A quick and dirty crash course in Enhancement Converters

What this guide is: An introduction to what enhancement converters do, and how, in general to use them.

What this guide is not: A guide on how to make billions with converters.

What are enhancement converters?

They are a type of special salvage which allows you to convert set enhancements, both crafted and Attuned, in to other enhancements.

How do I get converters?

They are a random, semi rare drop from mobs. You can also buy them on the Auction House (on Everlasting at the time of writing this they run 200-300,000 influence), or with Reward Merits at a rate of 3 converters to 1 merit.

What are my options with converters?

There are 3:

• In Set Conversion, this option takes the enhancement you are converting and gives you a random, different piece from the same set, it costs 3 converters per conversion.
  
• Out of Set Conversion, by type, this option takes the enhancement you are converting and gives you a random piece from a different set of the same type (meaning Defense, PBAoE damage, Healing, etc.), it costs 2 converters per conversion.
  
• Out of Set Conversion, by rarity, this option takes the enhancement you are converting and gives you a random piece from a different set of the same rarity (uncommon, rare, pvp, purple, Attuned, Winter, Universal Damage*), it costs 1 converter per conversion.
  

*Currently only one set exists in this category, Overwhelming Force.

How do I use converters?

First, have a set enhancement you want to convert in your inventory, then open your enhancement tray, next to the 'manage' button there is a button that says 'convert' click that. Drag the enhancement you wish to convert in to the 'input' slot, set the type of conversion you wish to do, and click 'convert'. If you are not happy with the conversion, simply repeat the process. (Note, out of set defaults to rarity, so if you're doing by type you need to re-set it every conversion)

What are the limitations of converters?

The enhancements will all be the same level, so you cannot convert an enhancement to one that does not exist at the same level. For example, you cannot turn an Adrenal Adjustment to a Performance Shifter, nor can you convert a level 50 Obliteration to an Eradication.

In my experience, you can only upgrade from uncommon to rare through conversion, so you cannot turn a Devastation to an Apocalypse, Gladiators Javalin, or Winter's Bite. (I will admit I may be wrong in this, but if it is possible to do so, it is EXTREMELY rare)

You can get stuck in an endless loop between two enhancements and waste a ton of converters trying to get something.

Are converters reliable?

We don't call it 'converter roulette' for nothing. Granted, it's a game you usually win, but it's still a gamble.

Can you give a basic example of how to use converters to go from a useless piece to a useful one?

I have a Hibernation piece, level 30. This piece is pretty much worthless right? We're starting at 18 converters. We start by converting by rarity, it takes me a few jumps but I finally land on a Red Fortune piece. From there, I convert by Type, now since it's level 30 I have basically the entire Defense pool to get so it takes me a few more jumps to get to Luck of the Gambler. Ultimately I end up with 2 converters left and a Luck of the Gambler: Defense, Endurance piece. Not the proc, but I could probably get it with a few more converters if I wanted to.. I'm satisfied with the Def/end piece though since I need that in my build as well.

People talk about using converters to make lots of money, how do they do that?

I'm not giving away all of my secrets, but I gave you enough to figure it out.

I was just about to write this guide today!

You are correct that the rarity types are:

Uncommon

Rare

Very Rare (purple)

PvP

Attuned/ATOs Archetype IOs that you get from the Hero/Villain and Rogue/Vigilante packs

Winter IOs/WIOs, which you get from the winter packs

Universal Damage IOs, which is a category that only includes Overwhelming Force from the Summer event

And I should note, almost any IO can be turned into an attuned version, and many special IOs can be turned into "superior" versions (you can do this to ATOs and WIOs) so those would form separate categories of those types.

Unlike you I intend to give away secrets.  Here's how to turn a not valuable IO into a valuable one:

Let's say you have a level 50 Rope-a-Dope recipe.  Not very useful to most people, sells on the market for next to nothing.  Useless, right?  Not at all!

The thing about this recipe is that there are only two types of Stun recipes at level 31-50.  This is true of a lot of non-damage, non-heal sets.

Bookmark this page:

https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Enhancement_Sets

If you scroll down to Stun recipes, you will see that we have Stagger and Razzle Dazzle at level 1-30, and Rope a Dope and Stupefy at level 20-50.  (Plus the purple Stun which we aren't interested in at the moment.)  This means if you have a Rope-a-Dope that is level 31 or higher, and you craft it and convert to another type of Stun IO (Out of Set Conversion, by type), then your only option is to get a Stupefy IO.

Why is this important?  Stupefy is a rare recipe IO.  NOW you can do a random Out of Set Conversion by rarity (only 1 converter) and get literally any other level 50 rare IO.  You might get a Mako's Bite, or a Numina's, or a Luck of the Gambler!

Convert several times until you get what you want!

Pay attention to the type of IO you get.  If you're converting a level 40 IO you might possibly get Gift of the Ancients, and think it's not really something you want.  But!  This is a defense IO!  A conversion by type has a good chance of getting you that Luck of the Gambler you want!

Caveat:  It is possible to convert until you get a defense IO, then convert by type until you get Luck of the Gambler, then convert in set until you get the +recharge IO that you really want.  But going about things this way can be very time and converter intensive.  Rather, I suggest you simply do a few conversions until you get something you think is useful, and if it isn't immediately useful for your current build, save it for later or sell it.

Now, how does this make you money?  That should be obvious:  a few converters turns an IO nobody wants into something you can sell for pretty good money.  ^_^  Plus, you're seeding the market with things people want, which if enough people do that it will help drive down prices a little.

Bonus tip: recipes and IOs on the market ignore level.  If I sell a level 31 Luck of the Gambler recipe, you can buy it at level 50, or any level the IO can be that you're specifically set to buy.  If your character is level 37 like I am, you may want to search for a level 40 IO that you can slot immediately, for example.

Why is this important?  It's cheaper to craft a level 31 Rope-a-Dope than it is a level 50, and for the most part they both will convert to the same things (the level 31 has a few more options, such as Gift of the Ancients, as noted earlier), and will sell for the same price.

Obviously if you're crafting and converting to get IOs that you plan to use yourself, you probably want them to be the highest level possible.  But if you're crafting to sell, this is a nifty little trick to save some money.  Also of note:  a level 50 melee damage IO can only convert to other level 50 melee damage IOs (for conversion by type), but a level 35 can convert to any damage IO that can be level 35, such as... oh, say, Kinetic Combat?  ^_^

Actually this is a great reminder. I wanted a certain heal set piece last night and there were none on the market but I had a redundant recipe from the set. I should have made the IO and done an in-set.

Unlike you I intend to give away secrets.  Here's how to turn a not valuable IO into a valuable one:

I mean I did explain how to do it, without quite so much detail, so the "not giving away all my secrets" was mostly a joke. :) (It was more I didn't feel like typing that much)

Also, thanks for the confirmation on the rarity types. :)

There are certain levels where you've got a couple of Uncommons that are basically vendor trash and other Uncommons and Rares that are worth more (probably not least because regular and Attuned versions are fungible through the market, just like all levels of a given set are fungible--which means it's just as cheap to buy Attuned as it is to buy regular, and often cheaper to buy attuned than to craft it and Attune it yourself).

The nice thing about these Uncommons is that they (usually) don't require rare salvage that costs a million Inf a pop on the market. So you buy and craft all these uncommons, convert out of set, sell what you get. If it converts to something worthless, just keep on converting until you get something good.

For example, there are only two other healing sets at level 41 than Doctored Wounds, and both of them will usually go for at least 2 - 3 million a pop. (4+ millionish if you get the Numina's Convalescence proc.) Buy level 41 Doctored Wounds, craft, convert, list...profit!

I am probably overlooking something obvious, but how can you determine the rarity of the set?  not seeing that in the enhancement set page in the wiki.

some look obvious, like doctored wounds where all 6 pieces are uncommon drops but many recipes have a mixture of drop classes. 

Uncommon the name text will be yellow, rare orange.