Arts and Crafts

[dagger]

I just wrote this on the Discord channel but figured I'd put it here as well. I know from experience that it's nice to have answers to questions in multiple places on these boards so another "explanation" of crafting here won't hurt anybody.

In a nutshell, basically use a tuning item with your highest priority statistic ONLY if possible. That will ensure that if a result exists with that stat (MP, SP, HP, Drain, Crit, Parry, Dodge, Acc, Crit%, Elemental Dmgs and resists, Stealth ( is that all of them? Basically everything but dmg and armor I think) then you will get a crafted armor/weapon/shield with that stat, plus a few more. Your +4 dmg amulet that you used above could probably be used again on the exact same leather jerkin and it would give you a different result based on the fact that dmg isn't used in the "scoring" when deciding which one of the 3-5 different crafted results you will get. For instance, if you want SP drain, then using a tuning item that only gives SP drain (or SP drain and armor/dmg) will get you a crafted item with SP drain and a few more stats....again, assuming it exists as one of the 3-5 possible results. I guess that wasn't "in a nutshell"......sorry.

It's actually not that confusing. You just have to remember that your tuning item needs to be specific to what you want on the crafted item. The only "confusing" part is that at this point, we don't really know what all the possible results could be so you run the risk of getting something completely different (but still powerful) than what you're trying for. Another for instance.....if you want MP and use a pair of +1MP boots for your tuner but the weapon/shield/armor that you are trying to craft doesn't have a +MP result in the 3-5 results the TBs have created for that particular weapon/shield/armor....then you will get a random craft of those 3-5. As in you earlier example, you could probably craft those same two items multiple times and get different results since the stat you are using on your tuning item doesn't match any of the possible crafted results. If 2 of the 5 "results" had +1MP then you would get one of those two results every time you used the MP tuner.

[dagger]

As a BIG thorough "for example" in crafting let's do this...I will put 5 made-up results for a particular piece of gear and show how different tuning items would get certain results.

So, lets use a Spiked shield as our "mundane" item we want to craft. It has +5 Parry.

Let's say the following are the 5 possible results the Trese Brothers have created for this particular item. The first two results below are actually confirmed results you can get in game. The next 3 I made up...

1) 5 parry, 1 acc, 3% auto-block, +120 hp, +6 dmg, 2% crit, +14 all res.
2) 6 parry, 3% auto-block, +100SP, +6 dmg, 2% crit, 8 All resists, 8% SP drain
3) 6 parry, 3% auto-block, +10 fire dmg, +1 MP, +2 Dodge
4) 5 parry, 1 acc, 3% auto-block, 3% crit, +25% crit dmg, 3% SP drain
5) 5 parry, 3 acc, 3% auto-block, +3 Dodge, 3% SP drain.

Now, if you know these are the 5 results that are possible, you can use a specific tuning item to make sure you get the one you want. For instance, you want MP. So, since the only result that has MP in it is number 3, you can use a tuning item that has +1MP ONLY (say a ring or boots) and you will get the number 3 result EVERY TIME. Same would be true of fire damage. If you used a tuning item that only gave + Fire Dmg then you would get result number 3 because that's the only result with fire dmg as a result. IT DOESN'T MATTER how much fire dmg you use on the tuner. Could be +1, could be +50. The only result you are going to get is number 3.

Another example, you want more Dodge. If you use a tuner that has Dodge only then you will get either result 3 or 5 since they are the only ones with Dodge in the results. Now if you wanted to make sure you got result number 5, the best way to do it would be to find a tuner with exactly 3 Dodge, matching the result.  That would score as 3/3 or 1.00 but only score as 2/3 or .67 for result 3, thus giving you result 5.  Another way you could do that is to find a tuner that has both Dodge and SP drain. If you have one of those, then chances are you will get result 5 since two statistics match the result whereas only one matches result number 3.  BUT, you need to pay attention to what the numbers are because if they also count in a different result, you may accidentally get that result.  It would be rare but it's possible.  Say, for instance, you used a tuner that had 1 Dodge and 8% SP Drain.  You would score 1/3=.33 and 3/8=.375 for a total of .705 towards result 5, but result 2 would score 0/1 (dodge)=0.0 and 8/8=1.0 for SP drain for a total of 1.0 so you would end up with result 2.  Like I said, rare but possible.  Just want to make you aware.  Like I said above, probably the best tuner in this scenario to get result number 5 is to use a dodge item with exactly +3 on it.  You could use a +3dodge/+3 parry tuner because there is no parry buff to the above shields.  The parry stat comes with the shield so that stat will not count towards the results.

If you wanted to make sure you got result 1, use a tuning item that only gives +HP. Since that's the only result above that gives +HP you will get that result every time. Same for SP and result 2. Where it gets tricky is the same statistic with different numbers.

Let's say we want critical. Results 1,2, and 4 all give crit but 1 and 2 only give 2% whereas result 4 gives 3%. That's the one we want. Now obviously, we could use a tuning item that has +crit dmg ONLY to get result number 4 since that is the only result with that stat so we'd get it every time. But let's just say we don't have a +crit dmg item to use as a tuner. But, we have +1 crit, +2 crit, +3 crit, and +4 crit items.

If we use the +1 crit item we'd get 1/2 (0.5) on results 1 & 2 and a 1/3 (0.33) on result 4 so we'd end up with either 1 or 2.
If we use the +2 crit item we'd get 2/2 (1.0) on results 1 & 2 and a 2/3 (0.67) on result 4 so, again, we'd end up with random 1 or 2.
If we use the +3 crit item we'd get 2/3 (0.66) on results 1 & 2 and a 3/3 (1.0) on result 4 so this time we'd get number 4.
If we use the +4 crit item we'd get 2/4 (0.5) on results 1 & 2 and a 3/4 (0.75) on result 4 so, again, we'd get number 4.

Again, they always take the lower number over the higher number and "score" it, regardless of whether that number comes from the tuner or the result.

One final point, regular +dmg and +armor are throwaway stats. In other words, they don't count towards results, EVEN IF, as in the above example, the results give you a bonus in one or both of those stats. So, even though both results 1 and 2 give +6 dmg, using a tuning item that only gives +dmg will NOT guarantee one of those two results. You will get a random result of all 5 possibilities. That also means that you can use items that have 2 statistics where one of them is dmg and get the result you want. For instance, a +HP +dmg item will always get you result 1 above.


So, that is the simplified way to craft what you want.  One final example using a couple realistic tuners which will show why you need to be careful before just throwing a tuner with the stat you want in the crafting box and hoping it works.

Let's say we want result 3 with the +10 fire dmg.  Common tuners in the early game give you both fire dmg and fire resists.  So, say you have a tuner with +6 fire dmg/+6 fire resists.  If you use this you will NOT get result 3; you will get result 2.  Why?  Let's score it.  Results 1,2, and 3 actually have parts of the tuner stats.  Results 1 and 2 both have all resists.  The fire resists in the tuner counts against the all resists stat. So....

Result 1 will have 0/6 fire dmg (no fire dmg in the result) for a score of 0.0, but 6/14 for the fire resists or .43 so the total score is .43.
Result 2 will have 0/6 fire dmg (again, no fire dmg in the result) for a score of 0.0, but 6/8 for the fire resists or .75 so the total score is .75.
Result 3 will have 6/10 fire dmg for a score of .60 but 0/6 for the fire resists so the total score is .60.

Thus, you would get result 2 with that tuner.  Again, that's why the best way to craft is to find the stat that only exists in the result you want and try to match it with the same stat on your tuner and either nothing else, your stat along with +dmg or +armor, or a second stat included in the result you want.

Anyway, that's crafting as I understand it. Please let me know if I'm wrong on any of this and I'll correct it.

[fallen]

dagger - big +1 for pulling all this together!

[dagger]

Not a problem. I was up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't sleep so I figured I'd try to do something mildly productive. As I said earlier, I always appreciate people posting good information in multiple places because I can never seem to remember exactly where I read something when I need to find it again. This forum has done a pretty good job at hitting the major things I use in the Players Guides: Heroes and Monsters thread but crafting is still pretty random on where you find that one piece of information you need. Hopefully this pulls the majority of it together in one place. Feel free to move it if you'd like....or I can start a new thread and just copy and paste it as the starter piece....or we can leave it where it is: in Arts and Crafts.

[dagger]

A couple of early Ep2 crafts for anyone who cares. I bought two sets of Keen Balanced Knives in Braeyshaulm after rescuing Valent but BEFORE (and that is important) having the second (private) chat with Morgan. Once you have that private chat, all spears, hammers, and throwing knives are removed from the Braeyshaulm store. The swords and bows get better however, so if you're wanting one of those, have the chat before buying anything. Anyway, I bought two sets because the first one didn't give me what I wanted so I tried again. No luck there either so....

Keen Balanced Knives--8Acc, 2Parry, 19-44 at 3 range got tuned with Bracers of the Day(?) I can't read my own writing) +4 Fire Dmg +4 Fire Resist. I also tried tuning it with Premonition Band +3 Parry. In both cases the crafting result yielded:
Keen Balanced Knives--9Acc, 2Parry, 21-46 at 3 range +4 Fire Dmg, +12 Lightning Dmg, +3% SP Drain.

While the better base damage is nice and the SP Drain is always helpful (especially on Tamilin), I was really after Dodge and Parry with crit the dream. I'll admit to getting a little greedy on my first try. If you read my posts a few back you'll know I got a phenomenal set of Throwing Knives in Ep1 using +6 Fire and +16 Fire Resist on my tuner so I tried to get away with that here. Not to be. So, I decided to try again. I bought a second set of knives and used a Parry only tuner thinking (again, wrongly) that since the Ep1 set gave me 4 Parry and 4 Dodge, these knives would have something similar. Nope. Whatever the 3-5 possible results are for this particular set of knives, Parry isn't one of the stats or else I would have gotten that result. I was actually going to try a third time but I'm down to only one bloodstone so I'll have to wait, at best, and will probably forego trying again until my next playthrough. Live and learn.

So, I've got to compare my Ep1 set to this new set and it's close.
Ep1 Throwing Knives 6Acc, 2Parry, 15-34 at 3 range, +10 Fire Dmg, 2% Crit, +32% Crit Dmg, +4 Parry, +4 Dodge vs
Ep2 Keen Balanced Knives 9Acc, 2Parry, 21-46 at 3 range, +4 Fire Dmg, +12 Lightning Dmg, +3% SP Drain.

Basically, I'm trading 3Acc for 8 Defense (4Parry, 4Dodge). I'll do a little more damage consistently with the new set but that will probably be evened out by the crit bonuses on the first set. All in all, until and unless I start having issues hitting things with my first set, this second set was a waste of 4 bloodstones and roughly 4000 gold for the two sets IIRC. I'm sure by the time that happens, I will have been able to upgrade from the Keen Balanced Knives so.....note to self (and anyone else who cares) don't waste money too soon trying to upgrade something awesome. Wait until you really start to notice what you're not getting before trying to craft a way to get it.

[crimsonking]

You might want to add your results in the crafting results thread. That source might also help you decide which item to craft and which bonuses on the tuning items to use.

[dagger]

Good idea. Thank you!