How gear works
Ten slots, five stats: a weapon, an off-hand, a head, a body, a back, a neck, two rings and two trinkets. A piece's stats come from three things only: its slot, its rarity and its item level. No random rolls.
The five stats
Power (damage and healing), Grit (health), Armour (less damage taken), Edge (crit chance) and Tempo (haste). What each point does, with a calculator
How many points
Points = round((item level + 2) × rarity × slot). Common pieces carry one stat, uncommon two (60/40), rare three (50/30/20), epic and up four (40/30/20/10), in the piece's own order.
| Rarity | × | Weapon | Body | Head | Off-hand | Back | Trinket | Neck | Ring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 0.7 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Uncommon | 1 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Rare | 1.3 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Epic | 1.55 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| Legendary | 1.8 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
Points at item level 10. Slot weights: Weapon 0.9, Body 0.675, Head 0.525, Off-hand 0.45, Back 0.375, Trinket 0.375, Neck 0.26, Ring 0.23. You wear two trinkets and two rings, so a whole set of ten weighs 4.395.
Item level and the level to wear it
You can wear a piece at its own item level (a common one a level sooner), and never later than level 10: every Wreck piece needs level 10 and nothing more. Island drops come at the level of the mob that dropped them; Wreck pieces at 10 + 3 × the Wreck level, up to level 15 (item level 55). Every legendary is item level 60.
Forge stars
Every gear drop rolls the forge on top of its colour. Quest rewards never do.
| Stars | Name | Chance | Item levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★ | Salt-Forged | 1 in 20 | +3 |
| ★★ | Storm-Forged | 1 in 200 | +6 |
| ★★★ | Leviathan-Forged | 1 in 2,500 | +9 |
Tempering
At the forge in town, dungeon pieces only (any of the three dungeons' gear): +3 item levels a rank, up to 4 ranks. It never fails. A rank costs Tidesteel = round((item level + 2) × 3 × 2ranks it has), and Salvage 5 · 10 · 20 · 40. No temper takes a piece past the item level your best timed key drops, + 3. The key is the best your account has timed in either dungeon: with key 10 timed, the ceiling is item level 43. Nothing is tempered past item level 58, the highest ceiling any key opens, so a legendary never is; its forge stars still count.
Tidesteel comes from breaking dungeon pieces down at the forge: round((item level + 2) × rarity × 0.3), so a piece from a higher key gives more. Epics are usually worth more worn or sold. Island gear breaks down into Salvage at a fire instead.
Wear and repairs
Worn gear loses a point of durability every 2 kills you take part in, and 10% when you die. At zero it keeps its looks but gives no stats. Repair everything at any fire for Salvage: (100 − durability)% × (item level + 2) × 0.5, rounded up, a piece.
Rings and trinkets
A ring fits either ring slot and a trinket either trinket slot. A new one goes into an empty one first. With both full, the bag's menu asks which one it replaces (Equip in place of …); a right-click replaces the one worth less to your class.
Both worn trinkets work. Never two of the same, and one legendary trinket at most: a trinket that would clash goes in place of the one it clashes with (with both slots full, pick that one in the bag's menu). Two trinkets you use from a button share a 20 s lockout: using one puts the other out of reach for 20 s, or its own cooldown if that is longer. The bar's trinket button (T) uses the first of them.
In your bag
Click anything in your bag for what you can do with it: equip or use it, preview a piece of gear on you, break it down, split the stack, lock it, link it in chat, or destroy it. What can't be done where you stand is greyed out, with the reason. A right-click still uses or wears it, and a drag still moves it.
Ctrl + click (⌘ + click on a Mac) any piece of gear, in your bag, the Bank, a market listing, loot, a reward, a trade or a link in chat, and your character window shows it on you without wearing it, with what each number would change: green when it is better, red when worse. From your bag, Equip puts it on.
Gear binds to your character the first time you equip it, and you're asked first. Bound gear stays with that character: it can't be sold, traded or mailed, not even to your own characters. The Hold, breaking down, repairs and tempering take a bound piece as before. Bags never bind. A legendary never binds: it goes on without asking, and one you've worn still sells at the market once it's repaired.
A locked thing can't be broken down, destroyed, listed on the market or traded until you unlock it. The lock stays with it: worn, in the Hold, in a split stack. Recipes, repairs, cooking and using still take locked things, unlocked stacks first.
Island gear and junk break down into Salvage at a fire, a dungeon piece into Tidesteel at the forge: drag it onto the fire's panel or the forge's Break down tab, or pick Break down in its menu. Any piece can go, even one better than what you wear. Rare and better, forged or tempered pieces ask first.
Upgrades
The green arrow marks a piece worth more to your class than the one it would replace, and the fire's and the forge's spare gear follows the same rule. For a ring or a trinket, with both worn, it is the one worth less. A piece is worth what it adds to your whole sheet, every stat through its curve, on top of the rest of what you wear: for a damage dealer its damage (crits, with the class's crit rider, and haste count as much as they do for that class's damage), for a healer its healing, for the Guardian its survival first and its damage after. For damage dealers and healers health counts a little too. So a stat you already wear a lot of is worth less, and the same piece can be an upgrade on one character and spare on another of the same class.
A limit on gear power
In the Wreck and on the shared island, the total of your gear's points is capped by your progress. An honest set never reaches it; only a whole set bought far above your own runs gets trimmed.