Black Desert Online Gear Enhancement Basics: Failstacks, Durability & Ancient Anvil
Comprehensive guide for Black Desert Online explaining enhancement levels, failstack mechanics, durability repair, and the Ancient Anvil pity system.
Enhancement Overview & Safe Limits
Enhancement is the action to improve the stats (AP or DP) of equipment.
You can access the Enhancement interface by talking with your Black Spirit. That is because it serves a role as the basic ingredient necessary to improve, enhance the properties of equipment.
Most equipment pieces can be safely enhanced up to +7 for weapons, and +5 for armor, without failure. From base to +15, the piece shows its enhancement level with a number. From level 16 to 20 of enhancement, the levels are indicated as PRI (I), DUO (II), TRI (III), TET (IV), and PEN (V).
Key Point: Accessory Enhancement Stages
Rings, necklaces, belts, and earrings, which are accessories, can be enhanced a total of 5 levels.
Standard Equipment Enhancement Progression
| Equipment Type | Base to +15 | Lv. 16 to Lv. 20 | Lv. 21 to Lv. 25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapons | +1 to +15 (Safe to +7) | PRI (I) to PEN (V) | HEX (VI) to DEC (X) (Sovereign) |
| Defense Gear | +1 to +15 (Safe to +5) | PRI (I) to PEN (V) | Slumbering Origin Stages |
| Accessories | None (Base only) | PRI (I) to PEN (V) | HEX (VI) to DEC (X) (Kharazad) |
Failstacks & Enhancement Chances
In numbers, if you fail an enhancement attempt, the enhancement chance increases by 1.
As the count increases, the success chance for the next enhancement gets higher. By using this, one can repeatedly fail to enhance equipment with low enhancement probability to build up so-called "failstacks".
To extract the enhancement chance in item form, you can use a blacksmith's secret book to create Advice of Valks. Blacksmith's secret books can be purchased from Blacksmith NPCs in major towns.
Tip: Valks' Cry Additional Chance
Apart from the increase in equipment enhancement success probability obtained by failing to enhance equipment, each time you use Valks' Cry, you can get +1 chance increase. By default, up to 10 Valks' Cry can be used together for one enhancement.
Durability Loss & Recovery Methods
If you fail enhancement, the maximum durability of the equipment might decrease, the enhancement level may be lowered, or the piece might be destroyed, depending on the type of item.
Please also note that the higher the level of enhancement you are attempting, the greater the maximum durability decrease will be. In order to restore the lowered maximum durability of an equipment piece, equipment of the same type as the target (base, at +0) or memory fragments are required.
If the maximum durability of an item becomes 20 or less due to enhancement failure or force-enhancement, it will no longer be available for enhancement. If the maximum durability becomes 0, you can no longer use that equipment piece until its maximum durability has been restored.
Warning: Accessory Failure Warning
Especially for accessories, such as necklaces, earrings, belts, and rings, if you fail enhancement, note that both the item you wanted to enhance and the ingredient item used for enhancement can disappear.
Cron Stones & Level Drop Protection
However, if you fail the enhancement attempt at the DUO or above level, the enhancement level of the piece will decrease.
With the use of these stones, you can prevent weapons and defense gear from losing enhancement levels, and for accessories, you may be able to prevent them from being destroyed. Please note that in the case of accessories, they may not be destroyed, however, their enhancement level might decrease by a certain chance.
You can obtain cron stones by purchasing them from a Blacksmith NPC in towns, by extracting them from pearl outfits, in small but steady amounts via boss encounters, and as event rewards. Additionally, it is important to know that if you enhance with cron stones, the equipment enhancement chance will not increase in case of failure, and that all necessary cron stones will be consumed even if you succeed in the enhancement attempt.
Note: Cron Consumption Rates
The number of cron stones required is displayed in the cron stone slot at the top left and varies depending on the equipment to be enhanced and the level of enhancement.
Ancient Anvil & Agris Essence Pity System
Each time you fail to enhance an item, you will see "Agris Essence" start to fill up in the "Ancient Anvil," which, when activated, will grant 100% enhancement success rate for said item.
The Ancient Anvil is activated once enough Agris Essence has been stored. Each failed enhancement attempt will grant 1 Agris Essence regardless of the type of gear and enhancement level. If you successfully enhance a piece of gear without having stored enough Agris Essence, any stored essences will be consumed upon success.
Agris Essences apply for enhancing normally, with Cron Stones, or with a hammer item. Enhancing with the Ancient Anvil activated (100% success rate) will NOT consume your current enhancement chance.
Key Point: Shared Agris Essences
The maximum amount of storable Agris Essence varies per type of gear and enhancement level. Certain items share stored Agris Essences.
Agris Essence Maximum Storable Pity Values
| Gear Category | Enhancement Level | Max Storable Agris Essences |
|---|---|---|
| Blackstar Weapons / Defense Gear | TET (IV) | 15 |
| Blackstar Weapons / Defense Gear | TRI (III) | 9 |
| Sovereign Weapons | PEN (V) | 35 |
| Sovereign Weapons | TET (IV) | 30 |
| Yellow Grade Boss Weapons / Defense Gear | TET (IV) | 35 |
| Yellow Grade Accessories (including Deboreka) | TET (IV) | 20 |
| Tuvala Weapons / Defense Gear | TET (IV) | 8 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do safe enhancement limits work for weapons and armor?
Most equipment pieces can be safely enhanced up to +7 for weapons, and +5 for armor, without failure. Above the safe enhancement range (weapon +7, defense gear +5), the force-enhancement function will be activated to proceed with enhancement with a 100% chance of success.
How can you store or preserve accumulated failstacks for later?
To extract the enhancement chance in item form, you can use a blacksmith's secret book to create Advice of Valks. Using Naderr's Band is another method to preserve the enhancement chance you have obtained to enhance equipment.
Does triggering the Ancient Anvil consume your existing failstack?
Enhancing with the Ancient Anvil activated (100% success rate) will NOT consume your current enhancement chance. Once enough Agris Essences have been stored and the Ancient Anvil has been activated, you will use the same old enhancement materials to enhance your piece of gear with guaranteed success.
Sources & Disclaimer
This is unofficial content which contains copyrighted materials and IP from Pearl Abyss, and is not official/endorsed content.