Part 0.

5: Story
Complete all quests that are either yellow (story), purple (training), or orange (raid). Raid quests
only continue solo up to a certain point (after which you will need to complete the quest by doing
the raid with an alliance), but are still integral in unlocking quests and receiving questline
rewards.

When you hit level 60, you’ll want to redeem achievement points for enhanced skills in your
achievement menu (default hotkey “U”).

When you are confronted with the choice of Dawnforged vs Riftwalk, it won’t matter what
weapon you pick, as the story will later on ask you to choose between Exalted and Storm
Dragon. Pick Storm Dragon from this box if you are unsure of what weapon to choose.

Note: Complete the purple quest “Legacy of the Hongmoon Clan” at level 60, HM 7 by reading
Soha’s letter in the J menu. This will unlock your Talents and 3rd specialization.

Part 1: Just Finished Story

Coming out of the story, you should have gear given by the story equipped (with your
Hongmoon Points distributed among Offense and Focus, prioritizing Offense breakpoints first).
Do not throw away the legendary (orange) gear you have, it will be useful later on.

Some options you have regarding weapon:

1. Reroll weapon gem slots by purchasing and selling the 5 Naryu Silver weapon box from
Junsorei, who is located in Mushin’s Tower. 8 slots is considered to be a perfect roll, but
7 slots is good enough.
2. Reroll the Storm Dragon/Exalted weapon you get from the story by spending 7 gold and
30 Imperial cores by swapping back and forth between the two weapons until you have 7
or 8 gem slots. Depending on your luck, this way could be cheaper than buying or
crafting Empyrean Spirit Stones from the market or the Forgekeepers.

Weapon upgrade gold efficiencies:

Raven/Dawnforge/Riftwalk tier: It is approximately 50% cheaper to go up dungeon path than

raid path in terms of raw gold value, a difference of approximately 190g. If the raw gold cost is
not an issue for you, then the difference is that raid path takes more transformation stone
crystals (and thus significantly more basic crystal materials) whereas dungeon path uses
blackstones. Breakthrough weapons are no longer needed at this tier.

Aransu/Exalted/Storm Dragon tier: It is approximately 35% cheaper to go dungeon path over

raid path, a difference of approximately 900 gold. If the raw gold value isn't your main concern, it
takes over twice the crystal materials to go raid path and both paths consume scales, thus it is
more time-consuming to go raid path unless you already have the materials on hand.
Breakthrough weapons are no longer needed at this tier.

Grand Celestial/Skyforge/Shadowforge tier: As of this update, going from SF9 to GC9 is no

longer meaningfully more expensive than going from SF6 to GC6 to GC9, so if you decide to go
via a dungeon path, it is now up to personal preference. Note, however, that it is only about
1000g more expensive to go up the raid path now, so long as you use the new transformation
crystal transmutes for all of your normal and premium transformation stones up to GC6.
Between this and the fact that breakthrough weapons are still necessary at this tier, that means
that if you end up having to use Brilliant Keys, it may be break-even or even cheaper to go up
the raid path.

Moon Refuge
Moon Refuge is located in the southeastern area of Solak. The goal here is to farm Moonlight
Buds to exchange for gilded triangular gems. The NPC who sells gilded triangular gems is
located in the main gathering area for Moon Refuge. Navigate to the 3rd tab in her shop in order
to access Gilded Gems.

You will need to accept the daily quest A Midbummer Night’s Dream and regular blue quest
Zavnar’s Zeal before starting to defeat monsters in this region. Zavnar’s Zeal can be located in
the “J” menu, and A Midbummer Night’s Dream can be found in the Daily Quest menu.

There will be recruit messages similar to “Spider 5/6 “ in Region chat when you arrive at Moon
Refuge. Join these parties by applying to them, and select the Windstride portal that will take
you to Arachne Swamp. The main enemy of each region will be next to their respective portals
so that you can tell what portal leads to what enemy. Joining a spider farming party will greatly
reduce the time you will need in order to farm enough Moonlight Buds for a full set of Gilded
Gems.

If you happen to get a duplicate Gilded Gem from the vendor, there is an option to exchange the
gem for a reduced price, right below the first listing in exchange for the duplicate Gilded Gem
and 180 Moonlight Buds.

The gems from Moon Refuge you will want are:

● Gilded Triangular Ruby

 ● Gilded Triangular Sapphire
● Gilded Triangular Citrine
● Gilded Triangular Amethyst

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to join/create F8 lobbies for the following dungeons without issue. Doing
these dungeons daily will help you build your gold reserves, and provide basic upgrade
materials.

● Cold Storage
● Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
● Drowning Deeps
● Ransacked Treasury
● Sandstorm Temple
● The Shadowmoor

Daily Challenge At this Gear Level

You should aim to complete 7/7 daily challenges at your current gear level. Three out of the 7
daily challenges should always be A Midbummer Night’s Dream, Koldrak’s Lair, and The Final
Training in order to obtain the Martial Token.

Weekly Raids/Challenge
At this point you should be able to get into parties recruiting for the following weekly raids:

● Hall of the Keeper

● Hall of the Templar

Do these challenges every week. Make sure you are doing as many weekly quests as you can,
as a 7/7 weekly challenge completion can net you 150 gold per character.

If you cannot find people willing to accept you into premade parties, feel free to make your own.
Announce that you are recruiting for the weekly quests in Faction chat, and people will apply to
join your party. Be sure to know the mechanics of these dungeons before you start doing them.
The best time to do weekly quests is on reset day - Wednesday for NA/EU.

Part 2: Getting your First Legendaries

You should now focus on getting your legendary bracelet, mystic badge, and Soul Badge.
This will require completing at least two quests, The Dead Refuse To Die and Know Thine
Enemy Part 2. Know Thine Enemy Part 2 is what gives you your bracelet, and The Dead Refuse
To Die is a requirement to unlock Know Thine Enemy Part 2, as well as a source for your first
mystic badge.

Quest: The Dead Refuse to Die

You must complete, in order:

● A quest to kill one of the Celestial Basin bosses

● Heaven’s Mandate
● Cold Storage
● A quest to defeat the Searstrike Sisters at the 16th floor of Mushin’s Tower
This awards your choice of mystic badge (refer to the BnS Academy class channel for which
one you should pick).

Quest: Know Thine Enemy Part 2

This quest gives you your legendary bracelet (refer to the BnS Academy class channel for which
one you should pick), as well as a Heptagonal Diamond. It requires completing, in order:
● Naryu Sanctum
● Irontech Forge
● Ebondrake Lair
● Starstone Mines
● Hollow’s Heart
Note that you must complete the second raid questline “Fate of the Aransu - Chapter 4: Vale of
Tears” to access Ebondrake Lair.

Soul Badge
After about a month of playing, you should be getting close to having enough Solar Energy to
buy your Soul Badge from Dragon Express (125 Solar Energy, or appx. 25 -30 Days of Daily
Challenges). If you are one of the lucky classes that uses Eternity or Transcendence, you can
instead buy them for 15,000 Celestial Peaches (or get them from Midnight Skypetal Plains), and
skip the month wait. If you are a class that uses a soul badge from the Glory Token line (Glory or
Sagewood), it may be possible to purchase it outright with gold, because Glory Tokens are
usually very cheap on the marketplace.

Midnight Skypetal Plains

Midnight Skypetal Plains (otherwise known as MSP) is a 12-player instance that has no lockout,
accessible from the portal near House of Pleasures in Zaiwei. The boss in Midnight Skypetal
Plains, Sacred Longgui, has six stages, each with their own loot that drops once you defeat him.
This loot can be exchanged in Midnight Skypetal Plains itself, featuring some rewards that
otherwise only drop in raid instances with weekly lockouts.

Soulshield Fusing and Reinforcement

The soulshields you receive generally have random statistics applied to them, with the best rolls
being Critical and then Accuracy for PvE. You can add further stats to the soulshields by
purchasing (or crafting) Artisanal Shield Bases from F5. Once you have an Artisanal Shield
Base, you can exchange it for a particular stat type in Dragon Express’s first tab, and then
shift+click on a soulshield in your inventory to Fuse the Artisanal Primer into it. Keep in mind
that stat increases are random, and that fusing into your soul shield more than once doesn’t
necessarily make the stat higher. Always check the menu before pressing the upgrade button.

There is another method of upgrading soul shields called Reinforce or Reinforcement; this
involves fusing the same type of soulshield together, such as a piece #3 Assassin BT soulshield
with another piece #3 Assassin BT soulshield. This only upgrades stats that both soulshields
share, but is separate from fusing the Primers and can be used in combination with it.
Dungeons At this Gear Level
You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or
join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold
reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT
YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM,
EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

● Cold Storage
● Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
● Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
● Naryu Sanctum
● Irontech Forge
● Ebondrake Lair
● Starstone Mines
● Hollow’s Heart

Part 3: Bracelet, Weeklies, and Hongmoon Skills

After you obtain the correct bracelet (consult a guide for your class and spec to determine if you
need Divine Dragon or TIger), you should level it up to at least Stage 4. This can get a bit
expensive, so make sure you do your dailies every day for as much gold as you can get.

Bracelet is often the most cost effective and most dramatic damage upgrade until it is maxed at
Stage 10, so make it your #1 priority.

Hongmoon Skills
By now, you should be unlocking your Hongmoon Skills. You can obtain some of these via the
Achievement Vendor in Zaiwei, Celestial Peaches in Celestial Basin, Clan Crafting, or lucky
drops from older dungeons. You can also get them from the Zen Bean Trader in most towns, in
exchange for Bloodstones (bought with Zen Beans) if you like PvP, since the only way to get
Zen Beans is via PvP (Arena 1v1 or 3v3 Tag matches). Good news is Arena is gear equalized,
so gear doesn’t matter, however, expect to lose a lot in the beginning, so grinding Zen Beans
this way can be slow going. The daily quests from the PvP notice board can help.

Bloodstones can also be acquired from other miscellaneous sources, as they are a generic PvP
material.
With the awakening system, you’ll need to “redeem” achievements from Hongmoon Skills in
your achievement menu (default hotkey “U”), and redeem the “Level 60” achievement when
possible for skill points.

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or
join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold
reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT
YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM,
EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

● Cold Storage
● Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
● Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
● Naryu Sanctum
● Irontech Forge
● Ebondrake Lair
● Starstone Mines
● Hollow’s Heart

Part 4: Black Tower and Hellion Dungeons

It’s time for you to Tackle Black Tower and get your Raven weapon! You will also start doing
dungeons that reward Hellion Cores, and complete the Quest “Know Thine Enemy Part 2.”

Black Tower
This will be your first major raid. You can either try to find a Faction chat/Khanda Vihar area raid,
or search for people recruiting for a raid in the BNS Raid Recruitment Discord (link at the end of
this guide). Make sure to pick up the weekly quests for this raid at the Shrine of the Ascendant
in Khanda Vihar.

Selection boxes for raid accessories will drop in Black Tower, so make sure to see what kind of
bidding or priority system your group has.

Once you clear the final boss, don’t forget to finish the Orange Questline for “Dawn of Khanda
Vihar”.
Upgrading your weapon to Raven tier
Time to get your next tier of weapon. This may take a bit of grinding to get enough gold for, but
don’t get discouraged!
Going through the alternate weapon path (Dawnforged/Riftwalk) is cheaper than going straight
to Raven from Baleful or Seraph. I would recommend doing this and swapping to Raven at
stage 9. If you have an active clan, you can opt to instead keep on upgrading to Storm
Dragon/Exalted to save costs, and switch to Aransu.

Dungeons At this Gear Level

You should be able to LFP (Looking for Party) into the following dungeons without issue, or
join/create F8 lobbies for them. Doing these dungeons daily will help you build your gold
reserves, and provide basic upgrade materials for your weapon. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT
YOU SHOULD READ UP ON DUNGEON MECHANICS BEFORE YOU ENTER THEM,
EXCEPTION BEING TO ANYTHING BELOW EBONDRAKE CITADEL IN THE F8 LIST.

● Cold Storage
● Heaven’s Mandate (Requires an Orb of Ascension)
● Tower Of Infinity 3 wins
● Naryu Sanctum
● Irontech Forge
● Ebondrake Lair
● Starstone Mines
● Hollow’s Heart
● Drowning Deeps
● Sandstorm Temple
● Ransacked Treasury

Links
All BnS Academy Dungeon and Raid Guides

BnS Academy Discord

BnS Raid Recruitment Discord

Afterword
Some commonly used terms and abbreviations

A google document that explains some more common terms and abbreviations, and
talks about basic game mechanics

Some words about clans: Clans offer the potential to skip weeks if not months of
farming, by taking you into higher tier dungeons, potentially into the first raid in the
game (Skybreak Spire/Black Tower), and by providing you with clan bonuses and
crafting. A clan is not guaranteed to be good, but if you can get into a decent one,
whether through the standard clan recruitment channel, Discord, friends, etc., it saves a
significant amount of time and effort.

Some words about events: You can check what events are currently going on by
browsing the news section on the official Blade & Soul website. These events are
usually, but not always, easily done by new players, and provide lucrative rewards such
as high-tier upgrade equipment, decreased costs to upgrade current gear, and more.
Always try to do events if you can.

The original version of this guide was made by /U/MoonfireArt. I just updated/changed
aspects of the guide to be more updated for the current July 25th patch and help people
gear up more efficiently. You can generally find me in the BnS Academy Discord server,
by the handle Toraso#6983. Best wishes on your BnS experience.