Blackstar Gear

Introduction

Blackstar Gear is end game gear that can be obtained through individual questlines! 

• Each gear piece has it's own questline, that can be completed once per character
• The Black Star Weapons are often considered Best in Slot, especially for PvE content 
• Obtaining the gear through questing is viable when there are marketplace shortages 
• Black Star Gear has its own unique enhancement materials and doesn't utilize Caphras Stones 

 

Black Star Gear can also be converted to Obsidian Black Star armor or Godr-Ayed Weapons 

 

Questline Requirements 

In order to start the Blackstar gear questlines, you must have completed the Calpheon & Mediah main questlines. 

 

You must also be Level 56+ and have the required knowledge "The Three Legendary Blacksmiths of Mediah".

 

This can be obtained from the questline  “[Combat] [Lv. 51] Blackstar Weapons According to the Legendary Blacksmith” questline. 

 

 

You'll also need a Remnants of the Rift in your inventory before you can start the Black Star questlines.

 

You can grab one from the Central Marketplace or try to obtain one as a rare drop from doing your Dark Rifts.  

 

You'll also need a Specter's Energy for crafting any Blackstar item other than a mainhand weapon.

 

Specter's Energy can be obtained as a rare drop from most grind spots in Valencia, Kamasylvia and Drieghan. 

 

The spots Thornwood Forest and Shultz Guard are most efficient for grinding Specter's Energy. 

 

Thornwood Forest has a drop rate of 0.52 an hour while Shultz Guard has around 0.41 drops an hour 

 

You'll also need 3x Concentrated Boss's Aura which can make crafting Black Star gear expensive.

 

This along with the Remnants of the Rift make it more expensive than buying outright from the Central Marketplace. It's only really worth it if there are none available. 

 

Stat Comparisons 

In terms of stats, the Blackstar Armor just isn't worth the cost. With PEN Tuvala Armor set converting to TET boss gear and  guarenteed PEN methods its much easier to get a PEN boss gear set. 

 

The addition of the PEN boss gear piece from the Magnus questline only makes this more evident as eventually both Boss and Blackstar armor should be converted to Fallen God pieces. 

 

 

The image above shows the armors at different stages. Eventually both sets would be converted to Fallen God's Armor and Boss gear is the more cost effective way of reaching that goal. 

 

While TET Blackstar Armor beats out PEN Boss Armors, it's much easier to obtain a C10 Boss Armor, especially if you use Red Nose's Armor which increases the cost gap even further.

 

  

One reason people may pick out the Blackstar Armor set instead of Boss gear could be for the aesthetic look of the armor set, but Fallen God's Armor shares the same appearance. 

 

Fallen God's Armor also gains the same monster damage reduction that Blackstar Armor has. 

 

All things considered its much more efficient to use Boss Gear armor sets for Fallen God gear. 

 

Blackstar Weapons 

Blackstar weapons are another matter entirely, they're often considered contenders for best in slot and if PvE is your focus, they're the undisputed best in slot. 

 

When considering if you should use a Blackstar Weapon, the most important stat is the additional monster damage they provide. 

 

 

This is because the monster AP works for your mainhand and awakening weapons. Often people will run Blackstar as their less used weapon. 

 

A succession character would use an Blackstar Mainhand weapon while an Awakening character would use a Blackstar Awakening weapon. 

 

 

In terms of subweapons, Kutum Subweapons are closer to the stats of a Blackstar Subweapon as you can see from the iamge above. 

 

With the stats basically identical for PEN Kutum to TET Blackstar and PEN c20 Kutum to PEN Blackstar, it's difficult to recommend the Blackstar offhand. 

 

There is the Extra AP Against Monsters and Monster Damage Reduction, but that should only be considered as an upgrade for maxed out, end game players.  

 

Starting the Questline 

Before you can can accept the quest to craft Blackstar gear from NPC Martha Kiyen you need to have a Remnants of the Rift in your inventory. 

 

You can right click the Remnants of the Rift to path straight to her to begin the quest line. 

 

Martha Kiyen will offer you individiual quests for each piece of Blackstar, just select which one you like to start the quest line. 

 

 

The questline is simple and easy to follow but It's important to note, these quests can only be done once per character and weapons will be provided based on the class that completes the questline. 

 

Once you reach the quest "[Blackstar Item*] Blackstar"  you will receive an Eye of Anguish and then be given a crossroad questline and a choice. 

 

Choose the Hard option as this is a quick boss fight. The easy option is to kill 1000 Helms Post mobs.

 

*The name of the quest will change depending on which item you're crafting, like "[Blackstar Armor] Blackstar" for example. 

 

Enhancing Blackstar Gear

To upgrade Blackstar gear, different materials will need to be used. From 0 to +15 you'll need to use Concentrated Magical Black Stone (Weapon) or Concentrated Magical Black Stone (Armor) 

 

However from PRI to PEN you'll need a material unique to Blackstar enhancements called Flawless Magical Black Stone. 

 

 

After the simplification to Blackstones, crafting the stones requires Mass of Pure Magic, 1x Sharp Black Crystal Shard. 

 

The max durability of items will also decrease by 20 per attempt which can make repairs expensive.

 

Mass of Pure Magic can drop from most grind spots. Some of the best being the Serendia Elvia locations, though Star's End and Orc Camp have among the highest drop rates.

 

For some extra Mass of Pure Magic, you can use the Stars End and Mountain of Division nodes for excavation which will slowly produce them for you using workers.

 

 

The Mountain of Division node is near Thornwood Forest and can be easily connected to from O'draxxia. 

 

If you're unsure about failstack amounts, why not try our Enhancing Simulator for reference?  

 

Black Shadow World Boss

Black Shadow is a world boss that spawns on weekends near Calpheon and has the chance to drop Blackstar Armor up to +10.

 

While Blackstar Armor isn't generally recommended, this is a means of obtaining it (though likely a lot slower than the quests.) 

 

Unlike regular world bosses that have changing spawn times, Black Shadow spawns once a week at these fixed times: 

 

NA	EU
Saturday 22:00 (UTC) Saturday 15:00 (PDT) Saturday 18:00 (EDT) Saturday 23:00 (CEST)	Saturday 15:00 (UTC) Saturday 16:00 (CEST) Saturday 08:00 (PDT) Saturday 11:00 (EDT)

 

Here's where the Black Shadow boss is located, it's initial spawn location is always the same: 

 

 

During the fight it will move location, so be sure to bring a horse. Black Shadow can also drop Mass of Pure Magic. Specter's Energy and other enhancement materials. 

 

Black shadow will always drop Ancient Spirit Dust, too. 

 

 

Obsidian Blackstar Armor 

Blackstar armor has a unique upgrade that can enhance its stats in a guarenteed method by grinding Elvia Serendia locations for materials. 

 

Blackstar Armor is already difficult to recommend, but this upgrade, for the time it takes is simply not worth it in its current state. 

 

Obsidian Blackstar Armor provides bonuses to armor below PEN, at PEN it gives no additional bonuses over regular Blackstar Armor making it redundant. 

 

As previously mentioned, using Boss Armor to reach Fallen God equipment is the far easier route.