Boring Guide to Alban Knights Emblems

• Rynn wrote on 2015-08-18 00:55
  Before we begin, there's three things to keep in mind at all times:
  
  1. Only fill unadorned emblems with ONE type of rune.
  2. Any time you have a lv 4+ stat, or attempt to go to lv 4+ of a stat both emblems will blow up on fail.
  3. Any time you have 4+ stat lines or attempt to get 4+ stat lines both emblems will blow up on fail.
  
  
  

  BASICS

  
  
  Runes
  
  

  [Image: http://i.imgur.com/2el24tl.png]

  
  
  This is the most basic item and what is needed the most for the process. You obtain this randomly at the end chest of an Alban training session, and the amount you get will depend on the difficulty/rank.
  
  It comes in several forms, such as:
  
  Rune of Mana - MP, Magic Defense or Magic Attack.
  Rune of Ingenuity - Intelligence, Dexterity or Critical.
  Rune of Mind - Will, Stamina or Luck.
  Rune of Body - Strength, HP or Defense.
  Rune of Sharpness - Max Damage, Critical Damage or Balance.
  
  Unadorned Emblem
  
  

  [Image: http://i.imgur.com/HSdw5nq.png]

  
  
  This is where the fun starts. Even though you see many 0/10 lines, as mentioned earlier you ONLY ever fill it with one type of rune. That means if you want to obtain an emblem with a Sharpness rune stat, you fill it with 10 sharpness runes and it will transform into an emblem with a stat randomly chosen from sharpness rune (max, cdmg, bal).
  
  Alban Knights Emblem
  
  

  [Image: http://i.imgur.com/VG7vbH7.png]

  
  
  This is what you get after you fill an unadorned emblem with 10 runes of one type. It is created with 1 randomly selected stat from the rune that was used in creation.
  
  These emblems can be merged (instructing you how is the purpose of this guide) and as such there are two kinds, a "base emblem" and a "material emblem".
  
  Base Emblem - It's the starting point for an emblem synthesis, and the base that will receive the bonus from a merged material emblem. It has the potential to change number of stats and level of stats following an emblem synthesis. As stated at the start of this guide, it may be destroyed under the following conditions:
  

  *Any time you have a lv 4+ stat, or attempt to go to lv 4+ of a stat both emblems will blow up on fail.
  *Any time you have 4+ stat lines or attempt to get 4+ stat lines both emblems will blow up on fail.

  
  
  Material emblem - It's a disposable emblem that has the stats you want to merge with a base emblem. Regardless of success or failure, it will always disappear after an emblem synthesis.
  
  
  

  BASIC SYNTHESIS

  
  
  This is where people start to get confused, but it's actually fairly simple. The two things to keep in mind is that you shouldn't expect short term results due to the limited supply of materials to work with and that you will need a lot of inventory space to store emblems and runes as you go along.
  
  Success rate per attempt seems like 30~50% from testing but there is no visible indicator and no way to know for sure.
  
  Always keep all types of runes, even if you do not think you may need them (you might).
  
  Steps to a decent emblem:
  1. Choose your most valuable stat (usually max damage from sharpness rune) and create a base emblem that contains it by fusing your desired rune with unadorned emblems. Results from this step should be a (max damage lv 1) base emblem and several (cdmg lv1, bal lv 1) material emblems from failed attempts.
  
  2. Merge any leftover material emblems (cdmg lv 1, bal lv1) into your base emblem (max damage lv 1) until you have a single base emblem that is (max damage lv 3). Feel free to make more material emblems if needed.
  
  3. Choose your second most valuable stat (usually magic attack from mana rune) and create a material emblem (or several) that contains it by fusing your desired rune with unadorned emblems. Results from this step should be one or several (magic attack lv 1) material emblems and several (mp lv1, mdef lv 1) material emblems from failed attempts.
  
  3. Merge your (magic attack lv 1) material emblem with your (max damage lv 3) base emblem until you have a (max damage lv 3, magic attack lv 1) emblem.
  
  4. Merge any leftover material emblems (mp lv 1, mdef lv 1) into your base emblem (max damage lv 3, magic attack lv 1) until you have a single base emblem that is (max damage lv 3, magic attack lv 3). Feel free to make more material emblems if needed.
  
  5. Choose your third most valuable stat (usually strength from body rune) and well... just repeat the steps above until you have a (max damage lv 3, magic attack lv 3, strength lv 3) emblem.
  
  6. For most people, THIS IS IT. Just stop here if you do not want to take any unnecessary risks for minimal gains.
  
  
  

  ADVANCED SYNTHESIS

  
  
  Ok, this is the section for min-maxers willing to try some crazy shit to get their mins maxed and their e-peens str- I mean what...
  
  We'll start with our result from basic synthesis: a 3/3/3 emblem.
  
  Steps to a sick emblem:
  
  1. We make a second 3/3/3 emblem. Why? Because if your main one fails and you end up with nothing you will cry yourself to sleep.
  
  2. Decide on one (or more) stat you want to bring to lv 4+. It will usually be max damage from sharpness rune.
  
  3. It's simple, you use material emblem of sharpness rune + spam to lv 5 and pray to RNGesus right? Well, yes, that works... but that isn't what we'll do. Instead we'll do more complex synthesis.
  
  There are some ways to go about this:
  
  3a)We make 1/1/1 material emblems of the same types (sharp/mana/body) to merge with our 3/3/3 base. There is some overseas testing that indicates that merging emblems with multiple lines makes multiple calculations and even though only one stat will level up, only one of the calculations has to succeed to avoid an explosion. This would be the ideal way to get a stat to lv 5, while (if lucky) getting the others to lv 4 or higher.
  
  Notes: From my own limited testing I would NOT recommend this. I personally don't have enough evidence to be convinced that this method creates multiple calculations and even if it does, you are relying on RNG too much and might only get lucky on the secondary stats and not the one you want the most.
  
  3b)We make several 1/1 material emblems to merge with our 3/3/3 base. The PLOT TWIST, is that this time only one of the lines will actually level up our base emblem. Why? Because the second line will be something entirely new, like Will lv 1 or Dex lv 1 or Int Lv 1. There is confirmed testing that adding lines is a separate calculation from leveling a stat, so even if you fail to level a stat your base emblem will survive if you succeed at adding an extra line.
  
  Notes: From my own limited testing, I would say this is the way to go. The main benefits is that there is no chance to waste a stat level-up on secondary stats so you will get max dmg lv 5 faster, and there is no need for speculation regarding how the calculation is handled because there is 100% confirmation that adding lines is a separate calculation from stat level-ups (or at the very least, adding one line is, unsure on whether adding more than 1 line will give you more separate calcs). You can still be daring and add more than 1 new line, but just in case I would save that for 4-> 5 and not 3->4 to leave more safety options available when it matters most.
  
  3c)You can try combinations of the above methods, or something new entirely. Be creative and find something that works and share it cause there is too little info about these emblems on any forum and I sure as hell don't know as much as I wish I did about them.
  
  4. RNG gonna RNG. Having multiple calculations doesn't mean anything if they all fail and you'll have to start over. But don't despair, that's why we had a backup emblem on step 1! If you do succeed, you get to do weird science on the backup emblem and maybe even get something nicer than you got on the first one.
  
  
  

  HOBO SYNTHESIS

  
  
  This is for the person who has no time for all this shit, or the lazy casual player that still wants a lv 5 emblem.
  
  1. Get lv 1 base emblem of the stat you want (usually max attack) and spam until lv 5. You'll succeed through sheer number of synths.
  
  2. Repeat for your secondary most useful stat (usually magic attack) and just activate/deactivate both emblems as needed depending on your skillset.
  
  
  

  TIPS

  
  
  After all that's been said, there's only one tip I can give you and it is probably the biggest factor in how fast you can make an emblem. Not everyone will feel comfortable with it, but it's the difference between making an emblem in a week or several months.
  
  Here it comes....
  [SPOILER="can't show that in a christian manga!"]End keys are drop-tradeable. Use that information as you see fit.[/SPOILER]
• ironwoman wrote on 2015-08-19 12:25
  For people that were too lazy to read...
  
  Basically, create totems with multiples lines (1/1/1) and combine with higher base. Doesn't have to be 1/1/1, it can be 1/1.
  
  Remember though, combining totems with more lines doesn't really mean you have more chance of raising the stat you want, it's more of decreasing your chance of blowing them up. But it can always happen, always showcased by bullshit success rate of Edern.
• callback wrote on 2015-08-21 14:22
  Question: Why max over cdmg? I thought cdmg would be better most of the time for overall damage? Isn't that why we go red over blue?
  
  Also lol@spoiler, as if people didn't know that from it being true in every single dungeon/SM/theater in the game.
• Rynn wrote on 2015-08-21 14:50
  Cdmg is only better when there's enough of it to provide more average dmg than max dmg, there isn't.
  
  Also, lord mission keys are untradeable.
• ironwoman wrote on 2015-08-22 02:51

  Quote from callback;1284607:

  Question: Why max over cdmg? I thought cdmg would be better most of the time for overall damage? Isn't that why we go red over blue?
  
  Also lol@spoiler, as if people didn't know that from it being true in every single dungeon/SM/theater in the game.

  
  
  The crit damage bonus is too small to prioritize that over max damage. Of course, if you can have both, that'd be nice, but there are other considerable benefits, like Magic Attack, Str/Dex, etc.
• Invisible wrote on 2015-10-01 07:37
  So I was trying to make a 3/3/3 emblem, but all my MA/Str emblems keep failing and now I have like 25 material emblems (all of them mana/body emblems). I'm sick of holding all these and decided to go the hobo route. Now my base is level 4 max damage and level 1 MP. How should I proceed to minimize destruction? Just spam 1/1/1/1 emblems without mana runes?
• Rynn wrote on 2015-10-01 07:54
  That's the way I would go about it.
  
  I never tested (or at least not that i can remember) if you could add more than 1 line at a time however. If you can, it might be a problem if you fail to level up but succeed on adding too many lines that there won't be any left to add for the next attempt.
• Invisible wrote on 2015-10-01 09:04
  I guess I'll post my results later, but so far I only got that 1 MP out of a 1/1/1/1/1 emblem.
  
  
  
  
  
  It died.
• Deletion wrote on 2015-10-01 16:04
  How much critical damage is actually added with the emblems?
  Is it really just 1% per level?
• Rynn wrote on 2015-10-01 16:55

  Quote from Deletion;1287813:

  How much critical damage is actually added with the emblems?
  Is it really just 1% per level?

  
  
  Yeah, 1% per level so it's not enough to currently match the max damage emblem.
  
  I think its effectiveness would also diminish the higher your cdmg already is, since the difference between 312% to 317% when using an r6 2h would be fairly minimal.
• Cookies wrote on 2016-05-01 21:58
  Thanks for the information in the guide, helped me out quite a bit when I first wanted to get into making Alban totems.
  
  One thing I want to point out is that it isn't clear for cases where you want to add additional options after getting a level 4 or higher line
  

  Quote from Rynn;1284301:

  
  2. Any time you have a lv 4+ stat, or attempt to go to lv 4+ of a stat both emblems will blow up on fail.
  3. Any time you have 4+ stat lines or attempt to get 4+ stat lines both emblems will blow up on fail.
  

  
  The wording here can be interpreted as "when attempting synthesis with an emblem with any line level 4+, both emblem will blow up on fail", however this isn't the case. Only when attempting to go above 3 lines, or when attempting to upgrade a stat to above lv3 will the base emblem blow up on fail. The base emblem is safe when you want to add a line until the emblem has 3 or want to upgrade any non-lv3+ line even when there exists a lv4+ line.
  
  What this essentially means is that for any player that isn't attempting to get multiple level 5 lines, it could be better to first get an emblem to have a lv5 line, then add 2 other lines and get them to lv3. (Ex. lv5 max -> lv5 max lv1 str lv1 ma -> lv5 max lv3 str lv3 ma)
  
  source: http://aoinagamimi.blog45.fc2.com/blog-entry-216.html
• Chihaya wrote on 2016-05-02 15:20
  Question: how big of a difference does difficulty make? I'm thinking of using a certain not-to-be-discussed-tactic which involves red stones, but using Green and Gray stones to raise the reward tiers, and blitzing it on basic. Is this a viable tactic?
• ironwoman wrote on 2016-05-02 20:18

  Quote from Chihaya;1295227:

  Question: how big of a difference does difficulty make? I'm thinking of using a certain not-to-be-discussed-tactic which involves red stones, but using Green and Gray stones to raise the reward tiers, and blitzing it on basic. Is this a viable tactic?

  
  
  Only if you're gonna be doing it over like 8 months.
  
  There is absolutely 0 reason to do Alban on basic as of right now because of how easy it is to get the stones thanks to the event.
  Even without the event, you shouldn't be wasting green and gray stones on basic, and considering the rewards possible, it's much more worth to do on higher difficulties (Int S, Adv A, etc)