Recipes, catalysts and crafting choices
A crafting recipe has a base item, separate ingredient positions and one result. Two formulas for the same result are alternatives, not one combined shopping list. Repeated ingredient positions require separate copies.
When recipes fuse
Ingredients bonded in your backpack fuse into their result when you return to the shop after a battle, and a catalyst stays in your backpack. With Box of Cogs or Cog Badge nothing fuses then; selling a Cog fuses every finished recipe.
In Switch Mode, that return also leaves finished recipes unfused. Entering the shop still places a Cog in Storage.
Catalysts survive
A recipe card writes a catalyst's name in green. It must participate in the recipe but is not consumed by the fusion. Ordinary ingredients are consumed. This makes a reusable Cauldron or Utility Pouch a different purchase from another copy of a consumable ingredient.
Read the complete formula
Some ingredients identify a type rather than one named item. Follow that type's link to see eligible members. The Cauldron recipes upgrade eligible potions into their Strong variants; the Utility Pouch has alternatives to the forging-hammer formulas. Collar conversions also have their own catalyst rules. Check which ingredient names are green rather than assuming an entire family behaves identically.
The same ingredient can be retained or consumed
Mana Orb is a catalyst for Spectral Dagger, but an ordinary ingredient for Manathirst. Check the recipe, not just the ingredient's name.
| Before crafting | After crafting |
|---|---|
| Dagger + Mana Orb | Spectral Dagger + Mana Orb |
| Hungry Blade + Mana Orb | Manathirst |
| Health Potion + Cauldron | Strong Health Potion + Cauldron |
The same planner opens the two orb formulas directly. Spectral Dagger keeps the Mana Orb. Manathirst spends it.
After making Spectral Dagger, keep the same Mana Orb for another catalyst recipe with a new base item. If you also want Manathirst, finish the crafts that retain the orb before using it in the recipe that consumes it. Arrange the intended bonds rather than assuming a shared ingredient will choose your preferred recipe.
Keep an ingredient or sell it?
Mana Orb sells for 3 gold. Compare its other recipes before taking that gold: selling it removes the copy you could reuse. Likewise, the Cauldron left after making Strong Health Potion can later turn a new Mana Potion into Strong Mana Potion. You still need the next base item and its crafting bonds.
Ingredients are not bonds
The crafting planner can show which formulas your shared backpack has ingredients for. That does not mean their crafting bonds are already arranged. Check the intended partners in the backpack, especially when one item could participate in several formulas.
Three formulas for one bag
Holdall is Leather Armor plus one catalyst, and the catalyst stays. The three catalysts are Goobert, Hammer and Thor’s Hammer. Only Engineer can use the Thor’s Hammer formula.
Expand the ingredient tree from your target, compare alternative recipes, and check each ingredient's acquisition links. Buy toward a reachable formula rather than a result whose required items cannot enter your shops.