I have watched a lot of people ignore alchemy for years and then wonder why they lose duels and melt slower on farm maps than everyone else. A finished set is one of the biggest raw power jumps in the game, so let me break the whole system down properly.
How the alchemy system starts
Dragon Stone Alchemy unlocks at level 30 with the quest "Arrival of the Dragon Stone Shards". Once you have it, monsters and metin stones start dropping Dragon Stone Shards. The Alchemist NPC asks you to bring 10 shards and hands you one Cor Draconis (Rough) in exchange. You can do this exchange up to five times per day, and the quest resets at 4:00 AM, per the official Metin2 wiki. Opening a Cor Draconis gives you random rough dragon stones, which is the raw material for everything that follows.
From level 110 there is a second, rarer heart called Cor Daemonis, which opens up an additional shard route for high level characters. If you are still leveling, do not worry about that yet. Just get your five daily exchanges done.
The seven stone types
There are seven types of dragon stones, and each covers a different stat family:
- Diamond - INT, skill damage, magic attack, ice resistance. The caster stone.
- Ruby - STR, attack value, average damage, fire resistance. The bread and butter for melee damage.
- Jade - Max SP, HP regeneration, wind resistance.
- Sapphire - DEX, earth resistance, plus some PvP oriented bonuses.
- Garnet - Max HP (this is the big one, high grades give thousands of HP), SP bonuses, lightning resistance.
- Onyx - VIT, dark resistance, critical and pierce resistance, defensive utility.
- Amethyst - devil resistance and precision type bonuses.
The three upgrade dimensions
This is where most confusion comes from. Every dragon stone can be improved in three separate ways, and they multiply together:
- Class: Rough, Cut, Rare, Antique, Legendary, Mythic. Higher class means more bonus lines on the stone, up to five. Mythic is the top tier, added with version 19.0 in early 2019.
- Clarity: Matt, Clear, Flawless, Brilliant, Excellent. Same class, stronger effect per line.
- Level: +0 up to +6, pushed with Dragon Beans. Important detail: the level cap depends on clarity. Up to Flawless you can only go +4, Brilliant allows +5, and only Excellent stones can reach +6.
How refining works at the Alchemist
Talk to the Alchemist and pick Dragon Stone Refinement. Class and clarity upgrades work by combining stones of the same tier: you put the required identical stones into the slots and hit refine. Success is not guaranteed. The saving grace is that when refinement fails you still keep one stone of the same class, so you lose material but you are not sent back to zero. Level upgrades use Dragon Beans instead of duplicate stones. A more detailed walkthrough of the whole flow is in this Dragon Stone Alchemy guide.
One more mechanic people forget: dragon stones have a 24 hour duration, but the timer only runs while the stone is actually activated. Deactivate your deck when you go AFK or log off in town and your stones last far longer in real time.
Practical farming and upgrade advice
Here is what actually works, based on my own grind and what consistently comes up in community guides like the one on CoinLooting:
- Do the five shard exchanges every single day. Alchemy rewards consistency, not weekend binges. Fifty shards a day adds up fast while a random burst of farming does not.
- Farm shards where you already grind anyway. Metin stones on your level appropriate map plus your daily runs cover most of it without dedicated shard sessions.
- Do not upgrade everything you open. Rough stones with bad bonus lines are fusion food, nothing more. Pick stones whose lines actually fit your class: Ruby and Garnet are safe value for almost every body build, Diamond for mental and casters, Onyx and Sapphire when you start caring about PvP.
- Build one complete working deck before you chase perfection. Six decent Antique stones with a set effect beat two Legendary stones sitting next to empty slots.
- Save the Mythic dream for later. The material cost explodes at the top end, and mid game characters get far more out of spreading resources across a full set.
- Buy smart. On most servers, half finished stones from players who quit alchemy are cheaper than the materials to make them yourself. Check the market before you burn duplicates.
At what level should I start alchemy?
Level 30, the moment the quest unlocks. Even if the early bonuses look small, the daily shard exchanges are time gated, so every day you skip is progress you can never get back.
What happens when a refinement fails?
You lose the extra material stones but keep one stone of the same class, so a failure sets you back resources, not your whole progress. Budget for failures instead of raging at them.
Why can I not get my stone past +4?
Level caps are tied to clarity. Flawless and below stop at +4, Brilliant at +5, and only Excellent clarity stones can reach +6. Upgrade clarity first, then push the level.
Which stone should I upgrade first?
For most melee characters, Ruby for damage and Garnet for the huge HP pool. Casters swap Ruby priority for Diamond. Whatever you pick, finish a full deck for the set effect before over-investing in a single stone.
That is the system from shard to set. If you have your own farming routes, refine luck stories, or you are stuck on some part of the upgrade chain, post below. I read everything and I am happy to help figure out what your next upgrade should be.