Weapon Special Abilities (SA)
Soul Crystals and adding an SA
C, B, A and S-grade weapons can be given a special bonus - an SA (Special Ability). Each weapon has three SAs to choose from, and only one can be added. Dual swords automatically get a specific SA when enchanted to +4.
Adding and removing an SA
- An SA is added by a Blacksmith (for C and B-grade weapons) or a Blacksmith of Mammon (for A and S-grade).
- You need a certain number of Gemstones of the same grade as the weapon and a Soul Crystal of a particular color and level.
- Any Black Marketeer of Mammon in any town, as well as any Blacksmith of Mammon, removes an SA for free.
Soul Crystal
Soul crystals are given by the Enhance Your Weapon quest. You can take it from one of these NPCs:
- Grand Magister Jurek in Giran;
- Magister Gaider in Oren;
- Magister Winonin in Aden.
You can only hold one crystal from the quest at a time. To get several, drop the crystal on the ground or put it in the warehouse, then take another.
A crystal comes in one of three colors - red, green or blue. The color determines which SA goes into the weapon. Crystals have 12 levels: the more powerful the weapon, the higher the level required. The blacksmith will tell you which level you need.
Leveling the crystal
A crystal levels up when you kill certain monsters. The higher the monster's level, the better the chance. Certain monsters can raise a crystal only up to a certain level, but you can go straight for high-level monsters.
- Only 1 crystal can be leveled at a time.
- Wait until the monster has less than 50% HP, use the Soul Crystal on it, then land the killing blow. If the monster dies from damage reflection, that also counts as the killing blow.
What can happen to the crystal:
| Event | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Nothing happened | You used the crystal too early, did not land the killing blow, or the monster is not on the list. |
| The crystal resonates | You have more than 1 crystal in your inventory. Get rid of the extras by giving them to someone else. |
| The crystal did not level up | Just bad luck - try again. |
| The crystal broke | Really bad luck - you will have to start over. |
| The crystal leveled up | Success, the level went up by 1. If the crystal was on the shortcut bar, it disappears from there. |
| The crystal rejected the soul | The monster's level is too low - look for higher-level monsters. |
Above level 10, a crystal can only be leveled on raid bosses. Every member of the party whose player landed the killing blow on the boss gets a chance to level their crystal; using the Soul Crystal on the boss is not required. At these levels the crystal cannot break.
Where to level the crystal
The number in the first column is the level up to which (but not beyond) the crystal can be raised on the listed monsters. The source lists no monsters for levels 1, 6, 8 and 9.
| Lvl | Location | Monsters |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Ivory Tower | Timak Orc, Timak Orc Warrior, Timak Orc Soldier, Timak Orc Troop Archer, Timak Orc Troop Soldier |
| 3 | Forest of Mirrors | Forest of Mirror Ghost |
| 3 | Ivory Tower | Timak Orc Overlord, Timak Orc Shaman, Timak Orc Troop Leader, Timak Orc Troop Shaman |
| 4 | Forest of Mirrors | Mirror, Forest of Mirror Ghost |
| 5 | Anghel Waterfall | Harit Lizardman, Harit Lizardman Grunt, Harit Lizardman Archer |
| 7 | Giants Cave | Hamrut, Yintzu, Halingka, Paliote, Kranrot |
| 7 | Devastated Castle | Doom Servant |
| 10 | Devastated Castle | Doom Guard, Doom Archer, Doom Knight, Doom Trooper, Doom Warrior |
| 10 | Tower of Insolence | Erin Edunce, any Platinum Tribe, any Angel |
| 10 | Antharas Lair | Malruk Knight, Malruk Berserker, Malruk Lord, Limal Karinness, Karik, Pytan, Pytan Knight |
| 11-12 | Raid bosses | Anakim, Lilith, Ant Queen, Core, Baium, Antharas and other level 70+ raid bosses |
| ? | Garden of Eva | Nos, any Blade Stakato, Water Giant, Queen Undine Lad, Eva's Seeker, Theeder Piker, Theeder Mage, Doll Master, Light Worm, Garden Guard, Garden Guard Leader |
| ? | Devils Isle | Bloody Bat, Unpleasant Humming, Death Flyer, Fiend Archer, Musveren, Zaken's Royal Guard, Kaim Vanul, Pirate Zombie Captain, Doll Blader, Vale Master, Sairon, Sairon's Puppet, Sairon's Doll, Light Bringer |
SA types
| Name | Type | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Health | permanent | +25% max HP |
| Mana Up | permanent | +30% max MP |
| Conversion | permanent | increases max MP at the cost of max HP |
| Light | permanent | reduces weapon weight |
| Anger | permanent | increases P.Atk at the cost of 15% max HP |
| Acumen | permanent | increases M.Aspd |
| Empower | permanent | increases M.Atk |
| Quick Recovery | permanent | reduces spell and skill reuse time |
| Cheap Shot | random | reduces MP consumption for normal bow shots |
| Miser | random | reduces SS consumption for normal bow shots |
| Evasion | permanent | increases Evasion |
| Guidance | permanent | increases Accuracy |
| Haste | permanent | increases P.Aspd |
| Focus | permanent | increases Critical |
| Might Mortal | permanent | increases the success chance of Mortal Blow and Deadly Blow |
| Backblow | permanent | increases Critical when striking from behind |
| Longblow | permanent | increases the attack range of spears and halberds |
| Wideblow | permanent | increases the attack angle of spears and halberds |
| Crt.Damage | permanent | increases critical hit damage |
| Crt.Anger | permanent | on a critical hit, takes 12 HP from the character and deals an extra +68 damage |
| Crt.Drain | permanent | on a critical hit, part of the damage becomes the character's HP |
| Crt.Stun | random | on a critical hit, stuns the enemy |
| Crt.Bleed | random | on a critical hit, inflicts a bleeding wound |
| Crt.Poison | random | on a critical hit, poisons the enemy |
| Rsk.Focus | conditional | increases Critical when HP is below 60% |
| Rsk.Evasion | conditional | increases Evasion when HP is below 60% |
| Rsk.Haste | conditional | increases Atk. Spd when HP is below 60% |
| Magic Power | permanent | increases M.Atk at the cost of higher spell MP cost |
| Magic Damage | permanent | increases spell power |
| Magic Mental Shield | random | when casting a beneficial spell on a target, also casts Mental Shield |
| Magic Focus | random | when casting a beneficial spell, also casts Focus |
| Magic Regeneration | random | when casting a beneficial spell, also casts Regeneration |
| Magic Bless the Body | random | when casting a beneficial spell, also casts Bless the Body |
| Magic Hold | random | when casting a harmful spell, also casts Dryad Root |
| Magic Poison | random | when casting a harmful spell, also casts Poison |
| Magic Weakness | random | when casting a harmful spell, also casts Weakness |
| Magic Chaos | random | when casting a harmful spell, also casts Chaos |
| Magic Paralyze | random | when casting a harmful spell, also casts Paralyze |
| Magic Silence | random | when casting a harmful spell, also casts Silence |
Additional notes
From l2db.ru (the "Special Abilities" and "SA guide" articles, C3-C4 data):
- According to l2db, many C-grade weapons have SAs, and since C4 all B-grade and higher weapons do (in C3 the B-grade Sword of Valhalla still had no SA). The SA list for a given weapon and the crystal color needed can be checked with the Blacksmith in Aden and Giran - do not hold the weapon in your hands when asking, or the smith will not find it. A and S grade require the Blacksmith of Mammon and hundreds of Gemstones.
- Dual swords get their SA when enchanted to +4, with a 30% chance of breaking.
- Crystals up to level 7 are fairly easy to raise, levels 8 and 9 are quite doable; from level 10 on it becomes a headache - be ready to shatter a lot of crystals.
- To get several crystals, remove the crystal from your inventory (drop it, give it to a friend or put it in the warehouse) and talk to the NPC again. There are two strategies: raise the crystal from weak monsters to strong ones, or hunt strong ones right away.
- Levels 11-12 are raised on Anakim, Lilith or dungeon bosses (Antharas, Baium and others): a party member with a level 10 (or 11) crystal in the inventory gets the level-up if someone in the party lands the last hit, so up to 9 crystals can be raised per kill. It cannot fail.
Crystal level required
| Crystal level | Weapons | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | C grade (low-mid) | Stiletto |
| 7 | C grade (mid-high) | Dwarven Warhammer, War Axe |
| 8 | C grade (top) | Samurai Longsword, Eminence Bow, Orcish Poleaxe, Ghoul's Staff, Demon's Staff |
| 9 | B grade (low) | Keshanberk |
| 10 | B grade (high) | Sword of Damascus, Art of Battle Axe, Bow of Peril |
| 11 | A grade (low) | Meteor Shower, Carnage Bow |
| 12 | A grade (high) | Branch of the Mother Tree, Soul Bow |
| 13 | S grade | Forgotten Blade, Angel Slayer, Draconic Bow and others |
SA effect details
| SA | Effect according to l2db |
|---|---|
| Acumen | casting speed +15% |
| Conversion | max MP +60%, max HP -40% |
| Light | weapon weight -70% |
| Evasion | Evasion +2 |
| Magic Power | M.Atk rises at the cost of a 15% higher spell MP cost |
| Magic Bless the Body | 15% chance on a good spell |
| Magic Mental Shield | 15% chance on a good spell |
| Magic Focus | 7% chance to apply Focus (effect 3) |
| Magic Regeneration | 3% chance to apply Regeneration (effect 2) |
| Magic Hold | 5% chance to apply Dryad Root (effect 1) |
| Magic Weakness | 5% chance to apply Weakness (effect 3) |
| Miser | a chance to reduce soulshot use by 0-4 per attack |
| Might Mortal | removed shortly before C3; weapons that got it earlier keep the SA and are very rare |
| HP Drain | absorbs HP with every hit (C4) |
| HP Regeneration | faster HP regeneration (C4) |
| MP Regeneration | faster MP regeneration (C4) |
The full SA table for every C-S grade weapon is in SA for Every Weapon.