You can ascend your General's Equipment Items to unlock Ascension Bonuses. An Ascension Bonus will increase the combat statistics of your Units on top of the Bonus already provided by an Equipment Item.
Remember that, to ascend an Equipment Item, it must be in your Permanent Inventory or equipped on your General. You must also possess the required number of Pieces, and you will need an Oil of Ascension.
Items that are ascended will yield more Pieces when broken compared to unascended Items — the greater the Ascension Bonus, the more Pieces you will receive.
Oils of Ascension
Oils of Ascension come in two grades: Standard and Superior. When you ascend an Equipment Item with a Standard Oil, this will unlock an Ascension Bonus of a random amount between 1% and 8%. Superior Oils, meanwhile, can unlock a Bonus of between 5% and 15%.
Oils of Ascension can be found in the Coalition Shop, where you can acquire them in exchange for Coalition Gold. The Coalition Shop is available to players at Level 40 or higher.
The Oils of Ascension affect only basic Bonuses of the Equipment: Light Infantry, Heavy Infantry, Phalanx, and Cavalry combat statistics. The additional Bonuses you receive after leveling the Item beyond Level 5, including Bonuses for Elisian Units, are not affected by Oils.
Ascension process
To Ascend your Equipment:
1. Click on the Item you want to Ascend
2. Click the "Ascend" button
3. Choose the Oil
4. Click "Ascend" again
Every time Ascension Oil is used, it unlocks a random Bonus. But bear in mind that using several Oils on the same Item does not mean that all Bonuses from each Oil used will be multiplied. The Items Ascended several times gain the highest Bonus which was unlocked.
Suppose the Item was not Ascended previously, or the Bonus received is higher than the previous one. In that case, the Equipment piece will gain the highest Bonus value. If the Bonus received is the same or lower than the one already on the Item, its stats won't change.
For example, imagine you use the Oil once and receive a 5% Bonus. Then you use it the second time and get a 7% Bonus. The final Bonus on the Item will be 7%. If you use the Oil again and get the 3% Bonus, the Item will keep the highest Bonus unlocked — 7%. To sum it up, to get a higher Bonus after the first Ascension, you will have to receive a higher percentage than the initial one.
When you unlock an 8% Bonus on the Item, you can no longer use Standard Oil for Ascension. Further upgrades will be possible only with Superior Oil.
The Bonuses for different Unit Tiers are unlocked separately. If you use the Oil of Ascension for Phalanx and the Oil of Ascension for Cavalry, you will get two separate Bonuses for each respective Unit category.
Downgrading your Items will not affect Ascension Bonuses.