Chordstone Refining Guide (Preludes 15)

Chordstone Refining lets you reroll Temper stats on gear. Here's how the system works, what each Temper does, and the fastest workflow.

Heads up — Preludes 16 is reworking this system. Digital Extremes has announced a dismantle-to-teach Temper crafting rework: dismantling weapons gradually teaches Tuvalkane their Tempers, and any rank-30 weapon (no Legendary required) will be able to receive custom Tempers. This isn't live yet — the flow below is current for Preludes 15. See the Preludes 16 preview guide for what's confirmed so far.

Quick Answer

• Cast vs Refine: Cast forges ingots from base mats; Refine spends them on a weapon to uplift Craftwork and roll Tempers.
• Core flow — 3 steps:
  1. Preview ground drops — whole weapons show Craftwork/Tempers before pickup; keep good bases.
  2. Refine keepers at Tuvalkane — Chordstones plus origin mats (Gossamer Quartz, Moranite).
  3. Fix bad rolls with Chaos Chordstone — the only reroll today; per-Temper reroll isn't live yet.
• Materials: Chordstones are forged, not farmed — Lampyrites gate top tiers.

Cast vs Refine Explained

Higher tiers need Lampyrites (Glow, Amber, Faer) from sieges — especially Turret Jotar — Cogah, chests, and Tuvalkane sprite-husk casting.

Temper Types & Effects

Tempers are rolled bonus lines — Craftwork quality decides the slot count, Refine fills them. Orst-III was the first confirmed pre-crafted drop with variable Craftwork and Tempers; most 1–2★ drops now arrive fully built.

Data policy: Temper roll ranges aren't in the community catalog — numbers below are base weapon stats (verify in-client).

Temper slots — how many a weapon holds

Color shorthand for drops (community-compiled):

• Refined to Legendary: 8 slots guaranteed — via Refine only, never from Chaos alone (Hotfix 3).
• Dropped Legendaries hold at least five (community data).

What Tempers roll — the four stat lines

Weapon cards carry four stat lines: ATK, charged attack, stagger, smite chance — the catalog explicitly flags smite and charged as Temper roll targets; direct ATK/stagger rolls unconfirmed (verify in-client).

Wulder starts at 46 ATK; Heavies scale higher — Orst-III hits 76 ATK / 74 stagger. Tier matters: Rhapsodic Chordstone is the top craftable tier, kept for endgame refinement — maximum Temper potential.

Temper reroll rules

• You cannot reroll a single bad Temper today — the only fix is Chaos Chordstone, a full reroll. Hotfix 3: Chaos keeps old Tempers and adds new ones.
• Per-Temper reroll was announced for a future update in Preludes 15 notes — not live, no date.

Refining materials — the Chordstone tier chain

Nightfold-dismantling Noble+ weapons also returns Lampyrites and a small matching-tier Chordstone chance (Hotfix 2+).

Drop quality chain (Military → Legendary)

Dropped weapons follow a separate ladder (community-compiled): Military → Officer → Noble → Sovereign → Legendary — distinct from the Stock/Noble migration labels (pre-P15 crafted gear):

• Noble+ dismantles into Lampyrites; Officer and below give scrap — spend bag slots on the chain top.
• Legendary and Sovereign are always worth picking up, duplicates included — see inventory management.

Recipe quantities (community-transcribed, pending verification): 2× lower-tier stone → Melodious; 4× Melodious → top tier → Legendary. Verify counts in Tuvalkane's UI first.

Migration: Stock & Noble weapons

P15 rules convert pre-patch crafted weapons to Stock or Noble quality — both refinable. Do not delete old inventory before reading patch notes.

Chaos Chordstone (Hotfix 2 — Orlick Dispatches)

Hotfix 2 sent Dispatches from Orlick to migrate older gear (community catalog):

Chaos Chordstone fully re-rolls Craftwork and Tempers ("chaotic refinement") — only from these Dispatches, never a normal Tuvalkane recipe. Check the Dispatches mailbox before dismantling old gear.

Hotfix 12 (Jul 15): dismantled resources no longer vanish when you break down gear in a Party — still dismantle in the Nightfold only. See multiplayer co-op.

Recommended Workflow

1. Farm whole weapons (preview Craftwork/Tempers on the ground) — see farming routes.
2. Queue Refine on favourites at Tuvalkane; farm Lampyrites during siege cooldowns.
3. Pair with Oden Tempering on the separate metal queue — not the Refine tab (see also Runes & enchanting for the full gear stack).

Zenith shop

Zenith sells starter Chordstones for Arcs and rotates Noble-tier weapon offers on a ~6-hour timer — check Wares of Zenith when planning buys.

Verify Bond rank, costs, and tier names in your client after each hotfix.

Next Steps

• Weapon tier list — edge-color Temper slot shorthand, drop quality at a glance.
• Preludes 16 preview — announced Temper crafting rework: Tuvalkane learns Tempers from dismantles.