Last Updated: 3rd August 2020

This guide is more advanced and detailed than our Enhancing guide. It covers how to fail stack efficiently and what sort of fail stacks you should be using to enhance your gear.

If you’re looking for the basics of enhancing click here

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If you are looking for information about the *new* Naderr’s Band click here

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Enhancing Guidelines

Important note: “(maximum of X)” refers to the amount of failstacks you should use on this item before stopping and using a different failstack. This is to make your enhancing as cost effective as possible and make sure you save your failstacks for higher gear. It might be annoying to stop when you are unlucky with failstacks, but it works out better in the end!

Enhancing Tuvala Armor

• Safe enhance to +5
• Use  0 or more fail stacks to get +6
• Use  0 or more fail stacks to get +7
• Use  3 or more fail stacks to get +8
• Use  6 or more fail stacks (maximum of 15) to get +9
• Use  7 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +10
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 17) to get +11
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +12
• Use  9 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +13
• Use  10 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +14
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +15
• Use 15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI (+16)
• Use 20 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO (+17)
• Use 30 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI (+18) – Recommended to force enhance if you can
• Use 40 or more fail stacks (maximum of 60) to get TET (+19)
• Use 70 or more fail stacks to get PEN (+20) – Preference if you want to use Cron Stones or not
  

Enhancing Green Grade Armor

(Grunil, Rocaba, Heve, Agerian, Zereth, Talis, Taritas, etc.) Even if you ultimate the gear, use these guidelines.

• Safe enhance to +5
• Force enhance to +7
• Use  5 or more fail stacks to get +8
• Use  6 or more fail stacks (maximum of 15) to get +9
• Use  7 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +10
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 17) to get +11
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +12
• Use  9 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +13
• Use  10 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +14
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +15
• Use 12 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI (+16)
• Use 18 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO (+17)
• Use 28 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI (+18)
• Use 40 or more fail stacks (maximum of 90) to get TET (+19)
• Use 60 or more fail stacks to get PEN (+20)

 

Enhancing Tuvala Weapons

• Safe enhance to +7
• Use  3 or more fail stacks to get +8
• Use  6 or more fail stacks (maximum of 15) to get +9
• Use  7 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +10
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 17) to get +11
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +12
• Use  9 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +13
• Use  10 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +14
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +15
• Use 15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI (+16)
• Use 20 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO (+17)
• Use 30 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI (+18) – Recommended to force enhance if you can
• Use 40 or more fail stacks (maximum of 60) to get TET (+19)
• Use 70 or more fail stacks to get PEN (+20) – Preference if you want to use Cron Stones or not

Enhancing Green Grade Weapons

(Yuria, Krea, Bares, Kalis, Azwell, Offhands, etc.)

• Safe enhance to +7
• Force enhance to +8
• Use  9 or more fail stacks (maximum of 14) to get +9
• Use  9 or more fail stacks (maximum of 15) to get +10
• Use  12 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +11
• Use  12 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +12
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +13
• Use  16 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +14
• Use  18 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +15
• Use 12 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI (+16)
• Use 18 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO (+17)
• Use 28 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI (+18)
• Use 40 or more fail stacks (maximum of 90) to get TET (+19)
• Use 60 or more fail stacks to get PEN (+20)

 

Enhancing Boss Armor

(Giath’s Helmet, Dim Tree Spirit’s Armor, Red Nose’s Armor, Muskan’s Shoes, Bheg’s Gloves)

• Safe enhance to +5
• Use 10 or more fail stacks (maximum of 12) to get +6
• Force enchant to +8
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 12) to get +9
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 12) to get +10
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +11
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +12
• Use  18 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +13
• Use  20 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +14
• Use  20 or more fail stacks (maximum of 30) to get +15
• Use 15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI
• Use 15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO
• Use 30 or more fail stacks (maximum of 50) to get TRI
• Use 50 or more fail stacks (maximum of 100) to get TET
• Use 100 or more fail stacks to get PEN

 

Enhancing Boss Weapons

(Liverto, Kzarka, Kutum, Nouver, Dandelion)
**If you’re enhancing a blue grade awakening weapon use these guidelines.

• Safe enhance to +7
• Use 10 or more fail stacks (maximum of 13) to get to +8
• Use 10 or more fail stacks (maximum of 14) to get to +9
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 15) to get +10
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +11
• Use  12 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +12
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +13
• Use  16 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +14
• Use  20 or more fail stacks (maximum of 30) to get +15
• Use 15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI
• Use 15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO
• Use 30 or more fail stacks (maximum of 50) to get TRI
• Use 50 or more fail stacks (maximum of 100) to get TET
• Use 100 or more fail stacks to get PEN

 

Armor/Weapons Tips

Enhancing your Armor/Weapons to +15 can be harder than enhancing them from PRI to TRI due to the chances of success. Remember that when you are failstacking, keep an eye on your failstacks and save the failstacks for higher enhances if it goes past the recommendations. For example, if you are enhancing your boss armor to +11 and you get past 25 failstacks, you should stop and save these for +15/PRI/DUO attempts. Log onto another character or use an Advice of Valks to begin failstacking back to the recommended failstacks.

Important tip: When repairing the max durability of Liverto weapons or blue grade awakening weapons, you should use Artisan’s Memory (400 Loyalty) and the weapon. This will repair 30 durability and works out much cheaper than using memory fragments to repair.

Enhancing Tuvala Accessories

• Use 20 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI
• Use 25 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO
• Use 35 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI
• Use 50 or more fail stacks (maximum of 80) to get TET
• Use 75 or more fail stacks to get PEN

Enhancing Blue Grade Accessories

(Mark of Shadow, Witch’s Earring, Tree Spirit Belt, Red Coral Earring, etc. )

• Use 18 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI
• Use 30 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO
• Use 40 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI
• Use 60 or more fail stacks (maximum of 90) to get TET
• Use 100 or more fail stacks to get PEN

 

Enhancing Yellow Grade Accessories

(Ogre Ring, Basilisk’s Belt, Ring of Crescent Guardian, Tungrad Earring, etc.)

• Use 18 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI
• Use 40 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get DUO
• Use 45 or more fail stacks (maximum of 60) to get TRI
• Use 90 or more fail stacks (maximum of 110) to get TET
• Use 150 or more fail stacks to get PEN

Accessories Tips

You can use Cron stones on some cheaper accessories such as Bares Necklace, Coral Earrings/Rings and the Belt of Shultz the Gladiator. Remember that you won’t build fail stacks when use Cron stones but they will stop the item from being destroyed. It can still disenhance so make sure to failstack correctly.

I recommend only enhancing accessories if you have a back up. Either with duplicate accessories at the same enhancement, or cheaper accessories where you won’t lose too much AP if your main accessory fails. A TRI/TET Bares Necklace is great as a backup for when you are going for PRI/DUO ogre rings and they don’t cost much to make.

Enhancing Wagon/Boat/Horse Gear

These recommendations are NOT including the Epheria Sailboat blue grade parts, Epheria Caravel/Galleass parts, Epheria Carrack parts or the Granverre/Krogdalo horse sets (you can find these further down)

• Use  3 or more fail stacks to get +1
• Use  4 or more fail stacks to get +2
• Use  5 or more fail stacks to get +3
• Use  6 or more fail stacks to get +4
• Use  7 or more fail stacks to get +5
• Use  10 or more fail stacks to get +6
• Use  10 or more fail stacks to get +7
• Use 20 or more fail stacks to get +8
• Use 20 or more fail stacks to get +9
• Use 25 or more fail stacks to get +10

Enhancing Granverre/Krogdalo Horse Gear

• Use  6 or more fail stacks (maximum of  8) to get +1
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of  10) to get +2
• Use  10 or more fail stacks (maximum of  13) to get +3
• Use  20 or more fail stacks (maximum of  23) to get +4
• Use  23 or more fail stacks (maximum of  25) to get +5
• Use  25 or more fail stacks (maximum of  30) to get +6
• Use  30 or more fail stacks (maximum of  40) to get +7
• Use  60 or more fail stacks (maximum of  80) to get +8
• Use 65 or more fail stacks to get +9 (not recommended to bother)
• Use 100 or more fail stacks to get +10 (not recommended to bother)

Enhancing Fishing Rods and Floats

• Use  6 or more fail stacks (maximum of 13) to get +1
• Use  8 or more fail stacks (maximum of 14) to get +2
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 15) to get +3
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 16) to get +4
• Use  11 or more fail stacks (maximum of 18) to get +5
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 20) to get +6
• Use  15 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +7
• Use 25 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get +8
• Force Enhance to get +9
• Force Enhance to get +10

Enhancing Silver Embroidered Clothes

• Use 2 or more fail stacks (maximum of 25) to get PRI
• Use 7 or more fail stacks (maximum of 35) to get DUO
• Use 24 or more fail stacks (maximum of 45) to get TRI
• Use 42 or more fail stacks (maximum of 90) to get TET
• Use 72 or more fail stacks to get PEN

Failstack Optimisation/How to Failstack

**When failstacking, remember to use the prioritize durability option or you will be unable to build failstacks on Green grade items.

If you are looking for information about the *new* Naderr’s Band click here

1 to 12 failstacks: Use +14 Reblath armor or Militia weapon to get these failstacks. You can buy both of these from the blacksmith in Velia. If it goes to +15, log onto a level 10 character with negative karma** (kill wild horses to get negative karma) and die to mobs to delevel the enhancement back to +14. You can instantly revive on the spot if the character is level 10 or less. You can also use cheap green grade accessories for 1 – 5 failstacks and these can help to save you money that you’d use on the Black Stones, but they do have a high chance of success. You can also use +10 to +12 green grade offhands, but in terms of optimisation, Reblath/Militia is the best method for up to 12 failstacks. Some people like to go as high as 25 stacks and in some cases, even higher.

12 to 20 failstacks: Use a +14 green grade offhand or grunil. You can buy cheap offhands on the special deals, such as Krea, Bares, Seleth, Rosar or Azwell. You can also buy other offhands such as the Steel Dagger or buy grunil pieces if you want to sell them afterwards. You can also use these stacks to attempt PRI on yelllow grade accessories or whilst upgrading boss gear between +10 and PRI.

21 to 32 failstacks: Use PRI, DUO or TRI grunil to get failstacks at this point. You can also use Heve helmet to stack on because it is used in gear builds if it goes to PEN. I would recommend keeping your old armor if you get boss armor so you can use these to failstack on. You can also use PRI – TRI armor/weapons if you have extra pieces. You should use your 21 – 32 stacks on attempting DUO boss armor/weapons and if unsuccessful the stacks will be useful for TRI attempts later on. You can also use these stacks to attempt DUO on yelllow grade accessories.

33 to 49 failstacks: Use these stacks to attempt TRI on boss armor/weapons. If you are unsuccessful these stacks will be useful for TET attempts later on. You can also use these stacks to attempt TRI on yelllow grade accessories.

50 to 100 failstacks: Use these for TET attempts on your boss armor/weapons or TRI/TET attempts on yellow grade accessories

100+ failstacks: Use these for PEN attempts on your armor/weapons or PEN attempts on yellow grade accessories

**Making a Negative alt:
You can now degrade gear without needing a negative alt by going to the priest in the town and spending 100k silver to downgrade. Using a negative alt is free but it depends on which you care about more, time or money. For Priest locations click here
Create a new character or use a character that is level 10 or lower for maximum efficiency. Characters under level 10 can revive instantly on the spot.
To create the negative alt, you will need to kill horses to lose karma. 
Killing the horses can be difficult if you don’t have much AP. Be careful to not reset the horse by chasing it in a straight line and instead attack it from the sides. You can also ask a friend to help you by lowering the HP of the horse first and allowing you to last hit it.

Once your character is under 1,000 negative karma, you can equip gear and then die to the guards around the town. When you die to PVE (guards/monsters) the gear has a chance of deleveling the enhancement. For example, a +15 Reblath Armor can go down to +14 when you die, but the item must be equipped. This is useful when failstacking because you don’t have to start failstacking on a new piece of gear. As well, if your character is level 10 or lower and in the Balenos region, you can revive instantly on the spot without using Elions Tears. You should do your enhancing in Velia because of this and also because you can buy Reblath from the Blacksmith in Velia.

Gear Progression

This part of the guide will go into more detail about optimising your AP/DP and getting the most of your money. It will show “checkpoints” for your gear and what most classes should be aiming for. Gear Progression is very RNG, especially at the higher gear scores and it really depends on what items you can obtain. Some items such as boss pieces and accessories can be a struggle but this part of the guide will show what is best in terms of optimisation or what to aim for if you are unsure. If you ever feel burnt out, take a step back and do other activities in-game. I personally buy all of my gear now because I hate enhancing!

If you’re still unsure what you should be doing next or want specific advice on your gear, feel free to hop into our discord and ask questions in the help section. 

Remember when improving your gear you should prioritise Awakening Weapon > Main Weapon > Secondary Weapon > Armor > Accessories
You should also keep spare accessories as backups in case they break when you enhance them, and keep your armor to failstack on when you get boss armor.

I’m using the Heve set for this example because it’s a good set for all classes if you don’t have boss gear yet. Another set you can use is the Grunil set, which you can use  instead if you prefer to. The Heve set is a smoother transition to boss gear, but it really doesn’t matter too much. I’m also using Striker as an example in this guide so the offhand weapons listed might not fit your class, but you can check out our class guides for more information on which are the best weapons for your class and will also find information about which crystals to use. I also recommend that you start saving Yona’s Fragments as early as possible to help you save a lot of silver on accessories.

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Beginner Gear (Level 51) – 106 AP/139 DP

This is your beginner gear and what you should aim to have at level 51. If you follow the main story quest line, you will be given your first set of gear which will help you get to level 56. You will get the Delphad Castillion weapon and the roaring magical sub-weapon from your black spirit as a gift for completing certain quests and reaching level 51. The shoes and earrings can drop from Catfishment, the helmet and rings are from Mansha Forest mobs, the gloves and belt are from Rhutum and the necklace is from Treant Forest.

If you don’t follow the main questline (it’s heavily recommended to) or lose your weapons/armor, you can use a Rosar weapon, Heve armor set and the offhand recommended for your class. The items you get from the main story quest are very useful though and you will be using them for a while so don’t throw them away even if you have something stronger you can use, because they get upgraded at level 56. If you do lose the items, you can follow this short article on the offical support page which explains how to get them back: https://blackdesert.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000264949-Dim-Magical-Armor-Sub-weapon-Replacements

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Level 56 – 136 AP/110 AAP/201 DP

This is what you should aim to have at level 56. You will get a quest from your black spirit which will send you over to the blacksmith in Altinova. There you can get a short questline which will exchange the Dim Magical Armor for Roaring Magical Armor. Then you will want to start grinding in the following locations, in this order, for your Asula accessories: Abandoned Iron Mine (necklace), Helm’s Post (rings and earrings), Elric Shrine (belt).

Obtain a heve set (helmet, gloves and boots) because this will be the armor set you use until you change over to boss gear. You want to enhance these 3 pieces to +5 immediately and then get them up to +15 as soon as possible. You can also make them yellow grade for extra stats by using an Ultimate Armor Reform Stone on each of them.

Use a Rosar for your mainhand and for your offhand, check our class guides for specifics. Once you complete your awakening questline you will also receive a +10 green grade weapon which you should use for now.

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Green Gear – 159 AP/155 AAP/247 DP

Next you want to get your armor to DUO and your weapons to TRI. You can also make your awakening weapon yellow grade at this point using an Ultimate Weapon Reform Stone. This will give some extra stats.

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Transition to Boss Gear – 181 AP/ 183 AAP/ 290 DP

Work on replacing your gear with boss gear now. Aim to get your weapons first and then armor. This is probably the hardest step, but there are often events which give boss pieces and will help a lot. You can also start to swap out some of your Asula accessories now. You can use DUO mark of shadow rings, DUO Seraps necklace and DUO Tree Spirit belt if these are better and you an afford them. At this point you should also be pushing to level 60. 

In these examples, I will be using a Kutum offhand because they are the best for grinding and what you should really proritize in lower levels. You can also get a Nouver offhand for PVP.

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Trasition from Asulas (Level 61) – 198 AP/ 200AP / 283 DP

Now you will want to transition from the asula accessories to ones with higher AP. At this point you should be level 60 as well, or very close. You can do quests in Kamaslyvia and in the area around Stars End to reach level 61 in about an hour (use this video). Reaching level 61 will give you the Capotia Ring which has high AP and is equal to TRI Crescent Rings. You will be using this ring for quite a long time as you proceed towards end game. The other accessories are considered quite cheap accessories to help lift up your AP. You may come across better accessories and get lucky with some enhancements. You can find information about all the accessories for your specific class, in our class guides.

In these examples, I will be using a Kutum offhand because they are the best for grinding and what you should really proritize in lower levels. You can also get a Nouver offhand for PVP.

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Going for TET – 216 AP/218 AAP/ 305 DP

At this point you may want to start going for TET armor and weapons. Start with your mainhand and awakening first, then offhand, before doing your armor. I would personally buy your gear if possible because enhancing can be very disheartening and can burn you out quickly. You an also start to upgrade your accessories at this point.

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Closing in on softcap (Level 62) – 106AP/139DP

At this point you will be getting close to softcap. Make sure to do your adventure logs for the extra AP and DP, then start putting caphras levels into your weapon to push you towards 261. You should also be getting closer to level 62 at this point and hopefully will have collected enough Yona’s Fragments to craft a second Capotia Ring and Earring. If you haven’t, you will need TET Witch’s Earrings and TRI Crescent Rings to have equal AP.

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Softcap Gear – 261 AP/ 261 AAP/ 294 DP

Swap your Capotia Rings for TET Crescent rings. You can just swap 1 crescent ring and use a TET Basilisk belt instead if this is cheaper on your server. You will also want to put a couple of caphras levels into your Kzarka and then do your adventure log to get the remaining AP needed to reach 261 AP.

Once you reach 261 AP with Nouver, you will want to stop using Kutum for PVE, until you reach 265 AP with Kutum. After many tests, it is confirmed that Nouver performs better than Kutum in these brackets. More information about AP and DP brackers can be found here

At this point you can do most end-game spots, such as Aakman, Hystria, Sycaraia Abyss, Manshaums and Mirumok.

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Reaching Endgame Gear

After you have reached softcap gear, you will want to start looking at AP brackets. More information about AP and DP brackers can be found here. Make improvements based on your current AP and look at how to reach the next AP bracket with the least amount of cost. This may be using caphras levels or your adventure logs. After this point, you will want to start going for PENs and should really know what you are doing in terms of gear. Check out the section below for more information on end game builds, Kzarka VS Offin VS Blackstar and more information.

 

Example End-Game Gear Builds

Full AP Gear (PVE)

This is an example of an “end-game” build with best in slot items and PEN items along with the crystals you can use. The build is suitable for any class but you can check our class guides for specifics if you want to double check the crystals. Blackstar is considered best for PVE but it does get overtaken by a PEN Kzarka eventually because of Caphras levels. You should put caphras level 4 into each of your gear and you can use a cheap PEN Heve with high caphras instead of a Griffons Helmet, this is because the heve is much cheaper and will evenutally be better than Griffons because of the cheap caphras levels you can put into it.

Full AP Gear (PVP)

This is an example of an “end-game” build with best in slot items and PEN items along with the crystals you can use. The build is suitable for any class but you can check our class guides for specifics if you want to double check the crystals. Kzarka is considered better for PVP but you can also use an Offin weapon if your class requires more accuracy. Most of the time it is safer to go with Kzarka if you are not sure because the difference is not that big. You should put caphras level 4 into each of your gear and you can use a cheap PEN Heve with high caphras instead of a Griffons Helmet, this is because the heve is much cheaper and will evenutally be better than Griffons because of the cheap caphras levels you can put into it.

Full Damage Reduction Gear 

The FULL Damage Reduction build isn’t always viable and really depends on your class. It only really works for a few classes like Warrior, Valkyrie, Berserker, Striker and Mystic. It is particularly strong on the Warrior class because DR makes their block stronger and harder to get through. It’s also a good build to use in large scale PVP. I would only recommend switching or using this build as an alternative if you already have a strong AP build.

Hybrid Damage Reduction Gear 

The Hybrid Damage Reductin buid isn’t always viable and really depends on your class. It only really works for a few classes like Warrior, Valkyrie, Berserker, Striker and Mystic. It is particularly strong on the Warrior class because DR makes their block stronger and harder to get through. It’s also a good build to use in large scale PVP. I would only recommend switching or using this build as an alternative if you already have a strong AP build.

Hybrid Evasion Gear 

Here is what to eventually aim for if you want to go for an Evasion hybrid build. I only recommend going for this if you can still maintain 269+ AP. Going full evasion is not really viable anymore and not considered “meta”. It only works on a couple of classes and even then it is not always viable but if you do decide to go down this path then here is an example you can use. The build also uses items which are not used in most builds such as Muskans, Heve helmet and Leebur gloves but this will give you around 600 evasion in total and you will still deal very good damage. Make sure to put Caphras stones into your equipment for extra stats. You can also swap out both of the Black Magic Crystal – Precision for Crystal of Elkarr (best in slot) instead but these are very costly and harder to obtain. 

Optional crystals:
Boots: Black Magic Crystal – Adamantine/Red Battlefield Crystal: Adamantine/HAN Magic Crystal – Hoom
Gloves: JIN Magic Crystal – Viper/Black Magic Crystal – Sturdiness
Offhand: HAN Magic Crystal – Hoom (if used with boots)