Pixel Lineage: Gear Upgrades: Honing Costs and Risks
Match whetstones at the Blacksmith, compare honing success chances, and budget for gold costs and downgrade risk before pushing toward +10.
Hone Pixel Lineage gear at the Blacksmith's FORGE using a whetstone that matches the piece's rarity. Each level adds 8% to its stats up to +10, but success chances fall and failures from +5 can lose a hone level, so save resources for gear you expect to keep.
The castle-services walkthrough shows the Blacksmith setting for crafting and FORGE upgrades.
Open the service and match the material
Repair the castle Blacksmith for 150 gold, then use FORGE. Honing improves a piece you already own; CRAFT is the separate service for making weapons. Each attempt also costs gold, so read the displayed attempt cost before budgeting several tries.
| Gear rarity | Whetstone |
|---|---|
| Common | Rough |
| Uncommon | Fine |
| Rare | Azure |
| Epic | Violet |
| Legendary | Sunforged |
| Secret | Starmetal |
Using the rarity match is part of the recipe. A higher-sounding material is not a substitute for a different rarity's required stone. Decide which piece you want to improve before spending its matching supply.
Success becomes less reliable at higher levels
| Target level | Success chance |
|---|---|
| +1 | 95% |
| +2 | 90% |
| +3 | 80% |
| +4 | 70% |
| +5 | 60% |
| +6 | 50% |
| +7 | 42% |
| +8 | 34% |
| +9 | 27% |
| +10 | 20% |
From +5, a failed attempt has a 50% chance to reduce the hone level by one. This adds more risk than simply paying for another try. The success chance is not a guarantee that a fixed number of attempts will reach your target.
Improve a useful piece before chasing a large number
Check whether the gear fits the class, provides the stats you need, and is likely to remain in the loadout. Early improvement on a strong fit can be more practical than exhausting materials to force +10 on a piece you intend to replace.
Set a gold reserve for repairs or other progression needs before repeated attempts. Stop when you reach that reserve or when the risk no longer fits your goal. This budget advice does not alter the game's random success checks; it prevents one upgrade session from consuming every resource.
Recheck the displayed cost as your plan changes
Use the actual FORGE price for the next attempt, not an assumed fixed schedule. The site's budget calculator can help with a manually entered current cost, but it cannot predict success, downgrades or the total cost of reaching +10. Those remain outcomes of the game's honing checks.