SoC gear comes in three broad bands: Astral gear (a character's signature weapon or trinket — the strongest, usually built for one unit), general Legendary gear (usable by anyone of the right weapon type), and Epic / Rare / Common gear (fillers). This ranking is derived from MarshMellowing's August 2026 gear tier list plus the general principle that a signature weapon is only as valuable as the unit wearing it. There's no character-data weapons page on the site yet, so this is the reference for now.
How to prioritise
Weapons are locked to a unit's weapon type (axe, bow, spear, staff, sword) — a sword can only go on a sword user. Trinkets fit any unit.
Universal legendary gear first — a few items go on almost any unit and are cheap to slot. Get those before chasing signature weapons.
Then the Astral weapon for the units you actually run, S / A band of the Tier List first. An Astral weapon for a bench unit is wasted.
Raising an item's star level is expensive — a one-star copy of a great item usually beats a five-star copy of a mediocre one.
Trinkets are rarer than weapons; a good trinket slot is worth as much as a weapon slot.
Go-to picks — get these first
Shield of Justice (trinket) — the best item in the game. Attack (physical AND magic) plus a shield, usable by ~99% of units, and you can move it freely between them. Even a one-star copy is worth running.
Blood Lite Amulet (trinket) — comes in the Shield of Justice pack. A mage trinket: large magic damage and magic AoE damage. All-round best mage trinket.
Newborn Blade (sword) — common, but +10% HP and bonus attack from HP. No-nonsense sword for physical units that scale off HP.
Diffusing Prism (staff) — the go-to free-to-play staff: a flat +10% magic attack, which multiplies every kind of magic damage.
Maverick's Cloak (trinket): +12% attack and defense and +20% crit chance while isolated from allies. Superb on mobile units that charge or flank.
Crystal Burst Armor (trinket): +10% max HP and +25% strike-back damage. Fits a huge number of units.
Reorganized Cube (staff) — for staff-wielding healers: +15% healing effect and a dispel on skill use. The benchmark healer item.
Top Astral weapons (chase for the unit)
Support: Afra's Dream Catcher (possibly the best healer item — stacking magic attack + healing), Heshan's, Credenza's Resonant Crystal (irreplaceable — reduces her HP, restores energy, act again), Yennefer's Obsidian Pendant, Finelia's / Sophia's Nocturnal Glow, Wild Spice Vial.
Magic DPS: SP Samantha's Light to Purge All Evil (crit + crit damage for any out-of-turn mage attack), Shahnaz's Grip of Fate, Rogneda's Pride of the Lion (~50% crit damage), Momo's Paradox Crystal Chain (single-target magic attack + damage reduction out of turn), Caris's Light of Oracle (huge magic attack for shield mages).
Physical DPS: Lutfi's Blade of Strategem (easy-to-trigger physical attack + crit damage, great for counter / alert units), Agata's sword, Xavier's, SP Alexei's / Ivan's / Arman's Lucian weapons (they give everything), SP Maitha's (HP + piercing damage, works on others), Rico's axe, Void Stab.
Ranged: Anna's bow (~32% attack), SP Col's bow, Faycal's Protect the Rebirth (near-100% crit chance for any archer).
Utility: Old Scrolls of August (speed control — extremely rare), Origin Hourglass (dual attack + debuff immunity), Hunter's Intuition (the only alert-damage item).
Solid legendaries (A band)
Focus Wand (staff) — +magic attack and +1 range on single-target attacks (range is a high-value effect).
Guardian's Will (sword) — +10% HP, and +40% defense / −10% damage taken while shielded (easy to keep up now that shields are common). Underrated.
Cornucopia weapons — energy provision; good on units that struggle for energy.
The legendary spears (Skeleton Spear, Pendant Halbert, Double-Sided Halbert) — all roughly equal, decent, none exceptional.
Nirvana / Resentment Room — AoE-damage-only mage weapons; fine as a stopgap.
Skip these
Almost all Epic gear — cheap AoE-damage or single-stat weapons. Fine as a brand-new player, replace them fast.
Doomsday Scythe, Beheading Machete — niche back-attack / high-ground conditions that barely come up.
Berserker's Incense, Luxite Shield — they end your turn on use (not instant), which kills most of the value.
Any 'Ward Piercer' bonus on Lucian gear — that effect only works against specific enemies in specific content; treat it as not there.
All Common and Rare gear — bottom of the list.