Augments

Augmenting armor is a one-time expense with no difficult choices; it extends the level cap, usually adding around ten Defense per piece.

Armor augmentation requires Streamstone Shards and Bird Wyvern Gems for Tier 5-6, Streamstones and Wyvern Gems for Tier 7, and Gleaming Streamstones and Elder Dragon Bones for Tier 8.

Armor upgrades consume hundreds of Armor Sphere points and tens of thousands of Zenny.

Selling unneeded monster materials and completing bounties helps acquire Zenny and high-grade Armor Spheres.

Weapon augmentation requires specific variants of Warrior’s Streamstones and Hero’s Streamstones, with a 1/6 chance of getting the desired type per drop, effectively reducing drop rates to 2% for Warrior's and 0.5% for Hero's Streamstones.

Tier 6-7 weapons require Warrior’s Streamstones, while Tier 8 weapons require Hero’s Streamstones.

Tier 6 weapons can be upgraded three times, Tier 7 twice, and Tier 8 once.

Weapon augmentation offers choices: Attack Increase (+5 Attack), Affinity Increase (+10% Affinity), Defense Increase (+10 Defense), Slot Upgrade (Extra Level One Jewel Slot), or Health Regen (Leeches HP).

For most weapons, Affinity or Attack Increase are the best augmentations, with Affinity generally preferred unless 100% Affinity is achievable.

Charge Blade’s Super Amped Element Discharge attacks do not crit, making Attack a better choice than Affinity for this weapon.

Threat Level Two Tempered monsters are ideal for Warped Feystones, while Hardened Elder Dragons are recommended for Warrior’s and Hero’s Streamstones.

Consider breaking armor level caps for damage reduction and learning monster attacks, targeting weaknesses, and using resistant gear.

Equipping three ranks of Health Boost to reach 200 HP and consuming a good meal is advisable.

Vaal Hazak is a prime target for grinding due to manageable damage, predictable attacks, and low dynamism, especially with Effluvia Resistance.

Aim for 450+ Defense and 150+ HP when fighting Vaal Hazak to avoid one or two-shot KOs.