Green Steel 101

I was helping a friend who was making his first Green Steel item and I sent him an email giving him some guidance. He emailed me back thanking me for the help and suggested that I post what I had sent him to the forums so others could benefit from it as well. So below is an edited and better formatted version of what I sent him. I hope it helps those seeking to make their first Green Steel item. Enjoy…

Intro
Green Steel is one of the most confusing things in the game and you can really bork it up if you are not careful.

It would really tick me off when people would say, “Just craft a Lit II” or “Just craft a SP item” and “Make it triple pos” because it is way more complicated than that and most of that will not make sense to anyone who has never made a Green Steel item. So I hope the following will help clear up some of that stuff up.

The Guide
Let me start off by saying this link is the best guide I have found.... http://ddowiki.com/page/Green_Steel_item_crafting_steps

What I have below is more of an overview that will help you understand the guide on Wiki.

The Basics

Your Green Steel Blank
With ingredients from the shroud flagging quests you make a green steel blank weapon or item.

Tier 1/Small Ingredients
With the small ingredients you get in the shroud you will make essences. With those essences you will alter the shards you have been picking up in the shroud. Then you will add the shard to your green steel blank. This is a tier 1 item. This is the page that shows the Tier 1 attributes... http://ddowiki.com/page/Altar_of_Inv...edient_Recipes

Be sure to notice that there are two columns on the attributes page. One is for weapons and the other is for items. I missed that the first 5 times I read through it

Tier 2/Medium Ingredients
With the medium ingredients you get in the shroud you will make essences. With those essences you will alter the shards you have been picking up in the shroud. Then you will add the shard to your green steel tier 1 item. This is a tier 2 item. This is the page that shows the Tier 2 attributes... http://ddowiki.com/page/Altar_of_Sub...edient_Recipes

Tier 3/Large Ingredients
With the large ingredients you get in the shroud you will make essences. With those essences you will alter the shards you have been picking up in the shroud. Then you will add the shard to your green steel Tier 2 item. This is a tier 3 item. This is the page that shows the Tier 3 attributes... http://ddowiki.com/page/Altar_of_Dev...edient_Recipes


Aspect Properties
Triple positive? Air/pos/air+pos? What does it all mean?

Each shard has a designation tied to it. It is different depending what essences you put with it in the altar. So a triple positive item/weapon is one that has a positive shard at Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3.

Now there are also several different kinds of positive shards, so you need to look through and make sure you are getting what you want.

But why is it important? Because with certain combinations of shards you get certain 'Aspect Properties'. You get one of these at Tier 2 and one at Tier 3. For example a Positive Tier 1 shard and a Positive Tier 2 shard will give you the Aspect of Positive Energy which adds a Raise Dead clicky to your item.

Some of the Tier 3 properties are double shards, meaning you have to make two Tier 3 shards and combine them before adding them to the weapon. The Concordant–Opposition and Lit II are both examples of these.

Here is a list of the Tier II Aspects... http://ddowiki.com/page/Altar_of_Sub...tional_Effects

Here is a list of the Tier III Aspects... http://ddowiki.com/page/Altar_of_Dev...tional_Effects

Crafting Planner
Now that you have a basic understanding of how green steel works, the next step is to start putting your ideas into a green steel crafting planner. This link will take you to a real good planner…

http://perfectweb.org/ddo/crafting/base_crafting.php

I know there are others out there but I think this one is the easiest to use and I like it the best.

Example 1 - Lit II Greataxe
Below is a brief overview of the process for a Lit II Great Axe. This is just one popular option. There are other ways to make a Lit II. That is part of the beauty of Green Steel, you have many options.

1. You make a blank Green Steel Great Axe - Pretty simple

2. Our end result is a Lit II (or Aspect of Lightning II) and that needs an Air Shard, a Positive Shard and then a double Air/Positive shard for the 3rd Tier.

3. We start with a Holy shard because that will work well against all the evil enemies and it is positive. Add it to the weapon and we have a Tier 1 Green Steel item

4. Next we add a Shocking Burst shard because it is the Air shard that will go with our positive shard. Add it to the weapon and we have a Tier 2 Green Steel item. Also, with the first shard being positive and the second being air we pick up the aspect of lightning which allows us to cast chain lightning twice a day.

5. Now for tier 3 we are doing a double shard because we want the Tier 3 Aspect Lightning Strike. So we craft a Positive/Good Blast shard and an Air/Shocking Blast shard. We combine those shards and add them to the weapon. This also gives us the Tier 3 Aspect Lightning Strike.

Now we can go out and kill stuff with it.

Here is a pic…

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/...fLightning.jpg

Example 2 – Triple Positive Green Steel Spell Point Goggles
Here is another example of a pretty common green steel item.

1. You make a Greensteel Goggles blank - Pretty simple

2. Our real goal here is Spell Points. Going triple positive gives us a +6 to our Charisma Skills (great for UMD) and also a raise dead clicky.

3. We start with a Wizardry VI positive shard for spell points and charisma skills. Add it to the goggles and we have a Tier 1 Greensteel item

4. Next we make a +50 spell point positive shard for more spell points and charisma skills. Add it to the goggles and we have a Tier 2 Greensteel item. Also, with the first shard being positive and the second being positive we pick up the aspect of positive energy which gives us our raise dead clicky.

5. Now for tier 3 we make a +100 spell point positive shard for more spell points and charisma skills. Add it to the goggles and we have a Tier 3 Greensteel item. Also, with all 3 shards being positive we pick up the aspect of positive energy II which gives us greater disruption guard.

Here is a pic…

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/...tiveEnergy.jpg

I hope this helps you through your first green steel item or weapon.

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Hey Everyone!

I hope you like this thread.

I think it would be really beneficial if others could post screenshots of their Green Steel items they have made with a description of the steps you took and why you chose the shards you chose.

Thanks

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Nice little planner, been very helpful to me as I planned out my first GS recently:

http://www.perfectweb.org/ddo/crafti...e_crafting.php

Nice writeup!

I think the hardest part about greensteel is just getting started.

BIG points for Turbine for incorporating the use of the Altar for flagging, thereby ensuring that you have at least some rudimentary knowledge of the crafting system in order to progress.

+1 Jortann, for attempting to help out the community and taking the time to post this up. I wonder if this should be stickied??

I'll post some common weapon recipes:

Lightning II (Lit 2)

Base: Great Axe, Falchion, Khopesh, Dwarven Axe, Rapier, Scimitar
Tier 1: Holy (Positive/Dominion/Material): +2d6 positive damage versus evil creatures
Tier 2: Shocking Burst (Air/Dominion/Material): +1d6 electric damage, extra electric damage on crits
Tier 3: Shock Blast (Air/Dominion/Material) + (Positive/Dominion/Material): extra electric damage on crits, +4d6 damage on natural 20s
Bonus 1: Lightning I - Chain Lightning 2/day (CL 16)
Bonus 2: Lightning II - Lightning Strike: 2.5% chance to inflict 500-750 damage

Ingredients List
Crafting Instructions

Use: This weapon is the ideal trash killer; it wipes the floor with most enemies in the game, and is only eclipsed by a few epic weapons. Most enemies are not immune or resistant to electric, which means this weapon does its full damage to them (unlike the Mineral 2, below, which is weakened somewhat due to the proliferation of acid resistance). It's second Bonus ability, Lightning Strike, grants the weapon a 2.5% chance to deal 500-750 damage, which roughly averages out to an extra +15.625 damage per swing on top of the weapons normal damage potential.

Note that this is a dual shard weapon, which means it takes twice the tier 3 ingredients. Make sure you combine the two tier 3 shards before you add them to the weapon base, or you'll irrevocably ruin your weapon and miss out on the second bonus effect.

Mineral II (Min 2)

Base: Great Axe, Falchion, Khopesh, Dwarven Axe, Rapier, Scimitar
Tier 1: Holy (Positive/Dominion/Material): +2d6 positive damage versus evil creatures
Tier 2: Acid Burst (Earth/Dominion/Material): +1d6 acid damage, extra acid damage on crits
Tier 3: Acid Blast (Earth/Dominion/Material) + (Positive/Dominion/Material): extra acid damage on crits, +4d6 acid damage on natural 20s
Bonus 1: Mineral I - Stoneskin 2/day (CL 16)
Bonus 2: Mineral II - Metalline, Slicing (+1d4 bleeding damage), Keen/Impact, +8 Hardness, +80 Durability

Ingredients List
Crafting Instructions

Use: The mineral II is a near-universal end-game DR breaker thanks to the combination of Good damage and Metalline. For particular enemies, particularly on elite, all incoming melee damage is reduced by something known as DR, or Damage Resistance... unless you strike them with the right weapon. The powerful Devil bosses in end-game raids take a silver weapon capable of inflicting 'Positive' damage, and since this weapon gains the metalline property (which allows it to mimic having any metal type, like silver) when you attach the second double-imbued shard, it will break that DR good+silver. It also breaks most other forms of DR. Typically, acid doesn't work on devils, but when your damage is reduced by 35 per swing, as is the case with elite devil raid bosses, any DR breaker is better than no DR breaker.

It's role as a universal breaker has been somewhat eclipsed by Cannith Crafting which eventually allows for the crafting of better DR breakers given enough time and investment, although you'll need a different weapon for each enemy type.

Note that this is a dual shard weapon, which means it takes twice the tier 3 ingredients. Make sure you combine the two tier 3 shards before you add them to the weapon base, or you'll irrevocably ruin your weapon and miss out on the second bonus effect.

Triple Positive (Triple Pos)

Base: Maul, Warhammer
Tier 1: Holy (Positive/Dominion/Material): +2d6 positive damage versus evil
Tier 2: Good Burst (Positive/Dominion/Material): +1d6 positive damage versus non-good, extra positivedamage on crits
Tier 3: Good Blast (Positive/Dominion/Material): extra positive damage on crits, +4d6 positive damage on natural 20s
Bonus 1: Positive I - Raise Dead 1/day
Bonus 2: Positive II - Greater Disruption: +6d6 damage versus undead + vorpal effect

Ingredients List
Crafting Instructions

Use: This weapon is the best undead killer in the game; the second bonus ability, Positive II, gives the weapon Greater Disruption, which translates to an extra 6d6 damage per swing and a chance to instantly kill targets under 1000 hp (or deal 100 damage to targets over 1000 hp) on a roll of a natural 20. This is in addition to all of the extra damage from holy, good burst, and good blast.

Radiance II (Rad 2)

Base: Rapier, Scimitar
Tier 1: Holy (Positive/Dominion/Material): +2d6 positive damage versus evil
Tier 2: Flaming Burst (Positive/Dominion/Material): +1d6 fire damage, extra fire damage on crits
Tier 3: Fire Blast (Positive/Dominion/Material): extra fire damage on crits, +4d6 fire damage on natural 20s
Bonus 1: Radiance I - Sunburst 2/day
Bonus 2: Radiance II - +4d6 light damage on crit + blindness, no save

Ingredients List
Crafting Instructions

Use: This weapon is like the Mineral 2; it's fire damage isn't useful against all foes, but it packs some useful utility: it blinds the enemy on a critical hit. The blindness effect of a Rad 2 allows rogues to sneak attack enemies even while soloing or when they have aggro; using it with high crit-range weapons like scimitars or rapiers causes the blindness effect to occur.

Note that this is a dual shard weapon, which means it takes twice the tier 3 ingredients. Make sure you combine the two tier 3 shards before you add them to the weapon base, or you'll irrevocably ruin your weapon and miss out on the second bonus effect.

Shard Choices

When making weapons, typically utility greensteel effects like healing amplification or exceptional bonuses to stats can be replaced with appropriate accessory slots; I prefer going for top DPS and so only select damage-dealing effects on my greensteel, especially for things like Lit 2 or Min 2 which will be used constantly to kill particular enemies. For T1, Holy is a potent effect because most enemies at end game are evil, and holy deals an additional +2d6 damage to them; for the rest of the effects like Acid or Shock, they only deal +1d6 damage, although to a wider variety of enemies. For T2, good burst, acid burst, shocking burst etc. are all basically equivalent, in damage, although good burst and shocking burst probably work on a wider subset of enemies. For T3, some people are okay with giving up the the blast effect; personally, I make weapons for killing things, and stick utility effects on my accessories. Also, note that for dual-shard items like Rad 2, Lit 2, and Min 2, your T3 effect is determined automatically based on the two shards you chose, so you can't have good blast on a Rad 2, Lit 2, or Min 2.

Thanks TheDjinnFor!

That is an awesome addition to the thread.

Hopefully we can get more stuff like that.

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Personally, I am a big fan of this crafting calc.

http://rpgamerd00d.150m.com/DDOCraftingCalculator.html

Thanks for the awesome recipes. I'm currently making my first GS item and I'm using the LIT 2 recipe above for my melee cleric. Any recipes for an awesome set of goggles for a cleric? That's what I'll be starting on after I'm done with my axe.

Probably Concordant Opposition goggles, either with 150 sp or 45 hp. If you're dumping umd I guess the hp would consolidate the slot for you, assuming you get your heavy fort elsewhere.