Artifact armor is the first set of job specific armor you’ll receive on your journey to level 99. The initial quests begin at level 40 through level 60; however, as many of those quests do not fully work on private servers, Hestefa in Western Adoulin will provide you your artifact gear for some gil.
Vainrachault in Western Adoulin will assist you with converting your base artifact gear to more advanced stages once you have unlocked his services.
Be aware that the augments on your base artifact armor will not be transferred to your upgraded version from base to +1, +2, or +3. You’ll need to reaugment your items accordingly.
During these levels, acquire your weapon and base armor sets from the Artifact NPC and augment them as you make your way to Level 75.
At level 75, your artifact +1 gearset becomes available for upgrade via tier I upgrades.
Once you’ve unlocked tier I upgrades with Vainrachault, you can trade each piece of base artifact armor plus 20 alexandrite per piece to receive your artifact +1 armor.
You’ll need to trade one armor piece plus the alexandrite per trade.
At level 99, there are three phases of “upgrades” for artifact armor. Each requiring a different tier of armor upgrades with Vainrachault as well as different currencies.
Once you’ve reached level 99, you can reforge your artifact +1 gear into it’s “reforged” artifact +1 version. This requires tier II armor upgrades unlocked with Vainrachault and costs 30 alexandrite per piece to upgrade.
You can further upgrade your “reforged” artifact +1 armor into “reforged” artifact +2 armor. This requires tier III armor upgrades unlocked with Vainrachault and costs 20 tanzanite jewels per piece to upgrade.
The final upgrade for artifact gear is the “reforged” artifact +3. This upgrade requires tier IV armor upgrades unlocked with VAinrachault and requires diving into the challenging encounters at The Henge.
Each armor piece requires 20 kindred’s medals, 20 beastmen’s medals, and the appropriate Rem’s Tale chapter per piece.
| base slot | kindred’s medals | beastmen’s medals | Rem’s Tale Chapters |
|---|---|---|---|
| head | 20 | 20 | 10x Rem’s Tale, Chapter 1 |
| body | 20 | 20 | 10x Rem’s Tale, Chapter 2 |
| gloves | 20 | 20 | 10x Rem’s Tale, Chapter 3 |
| legs | 20 | 20 | 10x Rem’s Tale, Chapter 4 |
| feet | 20 | 20 | 10x Rem’s Tale, Chapter 5 |
For example, using Red Mages, here’s a full walk of the upgrade process.
Over the course of a full upgrade from the level 50-60 base artfiact set to a fully reforged i119 +3 set costs: