Stop Undervaluing Gear

Skills are not the end all be all, equipment matters even more.

Last Modified Date:

16 Apr 2026

Disclaimer: I will utilize my results from the questing simulator to prove my points, but you do not need to understand the quest simulator to read this article.

The workings are there for people to cross-check my workings and to improve my credibility. You can skip over the workings and just trust the numbers I provide or check the comments to see if anyone tries to discredit my workings.

If you want to learn how to use and understand the tool I used, check the recommended articles list at the end of this article.

More often than not, I see people heavily emphasize on the skills of their heroes and think that skills are the most important thing when it comes to hero building. Unfortunately, that is not entirely the case. While skills are important, they are not as important as most people make them out to be.

Equipment actually matters just as much, if not more, than skills when it comes to building good heroes. I’m not just talking about high tier or high rarity equipment either, I mean picking the right equipment with the right spirit combinations can and will make a big difference. A good combination of equipment can be easily obtained just from referring to the Best-in-Slot page that I try my best to keep up to date.

One thing I want to reiterate is that skills do matter. Getting great skills is significantly harder than it is to get great equipment. This is mainly the reason why most people emphasize the importance of skills but there are a lot of misinformation spreading around where people talk about how skills are the most important aspects when it comes to heroes, which is plainly false.

Both skills and equipment are important but there is definitely more of an emphasis on equipment than skills do.

In this article, I will showcase the differences between having the right equipment VS the wrong equipment. I will also showcase the differences between having very strong skills VS skillsets that are slightly weaker. The results for both should hopefully let you see that good equipment matters more than just good skills.

What makes an equipment good?

Simple, defensive stats. The current end game meta for questing success rate, is to build your heroes more defensively with equipment that heavily leans on defensive stats over offensive ones. This is why you will see that the BiS page often recommends equipment that provides defensive stats whenever it’s an option with few exceptions.

For all heroes, it is simply DEF + HP while greens have an additional option which is EVA. For reds, rangers and berserkers can utilize EVA very well.

Understanding the test scenarios

Before I can show you all the numbers, I need all of us to be in the same headspace. I want all of us to know that I will be using the following settings when doing all the tests.

Assumptions

I will be using the following across every single tests including the ones in the test examples below.

Level 40 Promoted Heroes with 40 of each seeds
Rank 11 Unpromoted Champions with 40 of each seeds
Flawless rarity on everything
Barriers will be disabled as that is not the focus

Difficulties

This part is to make sure everyone understands the four main quest zones and their difficulty. I provided the success rates for heroes that I have along with the equipment I find to be near optimal for success rates.

1. Ancient Jungle on Extreme

2. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Legendary mini-boss modifier

3. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Huge mini-boss modifier

4. Ancient Jungle Boss on Extreme

Here are the following success rates for various teams against the same settings so everyone has an understanding of how hard the quest zones are.

Remember: These are NOT the test results. These are just the numbers for you to compare so you know just how hard these quest difficulties are.

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	98.37%	71.57%	90.63%
Team 2	100%	98.19%	97.23%	93.23%
Team 3	100%	98.38%	95.68%	94.17%

Workings

Team 1

Yuki Note: This team received quite the substantial nerf since I used one of the weaker champions for quest success Sia. She does provide a lot of value to teams because of her champion ability to get more loot but that also means that she’s harder to work with.

Additional note, replacing my spellknight’s weapon and spell for an epic weapon and an epic spell pushes Huge success rate up to 98%, so even if you get low success rates in flawless rarity, just improving one or two high impact items will push rates up significantly!

Hero 1

Hero 2

Hero 3

Champion 1

Results:

Jungle Extreme

Ancient Jungle – Legendary Mini Boss

Ancient Jungle – Huge Mini Boss

Jungle Boss

Team 2

Hero 1

Hero 2

Hero 3

Champion 1

Results

Ancient Jungle – Extreme

Ancient Jungle – Legendary Mini Boss

Ancient Jungle – Huge Mini Boss

Ancient Jungle Boss – Extreme

Team 3

Hero 1

Hero 2

Hero 3

Champion 1

Results

Ancient Jungle – Extreme

Ancient Jungle – Legendary Mini Boss

Ancient Jungle – Huge Mini Boss

Ancient Jungle Boss – Extreme

The key takeaway is that huge mini bosses and the jungle boss are the two hardest quest zones since those typically get lower quest success rates when compared to Legendary mini bosses or Jungle Extreme which was cleared with 100% success rate.

Tests

Same skills, different equipment

Team 1: Good equipment & Spirits

Gun: T15 Acidifier-X

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Gauntlet: T15 Xenotype Forelimbs

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Team 2: Bad equipment & spirits

Catalyst: T15 Darkensmog

Spell: T15 Chapter Cauchemar

Gauntlet: T15 Xenotype Forelimbs

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Team 3: Bad equipment, spirits, and no defensive skills

This team is additional because I couldn’t believe how big of a difference the results were, and I know that some people would say that the skills for the 2nd team was “bad” because it was too defensive or that I needed to use a “strong” tank.

So this team would have the same exact gear from team 2 but without the defensive skills and the chieftain now uses 6 Mammoth spirits instead of ouroboros (The sim doesn’t have krampus spirits yet). Chieftains have the HIGHEST threat in the game while Mammoth spirits add an additional 10 threat per piece up to 70 total because idols double the effects of spirits.

The Astramancer showcased is the leaderboard Astramancer maxed for star power. The difference in star power for mine is that mine is level 40 with 40 of each seeds in flawless gear while leaderboard builds are level 50 with 80 of each seeds in legendary gear.

Gun: T15 Acidifier-X

Catalyst: T15 Darkensmog

Spell: T15 Chapter Cauchemar

Gauntlet: T15 Xenotype Forelimbs

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

As a reminder, these are the various difficulties that I am testing these teams in

Difficulties

1. Ancient Jungle on Extreme

2. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Legendary mini-boss modifier

3. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Huge mini-boss modifier

4. Ancient Jungle Boss on Extreme

Results:

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	98.59%	67.12%	95.79%
Team 2	88.41%	20.37%	0.02%	11.77%
Team 3	68.42%	19.40%	0.00%	8.59%

Workings (Lots of hero sim)

Team 1

Sim Strings

Results

Team 2

Sim Strings

Results

Team 3

Sim Strings

Results

Same equipment, different skills

Team 1: Good skills

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Spell: T15 Ghost Trap

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Amulet: T15 Elephant Amulet

Spell: T15 Ghost Trap

Team 2: Mediocre skills

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Spell: T15 Ghost Trap

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Team 3: Bad skills

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Spell: T15 Ghost Trap

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Amulet: T15 Elephant Amulet

Spell: T15 Ghost Trap

As a reminder, these are the various difficulties that I am testing these teams in

Difficulties

1. Ancient Jungle on Extreme

2. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Legendary mini-boss modifier

3. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Huge mini-boss modifier

4. Ancient Jungle Boss on Extreme

Results

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	98.66%	76.98%	93.08%
Team 2	99.95%	42.01%	2.23%	7.24%
Team 3	96.38%	0.24%	0.00%	0.00%

Workings (Lots of hero sim)

Team 1

Sim String

Sia|11|40|Avatar (DEF/HP) – T14|Flawless|35 / Tier 14|Tarrasque Spirit (+20% DEF, -50% Break Chance)|40|40|40|Air|No|Aura of Inspiration (DEF/HP) – T15|Flawless|35 / Tier 14|Air|Tarrasque Spirit (+20% DEF, -50% Break Chance)|

Results

Team 2

Sim String

Results

Team 3

Sim String

Results

Legendary equipment setups

This time, I will take the worst performing teams from the earlier tests, gear them in full legendary with the same equipment I showed with the same skills just to see the max potential of “bad skills” and “bad equipment”!

Then I will take the worst of both worlds and put on bad equipment with bad skills!

Team 1: Bad Skills

Amulet: T15 Elephant Amulet

Gauntlet: T15 Xenotype Forelimbs

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing Spirits: Ouroboros

Team 2: Bad Equipment

Catalyst: T15 Darkensmog

Spell: T15 Ghost Trap

Gauntlet: T15 Xenotype Forelimbs

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing spirits: Ouroboros

Team 3: Bad Skills & Equipment

Gauntlet: T15 Xenotype Forelimb

Idol: T15 Jaguar Statuette

Missing Spirits: Ouroboros

Catalyst: T15 Darkensmog

Spell: T15 Chapter Cauchemar

As a reminder, these are the various difficulties that I am testing these teams in

Difficulties

1. Ancient Jungle on Extreme

2. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Legendary mini-boss modifier

3. Ancient Jungle on Extreme with Huge mini-boss modifier

4. Ancient Jungle Boss on Extreme

Results

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	99.99%	96.33%	99.81%
Team 2	99.98%	84.87%	46.93%	69.39%
Team 3	40.87%	1.67%	0.00%	0.24%

Workings (Lots of Quest Sim)

Bad Skills

Sim Strings

Results

Bad Equipment

Sim Strings

Results

Bad Skills & Equipment

Sim Strings

Results

Conclusion

Table 1: Same Skills, Different Equipment

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	98.59%	67.12%	95.79%
Team 2	88.41%	20.37%	0.02%	11.77%
Team 3	68.42%	19.40%	0.00%	8.59%

This table shows the results when changing out the equipment while keeping the skills the same except for Team 3 which had their skills changed to be 100% offensive.

Team 1 showcases a set of heroes with good skills and good equipment. Team 2 showcases the same set of heroes but with their equipments changed to offensive based equipment prioritizing offensive stats and star power. Team 3 takes this a step further and changes their defensive skills into offensive ones.

Table 2: Same Equipment, Different Skills

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	98.66%	76.98%	93.08%
Team 2	99.95%	42.01%	2.23%	7.24%
Team 3	96.38%	0.24%	0.00%	0.00%

This table shows the results when changing out the skills while keeping the equipment mostly the same.

Team 1 showcases a set of heroes with good skills as the baseline. Team 2 showcases a set of heroes with weaker skillsets than the first team but still decent overall. Team 3 showcases a set of heroes with exclusively bronze skills.

The interesting thing to note is that even the “worst” team here can clear extreme jungle with 96.38% success rate which significantly outperforms the setup with good skills but poor equipment choice from table 1 which only achieved 88.41% success.

Table 3: Legendary Test

	1	2	3	4
Team 1	100%	99.99%	96.33%	99.81%
Team 2	99.98%	84.87%	46.93%	69.39%
Team 3	40.87%	1.67%	0.00%	0.24%

This table shows the results when at max potential in full legendary equipment.

Team 1 showcases a team with bad skills but correct equipment. Team 2 showcases a team with amazing skills but poor equipment choice. Team 3 showcases a team with both bad skills and poor equipment choice.

From the results shown, it can be inferred that even with bad skills, you have a much higher chance of clearing content as long as the equipment you pick is good.

What are the key takeaways? Even with good skills, you will struggle for quests if you continue to ignore equipment and pick the wrong equipment.

2 replies on “Stop Undervaluing Gear”

Dear Yuuki,

Agree 100%. Idols with titan spirit are nearly a cheat code to the game, and can even give pure crit build casters a healthy 2k hp margin, while reducing damage by only 30% or so. Desserts with hp are also amazing. Hp spellbooks on warlocks helps make them a lot less fragile. Rock Stompers and Mundra’s helm on spell knights are really, really nice. No one like’s Mundra’s gear, but it is cheap, and gives a nice boost on the only thing of genuine threat; bosses. Grandmasters can use both Torc of Peace and idols. Incredible.

Idols with titan spirit wreck star power, but make the hero perform so much better. The star power calculator vastly undervalues hp. I don’t have any hero less than 1,500hp, and my grandmasters are running 3,000 while being full crit build.

I can’t imagine running Extreme in blue gear, but there you go. Each loss to a mini-boss is almost always a lost key, so mostly legendaries for me. Anyway, great article, and fun :) Ty. Cattails

I almost forgot how pay to win this game is. Getting 1100 extra HP just from upgrading from flawless to legendary gears is absurd. It throws all the skill synergy and careful planning out of the window. Your heroes might as well wear credit cards as equipments.

What makes an equipment good?

Understanding the test scenarios

Assumptions

Difficulties

Tests

Conclusion

Recommended Articles

Highly relevant

Good reads

2 replies on “Stop Undervaluing Gear”

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