires "Sun Sparks". So what are these "currencies" and how do you get them?

Well, here's where this weird looking structure comes in...the "Disassembler". When you place ordinary, non-upgraded items into this "Disassembler", it will normally give you a "fail" message and nothing comes out. However, when you place rarity "Rare" and above equipments, which are upgraded to at least +6, into this "Disassembler", you will then obtain some "Comet Dusts" and "Sun Sparks".

As far as I know, the higher the level requirement, rarity and/or upgraded level of the equipment your disassembling, the more "Comet Dusts" and "Sun Sparks" you would get. And if your lucky enough and the item your disassembling is "precious" enough, you might sometimes get "Comet Tails" (exchangeable for 10k "Comet Dusts" per "Comet Tail" at "Blacksmith" NPC), "Sun Flames" (exchangeable for 10k "Sun Sparks" per "Sun Flame" at "Blacksmith" NPC) and "Spiral/Vortex Codes" from the process as well. For more information about the quantity you can get, please refer to Obtaining Dragon Nest Comet Dusts and Sun Sparks.

Hidden Potential

Another type of "upgrading" you can do to your equipment to improve its performance is to "unveil" its hidden potential. To do so, you will need to use another form of codes that works similar to the "Spiral" and "Vortex" codes you've seen earlier.

Basically, you can find three kinds of these codes, "Agate", "Crystal" and "Diamond".

• Agate: Agate codes are used to reveal the hidden potential on armors.
  
• Crystal: Crystal codes are used to reveal the hidden potential on weapons.
  
• Diamond: Diamond codes are used to reveal the hidden potential on accessories.
  

And like the "Spiral" and "Vortex" codes mentioned earlier, these hidden potential codes also work with certain conditions. First of all, the hidden potential codes would only work upon equipments with the same rarity. Next, the level requirements of the equipment must be equal to or below that specified by the codes.

As long as these conditions are fulfilled, the hidden potential of the equipment will then be unveiled. However, the stats that do get applied upon the equipment is random and cannot be controlled. At best, the only thing you can do (if you dislike the stats applied) is to acquire a "Revert" Code to "wash away" the stats and then use another hidden potential code to get a fresh new set of stats.

Previous: Dragon Nest (Part Three)

Next: Dragon Nest (Part Five)

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