In Enchantment, the research system underwent a major overhaul with the patch on Wednesday, July 22. Research up to level 2 for Unique grade items now consumes Nine instead of Research Stones, and new Rare grade research options that exclusively use Nine have been added. Let's take a look at how this system works and when you should start using it.

Research is a primary way to spend Nine in Enchantment. Like traits, it is a system where you can gain higher stats based on probability. Because it is designed to require more Nine for higher stats, it is important to carefully judge how far you should progress your research.

Each item can be researched up to level 5. Reaching the maximum level allows you to 'forge' the item, which, if successful, grants you that item. Separately, each level reached provides stat bonuses, so you should prioritize research based on the stats provided rather than just whether you need the item itself.

To increase your research level, you must reach 10 points of research progress. When you perform research, you have a chance to fail or gain between +1 and +5 progress; any progress exceeding 10 carries over to the next level. Note that the failure rate varies by grade: 9.89% for Unique, 19.89% for Epic, and 29.89% for Legend.

While it depends on your current stat bracket and the market price of Nine Cores, it is worth pursuing Unique level 1 research once you have maxed out your traits and learned all necessary Epic Skills. Raising six weapons to level 1 grants +2 weapon damage each, for a total of +12 weapon damage upon completing Unique level 1 research.

Since each research attempt increases progress by 0–5 points based on probability, the expected value isn't immediately intuitive, so I calculated it. On average, it takes about 8.892 attempts to raise one Unique weapon to level 1. In terms of Nine, this is about 4.54 million, and completing all six will cost an average of 27.2 million Nine.

At level 2, the Nine requirement triples compared to level 1, costing an average of 13.6 million Nine per weapon. Please consider this only after you have finished all Unique grade research up to level 1.

The expected cost for Rare grade research is 13.07 million Nine for level 4 and 17.61 million Nine for level 5. Since you only gain +2 weapon damage at level 5, it is not very cost-effective; I recommend considering this only after you have completed all Unique grade research up to level 2.

Additionally, since the recent patch prevents the use of Research Stones for Unique grade or lower research, you should be cautious when purchasing Research Stones or bundles containing them to avoid ending up with items you cannot use.