Gearing Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAA3FUpbd9U&feature=youtu.be
Use the gear Folio (default keybind Shift-I) to explore different gear and its stats.
Step 0) Pre-Level 55
Don't worry about your gear too much during this time. You will basically use whatever you get from the story quest and mob drops while questing. This gear will all be quickly replaced.
Step 1) Catch-up Gear
Claim your catch up gear and equip your desired class' catch up gear.
The catchup gear does not include a piece for your waist or arms slots, so you will want to find any cheap piece of world gear to use in these slots that has stats that fit your class. For now, make sure you keep these pieces at Rare or below or else they will disrupt your Armor grade bonus (see image for example and more info).
A cheap, but good option to fill these slots early on is Lost Garden Gear. Open the Auction House -> Select Armor -> Search "Auroria" to view all these pieces. Lost Garden Gear provides decent stats and a equip passive that boosts a specific ability for each skill tree depending on the piece.
The catch-up gear also does not include accessories. You may farm some cheap ones off mobs while leveling or you could just buy them from the auction house.
The catchup box also comes with some starter gems, you will want to gem your catch up gear with Toughness (legs) and Resilience (chest). These stats will increase your odds of survival in PvP encounters significantly. The first 2 slots have a 100% chance of slotting, so use the tier 4 (pink) gems for these slots. For all the remaining slots, use tier 3 (blue gems) as they continue to have a 100% success rate on the remaining slots while tier 4 gems do not. You could technically use tier 4 for these slots, but you may break all your gems and waste a lot of time gemming gear you should be planning on replacing!
As for other gems, it may be better to just save up until you upgrade out of your catch-up gear rather than sinking more money into gear you should aim to replace.
Step 2) Upgrading Core Pieces (Usually to Divine)
Disclaimer: It's not set in stone and depends on many factors such as the in game economy and the amount of time you can play - but, due to the starting strength of catch-up gear, your most cost effective "first upgrade" may be pretty expensive. It's important to note that you can usually sell Crafted Gear (Ayanad, Delphinad, etc...) to make some of your investment back, while this is not always the case for Obsidian Gear. For example, if you craft and equip a Celestial Tier 4 Obsidian piece it becomes bound and the only way to sell it would be to upgrade it to Tier 5. It's unlikely anyone would buy this as their money would just be better spent on Divine Tier 1.
Weapon
It's often recommended that players try to get a Divine or Celestial Ayanad weapon as their first upgrade. Divine will be more expensive, but it will be an effective weapon while you continue to upgrade the rest of your gear. If you choose to get a Celestial Ayanad instead, you may enjoy a short-term upgrade, but you'll be stuck doing less damage while upgrading the remainder of your gear. However, you could buy a Celestial Ayanad and then sell it soon after once you can afford a Divine Ayanad all together.
Generally, you want to upgrade your main-hand weapon first as it is the most cost effective option. If you're a shield user, this advice may also apply to your shield.
Armor
For armor, the same logic for upgrading to a Celestial vs Divine piece applies, except you cannot always sell Obsidian Gear to make back your investment if you decide to go for a cheaper option. As a general rule of thumb, try to avoid sinking money into gear you plan to quickly replace.
Once you've upgraded your weapon, you'll next want to upgrade your chest and leg armor pieces. They have the largest stat pools and also are where you slot in your toughness and resilience gems (very important). Before you gem this gear, make sure you upgrade them to the maximum desired tier. For Celestial Obsidian gear, this is usually Tier 4, while for Divine it is Tier 5.
For MOST people and classes, you will use obsidian gear for most of your pieces (certain players may prefer crafted gear for specific classes). However, there are no obsidian pieces for the waist and arm slots, so you will have to use either world gear or crafted gear. For example, most classes will use "Serp Sleeves" in their arm slot. Mages and healers will generally use a Cruel-Glory Sash in their belt slot while other classes may prefer a crafted belt or an Auroria belt with a bonus to a specific ability. Ask around, browse the gear score list, see what best fits your class and playstyle.
| Class | Gear Type | Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Mage | Cloth | Obsidian gear for your main 5 pieces, Serp Sleeves + Cruel Glory Sash or a crafted sash. |
| Melee | Leather | Obsidian gear / 4 piece Gale/Flame for your main 5 pieces, Serp Sleeves + crafted belt. |
| Archer | Leather | Obsidian gear / 4 piece Gale for your main 5 pieces, Serp Sleeves + crafted belt. |
| Healer | Cloth | Obsidian gear for your main 5 pieces, Serp Sleeves + Cruel Glory Sash or a crafted sash. |
| Tank | N/A | N/A |
If you don't know what these words mean, read the Gearing section on the Getting Started page and rest of this guide.
Accessories
This is also a good point to get started on your Dream Ring quest line if it's a good fit for your class. Healers may prefer the Ynystere Ring. Most classes will also want to start working on their Halcyona Necklace.
These pieces mentioned above mostly require time and effort rather than gold, so you are able to work on them while saving up gold to upgrade your other gear. To fill in your other accessory slots, consider library accessories, mob drop accessories, or some cheap crafted accessories.
Step 3) Upgrading Remaining Gear (Usually to Divine), Gemming
As you're gearing, if you aren't sure what to upgrade next or need some inspiration, take a look at other players and the top 100 gear score list to see what gear or gems other players may be going for your class!
Once you've upgraded your weapons, chest, and legs, go ahead and continue upgrading your other pieces.
Once upgraded, consider gemming them with either crafted or prestige gems. Prestige gems are called Lunascales and have a 100% slot chance, whereas crafted gems are only 100% on the first 2 slots. Some players will use crafted gems for their first 2 slots, as they offer larger bonuses but are more expensive, and then use prestige gems to fill the remaining slots.
If you haven't already, now is a good time to upgrade your accessories, instrument, bow, and other off pieces.
Step 3.5) Costume and Undergarments
Since your gear is pretty good once you complete Step 3, it may be more cost efficient to start progressing your costume and undergarments before going for additional gear upgrades.
Step 4) Repeat Step 2 & 3 But With Better Gear
Next on the list may be an Epic Ayanad Weapon, Epic Tier 7 Weapon, Epic armor, or a Legendary weapon if you're super rich or lucky. If you get to this point you don't need to be using this guide most likely.