PSO2 Affixing Guide 2020

When I first wrote PSO2 affixing guides, Dudu was the unbeatable final boss of PSO2. That was more than 5 years ago. Today, he’s a lot nicer. While old affixing methods still apply, a lot of shortcuts have been added. This guide is still Affixing 101 for PSO2 JP, and will cover accessible, safe and easily replicated affixing methods in four main steps.

Why Affix in PSO2?

Affixing improves the stats of endgame items. It can costly and doesn’t make as much of an impact as upgrading gear. Offensively, If an item isn’t the highest rarity, it doesn’t make much sense to affix it. Switching the weapon for a better one will make a bigger impact. So if you’re below level 65, save your Excubes. Get out of here and go have fun! In the endgame, a few % more damage does help with causing boss staggers or wave clears at critical windows, so it can shave quite a bit of time off a run.

Defensively, affixing has a bigger impact because HP boosts are typically hard to come by normally. In PSO2’s higher difficulties, there are some challenges that will throw out a lot of damage. It’s easy to get one-shotted or juggled to death. Some classes also need to take damage in order to do damage, because their strongest attacks have long charge times or animations. Dodging halfway to avoid dying wastes the charge and PP for 0 damage.

Most of the time, trying to run difficult content with default affixes on gear just doesn’t cut it. Default gear usually comes with 60 Attack or 60 HP when people are running with triple digits on their items.

Sometimes too, the goal is to hit a certain stat threshold for some class skills. Hero’s Hero Boost can be more sustainable with more HP, while Phantom’s Photon Stream gets better with more PP.

Units and Weapons are Different

Weapons tend to change often because a lot of the time, a new weapon might come with a game-changing feature, much higher stats and so on. In addition, there’s more affixing shortcuts available to weapons. PSO2 tends to rain weapons too, so there’s a lot of material to work with for weapons.

On the other hand, Units tend to last longer before they get power-creeped. Between Episodes, Attack stats on Weapons can change by hundreds, meanwhile defensive stats barely move double digits. In addition, affixes on units are also more expensive, though HP and PP affixes tend to be cheaper.

Personally, I like to cover HP and PP needs with Units, then get as much Attack as I can after, so that weapons can be more flexible with affixes. That said, goals and methods can vary from player to player, so exercise personal discretion. After deciding on goals comes the four-step process to get there.

My personal benchmark in 2020 is around 1500 HP, which is enough to tank a few hits in familiar endgame content. For days when I’m not feeling 100%, I can use a Guts Drink to get a healthy buffer of >2200 HP. This also applies to unfamiliar content, running quests at 2am in the morning and other situations where taking lots of damage is likely.

Step 1: Load up S-Class Special Abilities (SSAs)

SSAs are special affixes that usually have a bigger impact than normal affixes. Most items that are worth affixing will support SSAs, so take advantage of that.

SSAs can be added using a special system that swaps them freely. The second tab of an item will show what SSAs it can accept. Weapons have some combination of S1 to S5. Units depending on slot will use S6 to S8.

Affix SSAs with S-Class ability transfer. Select the target item, then the item with a desired SSA. Highlight the SSA and press OK. Done.

Another method is by using an SSA Add item, in which case, add it in Step 2.

Once applied, SSAs will always transfer at 100% without needing any special items or considerations. 100% is good because the non-SSA stuff is a complete mess of complex recipes with failure chances and arbitrary rules. Even without the exact SSA for the final affix, use a placeholder since it can easily be replaced later.

Bonus Step: SSA Dispensers

SSAs tend to be very seasonal. When dumpster diving for placeholders, it’s not a big problem. Any defensive or PP-related SSA that drops in a current Emergency Quest is going to be dirt cheap. Damage-related SSAs on the other hand are going to be hit and miss. If it comes from a trending quest, it’ll be affordable, otherwise they tend to shoot up into the millions. To protect yourself from price fluctuations, invest in SSA dispensers.

When fully grinded to +35 for weapons or +10 for 13⭐ units, these items unlock their Special Ability Factors (SAFs). This means the item can spawn an affix at 100% without needing any recipes. An SAF is denoted by a special blue icon next to the affix, shown below:

If an item’s Special Ability Factor happens to be an SSA, it can spawn that SSA to transfer out to another item, then spawn a new one indefinitely. For instance, there’s the classic Atlas Ars, which has S4: Vampiric Strike as it’s SAF. A single Atlas Ars +35 can be used to make an arsenal of lifesteal weapons. This is very helpful in making sure any new weapon has a solid baseline of SSAs regardless of market supply.

Step 2: Upslotting

After loading as many SSAs as possible onto the item, it needs to be taken to a decent amount of slots to work with. On a normal day, it is possible to take any item up to 5 slots with no chance of failure.

This process usually involves buying a 30% Booster or 40% Booster from the Excube shop. With boosters in hand, select the target item and 2 more items with a bunch of cheap, easy to transfer affixes (aka Junk). When choosing affixes, choose then SSAs first, then load as many 100%s as the game allows and climb up the slot counts.

After adding the very last affix, the success rate drops. To mitigate that, use boosters and simple math. If the chance of success is 70% or better, use a 30% booster. Alternatively, if it’s worse than 70%, use a 40% booster. To get more Excubes easily for buying boosters, run Solo Profound Darkness XH.

For weapons. Given how easy Excubes are to get nowadays, if an item is worth affixing then throw Excubes at Monica until she passes 6 slots, or during boost weeks, 7 to 8 on the item.

For units. Even if Dudu passes 6 slots, the cost of affixes in the player shop becomes prohibitive. To keep costs low, stop at 5 or even 4 and use other ways to get additional affixes.

Here’s a list of cheap, easy to pass junk affixes to use while upslotting:

• Body I
• React I
• Mind I
• Power I
• Shoot I
• Technique I
• Arm I
• Any Fever
• Any single damage type Resist I

Special callout on Fever affixes. There’s an affix called Arks Fever that gives 5PP and is easy to transfer. If that sounds good, add it here.

Caveats. Try to use exactly 2 fodders when upslotting. When only one fodder is used, the success chance is lower. When more than 2 fodders are used, the cost ramps up quickly.

Step 3: Basic Affix Plan

To demonstrate how affixing works, I’ll start with a budget affixing plan for a Novel Striking weapon from exchange shops. Assume it’s been loaded with an S4, upslotted to 6 slots and it’s not a boost week. Skip this step if budget is no issue.

The idea is to create a plan to change all the non-SSA junk into relevant affixes. These affixes can be planned a simple Excel sheet to keep track of what’s needed, or an affixing simulator link.

Add the Item’s SAF

Grind the item up first to unlock it’s Special Ability Factor. Most weapons will come with SAFs that make it possible to cut a few fodders out. Like, why put Power III on a weapon when it’s SAF can spawn Power VI during the affixing attempt? So anything related to Power III can go.

To keep this guide simple, I’m showing a one-size-fits-all plan, but if the final weapon has a good SAF, skip the corresponding part. Usually, it’s either the Attack III or one of the complex affixes.

Add a Soul

Start with a Soul affix. Soul affixes are literally affixes with “Soul” at the end. They’re usually associated with boss drops. These affixes are simple to add and give a combination of stats that are quite high for the ease in adding them. They also increase the success rates of other affixes.

I’ll use Act the Soul, since it gives a nice amount of Attack and PP for a Striking weapon. The recipe for Act the Soul is:

“New” boss Soul from Episode 4 or 6 (Escarde) + “Old” boss Soul from Episode 1 to 3 (Vol).

For the “New” Souls, in place of Escarde Soul, other souls like Toh’oh Soul, Full Vegas Soul, Historia Soul, Fabula Soul can also be used.

The “Old” Souls also boost related stats. For instance, Vol Soul boosts Power and Stamina. For other stats, see the table below for the stats each boss soul boosts.

Other Soul Transfer Methods

Besides the XX the Soul method, there’s also options for affixing a normal Soul. These methods are normally used for preparing fodders. One method is to use 3 copies to pass them at 80%.

Another is to use a copy of the desired Soul with a Soul Receptor. Since it’s 100%, this is normally used while upslotting.

Add a Complex Affix

The Soul is the lowest-hanging fruit. After that, adding nice affixes starts to get complicated. They usually require 3 copies or more to have a good success rate, and may need something else to improve success rates further.

For this example, since I’m already using Escarde Soul from Episode 4’s final boss, Deus ESC-A, I can also use 3 copies of Deus Factor the same boss for a decent 20 Attack with HP and PP on the side. His solo quest trigger is easily available, so players run him quite often and sell his affixes cheaply.

Escarde Soul also boosts the success chance of Deus Factor further and it’s fairly common to see items dropping with both Escarde Soul and Deus Factor.

So that adds a couple more things to buy from player shops and takes this plan to 4 fodders.

From season to season, what’s readily available and affordable can vary greatly. In addition, stat needs can change between different characters. Deus Factor here can be replaced with any other complex affix that needs 3 copies or less to have a decent chance of success. If Dark Falz Persona is running, this can be Persona Reverie with Fabula or Historia Soul. The appendix below has a list of alternative affixes for different stat needs, budgets and seasons.

Add Stat IIIs

Stat IIIs are stat affixes that end with a “III”, like Power III, Stamina III, Spirita III and so on. The bonuses they give are low for Episode 6, but for filling in blanks they’ll suffice. On the bright side, they’re very common and demand is low so they’re cheap and can usually be found on items with other desired affixes.

They’re also easy to add because using them with a compatible Soul boosts their success chances. Here, Vol Soul from Vol Dragon is a Striking-focused Soul, so it boosts the success chance of Power III and Stamina III. In this example, I can add Power III by looking for a Deus Factor item with Power III, and it’s success chance will be boosted by Vol Soul on another item.

(Optional) Add Another Complex Affix

I’m going to plan for another complex affix, Varuna Glare. Outside a boost week, it needs one Varuna Glare and one Divine Order for a 60% chance of success. I only have one fodder left, but need to cram two things into the plan, so the base item will need some prep.

Here, I decide to move a Varuna Glare to the base first, using 2x Varuna Glare and a Divine Will for 70%.

Then I add Divine Order to the original plan.

(Optional) Add Fevers

Suppose this is a weapon with an upgrade path, like Novel which can eventually be upgraded to Liberate and gain an S5 slot. When this weapon is upgraded, one affix will need to be replaced.

I suggest using a Fever as a placeholder since it’s easy to add it while upslotting. The older Fevers are very attractive options here, because no one bothers with 10 Attack affixes nowadays. When the weapon is upgraded, replace the Fever using SSA Transfer.

Counting the SSAs added back in Step 1, this is now a complete plan for a 6 slot weapon. The most risky affixes have a 60% chance of success, so a 40% is needed to make it failsafe.

Step 4 (Weapons): Mass SAFs

Going all out for a weapon is typically about collecting a bunch of +35 weapons to unlock their Special Ability Factor (SAF), then loading them onto the main weapon. As long as a weapon added as one of the fodders is grinded to +35, it will always spawn it’s SAF at 100%, no recipes needed.

Of course, if said +35 weapon is a fodder during normal affixing instead of SSA Transfer or Ability Transfer, the +35 weapon is consumed in the process, so focus on weapons that won’t be missed much. These are typically outdated weapons that can easily be bought in badge exchange shops or player shops.

Common SAF Fodders

Here’s some common candidates that are easy to get and have a good SAF when grinded to +35. Some of these can even be bought from player shops at 8 slots so they don’t need to be upslotted.

• Ray weapons. Can be bought with SP badges. Unlocks Astral Soul.
• Detonation weapons. Bought with SP badges. Unlocks Modulator.
• Dim weapons. Commonly sold in Player Shops. Unlocks Power, Shoot or Technique VI.
• Phobos or Gix weapons. Drops from a few Emergency Quests and the Deus solo trigger. Unlocks Sentence.
• Schvelle weapons. Seasonally drops from some quests. Unlocks Sentence.
• Homura weapons. Another SP badge weapon. Unlocks Phrase Weak for Bouncers and Techers.
• Basilis weapons. Sold in player shops. Unlocks Phrase Decay for Phantoms.
• Profound weapons. Sold in player shops. Unlocks Reverie Catalyst at 100%.

In this example, I affix a Liberate Sword +35 and use 3 other weapons’ SAFs to add a bunch of ATK and PP at 7 slots, and throw in a Deus Factor for good measure. Since Deus drops Phobos weapons, it’s possible the Phobos weapon already has a Deus Factor. If not, it’s easy to add one affix to a weapon. Because I’m cheap and am not affixing Power III here, I can replace the usual Vol Soul with a Shrayda Soul, since the giant tortoise appears quite often in Emergency Quests.

This plan demonstrates how to mix normal affixing with SAFs. It’s certainly possible to use another 2 more SAFs if budget allows. On the opposite side of budgets, it’s also possible to cut SAFs and add some cheaper affixes like Power III.

Step 4 (Units): Ability Transfer and Add Special Ability

Units only support one SSA and don’t have that many SAFs, so they’re still a pain to affix. That said, there’s Ability Transfer and Add Special Ability to help make things somewhat less painful.

Ability Transfer is different from normal affixing. It transfers all non-SSA affixes from Item A to Item B at 100%, even typically non-transferrable ones like Grace or Grand affixes. It also gives an option to use an Add Special Ability item while transferring.

The only catch is it costs Ability Transfer Tickets which the game drips out somewhat slowly. To get these tickets, make sure to have 80 class cubes across 4 classes ready every month for the Recycle Shop. It really is a drip.

The Plan: Use a Low Slot SAF Dispenser

Onto the plan proper. I personally feel that the best balance between good stats and as little frustration as possible is to use an SAF dispenser unit. So start off with a 13⭐ unit that has a good SAF – this will not be the final unit, but it will house the final affixes.

As for the final unit, if the goal is 6 slots, the SAF dispenser only needs to have 4 slots. One slot is taken by the SSA. Another will be taken by an Add Special Ability item. That means only 4 things to transfer.

I’ll go with a Schvelle Kibbs to unlock Sentence Power for a mix of stats, but it can be a Liberate Unit for Attack VI, a Nova for Stamina VI and so on.

Once again I’ll rely on Good Guy Deus for the foundation. Escarde Soul, Deus Factor and so on. For units, I’ll go with Ares the Soul since it has good HP.

I’ll put Alter Arma on it. It’s available in the Photon Sphere shop for 10 Photon Spheres. Pair it with an Extreceptor from player shops to get 100%.

So this gives a Soul and 3 fairly nice affixes using freshly-bought player shop items. The only preparation needed is putting a Soul on the base.

The Ability Transfer

Suppose the final unit is an Atlas Sumer. Load an SSA and five junk affixes beforehand. Four are for the unit that was just affixed, the last junk affix will be replaced by an Add Special Ability. Use Ability Transfer and when prompted, use the Add Special Ability, for instance HP/PP 3 for Grace Power.

Making a 6 slot item costs 25 Ability Transfer tickets, so a set of three units costs 75 tickets. To get the needed tickets takes 2 months of recycling class Excubes. I hope this set lasts at least a year!

This gives a balanced 6-slot unit with 135 Attack, 85 HP and 13 PP using some fairly common materials and relatively few steps. For higher ATK, use different affixes. For instance, use a Liberate unit for it’s Attack VI SAF, or switch the Factor out for a Reverie. After using Affix Transfer, the Schvelle unit’s affixes are wiped, but the unit isn’t consumed, so it can be re-affixed again as an SAF dispenser for the other 2 units.

This plan can also be expanded with Add Special Ability (Mark) and Add Special Ability (Attack VI). When adding Grace, transfer to a dummy unit with 5 slots like Solid Barrier, instead of the final unit. After that, transfer from the unit to another unit with 6 slots and add Mark. Finally, transfer to the final unit and add Attack VI.

Unfortunately, this method only works with single attack sets for now. There’s no unit with an SAF like Sentence Triple or Persona Reverie for triple attack sets, though this may change in future.

And that’s it! Four steps to shiny new affixes.

Appendix: PSO2 Affixing Recipes

I’ve covered affixing SSAs, Souls, Stat IIIs, Fevers and Junk, which are the easy affixes. For complex affixes, I used Escarde Soul and three Deus Factors as an example for practically the entire guide, but that basic formula can be applied to many other affixes.

Going down the Attack numbers, I’ll cover what to look out for or might be outdated.

45 Attack and Above: Whale Items

These affixes have 45 Attack and above. They’re usually either very convoluted or need rare and expensive items.

35 to 40 Attack: Reveries, Marks, Stat Boosts IV to V

At the 35 to 40 range, the options are typically affixes that need 3 copies of something, with something else to boost chances. The Reveries are the most accessible because they’re raid boss drops.

An interesting one is Attack V from Novel units’ SAF. There’s too many 2020 badges being handed out, so it might be worth cashing in 300 of them for a Novel unit fodder.

30 Attack: Glare, Modulator, Older Affixes

At the 30 Attack range, the options besides Stat IIIs are also typically affixes that need 3 copies of something, with something else to boost chances. Of these options, older affixes such as Returner and Crack don’t feel very worthwhile in the age of SSAs, Glares and Add Marks.

Glares drop from Episode 6 content so they’re quite affordable. They only need 2 copies instead of the usual 3, though there’s no Divine Will for units yet. They’re almost as good as Ether Factor, but much easier to affix. Definitely worth considering for weapons, and even units during boost weeks.

20 to 25 Attack: Sentence, Flict, Alter and Factors

In the 20 to 25 Attack range, affixes start to become less about Attack and more about the additional stats on the side. For HP or PP builds, there’s quite a few affixes here that give a healthy amount of those, and also 20-ish Attack on the side.

The most accessible ones are Factors, Flicts and Alters. Sentence is kind of okay depending on whether the SAF is cheap. I personally avoid the Attack-only affixes in this tier like Vinculum. They’re typically older affixes with unreasonably complex recipes for low reward, and have been replaced by newer ones with more ATK and other stats, like Doom Break III, Marks and Reveries further up this list.

15 Attack and Below: Baby Affixes

At 15 Attack and below, most affixes are baby versions of higher affixes, like Crack IV, Ability III, Doom Break I. In 2020’s PSO2, they usually need to be evolved into their higher versions before they’re worth the slot. There might be a lucrative market for upgrading some of these, check the player shops and see. As for putting them on an item for actual use, only the very cheapest ones are worth it, for very limited budgets.

I’ll skip the lower version affixes and cover only the unique ones in this range. Ability III has a bunch of other recipes, but the usual one is Power, Shoot, Tech because it’s usually used for budget affixing and can borrow an Attack III somewhere else in the recipe. The older Fevers are practically junk affixes today, but they can be cheap placeholders.

0 Attack: Phrase, Stamina, Spirita

Attack isn’t the only stat in PSO2. Sometimes a unit has a ton of Attack but not much HP or PP. Stacking a bunch of HP or PP might make it more serviceable than throwing even more Attack on. Some abilities like S5: Vigorous Response might need a fixed amount of something to work better too. That’s where heavy HP and PP affixes come in.

There’s also the Phrase affixes which don’t add Attack, but come with a small multiplicative bonus to damage which can be better than Attack when conditions are met.

Try to go for the mixed stat options like Marks, EVs, Glares, Alters and so on first. Typically an affix with a combination of stats makes a bigger impact than a specialized affix with only 10 more points in one stat, but nothing else – this applies for Attack too. Reserve these for the last bit of something to get over the line.