General

[quote=sburdette]Also what do the different tiers like unique and legendary do?[/quote]
Unique enables potential lines to get 9% on a line for level 71-150 equips. I am not sure if it is up to 150 but I know SweetH2O is in the next level range. Unique shoes above level 70 can get decent haste. Unique pants above level 70 can get decent hyper body. Unique hats above level 70 can get decent mystic door.
Legendary enables potential lines to get 12% on a line for level 71-150 equips. Legendary shoes are able to get decent combat orders. Legendary hats can get decent advanced blessing.

This cubing guide is outdated, but it works I guess? http://www.basilmarket.com/MapleStory-Guide-Potential-Items-345.html

So, basics of cubing. First you need to understand how much meso you're willing to put into your character.

Roughly speaking the order goes like this, though it varies depending on your class and cubing luck.

0-1 B: Can't afford to cube
1-10 B: Too risky to cube for tier ups, just buy pre cubed or unique/leg. Unique Potential scrolls are exceptionally good. It can cost over 2 B to unique an item with cubes, Unique pots generally cost 400-800 M per success.
10 B- 30 B: Focus on unique and getting 9%+ lines
30-100 B: This is approximately equivalent to 300k-1 M NX. At this point, you have reasonably good chances of getting legendary, and having enough left over to cube the primary line to the stat you want. 15%+ per equip.
100B+: All legendary, cube for at least 2 useful lines. 21%+ per equip.

Now, onto the types of equips. As of the most recent patch, end game equips are Gollux, Tyrants, CRA, and SW Face/Eye.

In order of what you should cube.

Weapon/Secondary/Emblem: These three have the greatest affect on your range. If nothing else, get these to % att/boss. Scrolling a weapon is a whole other guide in itself, but at the moment there are no good scrolls out. Either wait for new scrolls comparable to the 10 att 3 all stat ones, or use scroll traces 100/70% option to make a placeholder weapon. I won't go into further detail, I'm sure other people can help you out from that point.

Gollux: Has the benefit of being both tradeable until equip and for all classes. Therefore you can cube until you get a decent amount of stat and if you don't like it, just trade with someone else. Always cube before you scroll, since it's easier to find someone to trade with if your item is unscrolled. Once you have the % you want, perfect scroll with Gollux scrolls/slates. I don't suggest equipping before perfecting, it hurts the value quite a bit. Use Reinforced if your budget is 10-100 B. Superior if 100B+.

There is a exception. If you have a lot of clean reinforced pendants/belts and Adv. Gollux scrolls, feel free to yolo scroll some in hopes of getting lucky. If it turns out badly, oh well, just fuse and try again. Yolo two hammers first to see how it goes, since hammers are cheaper than Gollux scrolls. If you manage to scroll something very well, you can unique it later and sell for profit, or just sell as it is.

Tyrants: Order of cubing/scrolling is less important since you're probably not going to be trading/blowing up your Tyrants. Enhance when convenient, AKA, when superior wards are in the shop and you have 5 star EEs. Preferably buy 5+ starred and unique though, since that will save you pain if your superior wards decide they want to fail 10 times in a row. You should replace your Tyrant belt with a reinforced/superior Gollux belt instead, if you have less than 30/100 B funding.

CRA: Preferably buy pre-cubed and scrolled. Otherwise always scroll before cubing and equipping, because CRA is cheap and easy to replace. You should scroll with Chaos, CoGs, Occult att scrolls, or all stat anniversary/prime scrolls. Special note for Pirates and Thieves, don't equip until you're finished cubing as well, since %dex, % str, and % all stat are useful for different classes. This also applies to warriors because of DAs I suppose, but most people would just cube over even 30 % HP regardless.

SW Face/Eye: SW is a little weird because it's both untradeable and an accessory. You can either scroll for prime all stat or att. I prefer att as it's much cheaper. Either go Occult all the way, or land 1 occult and yolo a chaos to see if it goes well. If not, just fuse and retry. After you manage to get +2/3 att on the chaos, stop and cube. If it goes % int, you don't lose much by innocencing. If it goes any other stat, you saved a lot of innocence scrolls.

Alternatively, since SW comes epic, you can just settle for 4 or 7% equips if you're in the 1-10 B range of funding.

Ya you should do what the first guy said Wait till a good attack scroll comes from an event for your weapon but you can start working on your other equips meanwhile.

boy3005 Thanks for the help.
kimee27 I said I was gonna fund it so yeah... I dont need 150bil asap as I am gonna do one or two pieces of gear at a time. No need to rush making a godly character as this will be my main even after elemental void nerf. I love tanky classes