Affixing Augments may seem very daunting but I shall do my best to communicate this knowledge in the simplest way possible. The goal of this guide is to educate people on how to affix augments and be able to make an educated decision on what augments best suit them. Keep in mind, there is A LOT of knowledge when it comes to Affixing, so take breaks while reading this if needed.
Affixing: The process of modifying, adding, or removing augments.
Augments: These are your "enchantments" or "modifiers." They help increase stats on weapons and units.
Augmentation Aids: These are success boosters to help increase the chances during affixing. They are easily obtainable by trading Ex-cubes at the Ex-Cube swap shop on the 2nd floor of the shopping plaza.
Augment Insurance (Max 4 Slots): A support item to prevent losing items upon failing an augment during affixing. Obtainable by swapping 10 Recycle-Badges for it at the Swap Shop.
Base: This is the foundation of everything, and the unit/weapon that the augments will be affixed onto. This whole build will end up here.
Fodder: Units or Weapons that contain augments to help affix your base.
Recycle Badge: Equivalent to 1 AC Scratch Item. Bought from player shop or can be obtained by swapping AC Scratch Items at the Swap Shop.
Same Item Boost: The success rate bonus when affixing augments where all the fodders and base are the same item (e.g.: using a Ray Katana as base, and 2 Ray Katanas as fodder).
Slots: How many AUGMENTS a unit or weapon contains.
Special Augment Factor (SAF): Once a weapon is at +35 (+10 for 13 star units), it will unlock its SAF. This allows people to affix the SAF onto the same weapon/unit or if the SAF unlocked weapon is being used as fodder, it will allow the 100% success of the augment that is from SAF.
Special S-Class Abilities (SSA): If you can put these bad boys on your weapon or unit, do it. They CANNOT fail during affixing; it is impossible. Weapon SSA classes are S1-5, and Unit SSAs are S6-8.
If the fodder does not have the same amount or more slots than the base it cannot be used. There can only be 1 Base, and 5 fodders when affixing, but you can make fodder for fodder, and fodder for fodder of fodder, etc.
Upslotting
While it may be easy at the lower slots, it can easily become hell at the higher slots (e.g. getting a Ray Weapon to 8s for 8s Astral Soul SAF). To upslot, get some junk fodder with stat 1s, e.g. Might I, Projectile Ward I, etc). Always select the 100% augments, and use augmentation aids 10%s for the 1-3s upslots, augmentation aids 30%s 4-5s, augmentaton aids 40%s for 6-8s. Empy Embrace, and all fevers are the same as stat Is and are always at 100% as well. If you can select a SSA as a choice during upslotting, select it, they cannot fail. When Upslotting, always use 2 or more fodders to max your chances.
Downslotting
To downslot, just select augments with very low chances of success during affixing and hope they fail. Keep repeating until you downslot enough. It's that simple.
Some augments are made by combining augments. The popular ones are the "Di Souls" (Acto Di Soul, Tir Di Soul, Magi Di Soul, Allies Di Soul), Mana Reverie (Made from 1x Omega Memoria and 4x Reverie Catalyst), Aether Factor (1x Aether Soul and 4x Factor Catalysts), etc. Augments can also be combined to form better versions of themselves such as, using (3x) Might IIIs to make Might IV. Knowing what augments combine to make better ones is key to choosing better augments and making a good recipe to go about affixing them.
Current Augments made by combining augments:
Acto Di Soul, Tir Di Soul, Magi Di Soul, Allies Di Soul: (1x) Any Field Boss Soul combined with (1x) Eastern Soul or Fullvegas Soul or Escarde Soul or Historia Soul, or Fabula Soul.
Soul Catalyst: Elder Soul, Luther Soul, Gemini Soul, Persona Soul, Apprentice Soul; all 5 of them combined for a 10% chance to make Soul Catalyst.
Factor Catalyst: Yamato Factor, Deus Factor, Mother Factor; all 3 of them combined for a 10% chance to make Factor Catalyst.
Reverie Catalyst: Elder Reverie, Luther Reverie, Gemini Reverie, Appregina Reverie, Persona Reverie; all 5 of them combined for a 10% chance to make Reverie Catalyst.
Aether Soul: Fullvegas Soul, Eastern Soul, and Escarde Soul; combine any 2 of these for a 10% chance to make Aether Soul.
Omega Memoria: Omega Reverie, Historia Soul, Fabula Soul; combine these 3 for a 10% chance to make Omega Memoria.
Astral Soul: Combine (4x) Soul Catalyst with (1x) Soul of Darkness for a 60% chance to make Astral Soul.
Aether Factor: Combine (4x) Factor Catalyst with (1x) Aether Soul for a 60% chance to make Aether Factor.
Mana Reverie: Combine (4x) Reverie Catalyst with (1x) Omega Memoria for a 60% to make Mana Reverie.
Arks MAX: Combine (2x for 40% or 3x for 60%) Arks Fever.
Generally using multiple copies of the same affix boosts the success rate of augments, such as using (2x) Might IIIs for an 80% for success instead of 60%. However, different augments might boost other augments, such as Mutation II boosts the chance of Might IV. There is also a special augment that can boost all augments by 5% if it is on the base named "Augment Guidance" (Currently known to be dropped from Dark Emperappy). One of the potentials from Zeinesis Weapons (Dropped from Maker of New Epochs) named Life's Guidance will increase chances of all augments by 10% if used as a base. Sometimes, there will be a campaign called "Enhancement/Affixing Week(s)" that will unconditionally boost all augments by 10% but it occurs rarely because SEGA needs money.
Important Success Boosters:
Mutation II to boost Might, Precision, Casting III and IV
Soul of Darkness to boost Veterans Resolve I, II, III, IV
Vol Soul or Gunne Soul to boost Might, Toughness and Stamina
Jigmol Soul or Quartz Soul to boost Might and Spirit
Fang Soul or Varder Soul to boost Precision
Nept Soul or Shraider boost Casting
Historia Soul or Fabula Soul to boost any Reverie (except for Mana Reverie)
Eastern Soul to boost Yamato Factor
Escarde Soul to boost Deus Factor
Fullvegas Soul to boost Mother Factor
Apprentice Soul or Gemini Soul to boost Modulator
Support Items can add some of the best augments in the game, boost your success rates and make sure your fodder does not get used if your augments fail while affixing. Theres items are the Add Affix Augment (Melee & PP), Augmentation Aids, and Augment Insurance.
Some augments in the game share the same slot and therefore cannot be together.
List of augments that share the same slot:
Modulator, Vinculum and Arks MAX cannot be together
Stigma, Flict, and Alter cannot be together
Factor Catalyst, Reverie Catalyst, and Soul Catalyst cannot be together
Receptors allow the transfer of certain augments. However, Receptors themselves cannot be transferred or synthesized.
Current Receptors and how to obtain them:
Soul Receptor (Obtained by getting the SAF from certain Unique Weapon Badge Weapons such as Yamigarasu, Avenger, etc. Not available on Units currently): Allows the transfer of Astral Soul at 10% chance.
Mark Receptor (Also known as Mark Succesion [Support Item Name]. Obtained by scratching 30 times in the Road to EP6 Support Scratch.): Allows the transfer of Mark Augments at 100% chance. Currently useless for Units.
These passes are obtanined by exchanging Class Ex-Cubes. Found at the Swap Shop NPC under Franca's Cafe in the Shopping Plaza, it is in the "Limited Class Ex-Cube Swap Shop." It is swapped at a ratio of 2 Class Ex-Cubes for 1 Transfer Pass. These passes allow for the guranteed transfer of augments with certain conditions.
1. The base (the unit/weapon that the augments will be transfered on to) must have the equal amount or more slots than the material (the unit/weapon that the augments will be transfered from)
2. You cannot transfer augments from a weapon to a unit and vice versa.
Everyone is limited to swap for 10 Augment Tranfer Passes PER category PER month, and the categories are as follows:
First Category: Hunter, Ranger and Force
Second Category: Fighter, Gunner and Techter
Third Category: Braver, Bouncer and Summoner
Fourth Category: Hero, Phantom, Etoile
Augment Transfer Passes can also be used to upslot unit/weapons with a support item. However, the BASE must have 1 more slot than the material for it to work. An example of using Augment Transfer Passes can be, having a 1 slot Might I unit, and transferring it and upslotting at the same time onto a 2 slot unit by using a Augment (Melee & PP/3).
Week(s) long campaign where SEGA is feeling nice and gives everyone unconditional 10% success rate boost to all augments. It usually comes with a Support Scratch with some fantastic Support Items people do not want to miss out on. Examples of this are the Road to Ep5 and Road to Ep6 campaigns which had 1 week and 2 week long Affixing Campaigns respectively.