Teach me about crystals

[Lumineux]

Playing a dragon almost exclusivly, and having never been particularly impressed with any (light/dark/bright)(gem type)(socket type) crystal that I have come across, I never payed much attention to them (I know they are being looked at in general by the devs). Oh sure, I knew of pulsing spectrum, and I had an ardent rough cut firey stone I bought for one of my alts (I've never used it, hes not 35 yet). They seemed interesting, but with no weapon sockets on my main character I just didnt care a whole lot. But now I think I should learn some more about these things. I'm particularly interested in the crystals with interesting effects or nice combinations of stat boosts. Where do they come from? Are they a quest item? Rare drops? Thanks for the help.

[Magfuddle]

EAT THEM !

no seriously ..... you can "use" them to raise your XP ... or sell them as they are a tech item for enhancing "socketed" items ... check if you can hoard them (not being a dragon I wouldnt know)

[metagruen]

I need lessons , too.

preferably I never got behind the mechanics why crystals can or can not stack.

like:

shimmering stone II stacks with a +energy res. / energyward ...

but it doesn't stack with a ardent sizzled...

does it mean, generally spoken:

you cannot add a damage-bonus crystal with another?

and stat-bonus crystals are an exception?

i am totally confused.

[Bleri]

Ive got a few crystals in my vault but never ever used them. Never understood what happens to them. If I place one on a tool/weapon do I get an enhancement or do I have to consume it to get the enhancement or whatever ???

[Shaw Moking]

1st thing to note is the difference between Weapon STONES (ardent bevelled, shimmering spectrum etc) and CRYSTALS (Weapon, Armour or Jewelry)

2 different weapon STONES cannot stack. basic rule.

CRYSTALS will stack but not with another of the same kind, that gives the same benefit.(health, power etc)

You can mix crystals and stones, but those 2 basic rules still apply.

[baldarou]

Finally a post I can contribute a bit to. First off, shaw is correct, there are two types of "crystals" that you can add to weapon sockets. I will only talk bout weapons as that is my forte. The first kind are dubbed stat crystals are raise stats such as health, armor, power, focus, strength, and dexterity. These crystals are dubbed some sort of gem weapon crystal and have a level restriction on them in multiples of 20. They can be put into socketed weapons and then equiped to give stat bonuses to that weapon.

The second type of "crystal" that can be put into weapons are dubbed the western deadlands stones. They originally droped from high level mobs in the western deadlands and were farmed alot. The most common are the direct damage stones. The level 65 and 75 variants are by far the rarest regardless of the effect. These stones add an augmentation effect to your weapon that I call a Proc. During battle engaged in melee combat with an enemy, these crystals have a chance occur on every hit the listed percentage of times. This percentage relies on the type of crystal and its level. You can check what it is on the info window after puting the stone into the weapon. These crystals do not stack with each other and only one can be in a weapon at any time with only a few grandfathered exceptions which I will not discuss for simplicity.

The types of stones are named for the type of effect given and level restriction placed on it. The rough-cut is a level 35 stone, the faceted is a level 45 stone, the beveled is a level 55 stone, the brilliant is a level 65 stone and the flawless is a level 75 stone. Additionally a Topaz is level 65 and a Peridot is level 75, this only applies to the sugent and misty line of stones. All of these can be placed in any weapon but to then equip that weapon you need to be the required level.

The types of crystals are listed below

Ardent - Flame based direct damage hits an opponent for the listed damage value
Glowing - Energy based direct damage hits an opponent for the listed damage value
Icy - Ice based direct damage hits an opponent for the listed damage value

Freezing - An augmentation is given to the enemy to reduce their evasion for a limited time

Sizzling - A damage over time effect is placed on the enemy to do periodic damage to them for the listed damage value over 49 seconds

Sugent - Gives a chance to absorb a certain percentage of life value of the damage done to the enemy for the listed percentage of times

Misty - Gives a chance to make an attack do ethereal damage to the enemy for the listed percentage of times


The direct damage stones and sizzling used to work on spells and repeaters, but that is no longer the case sadly. My recommendation are as follows.

-For a class that uses 2hs and mauls, a misty is an excellent choice for the added damage done. If this is not obtainable, then a high level direct damage crystal is also good

-For a class that uses dirks, 1hs, 1hc, or spears, I suggest a sizzling crystal as it will do the most damage during the course of battle since your fighting style is more defensely oreintated or a sugent if you want a bit more life back or even a direct damage crystal if you feel you can take out mobs quickly

-For casters get a armor and health crystal :) you shouldn't really be melee. Or get a scabby staff, swarm shield etc that will raise your damage on your spells.

Also to note is the infamous dark garnet weapon crystal. This is a crystal that is unique to all others in that it adds to the base min and max damage of any weapon. This makes it quite useful because of the sheer benefit of being stacked with a western deadland stone. The best kinds of weapons out there from my perspective are dual socketed weapons or dual socket and parry tech. This allows for one western deadland stone and a dark garnet weapon crystal (DGWC). Good luck to you all on your adventures and feel free to post questions.

Baldarou
Dark Infinity
100war/100cler/75shm
84msn

[DeathTiny]

nice post Baldarou .. seems to cover all weaponbased "knowledge" ppl need for crystals.
Only missing the good old pulsing (forgot the actual/changed name)mentioned as a good stone for fast weapons. It is only 15 sec. now but with a fast weapon or running flurry it will still activate quite often and does nice damage .. getting better with every mob that does hit you.

Overall the the crystal-system is still acting strange ...

you can´t add 3 different crystals into a shield .. at least with auroahs crystal all tried combos that should work because the 3 crystals don´t share statz did not work.
Someone has found a combination of 3 crystals that fit into a shield and does include auroahs ?

[AA0]

I don't think many people try 3 crystals into a shield, most would put a block tech and two crystals.

[Lumineux]

Hey, thanks a lot, that's exactly the kind of stuff I wanted to know. [:D]

[Korsh]

It's worth noting, btw, that normal crystals (not stones) are due for a major overall by AE sometime in the relatively near future. They should become more powerful and versatile.

[DeathTiny]

I don't think many people try 3 crystals into a shield, most would put a block tech and two crystals.

we did the tests with the techs not beeing ingame or needed hours (if unlucky) to hunt the drops from the rare spawns.
So we end up with 1 of 3 shields with block tech+2 sockets and 2 others were simply tripplesocket.

But you are right .. not much use for 3 as good crystals missing that can be combined.