Lost Ark is an MMOARPG developed by Smilegate RPG and Tripod Studio, and has only just made its way to English-speaking territories this month. The game is set in Arkesia, where there are plenty of dungeons to explore and loot to chase down, especially as you get into the endgame content. Here’s how the Gear Honing system works in Lost Ark.
Lost Ark Gear Honing System Explained
Gear Honing is basically the game’s version of upgrading and improving your weapons and armor. This will help increase your item level, which will allow you to take on the more challenging endgame activities as you get there.
How to Unlock
Gear Honing can only be unlocked once you’ve reached level 50 and you’ve completed all the story quests. Once you get to Vern Castle in the North Vern region, clear out all the blue story quest markers, and this will grant you access to various activities like Chaos Dungeons and the Tower, as well as the Gear Honing process itself.
From this point on, you can check your map for the grey hammer icon, which indicates the location of the Gear Honing NPC. They can be found in all major hub cities, so feel free to speak with them whenever you want to upgrade your gear in Lost Ark.
Upgrading Gear
- Once you’ve located the Gear Honing NPC, speak with them to bring up the upgrade menu.
On the left side of the screen, you’ll see a list of all the gear pieces available for upgrade. Do note that you can only hone endgame armor sets, and you can farm them very easily by jumping into Chaos Dungeons, so we recommend doing one Chaos Dungeon run first before starting the honing process.
- Choose the piece of gear you want to upgrade.
Click on the item you want to upgrade, and it’ll show you the cost. Early stages will only require Harmony Shards, and we’ve got a farming guide here to help you out with that.
- Confirm your selection, and the honing process will start.
One important thing to note is that the more you upgrade a piece of gear, the lower the success rate will be for the honing process. As the success rate starts to dip, you might want to consider using a Star’s Breath to increase that rate so you’re not wasting your resources.
Gear Transfer
As you continue making your way through the endgame content, you might find new gear pieces that drop at a higher item level than your honed pieces. Thankfully, with the Gear Transfer system, you can transfer all the upgrades from your existing equipment to the new ones without wasting your already spent resources.
Again, speak with any Gear Honing NPC and choose the Gear Transfer option at the bottom of the screen. Choose the equipment you want to transfer to, as well as the gear you want to get rid of.
You’ll need to pay a small amount of Shillings to complete the process, and the price may go up depending on how upgraded your armor is, but Shillings are fairly easy to farm so there shouldn’t be too many problems there. Confirm your selection, and you’re good to go.
That’s all you need to know about how the Gear Honing system works in Lost Ark. Be sure to search for Twinfinite for more tips and information on the game.
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