The Omens of War expansion offers a variety of dropped augments that can be used as they are or can be improved dramatically through tradeskills. The basic system is this: A jeweler can cut the stone to strengthen the effect that the stone already has. An alchemist or poison maker can then etch the stone with a mark to give it an additional effect. Then, the alchemist or poison maker can also add an inlay to the etched stone to strengthen the effect that has been added.
Before you dive in, keep in mind that all of the recipes that actually affect the augment stones are very difficult. Even with very high skill the failure rates will be high, at least until you finish the tradeskill mastery for your skill(s).
The Basic Stones:
There are 21 of the new augment stones. In appearance they resemble the familiar gemstones used in jewelcraft. Of the augment stones, 12 are "flowstone augments" while 9 are "gemstone augments". The flowstone augments have "stone" in their names and each feature a bonus to one basic stat. Examples are Bloodflow Stone, which improves strength, and Voidflow Stone, which improves magic resist. On the other hand, the gemstone augments offer a variety of effects. Examples are Citrine, which provides a damage shield, Kyanite, which adds HP, and Tourmaline, which provides mana regeneration. These stones all offer a small level of their effects as the basic stones when they drop. They can be used as augments before any tradeskiller ever touches them. But as they are attuneable, using them means that no other tradeskiller can improve them for you.
What does Attuneable mean?
All of the OoW augments that can be altered with tradeskills, even those that have not yet been altered, are flagged as "Attuneable" in the item detail. This means that these items are tradeable until they are attached to an item. Once you place one of these augments on another item, they will become permanently No Drop. This system allows these augments to be traded and bought and sold as often as you'd like, as well as to be altered by different tradeskillers. But once someone actually applies the augment to a piece of gear, the augment is theirs forever. They can be removed from that particular piece of gear with the augment distillers available for all augments in Butcherblock and the Bazaar; but they will remain No Drop after being removed.
Step One: Cutting the Stone - Jewelcraft
If you wish to improve on a basic augment stone, the first step is with jewelcraft. You have three options, which will improve the stone by varying amounts. If you combine the basic stone in a jewelry kit with a buffing sheet, you get a Polished stone. If you combine the basic stone with hydroabrasive and a gem cutter, you get a Brilliant Cut stone. If you combine the basic stone with fine hydroabrasive and a gem cutter, you get a Radiant Cut stone. The order of quality from lowest to highest is: basic stone, Polished stone, Brilliant Cut stone, Radiant Cut stone.
For convenience, all of these steps are considered "cutting" the stone, even though polishing it doesn't actually cut it. Once a stone has been cut in any one of these three methods, it cannot be changed to a different cut or back to the basic stone.
The stones are still usable at this point, or can have additional effects added with the next step.
Step Two: Etching the Stone - Alchemy or Poison Making
There are 15 new "marks" sold by vendors, which are used to add an additional effect to a cut stone. They cannot be added to basic stones. The marks have a variety of effects, including mana preservation, ferocity, and haste. Only one mark can be added to any augment stone. But with careful choice of which augment stone gets which mark, some tremendously powerful augments can result.
So, to add a mark to a cut stone, you need either an alchemist or a poison maker. (Remember that only shamans can be alchemists and only rogues can be poison makers.) First, you need to make the right resin and acid to etch your stone. Flowstones use hydrated amber resin and slugworm acid, while gemstone augments use reduced amber resin and treanic acid. Your alchemist or poison maker can create the resin and the acids you need. The only dropped ingredient for those is the trean flies or slugworms.
Next, choose the mark you want to add to your stone and combine it in a medicine bag or mortar and pestle with your cut stone, acid, resin, and a dihedral burin purchased from vendors. Now your cut stone has a spiffy additional "minor" effect! Once again, they can be used as they are at this point or can be improved further.
Step Three: Inlaying the Stone - Alchemy or Poison Making
Not good enough for ya, eh? Alright, we can make the new effect gained from your mark even stronger. First, you need a smith and either a white gold ingot and dust of discord or black gold ingot and discordant scoriae. The ingots are sold by vendors while the dusts drop. Your smith combines the right metal with the right dust to make either a white gold inlay or a black gold inlay.
Then you go back to your alchemist or poison maker with the inlay and your etched gem. Your tradeskiller of choice then simply combines the inlay with the gem to make your new, more powerful augment. A black gold inlay will strengthen the effect more than a white gold inlay will. For example, if you used a Mark of Virility when you etched the stone, it will have the effect Burning Affliction 3. Adding a white gold inlay will make this Burning Affliction 4 (and remove the "minor" from the name). If you instead add a black gold inlay, it will become Burning Affliction 5 (and replace "minor" with "pure" in the name).
Only etched gems can be inlaid. Once an inlay is applied, the stone cannot be changed, either to remove the inlay or to change it to the other one.
In Summary:
There are four variables:
Base Stone determines the first quality of the augment (no tradeskill)
Cut applied to the base stone determines strength of the first quality (jewelcraft)
Mark added to the cut stone determines the second quality (alchemy or poisonmaking)
Inlay added to the etched stone determines the strength of the second quality (alchemy or poisonmaking)
Augment Stone | Property | Base | Polished | Brilliant Cut | Radiant Cut | Slots |
Apatite | stun resist | 1% | 1% | 2% | 3% | neck |
Celestine | spell shield | 1% | 1% | 2% | 3% | waist |
Citrine | damage shield | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | shoulder |
Howlite | strikethrough | 1% | 1% | 2% | 3% | face |
Kyanite | hit points | 10 | 15 | 30 | 45 | arms, hands, feet |
Sodalite | mana & endurance | 10/10 | 15/15 | 30/30 | 45/45 | head, wrist, range |
Sphalerite | DoT shielding | 1% | 1% | 2% | 3% | back |
Titanite | regeneration | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | chest |
Tourmaline | mana regeneration | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | head |
Bloodflow Stone | strength | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Boneflow Stone | wisdom | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Emberflow Stone | save vs fire | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Fireflow Stone | agility | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Mossflow Stone | save vs disease | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Mudflow Stone | stamina | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Shadowflow Stone | save vs poison | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Skyflow Stone | charisma | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Starflow Stone | intelligence | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Stormflow Stone | save vs cold | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Voidflow Stone | save vs magic | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Waterflow Stone | dexterity | 4 | 6 | 8 | 12 | face, neck, shoulders, back, waist |
Mark | Property | Minor | Regular | Pure |
Mark of Aggression | improved damage | III | IV | V |
Mark of Alacrity | enhancement haste | III | IV | V |
Mark of Battle | attack | 10 | 20 | 30 |
Mark of Celerity | affliction haste | III | IV | V |
Mark of Dexterity | improved dodge | I | II | III |
Mark of Efficiency | mana preservation | III | IV | V |
Mark of Extension | extended enhancement | III | IV | V |
Mark of Ferocity | ferocity | I | II | III |
Mark of Haste | haste | 20% | 30% | 40% |
Mark of Healing | improved healing | III | IV | V |
Mark of Potency | affliction efficiency | III | IV | V |
Mark of Quickness | spell haste | III | IV | V |
Mark of Sight | enhanced vision | ultravision | plainsight | faerune |
Mark of Sundering | cleave | I | II | III |
Mark of Virility | burning affliction | III | IV | V |
Special thanks to Twistagain for compiling the above tables on the message boards!