Contents
Introduction
Much like in any MMORPG, a player’s power can be measured through the equipment one is able to acquire in-game. Simply farming and buying these are not enough though, as various methods to increase their strength and defense capabilities will improve one’s gameplay even further. For Ragnarok GGH, it is through the refinement system where this can be achieved. This guide aims to inform players about the basics of the refine system, thus aiding them on how to improve their gear and allowing their characters to perform better in both PvE and PvP.
Refinement System
The refinement system allows players to strengthen their gear by using Zeny, ores and other materials to enhance their equipment: namely their weapon, shield, armor, garment, footgear, upper headgear and Shadow equipment. Often termed “upgrade,” “plus” or simply “refine,” doing so grants various boosts to an equipment’s effects, making them more powerful compared to their base +0 versions.
A. Success Rates and Safe Limits
If one chooses to upgrade their gear, keep in mind the different success rates for each one. All items that can be refined have a guaranteed 100% success rate up until a certain refine level, also known as their safe limits. For Lv1/Lv2/Lv3/Lv4 weapons, these are at +7, +6, +5 and +4 respectively, while shields, armor, garment, footgear and upper headgear (all of which collectively will be referred to as armors further into this guide) are at +4. Refining beyond these safe limits will have a chance of failure, causing the equipment (including any enchants or cards slotted into them) to break and the player losing the items, as well as the Zeny and ores used to refine them. For items +11 and above, there’s a chance of the item downgrading by 1-3 refine levels from a failed attempt, in addition to the chance of breaking.
For Ragnarok GGH, Refine Events happen around three or four times per year. During this event, upgrading equipment via Blacksmith NPCs from towns using specific ores have increased success rates. Keep an eye out for these events when you plan to refine specific equipment, and to gather and stock up on ores and materials before these happen, as prices for them may increase due to demand.
B. Benefits of Refined Equipment
Refining gear can increase specific stats of a character depending on what item is being upgraded. Weapons for instance will gain increased ATK and MATK per refine, the amount depending on the level of the upgraded equipment, as well as its refinement level at certain points past its safe limit (referred to as over-upgrade variance or overups for short).
| Base Bonus | Overups Variance beyond Safe Limit | High Upgrade at +16 | Per High Upgrade beyond +16 | |
| Weapon Lv1 | +2 per upgrade | +0 to +3 | +16 | +1 |
| Weapon Lv2 | +3 per upgrade | +0 to +5 | +32 | +2 |
| Weapon Lv3 | +5 per upgrade | +0 to +8 | +32 | +2 |
| Weapon Lv4 | +7 per upgrade | +0 to +14 | +48 | +3 |
Sample Computations:
- +10 Lv4 Weapon will have an ATK and MATK bonus of (70) + (0 to 84) = 70 ~ 154
- +16 Lv3 Weapon will have an ATK and MATK bonus of (80) + (0 to 88) + 16 = 96 ~ 184
On the other hand, armors will gain increased Hard DEF. This amount of Hard DEF further increases every four refinement levels, following the formula: Rounded Down[(3 + Current Refinement Level) / 2]. For example, every +1 refine from +1 to +4 grants 1 Hard DEF, every +1 refine from +5 to +8 grants 2 Hard DEF, and so on.
| Current Refine Level | Hard DEF Increase per Refine |
| +1 to +4 | +1 |
| +5 to +8 | +2 |
| +9 to +12 | +3 |
| +13 to +16 | +4 |
| +17 to +20 | +5 |
Sample Computations:
- +10 Armor will have Hard DEF increase of (4) + (8) + (6) = 18
- +16 Armor will have Hard DEF increase of (4) + (8) +(12) + (16) = 40
Some pieces of equipment also require certain refinement levels in order to meet conditions for their effects. Players who have access to these types of gear are recommended to hit these specific upgrade levels so as to fully benefit from these effects.
C. Materials for Refining
As mentioned, refining equipment requires the use of ores. These are types of stones specifically used to upgrade different types of equipment. Be sure you have these ores available in your inventory before proceeding to refine your gear.
Free-to-Play Ores
Phracon and Emvertarcon are used to refine Lv1 and Lv2 weapons respectively, and may either be bought from NPCs in the refine buildings of cities and towns or picked up from monster loot.
Oridecons, on the other hand, are used to refine Lv3, Lv4 weapons and Shadow Weapons. These may also be obtained from monster loot, or from another NPC inside refine buildings by exchanging five Rough Oridecons for one Oridecon.
Eluniums are used to refine armors and other Shadow equipment. Similar to Oridecons, they are obtained from either monster loot or from the same NPC inside refine buildings by exchanging five Rough Eluniums for one Elunium.
The previously-mentioned stones can upgrade weapons and armors up to +10. Players who wish to refine their gear to +11 and above need to use Bradium (for weapons) or Carnium (for armors).
Players may also exchange three Oridecon for one Bradium, three Elunium for one Carnium or one Refined Bradium (dropped by monsters such as Dolomodes and Bradium Golem) for one Carnium via Austry inside Prontera refine building /navi prt_in 85/71, Morroc refine building /navi morocc_in 60/38 or Payon Armory /navi payon_in01 14/125. Doing so will also cost 50,000 Zeny.
Cash Shop Ores
Ragnarok GGH’s cash shop offers Enriched Oridecon and Enriched Elunium, allowing you to refine at a slightly higher success rate vs the free-to-play (F2P) stones.
During Refine Events, they also offer HD ores via Refine Packs. They have the same success rate as Enriched ores, but failed refine attempts will only garner a one-level downgrade of the equipment instead of it totally breaking.
Blacksmith Blessings
When a piece equipment is at +7 to +11 refinement level, players have the option to use Blacksmith Blessings (BSB for short) for succeeding upgrade attempts. BSBs prevent players’ gear from breaking after a failed refine.
To apply its effect, simply select the BSB icon in the Refinement UI Window. Do note that you cannot use BSBs when refining Shadow equipment.
These can be obtained through different means, such as from opening gacha eggs from the cash shop, exchanging them from Miles Agent Felicity using Midgard Miles /navi prontera 218/178 (obtained from opening gacha eggs) or from some events.
Holgren Shadow Refine Hammer
For refining Shadow equipment, players may opt to use the Holgren Shadow Refine Hammer instead of refine stones. This hammer will randomly set the selected Shadow gear’s refinement level from +1 to +10, with +4 having the highest probability roll. It is possible to obtain a lower refinement level if you choose to use it on a much higher one (ex: using Holgren Hammer on a +6 Shadow Weapon has a chance to yield it at +1 to +5 refinement level). Similar to BSBs, Holgren Hammers may be obtained via different means like gacha eggs, Miles Agent Felicity or some events.
To use one, simply double click the hammer, and the Shadow Refine Window will appear. Double click or drag the Shadow equipment you wish to upgrade from the list of available. Hit “Make” to proceed with refining the Shadow gear.
How to Refine
1. Locate and speak to the Blacksmith / Refining NPC of the city or town you are in. Their location is indicated by an Anvil icon on the minimap.
Refer to the table below for the list of possible NPCs:
| City / Town | NPCs Locations |
| Prontera (Southeast Building from Fountain) | /navi prt_in 63/60 or /navi prt_in 90/72 |
| Payon (Outside Armory Building) | /navi payon 144/173 |
| Alberta (Inside Merchant Guild) | /navi alberta_in 29/59 |
| Morroc (Basement of Southwest Building) | /navi morocc_in 73/38 |
| Juno (Basement of Armory Building) | /navi yuno_in01 171/21 |
| Einbroch (Second Floor of Blacksmith Guild) | /navi ein_in01 24/87 |
| Lighthalzen (Ground Floor of Armory Building) | /navi lhz_in02 282/20 |
| Malangdo (East Area of Main Island) | /navi malangdo 244/172 |
2. After interacting with the NPC, the Refinement UI Window will open. From your Inventory Window (not Equipment Window), double click or drag the item you wish to upgrade into the Refinement UI Window.
3. Select the correct refine ore that will be used for upgrading your gear. A percentage of the current refine’s success will show at the top of the window.
4. If your item is +7 to +11 and you want to use a BSB, click on the BSB icon. Make sure the window indicates that you are “Using Blacksmith Blessing” to show that its effect is active.
5. Click on the “Refinement” button to spend some Zeny and make the upgrade attempt. If you have more ores and BSBs available in your inventory, you can hit “Try again” to make another upgrade attempt. If not, some text will mention that you have insufficient ores in your inventory.
Other Refining Methods
A. Safe Refine Certificates via Refine Master
Players have the option to instantly upgrade their non-Shadow equipment by using Safe Refine Certificates. These have a 100% success rate to raise one of your equipped gear’s refinement level to the value specified by the certificate (ex: using a Safe to 7 Armor Certificate raises an armor’s refinement level to +7). Certificates are obtained through different means, such as from gacha eggs, Kafra Point events and some seasonal events.
To use, speak to the Refine Master in Prontera /navi prontera 184/177 while a certificate is present in your inventory, and select which piece of equipment you wish to upgrade.
Do note that existing cards and enchants on an item will not disappear after using a Safe Refine Certificate. These certificates are also account-bound. Players will need to wrap these into Safe Refine Weapon/Armor Envelopes using Nyangvine Fruits through an NPC. Refer to the link below on how to wrap Safe Refine Certificates into Envelopes to make them tradeable:
B. +9 Shadow Refine Hammer
Similar to Safe Refine Certificates, this special version of the Holgren Shadow Refine Hammer allows players to instantly upgrade Shadow equipment to +9. Existing enchants on the gear will not be lost after using this item. These are mostly obtained through Kafra Point events.
C. Illusion Dungeon Refine Boxes
With Illusion Dungeons content now present in Ragnarok GGH, the server has introduced this refine boxes which can instantly refine specific gear from Illusion Dungeons to a certain refinement level. Refer to the Refine Box’s description to see which kinds of Illusion Gear can be upgraded with it, as well as to the range of refinement level available.
D. Ancient Hero Refine Certificates
Depending on rotation, Miles Agent Felicity is able to sell refine certificates exclusively for Ancient Hero Weapons and Ancient Hero Boots. Players may opt to use these for the equipment mentioned, so as to save their Safe Refine Weapon/Armor Certificates for other pieces of equipment.
E. Upgrade Weapon (Mastersmith Skill)
A skill exclusive to the Mastersmith class (transcended version of Blacksmith), Weapon Upgrade allows players to refine Weapons free of Zeny and without having to talk to a Refine NPC. The skill provides an increased success rate depending on the user’s job level, but is unaffected by bonuses from GGH’s Refine Events.
Additionally, players are unable to use Cash Shop Ores and Blacksmith Blessing when using this skill, so keep this in mind before attempting to upgrade weapons through this method. We recommend only using this on low-cost weapons or those which players can farm bulk of (ex: multiple Crimson Weapons which the player can upgrade to +7, before having to use BSBs via Refine NPC).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Can I use my Safe to +7 Armor Certificate on my armor with a low refinement level already (ex: +4 Temporal LUK Boots) to make it +7?
A: Yes, it is possible to use a Safe Refine Certificate on equipment which already has an upgrade, provided the refinement level of the certificate is higher than that of the equipment.
Q: Why can’t I refine my equipment?
A: Double check if you have the correct ore required for refining it, as well as check if you have enough of it in your inventory. Refining also requires Zeny so be sure you are carrying enough to do so.
Q: When should I use BSB or HD Ores?
A: Blacksmith Blessings can be used as early as +7 going to +8. We recommend using BSB at this point onward to protect your gear from breaking. HD Ores do not share this restriction, though we recommend using them when the cost of refining with BSB becomes more expensive than using just one ore (ex: using HD Carnium to refine Black Hand of Fate from +11 to +12, as opposed to using regular Carnium plus 11pcs BSB).
Q: Do DEX and LUK affect the success rate of upgrading my gear?
A: Contrary to what some players may think, DEX and LUK do NOT affect the success rate of upgrading gear. This may have come from the misconception of playing Forger Blacksmiths, whose Smith Weapon skills require DEX and LUK to successfully craft weapons.
Q: What are “refine rituals” and do they actually work?
A: These are superstitious gimmicks some players do when trying to upgrade their equipment, and may come in different forms (as simple as choosing one’s refining map, or as complex as offering free leech service for leveling players to farm good RNG). These do not affect one’s success at refining gear, but adds a fun element players get to experience.
Q: When is the next Refine Event?
A: Keep an eye out for updates on GGH’s official website, social media pages and Discord of when the next Refine Event will be.
Q: I didn’t realize my Blacksmith Blessing was not selected, and my overupgraded gacha gear accidentally broke from a failed refine attempt. Can I ask for a refund?
A: We are truly sorry for the loss of your equipment. However, Ragnarok GGH and Gravity are not liable for the loss of your item from accidentally making an upgrade attempt. Please practice caution moving forward, and always triple check if you have Blacksmith Blessing’s effect active.
Epilogue
The first steps to improvement come from oneself. It is through courage, discipline and a bit of risk where we see our growth as individuals. We hope the guide was able to enlighten and inform you more about the game’s refinement system, and we wish you all the best RNG in your upgrade attempts. If you have any questions, kindly leave them in the comments below or visit the GGH Discord and ask our active community members. Refine responsibly, and happy gaming!
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