About[]
You can create equipment for your Heroes and machines for your Tower by crafting. Crafting allows you to make assorted equipment and machines without relying on random loot drops, which usually give you items that aren't particularly useful if you're at mid-game or above. Things you can craft include Weapons, Armor and Machines. As random drops only grant up to Uncommon rarity items (besides monster drops), crafting is the only way to obtain armor and weapons of Rare or higher quality, outside of certain milestone rewards (such as 4,000 and 6,000 catacomb points, floors 27 and 29 of the Wizard Tower, or spending 2 million gold during a Dragon's Hoard). This is likely intentional, as Weapons, Armor, and Machines can be crafted, so there is no point in allowing anything above Uncommon to be found randomly, as they would be too valuable to be dropped randomly, whereas Rare or better quality monsters are found randomly because they can't be crafted, only found randomly or from special campaigns.
Each item that can be crafted has a recipe, and each recipe must be researched before you can use it. Additionally, each recipe requires that your artisans be at specific minimum levels before you can begin research. Once research is complete, you will see the gold cost and materials required to craft that item. Also, once researched, you will be able to use that recipe indefinitely.
It's a good idea to always be researching a new recipe in each category, as there are many recipes, and it will literally take weeks of research before you'll be able to craft high-level items.
Artisans[]
Your artisans include the Blacksmith, the Alchemist and the Engineer. Leveling up your artisans allows you to research better equipment and machines, which will require certain artisan levels. Artisan points are the primary means of upgrading your Artisans, though you can also use gems if you don't have enough artisan points. The max level is 55, and an artisan cannot be higher level than your keeper level.
When you start playing the campaign, the artisans are first seen in the final stage of 1-3 Caravan Rescue of A Shadow Grows, but after rescuing them they can no longer be seen in the level. Completing this scene rescues them, and is how they become 'your' artisans.
Artisan point costs to level up follow these formulas:
| Artisan Level | Artisan Point Cost |
|---|---|
| 1–23 | (next level)2 |
| 24–28 | (next level)3 ÷ 15 |
| 29–49 | (next level)3 ÷ 10 |
| 50–54 | (next level)3 ÷ 3 |
1 gem seems to be worth about 19.5 artisan points. The shop rate on special promotions is 1 gem for 20 artisan points. This means paying gems for artisan points in the shop is pointless, since you can spend them directly on the artisans at any time for a similar price.
Recipes and Crafting Levels[]
| Recipe Research | |
|---|---|
| duration | gold cost |
| 30s | 100 |
| 15m | 400 |
| 45m | 900 |
| 2h | 1600 |
| 8h | 2500 |
| 15h | 3600 |
| 1d | 4900 |
| 1d12h | 6400 |
| 2d | 8100 |
| 2d12h | 9000 |
| 3d | 10000 |
| 5m* | 12100 |
| 5m* | 14400 |
| * only exist as epic recipe | |
Recipes are unlocked by researching them in the crafting menu. Each type of equipment (weapon, armor, machine) can have 1 recipe under research at a time, for 3 total recipes being researched simultaneously. The duration and cost increase the further one moves down in the list of recipes (cost is always the recipe's distance from the first recipe, squared then multiplied by 100). Importantly, epic recipes can only be found randomly from chests once the prerequisite recipe has been learned. These are shown in the table. Mercifully, epic recipes take only five minutes to research.
Improving your artisans' levels also increases level of the the resulting item crafted. This is not a unique boost in stats; you can also craft the item at a lower level and upgrade it through combines for the exact same effect. The item level shown in-game in the crafting menu is the minimum that will result from crafting. Often the item can come out at a higher level -- up to 5 levels higher, or the maximum level that the item can be, whichever is lower. When you upgrade an artisan, it improves certain recipes and those recipes both cost more gold and components and are crafted at a higher minimum level.
Crafting Components[]
The ingredients in your crafting recipes are called crafting components. Crafting items of higher rarity requires more and more expensive resources. Components from common to rare are:
|
Components |
Required For | |
|---|---|---|
|
Hardwood | All |
|
Steel Bar | All |
|
Mystical Essence | All |
|
Adamantine Bar | All |
|
Arcane Shard | Rare+ crafts, also a few uncommon recipes |
|
Celestial Orb | Rare+ crafts, also a few uncommon recipes |
|
Void Core | Super Rare and Epic crafts only |
Components Strategy[]
All components are required to craft an item except Celestial Orbs and Void Cores as noted above. Machines however tend to demand fewer components and do not follow the same rule.
All components can be found as random loot from any PvE or PvP battle. Bulk amounts of components, particularly the rarer components, are best obtained through milestone rewards from Festival Events, the Catacombs, or the Wizard Tower. A couple of the bonus campaigns also offer crafting component rewards, although Void Cores won't appear until level 40+ missions.
List of Craftable Items[]
One Handed Slashing- One Handed Hacking
- One Handed Stabbing
- Wand
- Two Handed Slashing
- Two Handed Hacking
- Two Handed Stabbing
- Staff
- Bow
- Fist
Crafting Strategy[]
As noted above, purchasing artisan points from the shop is not recommended. A slower leveling pace with many feasts will guarantee enough crafting points without paying any gems at all, allowing you to save your gems for void cores.
Focus on one artisan at a time, according to a crafting goal in mind (such as the Rod of Ruin). This also means researching one recipe line at a time.
Plan ahead for your resource needs. Begin securing the rarer resources, especially Void Cores, as soon as possible. This is most easily done by saving up for Festival Events, although the Wizard Tower and Catacombs can help somewhat. The Catacombs unfortunately can be quite grueling to reach Void Cores at low levels.
Avoid crafting low-level (common/uncommon/rare) items. While Void Cores are commonly considered the limiting resource, don't underestimate the intermediate resources which are used up by lower-tier items. Mystical Essence for example is often spent in 100+ amounts to craft an epic item, yet still 30-50 for cheaper items. It is possible to run out of these as well.