One of the common issues regarding crafting core gear, is how to combine them. Many just take pieces and add them to a core. If you craft that way, what you get is unfocused core gear that doesn't play to your strengths. Understanding the stats of the core and pieces combined should be key in creating a good piece.
Each core represents an equipment slot. Choosing your foundation (a core) and enhancing that foundation with pieces is the basis of equipment core building. The dynamics of core building becomes very complex the more the cores and pieces you acquire, but can give you killer results.
It would be wise to view this article about basic core crafting before or after reading this one.
I was approached by a member of an alliance asking for help. She wasn't happy at all with the way she built her cores. This was one of her results:
She combined:
Level Name Bonus Type 5 Ring Blade Core Troop Attack Core 6 Natural Magnet Ranged Attack Piece 6 Bottle Cap March Speed Piece 6 The Plague Troop Health and Enemy Troop Health Debuff Piece 6 Poison Ranged Defense Piece
Note: Stat calculations are determined by research. The higher the Crafting Refinement research the better the stats for the level you are combining.
This is not a good core at all, so she asked me to help her create a core that would be better.
The questions to consider when picking a core:
Note: an observation made by a fellow alliance member is that the cores seem to favor health while relics seem to favor defense overall. This may change as new equipment is frequently released. You populate all your equipment slots with cores, or if you’re not able to do that, have a mix of relics and cores. Using a mix would be a good option, but get to know your gear!
So I asked her a few questions, what was she looking for in core item? What slot did she need to fill? She couldn't answer, as it was never a thought as to what she needed. So we started with a foot, to give her an idea of what can be achieved. So I asked her what core base she had, a pareo or a prosthetic leg, etc. She chose pareo since it was already available and unlocked. Pareo is attack, health and defense based with a march boost. Because she is infantry based, we chose pieces to complement infantry based, health and defense. The pieces we chose were corrosive acid, mesh square, mud and hunger. Acid gives infantry, square gives infantry and defense, mud gives attack bonus and hunger gives a defense bonus. Now these won’t be huge stats, but it is more focused on her core base. She used 2 level 5 pieces and 2 level 6 pieces on a level 5 core. The results:
Key Point: To craft in effective core, choice pieces that have the same stats as the base stats of core item. You want your core items to be “specialized” not “general”.
This isn't an awesome kick ass piece, but for a level 5 core, it is a good piece, and better focused. Her troop defense and Health greatly increased. As you can see, by focusing on specifics, she was able to get a better pieces with lvl 5 and 6 pieces than she did with all lvl 6 pieces. All because of focusing the stats of the core. This piece was created to get her to see the focus, and what cores could possibly do for her in the future. Now she is creating some really awesome pieces!
General Rule: Limit the amount of bonuses in your core from 4 - 8 if possible.
When creating cores, you can create sets such as a defense set, troop specific sets and general attack sets, or whatever is your specific need that applies to your playstyle. The combinations and choices are endless. View this article if you are trying to decide between whether or not to stack health, defense, or attack bonuses.
Infantry and Troop Health Focus
Lvl 6 Lvl 5 Branding Iron Core Itself Smokey Bbq Sauce Ornamental Pin Bottle Cap
Cavalry and Troop Health Focus
Lvl 6 Lvl 5 Adhesive Mixture Core Itself Fabric Dyes Metal Wire Clip
Lvl 6 Lvl 5 Adhesive Mixture Slimy Tongue Clip Sand
Lvl 6 Lvl 5 Ice Gold Dust Pestilence Plague Round Beads
Lvl 6 Lvl 3 War Mud Morality Death Strife Persian Gold Roundel
Lvl 6 Cloth Button Sand Plague Adhesive Mixture
Lvl 6 Lvl 5 Persian Gold Roundel Adhesive Mixture Ice Grass Thorn Plague Slimy Tongue
The picture on the left is finished without gems, and the picture on the right is with gemmed stats. This core was crafted by H Town 86 from the Lynx kingdom.
Now times one of those cores by 7 total equipment slots. Can you see the power of these?!
What I try to do when I am working on cores is compile a short list to focus on. Adding other stats doesn't mean it wont be effective, however, it will be less effective than adding pieces that are complimentary to the core.
Take notes of the combinations you use, so you can recreate them. To be honest, I spend a good 2 hours building one core piece. Between swapping, combining, and checking stats for a good piece. If you spend the time learning the pieces and cores, it will get easier and faster. With the long research times, spending two hours doing nothing but creating equipment is easy.
Things really start to get tricky when spotting opponent's cores for appropriate countering!
Good luck in your core crafting endeavors!
Core Strategy contributed by mslegacy
Article 1: All Core Crafting Basics Article 2: The Essential Core Crafting Strategies (Coming 12-10) Article 3: How to Craft Great Core Gear Article 4: Crafting Cores with a Purpose Article 5: Crafting Your First Core Article 6: When to Take Chances While Crafting Article 7: The Most Under Rated Core Gear Article 8: The Best Core Gear You Can Craft Article 9: The Deadliest Cores: Four Horsemen + 1 Bonus Core Recipe
