So you’ve completed or are near the end of the story campaign in Exos Heroes and have started unlocking Sanctum stages. You may start to find yourself asking what’s next in account progression? The answer is easy, start the grind to obtain fated armor and weapons! Whether or not you have top tier units, fated gear is the best way to strengthen your team in order to complete higher sanctum levels and also compete at higher levels in the Zebenstunier Arena. 

What is Fated Equipment?

Fated equipment are those that come with a gold backdrop and have 4 substats attached to them. They start with a minimum star grade of 4 and can reach a max star grade of 6. In addition, fated armor, not weapons, come equipped with a random guardian stone to add more difficulty in breaking your unit.

A full armor set of fated equipment will equip your unit with 6 guardian stones making them much more difficult to break. Like other tiers of equipment, fated equipment can be polished and forged to increase max star grade and max level.

The max level of a 6 star piece of fated equipment can be increased further through Special Forging. All of these details are discussed further in my article “Enhancing Fated Gear and Guard Stone Priorities.”

Why is Fated Equipment Important?

Aside from the higher base stats in attack and defense, the added substats provided by fated equipment will help to greatly improve a unit's performance. Attach type equipment (weapon/gloves/accessory) provide substats in the form of critical hit damage, hit, attack speed, and critical hit. Defense type equipment (helmet/armor/boots) provide substats in the form of block defense, luck, block, and dodge rate.

The value of the main stat (attack or defense) and the value of each substat is randomly generated between a fixed range of values. Ideally you would like max stats for all fated equipment you receive, but that depends on the luck of the draw. To summarize, here are the max ranges one can find for each equipment type:

How Does One Obtain Fated Equipment?

Currently there are multiple ways to obtain fated armor and weapons in the game. Here is a breakdown of each option in game.

Airship Forge

• Special Craft: This is essentially a 10x gear summon in which you have a small (3%) chance to obtain a fated weapon or armor for 700 Xes.
• Fated Weapon: Can be obtained once a month from for 2000 Relics of Dragon Dynasty (Holy Dragon Ground reward)
• Fated Armor: Can be obtained once a month for 200 Star of Fate (Special Difficulty Sanctum stages or special events like the current Exos Pass Event)

Door of Creation

• Fated Weapon: There’s a small chance (possibly ~3%) for you to create a fated weapon using the Forgotten Equipment (Weapon) option for 50 Relics of Dragon Dynasty. This also includes exclusive fated weapons which are character unique fated weapons, with a higher base stat range but same substats as a normal fated weapon, that any unit can equip. They do provide a special bonus if you equip them on the corresponding character they were made for. 
• Fated Armor: Similar to weapons, there’s a small chance for you to create a fated armor using Forgotten Equipment (Other than Weapon) option for 5 Star of Fate. 
• On both options there is a mileage counter that guarantees you a fated weapon or fated armor after 80 creations.

Special Event or Core Raid Rewards

• During special side events there are opportunities to obtain a fated armor and/or a fated weapon if you complete the tasks required. Currently there is the Exos Pass and the Core Raid events.
• Exos Pass: Nearly a month long event where completing daily missions will land you a fated weapon. If you buy the premium pass you gain additional rewards including a fated armor and an exclusive fated weapon.
• Core Raid: A limited time event where you fight boss fights at 3 difficulty levels to obtain raid coupons. Accumulate enough raid coupons to progress through 4 stages of step-up rewards and obtain a fated weapon and fated armor. 

Weekly Armor in the Shop

• Every week you can purchase 1 fated armor for 2000 crystals.

Monthly Weapon in the Shop

• Every month you can purchase 1 fated weapon for 3000 crystals.

Hot Deals

• As you progress through the story and various PVE content in the game, limited time Hot Deals appear to give you an opportunity to purchase fated armor or weapons at a discount with crystals. These are one time deals so once they are gone you do not have a chance to purchase them again.

Which Option Provides the Best Chance at Fated Equipment?

Bottomline, the Door of Creation provides this best chance at obtaining fated equipment the fastest. If you consider the math and compare the Door vs. the Forge:

• The Door of Creation requires 400 Stars (80 tries) to obtain 1 guaranteed fated equipment. 80 attempts would yield a potential 2+ fated equipment, assuming a 3% chance per try. That’s a total of potentially 3+ pieces of fated equipment for 400 stars.
• The Airship Forge will guarantee a fated equipment once a month for 200 stars, so max of 2 pieces in 2 months for 400 stars. 

Similarly, crafting weapons at the Door of Creation yields similar results assuming a 3% craft rate for fated weapons. In addition to providing better odds, you will also get various rare and legendary pieces to equip your entire roster. Overall, you cannot go wrong using your resources to craft at the door as opposed to saving for the Forge.

Now that you have this basic knowledge go out and continue the grind! I wish you all the best of luck in your gear hunt!