Crimson Desert Refinement Guide: How to upgrade armor and weapons

Crimson Desert is an open-world RPG where fighting is instrumental, as your combat can save your life or allow your enemies to win. Enemies start getting stronger as you progress in the game, so it becomes necessary to have stronger gear. This is why it's important to know how refinement works in the game, so you can improve your gear.

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What is refinement in Crimson Desert?

Turnali in Crimson Desert

Refinement is a system that allows you to essentially level up your gear, improving the stats of both weapons and armor. The improvement makes your gear better suited against stronger enemies.

Each refinement level typically improves:

  • Armor defense stats

  • Weapon damage output 

Benefits of refinement 

  • This system allows you to level up your current gear 

  • You don’t have to discard your current gear and try to find something better

 If you don’t have the game yet, you can get Crimson Desert from LootBar and try refining your gear.

Why is refinement important in Crimson Desert?

Refining your gear in the game is important for various reasons.

  • Enemies scale becoming tougher, and improved gear can be a life-saver

  • You will need to enter high-risk areas as you progress, where better armor can be beneficial 

  • Boss fights can become substantially easier with enhanced weapons and armor 

  • Base-level gear isn’t as effective as you progress 

  • Upgraded gear increases the chances of new players surviving 

  • Better gear can allow you not to shy away from combat

How armor and weapon refinement differ in Crimson Desert

  • Purpose: Refined armor will boost your defense, while enhanced weapons will deal more damage

  • Priority: What you refine will depend on whether you want to deal more damage or be able to handle attacks from stronger enemies 

  • Combat: A stronger weapon will typically lead to more serious damage, which can end the fight quicker, while improved armor will allow you to last longer  

  • Materials: Weapons typically need metal raw material, while armor requires other components 

Where to refine armor and weapons in Crimson Desert

You can refine your gear by: 

  • Visiting a blacksmith NPC with the required materials or refinement tokens

  • Turnali at Hernand will likely be the first blacksmith you run into, as he is located in the game’s starting city

  • You can get your gear refined from Turnalim until more blacksmiths are available 

  • More blacksmiths will be unlocked as you progress in the game

  • You can also unlock blacksmith services at Greymane Camp by upgrading it. 

What materials are needed to refine armor and weapons 

Most gear requires similar material to refine, depending on the item:

  • Melee weapons: Ores

  • Plate armor: Ores

  • Light armor: Leather and wool

  • Cloaks: Leather and wool

  • Bows: Timber

  • Shields: Timber 

  • Rings, earrings, and necklaces: Bones and specialty ore

Where to find upgrade material

Mining in Crimson Desert

Most refinement materials aren’t hard to find, and you may be able to find them as you explore. 

  • Ore: Ore veins can be found in cliffsides and mountains, and you can then mine for ore

  • Timber: You can find timber in the forests and use an axe to cut down trees 

  • Hides, wool, and bones: Can be found by hunting wildlife

Refinement Tokens

Hernand refinement token in Crimson Desert

Hernand Refinement Tokens were added in the 1.01 patch, and they work in place of materials when refining.

  • The tokens are given for free

  • They can be used to refine gear

  • You can refine gear up to stage 4

How to refine armor and weapons in Crimson Desert

Armor and weapons are both refined at the blacksmith in the same way. The process doesn’t change, but you have to use different materials depending on what you are refining. 

  • Go to a blacksmith NPC

  • Open the refinement menu 

  • Choose the item you want to refine 

  • Choose the required material or refinement tokens

  • Confirm the upgrade 

Your selected item will be refined and increase by one level. If it’s a weapon, then it will get an attack boost, and armor will get a defensive buff. 

Tips to improve refinement efficiency 

Here are some tips that may help you refine your gear more effectively. 

  • Focus on your main gear: Refine items that you use rather than trying to divide resources among all your gear

  • Farm material in bulk: Your gear will require more resources as you level it up, so collecting them in bulk can be more efficient 

  • Don’t waste rare material: Make sure the refinement is worth it, so that harder-to-find material isn’t wasted, as you will need rare materials for higher-level refinement later on

  • Plan: Strategize the refinement process, don’t just start refining as soon as you find some resources 

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Here are some common mistakes players make when refining their gear in the game.

  • Upgrading all gear: Not focusing on select gear and trying to level up everything will cost you in the long run

  • Not planning: Refinement is a strategic process, and not planning your upgrades will affect you later 

  • Focusing on low-tier gear: Choose your gear appropriately, as some have useful effects even if most start off with similar base stats

Conslusion

Refining your gear is a good way to increase your defense or buff your damage output, which are especially useful when you are fighting stronger enemies. Upgrading both armor and weapons is done similarly, with the main difference being the materials you need. Most refinement materials are easy to locate, unless you need rare items, which you will need to put in effort to find. If you are ready to try your hand at refinement in the game, but don’t have it yet, you can buy the Crimson Desert Steam key from LootBar.