Systems / 7 min read
SpiritVale Refinement Guide: Materials
SpiritVale Info describes refinement as the system for upgrading artifacts, armor, and weapons through materials and coins at the Blacksmith in Nevaris. Because a refinement decision commits both materials and coins, it is worth understanding what the system does and, just as importantly, what it leaves untouched before you spend anything.
Refinement is three systems sharing one name
The community documentation treats refinement as one activity applied to three different item families, and the material each family consumes is different. Vulkanite is listed for weapons, Gravion for armor, and Lunaris for artifacts. Read that as a routing rule: before you plan an upgrade, decide which family you are upgrading, because that decides which material you need to have on hand. A player who farms a stock of one material and then decides to refine a different item type has, in effect, farmed the wrong thing. Checking the item type first — weapon, armor piece or artifact — is the cheapest mistake to avoid in the whole system.
The cost scales with how far you have already gone
The same source says refinement attempts consume coins and that the cost increases with refinement level. This is the detail that separates a one-off upgrade from a plan. If you are comparing two items, comparing only the end result hides the fact that reaching +N on an item you have never touched is a different proposition from pushing an already-refined item one step further. Budget the coins as part of the decision, not as an afterthought, and treat the coin page as the place to check what else competes for the same currency — card removal uses coins too, so a refinement decision and a socketing decision are not financially independent.
What each item family actually gains
The community refinement guide states the benefit per family. Weapons gain Attack and Magic Attack. Armor gains Defence and Magic Defence. Artifacts improve their listed per-refine benefit. Note the shape of that list: refinement improves the numbers the item already advertises rather than adding a new kind of power. That matters when you are choosing between a high base item you have not refined and a lower base item you can push further — the answer depends on how much further you intend to go and what the material costs look like at your current stage, not on a single ranking of item names.
The one cross-system interaction worth knowing
SpiritVale Info notes that certain cards can scale with refinement. That is the only place the refinement system reaches into another system, and it makes a card choice slightly more than a static bonus decision: a card whose value grows with refinement changes the value of refining the item it sits in. It does not mean every card behaves this way — the source says certain cards, so treat it as something to verify on the specific card you are considering rather than as a general rule. If you are planning a long refinement path on a weapon, it is worth checking whether the card already socketed there is one of them before you finalise the order of your upgrades.
What refinement does not change
This is the part players skip and then regret. The source says refinement does not improve random rolls, primary attributes, or most card bonuses. Two consequences follow. First, a bad random roll does not become a good one because you refined the item; if the roll is what is holding the piece back, refinement will not fix it. Second, comparing two items on their refinement level alone is a mistake, because the roll and the primary attributes are outside refinement's reach. When you evaluate a candidate item, look at the per-refine benefit, the roll and the base attributes together, and only then decide whether the coins and materials are worth committing.
Early Access changes the assumptions, not the structure
Refinement sits inside a game that is still being balanced. The 0.32.0 announcement, for example, describes advanced refinement consuming a Masterwork Core alongside existing materials and consuming it on success — a versioned change to the process rather than to the core idea. Nothing here should be read as a permanent price list. The reliable habit is to keep a short record next to each upgrade: the item, the material, the level you reached, the coin cost you actually paid, and the patch you were on. That record turns a future balance change from a reason to start over into a bounded question about which of your decisions it affects.
A short order of operations
Identify the item family and therefore the material. Check the coin cost at your current refinement level rather than at the level you remember. Confirm whether the piece's random roll and primary attributes are good enough that refinement is the right lever at all. Check whether a card in the item is one of the ones that scales with refinement. Then commit, and write down what you spent. Doing those five things in that order costs a few minutes and prevents the most common outcome of an unplanned refinement session, which is spending materials on the wrong family and coins on an item whose roll you were going to replace anyway.
Frequently asked questions
Which material refines which item type?
SpiritVale Info lists Vulkanite for weapons, Gravion for armor, and Lunaris for artifacts.
Does refinement improve random rolls or primary attributes?
No. The community refinement guide says refinement does not improve random rolls, primary attributes, or most card bonuses.
Where does refinement happen?
SpiritVale Info describes refinement as taking place at the Blacksmith in Nevaris, consuming materials and coins.
Does refining cost more at higher levels?
Yes. The community guide says refinement attempts consume coins and the cost increases with refinement level.