Date: 2012-04-17 03:48:36 Views:

Crafting in TERA

Sometimes, waiting for that perfect drop just isn't as satisfying as it could be. That cool quest reward isn't enough to get you to the next fight, and you really don't feel like battling through a zone of skeletons without better protection.

What's an adventurer to do? In TERA, there are four ways to get better gear: find it, earn it, make it, or buy it. In the example above, the first two options clearly aren't cutting it, so let's examine what exactly is involved in making gear.

How do I craft?

Although anyone can craft anything, not everyone can craft everything right away. A good selection of patterns are available through vendors in major cities, but rarer patterns drop from monsters.

To craft anything, you'll need time, a pattern appropriate to your skill, refined materials, and reagents (for making materials out of gatherables) or parts (for making finished goods).

What can I craft?

There are six different types of crafting in TERA, and your characters can learn all or none of them as you desire. Other than finding or buying patterns and materials, there are no training costs associated with "leveling" crafting, and you'll even get a bit of experience for the process.

Crafted items have a few advantages over random drops. The first being you always know exactly what you're going to get. If you need a new set of swords, you get some. The second benefit of a crafted item is that it's usually of a higher level than one you'll gain through quests rewards or drops.

Generally speaking, every five levels you'll move into a higher tier of equipment, so think about maximizing your combat potential as you level. A weapon is at its "best" when it's the same level as the wielder, and less so as the character progresses.

Weaponsmithing

You'll use weaponsmithing to make lances and shields, axes, paired swords, and greatswords. Weaponsmithing uses refined ingots, so learning how to turn ore you have gathered from mining into something useful is a big part of the craft.

Focus Crafting

For those who want to make their own ranged weapons, this is the skill to learn. Focus crafting makes bows, discs, scepters, and staffs, by melding or refining energy-infused crystals from essence gathering into weapons of war.

Armorsmithing

Lancers and berserkers wear heavy armor, gauntlets, and greaves, and armorsmithing is what you'll use to supply them. Armorsmithing uses the same ingots as weaponsmithing, but you'll need to learn separate patterns to level up your skill on ingots.

Leatherworking

Warriors, slayers, and archers wear leather armor, gloves, and boots made out of processed hides. Leatherworking is the only crafting skill not tied directly to gathering. Hides and leather only drop from killed enemies.

Tailoring

Sorcerers, mystics, and priests wear robes, sleeves, and shoes made of cloth. You will need to use plant gathering to gather the materials that you can then turn into the fibers used in tailoring patterns.

Alchemy

Using this skill, your characters can make consumable items like potions, scrolls, and dyes that can aid them while adventuring or make them look good while doing it. In addition to ingots and fibers, alchemy uses its own specialized materials refined from rare versions of gathered items.

Runes

The basics of crafting will help you gear up at lower levels, but for really good stuff you'll need to use runes. Only available as loot drops, runes are the magical "glue" that turns your crafting projects into something an adventurer wants. As the difficulty of your patterns increases, the type of runes you'll need will change. The best gear requires "greater" runes, which drop from BAMs.

Unified Theory of Equipment

All TERA equipment (crafted or otherwise) has a few things in common. When selecting which equipment to wear or craft, you should keep in mind your stats, the properties of your desired items, the number of crystal slots it has, and your level.

Weapons

Weapons are something that all character classes can agree on. You will always want the most powerful weapons you can beg, buy, or kill a monster to get. Like other gear you can equip, weapons come in tiers, and the higher the tier the more powerful the weapon.

No matter the stats, you should never equip a lower tier weapon than the one you're using, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should always upgrade. Not right away, at least. If an equipped lower tier weapon better matches your level, keep using it, especially if it has a special ability you like. Just be aware that if you keep a weapon for five or more levels past its prime, all you're really getting out of it are those special abilities.

Weapons have three universal characteristics, no matter which class uses them.

• Attack Modifier: Your character's Attack stat determines how much base damage you do. Your weapon adds significantly to this total.
• Extra Damage: Your character's Knockdown stat determines the likelihood of putting an opponent on the ground while fighting, and varies widely by class. Extra Damage on a weapon increases your chance of knocking an enemy down.
• Additional MP: Equipping a weapon raises your maximum MP.

Armor

Armor tiers are the same as those for weapons, and follow the same rules. "Armor" here refers to all kinds and slots (metal, leather, and cloth for main body, hands, and feet).

Armor has different base abilities than weapons, but they effectively work the same.

• Defense Modifier: Your character's Defense stat is the second-most-effective way to reduce damage (the first being "don't get hit"). The higher this value, the less damage you will take. But seriously, don't get hit.
• Balance Modifier: If you're not standing, you're not attacking. More importantly, you can't get out of the way of attacks if you can't move. Not getting knocked down is a big deal. The higher your Balance stat, the better off you'll be.
• Additional MP: Equipping armor pieces increases your maximum MP.

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Everything Else

Jewelry has no crafting skill, but necklaces, rings, and earrings also modify your character's stats in the same way as weapons and armor. They rarely have special abilities, but the better the piece, the more likely you'll want to keep it for a while.

• Necklaces and rings: Attack Modifier, Extra Damage, and Additional MP (as per weapons)

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• Earrings: Defense Modifier, Balance Modifier, and Additional HP (as per armor)

The Craft of Crafting

Although gathering has its own rewards, if you already have one or more characters filling your bank with materials, you may not need to start a third (or eighth) character down the same path. Plus, if you're in a decent guild, you may have another whole bank overflowing with materials gathered by others.

Plainly put, if you don't feel like gathering, but do want to craft, don't worry about it. Borrow or buy the raw materials you need, and craft your way up to whatever skill level necessary for that perfect pattern.

But what if you don't feel like watching your character standing in front of a work bench for a few hundred skill points? Turns out you don't have to. TERA has a few options to ease your pain.

Stand Somewhere Else

You don't have to wait to return to a major city to increase your crafting skill. If you've got the materials at hand, you can craft anywhere provided you have a campfire. Low on reagents? No need to stop adventuring. Vendors in all towns sell alchemy supplies.

Join the Federation, See the World

If you're high enough level to have money and time to spare, you can also level up your crafting by running a few quests. Just visit a mission board, select the Skill Level tab, and select the quest for whatever skill you want to increase.