TERA - Reaper PvE - Gearing
As with every such game, gear in TERA is very important to your overall success as a player. You won't get very far with level 30 gear if you're trying to take on enemies around level 50, that much is obvious. However, there's more to gear than simply having a good quality set, as you have control over specific stats on each piece, and these are what will really strengthen your character.
Reapers are DPS through and through, so the name of the game is maximising damage output as much as possible on every piece of gear. In most cases, it's easy to tell the type of stats you're after, but knowing exactly which options are best takes more thought.
I'm not going to do anything more than tell you what to use in this section, main gear rolls, accessories, brooches and innerwear, along with a note as to gear progression and how to go about it. If you're interested in why I'm suggesting what I am, there are many theorycrafting and min-maxing guides out there for you to browse at your leisure!
Gear Progression
The following is aimed at new players reaching level 65 for the first time, any players with many other characters or higher starting gear/skill level can skip steps as appropriate.
TERA has a fairly linear gear progression system that kicks off when you start the level 60 story quest chain which takes you into Nothern Arun. You'll be presented with three sets of gear as you level;
- At around level 60 you'll receive the Initia set
- At around level 62 you'll receive the Emina set
- At level 65, after completing the story quests, you'll receive the Idoneal set
Once you're suited out in Idoneal gear, you're best off getting a Fulminate set from BRNM (the 7-man instance) before tackling Akeron's Inferno for Wroth/Schisma gear. Given the high drop rate of Schisma gear even from AINM, I would suggest moving straight to Schisma after Fulminate.
By this point you can choose whether to work on Lucid (or Gen) gear or not. The DPS bonus is huge, especially if you plan to +15, but it takes a lot of time and money to get. Up to you!
Click on the buttons below to navigate to a specific section. Gear icons will take you to that specific piece from that section. Happy rolling.
Whatever gear set you choose to get, the rolls you're after will be the same, so no matter what you have, the information provided will be relevant. It's worth noting that currently only Disco, Gen, Schisma and Lucid chest pieces have a class stat on them, and only Wroth, Schisma and Lucid have a base roll on the weapon, with Disco and Gen having Quick, Keen and Intense versions. Gen and Lucid weapons/chest pieces also have one extra rollable stat, and entry level belts only have one rollable stat on them.
Weapon
For weapon stats, you're after a combination of pure damage stats and crit rate or utility via cooldown reduction. On the older gear sets like Gen, the Intense option is by far the best in terms of base stats. Even on the newer gear it's best to emulate this.
If you have a base rollable stat, your valid options are:
- 9% attack speed
- 9.3% enraged damage
- 18 crit factor
Pure damage far outclasses the crit rate here, but attack speed trumps both due to its strength combined with skills such as Reaping.
As for the standard +3/+6/+9 rolls, you want a mix of these:
- 6% damage
- 6.9% back damage
- 9.3% enraged damage
- 7.2% cooldown reduction
- 14 crit factor
Again pure damage rolls are by far the most important to aim for here. Both crit rate and cdr are fine options, but they are mostly beaten out by pure damage. However, if you have high atk spd, or Gen/Lucid and have the extra roll, I would strongly suggest rolling cdr as a priority.
Etching:
Your offensive etchings will always be Keen. It outclasses the Pumped etching by a long way, and Reapers don't need extreme cdr as they used to, so Energetic etchings aren't ideal, still good though.
Chest
In general, defensive stats are not so important for DPS classes (just look at the stats I've been using, ptheh), but it's still worth putting effort into getting a good set of stats on your chest. Most important though, is getting the right class stat if you have the option.
If you have the class stat available, you're only after:
- 12% Grim Strike damage
Honestly I can't remember what the other options are, point is they're not better than this in PvE, and by far the most important thing to do with your chest is get this stat.
As for the standard +3/+6/+9 rolls, you want a mix of these:
- 6% reduced damage
- 8% max HP
- 10% reduced enraged damage
- 6.9% reduced frontal damage
- 6.9% reduced damage when knocked down
- 0.4% HP restored per hit
Flat out damage reduction is the best you can do with these rolls, and you ideally want stats that aren't situational, so the frontal and kd reduction options have a little less value. I included the HP restoration stat not because it's good, but simply because I like it, and given Reapers hit tonnes, if you have a 4th roll, it's actually totally viable.
Etching:
On your chest you'll benefit most from a Grounding etching. It's particularly effective given the low base endurance of Reapers.
Gloves
Gloves are probably the simplest piece to roll, because the stats you're after are basically the same no matter your class - for DPS that is. Reapers used to not benefit too much from attack speed, but those days are over thanks to recent changes.
So for the +3/+6/+9 rolls, you want these stats:
- 5 power
- 9 crit factor
- 2.25% attack speed
My gear still has an old MP restoration stat from when too much attack speed would give you gaps in your rotation, ignore that. The stats listed above are the only ones you want, it's well worth spending the money making sure you've got them exactly right.
Etching:
Like with the weapon, you're only really interested in Keen etchings on your gloves. Energetic is viable but Keen is better in the current patch, I'm just too cheap to replace it.
Boots
Like with the chest, defensive stats are not so important for DPS, so the boots are not particularly important. It's worth noting though that boots do have semi-offensive stats available on them with movement speed and MP regen allowing increased efficiency in your play.
So for the +3/+6/+9 rolls, you want these stats:
- 6% movement speed
- 4 endurance
- 1% MP regen every 5 seconds
In PvE, these are the only stats that do anything for you, so everything else is practically useless. Balance is a null stat, and the CC resistances do nothing either.
Etching:
Given your low base endurance, Grounding is superior to all other options in PvE.
Belt
You have two choices on your belt, assuming you have two rollable stats. Option one is going full crit, which I would personally advocate. Option two is rolling both crit and power, which is equally solid.
So the stats you're after are:
- 6 crit factor
- 4 crit factor
- 3 power
- 2 power
You always want the 6 crit roll, it's your choice for the second one. Choose based on what you get first or what is best based on your other stats.
Your accessories are possibly the most significant DPS boost you can get, certainly as a fresh level 65 character, so you should focus on getting a good set as one of the first things you do. I'm going to outline two possible sets to use below, one is a mix of Edge and Force pieces, the other is a mix of Edge and Deathwise pieces - harder to get your hands on, but better.
Obtaining Edge/Force pieces:
These accessory pieces can drop from the following places:
- Vault of Kaprima (tic rings)
- Shattered Fleet (tic earrings and necklaces)
- Timescape (tock rings and earrings)
The tock versions of rings and earrings are unique - you can only equip one in each slot - but have greater stats than the tic variants. You can also get these accessories by exchanging Cosmoshards. 40 shards will net you a tock piece, 26 a necklace, and 10 for a tic piece. Cosmoshards can be obtained in the following ways:
- Ghillieglade
- Vault of Kaprima
- Shattered Fleet
- Akeron's Inferno
- Timescape
- 5600 Killing Spree credits
Obtaining Deathwise pieces:
These accessory pieces can drop from the following places:
- Alliance Vault
- Ghillieglade
The drop rate is very low for the better variants - Deathwise Cascade and Deathwise Signet - and the stats are not re-rollable, so getting good quality pieces is very hard compared to Force pieces. It's worth it if you can get them though.
Tic / Tock Ring
The edge and force rings allow you to roll both crit rate and power on them, meaning the stat totals of a well rolled piece are really high considering set bonuses too.
So the stats you're after are:
- 4 crit factor
- 4 power
- 2 crit factor
- 2 power
- 1 crit factor
- 1 power
If your crit rate is low then you'll benefit most from 4+2 crit factor, otherwise 4 crit and 4 power is the best you can do.
Tic / Tock Earring
On your edge and force earrings there aren't any offensive options, so it's not so important to perfect the rolls. Even so, they provide a pretty nice defensive bonus, which is important in the long run.
So the stats you're after are:
- 4% max HP
- 4 endurance
- 2% max HP
- 2 endurance
- 1% max HP
- 1 endurance
Percentage HP generally outclasses endurance in terms of toughness, given you won't be taking too many hits and are more interested in surviving attacks that would otherwise deal near lethal damage.
Necklace
Necklaces only have one rollable stat, and the better one for you wil depend on your other stats.
So the stats you're after are:
- 4 crit factor
- 4 power
Both are fine, but I prefer crit as I'm using an empowered brooch, it's up to you, pick the one you like best.
Deathwise Ring
The Deathwise pieces have a larger variety of different - but mostly useless - potential rolls. There is no power option, and in terms of PvE worthy rolls, the quality is outright lower, but due to the set bonuses provided, it's still worth it for the exra crit.
So the stats you're after are:
- 4 crit factor
- 0.04 crit damage
Crit factor is the only roll that really matters, but to have a perfect ring it would need the crit damage as well, despite the dps increase being negligible.
Deathwise Earring
As with all earrings, there aren't any offensive stats available here, so it's not worth worrying about too much, especially considering you can't re-roll these pieces. Having the earring is far more important than the rolls it might have.
Even so, the stats you're after are:
- 4.5% max HP
- 15% poison damage reduction
- 10% stun duration reduction
Max HP is definitely the best for PvE, the other two are much less useful. Stuns are not that common in dungeons nowadays, but it's always useful to reduce duration, whereas poison damage reduction is more generally useful.
Having outlined the best stats to roll on each piece of jewelery, the combinations you're after are detailed below.
Option A [98 crit factor, 6 power] - much greater crit rate, and higher average dps, the better option if you have the pieces available:
- 1x Edgetock Earring
- 1x Edgetime Necklace
- 1x Edgetock Ring
- 1x Deathwise Cascade
- 1x Deathwise Signet
(if you can't get your hands on a good deathwise signet/cascade, then using two deathwise earrings and two edgetime rings is a better option than the above, if in doubt just add up the numbers, even full edge is better than badly rolled deathwise)
Option B [62 crit factor, 29 power] - a more balanced build, sacrifices 36 crit for 23 power, worse in my opinion, but a fairly even trade. It's your best option if you don't have the Deathwise pieces required (Force pieces should be rolled the same as Edge pieces):
- 1x Edgetock Earring
- 1x Edgetime Necklace
- 1x Edgetock Ring
- 1x Forcetock Earring
- 1x Forcetock Ring
Innerwear
Like with etchings, it turns out that boosting crit rate far outclasses boosting power. All the other innerwear options are defense or utility based, and unecessary on a Reaper, so we're not interested in them.
Having high quality innerwear isn't that important though, get the best piece you can reasonably afford, but just make sure you have some.
Brooch
There are two dps brooch options, empowered and quickcarve. Again, the crit version is superior, as it nets greater overall dps. As for rolls, brooches have the same options as belts.
So the stats you're after are:
- 6 crit factor
- 4 crit factor
- 3 power (if empowered)
- 2 power (if empowered)
Both brooches are totally viable options, so run with whichever you prefer, but the attack speed bonus on the quickcarve brooch is not something you can easily ignore due to it's strength combined with Reaping and just overall usefulness throughout fights.
