Part 1: Just Finished Story
Coming out of the Story, you should have the following AP and Gear equipped (assuming you are HM level 8 with a 20/20 split between offense and defense)
Baleful/Seraph 1 Weapon (6 slots preferred, see the links section for guide on getting 6 slots)
5 Square Gems (Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire, Citrine, and Amethyst)
All Solak Accessories (including Soul)
Pet Aura Stage 1
8 Set MSP Soulshields
816 AP
Your first focus should be upgrading your Weapon, and getting full Hexagonal Gems (and a Square Obsidian), and your Mystic Badge.
Celestial Basin
Celestial Basin is located in the Southeastern area in the Gunwon City Region. Learn it. Love it. You are going to be spending a lot of time here. The goal here is to farm Celestial peaches to turn into NPC Vendor Lee Youjin in exchange for upgrade materials, Badges, and Hexagonal Gems
See the Links at the end for a guide to Celestial Basin and Peach Farming
Your goal will be to obtain the following from the Peach Vendor in this section:
- Materials for upgrading your weapon
- 5 Hexagonal Gems
- Heroic Mystic Badge
- Celestial Heart (2,500 peaches, gives 5 AP and a small amount of Crit)
Upgrading your Weapon
Your current goal for upgrading your weapon should be Baleful/Seraph Stage 9. While you cannot fully upgrade your weapon using Celestial Basin alone, you can get most materials grinding peaches there. DO NOT spend Solar Energy from the Daily challenge on weapon upgrade materials such as Forging Orb or Xanos Disc. These need to be saved for your Square Obsidian Gem and your Soul Badge (most likely).
There are two options to upgrade each stage, One that takes a specific weapon, and one that takes Void Fragments. Typically, Void fragments will be easier to come across, but if you get a weapon drop in dungeons, feel free to use that and save yourself some peaches
You will need a total of the following materials to go from Stage 1 to Stage 9 (in addition to the Breakthrough Weapons/Void Fragments)
3 Forging Orbs (7,500 Peaches)
24 Naryu Tablets (from Dungeons)
2 Transformation Stones (purchase from F5 marketplace, current price for 2 is 21 Gold)
210 Soulstone Crystals (from Treasure Pouches/Chests)
150 Sacred Crystals (from Treasure Pouches/Chests)
57 Moonstone Crystals (from Treasure Pouches/Chests)
40 Elysian Crystals (from Treasure Pouches/Chests)
65 Gold
Hexagonal Gems
With the newest update, we can now get a selection of 5 Hexagonal gems from farming Celestial Basin. In addition, the Basin Treasure Room (opened by collecting 10 key fragments from basin Bosses) has a chance to drop a Heptagonal (7 sided) gem, so always try and do the bosses when they spawn.
Sadly, these Hexagonal Gems do not include a Diamond, but fear not, these can be purchased from the Dragon Express for 4 Hongmoon Gem Powder. Hongmoon Gem Powder can be purchased from F5, and the current price for 4 of them is 68 gold, which is a fantastic value.
You should also purchase a Square Obsidian from the Dragon Express for 15 Solar Energy (about 3 -4 Daily Challenges worth)
For the 4 remaining gems, I would target (for now) Amethyst, Ruby, Peridot, and your choice of Citrine or Sapphire. If you get lucky on Koldrak (the dragon) you may get a Hexagonal Garnet, which can be used, but will not up your AP score, which helps in getting into parties in the F8 dungeon finder later (even though AP is a poor indicator of Damage output)
This will cost you a minimum of 10,000 Peaches, more if you roll the same gem multiple times.
Mystic Badge
Getting your Mystic badge is fairly easy, Just farm either 12,000 or 15,000 peaches (depending on your badge) and purchase the badge from the Peach vendor. Consult a class guide for what badge is correct for your class and elemental spec.
Dungeons At this Gear Level
You will not be able to get into most F8 parties at your current gear level. However, you should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. Dungeons I highly recommend are indicated in Bold
- Avalanche Den
- Lair of the Frozen Fang
- Awakened Necropolis
- Gloomdross Incursion
- Shattered Masts
- Cold Storage
- Heaven’s Mandate (Requires a White Orb)
- Sogun’s Lament
- Mushin’s Tower Floors 1 – 15
- Tower Of Infinity 3 wins (Best way to do this is win twice, then deliberately lose, then win once with your second ticket. This will keep the floor low and make it easier to do each day at your current gear level)
You may get lucky and obtain Pinnacle Accessories from these dungeons. If you get one, equip it, It will boost your AP by a bit, making it that much faster to get into higher F8 dungeon parties
Daily Challenge At this Gear Level
You should aim to complete the 3 easiest challenges at your current gear level. This will be Brawl in the Basin (kill 1 of the 3 basin mini bosses), Koldrak’s Lair (big DPS dragon), and one of the remaining challenges off the list provided in the Dungeons section above (should have at least one of these once per day). This will allow you to start gathering materials and Solar Energy for you to use for your soul badge.
Gear After Completing This Section
Your gear after completing this section should look something like this:
- Seraph/Baleful weapon Stage 9
- All Solak Accessories and Soul
- 5 Hexagonal Gems and 1 Square Obsidian
- Pet Aura Stage 1
- Mystic Badge
- Celestial Heart
- Possibly HM level 9
- 920 AP
Part 2: Getting your First Legendaries
If you followed the previous section, you should now be ready to tackle getting your first Legendary Accessories, and increase your weapon to Stage 10, as well as obtaining your Soul Badge
This will require a combination of Farming Peaches at Celestial Basin (8,000 per accessory), and farming Draken Cores (you will need 150 total for this section, 50 cores each)
In addition, there is a shortcut to gaining the Draken cores you need in the form of a Quest called The Dead Refuse to Die. Also, in order to unlock one of the required dungeons for that quest, you also need to complete the Orange Quest “Dawn of Khanda Vihar” until it requires you to complete Skybreak Spire (Raven King) to proceed into Naryu Foundry.
The Legendaries you will be aiming for at this point are (in this order)
- Oath Necklace
- Eternity Belt
- Destiny Ring (this can be skipped if you manage to obtain your Purple Elemental Ring from Desolate Tomb, must be of a matching element to your Spec. Avoid if you can, even if you have Pinnacle RIng, this can be skipped)
Equipping any 2 of these Legendary Accessories will give you a bonus of 10 AP and 10,000 HP. Do not upgrade these accessories, leave them at stage 1.
Quest: The Dead Refuse to Die
This quest, while slightly difficult to complete at your gear level, but the rewards are well worth it. You must complete, in order, the following dungeons:
- Ebondrake Citadel
- Desolate Tomb
- Naryu Foundry
- Mushin’s Tower Floor 16
The good news is, that these 3 dungeons are usually not recruited for in F8 anymore, with most people using LFP to get them completed. This means you may not have to worry about the typical F8 AP “requirements”. Floor 16 can be a bit tricky, so read up on the boss mechanics. Try your best to get this quest done as soon as possible.
The rewards for this quest are:
- 17 gold
- 1,000 Celestial Peaches
- 250 Draken Orbs
The amount of grinding this quest can save cannot be overstated
Soul Badge
At this point, you should be getting close to having enough Solar Energy to buy your Soul Badge from Dragon Express (125 Solar Energy, or appx. 25 -30 Days of Daily Challenges). If you are one of the lucky classes that uses Eternity or Transcendence, you can instead buy them for 15,000 Celestial Peaches, and skip the month wait, If you are one of the unlucky classes that needs a badge from the Season of Courage or the Season of Glory, your only options are to buy the proper tokens from F5, or farm tokens from the current season from the Tower of Infinity and exchange them for the correct tokens. It may be worthwhile to use a suboptimal badge for a while, if the second best one can be obtained from Peaches or Solar Energy. Consult your class specific guide for options.
Upgrading Weapon
Your goal here will be Baleful/Seraph Stage 10. This requires the following materials:
- Gunwon Weapon (from Celestial Basin Peaches, also given in the storyline if you did not level 50 boost your character)
- 1 Xanos Disc
- 7 Transformation Stones (F5, current price for 7 is 73 Gold)
- 15 Legendary Elements (Dragon Express, 300 gold for 15)
- 12 Naryu Tablets
- 100 Soulstone Crystals
- 60 Sacred Crystals
- 30 Moonstone Crystals
- 15 Elysian Crystals
Dungeons At this Gear Level
You will not be able to get into most F8 parties at your current gear level. However, you should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. Dungeons I highly recommend are indicated in Bold
- Avalanche Den
- Lair of the Frozen Fang
- Awakened Necropolis
- Gloomdross Incursion
- Shattered Masts (farm this until you get Pinnacle Bracelet)
- Cold Storage
- Heaven’s Mandate (Requires a White Orb)
- Sogun’s Lament
- Mushin’s Tower Floors 1 – 15
- Tower Of Infinity 3 wins (Best way to do this is win twice, then deliberately lose, then win once with your second ticket. This will keep the floor low and make it easier to do each day at your current gear level)
- EbonDrake Citadel
- Naryu Foundry
- Desolate Tomb
You may get lucky and obtain Pinnacle Accessories from these dungeons. If you get one, equip it, It will boost your AP by a bit, making it that much faster to get into F8 parties.
Daily Challenge At this Gear Level
You should aim to complete the 3 easiest challenges at your current gear level. This will be Brawl in the Basin (kill 1 of the 3 basin mini bosses), Koldrak’s Lair (big DPS dragon), and one of the remaining challenges off the list provided in the Dungeons section above (should have at least one of these once per day).
Gear After Completing This Section
Your gear after completing this section should look something like this:
- Seraph/Baleful weapon Stage 10
- Solak Soul and Gloves (Hollows version if you have extra Naryu Silver [10 each])
- Pinnacle Bracelet
- Destiny (or Pinnacle or Elemental) Ring
- Eternity Belt
- Oath Necklace
- 5 Hexagonal Gems and 1 Square Obsidian
- Pet Aura Stage 1
- Soul Badge
- Mystic Badge
- Celestial Heart
- HM level 9
- 980 AP (974 if elemental ring)
Part 3: Bracelet, Weeklies, and Hongmoon Skills
At this point in your gear progression, you have reached what I like to all the “Long Grind”. This means that you are in an awkward position of needing a significant amount of gold to progress your gear, without a large amount of gold income. Note: Gold income is supposed to be getting rebalanced in the near future, we shall see.
Your primary goal at this point is to obtain your Legendary Bracelet, Unlocking the rest of your weekly challenges/raids, Completing the quest “Know Thine Enemy Part 1”, and getting your essential Hongmoon skills.
Legendary Bracelet
This is going to be the difficult part. In order to obtain your legendary Bracelet, there are 2 methods, and they both involve the dungeon Naryu Sanctum:
- Hope the bracelet drops (unlikely)
- Run Naryu Sanctum 10 times, and buy the bracelet from Koldrak Merchant Junsorei who appears in every major hub zone for 200 Draken Cores (you should have enough by now)
The problem with this is that most groups in F8 will require 1,000 AP for party being recruited, and most people do not LFP this dungeon. Of course, you are a bit short of that. So, you may be kicked from a few parties trying to join. You can always put all of your Hongmoon points in offense to get above 1K AP, but you will be very low on health. Hopefully, people will see your other gear (Especially the badges) and let you in anyway. If you cannot find a party, you can always try forming your own with lower AP requirements.
After you obtain the correct bracelet (consult a guide for your class and spec to determine if you need Divine Dragon or TIger), you should level it up to at least Stage 4. This can get a bit expensive, so make sure you do you dailies every day for as much gold as you can get. Requirements are:
- ~10 Legendary Jewels (Dragon Express, 20 gold each)
- 3 Stones of Wisdom (dungeons)
- 175 Soulstone Crystals
- 50 Moonstone Crystals
- 125 Sacred Crystals
- 30 Elysian Crystals
- 100 Gold
Weekly Raids/Challenge
At this point you should be able to get into parties recruiting for the Weekly raids Dawn of Khanda Vihar, Fallen Aransu School, and Snowjade Fortress. To unlock these raids, you need to complete the Orange quests “Dawn of Khanda Vihar” (done previously if you followed this guide) and “Fate of the Aransu”. You will only be able to complete these quests up to a certain point, and then it requires beating Raven King and Hive Queen to proceed (don’t worry about that now).
These raids give you a good amount of gold, Raven Feathers, Hive Queen Wings, and various materials. Do them every single week. Raven Feathers and Hive Queen wings are essential for upgrading the next 2 tiers of soul shields, as well as raid Legendary Accessories (Ring and Earring from Raven King, Necklace from Hive Queen)
Before you do these raids, accept the quest “Know thine Enemy Part 1”, which requires you to complete these weekly raids in the order DKV > FAS > SJF. This will reward you with pieces 1-3 of your Raven soulshields, and a large amount of feathers, wings, and peaches.
Hongmoon Skills
By now, you should be unlocking your essential Hongmoon Skills. Which ones you need vary by class, so consult a class guide for advice.
You can obtain some of these via the Achievement Vendor in Zaiwei, Celestial Peaches in Celestial Basin, Clan Crafting, or Lucky drops from older dungeons. However, the easiest way to get them is from the Zen Bean Trader in most towns, in exchange for Bravery Coins (bought with Zen Beans). The only way to get Zen Beans is via PvP (Arena 1v1 or 3v3 Tag matches). Good news is Arena is gear equalized, so gear doesn’t matter, however, expect to lose a lot in the beginning, so grinding Zen Beans this way can be slow going. The daily quests from the PvP notice board can help.
However, I am going to make a recommendation. By now, you likely have several months in the game. Purchasing the Duelist’s bundle from the Hongmoon Store (F10) is actually a good option here. It skips a LONG grind, and costs exactly $15 US dollars. That’s a pretty cheap amount to pay for a game that you have put this much time into. It gives you enough Bravery Coins to get all the skills you need, (175 Bravery Coins, which is 105,000 Zen Beans worth. Thats a LOT of grinding.) as well as 3 pet packs (enough to upgrade your Pet a few stages), 2 Training Expansion Vouchers (adds Pages to your Martial Tomes, to save different Skill choices), and a selection of other useful consumables. This bundle is probably the best value in the F10 store.
Dungeons At this Gear Level
You will not be able to get into most F8 parties at your current gear level. However, you should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. Dungeons I highly recommend are indicated in Bold
- Avalanche Den
- Lair of the Frozen Fang
- Awakened Necropolis
- Gloomdross Incursion
- Shattered Masts
- Cold Storage
- Heaven’s Mandate (Requires a White Orb)
- Sogun’s Lament
- Mushin’s Tower Floors 1 – 20
- Tower Of Infinity 3 wins (Best way to do this is win twice, then deliberately lose, then win once with your second ticket. This will keep the floor low and make it easier to do each day at your current gear level)
- EbonDrake Citadel
- Naryu Foundry
- Desolate Tomb
- Naryu Sanctum
- Irontech Forge *
- Ebondrake Lair *
*NOTE: Irontech Forge and Ebondrake lair could be very difficult to get into a party for at this amount of AP, but you are capable of completing them
You may get lucky and obtain Pinnacle Accessories from these dungeons. If you get one, equip it, It will boost your AP by a bit, making it that much faster to get into F8 parties.
Daily Challenge At this Gear Level
You should aim to complete the 3 easiest challenges at your current gear level. This will be Brawl in the Basin (kill 1 of the 3 basin mini bosses), Koldrak’s Lair (big DPS dragon), and one of the remaining challenges off the list provided in the Dungeons section above (should have at least one of these once per day).
Gear After Completing This Section
Your gear after completing this section should look something like this:
- Seraph/Baleful weapon Stage 10
- Solak Soul and Gloves (Hollows version if you have extra Naryu Silver [10 each])
- Divine Dragon or Tiger Bracelet Stage 4
- Destiny (or Pinnacle or Elemental) Ring
- Pinnacle Earring
- Eternity Belt
- Oath Necklace
- 5 Hexagonal Gems and 1 Square Obsidian
- Pet Aura Stage 1
- Soul Badge
- Mystic Badge
- Celestial Heart
- HM level 9
- 995 AP (989 if elemental ring)
Part 4: Black Tower and Hellion Dungeons
It’s time for you to Tackle Black Tower and get your Raven weapon! You will also start doing dungeons that reward Hellion Cores, and complete the Quest “Know thine Enemy Part 2”
Black Tower
This will be your first major raid. It is HIGHLY suggested you read or watch one of the guides linked at the end of this document prior to entering for the first time. You can either try to find a PUG raid, or search for people recruiting for a raid in the BNS Raid Recruitment Discord (link at the end of this guide). Make sure to pick up the weekly quests for this raid at the Shrine of the Ascendant in Khanda Vihar
You should bid on the following drops:
- Legendary Ring of your Element
- Legendary Earring of your Element
- Weapon upgrade material of your class (Animus, Ferocity or Energy)
- Soulshields for your class
If you do not get your earring or ring on the first run, this is ok, it’s kind of expected. Just keep running it once a week until you do.
Once you clear the final boss, don’t forget to finish the Orange Questline for “Dawn of Khanda Vihar”. This will award you enough Raven King Souls to breakthrough your weapon to Raven
Upgrading your weapon to Raven
Time to get your Raven Weapon. This can be a bit expensive (mostly due to Empyrian Spirit Stones). You will need the following:
- Raven King Upgrade Material (Animus, Ferocity, or Energy, drops from RK, or can be bought Sealed off of F5)
- 10 Transformation stones (110 gold)
- 5 Empyrean Spirit Stones (Currently 930 Gold for 5 off of F5)
- 20 Legendary Elements (400 gold)
- 8 Void Fragments (dungeons or Peaches)
- 50 Moonstone Crystals
- 50 Elysian Crystals
This may take a bit of grinding to get enough gold for, but don’t get discouraged!
You may also consider upgrading to Raven 3 afterwards. This is considerably cheaper, and requires a total of:
- 7 Raven Kings Souls (you should have these after your first clear)
- 17 Transformation Stones (187 Gold)
- 40 Legendary Elements (800 Gold)
- 40 Moonstone Crystals
- 40 Elysian Crystals
Do not upgrade to Baleful/Seraph 11 or 12 first (this is more expensive for the same result), and do not go Dawnforged/Riftwalk path (this is far less powerful, except in VERY niche cases).
Know Thine Enemy Part 2
This quest gives fantastic rewards. 30 Legendary Jewels (worth 600 gold!), 9,000 peaches, gold and so forth. It requires you to complete, in order, the following dungeons:
- Naryu Sanctum
- Irontech Forge
- Ebondrake Lair
- Starstone Mines
- Hollows Heart
Good thing is, once you have your Raven weapon, you should be able to get into most parties recruiting for these dungeons!
Dungeons At this Gear Level
At your current gear level you should be able to F8 into the following dungeons without issue, at least if you have your Raven weapon. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. Dungeons I highly recommend are indicated in Bold
- Avalanche Den
- Lair of the Frozen Fang
- Awakened Necropolis
- Gloomdross Incursion
- Shattered Masts
- Cold Storage
- Heaven’s Mandate (Requires a White Orb)
- Sogun’s Lament
- Mushin’s Tower Floors 1 – 20
- Tower Of Infinity 3 wins (Best way to do this is win twice, then deliberately lose, then win once with your second ticket. This will keep the floor low and make it easier to do each day at your current gear level)
- EbonDrake Citadel
- Naryu Foundry
- Desolate Tomb
- Naryu Sanctum
- Irontech Forge
- Ebondrake Lair
- Starstone Mines
- Hollows Heart
Daily Challenge At this Gear Level
You should aim to complete the 3 easiest challenges at your current gear level. This will be Brawl in the Basin (kill 1 of the 3 basin mini bosses), Koldrak’s Lair (big DPS dragon), and one of the remaining challenges off the list provided in the Dungeons section above (should have at least one of these once per day).
Gear After Completing This Section
Your gear after completing this section should look something like this:
- Raven Weapon Stage 3
- Solak Soul and Gloves (Hollows version if you have extra Naryu Silver [10 each])
- Divine Dragon or Tiger Bracelet Stage 4
- BT Ring (stage 3 is fine)
- BT Earring (Stage 6 preferred)
- Eternity Belt
- Oath Necklace
- 5 Hexagonal Gems and 1 Square Obsidian
- Pet Aura Stage 1
- Soul Badge
- Mystic Badge
- Celestial Heart
- HM level 10
- 1017AP
Links
All BNS Academy Dungeon and Raid Guides
For class specific guides, I recommend using the BNS Academy Discord
