To begin, in Blade & Soul the Hongmoon weapon and assorted accessories that you get at the start of the game is what your endgame weapon will be, at least for the game as it is released right now, and even beyond then, it'll be the weapon you'll level up with and evolve throughout the game. Weapons and accessories have two different systems to breakthrough, as the weapon will need a class specific breakthrough item (we'll go over this in a bit), whereas your accessories will need a generic item that's much easier to obtain (but their benefits are much less). Any weapons and accessories you obtain will be used to upgrade your hongmoon set, not to actually be equipped (or will be used for glamor, but that's another thing in of itself).

To start with, we'll go over the basics. The Hongmoon Sword, Staff, Razors, etc. you get at the very start is your endgame weapon. By level 20, you'll have received the necklace, earring, and ring as well. These items evolve, by combining weapons and accessories found out in the world into them. Once they reach their maximum level, you can "breakthrough" and evolve it into another weapon entirely, which will continue the process. You don't specifically have a choice of how it evolves, that's a fixed statistic, but you can further modify it with gems and the such.

Upgrading your Weapon and Accessory

To upgrade the weapon or accessory (I'll use the term gear for both after this point), click on it in your inventory and then choose "manage equipment." Here, in the center tab, you'll see a slot for "Amplifer." Drag a weapon for weapons, or any accessory for an accessory, into that box and then you'll see at the top a min and max on the level bar. This is how much at the very least it'll increase and how much at the very most it'll increase the experience (so to say) of the item. You can add additional ingredients to the mix, which will increase the amount of XP (useful when your'e adding a lot of weapons at once), which come in the form of fortune charms. You can also find gems that'll substitute for the amplifier (although do not use them if it'll max the item out, as you'll be wasting a good bit of it).