Masterworking is an end-game system available at the Blacksmith that allows players to improve the quality of the affixes (including Tempering Affixes) on their equipment. By providing a Blacksmith with rare materials obtained from The Pit of Artificers, players can significantly improve their Ancestral Legendary equipment and Ancestral Unique equipment.
Masterworking Materials
Masterworking requires materials that are typically available by completing The Pit of Artificers and the Infernal Hordes and are as follows:
- Obducite is obtained from The Pit Tier 1 through Tier 29 and is used to upgrade equipment from Masterwork Rank 1 to Masterwork Rank 4.
- Ingolith is obtained from The Pit Tier 30 through Tier 59 and is used to upgrade equipment from Masterwork Rank 5 to Masterwork Rank 8.
- Ingolith can be Transmuted at the Alchemist into three Obducite.
- Neathiron is obtained from The Pit Tier 60 through Tier 200 and is used to upgrade equipment from Masterwork Rank 9 to Masterwork Rank 12.
- Neathiron can be Transmuted at the Alchemist into three Ingolith.
Higher ranks have higher material costs. In addition to the rare materials listed above, Masterworking requires other materials including Gold, Iron Chunk, Rawhide, Veiled Crystals, Abstruse Sigils, Baleful Fragments, Coiling Wards, Forgotten Souls. Currently data on what levels of the Infernal Hordes drop what levels of Masterworking materials is not yet known, but like The Pit, the higher you go, the better materials you earn (and more of them!)
Check out our The Pit of Artificers Guide and Infernal Hordes to learn how to succeed in these challenging endgame activities!
Masterworking Bonuses
Normally upon increasing the Masterworking Rank of a piece of equipment, all of its affixes increase by 5%. However, at Masterworking Rank 4, Rank 8, and Rank 12, only one of the item’s affixes receives a bonus, but the bonus is 25% instead of 5%. This larger bonus is known as a Masterworking Crit or Masterworking Proc. All Masterworking bonuses are additive with each other and additive with the 50% bonus associated with Greater Affixes.
However, the 5% and 25% apply to the base value of the Affix, not the 50% bonus of the Greater Affix. For example, let's say there's an affix with a cap of 50%. A Greater Affix would be a 50% bonus of that Affix, and would be 75%. However, each 5% increase from Masterworking would be 5% of that 50% cap, not 5% of the 75%. Affixes that have whole-number values have their values rounded down after their bonuses are applied.
- Rank 1, 2, 3: +5% to all affixes
- Rank 4: +25% to one random affix
- Rank 5, 6, 7: +5% to all affixes
- Rank 8: +25% to one random affix
- Rank 9, 10, 11: +5% to all affixes
- Rank 12: +25% to one random affix
A single affix can receive the MW Crit bonus multiple times. Affixes that receive this bonus once are blue. Affixes that receive this bonus twice are yellow. Affixes that receive this bonus three times are orange. At Rank 12, an affix has the following total bonus, depending on how many times it received a MW Crit:
- 0 MW Crits: +45%
- 1 MW Crit: +70%
- 2 MW Crits: +95%
- 3 MW Crits: +120%
Resetting
An item’s Masterworking Ranks can be reset. Players may want to reset an item's Masterworking Rank if the MW Crit bonus received at rank 4, 8, or 12 was randomly applied to an affix that is less valuable. If it's very important to get a Masterworking Crit bonus on one particular affix, then a player may want to reset Masterwork Rank at Rank 4 if they didn't get the proc they wanted. Very dedicated players may also reset their ranks at Rank 8, but that could be extremely costly. Resetting at Rank 12 is not recommended.
Summary
- The Masterworking menu can be accessed by interacting with Blacksmiths.
- Masterworking can only be performed on Ancestral equipment. Additionally, the item must be either Unique or fully-tempered Legendary equipment.
- The required materials are obtained by completing The Pit.
- The maximum Rank is 12.
- Most Ranks give every affix a 5% bonus. Ranks 4, 8, and 12 instead give a 25% bonus to a single random affix.
- An item’s Masterworking ranks can be reset.
Check out our Tempering Guide to learn all the details about how to add powerful build-defining affixes to your equipment before upgrading it with the Masterworking system.
Credits
Written by Slothmaster
Reviewed by Northwar, Dredscythe, ehtoka
