Equipment Refining Guide

Refining of Equipment in General

Refining an equipment will give it a boost in stats, and the boost will be determined by quite a few factors.

In refining, equipments are divided into 2 categories, which are Weapons & Armors.

Generally, refining a Weapon will give it extra Attack, while refining an Armor will boost its Defense.

An equipment failed in the process of refining will be destroyed. Destroy in this context is refering to being completely smashed into a thousand million pieces & is absolutely irreversible. Any Cards slotted to it will also be destroyed by the wicked hammer.

The maximum refine rate of Equipment is 10. The current refine rate of the Equipment will be denoted by having "+#" as its prefix, where "#" will be its refine rate. For example, Refining a Composite Bow [4] once will change its name to "+1 Composite Bow [4]"

All of the details in the abovementioned will be covered in the later part of this guide.

Ways of Refining
Refining of Weapons can be done through 2 ways: Player and Hollgrehenn.

Hollgrehenn

Hollgrehenn is well-hated and possibly the most well-know NPC in Ragnarok Online, although not many can spell his full name when asked.

You will find him after entering the portal at Prontera ( 179, 184 ), waiting eagerly to break what you have.

Player

A Whitesmith / Mechanic can do the job too, and is a much better choice compared to Hollgrehenn. Reasons with statistics will be provied below.

Success Rate
Hollgrehenn

Hollgrehenn has the success rate equivalent to that of a Job Level 50 smith:

Smith (Whitesmith / Mechanic)

A smith will have the refine success rate increased by 0.5% per Job Level, taking Job 50 as the reference point.
 * A smith at max Job Level (90) will have all the success rate increased by 20%, as compared to that of a Job Lv 50 smith.


 * In the other hand, a smith with Job Level below 50 will have a lower refine success rate compared to that of a Job Lv 50 smith.

Damage Bonus
When a Weapon successfully gained a refine rate, it will receive Attack Bonus corresponding to its Weapon Level. Attack Bonus gained is linear, meaning that getting Weapon A from +1 to +2 will give it the same amount of additional Attack Bonus as it will gain from +8 to +9.
 * Weapon Level 1 : +2 / Refine Rate
 * Weapon Level 2 : +3 / Refine Rate
 * Weapon Level 3 : +5 / Refine Rate
 * Weapon Level 4 : +7 / Refine Rate

Materials Required
Hollgrehenn

Hollgrehenn will require a specific material on top of a service charge, both depending on the Weapon Level of the Weapon refined. Stated below will be the cost Per Refine Level. Note: Failure will not only break the weapon, but also losing the Materials & Service cost for that particular refine.
 * Weapon Level 1: 1 Pharcon, 50 zenys
 * Weapon Level 2: 1 Emveretarcon, 200 zenys
 * Weapon Level 3: 1 Oridecon, 5,000 zenys
 * Weapon Level 4: 1 Oridecon, 20,000 zenys

Whitesmith / Mechanic

Unlike Hollgrehenn (read: hooligan), a Whitesmith / Mechanic require only the special metal for refining.
 * Weapon Level 1: 1 Pharcon
 * Weapon Level 2: 1 Emveretarcon
 * Weapon Level 3: 1 Oridecon
 * Weapon Level 4: 1 Oridecon

Ways of Refining
Unlike Weapons, armors can only be refined via Hollgrehenn offically.

Some server covers this aspect by modifying "Weapon Refine " skill, which enables it to refine Armors too.

pRO's Weapon Refine skill was patched to support this in an early October Patch in 2011.

Success Rate
Hollgrehenn

Hollgrehenn has the success rate equivalent to that of a Job Level 50 smith:

Smith (Whitesmith / Mechanic)

Just like Weapon refine, a smith will have the refine success rate increased by 0.5% per Job Level, taking Job 50 as the reference point.
 * A smith at max Job Level (90) will have all the success rate increased by 20%, as compared to that of a Job Lv 50 smith.

Armor Refine Success Rate (%) [Job 30]

Armor Refine Success Rate (%) [Job 50]

Armor Refine Success Rate (%) [Job 90]

Defense Bonus
When an Armor successfully gained a refine rate, it will receive a Fixed Armor Defense Bonus of 0.7. Defense Bonus gained is linear, meaning that getting Armor A from +1 to +2 will give it the same amount of additional Armor Defense Bonus as it will gain from +8 to +9.

Materials Required
Hollgrehenn

Hollgrehenn will require an Elunium on top of a 2,000 zenys service charge. Note: Failure will not only break the armor, but also losing the Materials & Service cost for that particular refine.

Smith

One Elunium per refine. Thats all.

Facts & Notes

 * When refining Weapon / Armor via Hollgrehenn, the character's Job Level will NOT affect the success rate.
 * Buffs / Stats-Giving equips does NOT affect the success rate of refining, be it by a player or through Hollgrehenn
 * If you chose the "I'll decide how many times..." option when refining, failing a refine at any stage will get you a full refund for any unattempted refines. For example, if you chose to refine an +0 Armor to +10 under that option, failing at +4 to +5 will give you a refund for +6 to +10.

Many other things Players have done that do not affect refine success rate:
 * Cursing & swearing at Hollgrehenn.
 * Moving to a different coordinate after every successful refine.
 * Relogging after failing.
 * Casting Lv5 Hammer Fall / Crimsom Fire Formation on Hollgrehenn before refining.
 * @Duel Hollgrehenn
 * Promising Hollgrehenn a shrine.