Small Vortex — A vortex from which aether can be extracted.

Aethertapping is a Daeva's ability to extract Aether from vortex nodes. It is one of the two gathering abilities along with Essencetapping, and automatically becomes available at level 10.

Aether is used in the crafting of many items, but also has the perk that it can be morphed into almost every gatherable - so long as the player has the appropriate design (acquired from faction-owned Abyss Fortress merchants) and sufficient DP.

Its ability to both be used as is or be transformed into necessary materials for your crafting (or profitable ones to sell on the broker) makes Aether very popular resource.

How to Aethertap[]

Aethertapping is only possible in a select few locations where vortex nodes are present. As these nodes are usually airborne, Aether is mostly harvested in areas that have flight enabled, such as Verteron Citadel and Morheim Ice Fortress.

Harvesting Aether consumes flight time, and so players should take care to watch their wings - aim too high or get too greedy, and you may instead find yourself plummeting towards your death. Experienced suppliers usually bring a "flight set" (an armor set socked with <Manastone: Maximum Flight Time +4>, armor or accessories with flight time bonuses) & a stack of <Wind Serum>and similar items when they decide to go Aethertapping for a while.

You character will earn XP for each node successfully harvested, and improve his or her aethertapping proficiency. To advance the aethertapping skill past certain thresholds (e.g. 99 -> 100) and unlock higher tier nodes for harvest, players need to seek out an Aethertapping Master. Players can also purchase a hat that highlights the location of nearby vortex nodes from the Aethertapping merchant.

Types of Aether[]

Various forms of Aether are used in crafting professions and used to Morph Substances. There are various types of aether, split into four tiers with various grades of rarity each. Each type and rarity of Aether is better than the last kind, but some types are more in demand than others.

Aether Powder (1-99)
Aether Crystal | Greater Aether Crystal Superior (Green) (100-199)
Aether Gem | Greater Aether Gem Superior (Green) | Pure Aether Gem Heroic (Blue) (200-299)
Aether | Greater Aether Superior (Green) | Pure Aether Heroic (Blue) | Brilliant Aether Fabled (Gold) (300-399)

The chance of Rare harvests increases with the better nodes, as does the XP earned. Contrary to popular belief vortex nodes found in The Abyss were found to have a slightly lower chance for Rare harvests (-1/2%) than their Elysean and Asmodian counterparts.

As with essencetapping, improving your proficiency will also reduce the time it takes to harvest lower tier nodes, and increase the chance to "crit" harvests (instant complete).