The cost structure is simple and brutal: EXP and Mora are consumed in lockstep at a 1:1 ratio. Every point of EXP you feed in also drains a point of Mora. That is why maxing one artifact often empties half your wallet.
| Milestone | Cumulative EXP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| +4 | 3,300 | A 3-substat artifact reveals its 4th substat here |
| +8 | 11,425 | Second substat upgrade, decide whether to continue |
| +12 | 34,625 | Mid-game decision point (3-star cap) |
| +16 | 100,675 | 4-star cap |
| +20 | 270,475 | 5-star max; the last stretch alone is 169,800 |
Seen from another angle: going from +16 to +20 costs 169,800 EXP, nearly 70 percent more than everything from +0 to +16 combined (100,675). That is why spreading your team to +16 first usually beats forcing one piece to +20.
| Material | EXP provided |
|---|---|
| 1-star artifact | 420 |
| 2-star artifact | 840 |
| 3-star artifact | 1,260 |
| 4-star artifact | 2,520 |
| 5-star artifact | 3,780 |
| Sanctifying Unction | 2,500 |
| Sanctifying Essence | 10,000 |
By that math, maxing a 5-star artifact takes roughly 72 unleveled 5-star pieces, or a mix of 5-star fodder and lower-tier artifacts. Low-star artifacts give little individually, but they are plentiful, so in practice they carry most of the load.
Every enhancement click can roll an EXP multiplier: 1x with 90% chance, 2x with 9%, 5x with 1%, for a long-run average near 1.13x, with no extra Mora.
The side effect is overflow waste. Any EXP beyond the current level cap simply evaporates. Feed a +16 piece into a fresh artifact and trigger 5x, and everything past +20 is lost. So enhance in chunks:
A leveled artifact consumed as fodder returns: base EXP + 80% of invested EXP. A 5-star at +16 (100,675 invested) therefore returns 3,780 + 80,560, about 84,340 EXP, losing only around 20 percent.
The Mora rule matters just as much: enhancement charges Mora only on the base value, and the returned 80 percent is not charged again. Recycling a leveled artifact into a new one is thus cheaper in Mora than feeding many loose low-star pieces. That makes a failed investment far less punishing than it feels.
| Source | EXP available | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Artifact domain (20 Resin) | About 14,767 average | Resin; about 19 runs (or 7 Condensed) per maxed artifact |
| Trounce Domain (60 Resin, 6 per week) | About 17,098 average | Resin; about 380 EXP per Resin |
| Daily investigation spots | About 60,000 per day | No Resin; equals 4 domain runs, saving about 80 Resin |
| NPC shops (40x 2-star weekly) | 33,600 | 80,000 Mora (2,000 each) |
| Realm Depot (weekly) | About 100,000 | 5,400 Realm Currency (5 Essence + 20 Unction) |
The best return comes from clearing investigation spots daily: no Resin at all, yet about 60,000 artifact EXP per day, the equivalent of four free domain runs. Over months, that habit outperforms simply farming a few extra domains.
The Realm Depot requires Trust Rank 8 to unlock enhancement materials. The weekly Realm Currency cap is 5,040, so buy the Transient Resin first (1,200) and spend the rest on Unction and Essence.
Unleveled 1-star to 4-star artifacts can be destroyed for Mora: 420 / 840 / 1,260 / 2,520 respectively, up to 100 items at once. Two caveats:
Artifact leveling comes down to chunking and filtering. Remember three numbers: 270,475 total EXP, 169,800 in the final stretch, and an 80 percent recycle return. Gather EXP from daily investigation spots, only invest in double-crit pieces, and you will stay far ahead of players who simply grind domains.
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