How to Use the Item Disenchant vs Enhance Calculator
When you're holding a middling item, the same question always comes up: disenchant it for materials, or gamble on enhancing it? This calculator uses probability theory to compute the net expected value of an enhancement attempt — success rate multiplied by the value gain on success, minus the attempt cost — and compares it against the guaranteed value you'd get from disenchanting.
If the net expected value is higher than the disenchant value, enhancing wins out over the long run; if it's lower, disenchanting is the better choice. Keep in mind this is an average over many repeated attempts — any single attempt can still go the opposite way depending on luck.
The calculator also uses the geometric distribution formula to show how many attempts you'd need on average to succeed. A 10% success rate means an expected 10 attempts, and a 5% rate means an expected 20 — knowing this ahead of time helps you check whether your stockpiled materials can realistically cover enough attempts before you run out.
Even when the math favors enhancing, it's common to run out of materials before getting anywhere close to that expected number of attempts. If your stockpile is far smaller than the expected attempts required, going with the safer, guaranteed disenchant value can be the more realistic choice despite what the expected value alone suggests.
Frequently Asked Questions
It uses the geometric distribution formula from probability theory. If the success rate is p%, you need an average of 100/p attempts to succeed once — so a 10% success rate means an expected 10 attempts.
We recommend folding the failure loss into the attempt cost field. If the item is destroyed on failure, add the item's own value to the enhancement attempt cost you enter.