If you’ve just started playing Epic 7, you might find yourself overwhelmed by the process of sorting and enhancing gear. Understanding which pieces to invest in and which ones to discard can significantly improve your overall gameplay. Below are some core guidelines for gear management, organized by different unit categories and gear purposes.
Unit Categories and Their Common Gear Builds
1. Tanks
Tanks are units that provide team mitigation, such as damage reduction and damage sharing. They commonly use:
- Sets: Speed, Protection, Immunity, HP, Effect Resistance, Defense
- Substats: HP%, Defense%, Effect Resistance, Speed (with minor Flat HP or Flat Defense)
- Main Stats (Right Side):
- Necklace: HP% or Defense%
- Ring: HP%, Defense%, or Effect Resistance
- Boots: Speed, HP%, or Defense%
2. Soul Weavers
Soul Weavers are the supports who sustain teams through healing, cleansing, reviving, and buffing. They commonly use:
- Sets: Speed, Immunity, Effect Resistance, HP, Defense
- Substats: HP%, Defense%, Effect Resistance, Speed (with minor Flat HP or Flat Defense)
- Main Stats (Right Side):
- Necklace: HP% or Defense%
- Ring: HP%, Defense%, or Effect Resistance
- Boots: Speed
3. Bruisers and DPS
Bruisers are units that lean on both offense and survivability. They often have self-sustain or defensive skills for longer fights. DPS units focus more on raw damage, sometimes needing higher speed to strike first. There are three main types of these units: Attack-scaling, Defense-scaling, and HP-scaling.
Commonly used sets include Destruction, Speed, Lifesteal, Counter, HP, Defense, Effect Resistance (for some units), Immunity, Penetration, Torrent, and Critical.
3.1 Attack-Scaling
- Substats: Attack%, HP%, Defense%, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Speed (Flat Attack can help certain full DPS builds)
- Main Stats (Right Side):
- Necklace: Crit Damage, Crit Chance, or Attack% (for non-crit units like Bomb Model Kanna, Summertime Iseria, and others who don’t require crit)
- Ring: Attack%
- Boots: Speed or Attack%
3.2 Defense-Scaling
- Substats: Defense%, HP%, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Speed (with minor Flat Defense possible)
- Main Stats (Right Side):
- Necklace: Crit Damage, Crit Chance, or Defense% (for non-crit units like Karina)
- Ring: Defense%
- Boots: Speed or Defense%
3.3 HP-Scaling
- Substats: HP%, Defense%, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Speed (with minor Flat HP possible)
- Main Stats (Right Side):
- Necklace: Crit Damage, Crit Chance, or HP% (for non-crit units like Alencia, ML Selene, and others)
- Ring: HP%
- Boots: Speed or HP%
4. Openers and Debuffers
Openers aim to take the first turn, either to apply initial damage or set up debuffs. Debuffers often operate at mid-speed, focusing on hindering the enemy over time. Some units can serve both roles.
Commonly used sets include Speed, Hit, Immunity, HP, Defense, Crit, Penetration, and Torrent (the last three usually for damage-dealing openers).
- Substats: Speed, Effectiveness, HP%, Defense%, Attack% (for damage openers), Crit Chance, Crit Damage
- Main Stats (Right Side):
- Fast Debuffer/Openers: Any main stat is fine if it yields the highest speed (necklace and ring). HP% or Effectiveness can be ideal, but Speed is mandatory on boots.
- Damage Openers:
- Necklace: Crit Chance or Crit Damage
- Ring: Attack%
- Boots: Speed
- Mid-Speed Debuffers:
- Necklace: HP%
- Ring: Effectiveness
- Boots: Speed
There are some units that can be built a bit differently. If you’re ever unsure if a piece of gear is worth rolling I recommend the Epic7DB Gear Checker Tool. This tool references the top player builds for each character and checks if the set, main stat, and substats are viable and gives you a list of the characters the piece might work on.
Equipment Score and When to Stop Upgrading
What is Equipment Score (ES)?
Equipment Score helps evaluate how well a piece has rolled in its substats. Higher rolls in percentage-based stats generally indicate better gear. Low rolls or multiple rolls into flat stats can diminish a gear’s potential.
Suggested Benchmarks
These are broad recommendations and vary between players based on gear depth:
- Left-Side Gear (Weapon, Helmet, Armor)
- Bruisers & DPS: ~90 ES or above (new players can aim for ~80)
- Tanks & Soul Weavers: ~80 ES or above (new players can aim for ~70)
- Openers: Focus on speed more than overall ES
- Right-Side Gear (Necklace, Ring, Boots)
- Bruisers & DPS: ~80 ES or above (new players can aim for ~70)
- Tanks & Soul Weavers: ~70 ES or above (new players can aim for ~60)
- Openers: Again, prioritize speed over ES
When to Discard Gear
For newer players, it can be confusing to know when to stop upgrading. Below are some general guidelines:
- If a piece rolls into unwanted stats before +9, consider dropping it.
- For Epic gear:
- Two unwanted rolls (like flat stats) before +9 is usually grounds for discarding.
- Three low rolls in a row is also a sign to let it go.
- If by +9 the gear’s equipment score is below ~50 for Bruisers/DPS or ~40 for Tanks/Soul Weavers, it’s typically not worth keeping.
Older or more experienced players often have stricter standards because they already have a broader selection of gear.
Speed Checking
“Speed checking” is the term for rolling a piece purely for speed substat, even if other substats are not useful.
- Purple Gear:
- If it fails to roll into speed at least once before +9, it’s usually discarded.
- Very new players might keep a piece with one roll into speed if they need something in the 13–16 speed range, but it’s less optimal.
- Epic Gear:
- Rolling into non-speed substats twice (assuming those substats are completely irrelevant) usually means discarding.
- If you’re desperate for speed gear, you might keep going and hope the remaining rolls hit high speed.
Final Thoughts
Gear management in Epic 7 is a gradual process. Early on, it’s fine to use lower-tier or “badly rolled” items to boost your overall combat potential. As you progress, your standards will rise naturally. Knowing when to stop upgrading and discard items saves resources that can be invested in better gear down the line.
If you have additional questions or want real-time advice, consider joining community discussions or streams where experienced players share gear-rolling tips. Good luck with your rolls, and may you land those perfect speed pieces!