Upgrading Items
Forge stronger gear by gathering aether, crafting it into a usable form, and binding new attributes to your equipment. This is the full progression loop, from the first shard you pull out of a lava vein to the final tier of a fully rolled item.
Overview
Item upgrading in Valyria is a three-stage progression. Each stage feeds the next, so a steady supply of aether is what keeps your gear improving.
Gather Aether Shards
Hunt elite monsters and loot shards from their corpses, or mine lava veins scattered across the map with a pickaxe.
Craft Large Aethernite
Visit any crafting station in a main city and convert 5 Aether Shards into 1 Large Aethernite — the refined form the Rarity Upgrade module accepts.
Upgrade at the Rarity Module
Open the Rarity Upgrade window to enchant new attributes onto an item, reroll an existing attribute, or disenchant the item to recover aether shards.
Aether Shards
Aether Shards are the base currency of the upgrade system. There are two ways to obtain them — pick whichever fits your playstyle, or combine both for faster progression.
Elite Monsters
Killing an elite version of a monster has a chance to drop Aether Shards. Elites are marked with a star skull (one, two, or three stars depending on their tier); higher-tier elites drop more shards on average.
Lava Holes (Mining)
Active lava veins are spread across the map and can be mined with a pickaxe. Every successful mine yields between 1 and 5 shards, scaling with your Mining skill and the quality of your pick.
Mining
Mining requires an active lava vein and a pickaxe. Each vein takes several attempts to break — your Mining skill reduces the required attempts and increases the chance each strike succeeds. There are two workflows depending on which pouch you use.
Mining Pouch
A regular Mining Pouch stores shards as you mine, keeping your backpack clean. You still need to use your pickaxe directly on the lava vein.
Golden Mining Pouch
Put any pickaxe inside the pouch and you can right-click the lava vein directly — the pouch will automatically use the best pick it contains. Faster cycles and the pouch picks up the shards itself.
Picks & Where to Buy Them
Higher-tier picks raise your effective mining chance and add bonus shard rolls per successful mine. All upgraded picks are sold by Uzgod, the dwarven blacksmith in Kazoordon. Each pick has a Mining skill requirement.
| Pick | Item ID | Requirement | Mining Multiplier | Shard Bonus | Price (Uzgod) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pick | 2553 | — | 1.00x | 0 | — |
| Advanced Pick | 6495 | 25 Mining Skill | 1.15x | +12 | 25,000 gold |
| Modified Pick | 6496 | 40 Mining Skill | 1.20x | +22 | 100,000 gold |
| Enhanced Pick | 6497 | 55 Mining Skill | 1.25x | +32 | 250,000 gold |
| Golden Pick | 6498 | 70 Mining Skill | 1.30x | +42 | 500,000 gold |
Crafting Large Aethernite
Aether Shards by themselves cannot upgrade gear — they must first be refined. Crafting stations are found in every main city; right-click one to open the crafting window.
Recipe
5 Aether Shards → 1 Large Aethernite. Apprentice-tier recipe, 100% success chance, no gold cost.
Disenchantment Rune
Optional companion recipe: 5 Disenchantment Shards → 1 Disenchantment Rune. Required to disenchant attributes off an item. Note this craft has a low base success chance, so expect to consume extra shards.
The Rarity Upgrade Module
Open the Rarity Upgrade window and place an upgradeable item inside. The module exposes three actions depending on the state of the item.
Reroll Costs
Reroll cost scales with the item's current rarity. The higher the rarity, the more expensive the action and the lower the base success chance.
| Rarity | Gold | Large Aethernite | Base Chance | Boosted Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 800 | 5 | 25% | 35% |
| 2 | 2,400 | 12 | 20% | 28% |
| 3 | 7,200 | 24 | 15% | 22% |
| 4 | 21,600 | 48 | 10% | 15% |
| 5 | 64,800 | 96 | 5% | 8% |
Upgrade Costs
Upgrades cost more aether than rerolls at the same rarity because they add power to the item rather than swap it. The "Rarity" column refers to the target rarity (the rarity you are upgrading into).
| Target Rarity | Gold | Large Aethernite | Base Chance | Boosted Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 800 | 12 | 25% | 35% |
| 2 | 2,400 | 24 | 20% | 28% |
| 3 | 7,200 | 48 | 15% | 22% |
| 4 | 21,600 | 96 | 10% | 15% |
| 5 | 64,800 | 192 | 5% | 8% |
Disenchant
Disenchanting strips attributes from an item and refunds Aether Shards. It costs gold and one Disenchantment Rune per attempt, and the success chance scales with how many attributes you are trying to remove at once — the more attributes, the harder it is.
Cost by Item Classification
| Classification | Gold | Material | Shards Returned (per attribute) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 200 | 1 Disenchantment Rune | 2 - 4 shards |
| 2 | 600 | 1 Disenchantment Rune | 4 - 6 shards |
| 3 | 1,800 | 1 Disenchantment Rune | 8 - 12 shards |
| 4 | 5,400 | 1 Disenchantment Rune | 12 - 20 shards |
| 5 | 16,200 | 1 Disenchantment Rune | 20 - 30 shards |
Success Chance by Attribute Count
| Attributes Removed | Base Chance | Boosted Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 attribute | 50% | 75% |
| 2 attributes | 40% | 65% |
| 3 attributes | 30% | 55% |
| 4 attributes | 20% | 45% |
| 5 attributes | 10% | 35% |