Frankengear. What is it? Why do I want it?
“Frankengear” is, by this author’s definition, “a mix of gear items, including special limited time items and others, designed to maximize stats that will benefit the gameplay style of the player using it”. Currently, in the Game of War, we are seeing several examples of “Frankengear”. We maximize the likelihood of success every time we find that perfect blend, then go out to a Wonder, or event within our own Kingdom as we scout Empires to lay waste.
Let’s consider some of the following gear “sets” encountered during the last Kill Event, “Army of the Dead Rising”…
This one includes some interesting items; Spartan Hero Lvl T141, Demigod Challenger Set Lvl 152 wearing:
- Basic Lvl Jester Hood,
- Rare Lvl Champion Ambush Kunai,
- 5 Legendary items including a Shadow Cloak, Challenger Overlord Stompers, an Annihilation Blade, and two Berserker Pauldrons.
Note that the “type” of Hood, Kunai, and Cloak have been left out of the description. We’ll get to that later. Also, note the power-up levels on various items as marked. Nice. And deadly.
This one is creative… and potentially deadly too. Our Lvl 62 new Sapphire Hero, DemiGod Challenger Set Lvl 152 is bedecked with:
- Epic Colossus Face Guard
- Rare Shredder
- Legendary Chaos Battle Plate and Bastion Cloak
- Radiant Challenger Overlord Stompers, and 2 Radiant Annihilation Blades.
Again, the “type” of Face Guard, Shredder and Battle Plate have been left out, and power up levels are evident.
Finally, we have this fine example. Here we see a Lvl 142 Valkrie Hero, Demigod Challenger Set Lvl 200 (maxed) wearing:
- A mystery Helm (Hidden by a Hades Gem)
- Obsidian Lvl Emberblade and Emblazoned Armor
- Radiant Challenger Overlord Stompers and 3 Radiant Annihilation Blades.
I certainly don’t want to run into this player in a dark alley. This is mega-deadly gear. The Emberblade and Armor are obviously Ultimate Grand Champion, since that is the only level that allows upgrading to Obsidian as we will discuss below. And, take notice of the Power Up levels… maxed at 20.
Combinations like these that are dominating the game right now. Frankengear sets reflect the needs of the players who made them, whether it be defense, attack, rally leader, or wonder rally leader. Each piece of gear has different properties and gives different stats and bonuses. Acquiring and putting these parts together is the measure of our Franken-skill.
In Days of Old
Older players will remember the joy and excitement of getting those Full Set and Specialized Bonuses when equipping their Hero in a complete, level 6 quality “Legendary” gear set. Often, elusive items were crafted at the Forge, and many got their first taste of crafting gear working to complete their full set. At some dark point in the not-too-distant past, during the last pre-Demi days of Game of War, those skills became unnecessary. Top-level gear sets were sold at reduced prices and this new, more powerful gear was released with the blinding speed of Usain Bolt running the hundred meter dash. That seemed like the beginning of the end for the skills of crafting and creating powerful individual gear.
A New Day is Dawning
But fear not, friends! Along with the rekindled opportunity to craft powerful, useful cores, we now have myriad options to create individualized gear that can max out stats and give you the upper hand in both solo and rally battles. It is as if you are Doctor Victor (or Victoria) Frankenstein, creating your very own Modern Prometheus! Because of the creative and powerful stats of the gear, I like to call mine “Frankengear“. Putting gear together in today’s game encourages the “Bits and Bites” method, where every set is a whole new blend of just the right items to generate just the stats you need to win battles, defend your city, cap heroes, and burn enemy Empires!
While the Full Set Bonus is still a factor for simple sets such as Bastion and Berserker, the Specialized Bonus is not currently a real consideration, as it has yet to be tied to Demigod Troops or Traps. Without the lure of the Specialized Bonus given to sets, players can now feel free to make use of Legendary and Radiant Challenger items as well as the Special Limited Time items that include special Helms, Weapons, Armor and most recently, Feet.
Getting started with Frankengear
Knowing the full capability of each piece of your gear set and how to maximize it is crucial to succeeding in today’s Game of War. Gear is as much a key to winning as research was in the early stages of the game. For detailed information on all gear sets, including maximum stats, refer to the Team Realtips article “Forging Ahead“.
As we have come to know, Challenger gear items can be improved up to Radiant level and then leveled up in the Gear Workshop to even loftier heights of quality and power once the Radiant level has been achieved. When kept together as a full set, the resulting gear is called “Radiant Challenger” and can be made even more powerful by applying Gear Set Leveling using Demigod Radiant Challenger Combat Gear Leveling Material. A fully improved, fully leveled up gear set of Radiant Challenger is the very top end of the Challenger gear.
Frankengear Promotes Cost Consciousness
Getting from a Basic or Starter gear item to a full set of Radiant Challenger gear, leveled up to the maximum (currently Lvl 20 per Radiant piece and Lvl 200 for the full Radiant Challenger Combat Gear Set Leveling) is, as you can imagine, costly. Depending on your gameplay, it may take longer to acquire than you want to wait. You may just want to get into the game and get playing!
OK, so what if you don’t have the items necessary to improve your gear pieces from Legendary Challenger to Radiant Challenger? Not to worry. You can still level up your set of Legendary Challenger gear by making use of Demigod Challenger Combat Gear Leveling Material. Or, with the “Bits and Bites” approach to putting gear together, you can start by using Basic pieces and upgrade any or all of them as you are able. The beauty of the Frankengear is that you don’t even need to use ALL the parts of any set! As with every aspect of the game, you should play within your own means and use what you have to get as big a bang from your buck as possible.
Using Special Limited Time Items in Your Gear Set
All Special Limited Time items are released in three types: Ultimate Grand Champion, Grand Champion, and Champion. Each of these can be improved to a maximum level that corresponds with the type of gear selected. Like the simple sets, the quality levels run from 1- 6 (Basic through Legendary) for ALL of the new special gear. For Champion items, that’s it — “Legendary” is as high as it gets. In the case of Grand Champion items, you can improve one more step to the “Radiant” level (same as the Radiant Challenger maximum). When using Ultimate Grand Champion items, you can improve two full steps above Legendary, to “Obsidian” level.
Power up after Improving
Power Up the Special Limited Time items in the Gear Workshop using the appropriate Ultimate Grand Champion, Grand Champion or Champion Power Up Materials. Use these after you have fully improved the item and reached the maximum level of that specific type. The best stats are available when using Ultimate Grand Champion items. Keep in mind that, because these have two extra levels to improve, it takes that much longer to access power-up potential. Solution? Use Champion or Grand Champion items in the meantime. The materials are different for improving and powering up each type, so you won’t be wasting something you’ll want to save for later if you decide to pursue a slightly lesser item.
When using varied items to create a Frankengear set, you will not see an active “Set Details” button below the gear preset. Note that while some items may appear to be from a similarly named “set” (the Chaos Shredder weapon, Chaos Emerald Crown helm, Chaos Battle Plate and the Chaos Emerald Greaves feet, for example), initial testing has shown that there is no additional benefit in terms of stats by using all these special items at once to create a “gear set”. Despite the similarity in their names, these items are definitely “stand-alone” items; no set details or bonuses will apply to them.
Putting together the “perfect” set of gear is now once again an art form in itself and a revitalized, exciting part of the game. Get creative with your available gear items and make yourself a Frankengear that evokes both fear and respect in your enemies! Let us know in the comments below what you think of Frankengear and what items make up your best “set”.