Wo Long: How to get a 4* gear set early

If you're looking to survive the many challenges Game Pass newcomer Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty throws at you, you'll need all the help you can get. Here's how you can get a set of top-tier gear early in the game...

Players looking to grab all of the Wo Long achievements will want to be kitted out with the best gear possible in order to beat some of the action-RPG's brutal bosses. Thankfully, the game is kind enough to offer a way to get fairly early access to armour and weapons that should carry you all the way to the endgame, so let's jump into it and get you some sweet gear sets!

Wo Long: Easy 4* gear sets that will last you the entire game

You'll get all sorts of weapons and armour over the course of the game, but 4* gear is the most useful and valuable in the main game... 5* gear does exist, but only as rare drops in the Rising Dragon endgame mode. While the base damage and defence of 4* versions of equipment aren't higher than their lower rank counterparts, the benefit is that they have more slots for additional perks, and the values of these bonuses appear to be higher than those of low-tier versions. It's unlikely that you'll naturally happen upon a full 4* set of the same gear — as in similar games, using equipment from the same set can convey additional bonuses, some of which can be very strong — but by improving your bonds with the other heroes, you're able to grab the full set of armour and weapon (and sometimes an accessory) used by that character for free, and this can be achieved fairly early in the game. This will also set you well on your way to the Fantastic Form achievement for having a complete 4* loadout, just needing a ranged weapon and possibly an accessory to finish the set and pop that.

To get this free gear, you need to max out a character's bond at level 10. Bond level will rise slowly as you defeat enemies and clear Battlefields with a particular hero summoned via the Recruitment option at a Battle Flag, with each summon costing one Tiger Seal. These are fairly common, but if you need more, joining another player's game to support them will give you a few (as well as a bunch of experience and currency) if you help them beat the Battlefield. Bring the ally you want to cosplay as along with you whenever you can to speed things along. In addition, you can give the heroes a Cup of Cordiality in the Recruitment menu to curry their favour and instantly jump up a bond level or two. Cups can be found occasionally in the course of regular play, but you can quickly earn more by working on the challenges found in the Titles menu — each milestone you hit here will earn you another gift to give to one of the characters, so you can deliberately focus on fulfilling these conditions to get more Cups quite quickly to hit max bond level.

What 4* gear set should you use in Wo Long?

It's worth noting that the equipment earned from maxing out a bond will be the same as the set used by that hero and will typically have perks that buff their specific weapon, so if you've got a preference for a certain type, you'll want to focus on the character who uses that weapon class. New characters are introduced over the course of the story, so depending on your weapon preference, you may not be able to unlock the relevant hero's gear until a little later, although there's no harm in grabbing an unrelated set in the meantime just for all the other perks beyond the boost to a weapon type you may not use. If a weapon is required for the set bonus, you can also use that as your secondary if needs be and it will still count. Bear in mind, though, that different sets fall into one of three weight categories, so for example Cao Cao's set is heavy and will require significant investment in the Earth stat to boost your maximum equip load, while Sun Ce's gear is light enough to put you at the best Agility tier even with no points in Earth, freeing up stats to chuck into Fire for dual halberd damage and Wood for extra health to offset the set's lower defence values. Respec as you need to (it's free!), and you can invest further in the stats you need to improve your loadout as you level up.

After getting to max bond and grabbing your set from the Deliveries option at a Battle Flag, you'll next want to head to the blacksmith to sort out a set of Embedments that works for your build. These can be freely customised for a small fee, so swap out any you don't feel like you need or that don't add anything to your play style for ones that do, especially the rare unique perks (identified by a special icon at the start of the description) that can be extracted from certain loot as these often activate buffs or enemy debuffs upon using certain skills. Embedments can also be swapped out again later should you find something better for your build, so you're not tied to the choices you make when first setting up your gear — be on the lookout for those special perks and slot them in as and when you can! Naturally, you'll want to take this gear all the way to +9 once you have enough leather and steel of the necessary rank to upgrade it all, and whichever set you pick should be more than strong enough to get you all the way to the credits... assuming you have the skills to back up your sweet gear, that is. Any gear unlocked through increasing bonds will also be added to the regular loot pool, meaning you'll be able to find versions of all ranks with random rolls, and even 5* versions in the endgame if you're lucky.

Hopefully grabbing a great gear set early should make life easier as you tackle one of the best games on Game Pass, but let us know how you're getting on with Wo Long and whose gear you'll be repping down in the comments!

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Written by Luke Albigés

Luke runs the TA news team, contributing where he can primarily with reviews and other long-form features — crafts he has honed across two decades of print and online gaming media experience, having worked with the likes of gamesTM, Eurogamer, Play, Retro Gamer, Edge, and many more. He loves all things Monster Hunter, enjoys a good D&D session, and has played way too much Destiny.