Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has a new take on your character’s gear, gear, armor, and weapons compared to previous games in the series. This guide will help you understand what gear means, how to get it, how to upgrade it, and how to choose the best possible items for your Eivor build!
This guide does NOT contain game history spoilers. I have done my best to keep it clean and simple, easy to understand and easy to use. Enjoy!
AC Valhalla’s approach to Gearing
Equipment in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is considered anything you can collect or earn and equip in a slot on your inventory screen.
On the left side of your screen you have a Quiver and Rations, both of which can be upgraded using Resources, but more on that later.
The left column next to your character has slots for Hood, Torso, Bow, and Main Melee Weapon. On the right side of your character, you have a helmet, armbands, boots, and secondary weapon or shield slots.
Further to the right you’ll find some of the resources you currently have. Resources are gathered by exploring the world, opening chests, smashing rock formations, hunting animals, and completing quests.
Armor and weapons are rare, but unique
Each piece of armor, weapon and shield is unique in this game. Each has its own name. There are no generic axes, swords, and pieces of armor.
When you loot a new piece of equipment, you know it will belong in a specific building or location. It will have the potential to stay with you throughout the game. The gear in AC Valhalla means more to you and your gameplay than in previous games in the series.
Equipment in AC Valhalla compared to previous games
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s approach to gearing is quite different from previous games in the series. Both AC origins and AC Odyssey offered you a ton of loot.
Every enemy you defeated, every chest you opened, everything dropped loot with different stats and perks, all available and demanding in terms of leveling and leveling.
AC Valhalla simplifies the loot and gear process to find a good spot between obtaining, keeping, and leveling the armor and gear you wear and use in your builds.
There are no character levels here, so there is no limit to what and when you can equip. If you found it, you can use it. Equipment drops in AC Valhalla have a different starting level depending on where you found the item.
Each region of the game has its own power level recommendation and gear levels generally roughly follow that power level. However, you still need to level up the items.
How to get materials in AC Valhalla
There are four ways to get new gear for Eivor in the game: loot it from a treasure chest, earn it as a quest reward, buy it from a merchant, or buy a pack from the Ubisoft crate.
Find gear by completing main and side quests
In some cases, you will earn pieces of armor, weapons, or shields as you progress through the main story or by completing side quests in the world of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. These items are often very cool in both design and function and you shouldn’t skip them with an easy heart.
You don’t know if or what item you can receive as a reward for a certain quest until you do so. This is how AC Valhalla’s quest system is designed to work. Often the rewards are a surprise.
Find gear as you explore the world
The best part of AC Valhalla is exploring the world. No matter what part of the main story you are in, you can always come and go wherever you want. This includes Norway, by the way. You can return to explore every corner of the map there at any time after you set sail for England and establish your colony there.
Depending on the choices you have made for your game interface and the level of exploration assistance before you start the game, you will see more, less or no icons on the map and on your compass bar. to help you navigate to hidden gems.
If you are reading this guide, it is more likely that you have gone for some level of guiding in the game, so let me show you how to find gear in the world.
On your world map, you will see small golden dots. They represent either a piece of equipment or a large treasure. You can’t tell if you don’t spot them. Send your Raven to take a closer look or get up close to the locations on the map on your own.
Once you’re about 100 yards from a gold dot on your compass, use your Raven sense and that dot will turn into a larger icon showing you what’s hidden there.
This guide focuses on Gear, so we’re going to dig deeper into the first of those three things only. Here are some screenshots to show you these icons in the game:
I have complete step-by-step guides showing you how to get every piece of armor, weapon or shield in the game. Check them out! I will leave the full list of guides at the end of this article, as it is quite large and keeps growing every day.
Buy equipment in stores
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla stores can usually be found in the marketplace of any major city or town. You will need to gain the trust of the head of the region or district in order to be able to trade. You can also build a trading post in your own Ravensthorpe settlement.
Stores offer a limited selection of resources, usually a mix of “easier” and “harder” resources. They all cost money. Money is the generic in-game currency. You get it by … looting everything and selling trinkets to traders.
Buy equipment from Reda
Reda is a ghost market merchant who appears in your colony in England at some point in history. Reda’s Shop offers a small but unique collection of both cosmetic and equipment items.
Reda only trades with Opal, which is a unique and special currency that you can only get by completing contracts for Reda and his associates (available in all markets in town) or by finding it in very small quantities in exploring the map.
Reda’s gear offerings are quite expensive, but they are at a higher tier and tier than most other pieces of gear you’ll find in the world. In the example above, you see a shield that has three rune slots and is already in its highest level – Mythic, which unlocks all ten levels for that item. More info on upgrading and leveling your gear below in the guide.
Buy Gear Packs from the Ubisoft Store
Ubisoft has promised that the game’s cash shop will not offer any “time-saving” items this time around. To some extent, they have kept their word. However, the photo still features gear packs. These gear sets contain armor with set bonuses and a unique appearance, mount skin, raven skin, and weapon / shield.
I’ve reviewed the Berserket Gear Pack, which you get by purchasing the Ultimate Edition of AC Valhalla (or higher). It is also available for a standalone purchase.
Below is an example of such an equipment pack currently available in the store. Each of the pieces of armor are at their highest Mythic level, with three rune slots and some sort of defeat in an effort to upgrade your gear. In a way, it’s a “time saver,” which Ubisoft has promised not to do, but… well…
How to upgrade your gear in AC Valhalla
Every piece of equipment you find, earn or buy in the game will have a certain level and a certain level. Here is a brief overview of what they mean and how they differ from each other.
How to improve your equipment
Each piece of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gear can be upgraded up to ten times, represented by rectangles in the item description when you hover over it.
Depending on when and where you find a piece of equipment in the game, it can get to a different level. If you get it from a quest later in the game, the item will be pre-leveled to at least partially compensate you for the time and effort you spent to reach that point. You don’t have to upgrade every piece of equipment right off the bat.
To upgrade your gear, open the inventory screen and click on the gear slot and item you want to upgrade. Right click (on PC) and hold to level up. Each level has its own resource requirements.
Each item will have up to ten levels available, but not all of them can be unlocked when you get it. It depends on its rarity or as I call it – Tier. In the example above, you see a cloak that is in its second level – Superior. More information about the levels below!
How to level up your equipment
In addition to upgrading your equipment, you can and should upgrade their levels as well. As you find different pieces of gear in different regions and at a different stage in your character’s progression, some items will level higher (rarity) than others and will be pre-leveled in a to some extent.
There are four levels of gear in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla:
- Level I: Fine (gray) – this is the base level and it only has two level slots and no Rune slots.
- Level II: Superior (red) – this level allows you to get the item up to level 4, it also has a Rune slot.
- Level III: Flawless (Blue) – This level allows your item to reach level 7 and adds a second rune slot to it.
- Level IV: Mythic (Gold) – this is the highest level, it unlocks all ten levels of the item and adds a third Rune slot.
Below are sample items from each of these levels:
To level up your equipment, you need to go to Blacksmith Gunnar in your colony. First of all, obviously, you have to build it so that Gunnar has a place to work for you.
When you hover over an item in Gunnar’s Blacksmith, you will see what the next level upgrade will bring you.
At the bottom of the first tab, you see the cost of the upgrade. On the left side, you have a short list of available resources that you currently have.
Each level quality upgrade requires a different ingot:
How to find resources for equipment upgrades
Each piece of equipment requires specific resources to level up and upgrade.
Leveling requires what I would call “easier resources”. Things like leather and ore. These can be found in smaller treasure chests, which you find while exploring the game world. Leather can be collected by hunting animals. Ore can be mined from broken rock formations (pieces of glowing rock).
To level up an item of equipment (its rarity), you will need one of the most special resources – ingots. These are available in specific locations, usually in camps or guarded monasteries.
Here are some tips for getting resources easier and faster in AC Valhalla:
Use your crow to locate and mark resources
Send the crow to look from above and spot all the resource nodes in the world around you. Use stationary mode for better accuracy. Once spotted, mark that spot and it will appear in your compass so you can easily follow it.
How to get leather
Hunt small or large animals for leather and other valuables. Use a Pradator bow for better accuracy and greater damage. Use your crow’s finder to highlight nearby creatures. Approach them in silence.
How to get ore
Ore can be found in small treasure chests in villages, in crypt dungeons, and more. use your sight to find a little treasure as they are not marked on the map by default. The ore can be mined from obsidian formations, which are usually found outside of populated areas (mountains and rocky hills).
How to get fabric
Fabric is a fairly scarce resource. It can be found in chests. Never jump at chess when exploring a dungeon, building, or attacking a monastery. You can also find it in stores.
How to get titanium
This resource is also scarce. It can be found in chests, like Fabric. You can also buy it in stores or find it randomly around the world.
How to get bullion
Ingots are the rarest resources you need for your gear. They are found in large treasure chests. You can also buy it from Shops for Silver.
Is it important to upgrade your equipment
If you play the game at a lower difficulty level, the statement in this title above may be wrong. However, upgrading and upgrading your gear is something you should be doing anyway.
Higher gear levels allow you to further modify and diversify your Eivor build by inserting runes into pieces of gear. Different armor sets also offer different set bonuses.
Upgrading and upgrading gear is a bit of a chore, but nowhere is it more boring than in AC Origins and AC Odyssey, for example. In AC Valhalla, armor and weapons have meaning. They serve a more important purpose than just a sink of money and resources.
It’s easy to choose armor and one or more weapons and stick with them for the duration of your game. The ability to improve and upgrade every piece of gear means you can make everything as powerful as the next thing.
If, for example, the dagger you found in your first hour of play matches your playstyle and build, you can stick with it and know that when fully upgraded and leveled up, it will be on par with everything else.
List of all armor, weapon and shield locations
List of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gear location guides
This is a comprehensive list of all in-depth walkthroughs and guides for the many pieces of armor and special weapons available in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The list contains both special unique items and complete sets with set bonuses to further diversify your Eivor build!
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