Guide:Star Force
This article is a guide, used to supplement the factual information in the MapleStory Wiki. For the main article, see Star Force Enhancement. It currently in a draft state, meaning the guide may be inaccurate. View all guides |
Changing in a future patch
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| This guide is only applicable before the GMS Winter 2025 changes to Star Force and the introduction of the 30 star force cap. |
Starforcing is a core progression system in MapleStory which allows players to enhance their equipment and increase its power. This guide provides recommendations for efficiently improving your equipment and damage.
Basic Mechanics
Most equipment has Star Force Enhancement slots. Each upgrade attempt consumes mesos and has a chance to succeed, fail, or, in some cases, destroy the item.
MapleStory occasionally hosts events reducing Star Force costs or preventing destruction on failure. It's also possible to safeguard enhancements when upgrading from 16★ and 17★.
General Tips
- In early game, stop at around 10 stars if you are new to the game. Pushing to 15 stars is possible but expensive.
- Star Force Enhancement above 15 is for advanced players who have spare equipment and mesos.
- Save up mesos and spare equipment for Star Force events, and rely on them to reduce the cost and risk.
- When enhancing from 17 to 22 stars, round-robin the enhancements. Enhance several equips to 18 first, rather than getting only one equipment to 22.
- Use the Guild Castle Anvil Room to guarantee Star Catching.
- Keep enough mesos to restore all items to your starting point, such as 17★.
- When aiming for 22★, save about 40–50b to be used during a Shining Star Force event.
Transfer Hammer Strategy
The Transfer Hammer strategy, also known as pre-tap or fodder strategy, refers to enhancing a cheaper, lower-level item ("fodder") to a high Star Force level, and then transferring its progress to your real, expensive endgame item using the Transfer Hammer. This reduces the costs and risk of reaching higher Star Force levels. The fodder equipment is usually Level 138+, which allows upgrading to the maximum 25 stars. The transfer hammer only allows transfering stats to an equipment with a level requirement of up to 10 levels higher.
To perform the strategy:
- Starforce the fodder equipment to 20★ or 21★.
- Use the Transfer Hammer to move the enhancements from the fodder item to the target item. The target item will have 1 less star force (for instance, 21★ fodder → 20★ target) and are downgraded to epic potential.
- Tap the target item to 22★.
The following are fodder equipment and their higher-level equivalent:
| Type | Level 140 → | Level 150 → | Level 160 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belt | Reinforced Engraved Gollux Belt / Golden Clover Belt | Superior Engraved Gollux Belt | |
| Ring | Meister Ring / Kanna's Treasure | Superior Gollux Ring | Guardian Angel Ring |
| Pendant | Dominator Pendant | Superior Engraved Gollux Pendant | Source of Suffering |
| Earrings | Reinforced Gollux Earrings | Superior Gollux Earrings | |
| Equipment Set | Empress Set | Root Abyss Set | AbsoLab Set |
Priority of Star Forcing
The order of progression of increasing stars matters more for Star Force enhancements above 15 stars. The following is a recommnedation:
- Root Abyss Set equipment (Hat, Top, Bottom) to 22 stars
- Level 150 shoulder/cape/shoe/glove
- Gollux equipment, using Transfer Hammer
- AbsoLab or Arcane set to 17 stars
- Transpose Papulatus Mark into Sweetwater Monocle
- Other accessories (Guardian Angel Ring, Twilight Mark, Meister Ring)
- Arcane Umbra (Weapon/Armor)
Safeguarding
Only safeguard equipment that are hard to obtain. This includes:
- Kanna's Treasure and Meister Ring (if hard to obtain materials)
- Dominator Pendant
- Black Bean Mark, Papulatus Mark
- Arcane Set
- Twilight Mark
- Pitched Boss Set
- Transposed Sweetwater Monocle
- Daybreak Pendant
- Estella Earrings
- Dominator Pendant
- Deimos Sage Shield, Deimos Shadow Shield, Deimos Warrior Shield (if hard to obtain materials)