Refining for profit
Return rates, bonus cities, focus, specs, chain refining and station fees, with the real numbers.
9 min read. Checked October 26, 2026.
What each refine costs
Every refine above T2 takes raw resources plus one refined resource from the tier below (from the game's item data):
| Tier | Raw | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| T2 | 1 | — |
| T3 | 2 | 1 refined T2 |
| T4 | 2 | 1 refined T3 |
| T5 | 3 | 1 refined T4 |
| T6 | 4 | 1 refined T5 |
| T7 | 5 | 1 refined T6 |
| T8 | 5 | 1 refined T7 |
3×Titanium Ore3 Titanium Ore
1×Steel Bar1 Steel Bar
1×Titanium Steel Bar1 Titanium Steel BarBoth inputs come back through the return rate: the raw resources and the lower-tier refined one. That is why refining a whole chain yourself (below) compounds the savings.
Return rate, exactly
Return rate = production bonus / (1 + production bonus). The bonuses that add up, straight from the game's crafting data:
- 18% in any Royal city, Caerleon or Brecilien (islands have no base bonus).
- +40% in the resource's bonus city: ore in Thetford, fiber in Lymhurst, stone in Bridgewatch, hide in Martlock, wood in Fort Sterling.
- +59% with focus.
- +10% or +20% when the game runs a daily production bonus on that item (check the Activities menu).
| Setup | Bonus | Return rate |
|---|---|---|
| Wrong city | 18% | 15.3% |
| Bonus city | 58% | 36.7% |
| Wrong city + focus | 77% | 43.5% |
| Bonus city + focus | 117% | 53.9% |
| Bonus city + focus + 20% daily bonus | 137% | 57.8% |
Enchanted lines
Enchanted resources (.1 to .4) refine like the plain ones, with one rule that catches people: from T5 up, the lower-tier input must be the same enchant level. T6.1 planks take 4 T6.1 wood plus 1 T5.1 plank. The exception is T4.x, which uses plain T3.
Enchanted refined resources are worth several times the plain version, and their price gaps between cities are often wider, which makes them a good fit for focus and hauling.
Buy the lower tier or refine it?
Each tier needs one refined resource of the tier below. You can buy it, or refine it yourself from cheaper raw resources. Refining it yourself is cheaper when the raw is cheap and you have the return rate, and it is worse when the lower refined tier is being dumped below cost by others.
Station fees
Refining stations are owned by players, who set a fee in silver per 100 nutrition. The nutrition a refine uses scales with the items' value, so higher tiers and enchants cost more. A widely used approximation is item value × 0.1125 × (fee / 100) per craft. It is usually small next to material costs, but on cheap low-tier refines a greedy station can eat the margin.
T2 refining costs no station fee.
Sizing a run
- Buying more raw walks up the listings, so each extra unit costs a little more.
- Selling more walks down the buy orders, so each extra unit earns a little less.
- The best run size is where one more craft would lower your total profit, or where the market runs out.
- Check prices in game before buying: tool prices are only as fresh as the last player who looked.