The black stone not only takes a big part in Black Desert’s story, but it’s also an important part of the game. That is because it serves a role as the basic ingredient necessary to improve, enhance, the properties of equipment.

Have you ever wanted to wear better equipment and easily defeat monsters? Any Adventurer in Black Desert’s world can do this through enhancement.

You can access the Enhancement interface by talking with your Black Spirit (hotkey: , ).

Enhancement Materials

Equipment enhancement in Black Desert is carried out via the consumption of enhancement materials by the Black Spirit so it can improve your equipment pieces.

 

The enhancement material employed depends on the type of equipment to be improved (weapons, defense gear, accessories), and the enhancement level.

 

Please refer to the table below.

 

Equipment Type	Enhancement Level: + 1 ~ 15	Enhancement Level: PRI (I) ~ PEN (V)
Weapons	Black Stone	Concentrated Magical Black Stone
Defense Gear	Black Stone	Concentrated Magical Black Stone
Accessories	-	Base accessory of the same type

 

Most equipment enhancement can be carried out following the above rules, but keep in mind that some equipment will require other materials.

 

Below are some of the exceptional cases in which different enhancement materials are needed.
(Do not worry, you do not have to memorize them. You’ll naturally find them as you progress through the game.)

 

Equipment Type	Enhancement Level: + 1 ~ 15	Enhancement Level: PRI (I) ~ PEN (V)
Naru Weapons	Beginner Black Stone
Naru Defense Gear
Tuvala Weapons & Defense Gear	Time-filled Black Stone
Manos Clothes	Black Gem	Concentrated Magical Black Gem
Manos Accessories	Concentrated Magical Black Gem
Blackstar Weapons	Concentrated Magical Black Stone	Flawless Magical Black Stone
Blackstar Defense Gear	Concentrated Magical Black Stone	Flawless Magical Black Stone
Slumbering Origin Gear	-	Flawless Chaotic Black Stone

 

How to Enhance

 

◈ The Basics

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Enhancement is the action to improve the stats (AP or DP) of equipment.
Most equipment pieces can be safely enhanced up to +7 for weapons, and +7 for armor without failure. It is the so-called "safe enhancement" range, and thereafter you will be able to increase the enhancement level by small chances.
 
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.
Especially for accessories, such as necklace, earrings, belt, and rings, if you fail enhancement, note that both the item you wanted to enhance and the ingredient item used for enhancement can disappear.

Please also note that the higher the level of enhancement you are attempting, the greater the maximum durability decrease will be.

With that said, once you have the equipment piece you want to improve, and its correct ingredient for enhancement, summon the Black Spirit (hotkey: , ), and select the Enhancement option.

The marked areas of the picture above are explained below.

1. Enhancement Materials
If there are suitable enhancement materials in your character’s inventory, they will be selected automatically when selecting the equipment to be enhanced.

2. Enhancement Success Probability
The success rate of the current enhancement. It is determined by the type of equipment to be enhanced, the level of enhancement, and the increased rate of equipment enhancement.

3. Equipment to Be Enhanced
This is the equipment piece you have selected to be enhanced.

4. Max Durability Decreased on Failure
If equipment enhancement fails, the maximum durability is reduced by the value written here.
If the maximum durability is lowered to a certain level, you can no longer continue to try to enhance the piece. In that case, you have to restore the item’s maximum durability.

As seen in the picture above, for certain pieces of equipment, such as accessories, instead of telling you the item may lose maximum durability upon failure the game will warn you the item will be destroyed upon failure.

5. Equipment Enhancement Rate Increase
It is a number that affects the probability of success of enhancement. It is also commonly called a "Stack" among Adventurers.
If an enhancement fails, it accumulates and increases, and if it succeeds, it is consumed.
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.’
After building the enhancement chance to a satisfactory level, it is then time to try to enhance the equipment piece you want improved.

Please note that Loggia, Geranoa, and Manos clothes and accessories that can increase life skill-related stats are not affected by the 'Equipment Enhancement Probability Increase' value, and instead have a fixed probability according to the enhancement level.

6. Enhance
Finally, when you press this button, the enhancement attempt is made. The result is irreversible, so please click carefully!

Above the safe enhancement range (weapon +7, defense gear +7), the force-enhancement function will be activated to proceed with enhancement with a 100% chance of success.
 
However, for force-enhancement, you need more black stones than the amount you need for general enhancement. The higher the level of enhancement, the more black stones will be required, and as this process is forceful, the maximum durability of the item will decrease.
It is also important to note that, depending on the level of enhancement, the decrease in the maximum durability of the item will be severe.
 
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.

The black stones that have been used for enhancement can be recovered in proportion to the enhancement level through the Black Stone Extraction option at a blacksmith.
However, the equipment from which the black stones are extracted will be destroyed permanently.
 
If you have increased the enhancement level of an item through safe enhancement only, you can recover as many black stones as the number of black stones you have used for enhancement.
If you have increased the enhancement level above safe enhancement, the number of black stones you will recover is the level plus a certain number within a range.

➤ Please check the [Extraction] page for more information on this topic.

To avoid this happening, you use Cron Stones. 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, as in small but steady amounts via boss encounters and as event rewards.

If you check the "Use Cron Stone" option in the Enhancement window, you can safely proceed with enhancement.

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.

As said above, when enhancing with Cron Stones, weapons and defense gear do not decrease in enhancement level upon failure, and in the case of accessories, instead of being destroyed, the enhancement level may drop.

Additionally, it is important to know that if you enhance with Cron Stones the equipment enhancement chance will increase in case of failure with +1 (This does not apply when using J's Hammer of Loyalty), and that all necessary Cron Stones will be consumed even if you succeed in the enhancement attempt.

Therefore, when deciding to enhance using Cron Stones, carefully consider various factors such as: The number of Cron Stones required, if it is worth using them with that piece of equipment (if it would be cheaper to instead re-enhance the piece, silver-wise), your current probability of success, and so on.

Recover Max Durability

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.
Therefore, it is important to know when it is better to use one or the other, depending on the cost of repair of the item.

 

➤ Please check the [Repair] page for more information on equipment durability and how to repair it.

 

Other Tips

 

◈ Advice of Valks – Extract Enhancement Chance

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What if you want to keep the increased enhancement chance you’ve obtained and use it later?
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.

When you purchase a blacksmith’s secret book, please keep in mind that you need to purchase the proper secret book that is applicable to the enhancement chance you want to extract.

For blacksmith’s secret books, the extraction of an enhancement chance that is less than what is written in the secret book is allowed.For example, if the current enhancement chance you want to extract is +21, blacksmith’s secret book - 20 cannot be used for extraction. Blacksmith’s secret book - 30 would be the proper item.

Once you’ve purchased the proper secret book, summon the Black Spirit and access the enhancement menu.

If you have a blacksmith’s secret book, the Extract Chance button becomes active.

Right-click the secret book you have in your inventory, then press the Extract button to proceed with extraction. Agree with the warning window, and the enhancement chance you had will be extracted as an advice of Valks item of the same amount.
 
However, keep in mind that any "Valks’ Cry" chance increase you may have had applied will not be extracted.
If you proceed with the enhancement chance extraction while you had Valks’ Cry applied, the enhancement chance will be reset to 0 but the amount of Valks’ Cry applied will remain the same.

Using Naderr’s band is another method to preserve the enhancement chance you’ve obtained to enhance equipment.

These are slots that can store equipment enhancement chances.
Unlike a blacksmith's secret book, these have the advantage that they can be preserved without being limited to the number a book dictates, and in addition to that, the probability increase value from Valks' Cry is also saved. 

However, there is a limit on the maximum number of slots that can be used.
A 5-second cooldown is given after using Naderr's band to transfer an enhancement chance of 100 or higher.

This functionality can be unlocked after completing the short Naderr’s band questline in the village of Tarif, in Mediah. It can only be accepted once per family, when you are level 58 or higher.
If you fulfill the quest requirements, receive the [Naderr's Band] Magic of the Dark Energy quest from the Black Spirit and progress through them.
By using the quest reward Nader's parchment, you can activate both the functionality and unlock one slot.

One other Naderr's band slot can also be obtained via the Pearl Shop with loyalties.

Valks' Cry is an item that increases the success rate of equipment enhancement.

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.
You can use up to 13 in total if you complete the entirety of the Sherald's Journal in your Adventure Log.

It can be obtained as a quest reward, from events, and via the Pearl Shop.

Through devouring, your Black Spirit can consume items of a high enhancement level and others to convert them into an increase in the success rate of equipment enhancement.
The act of devouring gear can add an additional value even if you currently have an equipment enhancement chance of 1 or higher.

There is a chance of failure, and regardless of success, the equipment selected to be devoured will disappear, so choose carefully.

Please note that certain equipment, such as Blackstar and Godr-Ayed, cannot be devoured.

◈ Another Adventurer's Choice

Have you ever wondered how many stacks are needed to enhance TRI (III) Tuvala gear? When you have selected an equipment piece to enhance it, by pressing the icon that appears to the right of Current Enhancement Chance, you can see the enhancement chances used by other Adventurers for the same type of item on that enhancement level.

The information from the Another Adventurer's Choice window will refresh when the window is opened, and that gear without enough data on enhancement chances will be displayed only once there is enough data to be assessed.

Please note that the following equipment will not display information on other Adventurers' choice of enhancement chance: Accessories for guaranteed PEN (V) accessory enhancement, equipment for guaranteed PEN (V) boss gear enhancement, and Naru equipment.

◈ Group Enhancement

Adventurers with the same enhancement level (for example, both attempting to enhance from level IV to V) can enhance together. As shown in the screenshot below, once all party members are ready, the party leader initiates the enhancement attempt and everyone enhances together.

However, keep in mind that there is no increase in enhancement success rate or any additional benefit from enhancing in a group. Likewise, when using the Group Enhancement feature, the use of Cron Stones works as before, not affected by the feature. This is simply a small feature designed for Adventurers who may have been hesitant to enhance alone or for those who want to enhance with like-minded guild members or friends.

Note the following restrictions when using this feature:

Caphras enhancement has a total of 20 levels.
The TRI (III) or higher weapon and defense gear will get EXP when you infuse them with Caphras stones.

They go up a level once they get enough EXP. They get a new effect each time they level up. These tend to be an increase in their inherent stats, such as accuracy, AP, DP, evasion, damage reduction, and more.

When a piece of equipment reaches Caphras enhancement Lv. 20, it can be safely improved to the next enhancement level (e.g. III → IV, IV → V).

The item needs to have 100 max durability to upgrade it. Once it’s successfully upgraded, it will have 0 max durability and its Caphras enhancement levels will be reset.

Be careful when you try to attempt a regular enhancement with an item that has Caphras enhancement levels or any Caphras stone infused in it at all. If you fail the enhancement, only 50% of the Caphras enhancement EXP (and thus Caphras stones) will be transferred over.

If you succeed with a regular enhancement, then 10% of the Caphras enhancement EXP will be transferred over.

The table below shows the effects each type of item gets at every Caphras enhancement level.
Please note that the effects do not accumulate.

➤ Please check the [Caphras Enhancement] page for more information on the topic, such as the Caphras stone cost of the first 10 levels of improvement with this feature.

*The content of the game guide may differ from the actual game content, depending on the update and content changes.