Decision tree
1. Is it an immediate upgrade? Equip or save it.
2. Does it unlock a better class option? Keep it until you compare the class swap.
3. Is it tradeable or currently demanded? Check the Steam Market before destroying it.
4. Can combining it advance a useful tier? Combine if the result improves a build you are actually using.
5. Otherwise: dismantling can be the cleaner inventory/gold option.
How combining works in practice
The blacksmith menu unlocks in the opening levels — one Thai first-look streamer hit it at level 5 — and from there the loop is: register the pieces, then combine.
- Low tiers are forgiving. Both the Thai and Japanese launch streams report that combining same-tier pieces reliably produces the next color up — whites became greens, greens became blues, batch after batch.
- Higher tiers are not. Combining blue toward red and red toward purple shows visible percentage odds in-game, and launch-week players failed these repeatedly — one Indonesian streamer went through three red combines with nothing to show and was told there is no special rule, just the odds on screen.
- Keep input levels close. The same streamer’s explicit tip: feed in near-identical levels and avoid spreads wider than roughly 20 levels, because the result’s level comes out of the inputs’ band — even inputs concentrate the odds on the outcome you actually want.
- Auto-combine is configurable. His own setting: auto-combine tier 2 through the storage checklist, which quietly turns whites and greens into blues while he is away — “you wake up and the rest is blue” — while blue-and-above combines stay manual. Jewels are excluded from auto-combine entirely.
What dismantling gives
- Gold. Early gold is scarce, and the Yo Im J TV Knight stream’s advice is blunt: dismantle surplus jewels for “a lot of gold,” then pour that gold into Training Ground levels.
- Materials. Blue-or-better gear breaks down into fragments — a Japanese first-look streamer reads them as “rare equipment fragments” — that feed a relic collection whose activation grants passive effects. One Thai streamer explicitly farmed blues to break down for these shards.
- Incidental income. Combining itself also pays out a little EXP and gold per the same Thai footage, so tidying the vault is never a dead turn.
When to combine vs when to dismantle
| Situation | Player-reported play |
|---|---|
| Duplicates of a color you are actively climbing | Combine — the low-tier chain to blue is reliable |
| Jewels and low-color surplus early game | Dismantle for gold to fund Training Ground |
| Blue-or-better weapons you will never equip | Dismantle into fragments for the relic collection |
| Anything tradeable with market interest | Sell or hold — check the Steam Market first |
| Blue-to-red or red-to-purple attempts | Manual, odds on screen — bank duplicates rather than one-off gambling |
Mistakes that waste gear
- Equipping an item you might sell. Once worn, players report it can no longer be listed.
- Socketing gems before deciding an item’s fate. Socketed gems cannot be removed; the only reported way out is combining the item into a new one.
- Setting auto-combine too aggressively. The recommended tier-2 setting protects blues; letting higher tiers auto-consume is how players lose manual-combine material.
- Combining mismatched levels. A wide level spread on the inputs dilutes the odds of the result you want.
- Dismantling before the market check. One streamer kept a level-20 ring purely for progress and planned to combine or sell only once a replacement dropped.
Why this matters
Player footage shows frequent direct-combine and dismantle choices across blue, red and purple equipment. One player explicitly mentions saving pieces instead of dismantling immediately, then revisiting conversion/combine decisions later — the Thai “farm first, then combine in one big batch” style is the same instinct.
Quick FAQ
Are combine odds published anywhere official? No — the percentages appear in-game per players, but we have no verified table to quote.
Does combining give anything besides gear? Small amounts of EXP and gold are reported alongside the item result.
What is the safest early-game dismantle? Surplus jewels — players convert them to gold that funds Training Ground levels.
Where do color tiers fit in? See the full ladder in the gear and rarity guide.
Source trail
- Official Steam store: Early Access, free-to-play idle farming with weapon/armor/gem drops.
- Kirtzi7 Indonesian launch stream: red-combine failures, visible percentages, level-spread tip, auto-combine tier 2, gem removal limits.
- AraFamily Thai streams (Ranger focus and first look): reliable low-tier combine chain, batch combining, dismantle fragments, combine EXP/gold, level-5 blacksmith unlock.
- Shou Japanese first-look stream: auto-combine at the blacksmith, same-tier combine results, rare-equipment fragments from dismantling.
- Yo Im J TV launch-week streams (Knight and Ranger): dismantle-for-gold advice, keep-combining toward red gear.