Arcforge Guide for MapleStory Classic World: Chrishrama, Gems, Scrolls and Every Recipe

Arcforge is taught by Chrishrama in Sleepywood. It refines gem ores into gems, crafts Lesser scrolls and makes Magician wands and staves. The launch game data has 47 recipes, 39 craftable at launch. Its money recipe at NPC prices is Black Crystal; its real value is scrolls, which have no NPC price at all and sell to players.

This page goes deep on Arcforge alone. For how all six professions compare, the shared EXP tables and the weekly quest rules, see the crafting professions guide. For where the raw drops come from, see where to get crafting materials.

Who teaches Arcforge and how to unlock it

Nexon's Grand Launch notes name Chrishrama as the Arcforge master, and the launch game data places the NPC in Sleepywood. Talk to Chrishrama from character level 10. The profession runs on three quests from the same NPC:

The weekly helper quest pays an Arcforging Kit; its item description says it raises arcforging skill EXP by 10% for 15 minutes. The mastery reward, the Scroll Crafting Catalyst, gives a chance to turn a scroll craft into an Intermediate, Greater or Chaos scroll of the same category (item description). Don't plan around the helper quest every week: the six profession helper quests share one weekly rotation and the game picks one of the six for you each week, so Chrishrama's comes up only some weeks.

Chrishrama is the only profession master outside the four job towns, so Arcforge opens once you can reach Sleepywood.

How many Arcforge recipes are there?

The launch game files hold 47 Arcforge recipes: 24 consumables, 10 equipment, 10 materials, 3 other. 39 of them sit at crafting Lv. 1 to 8; the other 8 are Lv. 9 and 10 recipes, and community data reports those aren't craftable yet because crafting stops at Lv. 8 at launch. For the record, they are Gloves Accuracy and Gloves Crit. Rate Scroll: Lesser (Lv. 9), the Cape STR, DEX, INT and LUK Scroll: Lesser (Lv. 10), Arc Staff (Lv. 9) and Cromi (Lv. 10). Older community lists show a different count, so trust the in-game window if they disagree.

Every Arcforge recipe you can craft at launch (Lv. 1 to 8)

Fee is what the NPC charges per craft. "Sells for" is the NPC sell price of the result from the game data, so you can see what you get back if you vendor it. Equipment recipes give 20 crafting EXP per recipe level.

Leveling Arcforge

Two rules decide your pace. First, crafting Lv. 1 opens at character Lv. 10 and every level after that needs character level = 5 × crafting level (Lv. 4 needs 20, Lv. 8 needs 40). Second, once your bar hits 100% at the cap, extra EXP is thrown away until you level your character and do one more craft. Don't burn materials at 100%.

The table below picks, for each crafting level, the recipe that costs the least per EXP point (recipes that upgrade an existing item are left out). "Net" is our math from the game data at full cost: the NPC sell price of the result, minus the fee, minus every crafted input at what it really cost to make (its own fee plus the raw drops at NPC sell price). An ingot, a screw or a sheet of Processed Leather isn't worth just its tiny NPC sell price, because you paid a fee and raw materials for it. Full-cost values used: Bronze or Iron Ingot 200, Mithril Ingot 400, Screw 40 each, Processed Wood 150, Processed Leather 150, Processed Cloth 150, Spool of Thread 11 each, Garnet or Aquamarine 240, Emerald or Topaz 480.

Two caveats. The net figures count farmed raw drops at their NPC value and assume you make every intermediate yourself, which means other professions (Smithing for ingots, Weaponcrafting for Screws, Leatherworking for Processed Leather, Tailoring for cloth and thread, Woodcrafting for Processed Wood, Arcforge for gems); if you buy inputs from players, your real cost is different. And player prices for crafted gear and rare materials often run far above NPC prices, so "sells for" is a floor, not what the item is worth.

Notable Arcforge recipes

• Gems from ore. One gem ore plus a fee makes one gem: Garnet and Aquamarine at Lv. 1, up to Diamond and Black Crystal at Lv. 6. Every other profession uses gems for its coloured variants.
• Black Crystal is the money recipe. 1 Black Crystal Ore and a 1,200-meso fee make a Black Crystal that sells to NPCs for 2,500. On our math that's +800 per craft against vendoring the ore (no crafted intermediates involved, so the figure holds at full cost), and a community calculator lists the same +800. The catch is getting the ore: the game data has no drop source for it, and the only source Nexon names is the random Magic Box reward from GM events (10 Black Crystal Ore is one of its possible results). It's the only Arcforge recipe that beats NPC prices.
• Lesser scrolls. Arcforge is the only profession that makes scrolls: 24 Lesser scrolls in the files, from Lv. 2 (Hat Accuracy, HP and MP) up to Lv. 10 (Cape stat scrolls). With the launch cap at Lv. 8, the Earring STR, DEX, INT and LUK scrolls are the top ones you can make for now. Each takes 1 Processed Parchment, 10 Fragment of Magic and 3 gems, and the fee is 10,000 or 20,000 mesos. The game data lists Lesser scrolls at 100% success. Scrolls have no NPC sell price in the data, so they're worth only what players pay. Know your floor before you sell: at full cost (Processed Parchment 230 = 3 Leather + 200 fee, Fragment of Magic at 10 each, gems at ore plus fee) a 10,000-fee scroll costs you about 11,050 to 14,650 depending on the gem, and an Earring stat scroll (20,000 fee, 3 Black Crystals) about 25,430.
• Magician weapons, cheaper than Flora. Flora the Fairy in Ellinia's weapon store reportedly sells Metal Wand for 10,500 and Ice Wand for 13,500 (community-reported; shop prices aren't in the game data); the Arcforge fees are 3,500 and 4,500. With the ingots and Screws counted at what they cost to make, Metal Wand comes to about 5,350 and Ice Wand about 7,500 (counting its Piece of Ice at the 400-meso NPC price), still well under the shop price if you run Smithing and Weaponcrafting (or buy the Screws). Ice Wand needs a Piece of Ice and Fairy Wand a Fairy Wing, both random rewards from the repeatable Arwen and the Glass Shoe quest (Lv. 29).
• Odd EXP on scrolls. Scroll recipes don't follow the 20-EXP-per-level equipment rule: the Lv. 3 Topwear scrolls give 30 EXP, less than the Lv. 2 Hat scrolls' 40.

Materials Arcforge eats

Gem ores for every gem, Leather for Processed Parchment (3 per parchment), Fragment of Magic for every scroll, and Silver or Mithril Ingots plus Screws for the staves and wands. Drop tables aren't in the game data, but Chrishrama's own helper quest tells you to defeat Green Mushrooms to gather Fragment of Magic; Octopus is a community-reported second farm (see where to get crafting materials).