Posting this thread since I haven’t seen a thorough collection of information about farming steel and seals anywhere.

# “How long does it take to grind seals?”

Over the past few weeks I’ve spent about 100 hours mostly grinding steel. I’ve got all 8 unique weapons, 11 1 handed weapons, 6 2 handed weapons, and 7 spears raised to L20. Of those I’ve gotten all 8 unique weapons, 7 1 handed weapons, 4 2 handed weapons, and 6 spears fully kitted out with ++ seals/etc. So I’ve got usable weapons for every character with numerous options. I’ve got standard balanced weapons, weapons tailored for specific characters to abuse 1 specific thing, full hearts ++ weapons, and even some goofy and surprising experiments like maximum special attack damage, adding elements to maxed out Y strings, and 4x -8% charge time weapons. You may not want that many kitted out weapons. You may want more. Use this example to gage how much time it could take to get whatever you want. And keep in mind my grinding was much slower at the start than it has become now that I’ve learned more and am grinding for very specific seals to finish up my projects.

# “Does difficulty affect steel results?”

No. Do your steel grinding on easy ya goof. Higher difficulty just means more HP for the enemy. It has zero effect on the steel you get. Theres no reason to drag out the fight.

# “Where should I be grinding steel?”

**Phantom battles** can give 11 to as high as 22 (Demon King Ensnared +Hyrule Field happen together) pristine steels per battle. But they tend to be on the no + side with just a few ++. Use phantom battles to get fodder steel for leveling.

**Eve of the Final Confrontation** is the most time efficient challenge battle that gives a very high chance for ++ seals. Calamo+Braton can get it down to 40 seconds. 50 seconds is my best. I’ve gotten it down to 1 minute 30 seconds with Agraston. I’m sure others like Ardi with element+fan, Lago with 4x strong++, Mineru instant freeze/smash, and others could be efficient too.

If you get sick of Raru, **Fateful Clash With The Forbidden** is another relatively fast fight that has a high chance of ++ steel. Calamo counters Forbidden Construct very hard. But on Easy any character could do it.

The lowest effort way to grind steel is **In Search of Poes**. Just start the fight and walk away from your Switch for 7 minutes. Nothing will attack you. You can’t lose. And you get a high chance at a ++ steel as a guaranteed reward.

# Amiibo steel grinding

Almost forgot to add this since I can’t efficiently do it. You are allowed to scan 5 amiibo per day. Zelda series amiibo have a high chance of giving you steel, including seals. You can scan 5, enter your game to “collect them”, save and exit your game, move your switch 2’s clock forward to 11:59 PM, wait 1 minute, then boot your game and scan 5 more. You can repeat this infinitely for 5 steel every 2 or so minutes. IF you have 5 Zelda amiibos. If you’re like me and only have 1 it’s faster to grind the Raru fight at less than a minute per ++steel.

# “Why can’t I find any ____ seals?!”

The weapon types of the characters you bring to the fight noticeably weight the weapon type of seals you get. It’s about a 50% chance to match one of your character’s weapons and 50% chance to be random (and 5% to be a weapon). In the beginning of my steel grinding adventure I exclusively fought phantom battles leading with and using Raphica. I got a LOT of meh pristine steel. But I ended up finding my 3 “targeted enemies++” seals for Raphica’s bow fast. After I had Calamo and Braton kitted out I started exclusively using them on the Raru fight. I found myself drowning in 1 handed and spear seals. Then, needing 2 handed seals I switched to Agraston and Quino for both Phantom and Raru fights. This is when I started paying attention to which seals I was getting. It was always about half of my 11-12 Phantom steels were 2 handed and half of my Raru steels were 2 handed. This result repeated through many Phantom battles and Raru battles. 50/50. Bring and use characters with the type of weapon you want seals for.

# So what about you?

How has your steel grinding gone? Did I miss anything? Do you have any tips? Where do you grind steel? Who do you main when you grind? What seals are you still longing for? Ever gotten really lucky with seals like I did with Raphica so early on?

Tips For Farming Steel And Seals In Age Of Imprisonment