Table of Contents
Introduction
Visit any blacksmith in Black Desert Online, and you’re sure to see Cron Stones listed among the various wares. Their hefty price of 2 million silver makes it clear that the premium items, but what exactly are they for?
Cron Stones are a critical component of BDO’s intricate Item Enhancement system. They are used to prevent Enhancement failure, which saves the durability of items and, in the case of accessories, prevents them from being destroyed. To best understand their use, you need to be well informed about the Enhancement process.
Item Enhancement to +15
Characters gain access to Item Enhancement as early as level 10, after completing the Awakening quest, “Traces of Edana.” At this point, the Enhancement interface becomes available.
You can access the Enhancement UI whenever and wherever you want, once it has been unlocked. As long as you have the required materials, you can upgrade your items at will. You will need Black Stones in particular, and more will be required as your item’s Enhancement Level improves.
The process is relatively simple. From levels 1 to 7, you can’t fail when you enhance weapons. This rule applies to armor from levels 1 to 5. Beyond those levels, you have a chance for failure — but it’s not a time for the Cron stones just yet.
Until enhancement level +15, you have the option to Force Enhancement, which allows you to ensure your success if you expend more materials. If you choose not to do so, the penalties for failure include reduced durability each time, or destruction of the item if it is an accessory.
On the other hand, failure increases your chances of enhancement on subsequent attempts. Durability damage can be repaired at the blacksmith, so you can fix your item and try again with better odds.
Enhancement Beyond +15
Once your items are at level +15, a new ranking system comes into play. The next ranks are PRI, DUO, TRI, TET, and PEN. With the change in ranking comes a change in rules regarding failure for weapons and armor.
Once an item is PRI, a failed enhancement attempt results in the overall enhancement level being reduced by one. For instance, a failed attempt to raise a DUO item to TRI will drop that item back down to PRI.
In the case of accessories, they will still be destroyed as before, though they are not exempt from the level drop on failure. More on that later.
Using Cron Stones
This is where Cron Stones becomes useful. You can use them to prevent Enhancement failure but only for items DUO or above.
When you attempt to enhance one of these items, you can choose the Safe Enhance selection in the UI. This will pull from your available Cron Stones to protect the thing in case of failure.
While this means there is no negative consequence for failure with weapons and armor, accessories behave differently. They won’t be destroyed, but they will lose one level of enhancement on failure even when Safe Enhance is used.
The number of Cron Stones needed varies depending on the Market Value of the item being enhanced. The formula for this is as follows: (Market Value of Item)/(Purchase Price of Cron Stones).
So, if your item has a market value of 600 million, divide that by 2 million. In that example, you will need 300 Cron Stones.
Another important aspect of using Cron Stones is that, while they protect items on failure, they also prevent the success rate from increasing failure. This means that you will have the same chance of failure the next time you try.
Also, whether you succeed or fail, your Cron will be used up. To counterbalance this, expended Cron is converted to Upgrade Enhancement EXP. This means that if the item you are attempting to upgrade is combined with a Caphras Stone, the Caphras level can be increased by the use of Cron stones.
Collecting Cron Stones
You already know that you can purchase these Stones from the blacksmith. Yet 2 million silver apiece is hardly a bargain. Thankfully there are other ways to attain them.
Dark Rifts
One way is via Dark Rift bosses. When defeated, Rift bosses drop treasure boxes according to their level. Within these boxes, you will find a varying amount of Cron stones. Usually, this is a single-digit amount. But even 6 Stones is 12 million silver you don’t have to spend.
The downside to farming Dark Rifts for Cron is that the rifts appear sporadically. The guaranteed rate of occurrence is only 1 Rift per seven days. There can be more, and generally are more, but don’t expect to gain Cron this way quickly.
Red Battlefield
Another option is the Red Battlefield. Victory in the RBF yields 30 Cron Stones. Defeat still gives you 2. This is not exactly an easy way to gain stones. PVP in BDO is very competitive, and you are not likely to win often without gear that is already amazing.
Considering the time expenditure involved in RBF, you might do better farming silver to purchase the Cron Stones outright simply. If you are one of those elite players who can hold their own in PVP though, the Cron stones will come easily for you.
Dismantling Outfits
Lastly, the most controversial way to gain Cron is via dismantling outfits bought from the Pearl Shop. This nets roughly 30 Cron per piece of the outfit. So a full outfit can yield 250 or more Cron.
Players malign this option because of its potential to be abused by anyone with real money to spend on the game. Outfits in the Pearl Shop can be bought via the cash shop. This means that, if someone is willing to spend hundreds on this game, they can have as much Cron as they want. Now that you know how useful Cron are, you can see how this grants a powerful advantage to these players.
Conclusion
There is no denying that Cron is useful. Especially in the case of rare accessories, they are practically a must-have item for enhancement. The cost involved in losing a level is significant, and directly translates into a great deal of time spent gathering resources.
Cron Stones can save you from that headache. Now that you’re well informed on where to get them and how to use them, fire up the game and get to work on that PEN level gear!