Expert Salvage Kit

Summary
Expert Salvage Kits are functionally identical to normal Salvage Kits, except for the following benefits:
 * Rare crafting materials can only be salvaged using Expert or Superior kits.
 * Salvaging runes from armor and weapon upgrades require Expert or Superior kits. This is only necessary if you intend to use or sell the rune in the PvE game; to simply unlock the rune or upgrade, you just need to identify the item.

For more information on salvaging and upgrading, including a value comparison of the different kinds of salvage kit, see Salvage.

Where to Get It
Expert salvage kits are sold for by merchants in virtually every outpost, with the notable exceptions of the initial towns for each campaign. These include Ascalon City, Shing Jea Monastery, and Kamadan, and the closest places to these towns with merchant selling expert salvage kits are the Great Northern Wall in Tyria; Tsumei Village in Cantha; and the Sunspear Great Hall in Elona.

In the Factions and Nightfall campaigns, expert salvage kits can also be obtained from Quartermasters in exchange for 3 collectable quest reward items, like Monastery Credits or Battle Commendations. Quest reward items from later in the game, like Imperial Commendation in Factions or Kournan Coins in Nightfall, can also be exchanged for expert salvage kits. However, their respective collectors will also give superior salvage kits for 5 of these quest items, which is obviously a better deal.

How To Use
Double-click the Expert Salvage Kit icon, (You will hear an unzipping sound) then click the item you wish to salvage. The item is then converted into a crafting material, or if more than one salvage choice is available, a selection window will appear where you may choose the upgrade item(s) or the crafting material. There will also be the option to cancel the salvage attempt. Note: One empty slot in inventory is required prior to any salvage attempt.

If the salvage attempt is for crafting material, the original item along with any upgrades will be destroyed and replaced by the crafting material. The benefit to using an Expert Salvage kit is to obtain a rare crafting material, or a larger amount of the common crafting material. Example: Using an Expert Salvage kit on a Crude Axe may yield a Steel Ingot rather than an Iron Ingot.

If the salvage attempt is for any kind of Armor or Weapon upgrade other than the crafting material, (ie: Rune, Insignia, etc.) there is a 50% chance that the original item being salvaged will survive. This is highly desireable when there is more than one upgrade you wish to try and salvage from the same item. The chance of survival will increase between 50% and 92% (max), the higher your current rank is in the Wisdom or Treasure Hunter title tracks. For each rank, the chance of an item surviving the salvage attempt will increase by 3%. The bonus from both tracks is stackable.

It is not known if the salvage bonus also applies to the chance of getting rare crafting materials.