Obikin89's Requiem for Neverwinter
MOD 21

Equipment

Equipment have very misleading stats : they don't simply improve your stats, they rebalance them towards the stats which are indicated at the cost of all of the others. What really matters is their Item Level and their Equip Bonus. As you can balance your stats with enchantments, runestones, mount equip power, boons, etc, I will only display the Item Level and Equip Power of each item on this page. Item Level is meaningless in scaled content (leveling areas and almost every dungeon), and becomes less and less important as it gets better (5k item level doubles [+100%] your Damage and HP when you start the game, but only improve them by 10% when you are at 50k Total Item Level). On the other hand, Equip Powers are everything in scaled content, and become the main thing to look at when your Item Level is good enough for the content you are running. You'll see that half of the Equip Powers make absolutely no sense, but whatever, it's not like Cryptic has ever had proper game designers.

Stats

Equipment stats are very misleading, as a bonus in one stat only means a deficit in every other stat. Your total amount of stat percentages will always remain the same with any piece of gear equipped, or with nothing equipped at all, at least until you get pieces with Equip Bonuses. The only gain comes from their Equip Power and their Item Level (which means nothing in scaled content, i.e. the leveling adventures and almost every dungeon, skirmish, and trial, but boosts Damage and Hit Points in regular content, i.e. high level adventures and campaigns, Vault of Stars, Trial of the Mad Mage, and Zariel's Challenge).

The formula to understand how your stat percentages will change with a piece of gear is :

This also works for stats which are not written on the item : these stats will actually decrease for a total equivalent to the bonuses you gain.

Example : an item which gives 1500 item level, 1350 combined ratings, 1125 Defense and Accuracy, actually increases Defense and Accuracy by 0.975% [(1125 + 1350 - 1500)/1000] and decreases all of your 13 other stats by 0.15% [(0 + 1350 - 1500)/1000]. Your total amount of percentages will stay unchanged (0.975 x2 - 0.15 x13 = 0)... At least that would be the case if there was not the shittiest stat ever in a video game : Forte, which reports its bonuses and maluses to other stats (so your main stat will be reduced by 0.075% [0.15/2], and your two secondary stats will be reduced by 0.0375% [0.15/4]... But since the Forte stat does nothing by itself (except for healers who have to deal with it...), let's forget about it, and only look at your important stats. Just remember that you'll always have a malus in your stats boosted by Forte when you equip anything that does not improve Forte, but the total, if we exclude Forte, will stay unchanged (except for healers, because they hate healers at Cryptic Studios and everything has to be more complicated for them).

You can look at the Stat Calculator to see how an item will impact your build : fill your stats at the top, then go to the bottom and input the stats of your current item and the stats of the item you want to replace it with. You'll see how this impacts your damage, healing, and survivability !

Full Builds

I will not cover full builds on this page, as everyone has different items and balancing your stats with these items would end up in quite different builds, especially in regards to enchantments, runestones, and insignias. I will only display different items which you can pick and incorporate to your build. There's very little synergy in the game anyway, so pick whatever boosts your stats/damage/survivability/healing the most, then balance your stats accordingly.

If you are looking for full builds, you can look at Rainer's Character Builder. Many people have shared their builds with this.

There's actually 1 build I can sugest, for the fun of it. It's called the Suicidal Fighter/Healer, or the Paladin of Ilmater, or the Bathe in the Barbarian's Blood build (depending on the class, you absolutely need a taunt to play it efficiently) :

The more Critical Strike the better, hit monsters 5 times with quick at-wills, then use your Daily Power, then become the best healer in the group for a short time ! I let you discover these pieces of equipment below (artifacts and enchantments on other pages).

While Leveling

While leveling, just pick whatever you find. The only thing that makes a real difference at this point is item level. Buy items with Seals of the Adventurer along the way, and you should be able to stand your ground (as long as you are careful about your positionning).

Do not use Refinement Points and materials to upgrade anything until you reach maximum level. It would be a waste of resources, and you'll need tons of them later.

At max level

(haven't changed the picture but I still have the exact same items, the only difference is I'm level 20 and my item level is 50k now...)

At max level, you will find Equipment with Equip Powers. These are straight bonuses which are (generally) not associated with a malus in other stats, contrarily to stats displayed above. The Equip Power is really all that matters on equipment. That said, Forte and Outgoing Healing are so rare (because Craptyc forgot about healers with the mod 20 rework wreckage) that I indicated which pieces have these stats.

Note : Two identical Equip powers usually won't stack. The exception is : identical powers with +% damage to Ranged or Melee attacks can stack twice.

Note (2) : Damage bonuses do not improve healing as they do not apply to the Damage stat but to your outgoing damage.

Note (3) : Getting 5000 Power in specific situations sounds nice, but it's much better to have Power capped in any situation, as it's both the best offensive and healing stat in the game. If you want better stats in specific situations, it's best to boost your secondary stats (Critical Strike, Accuracy...), and always benefit the most from your primary stats (Power, Combat Advantage, Outgoing Healing, Awareness, Defense).

Note (4) : the rating system really makes tons of items subpar, simply because ratings cap easily. Percentages are generally way better, as you'll never be able to benefit fully from large ratings.

Note (5) : what follows is only a selection of items that I consider interesting. There are many other options, though I do not think they are worth running after, or I missed them entirely. And there will be new items which will be better than these in the not so distant future (but I won't cover them). Keep in mind that "best in slot" is only my opinion, and you may find items that work better for you.

Once you have your "definitive" items for the current mod, do not forget Armor Kits and Jewels !

Weapons

Only improve your weapons to Epic max rank, in order to unlock the second enchantment slot. The gain of item level from Epic to Legendary is not worth it and you gain nothing else : the set bonus is the same at Uncommon or Legendary quality.

Best in slot :

Newer Player choices :

Other choices :

Weapon Modifications

Artifact Weapons (which are the ones you can upgrade), have modifications you can pick. It costs 4 Cubes of Augmentation (bought in the Wondrous Bazaar for 10k AD each) to randomly unlock and pick a new modification, and 5k AD to go back to a previously unlocked modification. Furthermore, the Off-hand Weapon has a modification you can improve. It costs 1 Cube of Augmentation to roll a value. If the value is higher than your current one, it will be changed, otherwise it will be left unchanged. This is random, with a maximum, so it's easy to boost your stat at first, but more complicated when the value is already high.

Main Hand modification :

Off-hand first modification :

Tanks should pick Incoming Healing or Forte. Healers should pick Forte. And Damage Dealers should pick either Recharge Speed or Critical Severity.

Off-hand second modification :

Pick whatever you need the most to balance your stats.

Best in slot :

Newer Player choices :

Other choices :

Best jokes from Cryptic :

Armor

Best in slot :

Newer Player choices :

Other choices :

Best jokes from Cryptic :

Arms

Best in slot (and Newer Player choices) :

Other choices :

Cryptic's best jokes :

Feet

Best in slot :

Newer Player choices :

Other choices :

Best jokes from Cryptic :

Rings

Most of the rings shown below have a legendary and an epic variant. Only the stats for the Legendary variant will be shown, but the stats for the Epic version are about the same (Equip Power is exactly the same, stats are very slightly lower). So do not worry about only getting the Epic one. The Legendary variant is usually not worth the cost. Pick your ring depending on what you need the most and what content you can run.

Rings from the Vault of Stars

Rings from Garyx the Unforgivable (The Scab) and Siegebreaker Mog’dorath (Stygian Dock), in Avernus Wastes :

Rings from the Redeemed Citadel Event :

Rings from ToMM (high end trial), available on the Auction House :

Others :

Shirt

Best in Slot :

Newer Player choices :

Other Choices :

Trousers

Best in Slot :

Newer Player choices :

Other Choices :

Modifications

Equipment can be modified with Kits, on Head, Armor, Arms, and Feet pieces, and Jewels on Neck and Waist pieces, and Rings. These Kits and Jewels boost one of your stats a bit, and can be crafted at your workshop with high level professions (Greater at level 15, Major at level and 18). You can only put 1 modification on your equipment, and it can be overwritten. We will only focus on Major Kits and Jewels +1s, as Greater ones are just the same but not as good, and with the proper tools (Cobalt are good enough), you can make the +1 version 100% of the time. These cost AD to craft, and without the proper artisan (-75% commission multiplier, though -50% only for Artificing), it is preferable to buy them directly from the Auction House.

This is crazy, but modifications actually increase your total stat percentages as you'll get 880 stat points for 44 item level (which is 20 stat points per item level, while any proper item gives 15 stat points per item level). Not enough to counterbalance the detriment of your summoned companion and collars, but still something they failed in a positive manner for the players (which means nerf is coming soon).

Kits on Head, Armor, Arms, and Feet

Here is the list of all of the Major Kits +1, with the profession and artisans you need to craft them for cheap :

These are not very expensive with the proper artisans, so they are perfect to balance your stats !

Jewels on Neck, Waist, and Rings

Here is the list of all the Major Jewels +1. All of them are made with Jewelcrafting, using Haie Xilomne (common artisan). Alternatively, Aiha Amaphilel (rare artisan) is almost as good (only lacks passion project) :

Awareness Jewels are fantastic for Tanks and Healers. Stamina Regeneration can be an interesting choice for Tanks, but at the cost of stat points, and the Elven Battle armor enchantment should give you enough Stamina Regeneration in the first place. Of course, capping Combat Advantage takes priority for Damage Dealers, but Awareness can be good for them too, especially in high end trials, in which you'll always take combat advantage damage, even when the monsters do not surround you.