Grand Chase General Discussion

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

BlackAngel36 — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:21:12 GMT

xXCelidaXx:

It's completely polite to walk in and say "SUYASI'S GUIDE WAS BETTER THAN YOURS" and walk away. Absolutely.
You people have no __________ manners. I don't see you guys creating an entire wall of text.

*semi-necro*

S'cuse me, but you have no right to accuse anybody of that, either.

The person in question said 'Suyasi's was amazing, but yours is good too.' They never implied that Suyasi's was better. Just that hers was amazing, and his was great also.

And why, in almost all of the posts I've seen from you, are you commenting snidely on some practically nonexistant point? Curious question.

xXCelidaXx:
You people have no __________ manners.

Oh. And if you have to blank out what you have to say, don't say it at all. Just 'You people have no manners.' would've done fine. Practice what you preach.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

xXCelidaXx — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:00:13 GMT

It's completely polite to walk in and say "SUYASI'S GUIDE WAS BETTER THAN YOURS" and walk away. Absolutely.

You people have no __________ manners. I don't see you guys creating an entire wall of text.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AlmazX — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:31:45 GMT

Added an itsy bitsy note on cash anklets thanks to FlameShower/LightMaster posting a screenshot of a cash anklet at maximum level.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

BlackAngel36 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:25:31 GMT

*mondo editor* ^.^b~

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AlmazX — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:01:45 GMT

Oh, bother. I'll just cut that out. I believe I was sitting there mystified and wondering what the person in question could possibly be equipping since they have nothing, and thus lost my train of thought while writing. I wonder why none of my editors caught it. Oh well. Thanks.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

BlackAngel36 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:52:28 GMT

Welll.. First thing -I- did was come to the Tips and Tricks, before I even had the game downloaded. XD. *fast learner*

Though.. I can't say the rest for newbies, seeing as some of them are...... Yeahh, not going there...

Oh well. It's -my- common sense, so personal discretion. O:

Still, I noticed that halfway through the post, it said something about before you went into Forest, if you had equips, that you were to equip 'em. Sadly, it was cut off. It instead jumped into.. The rest. You'll see it when you reread through. Thought it was something I needed to point out, to make things more clear. o:

Anyways. My vote for the sticky-fication stands. x3. God knows I needed this little thread when I came in, instead of figuring it out manually. Even though it didn't take too long. o_o;;

EDIT: Here's the section, bolded and underlined for fanciness.

"There's precious few dungeons to pick from at start. Click on one, probably Trial Forest, and you can Enter Room, which will pick a Trial Forest to put you in, or make one if there isn't any. Alternatively, you can view the Room List or Create Room. The latter two are fairly self-explanatory. Note that you can always change the name (and whether there's a password or not) by clicking on the grey "gear" button at the top of the screen whenever you're the Host of a room.

If you have items to prepare yourself with, there's the Equip tab at the top, and if you want to use a

In the lower right corner, . . ."

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AlmazX — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:45:58 GMT

I did consider putting it in the Tips and Tricks section, but I put it in General Discussion because most newbies file around into here and start asking for help with something or other here. Stuff on the front page admittedly moves pretty quickly, so the effort might be futile, but if they see this first instead, they might consider reading it before they ask, as I wrote it to answer basic questions that most people come to the forums with. Also, the titles of each forum are pretty vague. While obviously I can't disagree with a GM to any effect, if a moderator were to move my post, it seems something one can exercise one's own discretion regarding.

Thanks, though!

Ellia might be getting something soon-ish, I've ran through Bermesiah about four times by now, which, as you might guess, means I have four characters waiting to go through Ellia. If it weren't for the events for Ryan and then Amy respectively, I probably would already be at Battle for Bermesiah and writing a guide for Ellia. I don't know how those people who have Level 45 Amy already do it.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

BlackAngel36 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:34:30 GMT

Err. Shouldn't this be in the Tips and Tricks section, instead of the General Discussion section?

Good guide, otherwise. The lack of typos and chatspeak and all that crap is... Refreshing. Proper grammer and EVERYTHING. <3

I'll be looking forward to Ellia and Xenia. *grins*

This might also be sticky-worthy. O:

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AlmazX — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:14:47 GMT

Big update! Added a note that Amy's quest is basically impossible for you to be "leeched" through so please stop asking for it! Also added a major section on upgradeable items. A minor admission, some of the rune stats around the +9 level are speculative based on my observation of the mathematical progression, most of my runes stop at +8, but I do have confirmation of the stats on the absolute highest levels I noted, since I trawled the forum for rune screenshots.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AnnuSanna — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:22:45 GMT

Aww .

Suyasi`s guide was so good :( .

But this is`nt bad tho :)

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

Nazenwrath — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:41:03 GMT

I've been working on a walkthrough... prob post it on gamefaqs sometimes before xmas

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

zamte — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:06:59 GMT

It's a nice guide, and will be helpful to newer players. Although since a lot of the ones who need to read this are the same ones who'll be asking for Lass, it may help to throw in there that most people won't be able to "help" on it. Since most people can't solo her. She's far too spammy and has too much range for people to do it solo in most cases without a lot of trouble, so if you want to get it, even if you have help, you're going to need to be able to contribute. People get really pissed off when you tell them they're too weak for lass, but it's just how it is.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AlmazX — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:39:07 GMT

I figured my effort was going to duplicate someone's, but I kept on seeing the same questions over and over, here and in-game, so I felt the need to post it anyways.

Ah, hello. I've only been playing Grand Chase for a fairly short while (3 weeks), and as a result, much of this guide is credit to the sage advice of others. Thanks. You know who you are.

Re: 0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

iArrow — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:17:30 GMT

Suyasi made a guide like this..but she wanted it to die down :| so urs shall take the place of hers. Include pics and stuff like hers :]

0 to 2nd Job: A Guide to Bermesiah

AlmazX — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 04:15:25 GMT

Welcome to Grand Chase,

Odds are good you're probably sitting here staring at a thingummy that's installing on your computer. Or perhaps you have finally ventured here after totally losing your way at Orc Temple. Or Outer Wall of Serdin. Or maybe you're still wrestling with Trial Forest.This guide will attempt to advise you on the path to defeating Kaze'aze... or at least clearing her flunkies out of Bermesiah Continent, up to and including gaining your 2nd job and approximately level 30.

Table of Contents

1 Starting Out

1.0 Registering

1.1 Practice

1.2 Your First Dungeon

2 Exploring Bermesiah

2.0 Equipping Yourself

2.1 Groups and Dungeons

2.2 Missions and Difficulty

3 Locked Characters and Jobs

3.0 The Academy

3.1 Unlocking Ronan, Ryan, Lass, and Amy

3.2 Changing to 2nd Job

4 Upgradeable Items
4.0 Wind Necklaces and Guard Anklets
4.1 Cash Necklaces and Cash Anklets
4.2 Rune Basics
4.3 Rune Stats

1 Starting Out

1.0 Registering

This is where Grand Chase begins. You may wish to register an account if you haven't done so already. This can be done on the website at grandchase.ntreev.net, just click on Login on the left bar and it will offer you a Sign Up button front and center. The patcher will run once you've installed and started Grand Chase. This also offers a Sign Up button. Either way, you'll be confronted with the same screens. Needless to say, you will want to pick a secure password.

While you're here, please review the Terms of Service, as well. The quick run-down is that you shouldn't try to mess around with the game code, nor should you use the service to break the law, and last but definitely not least, don't be rude to other players. Also, remember Grand Chase is a privilege, not a right... remember that being polite thing? Keep that in mind, and odds are you won't have your privilege revoked.

Start Grand Chase, wait for the patch to download, and we'll be on our merry... chase?

1.1 Practice

My first recommendation, if you haven't done it already, is to go to Practice mode. This will be available from the Servers tab, which you start in. Click on it, and pick your character. This puts you in a PvP situation against... an immobile dummy. You can learn the basic commands of the game here, which hold true in both PvP and Dungeon scenarios. The characters in Practice are a bit leveled up and have some pretty specific gear, so don't expect the experience of Grand Chase to be exactly like this. Your mileage may vary.

Initially you only get to pick from the first three characters, Elesis, Lire, and Arme, and only their first jobs. As you unlock more jobs and more characters, you can return to Practice mode and experiment with those. Yes, they're all 15 year old girls. That's Grand Chase for you.

1.2 Your First Dungeon

Click on any of the servers available to join one. This will open up several other tabs. The one we have business with is the Dungeon tab. If it gives you the option, click on Bermesiah Continent -- you probably have no reason to go to any other at this juncture, seeing as how they are for people of 30th level and up.

If you weren't happy with how the controls worked, you can click on the blue "gear" button (entitled Options) in the upper right corner. Fiddle with them to your heart's content, and you can return to Practice by clicking on the Server tab.

There's precious few dungeons to pick from at start. Click on one, probably Trial Forest, and you can Enter Room, which will pick a Trial Forest to put you in, or make one if there isn't any. Alternatively, you can view the Room List or Create Room. The latter two are fairly self-explanatory. Note that you can always change the name (and whether there's a password or not) by clicking on the grey "gear" button at the top of the screen whenever you're the Host of a room.

In the lower right corner, there's a few buttons of note. Exit and Invite should be transparent in function, leaving or inviting someone to the room. It's generally courteous to set the loot function to Group Loot. But the most important button is Ready, if you're a guest in a room, or Game Start, if you're the host. The game can't start if you aren't Readied as a guest, and as a host it won't start until you click Game Start. They're both in the same spot.

Defeat the monsters on each screen and move to the end before hitting Down while standing on the shiny blue portal. You can't proceed to the next screen unless all monsters are killed, although it is possible to leave behind items if you don't pick them up by walking into them. Note that a number of items are randomly distributed under the Group Loot function, so don't be surprised if you pick up 10 items but only get 2.

The boss at the end will have a few attacks. Almost every boss, Treant included, has a Jump attack, which may or may not be telegraphed with a giant "JUMP!" appearing on your screen, but they will always give some animation to tell you if they are doing it, so keep an eye on the boss. If you aren't in the air when the attack lands, you get hit by it, or in Treant's case, rooted. When the boss glows with a red outline, that means it is in "Super Armor" mode, and can still take damage, but won't be stunned or knocked around by any attack. It's usually a good idea to get out of their way then.

An important note! Do not let yourself get hit while you're charging up a skill to use. You will lose all the mana charged... on the other hand, sometimes taking a counterattack is better than taking the entire attack head on, as this interrupts the hits you are taking and makes you fall down, avoiding the rest of the attack if there is anything else. Finally, if you perform a skill, don't worry about taking a hit mid-way... you'll be more-or-less immune to attacks while the skill is actually executing. This is actually a good way to avoid some otherwise unavoidable attacks.

2 Exploring Bermesiah

2.1 Equipping Yourself

There are several other dungeons across Bermesiah Continent. You may find that some are obscured and not clickable because they are under the chat box, namely Outer Wall of Serdin and Kerrie Beach. Close it if you must.

Before you go anywhere, however, you may wish to prepare yourself. There's the Equip tab at the top, which you can use while in a dungeon room, but it's probably best to put your things in order while you aren't holding up a group doing so. There's also the Shop tab right next to it.

You don't really need to buy equipment early on. Your missions alone should give you enough for the first dozen or two dozen levels (or even three dozen). It depends on how much you play. You do, however, want to get a pet Slime. It is purchased with attendance points, of which you can earn 100 of every day. It's the first tab in the Shop, the one with the odd P-symbol. Buy the Slime Card, and equip it for every character you use. You now will be accompanied by a pet gumdrop. This increases all your stats by 20, a value which will increase as it gains levels. There's no rush yet, but once you have some more GP, you can buy Gems to feed it. Feeding it to the maximum will increase its EXP gain rate, so it gains levels faster, enhancing your stats more.

There's also the Use item tab. If you get Health Potions, or Mana Potions, you should put them here. As you might imagine, health potions restore a certain amount of health, refilling your red health bar, and blue potions restore a certain amount of mana, refilling your blue mana bar. In a dungeon, hitting things also restores your mana, but this might not always be an option. An important trick to keep in mind is that if you hit 0 life, you may be FATAL instead of dead immediately. Use a potion then, and you will regain life, not dying.

As a general rule, you should start your trek out cautiously, running Outer Wall of Serdin a few times before you advance elsewhere. Note that you have Bonus, which you start with 3 of, and will recharge up to 3 every night. These are bonus lives. If you hit C while at 0 lives in a dungeon, you'll respawn with your Bonus. Using the Bonus Recharge item will not just refill it, it will increase the maximum number of Bonus you have. You can only use 3 bonus in a given dungeon, however, regardless. Natal Ring is a useable item that restores the lives of everyone in the group.

2.1 Groups and Dungeons

The best way to get along with anyone is to start by being polite to them. Yelling at people and making demands will only get you so far. If you have to ask for something, phrase it as a pleasant request, and don't repeat yourself again and again, or you'll just annoy people. This holds true regardless of where in Grand Chase you are.

The simplest way to get a group, though, is to just start a room and wait for people to file in, wherever you want to be. You can talk to them and arrange some ad hoc tactics. Once everyone's Ready, go ahead and start. If you're participating instead of making the room, get ready quick-like. Also don't be surprised if someone shows up in Gaikoz's Castle with a level 0 Elesis -- it's probably not their main character. Let them switch before you decide on whether they're serious enough for this dungeon.

In general, going solo can get you a lot of EXP in a single run. However, with another person, you will often do better, scoring more back attacks and aerial hits, which will increase your EXP gain anyways. In addition, you'll usually complete the dungeon faster, getting the EXP faster, which means grouping with others really will get you your next level faster. It's best if your group is of about the same level as you, as well, as Grand Chase will penalize your EXP gain if someone is of significantly different level, which becomes especially noticeable if the difference is 10 or greater. You also gain more EXP for completing the same dungeons, up to a limit, as your own level increases.

2.2 Missions and Difficulty

When you first run a dungeon, you can only create a room at 1-star difficulty. After you complete it there, you will be able to do it again at 2-star difficulty, and then 3-star. The consequences of increasing the difficulty is making all the monsters tougher and increasing the number of monsters who have special attributes, as well as the number of attributes they generally come with. This can result in terrifying combinations, like a Super Armor, Arrow Defense, Restore HP harpy. Expect to spend a long time wailing away on that one.

Missions come in two varieties. There are level missions, which are granted generally from achieving a new level, coming automatically, and scroll missions. Scroll missions are acquired from using a mission scroll in your inventory. You'll find them somewhere under your Equip tab. Events often grant mission scrolls, and you can also buy them in order to unlock special things. The most common sort of mission scroll, however, is a "potion mission" that has you kill a few things in order to get some potions. You can use these while clearing a dungeon to get a little extra for your trouble. They aren't worth that much, however, so don't think twice about selling them to save space.

An important note that many people overlook. When a mission asks you to complete a dungeon at a certain difficulty, you can instead complete it at a higher difficulty. This means that if you can, there's not much reason to. By completing missions, you can get new equipment. Most missions will offer a potion, click on red or blue depending on whether you want health before accepting the mission.

You can only register five missions at a time through scrolls. Definitely don't delete a useful, XP-granting level mission for a potion mission! Instead, when you need to register a new mission, complete other missions first. Level missions can overflow, past 5, but you shouldn't let them get too high. Errors have been known to occur if you get too many missions, that make it impossible to get new ones for that character. While potentially fixable by technical support, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure. Considering that most level missions give amazing amounts of EXP towards level at this point, you might as well do them.

Also, some missions are public missions. Most event missions are these. When you register a public mission, it will go to Public space. Instead of requiring a specific character to complete it, any character of yours will do. Obviously, these usually grant some kind of award that is of general use, instead of geared to a particular character.

3 Locked Characters and Jobs

3.0 The Academy

At the Shop, under the Academy tab, there's various things to buy for your character aside from equipment. Most notable, there are mission scrolls for missions that will unlock new jobs or characters. These each have various prerequisites, such as level requirements. Click on them (but don't buy just yet) in order to learn what the mission is. You can buy the "Worn-Out" or GP mission, or a Cash mission. Cash missions cost cash points, but are much easier. For the purposes of this guide, however, I'm going to assume you only buy GP missions, because while it's true they're harder, they're not too hard.

3.1 Unlocking Ronan, Ryan, Lass, and Amy

Ronan and Ryan both require level 15, and will cost 30 thousand GP from the Academy. Each. Ronan is character-specific, you have to do the entire mission with one character. Ryan and Lass, on the other hand, can be done with any character.

Ronan's unlock mission requires you to go to Forsaken Barrows and Forgotten City, clearing each at 3-star difficulty without using Bonus or Natal Ring. Conveniently, you don't actually have to be alive at the end in order to claim victory here, so you can die a few times while doing it. If you attempt this, do not continue by using a Bonus, or a Natal Ring. Simply stay dead. If your party wins without you, you will have cleared this part of the mission. Do thank the people you're with, either way, when you win.

It also requires, however, a clear of Gaikoz's Castle without losing any lives. This is difficult, and the reason why in practice this is not completed before level 20 for most characters, at which point you might be able to go head to head with Gaikoz and stay alive, and almost certainly at level 25. If you do have someone who is nice enough to escort you through Gaikoz's Castle, however, there's some general advice to keep in mind. Seek the high ground. While it's not entirely safe, the Elite Anmon Guards have attacks which cause them to descend in either direction, very rapidly. The lower corners are accordingly dangerous. Gaikoz himself has an attack which can one-hit-kill anyone who stands too close to him when he executes it. Being at the upper right corner is probably the best way to avoid him. Use potions liberally, and thank the people who helped you through.

Ryan requires... patience. You need a number of PVP wins, which requires skill, luck, and determination. You also need 20 Pure Tree Trunks from Elizabeth, which requires more determination. In fact, a lot more. They drop randomly, and at a low rate, so you can do it quite a few times without any success. On the other hand, a few clears could get you a trunk. You can pick any difficulty, so in general if you want experience while you're doing it, 3-star is the way to go, but 1-star might be better if you want to do it faster. The decision is yours. Note that each individual in the run will have a chance of getting a trunk separate from everyone else, so you could have everyone getting a trunk, or no one getting a trunk. There is no guarantee that one drops. By contrast, the 30 statue fragments from Partusay's Sea (in Ellia Continent) are downright easy.

Lass is a bit of a challenge. It requires 5 clears, without Bonus or Natal Ring, of Kaze'aze's Castle in Ellia Continent at 3-star difficulty. This is impossible to even get to alone before a considerably higher level. Since the only way you can potentially do this at the levels this guide is concerned with is through considerable use of puppy-dog eyes, I'm not really going to address the strategy for beating the Castle here. If you do get this kind of help, thank them profusely. Really. Get down on your hands and knees in front of them and pay them the reverence they are due. Kaze'aze is not easy to beat before extremely high levels.

Amy is essentially impossible for anyone to honestly help you with. It requires 35 rare items, 5 from the boss of Xenia Border, 15 from the mini-boss of Temple of Cuatal, and 15 from the boss of Temple of Cuatal. All of these are Level 50 dungeons. Another person cannot leech you through the GP mission, because it would require over 20 hours of uninterrupted effort for them to do so. There is no quick and easy way to do the GP quest. If you want that, you honestly will need to pay cash points for her cash mission. If you do, a single Gem (for 1000 GP) is all that's required.

3.2 Changing to 2nd Job

This mission requires level 20 before you can start it, and will cost 30 thousand GP from the Academy. You must do it before you can start your 3rd job mission. It requires 300 weapon fragments, which can drop from any monster in Marsh of Oblivion, Forsaken Barrows, Forgotten City, and Gaikoz's Castle. Eventually, these will come to you. But more challengingly, it also requires 10 Gaikoz's Seals. Like Pure Tree Trunks from Elizabeth, these drop at a low rate from Gaikoz but only at 3-star difficulty, so you will have to do Gaikoz's Castle repeatedly after starting this mission.

There's not much to say about this. You basically clear Gaikoz's Castle again, and again. It's probably best to wait until about level 27 before you do this, because before then, you are getting level missions that tell you to go all over Bermesiah, and to PVP. At level 27 on the other hand, you have a dry spell, which lasts for level 28, and level 29. You might as well continue to do Gaikoz's Castle until you're done, or work on acquiring Ryan. The level missions will start back up at 30, urging you to go to Partusay's Sea, which will take you well beyond the reach of this guide. Good luck!

4 Upgradeable Items

4.0 The Risks of Upgrading

There are various items in Grand Chase that you can upgrade. Some of these can be purchased for cash or GP, others require hard effort to find. All require an effort in order to bring home the components needed to upgrade them, however. More importantly, some of them have a risk associated with attempting to upgrade them. Because the in-game text is not terribly clear on this point, I have written this gude to be as clear as possible. Keep in mind, at almost every step of the upgrading process there is a danger of losing your progress, so be careful when you upgrade. Even cash items have some risk associated with them.

4.1 Wind Necklaces and Guard Anklets

Wind Necklaces and Guard Anklets follow essentially the same rules. Neither has a level requirement, so you can attempt to equip and upgrade them as soon as you get one. They both cost Gems to upgrade, and can be upgraded up to +9. Necklaces, however, enhance attack, and anklets enhance defense. Since they only require Gems to upgrade, you can simply go to the Shop to buy Gems. They're sold in both the Academy and as Pet Items. There's no difference, the Gem still costs 1000 GP. The failure rate of upgrading a necklace is amazingly high, so expect to burn through a lot of these. Whenever I try so much as advancing one to +6, I wind up spending on the order of 100 Gems to do so.That is 100 thousand GP.

At the +5 level, the necklace begins to add a special effect on every hit. At +8, this becomes an aura of power whenever you activate an MP Skill. At +9, you will radiate an effect for a duration after you activate a skill. While pretty to watch, these don't actually signify any additional game results.

+0 Necklace: 2 Attack, 1 Gem, No Risk
+1 Necklace: 3 Attack, 2 Gems, No Risk
+2 Necklace: 4 Attack, 2 Gems, No Risk
+3 Necklace: 5 Attack, 2 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Necklace: 6 Attack, 2 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Necklace: 8 Attack, 3 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Necklace: 10 Attack, 3 Gems, Risks Breaking (-5, Ruined)
+7 Necklace: 12 Attack, 3 Gems, Risks Breaking (-5, Ruined
+8 Necklace: 14 Attack, 3 Gems, Risks Breaking (-5, Ruined)
+9 Necklace: 16 Attack, No Upgrade Possible

+0 Anklet: 6 Defense, 1 Gem, No Risk
+1 Anklet: 8 Defense, 2 Gems, No Risk
+2 Anklet: 10 Defense, 2 Gems, No Risk
+3 Anklet: 12 Defense, 2 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Anklet: 15 Defense, 2 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Anklet: 18 Defense, 3 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Anklet: 22 Defense, 3 Gems, Risks Breaking (-5, Ruined)
+7 Anklet: 26 Defense, 3 Gems, Risks Breaking (-5, Ruined)
+8 Anklet: 30 Defense, 3 Gems, Risks Breaking (-5, Ruined)
+9 Anklet: 35 Defense, No Upgrade Possible

4.2 Cash Necklaces and Cash Anklets

At the time of this writing, I currently do not own a cash anklet or necklace. However, the rules for them are somewhat similar to those of a standard necklace or anklet. Essentially, you get to upgrade the item to +3 for "free," and then if you manage to upgrade it to +6, you will always have a +6 item, as it will not degrade your item below that point. You will still have to risk your +7 or +8 bonus as you struggle to upgrade it to the maximum of +9, however.

All cash anklets are identical, but cash necklaces, such as lightning, fire, ice, and so on, vary in their bonus as well as their appearances. Thus, they also vary in price. The Lightning Necklace has a 22 Attack bonus at the +9 level, lowest of all the cash necklaces, but not by much. The Fire, Ice, and Light Necklace all have a 23 Attack bonus at the +9 level. The Shadow Necklace differs in that it has a 28 Attack bonus at the +9 level. The cash anklet has a higher Defense bonus of 54 at its maximum upgrade of +9, and provides slowly orbiting runes around your character as its special effect.

+0 Cash Item: 1 Gem, No Risk
+1 Cash Item: 2 Gems, No Risk
+2 Cash Item: 2 Gems, No Risk
+3 Cash Item: 2 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Cash Item: 2 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Cash Item: 3 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Cash Item: 3 Gems, No Risk
+7 Cash Item: 3 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+8 Cash Item: 3 Gems, Risks Degrading (-1)
+9 Cash Item: No Upgrade Possible

4.3 Rune Basics

You can add up to three runes to your equipment, although two of them are essentially identical in function. The Rune-Weapon produces a weak bonus to Attack initially that gets stronger rapidly the higher the rune gets, whereas the Rune-Helm or Rune-Armor produce a strong bonus to Defense that advances slowly. The first kind of Rune is the Brave Rune, equippable at Level 15, then Holy Runes which provide a better bonus but cost more to advance at Level 35..

All Runes cost Aging Cores to advance, and you can optionally use Reinforcement Boosters to increase the chance of successfully upgrading a +3 or better Rune. Using it on anything less is a complete waste. You can get Runes from quests as you level up. However, if you wish to gain additional runes, usually as spares you can risk on upgrading to +10 or higher, you can use craft books to create new runes. These usually require Chaos Orbs from bosses as their main component, as well as the topaz, ruby, and sapphire dust or fragments you can find. Any Chaos Orb that is required for a rune will have its name in green text on the Equip screen. Those in white text are unnecessary.

A brief note about Old Runes. These can only be upgraded to +9, and are weaker. Because of this, I am not going to bother detailing their stat advancement, as I feel they are a waste of Aging Cores. If you wish to waste your time on Old Runes and Old Rune Books, that is your perogative.

4.4 Rune Stats

Brave Rune-Weapon
Required Level 15
+0 Rune: 2 Attack, 1 Aging Core, No Risk
+1 Rune: 3 Attack, 2 Aging Cores, No Risk
+2 Rune: 4 Attack, 3 Aging Cores, No Risk
+3 Rune: 6 Attack, 4 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Rune: 8 Attack, 5 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Rune: 11 Attack, 6 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Rune: 14 Attack, 7 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+7 Rune: 18 Attack, 8 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+8 Rune: 23 Attack, 9 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+9 Rune: 28 Attack, 10 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)

Brave Rune-Armor or Helm
Required Level 15
+0 Rune: 5 Defense, 1 Aging Core, No Risk
+1 Rune: 6 Defense, 2 Aging Cores, No Risk
+2 Rune: 7 Defense, 3 Aging Cores, No Risk
+3 Rune: 8 Defense, 4 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Rune: 10 Defense, 5 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Rune: 12 Defense, 6 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Rune: 14 Defense, 7 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+7 Rune: 16 Defense, 8 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+8 Rune: 19 Defense, 9 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+9 Rune: 22 Defense, 10 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)

Holy Rune-Weapon
Required Level 35
+0 Rune: 5 Attack, 2 Aging Cores, No Risk
+1 Rune: 6 Attack, 4 Aging Cores, No Risk
+2 Rune: 7 Attack, 6 Aging Cores, No Risk
+3 Rune: 10 Attack, 8 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Rune: 13 Attack, 10 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Rune: 18 Attack, 12 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Rune: 23 Attack, 14 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+7 Rune: 30 Attack, 16 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+8 Rune: 37 Attack, 18 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+9 Rune: 46 Attack, 20 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)
+10 Rune: 55 Attack, 22 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)
+11 Rune: 66 Attack, 24 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)
+12 Rune: 78 Attack, 26 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)

Holy Rune-Armor or Helm
Required Level 35
+0 Rune: 20 Defense, 2 Aging Cores, No Risk
+1 Rune: 21 Defense, 4 Aging Cores, No Risk
+2 Rune: 22 Defense, 6 Aging Cores, No Risk
+3 Rune: 24 Defense, 8 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+4 Rune: 26 Defense, 10 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+5 Rune: 29 Defense, 12 Aging Cores, Risks Degrading (-1)
+6 Rune: 32 Defense, 14 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+7 Rune: 35 Defense, 16 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+8 Rune: 39 Defense, 18 Aging Cores, Risks Reset (to +0)
+9 Rune: 43 Defense, 20 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)
+10 Rune: 47 Defense, 22 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)
+11 Rune: 53 Defense, 24 Aging Cores, Risks Destruction (deletes rune)