Where to temper
Every one of the fifteen town blacksmiths has a tempering bench standing just past the anvil. Tap it — your wanderer walks over and the tempering screen opens on arrival. The smith will explain it too, if you ask.
The rules
- Tempering takes exactly 3 pieces of the same item — same set, same slot. Three Steel Chestplates qualify, and so do three Steel swords or three Steel shields; a chestplate plus a helmet doesn't, and neither does Steel plus Iron. All six gear slots temper — only cosmetic hats and tools stay out.
- The three pieces may be of different qualities (Worn, Standard, Refined, Rare, Epic, Relic).
- Each attempt costs 1,000 gold.
- On success, the three pieces are consumed and you receive one piece at the quality above your best input.
- On failure, all three pieces are returned untouched — only the gold is spent. Tempering never destroys armour.
Your odds
Three pieces of the same quality always succeed. Every quality level a piece sits below your best one halves the chance:
| Inputs | Result | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Rare + Rare + Rare | Epic | 100% |
| Rare + Rare + Refined | Epic | 50% |
| Rare + Refined + Refined | Epic | 25% |
| Rare + Refined + Standard | Epic | 12.5% |
The tempering screen shows the exact chance, the predicted result and the cost before you commit, and updates live as you swap pieces in and out.
Beyond Relic: tier breakthrough
Relic is the top quality — so tempering Relics does something better. When your best input is Relic, success forges the next gear tier of the same slot at Standard quality: three Relic Steel Chestplates become a Gilded Chestplate. It's a second way up the gear ladder for slots the road won't drop. Only the very top of the ladder (Legendary) can't be tempered further.
Worth knowing
- Tempered gear is identical to dropped gear of that quality — same stats, same value.
- Equipped and locked pieces can't be fed into the bench, so your worn set is safe.
- Duplicates you'd normally sell are tempering fuel now. Three Worn scraps are a Standard piece waiting to happen.
Common mistakes
- Selling duplicates before checking the bench. A duplicate is worth a few coins to the store and potentially a whole quality grade to the bench.
- Gambling on deep mixed batches. A 12.5% attempt still costs the full 1,000 gold. Since failure returns the pieces, low-odds attempts are only a gold question — but three even-quality pieces are always the clean play.
- Tempering gear you're about to outgrow. Quality multiplies the piece you feed in — bench the set you'll still be wearing next region, not the one you're leaving behind.
- Forgetting the lock. The bench can't touch locked or equipped pieces — lock the keepers and you can never feed the wrong piece in by mistake.
FAQ
Can weapons and shields be tempered?
Yes — every real gear slot works at the bench: weapon, shield, helmet, body, legs and boots. Only cosmetic hats and gathering tools are excluded (they have no quality grade to improve).
Can a failed attempt destroy my pieces?
Never. Failure returns all three pieces untouched; only the 1,000 gold fee is spent.
Does tempering need a Smithing level?
No — anyone with the pieces and the gold can use the bench. The odds depend only on the quality mix of the inputs.
Is breakthrough armour worse than dropped armour of that tier?
No — a breakthrough piece is a normal Standard-quality piece of the next tier, identical to one the road might drop. And it can be tempered again.
Where does the gold fee go?
Into the smith's pocket, as far as anyone can tell. The fire doesn't work for free.