Equipment grades and expertise

Be aware that weapons, armor and consumable projectiles like arrows and soulshot are graded to ensure proper use (and prevent over-twinking of young characters). Until you hit Level 20, you're limited to non-graded items.

Twinking (giving unearned equipment to lower-level characters) can be useful, but there are balancing factors in Lineage II to avoid abuse. Twinking is especially helpful to propel young characters through the early levels. However, weapons and armor are "graded" for certain levels, and only provide best effect at the correct level range. When you click on a weapon's icon and display its stats, a little letter in a box immediately after its name tells you its Grade. (If there's no letter, it's "ungraded," or "No-Grade.") You can't effectively wield D-Grade equipment until you get the Expertise Grade D skill at Level 20 (it's free and automatic). Expertise Grade C doesn't come until Level 40.

You can't combine weapons and accessories of different grades. For instance, C-grade Soulshot won't work with a B-grade weapon, and B-grade Soulshot won't work on a D-grade weapon. Ungraded bows will only shoot Wooden Arrows; buying Bone Arrows (Grade D) before you reach Level 20 is wasted money. Before you buy something, check out its grade to make sure you can use it.

Don't mistakenly buy higher-grade weapons or armor than you can use, or you'll be severely hindered in terms of your accuracy (for weapons) and attack/run speed (for armor).