Equipment System Overview
EverQuest Legends features a comprehensive gear system with multiple equipment slots, an augmentation system, and upgrade mechanics that provide meaningful character progression beyond leveling and AA points. Understanding how gear works in EQL is essential — a well-geared character at level 50 can be dramatically more powerful than a poorly geared one, and the augment system allows you to customize your equipment in ways that complement your class combination perfectly.
The gear system in EQL rewards investment and intentionality. You cannot simply equip the highest-level items and expect optimal results. Instead, you need to consider your role, your active and passive class synergies, and how each piece of gear contributes to your overall build. The augment system adds another layer of depth, letting you fine-tune your stats and add special effects to your equipment.
This guide covers everything from basic equipment slots to advanced augment strategies, helping you make informed decisions about where to invest your platinum and playtime.
Equipment Slots
Characters have 20+ equipment slots: Head, Face, Ears (2), Neck, Shoulders, Arms, Wrists (2), Hands, Chest, Back, Waist, Legs, Feet, Fingers (2), Primary, Secondary, Ranged, and Ammo. Each slot can hold one item, and each item contributes to your overall stats and abilities.
The most impactful slots are Chest, Legs, Primary Weapon, and Secondary Weapon (for dual-wielders) or Shield (for tanks). These slots typically offer the highest stat values and most powerful effects. When upgrading gear, prioritize these slots first for the biggest power increase per platinum spent.
Ranged and Ammo slots deserve special mention. Ranged weapons provide stat bonuses even when you are not using them for attacks — a ranged item with Strength and Hit Points is essentially "free stats" that you should never leave empty. The Ammo slot holds arrows, throwing items, or other projectiles and does not provide stat bonuses, so it is less critical for non-Rangers.
Earrings, rings, and neck items are stat-heavy slots that often provide resist bonuses. Building a "resist set" — gear specifically chosen for high spell resists — is essential for PvP and certain raid encounters. Keep spare resist items in your bags and swap them in when facing spell-heavy opponents.
The Augment System
Augmentations are socketable items that add stats to your gear. Each piece of equipment has 1-3 augment slots, and the type of slot (Type 1, Type 2, Type 3) determines which augments can be inserted. This system is one of the most powerful customization tools in EQL, allowing you to adapt the same piece of gear for different purposes.
Type 1 slots accept stat augments — raw increases to Strength, Stamina, Agility, Wisdom, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Charisma. These are the most common augments and the foundation of any gear build. Always fill Type 1 slots with your primary stat augment for maximum impact.
Type 2 slots accept effect augments — special effects like hit point bonuses, mana bonuses, attack rating increases, and spell haste. Effect augments can dramatically change how a piece of gear functions. A chest piece with a Type 2 HP augment becomes a tanking item; the same chest with a Type 2 mana augment becomes a caster item.
Type 3 slots accept proc augments — combat effects that trigger on melee hits or spell casts. These include damage procs (fire, cold, magic, poison, disease), heal procs, and utility procs (stun, root, snare). Proc augments add unpredictable but powerful effects to your combat rotation.
Augments drop from dungeon bosses, raid encounters, and can be crafted via tradeskills. Dungeon augments tend to be stat-focused, while raid augments offer unique effects that are not available elsewhere. Tradeskill augments fill the gaps, providing reliable stat bonuses that you can craft yourself rather than waiting for random drops.
How to Augment Your Gear
The augment process is straightforward: visit an augment NPC in any major city, place your item in the augmentation window, and insert the augment into the appropriate slot. There is no failure chance — the augment is always successfully applied. However, removing an augment destroys it, so choose carefully before committing.
The key decision is what to prioritize in your limited augment slots. Here are the general priorities for each role:
Tanks: HP augments in every available Type 2 slot. Stamina and Agility in Type 1 slots. AC (Armor Class) augments where available. For Warriors and Shadow Knights, every point of HP matters because it directly translates to how many hits you can take before dying.
Healers: Mana augments in Type 2 slots. Wisdom in Type 1 slots. Spell haste augments where available — reducing cast time on heals can be the difference between saving a group member and watching them die. Clerics should also consider HP augments for survivability during AoE damage phases.
Melee DPS: Primary stat (Strength for most, Dexterity for Rogues) in Type 1 slots. Attack rating in Type 2 slots. Damage procs in Type 3 slots — fire and magic procs are generally best because they check against the most commonly low resist on mobs. Rogues prefer poison procs for backstab synergy.
Caster DPS: Primary stat (Intelligence) in Type 1 slots. Mana and spell damage in Type 2 slots. Spell procs or focus effects in Type 3 slots. Wizards should prioritize cold and fire focus augments, while Necromancers benefit most from poison and disease focus effects.
Gear Upgrades and the Refine System
Equipment can be upgraded through the refine system. Using platinum and special materials, you can increase an item's stats. Each upgrade adds a tier to the item, up to a maximum tier. Higher tiers provide incrementally better stats, but the cost increases with each tier.
The refine system means that a well-refined dungeon piece can rival an unrefined raid piece. This is an important design choice — it means players who invest time in refining their gear can remain competitive even without access to every raid. However, the platinum and material costs are significant, so refine strategically.
Refine materials drop from named mobs in endgame dungeons and from raid encounters. The most common materials come from Lower Guk and Sebilis, while the rarest materials are exclusive to Plane of Hate raid drops. This creates a natural progression: dungeon-refine your gear to handle raids, then raid-refine your gear to handle harder content.
Always refine your best-in-slot items first. Refining an item you will replace in two levels is a waste of resources. Focus on items that will serve you through endgame content — your Chest, Primary Weapon, and Epic Weapon are the most worthwhile refinement targets.
Best-in-Slot Paths
Best-in-slot (BiS) gear in EQL follows a progression path from dungeon gear through crafted gear to raid gear, with Epic Weapons serving as the ultimate gear pursuit for each class. Here is the general progression:
Leveling Gear (1-49): Quest rewards and dungeon drops are sufficient. Do not invest heavily in augments or refinement for leveling gear — you will outgrow it quickly. Save your platinum for endgame gear investments.
Dungeon Gear (50): The first tier of endgame gear comes from Lower Guk, Solusek A, Cazic-Thule, and Najena. These dungeons drop gear that is adequate for initial Plane of Hate raids. Fill your augment slots with Type 1 stat augments and basic Type 2 HP or mana augments.
Crafted Gear: Tradeskill-crafted gear fills the gaps between dungeon and raid gear. Cultural armor (crafted by Smiths of specific races) can be excellent for its level. Tradeskill augments provide reliable stat bonuses. Invest in crafted gear when dungeon drops are not cooperating — it is more expensive but guaranteed.
Raid Gear: Plane of Hate and other raid zones drop the most powerful gear in the game. Planar armor sets provide significant upgrades over dungeon gear, and raid augments offer unique effects unavailable elsewhere. Raid gear should be your primary augment and refinement investment — these are the items you will use long-term.
Epic Weapons: Each class has a unique epic weapon quest line that produces the most powerful weapon available for that class. Epic quests are long, challenging, and often require both group and raid support. The reward is worth the effort — epic weapons are traditionally the most iconic items in EverQuest, and EQL continues this tradition. See our Epic Weapon Quest Guide for detailed walkthroughs.
Building Your Resist Sets
Resist gear is a specialized gear setup that prioritizes spell resistance (fire, cold, magic, poison, disease) over raw stats. You need separate resist sets for PvP combat and certain raid encounters where spell damage is the primary threat.
Building a resist set is expensive because you are essentially maintaining two full gear setups — your main set and your resist set. Start by collecting resist gear in slots that do not conflict with your main stats: earrings, rings, and neck are the easiest to swap. Work toward full resist sets as your platinum budget allows.
For PvP, the most important resist is Magic, since the majority of crowd control spells and debuffs are magic-based. Fire and Cold are next — Wizards rely heavily on these elements. Poison and Disease resists matter against Necromancers and Shadow Knights.
For raids, the resist priority depends on the encounter. Plane of Hate requires high Magic resist (Innoruuk uses fear and other magic spells). Future raid content may require different resist profiles. Keep a flexible resist set that you can adapt by swapping individual pieces.
Tips & Strategies
- Always fill augment slots. An empty augment slot is wasted potential. Even a cheap stat augment is better than nothing. Start with affordable augments and upgrade them as better ones become available.
- Prioritize Chest and Primary Weapon. These slots have the highest stat density and the most augment slots. Invest your best augments and refinement materials here first.
- Use the augment system deep dive for detailed information on which augments drop where and which ones are worth farming.
- Do not refine leveling gear. Save refinement materials and platinum for level 50 endgame gear. You will outgrow leveling gear too quickly for refinement to be worthwhile.
- Build resist sets incrementally. Start with easily swappable slots (rings, earrings) and expand to full sets over time. You do not need a complete resist set on day one of endgame.
- Check the auction channel daily. Other players sell augments and gear that can save you hours of farming. If the price is fair, buy it — your time has value too.
- Coordinate raid gear distribution. If you are in a guild, understand the DKP or loot council system. Save your points for items you truly need rather than bidding on marginal upgrades.
Common Mistakes
- Equipping gear without checking augment slots. A piece of gear with 3 empty augment slots is dramatically weaker than one with all slots filled. Always augment new gear immediately.
- Putting the wrong augments in wrong slots. Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 augments each have specific slot types. Do not waste a valuable Type 2 augment on a piece of gear that only has Type 1 slots.
- Neglecting resist gear entirely. You will encounter spell-heavy content in both PvE and PvP. Without resist gear, you are vulnerable to crowd control and nuke damage that could be significantly reduced.
- Refining the wrong items. Refining gear you will replace wastes resources. Only refine items that will serve you for an extended period — your Chest, Epic Weapon, and core raid pieces.
- Selling dungeon drops without checking augment potential. Some items that seem mediocre at first glance become excellent with the right augments. Always evaluate gear with augments in mind before selling.
- Ignoring tradeskill-crafted gear. Dungeon drops are exciting, but crafted gear is reliable. When the random number generator is not cooperating, crafted gear keeps you progressing.
Conclusion
The gear system in EverQuest Legends is deep, rewarding, and central to character power. The augment system provides unprecedented customization, the refine system extends the life of your best items, and the pursuit of Epic Weapons gives every class a legendary goal to work toward. Whether you are farming dungeon augments, crafting tradeskill gear, or earning raid drops, every piece of gear brings you closer to your best-in-slot setup. For detailed augment information, see our augment system deep dive. For the ultimate gear pursuit, check our Epic Weapon Quest Guide. And to understand how gear supports your overall build, review our class combinations and AA system guides.