Atlantica Enchanting and Enhancing Guide

Today, we'll discuss Enchanting and Enhancing, two important features in Atlantica. Through these two selections, one is able to enchant or enhance an item to make it more potent and helps cut down on the need to frequently upgrade gear.



First, we'll talk about "Enchanting"



Enchanting takes place when one has two items of the same quality (note, quality used in this context means the "plus" on it, being either a normal 0, +1, +2, all the way up to +10) and some weapon, armor, or accessory enchant stones. Enchanting is a very easy thing to do; you simply right click on the stones in your inventory and a pop-up window will display three empty slots. One is the item, the second is the sacrificial item, and the third is the needed materials, or in this case enchanting stones (weapons, armor, or accessory again). When all items are obtained, you can click the "auto" button on the pop-up window and it'll throw in the enchantable items and fix the materials needed to enchant it (in this case, we'll use spirit armor so we need armor enchant stones) in the window. Also, if you feel like doing it by hand, you can select the items, although auto is there so we can be a little lazy



By clicking "Enchant" it will bring a progress meter up showing you the item enchanting, and when it finishes it brings up a message saying it has been enchanted into a (+X) where x is the number of the "plussed" item. Two normal pieces will enchant into a +1. Two +1's will enchant into a +2 - so on and so forth all the way to the maximum of +10. There is a nifty feature built in, that will sometimes produce a greater result then what you expect. By this, I mean you can potentially enchant two +0's into a +2 and beyond instantly. I myself have did this one time and got a +4 Dark Knight's axe from two normal Dark Knight's Axes and got a server message (it was cool!) So there's always something to cross your fingers about.



However, the stones needed to enchant it will always remain one ahead of what the item you're plussing is. Enchanting two normals requires 1 stone, enchanting two +1's will require 2 stones, enchanting two +3's will require 4 stones, and so on and so forth. Enchanting never fails from what I gather, and I've never see it fail personally, so I doubt it can. This is the most common method in Atlantica to obtain better items. When you "enchant" something, it melds some of the items stats together to produce a higher quality item. Also remember, use corresponding stones, weapons for weapons, armor for armor, accessory for rings.



Think of enchanting like fusing items - they grow in potency, but they don't compound exponentially (meaning two +1's into a +2 won't do double the damage) but it will amp up the damage noticeably, as well as stat bonuses, evasion ratings, and defense (such as on armor). I recommend enchanting over buying whole new sets, as constantly gearing into +0's (normal items) doesn't always make it worth spending the money - just keep compounding on the armor. Heck, some of my frontline tanks at 62 are using +8 rakshasa stuff (level 25). Enchanting is very handy for this!





Next, we'll talk about Enhancing.



Enhancing is different from Enchanting insofar as you do not need an equivalent sacrificial item to enchant it, but with enhancing comes a 50% risk (I've heard it was lessened, but I'm skeptical) of failing and breaking the item. Enhancing comes from Vulcanus in Rome's Bazaar district - but the stones you need to Enhance are different, and are even called so (weapon enhance stone, armor enhance stone, accessory enhance stone). Note that if you do not have Rome's map information, there golden arches on the right hand side of the screen denoting Rome's districts - Plaza, Bazaar, etc. Vulcanus is in the bazaar, hang a right after you teleport in.



The "it will require always 1 extra stone ahead of what you're enchanting" rule still applies here, so enhancing to a +1 takes 2 stones, +2 takes 3, etc. Be forewarned that the breaking percentage I've experienced like mentioned is close to 50%, if not a little under. I probably just have crappy luck; but I've managed to break more things then enhance. What I do sometimes is "Enchant" it to a +whatever so it doesn't fail, and then when it hits what I want it to (usually +4 to +5) I go to vulcanus and try my hand at enhancing it to the next level. I never chain enhance, because one time I tried and it backfired on me horribly - then again, like I said I might have bad luck. Also, the same thing that applies for enchanting applies to enhancing - you can get an unexpected result. My friends have enhanced to a +3 before with a normal item and boy was I jealous



But, with enhancing comes the thought of not needing an exact copy of "quality" and type of item to enhance. This is why people love Vulcanus, because he allows you to try it with only one item. It's a really pick your poison type thing; spend a little more cash and be positive, or risk it all to hit it big without dropping dough on more items



I've had a lot of my mentees ask me to write a guide here so they can check it out, so by popular demand I decided to a small write-up.



**Credited to Muiramir, he added ALL of this and thanks are due! Here's the skinny:



* In the current game (Open Beta), there is a more significant jump between Spirit and Sea items than for many of the other levels; the rate of increase (slope) for Spirit is also fairly weak. It is probably more effective to hold off heavy enchanting until you are past Spirit.



* On average in the mid-range at least, a level X item from normal boxes at +Y tends to be *very roughly* equivalent to a Level X+10 item from normal boxes at +Y-1. For example, the average damage output from a Level 15 Deep Sea Bow +2, a Level 25 Ogre Bow +1, and a Level 35 Assassin's Bow +0 are about the same. I recommend looking up exact stats, but as a rough guide it is useful to plan your purchases and enchanting. If you keep good notes, you will realize that the increases do follow a series of formula, and you can predict quite accurately the stats for items you haven't seen yet.



* Once you get past the Beginner Enchant stones (and boxes), the cost for the stones becomes important. Currently, a (Beg) box seems to be running around 800, while an (Int) box seems to be running around 8,000; this is a pretty harsh factor of 10 increase. Consider that a +10 item not only requires 1,024 base +0 items, but 2,036 stones. I expect the cost of the higher boxes / stones may go down some as the game matures, but how much is an open question. In combination with the above, this leads to it generally being more effective to keep enchanting the items just before the break. A +4 Ogre Bow is more effective in every way than a +2 Assassin's Bow, but usually cheaper to buy or make, and you can start using it ten levels sooner.



* Partly to counter the above, higher bonus items have additional limitations. At some point (around +5 for low-midrange items at least), they start having a Durability stat, which gradually goes down with use to represent wear and tear. Note that using enchanting to combine items not only usually increases the max Durability, but resets it to the (new) max. Items you buy at the market may not have full Durability left, buyer beware. The various Repair stones can be used to restore I believe, but I've not experimented with that; at lower levels it's usually more effective to just enchant it to the next level.



* At even higher levels (+7 or so), items you enchant will be "sealed", with the numbers in red when you mouse over them. In this state, they can be sold, traded, etc. but not used. Equipping the item will give a prompt about breaking the seal; once you do so, you can use it, but no longer sell, trade, etc. I believe that enchanting again to the next level will re-seal, but I'm not sure about all cases.



* At the max enchantment of +10, you no longer have to worry about Durability.



* In addition to all of the above, there are currently PvP limitations on max bonus. I believe this is currently +4. If you are really serious about PvP, you will probably end up spending significantly more money to keep upgrading your team's equipment to +4 of whatever your current level's equipment is. Still, do the numbers; try and upgrade the items that give you the most effectiveness for your gold first.



If I missed anything you guys feel needs added, please post here with comments! Thanks!



Happy hunting!