Crystal of Atlan – Starter Gear Guide

Jumping into Crystal of Atlan for the first time is stepping into a world of floating cities, epic dungeons, and gear systems that can honestly feel like they were crafted by a bunch of mad wizards. If you’re a new player (or even a returning CN vet trying to get ahead), figuring out what gear to chase, how to enhance it, and which rookie mistakes to avoid can get overwhelming fast. That’s why I put this guide together: to walk you through the essentials, so you don’t waste precious materials or grind yourself into frustration. Plus, you’ll learn how to look good while you’re doing it, because style matters even in a dungeon crawler!

Starter Gear Guide (Everything You Need To Know)

Gear in Crystal of Atlan isn’t just about looking cool (although that’s definitely part of it). It’s the backbone of your power progression, and knowing what to equip, when to enhance, and what to craft can make or break your early game experience. In this guide, we’ll break down all the must-know systems that will get you up to speed fast: how to get gear, enhance it, avoid rookie mistakes, and even look good while doing it.

Gear Acquisition – PvE Basics

At the start, Crystal of Atlan is generous with gear. Story mode floods you with blue gear (second-lowest rarity), with the occasional purple if RNG is in a good mood. Pink gear? That doesn’t drop until around level 45. Problem is, it’s really easy to waste your early materials if you don’t know what you’re doing. I made every rookie mistake on the China server so you don’t have to. Also, story mode is solo, so don’t expect a carry.

Once you finish Chapter 1, the real fun begins:

• Elite Dungeons: Party content with better drops, gold, and special tickets.
• Abyss Dungeons: Use those tickets here. Higher pink gear drop rates.
  • Pink gear can’t be crafted, it only drops from elite and abyss content. So if someone’s flexing early game, that’s probably where they got it.
• Important Tip: Use character energy (not account energy) when farming dungeons, it gives better loot. This loop — elite ➝ tickets ➝ abyss — will be your home until around level 55.

If the drop gods aren’t on your side, you can craft purple gear to fill in gaps. You can also upgrade purple gear later, and yellow gear too, but we’ll get to that. Just don’t go crafting-crazy early on. Save mats for gear you actually plan to keep. And yes, stats on early gear are fixed. No sneaky rolls. What you see is what you get.

Special Gear – PvP & Resonance

Relics are part of the Resonance system, essentially your gear score. The higher your Resonance, the more stats you get and the deeper you can dive into the game.

PvP gear lives in its own little bubble. When you step into ranked PvP, whether it’s 1v1 or 3v3. your shiny PvE gear means absolutely nothing. It’s all about your level, skill setup, and dedicated PvP gear. That’s right, your massive DPS build won’t save you here.

Daily matches = PvP coins = gear and useful stuff. Win or lose, just play a few rounds. It’s a passive power-up.

I go into this in way more detail in my breakdown on whether Crystal of Atlan leans free-to-play or pay-to-win, so check that out if you want the full tea. But TL;DR? PvP is actually one of the more balanced parts of the game… shockingly.

Gear Crafting Priorities

If you’re free-to-play, craft your weapons first. They give the biggest boost. If you dropped a few bucks for a first-time purchase pack? Congrats, that weapon will carry you to level 55.

Set bonuses don’t matter early game. Focus on pieces with good DPS stats like ATK and crit. Faster kills = faster progress.

But honestly, I don’t really recommend crafting gear early on. The game hooks you up with free +7 gear every 5 or 10 levels anyway, so there’s no need to waste your precious materials. Plus, you’re gonna need all that gold saved up for endgame stuff, trust me. So, my advice? Hang on to your resources, don’t blow them too soon, and save that grind for when it really counts. You’ll thank me later, fam!

Gear Enhancement

You enhance gear with gold and mats (from events, dismantling gear, and general play). Here’s the breakdown:

• Up to +10: 100% safe.
• +11 and beyond: Failures drop you back to +10. No broken gear, but definitely broken dreams.

Tip: Stop at +10 until level 55+. Spread enhancements across all gear. It increases your Resonance more efficiently than tunneling into one flex piece. Ignore that level 30 with +12 gloves, you’ll see them begging for mats later.

Events and rewards may give you gear skips or enhancement boosters, use them wisely.

Enhancement Transfer

You can transfer enhancement levels to new gear:

• Same rarity, same level: 1:1 transfer (e.g., +10 purple to +10 purple).
  • Ex: +9 purple ➝ better purple = full +9
    • Above +10? You lose levels, and your sanity.
• Different rarities or levels: You lose some levels in the transfer.
  • If you go from blue ➝ purple, your enhancement level drops.
    • Ex: +3 blue ➝ purple = +1 purple
  • Better Play: Dismantle the old gear. You’ll get materials back, and +1 to +3 is a guaranteed success anyway.

Best practice? Don’t enhance throwaway gear past +10. Wait until you have something worth keeping, or at least until level 55+.

Resonance Explained

Every enhancement contributes to your Resonance. Higher Resonance = more stats AND visual flex like glowing gloves and rave-tier VFX.

Unlocking Resonance tiers also boosts Soulfield Relic effects. If someone looks like they just walked out of an EDM festival, now you know why.

Late-game Resonance comes with “star attempts”, fail too many times and you lose progress unless you use rare restore items.

TL;DR:

• Early game: Everything to +10.
• Late game: Prepare for the Pain Loop.

Calibration Explained

High-rarity gear rolls bonus stats. Calibration lets you reroll those, but it’s pricey.

Types of Calibrations:

1. Basic: Rerolls all bonus stats. Totally random. Rare early on, so don’t waste them on garbage gear.
2. Advanced: Guarantees one stat increase, rest are still random. You can craft these eventually, but they’re still limited, save them for your best gear.

Only use calibration materials on gear you plan to keep long-term.

Guidelines:

• < 40% total bonus stats? Worth rerolling.
• 80%? Buy a lottery ticket.

Save your calibration mats like the treasures they are. Events, dailies, and Battle Pass are your main sources.

Wrap-Up

Alright, fam, that’s your crystal-clear path to start strong in Crystal of Atlan. Remember, the early game is all about farming efficiently, enhancing smartly (stop at +10 unless you’re loaded with resources), and not burning your crafting mats on gear you’ll outgrow. Pink gear is where the real power spikes start, so focus your stamina and resources there. And don’t sleep on your resonance, those visual flex points are real, but so is the stat boost behind them.

This guide is based on the China version, but global usually gets better rates, QoL improvements, and more generous freebies. The game really opens up around level 55+, where you get more safety nets and better crafting options. Until then, stick to the basics, keep your grind consistent, and don’t fall for the flashy “tier 1 fashion” bait just yet, your wallet will thank you later.