Green Steel item crafting steps

Overview
Crafting, introduced with Module 6, is a new way to create customized items, using ingredients gathered both in the Vale Explorer Area, the Vale quests, and The Shroud raid. In each of these areas, chests may contain Ingredient items, usually denoted with a Purple Background, and can all be gathered into the Ingredient Bags.

For most of the crafting, access to Meridia, Tier 1 Favor with The Twelve (40 Favor), and completion of all 5 Pre-Raid quests in the Vale are required.

Getting ready for the "Raid Loot" Crafting
The major portion of Crafting in DDO is the "Raid Loot" system, which is also referred to as the Green Steel Items. Green Steel Items are "blanks" that are manufactured, then upgraded through a series of crafting steps in The Shroud, the new Raid area.

You are now flagged for the Raid, and ready to start the real Crafting

Raw Ingredients, Manufactured Ingredients and Crafting Altars
Now that you have access to the Raid, it is time to really start Crafting. Along the way in The Vale and the 5 Pre-Raid Quests, you will have collected some Ingredients. Remember that all the Ingredients you get out of chests are considered Raw Ingredients. They must be combined together, using the recipes, to create a Manufactured Ingredient. Then these Manufactured Ingredients combine together to create an item.

Additionally, there are different Altars to use for different pieces of the Crafting. Underneath Meridia is the Altar of Fecundity. The Altar of Fecundity is used to combine the Ingredients collected in The Vale and the Pre-Raid Quests, as well as the Shavarath Stones, to create your Green Steel Item, or your "blank" to upgrade later. Within the Raid, there are 3 additional Altars, each of which use different Ingredients in a similar manner.

The Basic Crafting Process for the Altar of Fecundity is Raw Ingredients &rarr; Manufactured Ingredients &rarr; Green Steel Item. This means that first you will combine the Raw Ingredients from the Vale, using the Altar of Fecundity - Raw Ingredients Recipes, to create your Manufactured Ingredients. You will then combine the Manufactured Ingredients with your Shavarath Signet Stone using the Altar of Fecundity - Manufactured Ingredient Recipes to create a Green Steel Item.

WARNING: You cannot equip more than one Green Steel Clothing Item at this time (Weapons do not count). Doing so will cause you to take 5d8 (5-40) damage every 2 seconds until you die. If you receive a Raise Dead, or Release your Soul, you will likely die almost immediately after coming back to life. This is due to the Taint of Shavarath on the item, which must be cleansed by Essence of Cleansing. The Essence is only available as a 20th completion reward of the Raid. You can freely dual-wield weapons however, and wear a single clothing item.

Once you run The Shroud and begin to collect the various Raw Ingredients within the Raid, you can then begin to combine these ingredients, per the recipes, to add effects and enhancements to your Green Steel Weapon or Clothing. There are 3 categories of Ingredients within The Shroud, Small, Medium, and Large. The "Small" Ingredients are used at the Altar of Invasion, at the end of Stage 1. The "Medium" Ingredients are used at the Altar of Subjugation, at the end of Stage 3, and the "Large" Ingredients are used at the Altar of Devastation, at the end of Stage 5.

Power Cells
Likewise, each altar requires a Shavarath Energy Cell, which comes in Low, Medium, and High. Just like the Ingredients, Low is for Invasion, Medium is for Subjugation, and High is for Devastation. However, the Medium and High Energy Cells are usually found or purchased "Depleted". In order to charge a Depleted Energy Cell, you must use a (random drop) weapon in your inventory to "charge" the Energy Cell. As you examine the items in your inventory, each of them will display a large number in the upper-right-hand-corner, this is referred to as the Plus Value (similar to Base price modifier). In order to Recharge a Depleted Medium Energy Cell, you must combine the Energy Cell with a weapon whose Plus Value is +6 or higher. In order to Recharge a Depleted high Energy Cell, you must combine the Energy Cell with a weapon whose Plus Value is +8 or higher. WARNING: Item is consumed (destroyed) in this process. This will charge your Shavarath Energy Cell for use.

Shard of Power
You also need the appropriate Shard of Power. There are, again, three levels of these Shards, Shard of Power, Shard of Great Power, and Shard of Supreme Power. Each can be easily identified without even inspecting them, by looking at the number of "crystal knobs" extruding from the shard picture: 1 for the Shard of Power, 2 for the Shard of Great Power and 3 for the Shard of Supreme Power. These shards bind on acquire, so if you want to trade them, you have to do so while they are still in the chest, before they get looted.

Each shard is used at the appropriate Altar. The Shard of Power is combined with the Manufactured Ingredients to create an Imbued Shard of Power.

Finally, combine your Imbued Shard of Power, a Shavarath Energy Cell and your Green Steel Item to add effects to your item.

Overall Process
Inside the Raid, the Crafting process is as follows:
 * 1) Combine the Raw Ingredients and an appropriate (Low, Medium, or High) Shavarath Energy Cell to create Manufactured Ingredients
 * 2) Combine the Manufactured Ingredients, an appropriate (Low, Medium, or High) Shavarath Energy Cell, and an appropriate Shard of (Power, Great Power, or Supreme Power) to create an Imbued Shard of Power
 * 3) Combine the Imbued Shard of Power, an appropriate (Low, Medium, or High) Shavarath Energy Cell, and a Green Steel Item to upgrade your Green Steel Item

Notes on how the upgrades work

 * Bonus stacking
 * Each Altar has its own recipes and results, adding more effects to your Green Steel Item as you upgrade it with each Altar. Different upgrades will simply add their effects to your item, not replace earlier ones.
 * Most of these abilities stack, but not all of them. They follow usual stacking rules where similar-named bonuses like Enhancement, Resistance, Insight, and Regeneration Bonuses do NOT stack. Exceptional Bonuses will stack however, as long as they are not identical: a +1 Exceptional Charisma Bonus will stack with a +2 Exceptional Charisma Bonus for a total of +3 Charisma, but a +1 Exceptional Charisma Bonus will not stack with another +1 Exceptional Charisma Bonus, regardless of the bonus source.


 * Aspect properties
 * Different upgrades will interact with each other in interesting ways, providing additional effects on your item. These special properties can be added at the Subjugation and Devastation Altars, depending on the combination of upgrades that are performed.
 * For example, if you use an "Essence of Positive Energy" at Invasion, and then again at Subjugation, you will get the Aspect of Positive Energy, and Raise Dead 1/day on your item. If you use Positive again at Devastation, you will get Greater Disruption on a Weapon or  on Clothing, but if you used a different Essence, you may get a different effect, or none at all.  You will always receive the bonuses listed for the recipes, but not always receive the "Special" Bonuses for the combinations.
 * See following for detailed information and list of aspect properties
 * Tier 2 Aspect Properties
 * Tier 3 Aspect Properties


 * Bind status
 * Note that, while Green Steel items are when created, upgrading a Green Steel item at an altar within the Shroud will make the item.

Planning for your Crafted Item
The best thing to do is to plan ahead, and research what you want to upgrade. For an example, say you want to craft a pair of Goggles, and go for Spell Points and Charisma Skills. This means that you want to go with Air/Escalation/Ethereal or Positive/Escalation/Ethereal, as both will give you the same base results. Let's also say that you decide that you like the Greater Disruption Guard over Air Guard, so we will go Positive/Escalation/Ethereal at all 3 Altars. So, it's time to look over the lists, and create your list of required Raw Ingredients:

So we first look at Altar of Fecundity - Manufactured Ingredient Recipes and work our way backwards. Green Steel Goggles require Filaments of Toil, Violet Taper, Wondrous Oil, Shavarath Signet Stone, and an Eberron Energy Cell. Some of the Tier 2 Recipes can be made more than one way, so there some items will have varying amounts needed… so we then look at Altar of Fecundity - Raw Ingredients Recipes to create our Ingredient List of:
 * 3x Locust Husk
 * 3x Lammanian Lily Petals
 * 2 or 3x Glistening Pebbles
 * 2 or 3x Green Briar Twig
 * 2x Bitterscrub Fungi
 * 4x Eberron Energy Cell

Once these are all collected, go to the Altar of Fecundity underneath Meridia, and start combining your Raw Ingredients to create the required Manufactured Ingredients. Then take the Filaments of Toil, Violet Taper, and Wondrous Oil, along with your Shavarath Signet Stone and a Eberron Energy Cell, put them together, Mix Magically, and you will have your Green Steel Goggles.

Now, it is time to start running the Raid and collecting your Raw Ingredients for the 3 Altars. Positive/Escalation/Ethereal will require the following Ingredients:
 * 2x Small Glowing Arrowhead
 * 1x Small Gnawed Bone
 * 2x Small Length of Infernal Chain
 * 3x Small Devil Scales
 * 1x Small Twisted Shrapnel
 * 3x Small Sulfurous Stone
 * 5x Shavarath Low Energy Cell
 * 1x Shard of Power

Use these to create Inferior Focus of Positive Energy, Cloudy Gem of Escalation, and Diluted Ethereal Essence. Take these 3 Manufactured Ingredients, along with a Shard of Power and a Shavarath Low Energy Cell to imbue the Shard of Power with the Positive/Escalation/Ethereal mix. Then finally put the Imbued Shard of Power, a Shavarath Low Energy Cell, and your Green Steel Goggles in the Altar of Invasion, and they should now called Lieutenant Green Steel Goggles of Wizardry VI. Upon examination, it should have Wizardry VI, Charisma Skills - Exceptional Bonus +1, and Positive Energy Affinity.

Now, follow the same ingredient list above, but using Medium ingredients at the Subjugation Altar, and then Large Ingredients at the Devastation Altar to create your Supreme Tyrant Green Steel Goggles of Positive Energy with Wizardry VI, Charisma Skills -Exceptional Bonus +1, +2, and +3 (for +6 total), Elemental Spell Power (+50 SP), Greater Elemental Spell Power (+100 SP), True Resurrection 1/day, and Greater Disruption Guard!

Meridia - Altar of Fecundity
Altar of Fecundity - Raw Ingredients Recipes

Altar of Fecundity - Manufactured Ingredient Recipes


 * Step #1 - Combine 5 Shavarath Stones (Shavarath Stone of Might [ Ritual Sacrifice ], Battle [ Running with the Devils ] , Strategy [ Let Sleeping Dust Lie ] , Foresight [ Rainbow in the Dark ] , and Victory [ The Coalescence Chamber ] ) together to create a Shavarath Signet Stone
 * Step #2 - Combine 4 "Raw Ingredients" (Bitterscrub Fungus, Chipmunk Funk, Glistening Pebbles, Green Briar Twigs, Lammanian Lily Petals and/or Locust Husk) together with an Eberron Energy Cell to create a "Manufactured Ingredient"
 * Step #3 - Combine 3 "Manufactured Ingredients" (Ore of Travail, Filaments of Toil, Wondrous Balm, Wondrous Oil, Wondrous Jewel, Wondrous Scarab, Red Taper, Yellow Taper, Green Taper, Blue Taper and/or Violet Taper) together with a Shavarath Signet Stone and a Power Source (Eberron Energy Cell, Medium Splintered Horn or Large Splintered Horn) to create a Green Steel Item

The Shroud Phase 1 - Altar of Invasion
Altar of Invasion - Raw Ingredients Recipes

Altar of Invasion - Manufactured Ingredient Recipes


 * Step #1 - Combine 4 "Small Raw Ingredients" (Small Devil Scales, Small Glowing Arrowhead, Small Gnawed Bone, Small Length of Infernal Chain, Small Sulfurous Stone and/or Small Twisted Shrapnel) together with a Shavarath Low Energy Cell to create a "Manufactured Ingredient".
 * Step #2 - Combine 3 "Manufactured Ingredients" (Inferior Focus of Fire/Air/Water/Earth/Positive/Negative Energy, Diluted Material/Ethereal Essence, and Cloudy Gem of Opposition/Dominion/Escalation) together with a Shavarath Low Energy Cell and a Shard of Power to create an Imbued Shard of Power
 * Step #3 - Combine Imbued Shard of Power with Shavarath Low Energy Cell and Green Steel Item to upgrade your Green Steel Item

The Shroud Phase 3- Altar of Subjugation
Altar of Subjugation - Raw Ingredients Recipes

Altar of Subjugation - Manufactured Ingredient Recipes


 * Step #1 - Combine Depleted Shavarath Medium Energy Cell with a random weapon, with a listed value of +6 to +10 to create a Shavarath Medium Energy Cell, as needed. WARNING: Item is consumed (destroyed) in this process!
 * Step #2 - Combine 4 "Medium Raw Ingredients" (Medium Devil Scales, Medium Glowing Arrowhead, Medium Gnawed Bone, Medium Length of Infernal Chain, Medium Sulfurous Stone and/or Medium Twisted Shrapnel) together with a Shavarath Medium Energy Cell to create a "Manufactured Ingredient".
 * Step #3 - Combine 3 "Manufactured Ingredients" (Focus of Fire/Air/Water/Earth/Positive/Negative Energy, Material/Ethereal Essence and Gem of Opposition/Dominion/Escalation) together with a Shavarath Medium Energy Cell and a Shard of Great Power to create an Imbued Shard of Great Power
 * Step #4 - Combine Imbued Shard of Great Power with Shavarath Medium Energy Cell and Green Steel Item to upgrade your Green Steel Item

The Shroud Phase 5 - Altar of Devastation
Altar of Devastation - Raw Ingredients Recipes

Altar of Devastation - Manufactured Ingredient Recipes


 * Step #1 - Combine Depleted Shavarath High Energy Cell with a random weapon, with a listed value of +8 to +10 to create a Shavarath High Energy Cell, as needed. WARNING: Item is consumed (destroyed) in this process!
 * Step #2 - Combine 4 "Large Raw Ingredients" (Large Devil Scales, Large Glowing Arrowhead, Large Gnawed Bone, Large Length of Infernal Chain, Large Sulfurous Stone and/or Large Twisted Shrapnel) together with a Shavarath High Energy Cell to create a "Manufactured Ingredient".
 * Step #3 - Combine 3 "Manufactured Ingredients" (Superior Focus of Fire/Air/Water/Earth/Positive/Negative Energy, Pure Material/Ethereal Essence and Flawless Gem of Opposition/Dominion/Escalation) together with a Shavarath High Energy Cell and a Shard of Supreme Power to create an Imbued Shard of Supreme Power
 * Step #4 - Combine Imbued Shard of Supreme Power with Shavarath High Energy Cell and Green Steel Item to upgrade your Green Steel Item
 * NOTE: It has been reported and confirmed that you can combine 2 differently Imbued Shards of Supreme Power to make a dual-affinity Shard of Supreme Power, and this can result in new "Additional Effects". It is believed that this can only be performed at the Altar of Devastation.

Shroud/Vale Crafting Helpers

 * Shroud Crafting Calculator by Zaodon
 * Shroud Loot Planner by Tihocan
 * DDO Crafting Planner - Very good
 * DDO Green Steel Crafting Planer by jjflanigan

Other Resources

 * Eldritch Rituals Cookbook thread by Cambo
 * The crafting spreadsheet by InkBlack
 * DDO crafting website by Storm Lords guild on Thelanis