EVILBANE enhancement and runes
Weapon enhancement raises base ATK using gold plus Heavenstone Powder, Fragment or Essence. Rune engraving only opens at +3, gives slots at +3 / +6 / +10, and pulling a rune back out costs separate materials.
Official EVILBANE screenshot: Weapon Enhancement — Netmarble Monster / Netmarble.
EVILBANE makes you upgrade two things about a weapon: its base attack, through Weapon Enhancement, and its stat lines, through Rune Engraving. Both are handled by Rodrik at the Headquarters, both are paid for with materials that drop out of Operations, and the second one is gated behind the first.
Weapon Enhancement
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it does | Raises base ATK, step by step |
| Where | Rodrik, at Headquarters |
| Cost | Gold plus Heavenstone Powder / Fragment / Essence |
| Official example | Song of the Razor Wind (greatsword) at +0 → +1 costs 3 Heavenstone Powder and 100 gold, moving ATK 250 → 262 |
| Level markers | +3 and above unlock rune sockets |
The screen itself is unambiguous about the intent — Enhance weapons to increase ATK — and the numbers in the official screenshot are modest: a single step on one greatsword is about five percent of its attack. Enhancement is a long ladder, not a shortcut.
Rune Engraving
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it does | Adds stat lines on top of the weapon's own stats |
| Gate | The weapon must be enhanced to +3 or higher |
| Socket levels | Slots open at +3, +6 and +10 |
| Cost to remove | Separately charged — pulling an engraved rune out is not free |
The official engraving screen spells out the socket arrangement: a weapon called Black Wave +3 in the one-handed sword class, one Empty Rune Socket selected, and two further sockets locked behind the next enhancement levels.
Runes are effects, not just stats
The one rune with published numbers is genuinely a combat effect rather than a flat bonus: Rune of Barrage — when OTC is successful, 30% chance to increase ATK by 20% for 7 second(s). Conditional, timed, and tied to a mechanic you have to actually land. Expect the rune pool to be built that way rather than as pure +ATK filler.
The three-step loop
- Run Operations. Gold and Heavenstone materials come from enemies, ground pickups and blue-marker Side Missions.
- Enhance first, engrave second. Nothing engraves below +3, and sockets at +3, +6 and +10 mean the enhancement ladder is also the rune ladder.
- Engrave deliberately. Pulling a rune back out costs extra materials, so the screen's own warning is worth repeating: choose carefully, because "let me just try it" is a real cost here.
Official EVILBANE screenshot: Rune Engraving — Netmarble Monster / Netmarble.
Where the resources sit on screen
The enhancement screen keeps a four-cell resource row top-right, the same pattern as the rest of the interface, so you can read what you own without leaving the menu. In the official capture the cells read 3,950 gold and then 22 / 22 / 3 of the upgrade materials — a straightforward picture of a character who has been farming one tier of material and is short on another.
Planning around enhancement
- Decide your main weapon early. Because sockets open at +3, +6 and +10, the weapon you push up the ladder is the weapon that gets runes. Spreading enhancements across four weapons means no weapon gets a socket.
- Enhancement materials are tiered. Powder, Fragment and Essence suggest a tier progression; the higher the weapon level, the higher the tier of material the step will want.
- Gold has one more job. The official description of gold is explicit: it is used to unlock features and items, enhance weapons and engrave runes. Every one of those competes for the same purse.
- Unlocking is not the same as upgrading. Some weapons, appearance options and Heavenstones are unlocked with account level or materials, which is a separate cost from making them stronger.
