# Efficient Gear Priority: Equipment, Essences & Artificing

> Learn the optimal gear upgrade order in Arknights: Endfield. Priority guide for equipment, character levels, weapons, skills, essences, and artificing.

Source: https://endfieldhub.org/blog/efficient-gear-priority-guide-endfield
Published: 2026-04-23
Updated: 2026-09-24

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## TL;DR - Key Points

* **Equipment first (no artificing)** — Factory produces thousands of components, easiest upgrade path
* **Character level > Weapon level > Skills** — Core progression before optimization
* **Main DPS to 90, supports to 80** — Level 80→90 investment is extremely resource-intensive
* **Skills: M3 for main DPS, 9 for supports** — Utility skills (Gilberta/Arclight ult) worth M1
* **Essences: Max for main DPS, +4/+4/+2 for supports** — Passive-only essences acceptable for supports
* **Artificing last** — Time-gated, not sanity-gated; do it alongside other upgrades, not instead of
* **Stock bills are the bottleneck** — Trade-off between artificing catalysts and essence engraving tickets
* **Content is skill-check, not stat-check** — Umbral Monument clearable with +0 artificed gear

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**Related read:** our [gearing guide](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/gearing) goes deeper on equipment.

## The Problem: Resource Overwhelm

If you’ve ever stared at the artificing screen wondering why it takes **20 gear components** to upgrade a single piece of gear once (and you need to do this 9+ times), you’re not alone. The resource sink feels overwhelming:

* Gear artificing materials
* Weapon essence grinding
* Character level materials
* Exorbitant Wuling Stock Bill requirements

The question isn’t whether to do everything, it’s **what order** maximizes your team’s power while minimizing resource waste.

**See also:** [Rossi Nuke Build: Best Team Comps & Gear](https://endfieldhub.org/blog/rossi-nuke-build-guide-april-2026) for more on gear guide.

## Priority Order: What to Build First

### 1\. Equipment (Base Gear Only)

**Priority:** Highest **Resource Cost:** Factory components (plentiful) **Time Gate:** None

Get the base equipment first **do not artifice yet**. Factory production generates thousands of components, making this the easiest upgrade path. Equipment provides immediate stat boosts without the RNG and resource sink of artificing.

### 2\. Character Level

**Priority:** Highest **Resource Cost:** EXP materials, Coins **Time Gate:** Sanity

Level your main DPS character to **80-90** depending on account freshness. Supports and sub-DPS can sit at **60-80** until you’re comfortable clearing desired content.

**Important:** The investment to go from 80→90 is insane. Only level your main DPS to 90; the rest of the team functions fine at 80.

### 3\. Weapon Level

**Priority:** High **Resource Cost:** Weapon EXP, Coins **Time Gate:** Sanity

Weapon levels provide significant damage scaling. Main DPS weapons should match character level (90). Support weapons can remain at 60 initially.

### 4\. Skill Level

**Priority:** High **Resource Cost:** Skill manuals, Sanity **Time Gate:** Sanity

**This is where you get the most damage per resource spent.**

**Main DPS:** All skills to **Mastery 3**. The extra damage scaling alone justifies the investment.

**Supports:** Skills to **9** unless they provide utility enhancements:

* Gilberta Ultimate → M1 (additional Arts Susceptibility scaling)
* Arclight Ultimate → M1 (additional stagger)

### 5\. Weapon Essence

**Priority:** Medium-High **Resource Cost:** Engraving tickets, Essence farming **Time Gate:** RNG + Stock Bills

**Main DPS:** Max level essences with optimal stats **Supports:** +4/+4/+2 is sufficient; passive-only essences acceptable

**Stock Bill Reality Check:** You must choose between:

* Artificing catalysts
* Essence engraving tickets (Valley 4 tickets cost 1.2M for 10)

Once you have perfect essences for your main weapons, you can ignore engraving tickets entirely and spend stamina in Wuling OR Valley 4.

### 6\. Artificing

**Priority:** Lowest (but do it concurrently) **Resource Cost:** Artificing catalysts, gear components, Stock Bills **Time Gate:** Weekly catalyst limit (\~80/week in shop)

**Here’s the critical insight:** Artificing doesn’t consume sanity, it’s **time-gated only**. There’s no reason to delay it, but there’s also no reason to prioritize it over sanity-gated upgrades.

**The debate:** Some players recommend “don’t artifice until later” because the percentages seem small. This is wrong. The difference is **huge**, full artificing is worth roughly 21% DPS, as our [breakdown of what actually buys DPS](https://endfieldhub.org/blog/endfield-progression-investment-dps-priorities) lays out line by line, but artificing doesn’t compete with leveling for resources. You should be doing both simultaneously.

**The actual trade-off:** Stock bills. Players with low stock bill income must decide between:

* Buying artificing catalysts
* Buying essence engraving tickets

Once stock bill income isn’t an issue, you can do both without worrying.

## Artificing Strategy

### When to Stop

You don’t need max artificing on everything:

* **Main DPS:** +3 on good matches, +2 on mediocre matches
* **Supports:** +2 is often sufficient; some characters (like Gilberta) don’t benefit much from artificing
* **Content clearance:** +0 artificed gear can clear Umbral Monument with proper execution

### The Lucky Factor

The “20 components” is a **hard limit**, not a target. You can succeed before hitting pity. Always use gear pieces with higher base stats of the relevant attribute for better success rates.

### Shop Strategy

**Buy all artificing catalysts available weekly** (\~80 total). Stockpile them when not actively building a character. The catalysts are far more valuable than most other shop items.

## Team Building Priorities

### Main DPS (Build First)

* Level 90
* Weapon 90
* All skills M3
* Max essences
* Artificing +2 to +3

### Sub-DPS (Build Second)

* Level 80-90
* Weapon 80
* Skills 9 (damage skills only)
* Essences +4/+4/+2
* Artificing +2

### Supports (Build Last)

* Level 60-80
* Weapon 60
* Skills 9 (or M1 for utility enhancements)
* Essences +4/+4/+2 (passive-only acceptable)
* Artificing +0 to +2

## Reality Check: Skill > Stats

You can **2-minute clear Umbral Monument challenges with +0 artificed gear** using proper boss mechanic knowledge and rotations. Endfield focuses on **skill-checking players** rather than stat-checking.

Early Umbral Monument runs showed fully built Laevatain teams getting destroyed because players assumed they could mash through challenges. Boss mechanic knowledge and proper rotations matter more than perfect artificing.

## The Long Game

Compared to other gacha games, Endfield has **significantly less RNG**. Almost everything you do is progress toward your end goal:

* Character levels: Permanent, no RNG
* Skill levels: Permanent, no RNG
* Weapon levels: Permanent, no RNG
* Equipment: Permanent, no RNG (just time-gated)
* Essences: Some RNG, but guaranteed item shops exist
* Artificing: Some RNG, but pity system exists

**The only true RNG sink** is essence farming without engraving tickets. Everything else is deterministic progress.

## Final Recommendations

1. **Don’t stress the artificing grind** — Do it weekly with shop catalysts, but don’t let it bottleneck your team building
2. **Focus on main DPS first** — One fully built team clears all current content
3. **Learn boss mechanics** — Skill execution matters more than +3 vs +5 artificing
4. **Stockpile catalysts** — Buy weekly, use when actively building
5. **Essences before perfect artificing** — Good essences > perfect artificing on trash essences

The anvil-drop feeling when you realize artificing costs 20 components per upgrade? That’s normal. But remember: you’re building for the long term, and every catalyst you buy this week is progress toward your next fully-built character.

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_What’s your current gear priority strategy? Are you focusing on main DPS only or building multiple teams simultaneously? Share your thoughts in the comments._