Aspect Mastery is a character-based progression system designed to significantly enhance a player's effectiveness in Player versus Monster (PvM) combat. By unlocking and leveling up different Aspects, players can temporarily imbue their Weapons, Spellbooks, and Armor with powerful bonuses tailored to various playstyles. Each character progresses through the 23 different Aspects independently.
Accessing the Aspect Mastery Menu
Players can open the Aspect Mastery menu in several ways:
- Typing the command
[Aspectin game. - Clicking their Paperdoll → Help → Aspect Mastery.
- Clicking the Virtue symbol above their character on the Paperdoll.
- Double-clicking any Aspect Core, Aspect Distillation, or Aspect Kit item in their backpack.
Core Mechanics
Unlocking an Aspect
Before an Aspect can be activated on gear, it must be permanently unlocked for the character.
- Navigate to the desired Aspect using the arrow buttons in the Aspect Mastery menu (for any category: Weapon, Spellbook, or Armor).
- Ensure the required items are in your backpack:
- 2 Aspect Distillation (of the target Aspect type)
- 4 Aspect Core (of the target Aspect type)
- 1 Aspect Kit
- Click the "Unlock Aspect" button twice to confirm. The materials will be consumed.
A character can unlock all 23 Aspects.
Activating an Aspect
Once unlocked, an Aspect can be temporarily applied to your currently equipped Weapon/Spellbook and/or Armor.
- Select the desired unlocked Aspect in the menu for the relevant gear slot (Weapon/Spellbook or Armor).
- Click the "Activate Aspect" button.
- Cost: 5 Arcane Essence per activation (i.e., 5 for Weapon/Spellbook, 5 for Armor).
Important Notes on Activated Aspect Gear:
- The effect is temporary. The item reverts to its normal state if:
- The player dies.
- The item is unequipped and placed anywhere other than the player's backpack.
- The player runs out of Arcane Essence charges.
- Reverted items lose their Aspect bonuses and hue.
- Activated Aspect Weapons and Spellbooks (not normal blessed spellbooks) can be stolen by other players.
- Activated gear will drop to the player's corpse upon death and is lootable.
Arcane Essence
Arcane Essence is the fuel for Aspect gear.
Acquiring Arcane Essence
- Obtain magical weapons or armor (from monster loot, chests, etc.).
- Identify the item using the Item Identification skill or an Identification Wand.
- Use any crafting tool (e.g., Smith's Hammer, Sewing Kit) and select "Recycle Item", then target the identified magical item in your backpack.
- Arcane Essence appears in your backpack. This requires no crafting skill.
Arcane Essence Consumption
Aspect gear consumes Arcane Essence based on damage dealt by the player and their followers (including traps). An invisible "Damage Progress Meter" tracks this.
- When the meter reaches 100%, 1 Arcane Essence charge is consumed, and the meter resets.
- Progress Increase % =
(Damage Inflicted) / (3000 - (Active Aspect Tier * 30)) - Large single instances of damage only fill the meter once per hit (benefiting burst damage builds). Multiple smaller hits totaling the same damage will consume more Essence.
- The meter is tracked separately for the Weapon/Spellbook slot and the Armor slot.
- Bonuses that reduce Arcane Essence Consumption (like weekly server bonuses) reduce the Progress Increase percentage.
Example:
A player wearing Tier 10 Fire Aspect armor inflicts 500 damage.
Meter Progress Increase = (500 / (3000 - (10 * 30))) = 500 / 2700 = ~18.5%.
Tier Levels & Experience
Each Aspect has 15 Tier Levels, increasing its effectiveness.
Gaining Aspect Experience
- Kill creatures while equipped with gear activated with that specific Aspect.
- Successfully use Pilfering or Mugging skill.
- Successfully lockpick Paragon Chests, Dungeon Chests, or Treasure Map Chests.
- Earn Doubloons by sinking NPC ships (Note: XP gain from this source was reduced by 50% in Patch June 15, 2024).
- Experience stops accumulating when the cap for the current Tier Level is reached. You must upgrade the Tier to continue gaining XP for that Aspect.
Upgrading Aspect Tiers
- Once the XP cap for a level is reached, click the "Upgrade Tier" button in the Aspect Mastery menu.
- Requires specific amounts of Aspect Cores and Aspect Distillations of that Aspect type in your backpack (see table below).
- Reaching Tier 15 requires an additional Aspect Triumph.
| Level | XP To Next | Required Distillations |
Required Cores |
Required Triumphs |
Cumulative Distillations |
Cumulative Cores |
Cumulative Triumphs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlock | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 1 | 500 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | 1,000 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| 3 | 1,500 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| 4 | 2,000 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 |
| 5 | 2,500 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 0 |
| 6 | 3,000 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 17 | 0 |
| 7 | 3,500 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 21 | 0 |
| 8 | 4,000 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 26 | 0 |
| 9 | 4,500 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 16 | 33 | 0 |
| 10 | 5,000 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 43 | 0 |
| 11 | 15,000 | 5 | 15 | 0 | 25 | 58 | 0 |
| 12 | 25,000 | 6 | 20 | 0 | 31 | 78 | 0 |
| 13 | 40,000 | 8 | 30 | 0 | 39 | 108 | 0 |
| 14 | 120,000 | 12 | 40 | 0 | 51 | 148 | 0 |
| 15 | 250,000 | 16 | 50 | 1 | 67 | 198 | 1 |
Setting Active Tier Level
Players can temporarily set their "Active Tier Level" lower than their permanent unlocked Tier for any Aspect.
- Click the "Set Active Tier" button and choose a level from 0 up to your permanent Tier.
- This reduces the Aspect's bonuses and the Arcane Essence consumption rate to match the chosen temporary level.
- Useful for conserving Arcane Essence during less demanding activities.
- The Active Tier Level displays in green text if it's lower than the Permanent Tier.
- Displayed bonuses in the Aspect menu and
[Statspage reflect the Active Tier. - Upgrading an Aspect's Permanent Tier automatically resets the Active Tier to match the new Permanent Tier.
- Commands to adjust Active Tier:
[LowerWeaponAspect/[RaiseWeaponAspect[LowerSpellbookAspect/[RaiseSpellbookAspect[LowerArmorAspect/[RaiseArmorAspect
Aspect Effects & Bonuses
General Bonuses
Aspects provide bonuses based on the equipment slot they are activated on:
- Weapon/Spellbook: Typically grant bonuses like Melee Accuracy, Tactics Bonus, Mana Refund Chance, Spell Damage Bonus, and a chance to trigger a unique Aspect Special Effect. Base bonuses often the same across Aspects, with the Special Effect being the main differentiator.
- Armor: All Aspect Armors grant an Armor Rating bonus. Beyond that, each Aspect provides a unique set of 3-4 thematic bonuses that scale with Tier Level.
Bonuses from Aspect Gear stack with bonuses from the underlying equipment (e.g., Exceptional Quality, Material Bonuses, Magical Properties, Slayer Bonuses).
Aspect Special Effects
These are powerful effects triggered by a chance when dealing damage with an Aspected Weapon or Spellbook. The specific effect varies greatly depending on the Aspect.
- See individual Aspect pages for details on each Aspect's unique Weapon/Spellbook Special Effect and Armor Bonuses.
Aspect Crystals
Aspect Crystals have replaced Aspect Weapon Oils, Aspect Spell Foci, and Aspect Ammo Bundles as the primary way to gain supplemental Aspect bonuses.
- Bonuses Granted:
- +10% Damage (Additive bonus to damage dealt)
- +20% Aspect Special Trigger Chance (Multiplicative bonus)
- Activation: Automatically consumed if present in the player's backpack when dealing damage. No activation step needed.
- Requirement: Player must have an activated Aspect Weapon or Spellbook of the same Aspect type as the Crystal to receive the bonuses and consume charges. The Armor Aspect does not matter for Crystal bonuses.
- Consumption Rate: 1 Crystal charge is consumed per 1 Arcane Essence consumed by the corresponding activated Weapon/Spellbook.
- Crafting: Crafted via Alchemy (Aspect Items category) using 2 Aspect Cores and 1 Aspect Distillation of the matching type. Creates a stack of 2000 charges.
- Storage: Can be stored in Resource Stockpiles.
- Old Items: Remaining Aspect Weapon Oils, Spell Foci, and Ammo Bundles can be exchanged for Aspect Crystals (1 charge = 1 crystal charge) at the Prevalian Exchange Officer.
Aspects in PvP
- Aspect bonuses do not apply against other players in PvP combat.
- When a player becomes Flagged in PvP, most Aspect Armor bonuses remain active against creatures.
- However, certain specific Aspect Armor bonuses that could cause imbalances are temporarily deactivated while flagged.
- To compensate, Aspects with deactivated effects usually gain temporary "PvP Activated Effects" - bonuses against creatures that are active only while the player is flagged.
- Players can check which effects are deactivated/activated for each Aspect Armor by clicking the "PvP Mechanics" button in the Armor section of the Aspect Mastery menu.
- Effects are reactivated/deactivated 60 seconds after the player is no longer flagged in PvP.
Related Items & Commands
- Aspect Kit: Required material for unlocking Aspects. Craftable via Blacksmithing, Carpentry, Tailoring, Inscription, or Tinkering.
- Aspect Item Tome: A container for organizing Aspect Cores, Distillations, and Phylacteries. Uses multiple pages due to the number of Aspects.
[AspectWeapon AspectName TierLevel: Command to activate a Weapon Aspect at a specific (optional) temporary Tier.[AspectSpellbook AspectName TierLevel: Command to activate a Spellbook Aspect at a specific (optional) temporary Tier.[AspectArmor AspectName TierLevel: Command to activate an Armor Aspect at a specific (optional) temporary Tier.