How Weapon Refinement Works

Refinement is separate from crafting a new blade

Use Yagane’s forging menu when you are spending a recipe’s materials to obtain a new katana. Use Refiner Hagane when you want to improve the refinement level of an existing weapon. The similar names and nearby locations can make these two tasks easy to confuse.

If you have just finished Final Selection, first collect the trial reward and follow the Crude Iron Ingot crafting route. You do not need to turn every newly obtained blade into an expensive refinement project before continuing your available missions.

Inspect the attempt before committing

1. Travel to Hidden Mist Village and find Refiner Hagane beside the forge. Open his refinement interaction.
2. Select the weapon you actually intend to improve from the list. Check its current plus level and the next upgrade shown in the panel.
3. Read the outcome bar. Success, Great and Fail are displayed separately; do not mistake one number for the complete outcome breakdown.
4. Check the Wen cost, named refinement ore and required quantity. Compare these with the inventory amounts shown below them.
5. If you intend to use a Refinement Guard, select its control before attempting the upgrade. A held-item count alone does not mean protection is armed.
6. Press Refine only after choosing the risk you are willing to take. Read the resulting weapon level and remaining resources before deciding on another attempt.

Read the outcome bar for the selected upgrade

A +5 to +6 example shows the following outcome breakdown. These are values for that selected attempt, not a probability table for every weapon and level. Always recheck the panel when the selection or current level changes.

A failed attempt can undo refinement progress

In the +5 to +6 example, an unprotected failure takes the weapon back to +4. That makes repeated attempts different from paying a fixed crafting recipe: a later attempt may first need to recover a lost level.

Decide how much Wen and ore you can spend before starting. Keep resources for your planned weapon craft and other progression tasks. Stop and reassess after a downgrade instead of assuming one more press must recover it.

The right-hand panel lists upgrade levels and damage values for the selected weapon. Use those values to decide whether the next step matters for your build; do not treat another weapon’s displayed damage as your own.

Arm a Refinement Guard deliberately

A Refinement Guard protects against losing refinement on a failed attempt. The interface includes a control labeled Refinement guard with a Tap to arm prompt and your held quantity. Select it when you want protection, rather than assuming every attempt automatically uses an item from inventory.

Protection against a downgrade is different from a guaranteed successful upgrade. Continue to inspect the outcome bar and the attempt’s costs. After an attempt, check the guard state and remaining inventory again before continuing.

Check these details when the result is unexpected

If you cannot find the refinement controls, check the NPC name. Yagane’s recipe list and Refiner Hagane’s weapon-upgrade list perform different jobs.

If the resources are short, read both the Wen requirement and the exact ore named for the selected item. A large amount of another crafting material does not satisfy that ingredient slot.

If the displayed chance differs from a guide example, compare the selected weapon and plus level first. Do not apply the +5 to +6 example to a different step.

If a failure lowers the level, check whether protection was armed for that attempt. Merely owning a Refinement Guard is not the same as activating its control.

If the next attempt would consume materials saved for a new blade, leave the menu and continue your progression plan. Refinement is an equipment investment choice, not a prerequisite for every crow mission.