Lost Ark features a plethora of weapons and crafting materials as you explore Arkesia. As soon as you hit level 50, you will wonder what next. With great enemies, come greater weapons. Through gear honing, you can increase the item level for each of your weapons. But there are some prerequisites to hone your gear. Not to worry, here’s our guide on how to hone gear and when to stop honing gear in Lost Ark.
Table of Contents
How to Hone Gear in Lost Ark (Gear Honing)
- Before we get on to the process, honing gear simply means upgrading your weapons and gear.
- You can unlock Gear honing by reaching level 50 and getting a 302 iLvl gear.
- You can get the item level to 302 by completing the Chaos Dungeons.
- Alternatively, you can also complete the Shushire questline to get an iLvl above 302 as a reward.
- We suggest completing the Shushire questline as getting an iLvl above 302 from Chaos Dungeons is based on RNG. If you are having trouble, check out our guide on how to upgrade and increase your item level.
- Then, all you need to do is head to the Gear honing NPCs that can be found in all the major cities.
- As you interact with the NPC, it will open the Gear honing menu.
- Now, for the upgrade part, you need several materials for gear honing.
- For example, to upgrade your tier 1 gear, you need Harmony Shards.
Image Source – Arekkz Gaming on YouTube. - There are three tiers to hone/upgrade your gear. For these tiers, you also require different crafting materials.
Mentioned below are all the honing materials required for certain tiers:
Tier 1 (iLvl 302-600)
- Harmony Shards
- Harmony Leapstones
- Destruction Stone Fragments (to hone armor)
- Guardian Stone Fragments (to hone weapons)
Tier 2 (iLvl 802-1100)
- Life Leapstones
- Guardian Stones
- Caldarr Fusion Materials
- Life Shards
- Destruction Stones
Tier 3 (iLvl 1302-)
- Guardian Stone Crystals
- Destruction Stone Crystals
- Basic Orhea Fusion Materials
- Simple Orhea Fusion Materials
- Honor Shards
- Honor Leapstones
- Great Honor Leapstones
There are also special items like Star’s breath (tier 1) that increase the success rate for the gear honing. For tier 2, the special items include Moon’s Breath. To increase the success rate for tier 3, items like Solar Grace, Solar Blessing, and Solar Protection work out. These can be obtained from completing Cube, purchasing from Mari’s shop, the auction house, completing chaos gates, events, and more. In addition to these methods, you can increase the success rate by getting the Tailoring books. You can get them by completing the Abyssal Dungeons or auction house.
You can also check out our guide on how to increase gear score for more insight.
When to Stop Gear Honing in Lost Ark
You can stop honing or upgrading your gear once your item level reaches Tier 2 (above iLvl 600). That’s because it will unlock the Yorn questline. As you complete Chaos dungeons, your chances of getting gear above iLvl 802 also increase.
We suggest stopping for a while before your gear reaches iLvl above 1100. This will unlock the Punika questline. So, take your time and grind on a certain tier for a while before you upgrade or hone your gear further.
That’s everything covered how to hone gear and when to stop gear honing in Lost Ark. If you liked this guide, check out our other guides on Trade Skills, the best places to mine iron, and how to get Aura of Resonance in Lost Ark right here on Gamer Tweak.