Rare Enchanted Ink is one of those materials that quietly decides whether your character hits the next power spike or stalls out in endgame purgatory. If you’ve started pushing high-tier dungeons, contesting world bosses, or preparing for large-scale PvP, you’ve already brushed up against its importance. This isn’t a luxury resource or a flavor item for completionists. It’s a progression gate, and Throne and Liberty is unapologetic about it.
What Rare Enchanted Ink Actually Does
At its core, Rare Enchanted Ink is a high-tier crafting reagent used to unlock and enhance advanced gear effects. It’s primarily consumed when upgrading rare and epic equipment, imprinting powerful traits, and interacting with endgame crafting systems that go beyond basic stat bumps. If you’re trying to squeeze more DPS out of your weapon, stabilize your defensive thresholds, or optimize utility passives for group content, this ink is non-negotiable.
Unlike common materials that scale linearly, Rare Enchanted Ink directly impacts how far your gear can evolve. Missing even a single upgrade tier can translate into slower clear times, weaker threat control, or getting one-shot by mechanics that expect tighter stat checks. That’s why veterans hoard it and new endgame players feel the pain immediately.
Why It’s a Bottleneck in Endgame Progression
Rare Enchanted Ink is intentionally scarce, and that scarcity is what makes it matter. Throne and Liberty’s endgame is built around controlled progression rather than brute-force grinding, and this resource is one of the levers the system pulls hardest. You can have the best drops and flawless execution, but without ink, your gear hits a hard ceiling.
This also creates a natural divide between casual endgame players and those actively optimizing their builds. Guilds pushing coordinated content track ink usage carefully, because wasting it on suboptimal upgrades can delay collective progress by days. In PvP-heavy servers, that delay can mean losing territory, access to bosses, or economic dominance.
How Players Typically Obtain It
Rare Enchanted Ink doesn’t come from mindless mob farming. It’s tied to structured endgame activities like high-difficulty dungeons, specific boss loot tables, and select crafting exchanges. Some sources are consistent but slow, while others are heavily influenced by RNG and competition. Understanding which activities fit your playstyle and schedule is crucial, because chasing every source inefficiently is one of the fastest ways to burn out.
There are also indirect paths, such as crafting chains or market interactions, that newer players often overlook. These routes usually trade time, currency, or opportunity cost for stability, making them attractive if you’re not living in endgame content every day.
Common Mistakes That Stall Progress
The biggest mistake players make is spending Rare Enchanted Ink too early on gear that won’t survive the next progression bracket. Early upgrades feel good, but they’re often traps that drain a resource you’ll desperately need later. Another common issue is ignoring group content because it feels slower or more demanding, even though it often offers better long-term ink efficiency.
Finally, many players underestimate how much planning matters. Rare Enchanted Ink rewards intentional progression paths, not reactive upgrades. Knowing when to hold, when to invest, and when to pivot your strategy is what separates players who coast through endgame from those constantly playing catch-up.
All Confirmed Uses of Rare Enchanted Ink (Crafting, Enhancement, and Trade Value)
Once you understand how scarce Rare Enchanted Ink really is, the next question becomes simple and dangerous: what is it actually worth spending on? This resource sits at the intersection of crafting, enhancement, and the player-driven economy, which is why misusing it can quietly sabotage weeks of progress.
Below are every confirmed, practical use of Rare Enchanted Ink in Throne and Liberty’s current endgame, along with how each use impacts your long-term power curve.
High-Tier Gear Crafting and Recipe Gating
Rare Enchanted Ink is a mandatory component for crafting specific epic and endgame-grade gear pieces. These are not filler crafts or sidegrades, but items designed to anchor builds through multiple content tiers. If a recipe lists Rare Enchanted Ink, it’s almost always tied to gear with scaling potential, set interactions, or enhancement compatibility that basic crafts lack.
This is where many players first feel the pressure. Crafting one of these items too early can lock you into a piece that looks strong now but becomes inefficient once higher-tier enhancement paths open. Veterans typically delay ink-based crafts until they’re confident the item will survive at least one major progression bracket.
Advanced Enhancement and Trait Optimization
Beyond crafting, Rare Enchanted Ink is used in select enhancement processes tied to trait amplification and late-stage upgrades. These systems often unlock after standard enhancement caps, acting as a soft gate to push dedicated players ahead without invalidating earlier content.
This is where ink usage becomes strategic rather than reactive. Enhancing a weapon or armor piece with ink can drastically improve DPS consistency, survivability, or utility, but only if the base item is already optimal. Using ink on gear with poor trait rolls or mismatched stats is one of the most common ways players waste it.
Endgame Crafting Chains and System Unlocks
Some endgame crafting chains require Rare Enchanted Ink not for the final item, but to unlock intermediary components or system access. These steps don’t always feel rewarding in the moment, but they’re often prerequisites for future recipes, guild crafts, or progression systems tied to large-scale content.
This is why coordinated guilds track ink usage at a macro level. Spending ink to unlock shared crafting paths or future-proof systems can be more valuable than any single piece of personal gear, especially on PvP servers where access and timing matter.
Market Trade Value and Economic Leverage
Rare Enchanted Ink also holds significant trade value, either directly or indirectly through crafted goods. On active servers, it consistently ranks among the most liquid high-end materials, meaning it can be converted into currency faster than most boss drops.
Smart players leverage this by selling ink during demand spikes, such as after new content patches or when enhancement metas shift. Others convert ink into high-demand crafted items, effectively multiplying its value. The key mistake here is panic-selling early or hoarding too long and missing peak market windows.
Why Usage Dictates Farming Strategy
How you plan to use Rare Enchanted Ink should directly inform how aggressively you farm it. Players chasing personal power spikes prioritize consistent, reliable sources, even if the drop rate is slow. Economy-focused players lean into market volatility, RNG-heavy content, and timing to maximize profit.
The worst approach is farming ink without a plan. If you don’t know whether your next ink is going into a weapon, a system unlock, or the market, you’re likely to make short-term decisions that stall long-term progression. In Throne and Liberty, Rare Enchanted Ink isn’t just a material; it’s a statement of intent.
Guaranteed Sources: How to Obtain Rare Enchanted Ink Through Systems and Vendors
If your plan for Rare Enchanted Ink involves minimizing RNG and maximizing predictability, this is where your focus should be. Unlike boss drops or open-world farming, these sources are tied to systems with clear rules, fixed costs, and known limits. They won’t flood your inventory overnight, but they form the backbone of any long-term ink strategy.
This is especially important if your usage plan involves system unlocks, guild crafts, or scheduled enhancement pushes. Guaranteed sources let you plan weeks ahead instead of reacting to luck.
Contract Coin and Activity Vendors
One of the most consistent ways to secure Rare Enchanted Ink is through Contract Coin vendors tied to daily and weekly activities. By completing contracts, dynamic events, and regional objectives, you earn currency that can be exchanged directly for ink with no RNG involved.
The catch is volume and limits. These vendors typically cap how much ink you can buy per week, which means casual players get steady progress, while hardcore grinders need to supplement elsewhere. The efficiency play here is prioritizing contracts that overlap with other goals, such as reputation or gear progression, so your time pulls double duty.
Guild Vendors and Contribution-Based Rewards
Guild systems are another reliable pipeline, provided you’re in an active group. Many guild vendors offer Rare Enchanted Ink in exchange for guild coins earned through donations, guild missions, or participation in large-scale content like sieges and conflict events.
This is where coordination matters. Competitive guilds often set internal rules about who buys ink and when, especially if it’s needed for shared crafting paths or guild-wide unlocks. A common mistake is solo-buying ink without checking guild priorities, which can slow collective progression and hurt your standing.
Reputation and Regional Progression Systems
Certain regions and factions reward Rare Enchanted Ink once you hit specific reputation thresholds. These are not repeatable farms, but they are guaranteed payouts that many players overlook while rushing endgame zones.
For midgame players transitioning into high-end crafting, these rewards often provide the first ink used for system unlocks. Skipping them doesn’t just delay your ink count; it delays access to recipes and mechanics that scale into endgame.
Battle Pass, Seasonal Tracks, and Event Vendors
Seasonal systems like the Battle Pass frequently include Rare Enchanted Ink as fixed rewards on premium or high-tier tracks. While this requires either time investment or currency, the value is extremely high because the payout is guaranteed and front-loaded compared to RNG farming.
Limited-time event vendors function similarly. As long as you complete the required event objectives and exchange the currency before the event ends, the ink is yours. The most common mistake here is procrastination, assuming the event will be extended or returning later, and losing access entirely.
Why Guaranteed Sources Define Your Baseline Income
Guaranteed sources won’t make you rich fast, but they define your minimum ink income per week. That baseline is what allows you to plan enhancements, schedule crafting sessions, and decide how much risk you can afford with RNG-based farming.
High-level players treat these systems as non-negotiable chores, much like weekly lockouts in other MMOs. Skip them, and you’re not just losing ink; you’re giving up control over your progression timeline.
Farmable Sources: Dungeons, Open-World Activities, and Event Drops That Yield Rare Enchanted Ink
Once your guaranteed sources are exhausted, farming becomes the real engine behind long-term Rare Enchanted Ink income. Unlike fixed rewards, these methods scale with your time, group efficiency, and tolerance for RNG. This is where players separate casual progression from optimized endgame loops.
Dungeon Farming: High-Risk, High-Value Ink Opportunities
Certain instanced dungeons have Rare Enchanted Ink on their loot tables, typically tied to boss clears or end-of-run reward chests. The drop rate is not generous, but dungeon farming remains one of the most consistent repeatable methods once you can clear efficiently.
Efficiency matters more than raw difficulty. Speed-clearing a mid-to-high-tier dungeon with a coordinated group will outperform struggling through harder content with frequent wipes and repair costs. Groups that understand aggro control, burst windows, and boss mechanics dramatically increase their ink-per-hour.
A common mistake is overfarming a single dungeon without tracking diminishing returns from lockouts or fatigue systems. Smart players rotate between two or three viable dungeons to keep rewards flowing while avoiding soft caps.
Open-World Activities: Elite Zones, World Bosses, and Dynamic Events
Rare Enchanted Ink can also drop from elite mobs, zone-specific activity rewards, and world boss participation chests. These sources are more RNG-heavy but benefit players who enjoy flexible, non-instanced gameplay.
Elite farming shines in contested zones where mob density is high and respawn timers are short. Duo or trio setups with strong sustain and AoE damage tend to outperform full groups, since tagging rules and split loot can dilute rewards.
World bosses are burst opportunities rather than steady farms. You are not farming ink directly here; you are rolling for it. Missing contribution thresholds, dying repeatedly, or arriving late often results in lower-tier rewards and wasted time.
Limited-Time Events and Rotating Activity Drops
Seasonal and rotating events frequently add Rare Enchanted Ink to their drop pools, either directly or through event-specific reward boxes. These are some of the most overlooked farming opportunities because they do not advertise ink as a primary reward.
Event efficiency depends on objective stacking. The best players complete event goals that overlap with daily or weekly tasks, effectively double-dipping on rewards while minimizing time spent. Ignoring these overlaps is one of the biggest mistakes midgame players make.
Always check event vendors and exchange menus. Some events allow you to convert excess tokens into random crafting materials, where Rare Enchanted Ink sits at the top of the value curve.
Optimizing Farm Routes Based on Your Progression Level
Early endgame players should prioritize open-world elites and event content, where gear checks are softer and failure costs are low. This builds an ink reserve without stalling overall progression.
Mid-to-late endgame players should shift toward dungeon loops with stable groups. Consistency beats luck here, especially if your goal is steady enhancement rather than gambling on a jackpot drop.
The biggest efficiency killer across all levels is chasing ink exclusively. Rare Enchanted Ink should be farmed alongside XP, gold, reputation, or gear upgrades. If an activity only gives ink and nothing else you need, it is usually not worth hard-targeting.
Most Efficient Farming Strategies by Player Stage (Early Endgame, Mid-Endgame, Hardcore)
With the fundamentals covered, the real optimization comes down to aligning your ink farming with where your character actually is in progression. Rare Enchanted Ink is not meant to be chased the same way at every stage, and forcing high-end methods too early is one of the fastest ways to burn time and gold.
Early Endgame: Building Ink Without Bricking Your Progression
At early endgame, your priority is unlocking consistent access to enhancement materials while still gearing up. Rare Enchanted Ink here is a bonus outcome, not the main objective, and your routes should reflect that.
Open-world elite zones are the backbone of early farming. Focus on areas with fast respawns and manageable mob mechanics, where you can maintain uptime without relying on perfect I-frames or healer support. Ink drops are RNG, but elite density gives you more rolls per hour while also feeding XP, gold, and basic crafting mats.
Limited-time events matter more here than dungeons. Event reward boxes often contain Rare Enchanted Ink at low but real rates, and the time investment is minimal compared to wiping in undergeared dungeon groups. Always prioritize events that overlap with daily contracts to avoid splitting your playtime.
The biggest mistake early players make is hard-targeting dungeons for ink before meeting comfort thresholds. Slow clears, repair costs, and failed runs will erase any efficiency gains, even if the drop table looks attractive.
Mid-Endgame: Controlled Dungeon Loops and Value Stacking
Mid-endgame is where Rare Enchanted Ink becomes a planning resource rather than a lucky find. You are enhancing higher-tier gear, failures are expensive, and consistency matters more than spike drops.
Instanced dungeons with stable groups are the most reliable source at this stage. Run dungeons where your group can clear smoothly without deaths, even if the ink drop rate is slightly lower on paper. Clean clears mean more runs per session, more rolls on reward tables, and zero downtime from recovery or repairs.
This is also the stage where indirect ink acquisition shines. Many dungeon reward boxes and crafting material caches have Rare Enchanted Ink baked into their tables. Choosing these over flashy gear rewards often results in more long-term power, especially if your current set is already functional.
Avoid overcommitting to world bosses here. Unless you can consistently hit contribution thresholds, they remain high-variance content. One missed tag or death can turn a 20-minute investment into nothing, which is unacceptable efficiency for midgame progression.
Hardcore and Late Endgame: Maximizing Ink Per Hour
At hardcore progression, Rare Enchanted Ink is a throughput problem. You are enhancing multiple pieces, pushing high-tier traits, and burning ink at a pace casual players never experience.
High-end dungeon loops with optimized comps are the gold standard. Duo and trio setups with strong AoE DPS and sustain often outperform full groups due to faster clears and better loot concentration. The goal is maximizing completions per hour, not minimizing effort.
Contested elite zones become viable again at this stage, but only if you can hold territory. Strong builds with self-sustain and crowd control can dominate spawn rotations, turning elite farming into a steady ink drip alongside premium crafting mats. If you cannot maintain control, move on immediately, as time lost to PvP wipes destroys efficiency.
Hardcore players should also leverage every rotating event and vendor exchange. Converting surplus tokens or currencies into material boxes is one of the most reliable ways to smooth out RNG. This is how top-end players stabilize ink supply without relying on luck.
The most common late-game mistake is chasing “best drop rate” content without considering downtime. If travel time, competition, or failure risk slows your cycle, your ink per hour drops sharply. At this level, efficiency is about flow, not hype.
Market Board and Economy Insights: When to Buy vs. Farm Rare Enchanted Ink
At this point in progression, the question is no longer how to get Rare Enchanted Ink, but whether your time is better spent farming it directly or converting gold into progress through the Market Board. This decision separates efficient endgame players from those stuck grinding out of habit.
Rare Enchanted Ink sits at the crossroads of crafting, enhancement, and trait optimization. It is consumed fast, scales with gear ambition, and reacts violently to player demand spikes, which makes market timing just as important as raw farming efficiency.
Understanding Rare Enchanted Ink’s True Market Value
Market Board prices for Rare Enchanted Ink rarely reflect its drop rate. They reflect how badly the server is enhancing gear at that moment. Patch cycles, new dungeon tiers, and balance updates all trigger sudden demand surges that can double prices overnight.
If ink prices are climbing steadily over several days, that is a signal that farming is being outpaced by consumption. In these windows, players who farm ink directly gain more progression per hour than those trying to buy in late.
Conversely, sharp price drops usually follow event rotations or token exchange resets. This is when whales offload surplus and grinders flood supply, creating short buy windows that smart players exploit.
When Buying Ink Is the Correct Play
Buying Rare Enchanted Ink is optimal when your gold-per-hour exceeds your ink-per-hour from farming. Late-game dungeon speedrunners and organized PvP players often generate enough currency that stopping to farm materials is a net loss.
This is especially true if you are pushing multiple enhancements at once. Buying ink lets you maintain momentum, avoid gear bottlenecks, and keep your progression curve smooth instead of stalling for RNG drops.
Another key moment to buy is immediately after major content unlocks. Early adopters often panic-buy materials at inflated prices, but patient players can scoop ink once the initial rush stabilizes, usually 24 to 48 hours later.
When Farming Ink Beats the Market Board
Farming Rare Enchanted Ink wins when prices spike beyond rational value. If a single enhancement attempt costs more than a full dungeon run’s worth of ink, the market has entered inefficiency territory.
Solo-capable players benefit the most here. Efficient dungeon clears, elite rotations, and material box conversions generate ink without paying listing fees or competing against speculative buyers.
Farming is also safer for midgame players with unstable income. Gold spent on ink is gone forever, while farming simultaneously builds XP, side materials, and encounter mastery that compounds over time.
Market Board Traps and Common Economic Mistakes
The biggest mistake players make is buying ink one unit at a time. Listing fees and rounding inefficiencies silently bleed currency. Always buy in bulk during low-price windows, even if you do not need the ink immediately.
Another trap is ignoring regional price variance. Prices can differ wildly between hubs due to player traffic and crafting density. Checking multiple boards before committing can save massive amounts of gold over a full enhancement cycle.
Finally, do not speculate unless you fully understand demand cycles. Hoarding ink during stable periods ties up gold that could be accelerating your power now. Rare Enchanted Ink is a progression tool first and an investment second.
Blending Farming and Buying for Maximum Efficiency
Top-end players do not choose between farming and buying. They rotate between both. Farm ink during peak efficiency windows, then buy during market dips to smooth out bad RNG and maintain upgrade flow.
This hybrid approach minimizes downtime, reduces frustration, and keeps your character enhancement-ready at all times. In Throne and Liberty’s economy, flexibility is power, and Rare Enchanted Ink rewards players who treat time and currency as equally valuable resources.
Optimization Tips: Maximizing Ink Gains Through Group Play, Timers, and Buffs
Once you stop treating Rare Enchanted Ink as a solo grind and start optimizing around systems, the gains scale fast. Group synergies, activity timers, and temporary buffs all stack multiplicatively, turning slow trickles into reliable income streams. This is where efficient players separate themselves from everyone brute-forcing content.
Group Play: Speed Is the Real Drop Rate
Rare Enchanted Ink does not reward slow, safe clears. It rewards clears per hour. Grouping with high DPS and clean aggro control drastically increases your effective drop rate by letting you reset content faster.
Balanced parties matter more than raw power. One tank who can hard-lock elites, two burst DPS, and a support with uptime buffs will outperform five undergeared damage dealers every time. Faster kills mean more elite rolls, more dungeon completions, and more ink-generating reward boxes per session.
If you are farming open-world elites, rotate zones with your group instead of camping one spawn. Leapfrogging spawn timers prevents downtime and keeps combat flowing, which is where ink farming actually happens.
Dungeon Timers and Daily Reset Windows
Dungeon-based ink sources are heavily influenced by timers, not just completion. Running high-efficiency dungeons immediately after daily reset gives you access to the highest concentration of reward boxes with zero competition for queues or spawns.
Never let daily or weekly dungeon charges cap out. Once capped, every hour you are logged in is wasted potential ink. Even a single fast clear before logging off keeps your resource generation rolling.
For players with limited time, prioritize dungeons with linear layouts and minimal backtracking. Fewer mechanics and predictable boss patterns reduce wipe risk and stabilize ink gains across sessions.
Buff Stacking: Hidden Multipliers Most Players Ignore
Temporary buffs are one of the most underused optimization tools in Throne and Liberty. Consumables that boost drop rate, dungeon rewards, or activity efficiency directly increase how much Rare Enchanted Ink you generate per hour.
Guild buffs are especially critical. Coordinating farming sessions during active guild bonuses can add a noticeable amount of extra ink over a week, especially when combined with dungeon rotations.
Do not waste buffs on low-efficiency content. Activate them only when running chained dungeons, elite loops, or guaranteed reward activities. Buff uptime should always align with peak efficiency windows, not casual play.
Role-Based Optimization for Different Player Types
Solo players should focus on elite routes and low-mechanic dungeons they can clear without downtime. Consistency matters more than difficulty. A dungeon you clear flawlessly is better than a harder one you wipe in.
Group-focused players should schedule ink farming like a raid night. Fixed start times, preset compositions, and clear content goals dramatically reduce wasted time and maximize returns.
Endgame players pushing enhancement ceilings should rotate ink farming with other progression systems. This prevents burnout and keeps your resource flow stable even when RNG is unkind.
Common Optimization Mistakes That Kill Ink Efficiency
The biggest mistake is overcommitting to a single method. Farming only dungeons or only elites ignores how timers and diminishing returns affect efficiency. Rotation is always stronger than repetition.
Another trap is farming without tracking time. If a method feels productive but generates less ink per hour than alternatives, it is not optimal, no matter how comfortable it feels.
Finally, never farm ink without a purpose. Enhancement planning matters. Know how much Rare Enchanted Ink you need for your next upgrade tier so you can stop farming the moment efficiency drops and pivot to another progression path.
Common Mistakes Players Make When Chasing Rare Enchanted Ink (and How to Avoid Them)
Even players who understand where Rare Enchanted Ink comes from often sabotage their own progress through bad habits. These mistakes are subtle, easy to fall into, and brutal on long-term efficiency. Cleaning them up is often worth more ink than switching to a “better” farm.
Farming Ink Without a Clear Enhancement Goal
One of the biggest traps is grinding Rare Enchanted Ink without knowing exactly what it’s for. Ink is not a general-purpose currency; it exists to push specific gear enhancement thresholds. Farming blindly often leads to overstocking ink while neglecting other bottleneck materials.
Before you queue a single dungeon, map out your next enhancement tier and calculate how much ink you actually need. Once you hit that number, stop and pivot. Efficient players farm with an exit strategy, not an endless loop.
Overvaluing High-Difficulty Content
Many players assume harder content equals better ink returns. In practice, wipe-heavy dungeons and slow elite clears destroy your ink-per-hour ratio. RNG does not care how difficult the content is if your clear speed is poor.
The fix is brutal but effective: farm content you can clear cleanly and repeatedly. Fast clears with zero downtime will always outperform heroic runs that stall on mechanics, deaths, or coordination issues.
Ignoring Time Gating and Lockout Management
Rare Enchanted Ink is tightly tied to daily and weekly systems, yet many players treat farming as a free-for-all. Burning through all dungeon entries on low-efficiency runs early in the week is a classic mistake. It locks you out when buffs, guild bonuses, or optimized groups become available later.
Plan your lockouts like a raid calendar. Save high-value entries for peak efficiency windows, coordinated groups, or buff uptime. Ink generation is as much about when you farm as how you farm.
Solo Players Forcing Group Content (and Vice Versa)
Another efficiency killer is playing against your own strengths. Solo players forcing group dungeons deal with queue times, coordination failures, and uneven DPS. Group-focused players running solo elites waste their comp advantages and support synergies.
Match the content to your playstyle. Solo players should lean into predictable elite routes and low-mechanic instances. Groups should abuse composition synergy, chain pulls, and planned dungeon rotations to maximize ink drops per session.
Misunderstanding RNG and Chasing “Hot” Methods
Ink drops are RNG-based, but that doesn’t mean every dry streak signals a bad method. Players frequently abandon solid farms after a few unlucky runs and jump to whatever the community is hyping that day. This constant switching resets efficiency and wastes setup time.
Stick to proven methods long enough for averages to stabilize. Measure success in ink per hour over multiple sessions, not emotional reactions to short-term luck. Consistency beats superstition every time.
Neglecting Supporting Systems That Multiply Ink Gains
Rare Enchanted Ink does not exist in a vacuum. Players who ignore guild buffs, consumables, or activity bonuses are effectively farming with a permanent debuff. This mistake compounds over weeks and quietly costs massive amounts of ink.
Always stack systems. Run ink farms during guild bonuses, use drop-enhancing consumables, and align activities with active events. Small percentage boosts add up fast when ink is the end goal.
Burning Out by Treating Ink as a Mandatory Grind
Finally, many players mentally frame Rare Enchanted Ink as an endless chore. This leads to burnout, sloppy play, and eventually quitting the farm entirely. Ironically, this is the least efficient outcome of all.
Rotate ink farming with other progression goals like gear drops, skill upgrades, or PvP preparation. Throne and Liberty is built around parallel systems, and ink should support your progression, not dominate it.
At the end of the day, Rare Enchanted Ink rewards planning more than raw effort. Players who farm with intent, respect their time gates, and play to their strengths will always outpace those who simply grind harder. Master the system, and the ink will follow.